PROF. BENJAMIN HALE.--PROF. ALPHEUS CROSBY.--PROF. IRA YOUNG.
From reliable sources we have the following account of another
gentleman of distinguished worth, who was an instructor also both in
the Academical and Medical departments of the college.
Benjamin Hale was born on the 23d of November, 1797, in Newbury,
Mass., now a part of the city of Newburyport. He was the eldest son of
Thomas Hale, who was the grandson of the fifth Thomas, in that series
of Hales, whose first representative came to Newbury in about 1637.
His mother was Alice Little, a daughter of the Hon. Josiah Little of
Newbury, and grand-daughter of Col. Moses Little, an officer in the
Continental Army. On both sides of the house Benjamin Hale came of a
race of vigorous, industrious, and useful men, held in honor by their
fellow citizens, and invariably distinguished for their exemplary
habits, their domestic virtues, their sterling goodness, and their
faithfulness in the discharge of trusts and duties. In childhood he
was studious, quiet, kind, and genial; fond of books, the favorite of
his youthful companions, and the cheerful companion of the aged.
In the autumn of 1813, he went to Atkinson Academy; and in September,
1814, entered Dartmouth College; but his health becoming impaired, he
went to Dummer Academy, Byfield, in the autumn of 1815, to pursue his
studies under the direction of its principal, the Rev. Mr. Abbott. In
February, 1816, he entered the Sophomore class at Bowdoin College,
then under the presidency of the venerable Dr. Appleton, whose grave
kindness soon won his reverent love. He at once secured an honorable
position in his class, which was the largest that had then been in
that college. In September, 1818, he received the degree of B. A.;
his part at Commencement being the salutatory oration. Having been
previously offered the academy at Saco, and recollecting a remark of
his old pastor, Dr. Spring, that "one who meant to be a minister would
do well to try his hand at being a schoolmaster," he took charge of
the academy for one year.
In the autumn of 1819, he became a member of the Theological Seminary
at Andover, Mass. Here his college classmate, Rufus Anderson,
afterwards the distinguished Secretary of the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions, was his class-mate and room-mate.
Dr. Anderson thus writes of him: "Our friendship was founded in mutual
knowledge and esteem, and continued during his life. The operations of
his mind were effective, equally so in nearly every branch of
learning. He was quick and accurate in the Mathematics, in the
Languages, and in Music. I know not in what one branch he was best
fitted to excel. While perfect in all his recitations, he was social,
always ready for conversation when I desired it. He had, and through
his whole life retained, my entire confidence as a man of God, nor was
I surprised at the eminent position he afterwards attained in the
church of Christ. Pleasant is his memory, and pleasant is the thought
of meeting him in a better world." While at Andover he had leisure for
reading, and that part of it which he devoted to Ecclesiastical
History had an important influence as it turned out, in deciding his
future ecclesiastical connection.
At the Commencement of Bowdoin College, in 1820, he was appointed
tutor. He taught the Junior class in Natural Philosophy, and Locke's
Essay on the Human Understanding, and the Sophomore class in Geometry
and some other parts of Mathematics, and in Logic. At the same time he
continued to pursue his theological studies, and in January, 1822, was
licensed to preach by the York Association. In September, 1821, he
delivered a Latin valedictory oration, and took his degree of A. M.
With regard to this period of his life, his fellow tutor, now the
venerable Prof. Packard, thus writes: "Mr. Hale gave at once the
impression of a kind, generous, faithful heart, a clear, acute, and
rapid intellect, and a vigorous grasp of any subject to which he gave
his thought. He was a diligent student. He loved books. Without
conceit he had sufficient self-reliance, which was always of service
to him as a teacher and governor. He always had the good-will of his
pupils, and whether with them or with his colleagues he exerted an
influence above rather than below his age and standing. He was a true
man, unselfish, of a decidedly social turn, of warm affections, of a
genial humor."
In the summer of 1822, he received proposals from R. H. Gardiner,
Esq., of Gardiner, Me., to take charge of a new institution which he
had determined to establish for the education of farmers and mechanics
in the principles of science. Mr. Hale accepted, and closed his
connection with Bowdoin College in 1822, and entering upon his duties
January 1, 1823, opened the Lyceum, was inaugurated as its principal,
and delivered an address on the occasion. He soon after returned his
license, finding it inconvenient to meet the many calls for preaching
extended to him, and having become also so settled in his preference
for the Protestant Episcopal Church that he determined to take Orders
therein, should he ever be so situated as to think it his duty to
preach again. On the 9th day of April, 1823, he was married to Mary
Caroline King, the eldest daughter of the Hon. Cyrus King, M. C.
The Lyceum soon attracted students and became a flourishing
institution. Its principal gave lectures in Chemistry and taught
Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, and in winter had classes in
Architecture and in Agricultural Chemistry. For the former of these
classes he prepared, in 1827, a work on the "Elementary Principles of
Carpentry."
In July, 1827, having received an invitation to succeed Professor Dana
in the chair of Chemistry at Dartmouth College, Mr. Hale accepted, and
delivered his inaugural address on the day after Commencement. His
esteemed and able colleagues in the Medical College were Reuben D.
Mussey, M.D., Prof. of Anatomy and Surgery; and Daniel Oliver, M.D.,
Prof. of Theory and Practice of Medicine. It should be noted that at
that period the importance of physical studies was not fully
appreciated at Dartmouth. The college had not taken a scientific
periodical in half a century. There was no cabinet of minerals.
"There was not," writes Dr. Oliver, "a single modern volume in the
college library upon either Mineralogy or Geology; and scarcely one,
if one, upon Chemistry, later than the days of Fourcroy or Vauquelin.
The prevailing taste was decidedly anti-physical. It was directed
another way, and not only so, but there was among the college Faculty
a disposition to undervalue the physical sciences." Dr. James F. Dana,
the predecessor of Professor Hale, writing of the college in reference
to physical science, used the following remarkable expression: "It was
anchored in the stream, and served only to show its velocity." When
Professor Hale was engaged, his duties comprised a course of daily
lectures to the medical class through the lecture term, to which
lectures the members of the Senior and Junior classes were to be
admitted; and instruction to the Junior class in some chemical
text-book by daily recitations for five or six weeks. This was all.
Professor Hale, however, addressed himself to his work with
characteristic activity and zeal. He proceeded to give each year to
the college classes a separate course of over thirty lectures, and
discharged the expenses of them himself. He substituted a larger and
more scientific text-book for that in use, and obtained an allowance
of forty or more recitations instead of thirty. He laid the foundation
of the cabinet of minerals by giving five hundred specimens,
classifying and labeling all additions, leaving the collection in
respectable condition with 2,300 specimens. He gave annually about
twenty lectures in Geology and Mineralogy; and for some years was the
regular instructor of the Senior class in the Philosophy of Natural
History. For two years, also, he took charge of the recitations in
Hebrew, and occasionally took part in other recitations; and, with
another, served as building committee during the whole process of
repairing and erecting the college edifices.
December 11, 1827, Professor Hale wrote, in a family letter, "I have
made out a plan, for the repair of the College building, and the
addition of a building for libraries, etc., for the use of Trustees at
their next session. It takes with the president mightily, and I think
they will make it go."
And in another family letter, the first after returning from a
journey, under date of March 20, 1828, he wrote:
"My arrival at Hanover was very opportune. I was looked for for
sometime, and letters were about being despatched for me.... I have
the honor of being one-half of the building committee, Professor
Chamberlain being the other moiety, and we are commencing operations.
The prospects of the College are now so bright, _that the plan I at
first proposed, and which was adopted by the Trustees_, is abandoned,
and we are preparing to erect two brick buildings, three stories in
height, and fifty feet by seventy. One for students' rooms, and the
other for public rooms.... And what is more comforting, our funds are
improving so much that the building will not distress us very much if
the $30,000 should not be realized. A good many old debts have been
collected, and are coming in, by which one building could be erected.
About $13,000 have already been subscribed, and subscriptions are
daily arriving."
All this was voluntary and gratuitous work. It is no wonder that
students thus cared for should respond, as they did, with enthusiasm
and regard. Happily, in this department as well as in all others,
Dartmouth College is now in motion, and fully up with the foremost in
the current of physical study.
During his last three years, Professor Hale was President of the Phi
Beta Kappa Society. His portrait, presented, it is believed, by the
members of that society, now hangs in the college library.
While at Hanover, Professor Hale thought it his duty to resume his
purpose of preaching, and was accordingly ordained Deacon by the Rt.
Rev. Dr. Griswold, Bishop of the Eastern Diocese, September 28, 1828,
at Woodstock, Vt.; and Priest by the same bishop, in St. Paul's,
Newburyport, January 6, 1831. In taking this step he violated in no
respect the charter of the college, he undertook nothing which
conflicted with the duties of his professorship, he acted neither
obtrusively nor illiberally; but while he occasionally preached in
neighboring churches, he always, in Hanover, scrupulously observed the
appointment at the village meeting-house. On Sunday nights, however,
he held a service in his own house, for his own family, and the family
of Dr. Oliver, and such other communicants of the Episcopal Church,
and friends, as might desire to attend. Difference in sentiment on
religious subjects, between Professor Hale and the Trustees of the
college, and action on their part which can hardly be regarded as
justifiable, led to the termination of Professor Hale's connection
with the college, in 1835.
In 1835, Professor Hale published two works, "A Valedictory Letter to
the Trustees," and "Scriptural Illustrations of the Liturgy." In
August of that year he attended the General Convention of the
Protestant Episcopal Church as a delegate from the Diocese of New
Hampshire. In October, 1836, the degree of D.D. was conferred upon him
by Columbia College. In December, having had a severe attack of
bronchitis, he sailed to St. Croix to spend the winter. His published
letters under the signature of "Valetudinarius" were very pleasant to
the reading public.
In the course of the next year he entered upon the laborious and high
duties of an office which occupied the remaining years of his active
life. He was elected, August 2, 1836, to the Presidency of Geneva
College, N. Y., and entered upon his duties in the following October;
delivering an inaugural address on the 21st of December. It is of
course impossible here to give the varied and interesting details of
his presidential life. To this institution he freely gave the wealth
of his well stored and acute mind, his tried experience, and his
cheerful, patient resolution. The trials were sometimes great, the
laborers few, the support scanty, and there were times when it seemed
as if the one man only stood between the life of the college and its
death. As one of the Trustees wrote, "Life was already nearly extinct,
and death would have soon followed, had not the president given
himself wholly to the work with a faith that never faltered, a
perseverance which strengthened with difficulties, and a thorough
conviction that his work, if well done, would promote the glory of God
and his church through all time." And he was successful, as much so as
it was within the power of one man to be, both in correcting the evils
which he found existing, and in securing the stability of the college
beyond all peradventure. Wherever he was, in the recitation room, in
the academic circle, in the Medical School of which he was _ex
officio_ president, in the Board of Trustees, in the councils of the
bishop and the Diocese, in the conferences with the Vestry of Old
Trinity Church, before the Board of Regents, before the Legislature of
the State, he was always the learned, sagacious, loyal, and inspiring
president; respected and beloved always, by all who entered the circle
of his influence; and illustrating daily in his own character, the
symmetry, strength, and purity of the principle by which he was
governed.
Dr. Hale instructed easily in every department of learning. He was
most fond of ethical and metaphysical studies. His class room will
never be forgotten by those who delighted to go to it, and regretted
to leave it. His courses of lectures for many years included Civil and
Ecclesiastical Architecture. He loved music, and read it as easily as
the words. His diction was always remarkable for the best English,
expressed in the happiest style. His memory and power of association
were almost unerring. His temper was held in the nicest balance. In
preaching he was a Chrysostom in wisdom, truth, and sweetness.
We have not space to dwell upon this theme, nor upon the wholesome
influence which Dr. Hale exerted in the diocese in which he was
placed, both towards preparing the way for a second diocese in the
State of New York, and in ministering in his place to its unity and
order, when under the Episcopal charge of the noble De Lancey. In
1858, he left Hobart (once Geneva) College, and in 1859 he left
Geneva, with this distinguished record: "The thorough and skillful
teacher, the laborious and self-sacrificing president, the
sympathizing friend, the genial companion, the judicious adviser, the
courteous Christian gentleman; in all these relations so bearing
himself as to gain the profound respect and tender affection of all
who knew him."
Dr. Hale retired to live in Newburyport, near his birth-place and by
the graves of his forefathers, with his children around him. Even then
"his influence upon the community distilled like the dews of heaven
to gladden the earth." He departed to his rest in Paradise on the 15th
of July, 1863. Dr. Hale had four sons and three daughters, of whom the
sons (one has since departed) and one daughter survived him.
His published works, beside communications to newspapers on current
topics, are: "An Address to the Public from the Trustees of Gardiner
Lyceum," 1822. "An Inaugural Address at Gardiner," 1823. "Address to
the Public in regard to the Lyceum," 1824. "Introduction to the
Mechanical Principles of Carpentry," 1827. "Sermon before the
Convention of New Hampshire," 1830. "Lecture before the American
Institute of Instruction, On the Best Method of Teaching Natural
Philosophy," 1830. "Sermon, On the Unity of God, preached before the
Convention of the Eastern Diocese," 1832. "Scriptural Illustrations of
the Liturgy of the Protestant Episcopal Church," 1835. "Valedictory
Letter to the Trustees of Dartmouth College," 1835. "Inaugural
Address, Geneva College, On the Equalizing and Practical Tendency of
Colleges," 1836. "A Lecture before the Young Men's Association of
Geneva, On Liberty and Law," 1838. "Baccalaureate: Education in its
Relations to a Free Government," 1838. "The Present State of the
Question," a pamphlet, in relation to the division of the Diocese of
New York, 1838. "Baccalaureate: The Languages," 1839. "Baccalaureate:
Mathematics," 1841. "Lecture on the Sources and Means of Education,"
1846. "Baccalaureate: The Position of the College, the State, and the
Church," 1847. "Historical Notices of Geneva College," 1849. "Sermon
on the Death of Major Douglass," 1849.
* * * * *
Professor Alpheus Crosby, who was elected to the Chair of Greek and
Latin in the College, in 1833, Professor Calvin E. Stowe having filled
the position in the interval after the death of Professor Chamberlain,
was the son of Dr. Asa and Abigail (Russell) Crosby, and was born at
Sandwich, N. H., October 13, 1810. Although less than twenty-three
years of age, his superior scholarship fully warranted the
appointment. After ably filling this chair several years, by a
division of labor he was permitted to confine himself exclusively to
the Greek language and literature. To his refined and sensitive nature
the stern old Roman was less attractive than the more polished Greek.
It is quite probable that Professor Crosby was more largely indebted
than he himself was aware to the moulding influence of his amiable and
excellent mother, for that particular type of mind and heart which
placed him among the foremost Grecian scholars of his time. Professor
Crosby's career as a linguist illustrated two distinct forms of
success. He excelled both as a _teacher_ and as an _author_. His
success as a teacher no one will question who had the privilege of
listening to his instructions, if only for a single hour. He
questioned the student with a critical eye and ear, but a womanly
gentleness. His translations might well be likened to celestial music,
long pent-up in foreign caves, but now finding rich and varied and
sweet expression, in the mother tongue. His success as an author is
sufficiently indicated by the extensive use of his text-books,
especially the "Greek Grammar."
His classmate, Rev. Dr. Tenney, says:
"It is very pleasant for me to bring back before me your brother as I
remember him at the commencement of our college life. He was, as you
know, a boy of twelve years, dressed in a boy's jacket with a ruffled
shirt, collar coming down over his shoulders, such as boys wore in
those days--playful as a kitten, and as innocent as the purest-minded
girl. He was probably the best fitted (as the phrase is) for college,
of any member of the class. He had, I believe, gone over all the
studies of the Sophomore year. Without any apparent effort he
maintained his pre-eminence through his entire college course, not only
in the Languages, but also in Mathematics and Mental Philosophy. My
recollection is that he had committed to memory all the Greek
primitives before he left college, yet with all his pre-eminence as a
scholar he never seemed to have the remotest consciousness that there
was anything remarkable about himself. We had ambitious men in the
class and some bitter rivalries, but no one ever thought of
questioning his position. In short he was both the pet and pride of
the class; his conscientiousness as a boy was that which
characterized him as a man. I do not think he would have done a
consciously wrong thing for his right hand. I remember being with him
one Sabbath, when a letter was handed him from home, and his views of
the sacredness of the Sabbath were such that he would not open it
until the Sabbath was passed. I mention this, not to illustrate the
earnestness of his conscience, but simply to show its authority over
him.
"As your brother was the youngest of the class, I was one of the
oldest, but from the commencement of our class life our intimacy was
constant. I could very readily tell why I was attracted to him, but
his friendship for me I could never understand; sure I was that I
never loved any other man as I did him; he visited me a number of
times; as I was at his home in Salem not long before his lamented
death, he seemed to me the same at the end as he was at the beginning,
one of the most lovable and remarkable men I ever knew, and the world
has seemed to be poorer ever since he left it."
Mr. C. C. Chase, Principal of the High School in Lowell, of the class
of 1839, says:
"I have had many laborious, faithful teachers, but only one genius,
and that was Professor Alpheus Crosby. He was accurate upon a point
not because he appeared to have looked it up in the books, but because
he instinctively knew it. It was in the Greek that I was instructed by
him, and I clearly recall, at this day, the expression of his face, as
he explained it to us. He seemed to revel in the beautiful thoughts
and splendid conceptions of the great dramatists. He did not appear to
be so anxious as most teachers, that our recitations should show our
critical grammatical knowledge, but rather that we should appreciate
and enjoy the wonderful creations of the great minds of antiquity. He
loved to teach. It seemed to be his delight to tell others what he had
so much enjoyed himself. It was the study of his Greek grammar that
first gave me a love for the noble language of ancient Greece. I know
of no grammar that has so few bones and so much meat in it. One can
really enjoy reading it in an idle hour! It so clearly reveals the
fact that that most beautiful of languages, with all its sweetness and
euphony, is but a transcript of the mind of the race of men that knew
more of beauty, of taste, and of philosophy than all the ancient world
besides. Professor Crosby entered into the secret chambers of Greek
thought, and became himself a Greek, and seemed to feel a perpetual
flow of delight, as he told to others what seemed so charming to
himself. Others might compel an indolent student to devote more time
and study to his lessons, but none could equal him in leading those
who loved to follow, into the 'green pastures' and 'sweet fields' of
the domain of learning."
Hon. George Stevens, of the class of 1849, says:
"My acquaintance with Professor Crosby began upon my admission to
college. My preparation in Greek was imperfect, and my knowledge of
the language was quite limited. His manner of dealing with and
instructing the class soon won my admiration, love, and respect for
him, and opened to me a new and unexpected source of pleasure in the
beauties of the Greek language. The primitive simplicity, the euphony,
sweetness, and artistic perfection of the language awakened a response
and an appreciation which only those who are like him can feel. This
appreciation of the beauties of his favorite language, kindled in him
an enthusiastic love for it. His manner of teaching imparted something
of this same enthusiasm in the students. The thoroughness of his
instruction, his perfect courtesy towards all the students, the
extreme kindness with which he always treated them, his constant
mildness and equanimity in the presence of the class, in the face even
of rude conduct and inexcusable ignorance of the lesson, his great
love and supreme devotion to his duties, apparent to all, won the love
and respect, and gave him the control of every student under him,
which no sternness or severity could ever have secured. I never knew
the least disobedience to him or the slightest disrespect shown
towards him, either in his presence or absence. The great simplicity,
purity, and honesty of his character, was a perfect shield to him
against all attacks, in word or act, open or covert. I consider him,
after years of reflection and experience, the best teacher I ever had;
and of all the impressions of the teachers of my boyhood and youth,
those made by him upon me I find are the deepest and most lasting,
and now, after the lapse of more than a quarter of a century, are the
dearest to me."
Professor Hagar, in the "New England Journal of Education", says:
"Professor Alpheus Crosby, whose death occurred in Salem, Mass., on
the 17th of April, 1874, was so widely and favorably known as a
scholar, and was so much esteemed as a man, that a notice of his life
and labors, more extended than has hitherto appeared, is justly due
his memory.
"Professor Crosby very early showed remarkable power in the
acquisition of knowledge. He learned the rudimentary branches of
education almost without a teacher. Mathematics, Latin, and Greek came
to him almost by intuition. When engaged in study, he was so deeply
absorbed that he seemed wholly unconscious of time, place, or
surroundings. When in his tenth year he was taken to Hanover, the seat
of Dartmouth College, and was placed temporarily under Professor Adams
in Algebra and Euclid, under Tutor James Marsh in Latin, and under
Tutor Rufus Choate in Greek; and these gentlemen pronounced him fitted
for college. He was then returned to Gilmanton Academy, and, to
prevent him from trespassing upon college studies, he was put to the
study of Hebrew, under the Rev. John L. Parkhurst, who was well known
as a ripe scholar. He was subsequently sent to Exeter Academy to
bridge over, with various studies, the months which his friends
thought must be passed before he should enter college. At the fall
term of the college, in 1823, in his thirteenth year, he entered; and
he passed through the four years' course of study without a rival and
far beyond rivalry. His power of acquisition and retention was
marvelous.
"After his graduation, he was kept at Hanover four years; the first,
as the preceptor of Moor's Indian Charity School, and the following
three as tutor in the college. During this period he joined the
college church, and formed his purpose to prepare for the ministry,
and spent nearly two years at the Theological Seminary, in Andover,
Mass. He was appointed to a professorship of Latin and Greek, in 1833.
In 1837 he was released from the Latin and became professor of Greek
only, which office he held until 1849, when he resigned; but he
remained Professor _Emeritus_ until his death.
"In 1834 he married Miss Abigail Grant Jones Cutler, only child of
Joseph and Abigail Cheesboro Grant (Jones) Cutler, of Newburyport,
Mass. Mrs. Crosby becoming an invalid, Professor Crosby took her to
Europe and traveled with her through England, Germany, and France,
until they reached Paris, where Mrs. Crosby died. On his return he
resumed the duties of his professorship. After the death of his
father-in-law, Mr. Cutler, he resigned his professorship, and removed
to Newburyport to care for Mrs. Cutler, who was an invalid. His Greek
Grammar, theological disquisitions, and the superintendency of schools
in Newburyport occupied his attention until Mrs. Cutler's death in
1854, when he entered into the employment of the Board of Education in
Massachusetts as its agent. In this capacity he rendered the State
most valuable services by visiting the public schools in various parts
of the State, and by his instructive and practical lectures on
educational subjects. So efficient were his labors, that in 1857 he
was appointed by the Board of Education to the principalship of the
State Normal School in Salem; this important post he occupied eight
years. To the interests of this school he zealously devoted his great
knowledge and ability, raising it to a high standard of excellence and
giving to it a most honorable reputation. He gave the school the
largest part of its valuable library, and obtained for its use the
most of its considerable cabinet. By his heartfelt kindness and his
faithful instructions he secured the love and profound esteem of his
pupils, who will ever hold him in affectionate remembrance. In the
Normal School and elsewhere, as he had opportunity, Professor Crosby
earnestly advocated the liberal education of women, believing that
their educational advantages ought to equal those enjoyed by men.
"While principal of the school at Salem he, for several years, was the
editor-in-chief of the 'Massachusetts Teacher,' performing gratuitous
labors which were highly appreciated by the teachers of Massachusetts
and of other States.
"Having traveled through the Southern States, that he might gain a
better knowledge of his own country before he went abroad, he became
deeply impressed with the iniquities of slavery, and dropped readily
into the ranks of the abolitionists. He was intensely interested in
all the discussions and phases of freedom, from Adams's 'Right of
Petition' crusade down to the day of his death. His patriotism during
the war was full and glowing. The political disquisitions in his
'Right Way,' which he edited for a year, upon the question of
reconstruction, were keen and convincing. He also published a series
of elementary lessons for teaching the freed-men of the South to read.
"During all these years, after leaving his professorship,
he was building other educational books besides his Greek
Grammar--'Xenophon's Anabasis,' 'Eclogae Latinae,' 'Lessons in
Geometry,' a 'Greek Lexicon' for his Anabasis, and, last, 'Explanatory
Notes to the Anabasis,' which he had nearly ready for the press when
death closed his labors.
"The heart of Professor Crosby was full of love for everybody and
every creature of God. He drank deeply at every spring whence flowed
charity, benevolence, freedom, and patriotism. He remained to his
death a member of an orthodox church, but, during the last years of
his life, he worshipped with Christians of other denominations, having
softened his early faith by a more liberal trust in the boundless love
and mercy of God, his Heavenly Father.
"In his association with teachers of every class, he showed himself a
friend to all. His geniality of manner, his pleasant words, his
sympathizing spirit, his overflowing desire to make others happy, his
seemingly inexhaustible knowledge, and his intelligent and
ever-courteous discussion of controverted questions in education,
morals, and religion, secured for him the warm affection and deep
respect of all who were privileged to know him."
Mr. Collar, of the Roxbury Latin School, says:
"Professor Crosby belonged not to Massachusetts alone, but to all New
England--to the whole land. Our country is poorer by the loss of an
eminent scholar, one of that small band of classical scholars in
America who are known and honored at foreign seats of learning. In the
latest, freshest, and most original Greek grammar that I am acquainted
with, that by Professor Clyde, of Edinburgh, the author acknowledges
his obligations to four distinguished scholars, three Europeans, and
one American, and the American is Professor Crosby."
"Professor Crosby's first marriage has been referred to; his second
wife was Martha, daughter of Joseph Kingman, of West Bridgewater,
Mass."
* * * * *
The following paragraphs, from an authentic source, introduce another
eminent teacher.
Ira Young was born at Lebanon, N. H., May 23, 1801. His parents were
Samuel and Rebecca (Burnham) Young.
His early years were chiefly spent in working at his father's trade,
that of carpenter, though every winter after he was sixteen, he taught
in one of the district schools in the neighborhood. He cherished a
strong desire for a collegiate education, but was not at liberty to
take any steps in that direction until he became of age. Want of means
would have been with many int his circumstances an insurmountable
obstacle,--not so with him. By the willing labor of his hands, he
obtained in eight months the means of fitting for college at Meriden
Academy, where he studied one year, and soon after leaving that
institution, where he stood high in scholarship, he entered Dartmouth
College. Neither in this year of preparation, nor during all his
college course, did he ever receive pecuniary aid from any individual
or society. He paid his way by teaching.
While at Meriden, he became, with many of his classmates, savingly
interested in religion, and made a public profession of his faith in
Christ in his native place. His religious experience, we have reason
to believe, was deep and thorough,--producing an humble, loving faith
in Christ as the only Saviour, and a sincere, benevolent goodwill to
all around him--to all mankind. His mind was calm and peaceful--not
subject to the agitations felt by so many in their religious life, and
his trust and confidence in God were never shaken. He could never bear
to hear any questioning of the ways of Providence, however dark and
mysterious they might appear. "God wills it," was always enough for
him.
Through his college course he passed with honor and success, taking
high rank in a class which was exceptionally good, producing a large
number of men who were afterwards distinguished in professional and
public life. Though himself guided in all things by the highest
Christian principle, he yet knew how to feel for those who were in
danger of falling into evil courses; and certainly in one instance, by
his tender and watchful care, he was the means of reclaiming and
saving a young friend from threatening ruin.
He graduated in 1828, and taught afterwards for a year in Berwick
Academy, Maine, and subsequently in a large public school in Boston,
from which, in 1830, he was called to a tutorship in Dartmouth
College. He held that position for three years, during which he
continued his theological studies, which he had commenced with the
ministry in view, and in that year he preached regularly in some of
the neighboring towns.
He gave up this purpose, however, when he received the appointment of
Professor of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Astronomy, in place
of Professor Adams, who resigned at that time, August, 1833. Before
the close of that month, he became Professor Adams' son-in-law by
marriage to his youngest daughter, Eliza, and seldom were father and
son more closely united in affection or more happy in mutual
intercourse.
In regard to his qualifications for his department and success in the
same, it may be well to refer to some remarks contained in an obituary
notice of him, written by one who for many years was associated with
him in instruction, and who is now placed at the head of a sister
institution.
"Professor Young had some qualities which fitted him eminently for
this position. He was, in the first place, thoroughly master of the
science and literature of his own department. Distinguished while in
college for mathematical attainments, he never relaxed in careful and
constant study of those branches to which he particularly directed his
attention. His mind was thoroughly disciplined for truth and not for
victory, and thus he was ready to test his attainments by the most
thorough methods. As he was thorough with himself, so he was with his
pupils, trying them with doubtful questions which the studious could
easily answer, but which the ignorant could not evade. Yet he was
never harsh, nor captious, nor irritating, though quick and ingenious
in exposing mistakes and follies. Besides his ample knowledge, he
possessed remarkably the power of clear and distinct statement. It was
the habit of his mind to reduce his facts to principles, and to
present them in their simplest forms. Few instructors have excelled
him in the facility with which he could disentangle and elucidate a
complicated problem, whether for the satisfaction of his own mind, or
the instruction of another. And he was as patient as he was acute. Of
a quiet temperament, not easily roused, nor rendered impatient at the
dullness or want of perspicuity in another, unless this resulted from
a moral rather than an intellectual weakness."
In April, 1858, he went to Europe and spent five months abroad, for
the purpose of procuring books and instruments for the college,
especially those which were needed for the equipment of the
Observatory, whose foundations were laid that year. He had labored
successfully in obtaining funds for this object, in which he took a
deep interest, and after the completion of the building, it afforded
him much pure enjoyment, as it gave him greatly increased facilities
both for observing and instructing in his favorite field of science.
Teaching was to him a real pleasure, and he often said that he would
not willingly exchange it for any other employment that could be
offered him. He felt a truly affectionate interest in the young minds
that successively came under his care, sympathizing with them in their
perplexities and troubles, grieving for their errors, and rejoicing in
whatever advances they made in scientific attainments and true
excellence of character. Remembering his own early struggles, he felt
much sympathy with young men similarly situated, and often rendered
them efficient aid.... Nor was his care and interest limited
exclusively to the college, but he sought to do good "as he had
opportunity," and in the manifold relations he sustained to others, in
the family, the church, the neighborhood, the village, his unselfish
kindness was ever manifested. He held the office of Treasurer of
Meriden Academy for several years after the resignation of his
predecessor, and at the time of his death had been a deacon of the
church for twenty years.
During the summer term of 1858, he was unusually occupied with college
labors, being employed most of the day in attending his recitations
and lectures, and in preparation for them. He had obtained some new
philosophical apparatus, which interested him much, and he never
seemed to find more pleasure in his work than then, though it often
left him quite weary and exhausted.
At that time there was a remarkable degree of religious interest
throughout the country, in which the college and the village shared,
and it resulted in numerous conversions. He often attended the
noon-day prayer meetings of the class he was then instructing, and
spoke of them with much pleasure; and his own heart was deeply moved
by the heavenly influence.
Near the close of July he began to suffer much from a malady which,
though hidden, must have been long in progress. His sufferings were
most acute and severe, but never did he lose that sweet patience and
serenity of spirit he had always manifested, nor that calm submission
to his Heavenly Father's will. He died September 13, 1858.
In the words of one of his most esteemed associates: "The village
mourns, for it has lost an excellent citizen; the church mourns, for
it has lost an efficient officer; the college mourns, for it has lost
a revered teacher; the State mourns, for it has lost an exemplary
subject,--one who belonged to that class who are justly styled 'the
light of the world!'"
Few men in America have ever been called to teach the abstruse science
of Mathematics, who combined in such desirable proportions a thorough
knowledge of the science with a faculty of presenting it in a pleasing
manner in the recitation room. In the happy adjustment of Professor
Young's powers one could but observe a union of quick perception with
almost perfect self-control. Whatever the deficiencies of the student,
a hasty or unguarded or inappropriate or even an unscientific word was
seldom found in Professor Young's vocabulary. His most impressive
rebuke was silence.
In a commemorative "Discourse," President Lord says:
"During his college course he was an earnest and successful student.
He carried his work before him, finished it in its time, and did it
well. He studied his lessons and a few related books, and scattered
not his mind by light, promiscuous, and aimless reading. He gorged
not, but thought and digested, and never had a literary dyspepsia. Of
course he grew right along. He was resolved, prompt, exact, untiring,
and true as steel. Everybody knew where to find him. He studied no
popular arts. Though never rough or crusty, he was curt and sarcastic;
but no man ever took offense who knew the kindness of his heart. His
fellow-students loved him. His abilities and knowledge commanded their
respect; his moral excellence secured their confidence, and his
example gave him power over their minds and manners. He hated and
reproved vice, frowned upon all disorder, disdained artifice and
trick, and stood out manfully in support of virtue. Once, in the same
entry, a few noisy and vicious young men set up to be disturbers. They
particularly insulted a worthy but timid student, who was his
neighbor. He took that student to his own room, and gave him
countenance and protection. Then they committed outrage upon his room,
and threatened personal abuse. When his remonstrance availed nothing,
he protested that he would not see such evil perpetrated in college,
but would report them. They knew him, believed him, desisted, and gave
him then the honor of his disinterested virtue, as virtue always
receives its meed of honor when it stands erect on its own
prerogative, and is not moved by the contradictions of unreasonable
and wicked men. Yet he was no ascetic. He liked companionship, was not
fastidious or exacting, never petulant or vindictive, but gentle and
forbearing. He had especial tenderness for those 'good-hearted' young
men who can never refuse to do wrong when they are invited. A
distinguished officer of one of our professional institutions once
said to me,--'I was, at one time, when in college, thoughtless,
self-indulgent, fell among bad companions, and was nearly ruined. Mr.
Young pitied me, took hold of me, and saved me.' That excellent man
could not now speak of his benefactor without tears of gratitude.
"How he stood at college, that is, what rank he held, whether first,
second, or a lower figure in his class, I never inquired, and, if I
ever heard, I have forgotten. Probably he was not equally indifferent,
for if there be a more excellent way of judgment, it was not quite
evident to his calculating mind. I have often admired how his
professional bias led him in his measurement of men, almost as by
instinct, to arithmetic, as if figures must, of course, be true, and
as if insensible moral and physical causes did not often greatly
modify or neutralize numerical computation. But it was a generous
prejudice, and I have also admired how, in his practical judgment, he
would unconsciously neutralize or modify his professional idea. He
wanted nothing but realities. He went for scholarship and not the show
of it. He accepted no metal that would not ring. He was accordingly
judged by others in reference to his sterling qualities. There might
have been men about him who made a greater figure than himself. It is
very likely. For, as I remember, strangers sometimes undervalued him.
Soon after he left college, I was sent to offer him the place of
tutor. I had not previously known him, and my first impressions were
not agreeable. I hesitated to do my errand. After all it was rather
performed than done, more after a Roman than a Saxon fashion. But it
turned out better for his character and the public good, than for my
own discernment. So of another commission not only from the Trustees,
but the venerable Professor Adams, to assure him that he would, after
a while, be wanted to take the chair of that noble old man, one of the
princes of the earth. They who knew him best had marked him, even when
he took his parchment, for that high position. How well he filled it,
and every other office he sustained, everybody who knows the college
knows.
"Professor Young was a consummate teacher. During his college course
he taught school every successive winter, as he had done for years
preceding, and earned nearly enough to pay the expenses of his course,
for he had high wages, and never wasted them on his clothes or
pleasures. That discipline settled in his mind the elements of
knowledge. The principles of all true knowledge were already laid;
first, when he was born; and, secondly, when he was born again. He
had, of course, tools to work with, and facility to use them for the
good of others, enlarging all the while his own fabric till he became
the man of science that he was for his successive trusts. He loved, as
few men ever love, to teach, and as no man can love who begins not
early and makes not teaching his profession. He went to his last
recitation when he should have been upon his bed, to find relief from
the agonies he suffered, and take off his mind from the greater that
he feared. He was never more at home, or more at ease, than with his
class. He loved to enrich them out of his own stores, and thereby draw
out and sharpen their independent faculties. He was not disconcerted
when he sometimes drew to little purpose; though sure, by set
remonstrance, or by his peculiar, quaint, dry and caustic humor, to
rebuke indifference and neglect, or expose the artifice of a bold,
shrewd, or sly pretender. He was sure of what he knew, and never gave
way without a reason. I have sometimes thought him too sure before he
scanned a question. Yet he would never persist when he saw no
foothold. He was set but not dogmatic, or no more so than a sincere
man must be when he believes what he teaches and is in earnest. He
would never defend before his class a theory because it was new, or
because it was learned, or because it was his own, or because it was
popular, or because he would otherwise be ruled out of the synagogue,
till he had made it sure by calculus, or probable by analogy. When
convinced that an hypothesis could not be verified in the present
state of knowledge, or never in logical consistency with established
facts, or moral certainties, he abandoned it like an honest man. But
where he had his ground he stood, and would have it understood. Of
course his teaching was effectual. Those who would be made scholars he
made sound and good ones. He gave a strong character to his
departments, and his departments were an honor to the college.
"Professor Young was a ripe scholar in general. He was conversant with
the accredited branches of knowledge, and held an honorable place
among learned men. He was modest and retiring, content to know, and
unconcerned about the appearance of it. He liked not to open his mouth
in the gate, but he had wisdom to deliver the city. Nothing crude,
partial, superficial, or one-sided, ever came from him. His judgments
were clear, comprehensive, and decisive. He was slow, critical, and
cautious in forming his opinions, and where he settled there he
stayed. No man could cajole or browbeat him out of his convictions.
"When our professor lay dead before us, the thought arose that, now,
no longer plodding his way to yonder dome, with steps restrained and
painful from an unknown disease, no longer weary with watching,
through his telescope, the distant orbs, nor with numbers and diagrams
to find their measure, he could survey, without a glass, infinitely
greater wonders from a higher sphere; for he had profited by his
earthly discipline: the heavens had declared to him the glory of God,
and the firmament had showed his handiwork. The day had uttered to him
speech, and the night had showed to him knowledge. Next it occurred
how natural religion had been thus reproduced in his mind and
illustrated by a higher Revelation: 'The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul; the testimonies of the Lord are sure, making wise
the simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.'"