The rich, the great despised thy name,
And thou didst seek thy daily bread,
Mid poverty, reproach, & shame—
Forgive a heart that can repine
To share a lot _more blest than Thine_—
And _Thou_ hast tried the Tempter’s power
And felt his false & palsying breath,
Hast known the gloomy fears that wait
Along the shadowy vale of Death—
And what the dreadful pangs must be
Of life’s last parting agony.
My only Hope! My Stay, My Shield!
Thy fainting creature looks to Thee—
Thy soothing peace, thy guidance yield
In this, my last extremity;—
With Thy dear, guardian hand to save
I venture downward to the grave!
THE WATER LILY.
This flower that so lovelily pleads for a sigh
Unnotic’d was born unnurtur’d to bloom;
Its fate had decreed it to wither and die
Where no heart of affection might weep o’er its tomb.
But chance has bequeath’d it in beauty to thee;
And in beauty it lives on the page of thy heart;
And while memory lingers or life shall endure
That flower from remembrance can never depart.
And thus, when between us Time’s current shall roll,
When mountains and waters our fortunes shall sever,
On thy tablets of _Friendship_ my name I’d enrol
To live in thy cherish’d remembrance forever.
EDWARD S. GOULD
Litchfield 25, Jany, 1826.
Tho’ in distant lands we sigh
Parched beneath a burning sky
Tho’ the deep between us rolls
Friendship shall Unite our Souls,
And in fancy’^s wide domain
There may we both meet again
When the dreams of life are fled
When its wasted lamp^s are dead
When in cold oblivious shade
Beauty, Wealth, and Fame are laid
Where immortal spirits reign
There may we all meet again
E REEVE
[Illustration:
PL. XLVII.—LOVE CARRYING THE WORLD
By George Catlin, painter of Indian Pictures in Smithsonian Institute
From Mary Peck’s Album
]
Oh can you forget, when you stood round the bed
When _Helen_ address’d you with ardour & love,
How your Souls hung in rapture on all that she said,
When she urg’d you to place your affections above?
Clarinda[65] has died, on the bed where I lie;
“And what is the profit that you have receiv’d?
“And now must Young Helen be summon’d to die
“And no lasting benefit hence be atchiev’d?
“Must Victim on Victim go down to the Grave,
“To teach their Survoivors the shortness of life;
“And will you not strive, dear Companions, to save
“That precious betrustment[66] which time must survive?
“Believe dying Helen; this world is a snare;
“Its pleasures & Honors can never suffice;
“Of all its fair promises ever beware,
“And place your best treasure secure in the Skies.”
But all is now silent. The Spirit has fled
To Mansions of Glory, or Shades of despair;
The body now sleeps in the Tomb of the dead,
Awaiting the Sound of the Trump to appear.
BENJ^N. TALLMADGE
ON THE DEATH OF MISS HELEN PECK.
Can an earthly mind tell, when the plants of life wither
They will flourish again, in a kindlier soil?
Can an earthly eye trace the bright journey thither,
When the soul has escap’d from the world’s sin & toil?
’Tis the gospel alone, when an earthly plant dies,
Shows it blooming and fresh in a heavenly bower;
’Tis the gospel alone marks the Soul as it flies
To the regions of light, by omnipotent power—
Then; think not that _She_, who once bloom’d on this earth,
As fair as the flower that in Eden first grew,
Has lost the least tinge of her mildness and worth:
Death cannot distroy them, or alter their hue—
The stream, that once flow’d in this storm beaten vale
Tho’ its passage is stop’d, yet, in source, is not dried;
It will burst forth anew, unreach’d by the gale,
While the river of life rolls its waves by its side.
Tho’ she sank, like the leaf, when in spring time, it falls,
Yet she has not endur’d the last death pang in vain:
For her moment of life, Oh! how loudly it calls,
To look, as she look’d, from this region of pain.
J. P. BRACE—
Perhaps we part, no more to meet,
And who, my friend, can show
What scenes of sorrow, or of joy,
Await us here below?
Though life to you is in its morn,
And youthful pleasures court
Its fairest rose conceals a thorn,
Its longest space is short.
But Oh! there is a better state,
Where hopes unfading bloom,
There is a brighter land that gleams
Across the darken’d tomb.
There may we meet, in that blest home,
Where none shall sigh with pain,
Where hours of parting never come,
Now human frailties stain.
M TALLMADGE
Bantam! dear lake! how calm thy waters lie!
How brightly green, thy sunny banks arise;
Calm as the hours of childhood, sported there:
And bright as life appear’d to youthful ken:
No storm disturbs thy glassy surface clear;
Reflecting still the plane trees broad bright leaf,
Or oak with dark green crown; or gayer green
The corn send forth in sunny hours; Sometimes
A tall bare pine, its foliage sent
Upon thy wave, like disappointments hue,
Amid the brighter green of joy & hope—
And yet clear, placid lake! thou art the same
As when within thy cooling wave I swam,
In childhoods hour — — —
— — — Thou art the same
’Tis man alone is chang’d—
Altamah.
MR. BRACE
[Illustration:
PL. XLVIII.—LOVE’S FALL
By George Catlin, in Mary Peck’s Album
]
THE RULES OF LITCHFIELD ACADEMY. 1825—
From the copy made by a pupil, Charlotte Phelps, who married George D.
Cowles, of Farmington.
1st. You are expected to rise early, be dressed neatly and to exercise
before breakfast. You are to retire to rest when the family in which
you reside request you. You must consider it a breach of politeness to
be requested a second time to rise in the morning or retire of an
evening.
2nd. You are requested not only to exercise in the morning but also in
the evening sufficiently for the preservation of health.
3rd. It is expected that you never detain the family by unnecessary
delay; either at meals or family prayer. To be absent when a blessing
is asked at table, or when the family have assembled to read the word
of God, and to solicit his favor, discovers a want of reverence to his
name, and shows that you have a cold heart destitute of gratitude to
the author of all good.
4th. It is expected as rational and immortal beings that you read a
portion of Scripture, both morning and evening with meditation and
prayer. That you never read the word of God carelessly or make use of
any Scripture phrase in a light or trifling manner
5th. It is expected that you attend public worship every Sabbath,
except some unavoidable circumstance prevent, which you will dare to
present as a sufficient apology at the day of judgment.
6th. Your deportment must be grave and decent while in the house of
God; all light conduct in a place of worship is not only offensive to
God but an indication of ill breeding; and highly displeasing both to
the good and the polite.
7th. The Sabbath must be kept holy, no part wasted in sloth, frivolous
conversation or light reading. Remember that for all our time, but
particularly for the hours of the Sabbath, you must give an account.
8th. Every hour during the week must be fully occupied either in
useful employments, or necessary recreation. Two hours must be
faithfully devoted to close study each day, while out of school: and
every hour in school must be fully occupied. (For every hour wasted in
school you must give yourselves a whole miss under the rules.) The
ladies where you board must mention if you do not study your two hours
each day.
9th. You must never interrupt your companions by talking, or any other
disturbance during the hours of school, or those set apart for study.
10th. The hours appointed for any particular study or occupation must
not be employed in any other way, but the appointed lesson.
11th. You must suppress all emotions of anger, fretfulness and
discontent. Bear always in your memory the many blessings God is
continually bestowing upon you, for which he requires not only
contentment but a cheerful temper.
12th. The truth must be spoken at all times though it might seem more
advantageous to tell a falsehood.
13th. You are expected to be polite in your manners, neat in your
persons and rooms, careful of your books, clothes and every article of
use.
14th. Tale bearing and scandal are odious vices and must be avoided:
neither must you flatter your companions by any remarks on their
beauty, dress or any accomplishment, in order to increase their
vanity, and let every one thus flattered remember that such
compliments are an insult offered to the understanding.
15th. While you are forbidden to repeat anything to the disadvantage
of your companions, you are also requested to inform one of the
teachers if you observe anything amiss in your school fellows which
your teachers can correct. This not to be done from malice, but from a
sincere desire for their reformation.
16th. Every scholar is bound to conform to the regulations of the
family in which she resides. They are never to go out of an evening
without permission from the lady who has the charge of them; are not
to read any book, or engage in any amusement without her approbation.
17th. No young lady is allowed to attend any public ball, or sleigh
party till they are more than 16 years old.
18th. Speaking or moving once in school hours either with or without
liberty will take off a part of the extra—unless they move to recite
or practice, or write at the tables—Speaking more than once will take
off the whole extra and often give you a quarter of a miss.
19th. You must write a letter to be corrected and sent home to your
friends once in four weeks—except excused. You must not write a
careless note, or any careless writing. You must write a composition
once in a fortnight, of 200 words. You must write at least 30 good
lines in a week.
20th. You must have a lesson ready to recite when you first come into
school.
21st. You must come in or go out of the school in a quiet genteel
manner—you must not talk or laugh loud in the street.
[Illustration:
PL. XLIII.—WHITE LACE VEIL WORKED BY MARY PECK AND WORN BY HER AT HER
WEDDING
]
22nd. You must not wear your party dresses, or any handsome lace,
neither your best hats or shawls to school.
23rd. You must not walk for pleasure after 9 o’clock in the evening. A
reward will be given to those who do not waste any money, books,
clothes, paper or quills, during the term. To those who have their
duties performed at the proper time. To those who have not been
peevish, homesick or impolite. To those who always attend meeting or
church. To those who never write carelessly.
CUSTOM OF EXCHANGING CHILDREN.
A custom quite general in New England in the early part of this
century, there being no boarding schools, was that of friends in
different parts of the country exchanging children for a certain
length of time, shorter or longer. The advantages were sometimes for
the sake of change of air, and sometimes for the intellectual training
of the children and are known to have worked well. The following
extract from a letter from one of the pupils on the list of 1825, now
living, makes the custom more clear.
“My connection with the school was only for two or three months and
rather accidental. A friend of my mother wishing to send a young son
to New Haven for the summer of 1825 Proposed an exchange of children
for the time. I was a child of such slender form and far from vigorous
and my parents were glad to send me into the country. Hoping the fine
climate of Litchfield would benefit me, yet not wishing me to study;
but as I wanted something to do I was permitted to attend Miss
Pierce’s school with the daughter of Judge Wollcott in whose family I
was staying.”
Extract from a paper read May 4, 1896, before the Village Library
Company of Farmington, on “Farmington Society One Hundred Years Ago,” by
Julius Gay.
One of the first results of increasing wealth was a desire for a
better education than the district school afforded. Already in 1792
Miss Sally Pierce had established her famous school in Litchfield
under the patronage of Chief Justice Tapping Reeve, Gov. Wolcott, Col.
Tallmadge, and other distinguished men, probably the first female
seminary in America. Here were sent the young ladies of this village
until the Farmington Academy was established. E. D. Mansfield LL.D.,
once connected with the “Old Red College” of Deacon Hooker, gives us
in his “Personal Memories” an outside view of the school as it
appeared a few years later, on his first visit to Litchfield.
“One of the first objects which struck my eyes was interesting and
picturesque. This was a long procession of school girls, coming down
North Street, walking under the lofty elms, and moving to the music of
a flute and flageolet. The girls were gayly dressed and evidently
enjoyed their evening parade, in this most balmy season of the year.
It was the school of Miss Sally Pierce, one of the earliest and best
of the pioneers in American female education. That scene has never
faded from my memory. The beauty of nature, the loveliness of the
season, the sudden appearance of this school of girls, all united to
strike and charm the mind of a young man, who, however varied his
experience, had never beheld a scene like that.”
He was about to enter the Litchfield Law School, a famous institution
which gathered numerous brilliant young men, especially from the
South. Their proximity might have been a disturbing element in the
quiet of the young ladies school had Miss Pierce lacked the wisdom to
manage discreetly what would have ruined a weaker administration. The
young men were allowed to call on certain evenings, but woe to the man
who transgressed ever so slightly the laws of strict decorum. To be
denied admission to Miss Sally Pierce’s parlor was the deepest
disgrace which could befall a young man. A school girl writes home
that a “Mr. Lyde was very attentive to Miss Norton (of Farmington) and
gazed at her so much that it mortified Miss Norton, and Miss Sally
spoke to him and he has not been in the house since March.” It was
only after much correspondence and penitence that Mr. Lyde was
reinstated. On leaving the school, each girl was expected to bring
home to her admiring parents some evidence of proficiency in her
studies. Those who could, exhibited elaborate water-color drawings
which have hung ever since on the walls of Farmington parlors. Others
less gifted were advised to paint their family coat of arms, and, if
they had never heard of any, they soon learned how all this could be
remedied without any correspondence with the Herald’s College. One
Nathan Ruggles who advertised in the Connecticut Courant “at his
Looking Glass and Picture Store, Main Street, opposite the State
House, city of Hartford,” had somehow come in possession of the huge
volume of Edmonson’s Complete Body of Heraldry, and allowed anyone to
select from its vast assortment of heraldic monsters, “Gorgons, and
Hydras, and Chimeras dire,” such as suited her taste. His sole charge
was the promise of being employed to frame the valuable work when
done. I have seen several of these devices which were brought home
from Litchfield, some done in water-colors and some in embroidery,
with combinations of color which would make a herald stare. They had
however just as good right to them as ninety nine out of a hundred of
the families who flaunt coat-armor and pictures of English castles and
all that in their published genealogies. There is no reason to suppose
Miss Pierce had anything to do in obtaining these designs. Most of the
embroidered arms are of a later date and were executed at a young
ladies school in Hartford. Those in water-colors were most if not all
of Litchfield origin. Nathan Ruggles who was responsible for all this
spurious heraldry, came to an untimely end. In a private display of
fireworks at his house, the whole suddenly exploded and brought his
heraldic career to an all too brilliant conclusion.
[Illustration:
PL. XLIX.—OLD COSTUME FROM ROXBURY, ABOUT 1825
]
One of Miss Sally Pierce’s pupils from Farmington writes of the school
life “We have balls at Miss Pierce’s school better than all the balls
at Middletown. We dance once a month. We have a musician and he comes
by 6 o’clock and plays till 9.” On Sunday she writes “Our exhibitions
are on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Thursday we dance and by Friday
night I really think I shall be tired. I have been to meeting all day
although it has rained very hard. Mr. Huntington preached. He is a
fine preacher, I think, and very handsome.”
1826.
LITCHFIELD FEMALE ACADEMY
CONDUCTED BY MISS PIERCE AND MR. BRACE
TERMS OF TUITION
Writing, History, Geography, Grammar, Arithmetic,
Rhetoric, and Composition, with plain Needlework, per
Quarter $5
The above, with Natural and Moral Philosophy, Logic,
Chemistry, Mathematics, the Principals of Taste and
Criticism, with the Latin and Greek Languages, per
Quarter 6
French Language 5
Drawing 3
Music 12
Board in respectable families near the Academy, from $1.75 to $2 per
week, exclusive of washing.
The Summer Term, commences May 16.
The Winter, November 29. April, 1826.
1827.
NOTES FROM THE RECORDS OF THE LITCHFIELD FEMALE ACADEMY.
Copy of the subscription for the Litchfield Female Academy. April, 1827.
The subscribers, being desirous of extending the benefits of the Female
Academy, in this place, (which they believe can be done, by the erection
of a new building, and procuring an act of incorporation which shall
constitute the subscribers owners of the stock and place the same under
the management of a board of trustees, consisting of ten persons who
shall hold their offices during life, or until they resign or remove
from this state, with power to controul and manage all the affairs of
the institution, which shall be exclusively devoted to the purpose of
Female education, excepting that one of the rooms in the proposed
building may be made use of as a Conference room by the Congregational
and episcopal societies in this Village and for other objects of that
nature under the direction and at the discretion of the trustees) do
hereby agree to unite in a petition for the above purpose to the general
assembly at their ensuing session & if the same be granted to subscribe
and pay for stock in such corporation to the amount affixed to our
names, respectively & to relinquish to the Corporation for the benefit
of said institution all the dividends or profits on the stock by us held
so long as Miss S. Pierce or Mr. J. P. Brace or either of them shall be
employed in the instruction of youth in said academy. This subscription
to become binding on the subscribers on the following conditions viz
1^{st} That Miss Sarah Pierce shall convey to the Corporation, after an
act of corporation shall be obtained, the building she now occupies as a
schoolhouse and as much land in quantity where said buildings now stand
as is at present attached to said buildings and included within the
fences to be improved for a building lot for the new school house or
academy and that said land and buildings shall be considered as stock
subscribed by Miss Pierce under this subscription and shall be estimated
at the sum of $600.
2^{nd} That in addition to the subscription to be made by Miss Pierce on
the principles and to the amount stated above, there shall be subscribed
within four weeks from this date the further sum of $900 or 60 shares
each share to be $15.
Dated at Litchfield this 26^{th} day of April
1827. (A true copy).
I agree to convey the land and buildings mentioned in the preceding
subscription under terms and for the objects therein specified,
estimated at $600 or 40 shares. (A true copy)
SARAH PIERCE
NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS. NUMBER OF SHARES.
Frederick Wolcott Two shares
James Gould Two shares
William Buel Two shares
Jabez W. Huntington Two shares
Charles Seymour Two shares
Grove Catlin One share
Phineas Miner One share
Stephen Deming One share
James H. Wadsworth Two shares
Samuel Buel Two shares
S. & H. Childs Two shares
Silvester Galpin One share
Joshua Gavvitt One share
Josiah Parks One share
Oliver S. & John L. Wolcott Two shares
E. A. Lord One share
Dan^l Sheldon One do
S. S. Smith Two shares
G. Dewey One share
John R. Landon Two shares
Alanson Abbe Three shares
John W. Russell One share
Truman Smith One share
Charles N Webb. One share
Jason Whiting One share
David C. Sanford One share
Elihu Harrison One share
Uriel Holmes One share
B. Kilbourne One share
Samuel P. Bolles One share
Oliver Goodwin One share
Jonathan Carrington One share
Sam^l Buel 2 One share
Leonard Goodwin Two shares
Origen S. Seymour One share
Silvester Spencer One share
Henry Phelps One share
Andrew Benedict One share
John P. Brace One share
Ambrose Norton One share
James Winship One share
Amos Wadsworth One share
Hiram Barnes One share
C. G. Bennett One share
Stone & Bolles One share
Benjamin Tallmadge Two shares
Henry A. Perkins One share
Ozias Seymour One share
S. Trowbridge & G. Treadway One share
William H. Thompson One share
Seth P. Beers Two shares
A true copy of the original subscription enrolled among the papers of
the Litchfield Female Academy and marked no 1—
Attest J. P. BRACE. Sec.
Then follows an Act of incorporation given at Hartford, Conn., by the
General Assembly in said state, on the first Wednesday of May, 1827.
This act provided “that shares be $15 each provided that the number of
shares shall not exceed 500 & the capital stock shall not exceed the sum
of $7500.”
E. N. V.
At a meeting of the “Litchfield Female Academy” holden pursuant to
adjournment at the West School House in Litchfield June 15^{th} 1827,
the following persons were elected trustees.
Frederick Wolcott.
James Gould.
William Buel.
Phineas Miner.
Seth P. Beers.
Truman Smith.
John P. Brace.
John R. Landon.
Daniel Sheldon.
Jabez W. Huntington.
Frederick Wolcott was appointed President of the board and Truman Smith
Secretary and William Buel Treasurer.
[Illustration:
PL. L.—OLD COSTUME FROM ROXBURY, ABOUT 1825
]
The contract for the building was given to Silvester Spencer, minute
directions being given that “it shall be 42 ft. long, 30 ft. wide two
stories high with parts 21 ft. long from the top of the sill to the
bottom of the Plate the stories of equal length. Sleepers and rafters of
good oak and chestnut. The whole frame to be of good and substantial
materials. The building (except the front) is to be covered with good
pine clapboards. The front to be covered like Doc^t Samuel Buel’s House
with 1¼ Tuck pine stuff free from sap and nots and put together with
white paint and 4 Pilasters to be a cornice like said Buel’s (excepting
eave Troughs) on the side and front with Raking cornice to be a window
in the front gable like said Buel’s and covered with a good Green
Blind, ... the door to be hung with wrought Iron Hooks & Hinges and
furnished with suitable trimmings.... The clapboards to be nailed on
with wrought Nails. There is to be 21 windows of 24 Lights part of
English brown glass 8 by 10 & One window in the west gable end 20 lights
8 by 10 Glass.... There is to be a Cupola on the front & finished with
not less than six posts. With a deck so made as to exclude the water &
Sustain a bell with a spire of iron.... The whole building to be painted
white with three coats of good paint of white lead and oil except the
roof.... The Painting to be done by the first day of May next.” The
payments to be “four hundred dolls on or before the 10^{th} day of Sept.
next 200 dollars on or before the first day of November next and the
balance when the building shall have completed.
Voted that Leonard Goodwin be authorized to sell at discretion the
building or buildings now occupied by the Litchfield Academy, reserving
the use of the same until the first day of May next, and also to remove
the same if necessary.
A detailed agreement with Samuel Childs was made regarding the stone
underpinning which was to cost $65. January 21^{st} 1828 it was found
that $250 more would be necessary to make the building “comfortable and
convenient,” which sum was borrowed of Elisha S. Buel.
At a meeting of the Trustees holden Nov. 14^{th}, 1828 _voted_ that Dr.
William Buel be appointed agent to collect the balance now due on the
Subscription to the Litchfield Female Academy and be authorized to
institute suits for the collection of the same.
At a meeting of the Trustees March 28^{th}, 1828 the following address
to the public was drawn up and ordered to be printed:—
LITCHFIELD FEMALE ACADEMY.