The Oxford Academy jubilee : held at Oxford, Chenango County, N.Y., August 1st and 2d, 1854
The Oxford Academy, chartered in 1794 is the 4th oldest school district west of the Hudson River.
OXFORD, CHENANGO COUNTY, N. Y.
AUGUST 1st and 2d, 1854.
NetD Qork:
BAKER & GODWIN, PRINTERS
CORNER NASSAU AND SPRUCE STREETS.
1856.
Stimulated hy the pleasant recollection of our Jubilee,
an event of rare interest to us dwellers in a quiet rural
village ', and hy the wish expressed hy many of you to
preserve a record of those agreeable exercises in which
many of you joined with us^ we present to you this
memento of the Jubilee.
We^ in common with many of you^ are indehted to
our Academy for much of that training which has
fitted us to fill our respective stations in life, with some
usefulness we trust, and which has enahled some of
you to adorn exalted stations in the Professions and
in the State.
Its long career of honorahle though unohtrusive
usefulness, entitles our Academy to whatever credit
these proceedings may reflect upon it ; and we ilmik
we did not over estimate their interest when we ventured
to suggest in our circular that ^''it would delight yoii
hereafter to rememher these things,'^'' — things of the past
and associations of youth, "lohich only return through
the avenue of memory,
THE HOME COMMITTEE.
Oxford, June 20th, 1856.
^reliminarj '^xacttViup.
The Board of Trustees of the Oxfoed Academy,
in view of the completion of a new, commodious, and
elegant Academic edifice, and of the approach of the
sixtieth anniversary of the foundation of the Institution,
at a meeting held about the 1st of June, 1854, suggested
that a Jubilee of the former and present teachers,
students, and patrons of the Academy, be held on the
1st and 2d of August, 1854.
To aid in carrying their suggestion into effect, the
Trustees named the following gentlemen of the village
of Oxford, who had formerly been students of the
Academy, as a
HOME COMMITTEE.
DWIGHT H. CLARKE, SOLOMON BUNDY,
RUFUS J. BALDWIN, GERRIT H. PERKINS,
WILLIAM H. HYDE, HENRY L. MILLER,
HENRY R. MYGATT.
The following Circular was addressed to a number
of the former students of the Academv : —
OXFORD ACADEMY .TUBlLEE.
Oxford, N. Y., June 20 th, 1854.
Dear Sir
Home
Committee.
The approaching intended dedication of a new and elegant Academic edi-
fice in our village, in the 60th Anniversary year from the foundation of the
Oxford Academy, seems a proper occasion upon which to collect the living
representatives of our time-honored alma mater. It is desirable that the cir-
cular of invitation to be sent abroad should evince a general approval of the
proposed meeting by the former students of the Oxford Academy in bygone
days, and in different parts of the Republic. The use of your name to be
subscribed to the Circular of Invitation is respectfully solicited. " Fonan et
hcEc olim meminisse juvdbit.^^
Yours, truly,
D. H. CLARKE,
R. J. BALDWIN,
WM. H. HYDE,
SOLOMON BUNDY,
G. H. PERKINS,
HENRY L. MILLER,
HENRY R. MYGATT,
A large number of favorable responses having been
received, tbe Committee issued the following
CIRCULAR.
Oxford, July 8t7i, 1854.
Dear Sir:
You are most cordially invited to attend a general meeting of the former
teachers and students of our Academy, at the dedication of a new edifice, on
Tuesday evening and Wednesday, the first and second days of August next.
Will there again be an occasion more fit for such a meeting ? Founded in
1794, the present is the Sixtieth Anniversary year of the Oxford Academy.
The members of the Home Committee particularly desire that the occasion
shall be worthy that ancestral wisdom which, in the early days of the coun-
try, and amidst the green ruins of the forest, planted an Institution whose
students have been going forth for more than half a century, to mingle in the
active pursuits of life, until it has become literally true that " there is no
speech nor language where their voice is not heard." Although our Mother's
kindred have become so widely scattered, we hope that the family will be
largely represented.
Hon. Ward Hunt, of Utica, N. Y. (a student of 1822), has accepted the
invitation of the Home Committee, and will pronounce the Oration. Rev.
RoswELL Park, D. D., President of Racine College, Wisconsin (a student of
CIRCULAR OF INVITATION
1825), will prepare the Poem. Charles 0. Tracy, Esq., of Portsmouth, Ohio
(a student of 1821), has been invited, and is expected to deliver a Historical
Discourse ; and Rev. George Richards, of Boston (a student of 1833), a
Dedicatory Sermon (on Tuesday evening). Other interesting exercises will
accompany the Dinner, with which the occasion will be closed.
The hospitalities of the village will be freely extended to those who shall
attend, and students, immediately on their arrival, are requested to enter their
names at the office of the new Academy, where members of the Home Com-
mittee will attend, and assign to each comfortable quarters in the families of
the village. The Committee desire, if possible, to extend this invitation to
every student ; you will confer a favor by giving it publicity in your vicinity.
An early answer is requested. A cordial greeting awaits you, pleasant recol-
lections, and many a friend whose name, perchance, had well nigh faded
from memory amid the active pursuits of the world.
Richard Morris,
Richard W. Juliand,
Samuel M. Tracy,
Charles F. T. Locke,
Henry Stephens,
GuRDON Hewitt,
Lyman Balcom,
Roswell Judson,
John W. Allen,
Daniel H. Marsh,
William W. Dean,
Horatio Seymour,
Joseph G. Masten,
Eyre King,
Ferris Forman,
Samuel S. Randall,
Henry W. Rogers,
Martin Luther,
Levi S. Nichols,
George R. H. Shumway,
Henry W. Rathbone,
John R. Dickinson,
Erastus p. Smith,
Abel R. Corbin,
Daniel Gray,
John L. Riddell,
Henry VanDerLyn, Jr.,
James Clapp,
Andrew B. Mygatt,
Samuel H. Kimball,
Benjamin T. Kissam,
Student in
1794,
Butternuts, K Y.
ii
ii
1804,
Bainbridge, K Y.
n
ii
1805,
Portsmouth, Ohio.
((
ii
1806,
Oxford, K Y
ii
ii
1807,
Cortland, JST, Y.
ii
ii
1808,
Owego, K Y.
it
ii
1809,
Painted Post, K Y.
ii
ii
1818,
Sherlurne, K Y
ii
ii
1821,
Cleveland, Ohio,
ii
ii
1821,
Oswego, iV. Y.
ii
ii
1821,
New York
ii
ii
1821,
Albany, K Y.
((
4(
1822,
Buffalo, K Y.
ii
U
1822,
Barhadoes, W. I.
ii
a
1823,
Sacramento, Cal.
ii
((
1823,
New YorTc.
ii
ii
1824,
Buffalo, N. Y.
((
a
1824,
Unadilla, N Y.
ii
a
1825,
Wellsboro, Pa.
ii
a
1826,
NewarTc, N. Y.
ii
a
1827,
Pathbonemlle, N. Y.
ii
a
1828,
Binghamton, N. Y.
u
a
1829,
Guilfwd, N. Y.
u
u
1830,
Washington, JD. C.
C(
a
1830,
Syracuse^ N. Y.
ii
a
1830,
New Orleans, La.
ii
a
1831,
Chicago, III.
(I
ii
1832,
Chicago, El.
ii
a
1833,
New Milford, Ct.
ii
a
1833,
Detroit, Mich.
ii
ii
1833,
New York
OXFORD acadp:my jubilee.
Van R. Richmond,
Student in 1834,
Lyons, If. Y.
Albert Edgeuton,
" 1834,
New York
Ransom Balcom,
" 1835,
Binghamton, N. Y.
John T. AYhite,
" 1836,
New Berlin, K Y
Tracy G. Rich,
" " 1836,
Frankliv, N. Y.
Addison M. Smith,
" 1836,
Morris, K Y.
Benjamin Cannon,
" 1836,
Delhi, K Y
Giles W. Hotchkiss,
" 1836,
Binghamton, N. Y.
Israel Foot,
" 1836,
Fredonia, K Y.
James M. Elwood,
" 1837,
Borne, K Y
Hezekiah Sturges,
" 1837,
Gilhertsville, N Y.
William N. Mason,
" 1837,
Norwich, N Y
James M. Banks,
" 1837,
Bainhridge, N. Y.
Daniel Washburn,
" 1838,
Pottsmlle, Pa.
Francis R. E. Cornell,
" 1838,
Addison, N Y.
Dewitt C. Tower,
" 1838,
BrooTclyn, N Y.
Harris H. Beecher,
" 1838,
N. Norwich, N Y.
Charles C. Clarke,
" 1839,
New Yorlc.
James W. Glover,
" 1839,
Auhurn, N. Y.
Selah Squires,
" 1839,
Greene, N Y
Peter G. YanDerLyn,
" 1840,
Elmira, N. Y.
Levi H. Brown,
'' 1840,
Watertown, N Y.
Joseph E. Ely,
" 1841,
Binghamton, N. Y.
Andrew J. Hull,
" 1841,
Angelica, N Y.
Benjamin S. Miller,
" 1842,
ColumUa, 8. C.
Abel Patchen,
" 1843,
Westfield, N Y.
William B. Edson,
" 1843,
BrooUyn,N. Y
James A. Robinson,
" 1844,
ffornellsville, N. Y
Ammi B. Hyde,
" 1844,
Cazenovia, N Y.
J. Stacy Phelon,
" 1845,
Albany, N. Y
Henry S. Monroe,
" 1846,
Chicago, III
James Orton,
" 1846,
Williams College.
William A. P. Morris,
" 1848,
Hamilton College.
Joseph Juliand, 2d,
" 1849,
Bainbridge, N. Y.
Isaac Pendleton,
" 1850,
Union College.
S. Walter Stocking,
" 1851,
Hamilton College.
Erwin Baker,
" 1852,
Union College.
DWIGHT H. CLARKE,
RUFUS J. BALDWIN
WILLIAM H. HYDE,
SOLOMON BUNDY,
GERRIT H. PERKINS,
HENRY L. MILLER,
HENRY R. MYGATT,
Home
Committee.
0sptalittes 0f t|t f ilhgt
EXTENDED TO GUESTS BY THE CITIZENS.
At a meeting of the citizens of the village of Ox-
ford, on the evening of July 17th, 1854, E. Percival
WiLLcox was called to the chair, and WiujAM H. Hyde
appointed Secretary.
The following resolution, introduced by Levi Eg-
GLESTON, was unauimously adopted :
Resolved^ That we most heartily approve the intended Jubilee of
the Oxford Academy, as an event most interesting and important ; and
we hereby most cordially extend the hospitalities of our village to all
former teachers and students who shall favor us with their presence.
The chair then appointed, in accordance with a reso-
lution unanimously adopted for that purpose, the follow-
ing committee of nomination, to present to the meeting
a proper committee of five as a Finance Committee :
JOHN Y. WASHBURN, MERRITT G. McKOON,
RUFITS J. BALDWIN. ^
3
10 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
The Nominating Committee presented the following
names as a Committee of Finance :
LEVI EGGLESTON, CHAS. A. McNEIL,
WM. VAN WAGENEN, LEANDER H. KNAPP,
FREDERICK P. NEWKIRK.
The report of the Committee was adopted by accla-
mation, and the meeting adjourned sine die.
WM. H. HYDE, Secretary.
OFFICERS
The Home Committee invited the following gentle-
men, all former students of the Academy, to officiate as
officers at the Jubilee :
PRESIDENT.
Hon. henry W. ROGERS, . . Bitffalo, N. Y.
VICE-PRESIDENTS.
BENJAMIN T. KISSAM, Esq., . New York.
JAMES CLAPP, Esq., . . . Chicago, III.
HENRY W. RATHBONE, I^q., . Steuben Co., N. Y.
ANDREW B. MYGATT, Esq., . . New Milford, Ct.
ALEXANDER H. FARNHAM, Esq., Honesdale, Pa.
MARSHAL.
Hon. ADDISON M. SMITH, Morris, Otsego Co., N. Y.
^eteptt0ii
On Tuesday evening, August 1st, a large number
of former and present students, teachers, and trustees
of the Oxford Academy, and guests, assembled in the
area in front of the new Academy, directed to the spot
by the familiar chime of the old bell, and excellent
music from the Binghamton Brass Band, who were in
attendance.
Henry K. Mygatt, Esq., President of the Board of
Trustees of Oxford Academy, received and welcomed
the guests, and pronounced the following address :
The merry peals of the church bells, and the sound of music have
gathered us here after a sultry day refreshed in the mellow and beauti-
ful light of sunset. It is the eve of a jubilee.
Sixty years ago, this town was incorporated by the legislature of
the State ; and at an early day in 1Y94 this Academy was chartered by
the Regents of the University. Thirty years thereafter, it Avas my good
fortune to be a student here ; and after the hand of Time has moved
forward thirty years more, as the representative of the Board of Trus-
tees, and of the Home-Committee of former students, as well as on the
behalf of all my fellow-citizens, I cordially welcome you, teachers, stu-
12 O X F O 11 D ACADEMY JUBILEE.
dents and friends, to the dedication of a new edifice for the increase and
diffusion of knowledge among men.
Although the fifth academic building is to be dedicated here, that
those who search after knowledge and truth may be satisfied it is the
first time that the dispersed, of all climates, ages, professions, and pur-
suits, have returned to the place where in their youth they had imbibed
instruction, and contracted friendships as lasting as life. Sixty years
ago, the strife of the Revolution had but just ceased, and religious and
civil freedom had in this hemisphere established a home for the exile
and the oppressed. The genius of man had been unchained. But
little more than sixty years ago, the Oneida canton of the Iroquois
nation roamed over the dense and unbroken forests along the banks of
that beautiful Chenango, — fearless, unmolested, and free. The educated
and practical man, the puritan from New England, came and hastily
built his log house ; and with a wisdom unparalleled in the annals of
time, the first frame building he erected here was the Academy. Edu-
cation spread its mantle of light over the land ; and art, science, and
literature began to bud in token of that day when they should bloom
and blossom to full fruition.
Uri Tracy, a graduate of Yale College, a minister of the Gospel,
Avas the first Principal of the Academy. To the savage the school had
sprung up like enchantment ; but to the contemplative mind of the
dependent settler it revealed the smile of a kind Providence, who w as
illuminating the moral darkness of the valley by the introduction of
religion and learning.
Sixty years ago, the grounds directly in front of us were occupied
by the fort of the Indians. This * Fort Hill Square ' derives its name
therefrom ; a fort of great antiquity, for tradition says that it had been
in use nearly four hundred years. But that fort has receded before the
advance of civilization ; and the white man has spared nothing but a little
of the trench on one side, of that fort from the dim and fading remem-
brances of the past.
" Chieftains and their tribes have perished
Like the thickets where they grew."
Wc here this evening acknowledge our thankfulness, that an all-
powerful Hand crowned the exercise of the early settlers' faith with his
abundant blessing.
The founders and first teachers of this Academy have all finished
WELCOME ADDRESS. 13
their earthly mission, and arc gathered to their fathers. We heartily
welcome you, Richard Morris ! a student of that first year of the Acad-
emy. A descendant from a signer of the American Charter of Liberty,
in your name and in the blood which flows in your veins we recognize
the presence of the spirit of the Revolution, to which you have ever
been true, and which in our day in your person, as in former times in
your ancestry, is firm but unobtrusive, gentle yet unyielding in the
defense of the liberty of man.
Here and there are a few of the veterans of tlic first age of the
Academy. You have filled stations of usefulness and high public trust,
to you also is extended a hearty welcome.
As I stand face to face with many of my old associates of that era
when our accomplished, faithful, and revered David Prentice directed
our youthful minds in wisdom's path, so do I liail from that number an
honored friend, a distinguished advocate from the city of Buffalo, to
preside over the scenes of our jubilee.
We also hail you, the surviving trustees of that era. We cannot
be too thankful that you are spared to join us on this festive occasion.
You, General Rathbone ! were for more than thirty years a resident of
our village, and intimately connected with all its business affairs. Dis-
tinguished for generous and estimable qualities as a man, we have your
example of a life of untiring energy devoted to public improvements.
We also welcome the teachers and numerous representatives of the
later ages of the Academy. Many of you have already reached high
and honorable positions in the professions, in the councils of state, or
in other active pursuits of life. And w^e also greet you who are about
to exchange the seat of science for the responsibilities and trials of
active life.
We welcome you, one and all, honored guests I to our hearts and
happy homes I
As one generation passeth away and another cometh, may the next
forty years be a future of national progress and well-ordered freedom,
in which the knowledge of man shall be extended and his power over
nature increased ! and when that term of forty years shall have rolled
away, may many of you with your children and your children's child-
ren here join, with the voice of gladness, in the song of Centennial
Jubilee !
14 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
Hon. Henry W. IIogers, of Buffalo (a student in
1824), who had been selected to preside at the Jubilee,
responded in behalf of the guests, substantially as fol-
lows :
Mk. President of the Board of Trustees: —
If the throbbings of my own breast are a faithful index of the emo-
tions that possess the liearts of those on whose behalf I have risen to
acknowledge this reception, it is not too much to say that this cordial,
thrice cordial welcome, has quite overwhelmed us.
It seems to me strange, that after an absence from these halls of
more than a quarter of a century, most of which time has been em-
ployed in the pursuit of purposes and ends involving independent
thought, action, and will, I should at this distance of time, and even in
this presence, feel agitated and oppressed ; yet so it is.
I see around me, Sir, the familiar faces of some who, thirty years
ago, sustained by their good counsels and patronage this Institution ;
and in their presence I seem again a boy, standing, as it were, before my
teachers and censors, embarrassed by a consciousness that my task has
been imperfectly performed. These sensations, I doubt not, are in a
greater or less degree shared by all who have returned here like myself,
after an interval of many years, to meet and greet the friends and
associates of our youth, and to recall memories and incidents of our
school-boy life. Such I suppose to be a natural effect of association, in
awakening memories, — in living again through scenes long vanished ;
and although, in some of its aspects, it may embarrass and even sadden
the heart, we w^ould not have it otherAvise if we could.
But, Sir, I will not further pursue this train of reflection. Hoping
that this Jubilee will more than fulfill the ardent expectations of those
by whom it has been undertaken, and through Avhose efforts it is to be
mainly sustained, I do now, in the name of the students and alumni of
the Oxford Academy and its honored teachers, sincerely thank you and
your associates for this generous and hospitable reception.
^^txthts at i\t €\uxt\.
Aftek the exercises upon tlie green had been con-
cluded, those assembled moved in procession to the
Presbyterian Church, where a large congregation of
ladies had already assembled. The Church was filled
to its utmost capacity.
The services opened with music from the band, and
a hymn by the choir. Rev. Daniel Washburn, of
Pottsville, Pa. (a student in 1838), offered prayer.
The Dedicatory Sermon was then preached by Rev.
George Richards, of Boston, Mass. (a student in
1828).
eiitat0n) Serm0n,
REV. GEORGE RICHARDS.
We do well to begin these festivities with God.
Since He is the source and spring of all good ; since for
all we have and are we are indebted to Him, for all we
hope for are dependent on Him, for the use or abuse
of all are accountable to Him ; since to lack his ap-
proval is to lack the prime essential to success; since
that approval to be secured is to be sought, there is a
manifest propriety in prefacing every wise, every benef-
icent, every Christian undertaking, with thoughts of
Him, with the devout recognition of his being and
perfections, with the intelligent consideration of his
relations to us and ours to Him, of his paramount
claims to our homage and our service.
Met at the call of an institution to which we are
proud to realize and acknowledge our indebtedness;
met, its sons and daughters, after long and wide disper-
sion; somewhat strangers to each other, yet alike at
home amid these endeared and familiar retreats; the
past present again; by-gone scenes and associations
DEDICATORY SERMON. 17
thronging back upon us ; the very forms and counte-
nances of the dead seeming to reappear among the
living ; met to inaugurate the new into the place of the
old, a stately and commodious edifice in room of its
less imposing, not less loved and revered predecessors ;
mingling our voices in grateful recognition of mercies
now and' heretofore enjoyed; confessing our short-
comings and remissness, blessings conferred not always
to be ajDpreciated and improved, hours which, could
they be lived over, might be lived better ; lifting our
fervent supplications to the mercy-seat, that to-morrow
may be as this day, and more abundant ; that other
and successive generations may be the reapers, here
to gather and garner the golden harvests, — ^thus met,
thus occupied, what lesson suited to the time, the
place, the occasion, above all to the Presence which
here and everywhere surrounds and overshadows us,
may we contemplate ? My text is in
John, iv. 24.
GOD IS A SPIRIT.
These few and simple words, addressed by the
Great Teacher to his humble and wondering auditor,
at the well of Jacob, contain a truth of profound
significance, pertinent — may I not hope ? — ^to the inter-
esting errand that has assembled us.
He spoke these words for us, to us, as truly as to
her who stood amazed and bewildered, yet not unin-
18 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
structed nor unaffected, by his discourse. Let our
higher culture and ampler opportunities insure at
least equal docility.
" God is a spirit !" To some, this proposition ap-
pears a mere negation. The language is interpreted
to mean : God is not matter ; He is not impenetrable,
divisible, possessed of form, weight, color.
All this may be true, and yet far short of what
Christ intended. He did not state what God is not,
but what He is : " God is a Spirit."
But this, it may be replied, is simply equivalent
to saying what He is not ; matter, we see, we handle,
we weigh, in a word, comprehend; it is known to us
in itself, nothing is more familiar, or so familiar:
spirit, on the contrary, is invisible, impalpable, im-
ponderable, in fact, incomprehensible every Avay ; it is
an unknown quantity, conjectured, indeed, to exist,
and perhaps for sufficient reasons, but its I'eal nature
and qualities, absolutely indiscoverable. Now, is this
so ? It is not so. We know spirit as directly as we
know matter ; as positively as we knoAv matter ; more
directly, more positively, than we know matter. In-
stead of saying spirit is not matter, and that is all
we know about it, it were juster to say, matter is
not spirit, and that is all we know about that. Con-
sider if it be not so.
"We are all of us conscious of a great variety of men-
tal states. These have their resemblances and differ-
ences, which admit of their being distinguished and
DEDICATORY SERMON. 1^
grouped into classes. One class, for example, we term
tlioughts, another feelings, another choices. That we
actually experience such states, we are certain ; cannot
be made surer than we are.
We know also what they are, in knowing that
they are. Now, all these diverse states thus present
to my consciousness, I — by an irresistible law of my
nature — attribute to a single subject or agent, which
I call myself. They are mine, and not another's. I
think all these thoughts ; I, the very same I, experi-
ence all these feelings ; I exercise all these choices.
But if I thus think, I must possess a power or
faculty of thought ; that I call intellect : if I thus
feel, — a power or ability to feel, which I call my
susceptibilities : if I thus choose, — a capacity to choose,
which I call will. By these steps, then, I come to
know myself: first, are the acts or states of which I
am directly conscious ; next follows, by irresistible
inference, the existence of a subject or agent, whose
are these acts or states ; last, is the nature, powers,
properties by virtue of which this subject or agent is
enabled to possess or exercise such acts or states.
Now, among the names which I apply to this
subject or agent, is spirit. What, then, do I know
of spirit? That it exists; that it is endowed with
faculties of thought, emotion, and volition ; that it
exercises those faculties in producing the results of
which I am directly conscious. This is to know
something about it, surely ; not merely, to know what
20 OXFORD ACADEMY JlTBtLEE.
it is not, but to know also what it is. It is tliis same
thinking, feeling, choosing substance, which discloses
its nature in its effects; effects going on under my
eye, of which I cannot be ignorant if I would ; effects
of surprising richness and variety, more and more
thoroughly understood as I more and more patiently
and persistently contemplate them ; effects which, the
better they are understood, shed more and more light
upon that nature of which they were thus con-
stituted the revelation.
What is matter ? It is an existing thing which
discloses its nature in its effects, and is thus discovered
to be impenetrable, extended, and the like. What is
mind, soul, spirit, or whatever else be the name by
which I see fit to call it ? It is an existing thing
with certain other properties, displayed in their
effects. Thus, I know the one essentially as I know
the other.
Now, of the two, which do I know best — most
thoroughly — most intimately ; that which observa-
tion reveals to me, or that which consciousness reveals
to me ? that which is external to me, — ^the drapery
I wear, the house I live in, the prison in which I am
incarcerated, the sepulcher in which I am interred,—
or that which is inseparable from my being, into
whose mysterious depths I can directly peer, which,
whether I sleep or wake, is ever disclosing to me
its mysteries, whispering its garnered secrets, striv^-
ing to attract my notice, and make me acquainted
I)EDTCAa:OTlY serMoiC. 21
with what it most concerns me and should most
interest me to know — myself?
Christ's words, then, to the woman at the well —
to us at these fountains of knowledge and improve-
ment — were more than a negation. They unfold a
truth most precise and intelligible, and of the utmost
consequence.
God is a spirit ; that is, He is essentially what thou
art ; He has properties and faculties akin at least to
thine own; He is the magnified, colossal original of
which thou art the imitation. Separate from thine own
nature every thing distorted and unworthy ; refine, ele-
vate, and ennoble every excellence; exalt imperfection
into perfection, finite into infinite, — and thou hast the
Maker of mind, who fashioned it in his own image,
aftei: his own likeness, who reduced his own illimitable
proportions to this miniature copy and resemblance.
Things, we all know, may be the same in kind
and differ greatly in dimensions. The space you can
inclose within your hand is as truly space as is the
entire plan of the solar system, as is the wider in-
terval between the remotest stars, as is the bound-
less and empty void that hems round and shuts in
the created universe. The instant of time chron-
icled by the beating of your heart or the tick of
your chronometer is as truly duration as is the four-
score of age, as is the life-time of the globe, as are
these multiplied by the sands of every shore, as is the
incalculable, immeasurable being to j^vhich these are
22 OXl'ORl^ ACAllEMr JUBILEE.
but as the transit of a cloud over the sun, a shuttle
across the loom.
So the human spirit and the divine are spirits,
though there is no ratio between their magnitudes,
though no multiple of the one can attain to or approxi-
mate to the immensity of the other ; both are spirits.
Nor is it necessary to maintain that they are the same
even in kind : they may be analogous — intelligence in
the one modeled on and answering to intelligence in
the other, choice in the one to choice in the other ;
as far alike as their other immeasurable and immutable
diversities and discrepancies will admit. "The glory of
the celestial is one, the glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of
the moon, and another glory of the stars. One star
differeth from another star in glory."
Wider is the difference between the Creator and
the created. Still he is our Father in Heaven, and we are
his offspring. We took upon us his nature before He
took upon him ours. One said, who would not deceive
and could not err, said to an ignorance that needed to
be enlightened and a docility that sought to be, " God
is a spirit."
Has not the truth we have contemplated its bear-
ings on the great interests that have convened us ; on
the process and the results of education ; on the respon-
sibilities of the teacher and the taught ?
Among the studies to be pursued here will be the
physical sciences, matter in its hues and forms, its
DEDICATORY SERMON. 23
orders organic and inorganic, its mineral, vegetable, and
animal kingdoms. Such inquiries, judiciously pursued,
are eminently salutary. They cultivate and invigorate
the memory, they store it with shapes and images of
beauty, they furnish the richest, most varied metaphor
and illustration, they turn the thoughts from books to
nature — at least a profitable interchange, — they impart
a freshness and originality which do not come fi'om the
perpetual handling and recoining of other men's
opinions. A taste for flowers, and shells, and birds,
for the pictured mosaic of the fields, and the glittering
museums of the seas, and the gorgeous cabinets of
groves, such taste, if not genius itself, waits on it, the
handmaid to its inspirations.
Still, there is danger in such pursuits, especially if
they be followed in a mechanical and utilitarian spirit.
The mind may dabble and drudge in matter till it
contracts insensibly its taint and soil. The anatomist
has groped amid the labyrinth of bones and sinews, of
veins and arteries, of muscles and fibers, pushing his
researches downward and upward, with microscopes for
eyes, the doors closing behind, as avenues new and
unexplored are opening before, till — retreat cut of5^*,
his way lost amid the intricacies he has so daringly
invaded, flesh and blood the sole landmarks that sur-
round him — he becomes skeptical as to the reality of
any higher nature.
A soul! — he has nowhere met with it in his
24 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
researches ; it has never shrunk from his keen-pointed
scalpel ; he has not discovered it in his alembic. Where
is it ? what is it ? is it any thing except a name ? He
forgets that it is that very thing that asks the question,
that explores, and inquires, and reasons, and conjectures,
and doubts at last whether it exists, losing sight of
itself in the multifariousness of the objects which its
quickened faculties disclose to it. This may serve as an
illustration. Matter never can be mind, never can
surpass nor rival it, never can be other than its escort,
its attendant, its gross, yet useful, servitor ; still it may
get between it and itself, and blind it to its own intrin-
sic superiority.
There is an antidote to this groveling and debasing
tendency. It lies in the consideration. Whence came
the world ; who made it ; who lent to it whatever of
charm, of majesty, of utility, it possesses; who consti-
tuted it the mirror to reflect the skill and might
lavished on its structure and equipment ; whose foi*e-
thought is here visible ; whose nice adaptation of
means to ends ? To start thus is to start aright. It is
to begin at the beginning ; to give intellect, and charac-
ter, and will, the sovereign pre-eminence that belongs to
them.
God is a spirit ; look then for the marks, the pi-oofs,
of what He is in what He does. Expect to see mind
gleaming through the dull pores and interstices of
matter. Watch for the artist in the products of his
DEDICATORY SERMON. 25
pencil or his chisel. It is not the paint spread in varied
tints over the ceilings of the Vatican that enchains and
entrances the beholder ; it is the love, the tenderness,
the bewitching grace, the inspired elevation, that weep,
and smile, and beam on him from those enchanted
walls. It is not the stone hewn into forms and coun-
tenances and twining serpents, that arrests him in the
Laocoon ; it is the grief that looks what it cannot utter,
it is the strength strangled and manacled in that inexo-
rable coil, the agony petrified under his gaze. The mar-
ble is nothing, it is the genius that has transformed
it. So nature : cull and classify its products ; indoc-
trinate the young and ardent into its mysteries ;
cherish a taste for communion with its beauty and
sublimity ; but hide not the fact, whose mandate
woke it into life. Spell out his name and attri-
butes sculptured on the sky-piercing mountains ; hear
them wafted on the wild chorus of the winds, the
lulling cadences of waterfalls, the rolling drums of
thunders, the solemn symphonies of seas. Transcribe
his annals from the archives of the mines, the exhumed
lore of generations, the mystic hieroglyphic of shell
and fossil. Trace his dexterous handiwork in the
gorgeous diversity of landscape, in the orderly recur-
rence of the seasons : spring, creeping stealthily on
the frozen trail of winter; summer, tripping gaily
along the flowery path of spring; autumn, pursuing
brisk in the scented steps of summer ; winter, driving
apace along the fruitful wake of autumn. In a word.
26 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
teach the youthful devotee of science, to find " tongues
in trees, books in the I'unning brooks, sermons in
stones, and God in every thing."
Mental science, doubtless in this, as in all similar
and well-conducted institutions, will have its fitting
place. It brings the scholar into direct contact with
his own being. It informs him, not what he sees,
feels, handles, but what he is. It makes known to
him that which must be the instrument of all
his acquisitions. What warrant has he for relying
on the testimony of his faculties, even as to an
external world, till he has inquired into their laws
and limitations ? To use them without having thus
interrogated them, is to abuse them. It is at best
to employ them as does the unlettered mariner his
quadrant, taking its evidence upon trust and hearsay.
Faculties like ours deserve better treatment. ''The
proper study of mankind is man."
But, how enhanced an interest attaches to these
inquiries, when we know after what pattern the mind
was fashioned ! Suppose it to have been revealed,
that amid the myriads of worlds and their produc-
tions, one thing was modeled after its Original;
that while all things bespoke his skill and power,
one, but one, was the copy of Himself. With how
intense and unwearied a curiosity might we well
seek for it amid the stores of earth, and air, and
sea; range, penetrate, and explore, till our raptured
eye fell on the burnished surface that gave back
DEDICATORY SERMON. 27
its Maker's likeness. But we are not left to our
own curious, perhaps baffled investigations. An un-
erring finger points at once to the object of our
search. Thou art this miracle of skill.
But while inquiries into mind acquire new and high
significance from the fact that it resembles God, they
acquire still higher from the fact that He resembles it.
To know Him, we need know ourselves. Self-scrutiny
furnishes the alphabet, the rudiments, of this intermina-
ble research. " God is love," says the Scripture. Can
that mean any thing to him, who knows not what love
is ? Can we otherwise know love than by experi-
encing it, — ^being conscious of the very emotion the
word expresses ? " Power belongeth unto God," says
the Scripture. Whence comes our earliest, most
intelligible idea of power, but from the exercise of
it, — the conscious triumph over difficulties, — the
doing, at least attempting to do, what costs an
effort ? " His understanding is infinite," says the
Scripture. Who knows, or can know, what under-
standing is, but him who understands, — who is endowed
with intelligence and uses it, — who has learned its
nature and capacity by the diligent employment of
it ? Thus it is with the entire circle of the divine
attributes. Either and all, to claim and deserve our
adoration, they must in some measure be appreciated ;
to be appreciated, they must in some measure be
apprehended ; to be apprehended, they must have
28 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
their types and representations within us. Strange,
that so much can be concentrated and condensed
into so little ! Yet it can. So have you looked into
a lake, set like a gem in its framework of hills, and
seen far down, as if thousands of fathoms beneath its
glassy surface, the sailing clouds, the silver moon,
the sweet influences of Pleiades, the spangled belt
of Orion, the ponderous dome of blue, itself inverted
and reproduced in the shallow pool, which was but
the molten looking-glass, to repeat and give back
these glories. The Divine Being is not only past
finding out, but utterly beyond the scope of our
investigation ; we can make no approximation toward
just ideas of Him, unless self-knowledge be the step-
ping-stone — the lattice that looks out on the wide
arena — the wicket-gate that conducts to the broad
and endless thoroughfare. What a stimulus here to
the student of philosophy ! If we can know God
through knowing ourselves, how imperative the duty,
how exalted the privilege, to know ourselves that we
may know God ! We should promptly begin and
vigorously pursue, for the lesson is of incalculable
moment and will never be learned.
Moral science unquestionably will claim attention
here. This is a branch of mental science, yet deserv-
ing a distinct, separate consideration. Mental science,
as distinct from moral, describes man rather as he
is ; moral, as distinct from mental, rather as he ought
DEDICATORY SERMO^^. 29
to he. Mental treats chiefly of his nature ; moral, of
his character. Mental dwells largely on the intellect ;
moral, on the heart.
Man, indeed, has implanted in him a moral nature,
and of this, moral science is first to treat. The
legitimate fruit of such nature is a moral character,
which, also, is to be thoroughly investigated.
Man's moral nature being part and parcel of his
spiritual constitution, is, like his intellectual nature,
borrowed and copied from his Source.
Christ's declaration covers the ground. God dis-
criminates between right and wrong ; and we do.
God feels bound to adhere to the former and abjure
the latter ; and so we. He is worthy of approval,
only as He abides by this eternal rule of rectitude;
we are. His happiness is based forever on an
inflexible adherence to integrity; so ours. Herein,
after all, lies the grandest distinction of man, that he
is allied morally to his Great Author. The brute is
endowed with understanding ; he has instincts that
rival reason. " The ant, knowing no guide, overseer,
or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer and
gathereth her food in the harvest." " The singing
masons build their roofs of gold " after an infallible
geometry. But neither ant nor bee has conscience,
nor feels the pressure of infinite obligations. Wouldst
thou know something of a sway that stretches
its scepter over a moral universe ? Listen to its
voiceless decrees within thee ; decipher its decalogue
30 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
on the foundations of tliine own being. Wouldst thou
survey, in anticipation, the final inquest, the 8j)ot-
less throne, the open books ? See thyself arraigned
at thine own bar, at once judge and culprit, witness
and accused. Wouldst thou forecast the endless
retributions, ecstatic joy, unavailing sorrow ? Con-
trast the blissful sunshine of self-approval with the
midnight horrors of remorse. Thus do Immensity and
Eternity image and foreshadow themselves in this
narrow span.
While man's moral, like his mental, constitution
does and must resemble God's, his moral character, the
offspring of that constitution, may or may not resemble
his. Here we are left to choose. The good and the evil
are at our option. We have the powers, to be used
or abused at will. The question ^vJiicli., is left to
our own decision. It is the grand problem of our
life. It makes time the portal to appalling and stu-
pendous destinies. Such responsibilities were thrown
on us when we were cast in that sovereign mold.
Would we evade them ; do we despond under
them ? — we should have been stones or brutes. But
that loop-hole of retreat is not left us ; we are made
in the divine image, and must face the consequences.
We are stationed here to be trained for other scenes
and worlds. We are urged to become voluntarily
like Him, in whose natural image we were created.
To further such sublime, such divine resemblance, is
the noblest province of education. It should be the
DEDICATORY SERMON. 31
distinct aim of this and of every kindred institution.
To this end we devote its expanded walls and relaid
foundations. We baptize it at this altar, into the
name of Learning and of Religion.
Let their union be the goal towards which its
discipline and culture, its science and philosophy, its
arts and letters tend : to reproduce God in man ; to
lead the finite up, up toward the stature of the
Infinite ; to plant the steps of youth and inexperience
on that ladder whose first round may be in the dust,
but whose last is beyond the stai*s. Then will the
utmost hopes and aspirations of this day be I'ealized ;
this joyous jubilee will be the precursor of other
and brighter reunions, not to be succeeded by
separations ; while this peaceful retreat of letters —
nestled among the hills that rise round it, its
guardian sentinels, their green summits the barricades
against the din and stir beyond, — like the quiet rest-
ing-place of the patriarch, where coming events cast
their lengthened shadows, and present repose strength-
ened for future toil, and celestial voices cheered, and
celestial footsteps visited, will be " none other but
the House of God and the gate of Heaven."
32 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
The following Dedicatory Ode, composed for the
occasion by Kev. Daniel Washburn, was sung by the
choir, the audience joining in the singing :
Hither come, from vale and mountain,
Brothers all from far and nigh,
Hail we now the classic fountain
Fresh as to our boyhood's eye.
Green the bank, the streamlet bubbling.
Brighter e'en than when we erst
Quaffed, without surmise what troubling
Fired, while seem'ly slaking thirst.
Thirst for right our souls possessing.
Thirst nor earth nor time can sate.
Heaven, to Thee, we look for blessing,
Crowning grace we supplicate —
Blessing for the poor in spirit
Rich howe'er in goods or land.
Blessing such as they inherit
Who for others' weal have planned.
Father, hear our hearts' petition !
Glad the day we celebrate.
Prosper Thou this institution ;
Own the work we dedicate !
Dedicate to all true science,
Be this temple in thy sight,
Ever working calm defiance,
Over foes of truth and light !
Let the coming generations
Training here for brotherhood,
Downward striking live foundations,
Upward bear glad fruit and good.
Student, fain unlocking nature,
Lift the key that God has given,
Grace and truth shall guide the creature.
Nature smile, and home be Heav'n.
A Benediction was pronounced by Rev. Henry
Callahan of Oxford.
(^xtxthtB nt i\t %a)imi
At half-past ten on Wednesday morning, August
2d, the exercises were continued in the area in front of
the New Academy. Seats were provided, and occupied
by several hundred Ladies; and almost the whole
area, the piazza of the Academy, and the windows of
the contiguous buildings were filled with eager and
attentive auditors. After music by the band. Rev.
Geoege Richards offered an appropriate prayer.
The following Ode, written for the occasion by Miss.
Lucy A. Balcom, of Oxford, was then sung.
Come from the sunny South ;
Come from the distant West ;
Come from the farthest North ;
Come from " away down East ;"
Come age with silvery hair,
And manhood in its prime,
Bearing the golden sheaves.
Of life's proud harvest time ;
Come, come, come,
Come to the Jubilee ;
Wherever ye may roam,
Haste on the wings of steam,
Back to your Oxford home.
5 ♦
34 OXFUKD ACAL>EMY JUBILEE.
Come youth with bounding step
And pulses beating high ;
Come maidens fair and bright,
With the love-light in your eye ;
Come mothers from the homes,
By woman's presence blest.
No Jubilee could have,
A better, purer guest.
Come, come, come, &c.
Come from the noise and din
Of the busy wide- world's strife ;
Here we will taste again
The joys of school-day life.
'Neath the trees we loved of old
In the walks where oft we met,
We'll greet with open hearts.
The friends we ne'er forget.
Come, come, come, &c.
We'll speak of the absent ones,
Wherever they may be.
Who in spirit and in love.
Attend our Jubilee.
And memory will revert.
To the loved we'll see no more,
Till we meet them where they dwell.
On the brighter, better shore.
Come, come, come, &c.
William H. Hyde, Esq., of Oxford, then read a
Historical Discourse, prepared by him.
'^
s.
' ^
■'^Si-srea iy J C Bti
.^^^2
ist0rital |leminiKeiites,
WILLIAM H. HYDE, Esq
Most of those before me hold in faithful memory
the trials and fortunes of the hero of the ^neid. There
was one scene sketched with the richest imagery of the
epic muse, and burdened with the energy of his soul's
emotion, which addresses itself to us to-day as peculiarly
appropriate.
When ^neas, the victim of trial and misfortune, an
exile, with his companions and fleet, had sailed from
Troy and securely plowed the Tuscan Sea, the winds
and storms arising, drove the hitherto happy compan-
ions diversely, and a remnant, with ^neas at their
head, were at length safely moored on the shores of
Africa. Possessed by a great love of the land, they
stretched their weary and drenched limbs on the shore^
^^d had sweet rest.
They then brought stores from the ships, and spread
a banquet. When their hunger was appeased, and the
36 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
tables removed, they held long discourse concerning
their missing companions, doubtful whether they were
yet alive or had found a grave in the sea, the waves
their only monument, and the winds their requiem.
Recounting their virtues, with a tear to their memory,
they pronounced the solemn " vale " to their ashes, and
resumed their journey to their distant home.
From the sea of life, we are gathered back to-day to
the scenes and recollections of boyhood. Many are
with us now^, for the first time since they embarked
from the harbor, with kind benedictions of teachers
and comrades. Many who left with doubt and dark-
ness before them, are returned with joy ; the victor's
laurel on their brow. Here is the strong, stalwart man,
instead of the timid youth; the furrows of care, or
benign complacency, indicating labor and rich reward,
where erst was the ruddy smoothness of youth ; coun-
tenances that bespeak " good will towards men," hearty
courage for the right, bold enterprise in the world ; the
fruition instead of the wavering purjDose ; the sheaves
and not the seed. Many have sunk beneath the
waves ; — some from the heights of prosperity and
fortune, in the full strength of years ; some from the
more humble but not less happy and honorable paths
of private life ; many while the dewdrops of the morn-
ing yet glistened in the rising sun, and the birds and
the flowers lent enchantment to the spring time.
The teacher of the Academy, the first Palinurus
who guided the Academic bark safely from the harbor.
HISTORICAL REMINISCENCES. 37
" rests from his labors." They are here who will recall
his strong arm and his kind counsel, by which, avoiding
the Scylla and Charybdis of the student, they were
securely started on the voyage of life. Others there
were, who are not here to-day ; strong hearts they had,
spirits of bold adventure ; and they fell in the van-
guard of the pioneer army of civilization, that has been
surging westward, obliterating the vestiges and sup-
planting the homes and 'customs of the aborigines.
When the "banquet is finished, and the tables re-
moved," their comrades will tell of their fates.
" Fata Lyci, fortemque Gyan, fortemque Cloanthum."
All are welcome, — careworn and young, sad and
gay, timid and strong, honored and humble, — ^yet sons
all of our common literary parent. We bespeak for
you pleasant reunions, joy for the sorrowful, pleasant
memories to the wounded spirit, and a realization in a
day, of a retrospect crowded with the glorious recol-
lections, the pleasant fancies, the sweet companion-
ship, the bright hopes, the young dreams, and the
high aspirations of the scholar's life. We wish you
increase to prosperity, wealth added to competency,
hope for despair, energy for languor, joy for heaviness,
and a horizon from this day forward brightening to
its decline,
" Revocate animos, moestumque timorem,
Mittite; for>san et haec olim meminisse juvabit."
To trace briefly the career of our Alma Mater, whose
38 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
Sixtieth anniversary we this day commemorate, is a
pleasant but difficult task.
The early records are imperfect, and tradition only
will supply many facts, which have been but partially
remembered, while many things which would interest
you have been neglected or lost.
We are reminded too, that, during a period of sixty
years, brief in the history of the world, the students of
our Academy have become scattered throughout our
extended territory, and now dwell on shores lashed
by the wild surgings of the Atlantic, on islands of the
ocean, and where the gentler Pacific has wafted them
to the golden gates of California. But we take cour-
age from the thought, that whether on Atlantic or
Pacific coast, they respond in spirit to-day, to the sen-
timent that has brought us together, each perchance
surrendering himself to pleasant memories, which float
across his mind, like the shadow of a light summer
cloud over hillside, or
" Like some sweet beguiling melody,
So sweet, we know not we are listening to it."
In youth our lady, coy and modest, chose as her
favorite haunt the sylvan solitudes which then bor-
dered our quiet Chenango. It is hardly proper for a
younger son, to speak of the youthful charms of his
mother, for when we first recollect her, she had grown
venerable, and traces of care and hardship rested on
HISTORICAL REMINISCENCES. 39
her otherwise serene and beautiful countenance. The
question of her early personal appearance is, however,
put at rest in the presence of so many of her elder
sons, many of them not lacking in masculine beauty ;
while her many daughters, in the words of a quaint
old poet, " more beautiful even, than their beautiful
mother," put the matter beyond controversy.
We have it from tradition, that the original town-
ship of Fayette, of which Oxford is now a portion, named
from the noble Marquis, was first visited and explored,
with reference to permanent settlement, about the year
1Y90. The township was bounded between the Una-
dilla and Chenango rivers, and was among the first in
this section of the State surveyed and laid out, after
the war of the Revolution.
The tract was procured to the State by treaty with
the Oneida and Tuscarora Indians in the year 1785.
Gen. Hovey, a native of Oxford, Massachusetts, and
who gave our village a name, was admirably fitted
for the task of settlement, schooled as he was by early
habits, and blessed with rare personal qualities, for the
arduous labors and severe hardships of pioneer life.
He entered into an agreement with the State to
open a road from Unadilla to the Cayuga Lake, near
Ithaca.
The road was known as the Old State Road, and
will be remembered by all w^ho have passed over it.
It was located and constructed to harmonize with the
dauntless and energetic character of the age, which
40 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
was never guilty of circumlocution to avoid a hill,
regardless of the old maxim, " elevation is exposure."
In the year 1791, there were two residents only on
the western portions of Fayette township, within our
present village limits, — Elijah Blackman and one
Phelps, both now deceased. To one looking down at
that period, upon two solitary log houses in the midst
of a dense forest, with no visible way of approach, it
would indeed have been a problem, whether those two
early settlers had descended from the clouds, or, trust-
ing themselves to the current, had floated to that
forest solitude. It is pleasant to contemplate the ad-
venturous enterprise of those, who, in that early day,
and in a wilderness, planted the institution whose
sixtieth anniversary we this day commemorate.
In the year 1791, Gen. Hovey moved with his
family into a log-house near the present residence of
^N^elson C. Chapman.
The settlement increased rapidly. A letter from
Samuel Miles Hopkins, a well-known lawyer of that
day, written to a friend, recited the following facts : —
" One hundred and ten miles west from Catskill,
through a country almost entirely new, brought me
to the village of Oxford, and to the house of Benjamin
Hovey, the founder of it, and who, eighteen months
before, had cut the first tree to clear the ground where
the village stood. Here, too, I found Uri Tracy (of
the class in college two years older than myself), and
whom, after forty years, I still count among the most
HISTORICAL REMINISCENCES. 41
valuable of my friends. Here I took my residence.
Hovey was a man of very strong natural sense and
vigor of action, but of very little education. He bad
been unfortunate in Massachusetts. His family bad
preserved life in tlie wilderness for some days by
eating tbe grain from tbe ear in an unripe state. Sud-
denly he started for New York, laid open plans for
the settlement of lands to the proprietors whom he
found, built Oxford on his own lands, and became the
leading man of very growing country. I settled at
Oxford as a lawyer. My first law draft I made by
writing on the head of a barrel, under a roof made of
poles only, and in the rain, which I partially kept from
spattering my paper, by a broad-brimmed hat. In
such a village as this, the first framed building was an
Academy, of two stories high, and Mr. Tracy was
the teacher. No Yankees without the means of
education."
The application to the Regents of the University
of the State, for a charter, by the friends of the
Academy, bore date January 12, 1793. Among other
matters it recited the following : —
" Whereas the subscribers have severally con-
tributed for the purpose of erecting an Academy in
the town of Jericho in the county of Tioga, for the
instruction of youth in the learned languages and other
branches of useful knowledge ;
'' And whereas a lot of land has been purchased,
42 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
and a building erected thereon, in the town aforesaid,
out of the moneys contributed as aforesaid, for the
use and profit of the said Academy. Now therefore we
do respectfully make application to the Eegents of the
said University, and request that the said Academy ha
incorporated, and be subject to the visitation of the
said Eegents ; and we do heret)y nominate Benjamin
Hovey, John Patterson, Uri Tracy, David Bates,
Nathaniel Wattles, Witter Johnson, Charles Anderson,
Jonathan Fitch, John McWhorter, Sleuman Wattles,
Joab Enos, Benjamin Ray, Samuel Coe, Solomon
Martin, Avery Powers, James Phelps, Gershom Hyde,
and Peter Burget, to be Trustees for the said Academy ;
and we do hereby specify and declare, that the said
Trustees shall be called and distinguished by the name
of the Trustees of Oxford Academy in the county of
Tioga."
A school had already been in operation for eighteen
months, when the Charter of the Oxford Academy was
finally granted ; and the building used for an Academy
building was erected in I'? 91, or the early part of the
year 1792. The first Academy building stood on
Washington Square, and near the present residence of
Joseph Walker. Going back in imagination sixty years,
and divesting the landscape of every trace of civiliza-
tion, save here and there a small log house or an
unfinished frame dwelling, — replacing again the forests
in primeval grandeur, except where a small clearing
HISTORICAL REMINISCENCES. 43
had furnislied sufficient room for the absolute necessities
of life, — and we can form a faint realization of the state
of our valley when the frame school-house on Washing-
ton Square first became the " Oxford Academy." We
will enter. It is a pleasant autumn day ; there is a
mild radiance of sunlight without, and within there is
nothing to break the stillness of the schoolroom, save
the voice of the master, unless it be the repeated and
faithful stroke of the woodman's ax, and the wrench
and crash which reminds us that another proud forest
tree is yielding to the sturdy stroke of civilization.
That man of medium height, with the pleasant voice
and benevolent countenance, is the teacher. You will
recognize Uri Tracy, — the Uri Tracy of your father's, per-
chance of your grandfather's story. He seems just the
man for the times, well fitted to teach boys to become
good citizens and honest men. But he has dismissed
the school, with the wish that the boys will try to be
punctual in the morning. We will not hinder the
teacher, for he is accustomed to split kindlings for the
morning fire at this time. Let us turn to Fort Hill.
The shades of evening are gathering ; what a waving sea
of gorgeousness on the autumn forest ! we hear the
light dip of paddles in the river, and a canoe darts
towards the landing on the shore. What strange
beings are these? they seem regardless of the ruin
that is gradually gathering over their race. Can it be
that they do not think of the on-coming destruction
that awaits them, while they see the little Academy on
44 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
the Common, the occasional dwelling, and hear the
woodman's ax, whose strokes for them,
" Like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave " ?
That tall man whom they were talking, bartering
with, at the log house, is Benjamin Hovey, the Senior
Trustee of the Academy. But now they have returned
to their canoe ; the dip of the paddle grows fainter in
the distance, symbolic of their fate. We will leave
them to chase that deer that just started wildly from
the bushes, while we walk to the Post Office. That
stout man on the large horse, spattered from head to
foot with mud, with something behind him very like a
physician's saddle-bags, is bringing the weekly mail
from Catskill. We will go in and hear news ten days
later from 'New York ; and then retire, for the habits of
the people are simple, and soon the evening lights will
be out.
The first meeting of Trustees was held on the
second Tuesday in April, 1794. It was a meeting in
keeping with the spirit of the day, energetic and faith-
ful. They adjourned until the next day, Wednesday,
at 8 o'clock; when they went into committee of the
whole on the state of the finances, and were in session
all day, and adjourned over until 6 o'clock Thursday
morning ; and at their final adjournment it would seem
that the Oxford Academy had fairly opened into new
existence. One hundred and sixty-four pounds thir-
teen shillings and sixpence, were allowed Benjamin
ItiSTOillCAL REMINISCENCES. 45
Hovey for materials, labor, and other expenses attend-
ing the building of the Academy; and in addition
thereto, one hundred and iifty-iive pounds eleven shil-
lings, to be paid Uri Tracy for teaching the school
eighteen months previous to the granting of the charter
of the Academy. The rules of discipline and course of
study, too, are stamped with the simplicity and integ-
rity of the day. " No scholar was to be admitted into
the school until he could spell well, and read the lessons
in Mr. Webster's first part, and begin to read in Web-
ster's third part."
" The Latin scholars shall begin with the study of
Eoss's or Burr's Latin Grammar, from that proceed to
Corderius and Eu tropins, to prepare them for Virgil and
Tully. When they have made some proficiency in the
above books, they shall begin the Greek Grammar and
Greek Testament, and attend to Geography and Arith-
metic ;" a course quite in contrast with the present day,
when interest and accumulation are first, and men are
educated to be fast rather than profound. Public
exhibitions in speaking, twice a year, were also insti-
tuted. We also find the following regulation : — " All
the scholars shall be under the care of the master, both
as respects their manners and decent behavior, in and
out of school, and shall be disciplined by him;" a
regulation indicative of an age when " the child had not
yet come to be father of the man," in something more
than a poetical sense. We also find the following
salutary regulation : — " It is enjoined on the master in
4f) OXFORB ACADEMY JtJBILEK.
particular, and the trustees in general, that the scholars
do not abuse the Sabbath."
The scholars were charged tuition according to the
studies they pursued, — the Latin scholars one shilling
and sixpence per week ; those who wrote, ninepence per
week, and those who read only sixpence per week. The
Trustees also voted thanks to Gen. Hovey, of Tioga
County, and David Bates, of Otsego, for their generous
donation of an acre of land for the use of the Academy.
Previous to the year 1794, there were but four
academies west of the Hudson, — at Goshen, Orange
County; the Montgomery Academy, Orange County;
Hamilton, Oneida, Academy, since merged in Hamilton
College; and the Schenectady Academy. The early
history of the Academy was chequered by the calami-
ties and misfortunes inseparable from the times ; arrears
of debt for teachers' salaries and building, added to
closeness of the money market. But these disadvan-
tages were in a measure compensated by the strong
hearts and untiring zeal of the early settlers ; and upon
their banner was inscribed no such word as failure. In
1794, the first town meeting in Fayette was held, at the
house of General Hovey; from which it will appear,
that the town and the Academy date chartered exist-
ence from the same year.
At this time the Trustees, in a petition for help from
the State, report forty scholars ; and Gen. Hovey, who
presented the petition in person, stated that it was
desirable that any api3ropriation for apparatus should
HISTORICAL REMINISCENCES. 47
be immediately made, as the apparatus j^iirchased could
not be expected to arrive in less than one year after
the appropriation. In 1795, some of the members of
the Board were growing remiss in interest for the
institution ; and we accordingly find a resolution, " That
in case any member of the Board should be absent
from a meeting, after proper notice, he should incur a
fine of eight dollars." At this time, the school was in
charge of Elisha Mosely as Principal, with a semi-annual
stipend of forty-six pounds and ten shillings. In 1797,
a new Academy was in process of erection, near the
pi'esent residence of Frederick A. Sands. The old
building was sold to Dr. Ebenezer Bo wen. Jonathan
Baldwin and Samuel Balcom had contracts for the
completion of the new Academy, which was not ready
for scholars until 1799.
In October of this year, the Circuit Court and
general Inquest was held at the Academy, Justice Kent
presiding.
The new Academy was destroyed by fire about this
time, and at the beginning of the present century, a
heap of ashes was all that was visible of the Oxford
Academy. A committee of three, consisting of Stephen
O. Kunyan, Peter B. Garnsay, and James Glover, was
appointed to prepare and present a petition to the Hon-
orable the Legislature, praying their aid in granting a
lottery to rebuild the Oxford Academy. The petition
was not in vain ; and ere long, under the patronage of
the State, a third academic edifice arose, like a phcenix
48 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
from the ashes, and upon the ruins, of the second
Academy. At a trustee meeting, June 5, 1800, we find
the following resolution : — " That Stephen Collins be a
committee to get the boards belonging to this Academy
that are now at the mills up the river, down the same
to the potash, at the bridge ; and that Anson Gary be a
committee to stick up and take care of said boards,
after their arrival at the bridge."
Until 1801, it appears from the records that several
Trustees had resided abroad. The record of a meeting,
Sept. 30, 1801, shows the following names: Benjamin
Hovey, John Camp, Peter Burgot, Anson Cary, Peter
B. Garnsay, Jonathan Baldwin, St. Geo. T. Perry, Ben-
jamin Ray, Stephen O. Runyan, Geo. Mo wry, and Uri
Tracy ; the name of no one now living is found in the
list. In 1804, we find the resignation of Benjamin
Hovey, who had been in the Board ten years, and
absent from but one recorded meeting. Few men have
passed a more eventful life. Having seen the fruition
of his labor, and the harvest of his early toil and suffer-
ing, in the flourishing village around him, rapidly
increasing in population and wealth, he looked for new
projects, with an ambition fed by its own innate energy,
and a spirit of enterprise faltering at no point beyond
which were seen new fields open for its gratification.
We next find him among the active co-workers with
Burr and Wilkinson, in a project for canalling the Ohio
near Louisville. The wild and restless ambition of
Aaron Burr, however, led him to seek new objects on
HISTORICAL REMINISCENCES. 49
the lower Mississippi and amid the untold wealth and
romance of Mexico ; and the project in which Gen.
Hovey had embarked with such ardor, was suffered to
dwindle in neglect, by those who had given encourage-
ment to the bold and visionary scheme. The first Trus-
tee of the Oxford Academy, having expended fifteen
hundred dollars of his private fortune in this enterprise,
retired at last in disgust from the scene of his labors
and neglect on the Ohio, to find a grave on the shores of
Lake Erie, remote from the village that he had founded
and the friends of his manhood. A life of more
romantic reality seldom occurs in the history of man.
In the mean time, the third academy building,
which we left on Washington Square, near the resi-
dence of Mr. Sands, had been moved to the old acad-
emy lot, near the house of Henry Van Der Lyn,
Esq. In the winter of 1806, a school was kept in the
building by John Kinney, the scholars paying two
dollars each, and furnishing their own wood. A
decline in interest for the Academy, and a consequent
decline in its prosperity, seemed at this time drawing
on. The losses by fire and the arrears of teacher's
salary, had created a debt which had become a lien
upon the corporate property. The Eev. Eli Hyde was
permitted to teach an academical school in the building,
exclusive of any expense to the Trustees. No record of
any meeting of the Board appears, between April, 1809,
and Dec. 1820. At the former meeting it was resolved,
" that the Board should appoint a committee of three to
50 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEF..
transact tlie prudential business, or concerns of said
Board during their recess, and particularly to settle
with Josiah Stephens." At the final meeting, it was
voted, " that Jonathan Bush be the man to keep the
key of the Academy, and that the Board adjourn sine
dieP Trustees present, were Peter Burgot, Uri Tracy,
Jonathan Bush, Isaac Sherwood, Nathaniel Locke,
Josiah Stephens, Samuel Farnham, Gurdon Hewitt,
Samuel Balcom, Isaac F. Thomas, and George Mowry,
all since deceased. In the mean time, we refer to con-
temporary village items to determine the situation and
progress of our little community. Our ancestors seem
to have acted upon the sentiment, that "the groves
were God's first temples," and enjoyed more the ad-
vantages of natural religion, than the stated preaching
and ordinances of revealed Christianity. They were
more distinguished for worldly enterprise than for
piety, postponing the interests of organized Christianity
even to those of literature and learning. The first
Christian denomination who organized a society, would
seem to have been the Associated Presbyterian Society
of Oxford, in September of the year 1799. Our early
settlers were strong, earnest men, impelled by common
necessity, and subject to feelings of common interest ;
they loved their neighbors as themselves, labored hard,
and long, and left the result to Providence. If they
had not the advantages, they were without the evils of
more advanced society ; and " a fellow-feeling made
them wondrous kind."
HISTORICAL REMINISCENCES. 51
In the mean time, the Academy was the place of
occasional religious exercises, as, in fact, of all public
exercises of whatever kind. We do not learn of any
church edifice, until some years subsequent. In the
mean time, however, our little community was rapidly
increasing in wealth and resources, and accompanying
signs of worldly comfort and prosperity.
The early settler upon the hill would frequently
place his grist upon his horse, or rude conveyance, and
bringing it to the river, float it on his light boat to
Chenango Forks, the only mill in a circuit of many
miles. He then returned with his flour to his home,
after a two or three days' journey. This was at times
a perilous voyage, and around the log-fire at home,
furnished detail of adventure, or narrow escape from
flood or beast of prey.
Now mills had been erected, the produce of the
country had nearly doubled, and the means of convey-
ance were greatly improved; and townships had an
internal communication to which they had before
been strangers. The first newspaper of which we have
any knowledge, was first published by John B. John-
son, October, 1807, entitled the " Chenango Patriot."
Subsequently the "President," a village journal, was
published by Theophilus Eaton. The "Patriot" of
October iTth, 1807, contained extracts from the New
York Gazette of Oct. 4th and 7th. Among other inter-
esting items " by the arrival of the British brig ' Tom
Barry,' in the short passage of 36 days from Scotland,
52 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
the editors of the New York Gazette have received
London and Glasgow papers to the 27th of Au-
gust." Among other things, it was announced that
"Pope Pius 7th, by the authority of Almighty God,
and of the Saints Peter and Paul," had executed sen-
tence of excommunication against the Emperor Napo-
leon, for want of due reverence to his majesty, and
other acts of usurpation and violence. But notwith-
standing these startling advices from abroad, the little
domestic community of Oxford was moving on in the
usual routine of village life. The age of pot and pearl
ashes, and black salts, had arrived ; and the columns of
the " President," the village journal, announced that the
Trustees of the Associated Presbyterian Society, Uri
Tracy, Stephen O. Runyan, and Amos A. Franklin,
notwithstanding the rumors of war, and the excommuni-
cation of the emperor, would receive subscriptions to
the new church, without further delay.
Among legal notices, 1811, we find the names of
Runyan & Tracy, Price &> Clapp, and Henry Van
Der Lyn, attorneys at law, strangely intermingled with
the following bulletin, announcing the birth of the
young Napoleon.
" Tuilleries, April 15, 1811.
" This morning little master Nap
The king of Rome, has eat some pap."
The notice by one of the citizens, offering " a smart,
active, healthy negro " for sale, evinced that the sable
HISTORICAL REMINISCEIS^CES. 53
cloud of slavery yet hung over the State. Abroad
were convulsions and revolutions ; at home the threat-
ened passage of a general embargo was crippling our
commerce and fostering discontent, national animosity,
and internal dissension.
Questions of foreign politics and policy, were agi-
tated in remote rural districts. " The President " con-
tained the proceedings of spirited Federal meetings at
Oxford, before which Napoleon was called to account
for his shameful enormities and inhuman abuse of
power ; and the poet breathed forth sentiments of
mingled patriotism, indignation, and gallantry, in the
pages of Theophilus Eaton.
" Nothing for tribute, for defence a million,
We'll make Napoleon dance a new cotillion.
If arbitrary measures he keeps still on
To rule our great men.
" The British Council, it appears to me.
They wish to take a trip across the sea,
And with us drink another cup of tea.
In Massachusetts.
" A free and open trade with all the world,
May every tyrant from his throne be hurled,
And with hot pokers have his whiskers curled,
Who would prevent it.
" The American Fair, kind Heaven bless them all.
For their protection, at a moment's call.
Would I turn out, and firmly stand or fall,
Although a coward."
It was evident, however, that the military spirit of
the people was becoming aroused ; and the brigade
54 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
orders of General Rathbone, were spiced with more
than ordinary patriotism and eloquence, closing with^
" Let US convince the nations of Europe, that we are not
a divided people, that we are neither Englishmen nor
Frenchmen, but that we are Americans, and that we
will support the Constitution and laws of our country,
and its rights, at the expense of the last cent of our
fortunes, and the last drop of that blood which we so
richly inherit from our Revolutionary fathers." It was
remarkable, howevei*, that the notices of sheriffs' sales,
mortgage foreclosures, and writs of fieri facias had
become strangely mixed with fiery patriotism, in the
columns of the " President," and the words " whereas "
and " whereat," and " at public vendue," and the names
of lawyers, attorneys for mortgagee, had multiplied
like dragons' teeth. But ere long, a more settled aspect
appears at home and abroad. Napoleon was the cap-
tive of St. Helena, and no longer troubled the nations.
The Oxford Gazette of March, 1816, contained the
startling intelligence that a number of the streets of
London had been lighted by gas, and that a doubtful
project was being agitated, of uniting the Hudson and
the Lakes by canal. John Perry at the same time
announced, that he would receive subscriptions of those
indebted for the bridge over the Chenango River.
While Frederick Hopkins, Uri Tracy, and Ransom
Rathbone, advertised proposals for the completion of
the interior of St. Paul's Church.
Chauncey Morgan's notice, that he would exchange
HISTORICAL REMINISCEKCES. 65
RoUin's Ancient History, Morse's Geography, and
Webster's Spelling Book for rags, showed a degeneracy
in the age, and that the interests of popular education
were at a discount.
The skies were brightening, however. The Gazette
of 1819 announced the humane provisions of the
legislature, for the abolition of imprisonment for debt ;
mortgage foreclosure notices, and wTits of fi. fa. were
diminishing, an evidence of the restoration of personal
credit, and consequent public prosperity.
Another peculiarity of the weekly journal had
been, that while it advertised the best of rum, gin,
brandy, whisky, powder and shot, there were no calls
for temperance meetings, such gatherings being quite
contrary to the spirit of the age.
We have been thus explicit in recounting matters
which may seem foreign to our subject, because we
think they serve in a measure to explain the growing
neglect and apathy of our ancestors towards their
favorite institution. The facts set forth had their effect
upon public prosperity, and projects of j)rivate benev-
olence, and withdrew the care and attention of our
citizens from the real objects of domestic interest and
prosperity. The Oxford Gazette of November 26th,
1823, contains the following language :— " The Academy
was chartered January 27th, 1794. In its early day
it was flourishing, and respectably supported ; but
like other institutions destitute of funds, it languished ;
56 OXFORD ACADEMY JlTBILEE.
the corporation were embarrassed hy losses and diffi-
culties ; the school was discontinued, and the building
disposed of for other purj^oses. In the beginning of the
year 1821, the Board of Trustees was re-organized, the
building repaired, and the school again commenced.
By the spirited exertions of a gentleman of the village,
seconded by an able and vigilant board of trustees,
funds were obtained to a considerable amount ; furni-
ture was purchased for the Academy, and the school
has ever since continued flourishing. The funds,
vested in real estate and landed securities, are pro-
ductive and ample, and insure a permanent continu-
ance. The number of students who attended during
the last year, was one hundred and sixty-two."
But a new era was coming on apace ; and, whatever
might have been the condition of the world at large,
and the United States in particular, certain it was
that our little village was rapidly increasing in popu-
lation, enterprise, and wealth.
The brilliant naval victory of Lawrence of the
"Hornet" over the British brig "Peacock" was
duly announced ; and Hull, Jones, Decatur, and Bain-
bridge on the sea, and Scott and Jackson on land,
were stamped with immortality.
The business of the country, too, was increasing;
and substantial signs of prosperity and wealth ap-
peared on every hand. The farming interest was
becoming important; the village paper of July, 1822,
HISTORICAL REMINISCENCES. 57
announced that ten thousand dollars liad been ex-
pended hy three merchants for black salts within two
months preceding.
Farms were becoming productive, population mul-
tiplying; patches of grain, ripening for the harvest,
waved like a rolling sea between the square wood-
lots on the hills ; and herds and flocks had usurped
the realms of the wolf and the deer. The fourth
bridge spanned the Chenango, the fourth Academy
building was already a subject for discussion ; the
village numbered one thousand inhabitants ; and two
church buildings had been erected, a fire company
organized, and other objects of public utility claimed
the attention of our enterprising and industrious com-
munity. An Indian, the occasional representative of
a race grown degenerate, told over his cups of the
traditional glory of his ancestors, when the old fort
was theirs ; but their waning fortunes excited little
sympathy, for civilization was surging over them like
an ocean, and their sure decay was destiny.
At a meeting of Trustees, December 23, 1820, the
first of record since 1809, we find the names of Ran-
som Rathbone, John Tracy, Epaphras Miller, and
Amos A. Franklin ; and, a week subsequent, the
names of Daniel Shumway, Ira Willcox, Simon G.
Throop, Hezekiah Morse, and Henry Mygatt were
added by election. A petition to the legislature for
aid recited the disasters which had attended the
Academy — ^fire, pecuniary embarrassment, — and the fact
58 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
tliat, as yet, tliere was no kindred institution within
forty miles. The name of Erastus Perkins appeared
among the list. Subsequently the efforts of John Tracy,
in the Assembly, and Tilly Lynde, in the Senate,
availed much for substantial aid to the institution. A
lot of land in Fayette, generously contributed by the
State, again placed her upon permanent footing; and
the school, under charge of David Prentice, LL. D.,
prospered. A printed order of public speaking at this
time contained the names of John W. Allen, Wm. W.
Dean, Nelson K. Wheeler, William M. Patterson, John
Clapp, Henry R. Mygatt, and other names familiar to
the present Assembly. The names of Horatio Sey-
mour, Ward Hunt, Henry W. Rogers, and Joseph G.
Masten also grace the list of students. Soon there-
after the name of Ferris Forman appears, — already upon
the page of American history ; who has superadded to
the kind remembrance of his companions in letters, the
respect of his comrades in arms, and a fame inseparably
connected with the glory and destiny of his country.
His laurels were won on the battle fields of Mexico.
From this time forward the history of the Academy
was one of uniform usefulness and success. There are
those present who will hold in kind remembrance the
names of William D. Beattie and Rev. Edward An-
drews, D. D., successors to Mr. Prentice. We leave the
latter to speak for himself.
Connected with the revival of literature and
science, was a recurrence of social life and activity,
HISTORICAL REMINISCENCES. 59
increased business, hospitality, and good fellowship.
The dormant patriotism of the citizens was aroused ;
their sympathies went out with alacrity towards the
oppressed of foreign shores; new projects of internal
improvement and local advantage, engrossed the public
mind. The anniversary of the battle of New Orleans
was celebrated with a grand ball, the surplus funds to
be devoted to suffering Greece; and although the
Greeks came out next morning in debt, they were
afterwards fully compensated by generous contri-
bution.
Meetings in favor of the construction of the Chen-
ango Canal, were followed by spirited celebrations of
our national anniversary, and " all went merry as a
marriage bell." Youth vied with age, in patriotism and
knowledge.
The juvenile corps, among whom we notice the
names of Mygatt, Kathbone, Franklin, Maydole, Farn-
ham, and others, met for celebrating our fiftieth anni-
versary of Independence ; and the following sentiments,
I'ead at the dinner, were worthy of older patriots : —
South America. Our olive sister, black but comely, for tlie sun of
freedom hath looked upon her.
State Road and Canal. Kindred projects, kindred objects, they are
as inseparable as the interest and glory of our country.
And none but Him who made the thunder
Shall put this road and stream asunder.
Ourselves. Young, impetuous, and, we trust, patriotic. While we
remember, with honest old Jack FalstafF, that " the better part of valor
is discretion," let us not forget that discretion without valor is an old
maid's prudery without a young maid's beauty.
60 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
The last regular toast was a sentiment worthy any
age.
The modern Greeks. The gossip of the age shall not belie them,
nor the fame of their ancestors cast a shadow over the halo of their
glory. May the crescent be buried in the sands of the Morea, and the
cross erected on the ramparts of Constantinople !
Another era in the history of the Academy was
the erection of a new edifice on Fort Hill, near the
residence of Epaphras Miller. The Baptist Society had
previously completed a new house of worship near by,
and the Methodist Society were already moving for a
like object in the same neighborhood.
The Universalist church edifice, on the west side of
the river, was completed about the same time. The
opening of the new Academy, with appropriate exer-
cises and an address by Dr. Andrews, is noticed at this
time.
The event will call to mind the faithful and unre-
mitting labors of Merritt G. McKoon, the teacher, who
is with us to-day, a veteran in the cause of popular
education, yet fresh with vigor, and his " natural force
unabated."
His assistant, David L. Gregg, Esq., is not with us.
As Commissioner of the United States to Honolulu, in
the Sandwich Islands, he teaches other lessons, the
rudiments of civil liberty and manifest destiny. Soon
after the erection of the fourth Academy, we notice the
names of Trustees, Uri Tracy, Rev. James Abel, Henry
Van Der Lyn, Rev. Leverett Bush, William Mygatt,
HISTOmCAL REMINISCENCES. 61
Jonathan Baldwin, Ethan Clarke, Erastus Perkins,
James A. Glover, Ransom Rathbone, Austin Hyde,
Henry Mygatt, and James Clapp.
We should forbear further remark did time permit.
We should tread upon forbidden ground ; for we are
come to the age of living, acting men, with whom the
problem of life is yet unsolved.
To pleasant meetings at the festive board, and to
friendly converse, we entrust the joys and trials, the
triumphs and sorrows, of personal history. The living
will speak for themselves ; to the friendly barks that
will not return to the harbor, on behalf of those of
our day, we owe a brief tribute. Some present will
recall the gallant and soldierly demeanor of Horace B.
Field, who, ordered with a detachment of troops to
Mexico, went down with the ill-fated '' San Francisco "
to a watery grave in the Gulf Stream.
Others of a later day will speak of Lyman Redfield,
alike bold in battle and debate, of generous spirit and
noble purpose. He went from Kentucky with the
chivalrous Clay, and died in Mexico. Hathaway, Mil-
ieu, Mather, Tompkins, Gifford, Packer, Banks, Long,
Willoughby, Noyes, and others, whose names the occa-
sion will suggest, are embalmed in faithful memory, and
will not be forgotten. They are here who will have
before them the stalwart form of Nelson Green, a
teacher. He had a strong hand and a strong heart ; he
started upon his voyage with the clouds apparently all
behind him. He had seen misfortune. He showed us
62 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
his chart ; but there was no journey to he ended ; it
marked successive points of fortune and success. His
grave is in Kentucky.
Others will recollect Edwy Noble Cruttenden, a
teacher, his sincere and deep yearnings after truth, his
ambition to be great and good. We last saw him, on a
beautiful Sunday evening, in the dying summer, ready
for burial, with a countenance as placid as the fading
day ; near him his college diploma, of a fortnight before,
and the letters of faithful friends unanswered.
This sketch closes with the dedication of our new
Academy.
The period of sixty years, short in the sum of ages,
in events is long.
In our quiet village, it has witnessed the fifth struc-
ture to science ; in our national history, the peopling of
remote ocean shores.
To those who, by their presence, have helped make
glad the day, we tender our thanks, and hearty wishes
that each may return from this episode in the journey
of life, with renewed hopes and higher aims, to greater
success and increased prosperity.
|in #rati0it
Was delivered by Hon. Ward Hunt, of Utica (a stu-
dent in 1822). A copy of Mr. Hunt's Oration has
not been procured. The Oxford Times of August 9,
1854, thus speaks of it: "Hon. Ward Hunt, of Utica,
delivered the Oration. It was characteristic of the
scholar and the enlightened observer of passing events
— dwelling upon those features in the development
and progress of society, which furnish material for
philosophical deductions."
Another interval filled with music from the band,
was followed by the reading of a poem, composed for
the Jubilee, by Kev. Roswell Park, D. D., President
of Racine College, Wisconsin (a student in 1825).
LIFE AND DEATH
^ |flfin,
REV. ROSWELL PARK, D. D
Awake, my Harp, to liail tliis happy day !
Awake, and summon fortli thy noblest lay !
Attune thy numbers to a lofty theme ;
For such alone becomes the Poet's dream :
Ring out thy tones, the sweetest and the best.
Then — sink, rejoicing, to thy final rest.
Great Fount of Life, and Source of endless Love,
Be thou my life ! inspire me from above !
Thou, who alone dost spare this fleeting breath !
Thou, who canst save from everlasting death !
Be thine the humble tribute which I bring.
And Life and Death the themes of which I sing.
But where begin ? How shall we comprehend
That which hath neither origin nor end ?
Shall we, with infidels, ignore a cause, —
Disown the Sovereign, while we own his laws ?
Shall we tnake chance a god, and argue still,
That ail things happen blindly at its will ?
POEM. 65
Or shall we deem there is a latent force,
Some Power creative^ from an unknown source,
Which, self-impellent, acts with vigor rife,
And thus hath brought the teeming world to life ? —
Some plastic -^n, ever on the wing,
Whence nascent forms of primal beauty spring ?
No ! Be it ours to judge in better wise.
That " out of nothing, nothing can arise :"
No ! Be it ours, who feel his chastening rod.
To " look from nature up to nature's God ;"
While nature's book, in every page and line.
Reveals the print of Majesty Divine.
He is the source of life, in all its fornis ;
In plants or reptiles, winged things or worms ;
In men and angels, earth, and air, and ocean ;
In stars, and planets, whose sole life is motion ;
All life is but the flatus of His breath ;
And where he breathes not, there is darkening death.
That effluent Life a threefold Life became.
Mysterious, glorious Trinity by name ;
As from the Father sprang the eternal Son,
Ere yet creation's work had been begun ;
As issued from these twain the Holy Ghost,
Ere earth was born, or sang the starry host.
Oh, Life ineffable ! such bliss to find.
Such perfect union in the Essential mind !
What radiant majesty and beauty beam
Around the tri-united Elohim !
As the dim roll, to ancient ages sealed.
Is by the Gospel's glorious light revealed.
GQ OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
Yet not in heaven would God reside alone,
With clouds and darkness round his awful throne.
Amid the darkness broods the Holy Dove,
And even the thunders echo, " God is love."
Love seeks an object : true love never dies.
But multiplies its image in the skies.
There first, to serve Him 'mid celestial day.
He formed the angels, in their bright array,
Dominions, principalities, and powers.
In upper Eden's amaranthine bowers.
With cherubim and seraphim, to wait
In shining ranks around his heavenly state.
That secondary life, beneath his light.
How rich and pure, harmonious and bright !
But when, eccentric, from its sphere it burst,
How dark and baleful, horrid and accursed !
Thus, life itself, to vice become a slave.
Results in death more dreadful than the grave.
When Satan sought to usurp the Almighty's seat.
And force his God to worship at his feet,
Well might the arrows of Jehovah fly.
To drive that haughty spirit from the sky ;
Till rebel angels found, with endless cost,
That first for them a Paradise was lost.
But what, had all the host of heaven rebelled,
And from those beauteous mansions been expelled
Could not Creative Power, to fill their place,
Replenish heaven with a more numerous race ?
To this great end the eternal mandate ran ;
And thus a universe its life began.
POEM. 67
For this, that reahn of dark and smouldering fire,
Of empty horror and chimeras dire,
Where dismal chaos held his primal reign.
Beyond the crystal walls of heaven's domain,
God chose, to be his theater sublime ; —
Infinitude, alike of space and time.
Then came the fiat dread, " Let there be light !"
Then shrank aghast the empty shades of night ;
Then passive matter felt attractive force.
And kindred atoms sought a mutual course ;
While those remote in different circles whirled.
And each dense vortex formed its proper world.
Each cloud-like nebula, the more compressed
Became thereby more distant from the rest ;
Turning, as water through the funnel flows.
Or in a spiral the swift whirlwind blows ;
Yet tending, thence, centrifugal, to spring,
As flies the stone from the revolving sling.
At length, a circling mass, suspense, remained.
An annulus, self balanced and sustained :
And while the nucleus still denser grew^.
That outer mass condensed itself anew ;
Till thus, the planet farthest from the sun
Was left, in endless orb, its course to run.
Meantime new planets in succession sprung.
And equipollent on their axes hung ;
Or, segregating, left successive coils.
And satellites were molded from the spoils ;
All except Saturn, planet of renown.
Who spared one satellite to form a crown.
68 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
Thus, in its turn, our fair and genial earth
Sprang, with its lunar coronet, to birth ;
Not then, as now, with life and verdure teeming,
But one red, molten mass, candescent gleaming ;
A fount of fire, now cooled and crusted o'er,
Whence the volcano still its flood doth pour.
Dense clouds of vapor wrapped our igneous globe
In the dim mantle of their aqueous robe.
Ere rose the firmament, set to divide
The clouds on high from ocean's gathered tide.
And earth, reprieved from elemental strife.
Was clothed, at length, with vegetable life.
Thus, a new era here had been commenced.
And the last planets in their orbs condensed.
Ere yet the sun in glory stood alone ;
Ere yet the moon, complete, in splendor shone,
And each concentered nebula, afar,
Became, at last, a bright, peculiar star.
Then Power Divine a life instinctive gave
To moving forms beneath the rolling wave ;
The little nautilus there spread his sail ;
There plunged the dolphin, and the mighty whale ;
And there the saurian reptiles fiercely strove.
Or basked and reveled in the palmy grove.
Once more, as Life had seized on Death's domain,
Death struggled to resume his ancient reign :
And death prevailed ; — that era passed away,
A buried world became his ravaged prey ; —
Yet so prevailed that still his foe remained,
And higher life a nobler victory gained.
POEM. 69
For soon the lark upsoared on rapid wing,
At early morn, near heaven's gate to sing ;
And soon the lion shook his tawny mane.
Roaming and roaring o'er the torrid plain ;
While all the birds of air and beasts of earth,
In this great period, received their birth.
Thus living creatures o'er the earth were spread,
A numerous body, but without a head.
Another link was wanting, to unite
The world of nature with the realms of light.
Till man was made, with heaven-directed face.
In nature's scale to hold the highest place :
Nor yet the work was done, till by his side
Stood beauteous Eve, his heaven-appointed bride.
Then rang the skies with bliss beyond alloy ;
Then all the morning-stars proclaimed their joy ;
The universe in finished glory stood.
And God surveyed, and " saw that it was good."
In a bright vale, bestrown with fragrant flowers.
Beneath the shades of Eden's vernal bowers.
Dwelt our first Parents in their morning prime.
Devoid of fear and innocent of crime ;
In happy mood their moments sped away,
And God was with them at the cool of day.
Oh, happy life, to those fair creatures given.
In which they might prepare themselves for heaven,
Like blest Elijah, never to expire.
But rise to bliss in chariots of fire,
Had not a vengeful and insidious foe
' Brought death into the world, and all our woe " !
TO OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
But Satan came, and plied his wily art,
Deceiving, tluis, tlieir unsuspecting heart.
lie gained his end ; yet double vengeance drew
Upon himself and all his guilty crew ;
While Hope, expiring, " bade the world farewell,"
When Eve was tempted, and when Adam fell.
Forth from his glory came the Lord of light.
And Adam shrank, affrighted, from his sight ;
But, lo ! the gracious Saviour intercedes.
And for our ruined race in mercy pleads ;
" Behold, I come, with promise to fulfill
The awful mandate of Thy sovereign will !"
The gracious Father, good as he is just,
Pronounces the dread sentence, " Dust to dust !"
Expels the guilty pair from that sweet home.
As exiles o'er the earth awhile to roam ;
Yet brings a sweeter hope, all conflicts past,
That they shall rest in Paradise at last.
Too soon the poisonous root of death upsprung,
And bitter fruit upon its branches hung.
When Abel, to the altar having given
A lamb, the type of Christ the Lamb of Heaven,
Himself, a bloody sacrifice, was slain
By jealous fury of his brother Cain.
And need there was, that death should shorten life,
When all the earth was fraught with guilt and strife,
When faith, and love, and every virtue failed.
While violence and every crime prevailed.
And mid that world, of innocence bereft.
One righteous family alone was left.
POEM. Tl
Tlien Noah, warned of God, nor warned in vain,
Upreared the Ark, on Shinar's fertile plain ;
Type of the Church, our refuge here below.
From sin and shame, from wickedness and woe ;
And type of Heaven, that blessed Ark above,
Where all is peace and everlasting love.
Then oped the fountains of the mighty deep ;
Then poured the torrents down the mountain steep ;
And all those giant forms, those men of blood.
An impious throng, were buried in the flood ;
Presaging that more awful flood of fire,
When wrath divine shall light earth's funeral pyre.
So, when in Sodom once more were renewed
Those horrid scenes of moral turpitude.
Once more the punitory torrents fell.
With torments such as haunt the fiends of hell.
And each detested city found a grave
Beneath the Dead Sea's dark and slimy wave.
But now, to serve Him with a faith more pure.
Which should, for ages yet to come, endure,
God's favor was to Abraham displayed.
With him an everlasting covenant made ;
And thus the mantle of salvation fell
Upon the chosen tribes of Israel.
Of that defense how wondrous was the sign.
How dread the tokens of the wrath divine.
When, in the Red Sea, Pharaoh's marshaled host,
O'erwhelmed, discomfited, gave up the ghost !
And Moses's song, on that triumphant shore,
Shall rino; in heaven when time shall be no more.
72 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
So Jordan's waters shrank from Jacob's God ;
So Israel's armies passed the stream dry-shod ;
And Canaan's gnilty hosts before them qnailed,
While Joshua's forces mid the storm prevailed :
The moon was stayed, and motionless the sun,
Till all had fled and victory was won.
Not so dark Saul, at Endor's cave alarmed,
Escaped Philistia's banded host unharmed.
He, who had trusted but in mortal might,
Was poorly armed for that disastrous fight ;
Of God forsaken, he but strove in vain ;
And Mount Gilboa mourned a monarch slain.
But when fair David ventured forth alone.
Trusting in God, with naught but sling and stone.
The giant champion soon to earth he brought,
And thus again the solemn lesson taught :
" Obedience is more than sacrifice ;"
Obedience lives, while vain presumption dies.
While David reigned in Salem's lofty walls.
And tuned his harp in Zion's palace halls,
Wliile Solomon with wisdom linked his name.
And God's fair temple rose to crown his fame,
A nobler life the Hebrew state impelled.
Than mortal eye had ever yet beheld.
And not till royal David's lineal race
Became depraved, degenerate, and base —
Not till they worshiped idols, and the priests
Profaned the temple and its solemn feasts,
Did God desert them, lay their glory low.
And leave them at the mercy of their foe.
POEM. 73
Then Babylon's proud king in vengeance came,
Jerusalem was sacked, with sword and flame ;
Her helpless captives mourned with silent tongue,
Their harps, neglected, on the willows hung ;
And while they toiled by Babel's sullen wave.
They learned how sad it is to be a slave.
When thus, repentant, they bewailed their fate,
God had compassion, and restored their state.
Jerusalem again was girt with strength,
A second temple rose, complete, at length,
More glorious, far, than Solomon's, — for here
The Lord of Glory shortly would appear.
It came at last — that long-expected time.
Foretold of old by chronicles sublime.
God sent his Son, obedient to fulfill
The awful mandate of his sovereign will ;
And herald angels ushered in the morn.
When Christ, our Lord, in Bethlehem was born.
Rich music rose from that exultant train.
And " Gloria in Excelsis " was the strain ;
^' Glory to God on high ! on earth be peace ;
Good will to men begin, and never cease."
Well might the shepherds holy vigils keep.
When the Great Shepherd came to save his sheep.
Full soon was seen, in Eastern lands afar.
The guiding light of Jacob's radiant star.
Presaging that a glorious light divine
Henceforth upon the Gentile world would shine ;
While princely magi costly treasures bring,
To welcome down their heaven-descended King.
10 •
74 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
He was the Light, before whose noontide beam
All other light is but a fitful gleam.
He was the Life ; for He alone could give
Eternal Life to all in Him who live.
For this He came ; and all who seek his grace
Shall yet behold their Saviour face to face.
He came to teach benighted souls the Way
That leads to mansions of eternal day ;
He came to be the pattern of that Truth
Which guards the heart in everlasting youth ;
And thus, 'mid anguish, envy, toil and strife,
To ope the gates of everlasting life.
And yet, on earth, how lowly was his lot !
When his own chosen flock received him not.
He shunned the proud philosopher's renown ;
He wore no shining robe, nor jeweled crown ;
The birds have nests, the beasts their quiet bed ;
But Jesus had not where to lay his head.
On this, the Fiend, who rifled Eden's bower,
Assailed our Saviour with temptation's power.
All earthly treasures, glittering gold and gems,
All worldly pleasures, thrones and diadems.
He vainly offered ; and at last confessed
A higher power in that complacent breast.
Mount Tabor viewed a still more wondrous sight,
When the blest Saviour, robed in heavenly light,
With Moses and Elias converse held,
And his transcendent glory so excelled
That even the Apostles, sore amazed.
His Godhead owned, and worshiped as they gazed.
POEM. 75
And yet, Gethsemane's dark branches slied
A sorrowing shadow on that sacred head,
When, in an agony of prayer. He wept,
While those apostles, all unconscious, slept ;
When beamed the full moon on the Paschal feast.
And He was both the victim and the priest.
Betrayed, arrested, and with curses loud.
Condemned to death by that insulting crowd,
He meekly bore the scourging and the scorn,
Tlie mocking robe, and piercing crown of thorn ;
Meekly beneath the heavy cross He bent,
As on the way to Calvary He went.
And when He faltered on the Dolorous Road,
And sank, exhausted, with his heavy load.
When on the cross suspended, sad and faint.
He to his Father breathed his last complaint,
When the bright sun, in that unclouded sky,
Darkened to see his mighty Maker die,
Oh, what a signal and triumphant shout
From hell's dark host exultingly rang out !
How Satan reveled, gloating o'er his spoil.
As if success had crowned his impious toil !
How flushed the foe, and hailed the happy day
That heaven was foiled, and earth become his prey !
But no ! The great Messiah only waits
The appointed hour to burst his prison gates ;
To rise, and reign, omnipotent to save,
Triumphant over Satan and the grave.
Victorious, even with expiring breath ;
While life immortal thus springs forth from death.
76 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
Lo! upward borne, on bright scrapliic wing.
The heavens rejoice to welcome back their King.
Lo ! choirs of angels swell the pompous tone,
As blest Immanuel resumes his throne ;
And thus, that Life which veiled itself in love,
Opens for us the blissful courts above.
His name shall last, his kingdom shall extend,
To latest time and earth's remotest end.
His praises shall resound from shore to shore,
Till, at his summons, time shall be no more.
And then, how blest will that existence be,
His voice to hear, his face forever see !
Oh ! who would not rejoice, and swell the strain
Of glory to the Lamb that once was slain.
Who left the pomp of his celestial halls,
To rescue us from Satan's deadly thralls.
And gained us, in a brighter world than this,
A life entranced, of everlasting bliss !
And what is Life ! — 'Tis not a formal round
Of useless motion, and of empty sound ;
'Tis not the thirst for pleasure which incites
To guilty joys, and riotous delights.
'Tis action, noble feeling, soul and sense ;
And that most real, which is most intense.
There is a life of plants ; a change of state,
Wherein they bud, and bloom, and vegetate,
Furnish their fruit, our senses to regale.
And fill their place in nature's ample scale ;
Then, scattered o'er the ground, neglected lie ;
And men there are, more uselessly who die.
POEM. 77
There is a life of animals, — which roam
Over the plain or mid the ocean's foam,
Or skim the air, or on the mountain range,
Filling the earth with motion and with change ;
Yet seek no higher end, no nobler aim.
And Oh, how many mortals do the same !
There is a life of nations ; — it imbibes
Its early nourishment from feeble tribes
Which spread abroad, with arms outstretched to clasp
Whatever comes within their widening grasp.
Absorbing all around them, by degrees,
As rivers spring from rills, and run to seas.
While nations thus advance to riper years.
Each with its own marked character appears,
Graved by the passing finger of events.
Tracing their very form and lineaments ;
While each development, from youth to age.
Is well portrayed in History's glowing page.
'Tis thus we read of Egypt's servile fate,
And the decline of Persia's royal state ;
Thus speak of Greece, with all her classic charms,
And lordly Rome, omnipotent in arms ;
Thus cherish England, cradle of the free ;
And thus, our country, fondly turn to thee !
Nations, like men, may pass their vigorous prime,
May grow diseased by vice, depraved by crime ;
May lose their rank, betray their noble trust ;
Then sink in blood, or crumble into dust :
And many a buried city is the tomb
Which marks a recreant people's fatal doom*
78 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
Where now is Memphis, — Egypt's ancient pride ?
Whelmed in the waves of time's resistless tide !
Wliat now is Thebes — the glorious and the grand ?
A lonely waste amid the desert sand,
Where Memnon's vocal statue, voiceless, lies,
And sculptured walls in solemn ruin rise.
On Susa's plain the timid jackals howl.
And nightly hoots the solitary owl ;
The mighty stream of ruin overwhelms
Persepolis, that queen of eastern realms ;
And bold the traveler, who, from afar.
Would seek for Shushan, or for Istakhar.
Palmyra with its stately groves of palms,
Whose name the fame of Solomon embalms, —
Great Tadmor in the Desert, — is become
Itself, at last, the wandering Arab's home ;
And Balbec, which once shared its glorious state,
Now shares, alike, its melancholy fate.
Petra yet stands, mysterious and alone,
A city petrified, — in living stone ;
But Tyre's proud walls are sunk to rise no more,
Her massive columns scattered on the shore ;
And Troy, which once achieved a deathless fame,
" Troy was f but is no longer, save in name.
Great Babylon, imperial seat of power,
And erst the site of Babel's impious Tower,
Whose walls were once the wonder of the world,
Down from her pinnacle of splendor hurled,
Is fallen ; so that scarce yon grassy heaps
Mark where Judea's mighty conqueror sleeps.
POEM. 79
And Nineveh, so populous and dread,
So long the buried city of tlie dead,
Exhumed, at last, by British skill and gold.
What wondrous tales does Nineveh unfold !
Though stranger hidden things shall yet be shown,
When we shall know as also we arc known.
My country, shall it ever be thy lot
Thus to decay, and almost be forgot ?
Shall future pilgrims, groping o'er the plain,
Seek for the site of Washington in vain,
Till some deep shaft, beneath some lofty mound,
Reveals the fact that Washington is found ?
Not while the Bible sheds its sacred light.
To guard the truth, and guide our minds aright ;
Not while the Church and Sabbath do their part.
To chain the passions, and to mend the heart ;
Not till the spirit which has waked the earth.
Shall perish in the land which gave it birth.
Almighty Father, by whose fostering hand
We yet securely and united stand,
Protect us still from jealousy and strife.
Preserve our Union, and renew its life ;
Ever, and everywhere, grant this to be.
For every race, the country of the free !
There is a social life, — of varied ties.
Whence all the bonds of sympathy arise ;
Where each, in turn, kind offices fulfills.
And charity like morning dew distils ;
While each in his appointed circle moves,
And reason sanctions it, and Heaven approves.
80 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
It is a life of industry and toil,
Reclaiming wastes, and mellowing the soil ;
It drives the plow, the loom, the rapid train.
Flies o'er the land, and skims along the main ;
It builds the mansion, throngs the busy street,
And lays the wealth of India at its feet.
It fills the school, it wields the press and pen ;
It builds the college, — nursery of men ;
Erects asylums, where the deaf, the blind.
And lunatics, a safe retreat may find ;
It crowns the church, to lead our thoughts on high.
With spires and turrets pointing to the sky.
Thus, linking all in one harmonious band.
It scatters countless blessings o'er the land ;
Yet seeks its center, — there more strongly acts.
As gravity when nearest most attracts ;
And wearied o'er the circling' earth to roam,
Finds in the family its happy home.
The family, — sole ark of earthly rest !
Of peace the nucleus, and of love the nest !
Home of our dearest friends and richest treasures I
Scene of our purest joys and highest pleasures !
The family, to mortal cares was given,
By love divine, to train our hearts for heaven.
Lastly, there is a life, more deep, intense.
Incomprehensible to outward sense.
Which each must feel, yet cannot all control,
Within the veiled recesses of the soul, —
A life, which, be it reprobate or pure.
The good enjoy, the wicked must endure.
POEM. 81
It holds communings with the world around,
Sees every object, lists to every sound ;
Chooses its course, trims to the passing gale.
As ships, to meet the tempest, furl the sail ;
Yet oft makes wreck of all it holds most dear,
Even when the storm is past, the haven near.
Then, reminiscent, often it looks back.
And mark the mazes of its devious track ;
Or sees, with joy, its courses rightly steered.
Its distance gained, and every danger cleared ;
And confident in Him who gave it strength.
Looks forward to a happy goal at length.
How blest that life, which, conscious of no ill.
Has ever striven its duty to fulfill ;
Has marked its way by many a kindly deed.
As some fair stream with verdure fills the mead ;
And when its heaven-appointed work is done.
Shall fade in glory, as the setting sun !
How diff'erent, a life in folly spent.
Without one noble aim, or great intent ;
Selfish and frivolous, deformed and base,
Wliich leaves no lasting good, no radiant trace !
Such life is but a living death below,
A death to peace, a birth to endless woe.
There is a death, how terrible and grim !
Which dwells 'mid lurid lights, and specters dim ;
Where conscience bars the suff"erer from sleep,
And the lost spirit can but wail and weep ;
Where feeds the vampire worm, and gluts his ire.
Amid the torments of devouring fire !
11 *
S2 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
Lord of all power and might ! be thou onr shield,
And may we never to the tempter yield 1
Through life's brief pilgrimage our footsteps guide,
Or in the vale, or on the mountain side ;
And when the light of time shall fade away.
Raise us, at last, to everlasting day !
Oh, glorious life, to saints immortal given,
'Mid all the bliss and majesty of heaven !
Oh, blest abode, where every care shall cease.
And every tumult shall be hushed to peace !
Oh, happy hour, and bridal of the soul,
Wlien we, at length, shall reach that final goal !
And lo ! it comes — the resurrection morn !
Great day for which all other days were born !
Behold the Judge, from heaven's high vault descending
Look to the angel bands, their Lord attending !
List to the trump, that shakes creation round.
And wakes the myriads slumbering under ground !
Tlie sea gives up its dead ; the rending tomb
Proclaims the universal day of doom.
They rise to life, waked by his powerful voice,
Some to deplore, and many to rejoice ;
They meet, to part, — on time's remotest shore ;
Eternity shall see them meet no more !
Now, wrapped in waves of purgatorial fire,
Exhausted nature sinks upon its pyre.
Devouring flames surround the solid globe ;
Exhaling clouds the dreadful scene enrobe ;
And while the elements in fury burn.
Primeval chaos threatens to return.
POEM. 83
But see ! another and more glorious earth
Springs from the ruin, and awakes to birth !
Of sin and woe it bears no stain or trace ;
The home, perchance, of yet another race,
Whom Satan, chained, shall never more enthrall,
Who ne'er shall falter, and shall never fall.
And lo ! with radiant light, of gorgeous hue.
The New Jerusalem descends to view !
With walls of jasper, glorious to behold.
With gates of pearl, and streets of shining gold ;
On precious gems upbuilt, by God's own hand.
Firm as the sky, eternally to stand.
There shall the saints in endless glory meet,
And ever worship at the Saviour's feet.
Arrayed in glittering robes of spotless white.
Crowned with rich diadems of sparkling light,
With victor palms, and harps of tuneful joy.
His praises shall their grateful hearts employ.
No sun, for them, with feeble beams shall shine ;
The Lamb of God shall be their light divine.
No waning moon shall speed their nights away,
Amid the radiance of eternal day ;
No summer's heat, nor winter's cold shall sting,
Amid the verdure of perennial spring.
There shall the fount of life unceasing flow ;
There shall the tree of life unfading grow.
There the Good Shepherd his blest flock shall lead.
And there on fruits celestial they shall feed.
There shall his church behold Ilim, face to face,
And rest forever in his loved embrace.
84^ OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
No mortal want shall ever reach their breast,
No fear disturb them, and no care molest.
But with the holy angels they shall throng.
And join anew in that immortal song :
" Worthy the Lamb, that once for us was slain,
At God*s right hand, omnipotent, to reign !"
Who would not leave a changing world like this.
For such a world of pure, ecstatic bliss !
Who would not soar, on wings of faith and love.
To join that blessed company above ;
And realize, with life's expiring breath.
That Life Divine hath triumphed over Death I
The poem was followed by the singing of an ode,
composed by Eev. Mr. Washburi^, in which the whole
congregation joined.
§)it,
REV. DANIEL WASHBURN
TloXvuadin voov ov 6i6a(TKei ' eivai yap Iv to aofoi/f nriOTaaQai Vvtiificv ijre eyKvffefJvrjaet
Ttavra 6ia rtavTOJv. — Herac. apud Diog. Laert. ix, § 1.
I.
From all this earth's adorning,
From mote and mighty beast ;
From all that night or morning
Has hidden or released ;
From plant, or planet's motion ;
From stores that transient art
Hath wrought in tense devotion,
Symmetric whole or part ;
II.
From all the classic treasures.
Where Genius, ranging far,
Has balmed in varied measures,
The fruits of peace or war ; —
Dost dream, in school and college.
To gather rich and rife,
From such a tree of knowledge.
Thy spirit's food of life?
86 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE
III.
Oh hear but this Evangel ;
The starting-point regain ;
The Tree of Life an angel
Invests with sword of flame ;
While forth from heaven's Center
The law of life proceeds,
Forbidding aught to enter
Till one with Him in deeds.
IV.
That Oneness, youthful brother !
That unity within,'
Has crowned our Elder Brother
Triumphant over sin.
word of God ! our Teacher,
Our Reason ! guide through all.
Interpreting great Nature,
Restoring nature's fall !
A Benediction was pronounced by Rev. J. M. Pee-
bles, of Elmira (a former student).
€\t
XMtX.
At lialf-past 2, P. M., a procession formed under the
direction of Colonel Addison M. Smith, Marshal of the
day, and marched to the Arbor on Washington Square ;
where tables were spread sufficient to seat five hundred,
and they were nearly filled by the students, teachers,
and trustees in attendance.
The dinner was prepared under the supervision and
direction of Alvin S. Pekkiks, Esq., of Oxford ; and the
style of its preparation and the admirable manner in
which it was served, reflected great credit upon that
gentleman. After the dinner had been thoroughly dis-
cussed, the tables were cleared, and additional seats
introduced ; and several hundred ladies came in to grace
the concluding exercises with their presence, and to
share in the remaining festivities of the day.
88 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
After the removal of the cloth, and before the read-
ing of the toasts, Mr. Kogers, the president of the day,
rose and said :
Gentlemen :
I cannot consent to let this occasion pass without expressing, as suit-
ably as I may be able, my unfeigned acknowledgments for the honor
that has been done me in making me the President of this delightful
Jubilee. It was an unexpected, as it certainly is an unmerited distinc-
tion. It impresses me the more, because of the humble part I acted
upon this theater, in the only relation which I have ever sustained to
the Oxford Academy.
I came here as a student in the spring of 1824 ; my stay was brief,
not from choice, but from stern necessity — a necessity which poor boys,
struggling for an education, at that day fully understood. When com-
pelled to leave, I grieved to go ; for my exodus closed the door against
further academic advantages, broke up my pleasant associations with
generous and noble boys, of whom your honored President of the Board
of Trustees was one, and forever sundered the relation which I sustained,
as a student, to Master David Prentice, whom I loved as a father.
The presence of a distinguished gentleman, not a student of the
Academy in his own right, but who has high claims as " tenant by the
curtesy," reminds me of certain incidents in this connection which I
would on no account forget. To him am I largely indebted for the
means which enabled me to enter this institution ; and I am certain that
gentleman will bear with me, while I state with some particularity, the
matter and manner of that indebtedness.
With me it was a day of exceedingly small things ; with him it was
somewhat larger, as you will see when I tell you that he was a full-
grown journeyman cloth-dresser, and held the respective offices of Col-
lector of Taxes and School Inspector for the town of Guilford. In order
to raise funds to defray the expense of a quarter's board and tuition at
the Academy, I contracted with the trustees of a school district in the
gentleman's town, to teach their common school for four months, for the
compensation of ten dollars a month and " board 'round," to take that
portion of the public money appropriated to the winter's term, and the
balance in rye and corn at seventy-five cents a bushel. But there was
an important covenant in that contract, a condition precedent, the non-
performance of which, on my part, would operate to defeat the high
JUDftE STEPHENS' SPEECH. 89
hopes whicli my success tlms far had confidently awakened. I was to
procure from the Inspectors of Common Schools, a certificate " according
to the form of the statute," of my fitness to teach. Fearfully apprehen-
sive and tremblingly conscious of my scanty qual* ications, I presented
myself at the Inspector's Board. My friend, for such he proved himself
to be, was a member of that Board, and its moving and controlling spirit ;
and by his generous forbearance I passed the dreaded ordeal, taught,
or perhaps I ought rather to say, hept the school, replenished my purse,
and came to Oxford ; and when, in the short space of three months, my
treasury became an " exhausted receiver," I graduated and left. Such,
in brief, is the history of my connection with the Oxford Academy, and
the circumstances to which I am indebted for my relations to it.
Gentlemen — I trust I may be pardoned lor adding, what I am con-
fident all will appreciate and feel, that not among the least of the things
that gladden my heart on this occasion, is the recollection of the honor-
able career of your distinguished guest, and my early friend.
At the time to which I have referred, he had neither read nor given
thought to the profession upon which he subsequently entered ; and yet,
within a few years thereafter, by his own unaided exertions, he attained
a standing among the very first of his brethren at the bar ; not resting
there, his good star led him on until he has secured a distinguished
national reputation as a patriot and statesman. He has honored the
town and county where he was bred and raised, the State which has
honored him ; and won an enduring fame.
The President tlien read tlie first toast, as follows :
I. TiiE Town of Oxford and the Oxford Academy : char-
tered the same year. May hoth cmitinue prosj[>eri7ig and to
prospeQ' !
Judge Heney Stephens, of Cortland (a student in
1807), responded to this toast.
Mr. President :
You have kindly invited me to respond to the sentiment just
ofi'ered, complimentary to the town of Oxford and its institution of
learning— the Oxford Academy. To do so I need only call your at-
tention to the evidences of development which we have witnessed to-
day, and to the kindness, hospitality, and refinement of the people
12 " •
90 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
of Oxford, which has been extended to and manifested towards us wlio
are their guests.
The accomplished preacher to whom we listened last evening, told
us that it is not the outward form alone which constitutes the man, but
that it is the inward character and spirit. We have an apt illustration
of this truth in the people of Oxford. That splendid building which
they have erected, and called us to dedicate, is an evidence of their
spirit. A single day in the history of a nation, or of any man, is suffi-
cient to give a clue to the hidden principles and purposes which charac-
terize the nation or the man. Give to a surgeon a single bone, and he
will determine to what race it belongs, and of what species of animal
it formed the frame ; and show to a geologist a single rock, and he will
tell you from what stratum it was taken, and the period of its existence.
So it is in the life of man, and the history of cities and villages. The
edifices and institutions created by the former, and which adorn the
latter, determine the character, aims, and purposes of the man and
the community. Those which we see to-day, speak in no equivocal
voice the praises of the men of Oxford.
It is a long time since I last visited Oxford, departing, where I yes-
terday returned, through yonder avenue of graceful trees. It was in
1802 that I first saw the then new, but always enlightened, hospitable
Oxford. I had been a week driving over rough roads from Catskill.
It was the first village which I had met in that long journey. You,
who now meet villages every few miles in whatever direction you may
travel, fail to catch the impression which the sight of a village then
inspired.
I was acquainted with all those men who were the early trustees of
this institution. They commenced at first principles, and reasoned cor-
rectly that intelligence, influence, and eventually affluence, would flow
most surely from the foundation of the institutions of religion and litera-
ture ; and they gave to them their first care. They were the authors of
the prosperity which we now enjoy. The foundation of the Academy
was not the only great work which those men organized. They be-
longed to a generation which crossed tlie Hudson river. All the coun-
try between the Hudson and the Pacific was a broad wilderness ; and
when they entered it there were no bridges, nor roads, nor school-
houses, for their convenience and comfort. They and their sons have
pushed on their improvements, until now the sound of the reaper is
heard on the shores of the Pacific. Let us honor them, that our lives
may be long in the land, and our children may be also prospered.
V
7^
HOX. JOHN TRACY'S SPEECH. 91
The second toast was then read, as follows :
II. The Regents of the University : Imhecility never mar-
red their jjlcms ; Corruption never invaded their counsels.
Faithf'id to their iinportant trusts^ — learning owes them a last-
ing deht of gratitude.
This toast was responded to by the Hon. John
Tracy, one of the former Regents of the University, in
the following remarks :
Mk. President :
In responding to the sentiment which has just been given, I comply
with an intimation given me that it was expected I would do so.
My connection with the Board of Kegents of the University, and
association with its members for several years, enable me to bear wit-
ness to their fidelity and devotion in discharging their various trusts.
The faithful performance of the highly important duties of the
Board, increases their beneficial effect, and diff'uses a salutary influence by
encouraging the literary institutions of the State, and by promoting the
interests of learning and science.
Our academies are all under their protecting care, and subject to
their visitation. The visits of the members of the Board to the acade-
mies are very useful to these institutions. They have a tendency to
encourage both teachers and students in the discharge of their duties,
and excite a laudable ambition which it is desirable to stimulate and
increase.
The education of the young is an object worthy of the exertions of
us all. It is commended to us by the most important considerations.
While we devote ourselves to promoting and extending it, we are sure we
are performing those duties which tend to the happiness of our fellow
beings.
Allow me to add my congratulations on the present occasion. The
remembrances of sixty years are with us. May these recollections give
us joy and gladness, and perpetuate those fraternal feelings, which will
add to our happiness through life !
92 O X F O 11 D A C A D E AI Y JUBILEE.
III. Tjie Former and Present. Trustees of the Oxford
Academy. — The wisdom of the one^ m laying the foundations
of our institution amid " the green ruins " (f the forest^ and
the generous liberality of the other ^ in continuing its life and
usefulness, demand the gratitude of the State. May the future
of the institution eclipse the jpromise of its youth !
Henry Van Der Lyn, Esq., a former trustee of tlie
Academy, responded and said, —
Mr. President :
To look back upon the time when I was elected a trustee of the
Academy, awakens emotions both of joy and sadness.
Of the twenty trustees with whom I was then associated, there
remain only Governor Tracy, General liathbone, and myself.
We were then in the prime of manhood and elated with the prom-
ised joys of life's unmeasured way. Troubles and sorrows had not dis-
pelled the charms of existence, nor chilled the warm emotions of the
heart.
But the Academy, undecayed by time, in the sixtieth year of its ex-
istence, with renewed life and vigor, is running its bright career.
The Academy struggled with the difficulties incident to a new and
densely wooded country, and it was not until the year 1821 that it
arose to eminence and distinction. It was then under the care of David
Prentice, a man of many excellencies. To him the praise is due of
having instructed a long list of boys, all of whom have risen to emi-
nence and distinction, and 07ie to the highest honors of the State.
On this occasion it may not be irrelevant to bring to your view some
of these bright sons of genius.
Horatio Seymour, our honored Governor, who now adorns the office
of chief-magistrate of three millions of people.
Ward Hunt, the distinguished lawyer and advocate, who has this
day honored his Alma Mater with the learned and eloquent effusions of
his genius.
John W. Allen, the late worthy Mayor of Cleveland ; a states-
man in the halls of Congress ; a gentleman distinguished for the eleva-
tion of his character and the goodness of his heart.
Joseph G. Masten and Henry W. Rogers — par nobile fratrui/i —
who are now at the head of the bar in the city of Buffalo, and the fa-
vored sons of humanity and honor.
MR. VAN D E R L Y N ' S SPEECH. 93
Mr. Charles 0. Tracy, ranks among tlic first lawyers and advocates
of Ohio, and is a man of liigli cliaracter and gifted endowments.
Daniel II. Marsh, a distinguished lawyer of Oswego, a gentleman
and a scholar, who in early youth conducted the government of the
Academy with ability.
Samuel S. Randall, now at the head of the department of educf.-
tion in the city of New York ; a man of letters, who for many years
illustrated by liis talents and labors the department of common schools
of this State.
Henry R. Mygatt, the first lawyer of Chenango, and munificent
patron of the Academy, distinguished for the finish of his legal acquire-
ments, and for magnanimity and public spirit.
Among the many lovely maidens who were the ornaments of Mr.
Prentice's school, this occasion, I hope, will justify me in naming Miss
Knapp, now the accomplished Avife of Governor Dickinson. The
genius of her husband has elevated him from obscurity to the liighest
stations in the American Union. She, amidst the hardships of adversity
and the smiles of prosperity, has preserved the graces of modesty and
the spotless purity of virtue.
In paying this passing tribute we cannot omit to notice the years
1827 and 1828, when the Reverend Doctor Andrews was Principal of
the Academy. The time is long passed ; but the recollection of those
days rekindles the pleasure with which we witnessed his faithful and
splendid exertions in the art of instruction.
Dr. Andrews was succeeded by William D. Beattie, a learned and
talented scholar.
On his resignation in 1832, Merritt G. McKoon, a young graduate
of Union College w'as called to preside over this institution.
He was intended by nature for a public instructor. She had en-
dowed him with indomitable energy, bright talents, and strict virtues.
After years of success, the trustees reluctantly received his resignation of
an office he had honored so well. Mr. McKoon has recently returned to
his first love, the scene of his youthful exploits in the village of Oxford.
As Principal of the Academy, by the unanimous voice of the trustees
and of the village, he has consecrated his life to the success of this new
and splendid school, w^ith all the lights of science, under the blessings of
religion. He has long discovered and felt the sacred truth, that the
object and end of education is to prepare the young to perform all the
duties and charities of life, — to w ork under the eye and in the presence
of their great Task-Master, and to love God with all their heart, and
94 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
tlieir lu'iolibor as themselves. 'In Iiis school, the Bible will be the
foiiiulation of his success, and Avill cheer him with its divine consola-
tions, lie will not pry into the mysteries of creation, nor attempt the
impossible, — to discover " that bom-nc from whence no traveler returns."
Untainted by sectarianism, bigotry, or the liumlmg of human infallibility,
he wnll inscribe over the portals of the institution, in glowing letters,
" The highest learning is to be wise ; the greatest wisdom is to be good."
The trustees have witnessed with pleasure, the bright assemblage of
teachers and students of the Academy, who have come here to renew
their youth, and to live over again in these brief moments the free and
happy days of boyhood, when the rays of a bright sun could make suffi-
cient holiday.
Under these happy auspices the new Academy has this day been
launched, we fondly hope under the divine blessing, on its voyage of
usefulness and success.
lY. The Tf:ACHEKS of Oxfokd Academy : Morality^ intelli-
gence^ and zeal d'wectecl their efforts. IleUgion^ science and
literature reap the reward.
The Eev. Edward Andrews, D. D., of Bingham-
ton, a former teacher, responded as follows :
Mk. President :
When I received the letter of invitation to this festival, I felt like
Tantalus when the proffered fruit eluded his grasp ; for it was the in-
tensest heat we have had for years, and I then thought that to comply
with the invitation was impossible. But when I sat down to reflect
upon it, and the memory of the past came over me, I acknowledge a
different scene presented itself. The forms of aged, venerable men,
my early friends, now resting from their labors, rose up before me, and
pointing to this institution seemed to say, " The living owe a debt to
knowledge and religion which death alone can discharge." The living,
also, honored and loved for more than one generation, made the same
appeal. Pupils of both sexes, who have nobly redeemed their pledges
to knowledge and virtue, seemed also to repeat the invitation ; the beau-
tiful village, " its happy fields, — its hills beloved in vain," its shining
river, its glorious landscape rose up before me ; and I resolved in the
DH. ANDREWS' SPEl^CH. 95
strength and recollection of early manhood to greet you here, thongh I
might only say Hail ! and Farewell !
Sir, I have ev er regarded the period I spent here, as Principal of
Oxford Academy, as one of the most interesting of my life. I formed
friendships which have lasted, and I trnst will last till death shall sever
them. It would be a grateful theme, to dwell on the virtues of the
living and the memories of the dead with whom I was here connected.
The bond of our union was the interest, usefulness, and lionor of Oxford
Academy. To make this institution the successful seat of sound learn-
ing and enlarged and generous knowledge, was the aim of the trustees
and citizens : and seldom have I witnessed such untirino- efforts to ren-
der an Academy all that it should be. It is in consequence of these
continued and uninterrupted efforts, that I witness here to-day, for the
second time since I was Principal, the dedication of a new edifice to
the great cause of knowledge and education. You have left nothing
undone that can be done for so good a cause. You have been liberal
with your money, to meet the demands of an age wliich glories in
making progress.
It is your object, as I understand, to make the work of education
thorough. And to do this, to carry out a system of thorough education,
is, in my judgment, a work of no little difficulty in a time so utilitarian
and practical. The present day demands " short cuts," royal roads to
knowledge, and is inclined to undervalue every thing which cannot
speedily be converted into gold. Hence, classical knowledge, systematic
training, exact analysis, are often overlooked or ignored ; and the pre-
sumptuous youth, with most scanty preparation rushes into the profes-
sion of theology, law, or medicine ; by which these professions have lost
much of their ancient respect, and the superficial students themselves,
instead of the expected honors and emoluments, have pined away their
lives in obscurity and disappointment. That some remarkable minds
liave overleaped every barrier and risen to proud scats of eminence, is
true ; but this by no means refutes the truth that " a little learning is a
dangerous thing."
The question is often put now, of what value are the antiquated
books of Greece and Rome ? I know that in some places of education,
devices are contrived to show these ancient masters nominal and out-
ward homage, while they shun an intimate acquaintance as much as
possible. Sir, I am glad that I can say that the teachers of Oxford
Academy have not been men of this character. From the venerable
professor wlio having spent a quarter of a century in college halls, still
9C OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
devotes liis time and learning to the education of youth, to the accom-
plislied scholar who now presides over this institution, they have, one
and all, been distinguished for their love of the classic elegance of
Greece and Rome. I do not mean to say that classical learning is neces-
mry to a farmer, a mechanic, or merchant ; though it will do them no
hurt to acquire a relish for whatever is beautiful in nature or graceful in
art ; but I do think that to the divine, the lawyer, and physician, they
are almost indispensable. I consider the present age as too much
inclined to regard every thing either at its cash value, or as it relates to
our present comfort and condition. Now, I do not believe that m.an was
placed in this world merely to eat and drink, and sleep and die, and
that Avhen he has accomplished these things comfortably or luxuriously
he has then successfully achieved the purposes of his being. If he is
made of dust, he is also made in the image of God ; he is made to live a
life of the intellect and of the soul ; and if this is overlooked, he suffers
pangs greater than bodily hunger and thirst. He has an imagination to
be gratified, a reason wliich seeks truth, and a love of the beautiful
which cannot be satisfied ; and where, in any uninspired books, can this
higher and nobler nature be so well developed as by an intimate ac-
quaintance with the sages of immortal Greece, — that relic of departed
worth, immortal though no more ?
When the ancient language in which the Old Testament was written
was fast fading from the minds of men, it pleased God to raise up Greek
scholars who, by translating those books into the Greek language, have
given it an enduring record which can never perish. It is not too much
to say, that without the Greek Septuagint the Old Testament would in
these days be unintelligible. If the Gospels and the Epistles were origi-
nally WTitten in any other language than that of Greece, such originals
are not now to be found. All that we enjoy has come down to us in
Greek. Thus the wisdom of God is manifested in clothing his holy
Word and message of salvation in a language which all linguists pro-
nounce with one voice as the most perfect vehicle of human thought.
Sir, I hope that this company will indulge and pardon an old school-
master on an occasion like this for making his bow to Demosthenes and
Homer, Cicero and Virgil.
But though I thus pay my willing tribute of honor to the classics,
let me not be understood as placing them in value above the exact
sciences. The teachers of Oxford Academy have never made such a
l>lunder. I regard the study of the exact sciences, from common arith-
metic up through algebra and conic sections and fluxions to the most
DR. ANDREWS* SPEECH. 07
abstract calculi of the astronomer, as the rugged but most faithful
nurse of the human mind. Tt is said that figures v/ill not lie ; and
herein consists their value. They tell the naked truth, divested from all
artifice and abstracted from all appendages. They thus accustom the
mind to close habits of thought and severe application, which in after
life become of inestimable value. They should always go hand in hand
in study with the classics. Then they mutually aid and strengthen each
other ; without this the system of education would be radically defec-
tive.
" Woe to the youth whom Fancy gains,
Winning from Reason's hand the reins !
Pity and woe! for such a mind
Is soft, contemplative, and kind.
And woe to those who train such youth.
And spare to press the rights of truth!"
In our day the poet's warning is of double value ; for young America
is so prone to form schemes of annexation, acquisition, and accumula-
tion, that unless he is thoroughly trained and disciplined to weigh the
consequences and to calculate all possible results, men as old as I am
may yet outlive the ruin of their country. We must, if possible, teach
that ambitious and aspiring young gentleman to gain the unknown
quantity by a just and lawful equation. Then his gains will spend well,
and the great teacher on high will bless him as his son.
With these thoughts I deem it proper to reply to your kind remem-
brance of the teachers of Oxford Academy. And here I might give
expression to those feelings of tenderness and hope inspired by the oc-
casion, — tenderness for the past, the memory of pleasant hours, precious
friendships, interrupted and sanctified by the solemnity of the grave ;
and hope, glowing hope for the future of our Academy, which beams
upon us like a silver cloud in the heavens. But these topics I leave to
others. Long may this Academy flourish in renewed youth and useful-
ness and strength ! Long, long may she continue to teach and cultivate
those enlightening studies of literature and science which are here pre-
served and cherished as in their favorite abode ! And when you. Sir,
and your associates shall be summoned to^ join those who have gone
before, whose memory sheds a hallowed influence over this our festival,
may you enter that abode where they " know not in part, but where
they see as they are seen and know^ as they are known"!
13 *
98 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
Y. The Schools, Academies, and Colleges of ]^ew York. —
The State that fosters learning, nourishes herself. The hulwark
of freedom is the intelligence of the people. New Yorh, stand-
ing in the van of the march of emJp^re, points with pride to her
literary instiMitio7is as her brightest jewels.
Judge Charles Masojs^, of Hamilton, one of the
trustees of Madison University, responded.
Mr. President : —
It is not affectation in me to say I rise with unusual diffidence. It
was not until my arrival here that it was made known to me, that I was
expected to respond to the sentiment just off(jred. And when it is
recollected that I have been for years withdrawn from public speaking,
it will not seem strange that I should be reluctant to fill the post
assigned to me. But having been induced by the cordial invitation of
the Committee to be present on this occasion, I will not omit the expres-
sion of a few thoughts which are suggested by the occasion. Could
a stranger have taken a position outside of this circle, and heard the
things which we have heard, his heart would have thrilled with strong
emotions.
Mr. President, I feel so much moved by the occurrences of this occa-
sion, that I scarcely feel able to express what I have to utter. My heart
would be more than adamant (I beg pardon of my distinguished friend
from Buffalo ; I use the term in no political sense) should it not yield
to emotions which are so naturally produced by these proceedings. I
have been deeply interested in the narrative which has been presented
to-day, of the foundation and history of this Academy. There has
never been a time in the history of this country when such institutions
were more needed. In looking over the occurrences of a few years, and
witnessing the tendencies of the times — the " Young America" tenden-
cies in law, politics, religion, and morals — I am impressed with the con-
viction that there never has been a time when these higher institutions of
our country had weightier duties devolving upon them than the present.
I have thought that there was an omission in some of these institutions
to perform some of their duties to the state. The high duties which
the youth owes to the state, the holy obligations which he is under to
the laws of his country, are not sufficiently impressed upon the minds of
the pupils of our universities and the students of our colleges. In this
respect, it strikes me the schools of our country have illy performed
HON. D. S. DICKINSON'S SPEECH. 99
their duties. How common it is to see whole communities, numbering
among their population men who have come forth from these higher
institutions pervaded by their inculcations, with habits showing that the
obligation of obedience to the laws of their country hangs loosely about
them ! This tendency is increasing among us, and will increase unless
it is checked by those who have the training of our youth committed to
them. I can respond with great sincerity to the sentiment which has
just been uttered by our distinguished friend from Binghamton.* If
the institutions of education perform the trusts they owe to the state
in supplying the bar, the pulpit, and the legislative halls of our coun-
try, we shall have nothing to fear from all those tendencies of the times
to which I have referred.
In conclusion, I will return my thanks to those to whose hospitality I
am indebted for the enjoyment of this occasion. It is no flattery to say,
there is no village in my acquaintance where more refinement exists,
more hospitality is extended, than in this village.
YI. The Ladies heee Educated. — The wives and mothers
of senators and statesmen.
Hon. Daniel S. Dickinson, whose wife was a former
pupil in tlie Academy, responded, and said, —
Wherever the blessings of civilization and Christianity have been
extended, a high position in society has been assigned to woman. It is
obvious that the wise and beneficent Creator, in the adjustment of hu-
man economy, ordained that one portion of the duties of life should be
discharged by the male, and another by the female ; nor, because her
duties are unlike his, is it to be inferred that they are less important,
interesting, or dignified. To man, with his more rugged nature, — has
been assigned the physical elements, and various duties incident to gov-
ernment ; to woman, the empire of the heart and the aff'ections. She
has not felled the forest, wrestled at the bar, enacted laws in the legis-
lative hall, nor gravely presided over courts of justice ; but she has been
charged with the execution of a holier and more interesting trust, — that
of standing at the vestibule of human existence, watching the develop-
ment of mind, and molding the heart and character of those who are to
compose society. These duties are suited to her peculiar nature,— her
purity and affection, her intuitive perception, her deep religious devo-
tion, her patient endurance, her love of virtue, her abhorrence of
* Rev. Dr. Andrews. ♦
100 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
vice ; and the gentleness and delicacy of her natural and moral structure
have qualified her to discharge this elevated mission, and to inculcate
peace on earth and good will to men. The great mass of virtuous
females Avould by no means exchange a relation so sacred and interest-
ing for any earthly destiny ; while an ambitious and clamorous few, scorn-
ing the tame duties which society, with the sanction of Heaven, has
assigned the sex, seek relief in preparing their minds and adjusting their
costume for making more hasty and enlarged strides in pursuit of their
lost rights.
It has often been said, sportively if not seriously, that woman was
the first to partake of the fruit of the forbidden tree ; though it is admit-
ted, in extenuation, that she was earliest in the atonement. But, if my
clerical friends will pardon me for a moment for invading their peculiar
prerogative, I will challenge any one to show from the sacred writings that
woman was ever forbidden to eat of the fatal fruit. Whether the injunc-
tion w^as not extended to her because it was deemed unnecessary by
reason of her obedient nature, or whether it was supposed the inhibition
Avould heighten her curiosity to taste, is of course unknown to erring
mortals. Be this as it may, the Scripture informs us that man was cre-
ated and placed in the garden, — the command to abstain was given him
while he was yet alone, and afterwards, in the order of events, woman
was created. No heavenly mandate, as far as we are informed, reached
her ears upon the subject ; nor did she rest under any declared prohibi-
tion, except by implication.
The character of w^oman is appreciated, and her exalted mission ac-
knowledged, in proportion as society advances in learning, refinement,
and true religion ; and her position is degraded in the same ratio, under
the dominion of despotism, ignorance, and barbarism. This very occa-
sion is a most memorable illustration of this interesting truth. It sig-
nalizes one of her proudest triumphs. Contrast her condition as it is
here, with that of other lands of more ambitious pretension. Passing
by countries where she is an inferior and a slave, go to decayed,
mildewed, beggar-gilded Spain, boasting of her ancestral renown, her re-
finement, and her religion, and search her moth-eaten monarchy through-
out for such an assemblage as this — where they have met together to
recount the triumphs of learning ; and you will not find it. Assem-
blages of " fair women and brave men " you may find ; but they liave
assembled to witness struggles for mastery and prowess between brute
beast and brutal man, cheered on by a brutalized audience (in which, I
blush to add, woman is conspicuous), while they worry and destroy each
other.
HON. D. S. DICKINSON'S SPEECH. 101
I remember much of the history of the Oxford Academy, commencinjr,
perhaps, at an earlier period than I should now be willing to confess. I
remember once to have seen its benevolent founder, Mr. Hovey. And
I remember now full well, and with a pride and gratification not easily
described, of those I may venture to claim amongst my early and most
\ allied friends, — those who have sustained it through all vicissitudes to its
present exalted eminence, who mourned when it languished, and when
it rejoiced, rejoiced with it. In what pleasing contrast they stand with
the conquerors of armies, the disturbers of the world's repose, the vio-
lators of the public peace I How much more approved in the sight of
all good men ! how much more justified in the sight of Heaven !
From this institution no demoralizhig influences have proceeded ; —
it has produced neither sickness nor sorrow ; but, like one vast foun-
tain of good, it has sent forth living streams to the north, the south, the
east, and the west, to refresh, to fertilize, and bless the vast domains of
humanity. Its benefits have reached all ages, classes, and conditions.
It has taught the wealthy, humility and the vulgarity of ostentation ; the
poor, how to endure poverty without wretchedness ; and all, that virtue
and integrity are priceless. Nor has this institution, in the education of
females, been one of those modern shaving shops where a young lady
must be taken up by payment of her value every ninety days, like a ma-
tured bank note ; where they are smothered under so many branches
that they can learn little of them besides the names, and know no more
of the useful branches when they leave than when they commenced ; —
but here true learning lias been imparted and real knowledge inculcated,
at an expense which placed them within the reach of means the most mod-
erate. Here woman has been taught lessons which qualify her for the
duties of life in whatsoever condition Providence may cast her lot ;
whether in the secluded quiet of domestic retirement, or whether her
fortunes are launched with the companion of her destiny upon some
stormy sea, she is fitted to cheer and console him when all others frown,
to be his light and sunshine wdien the skies low^er and the storm gath-
ers blackness and fury.
" When envy's tongue would coldly blast his name,
And busy tongues are sporting with his fame,
Who solves each doubt, clears every mist away.
And leaves him radiant in the face of day?
She who wouM peril fortune, fame, and life.
For man the ingrate, — the devoted wife."
It was said that although Mark Antony had no* hand in the death of
102 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
Julius Caesar, yet lie would receive the benefit of his dying ; and I will
add, that although I never attended the Oxfoi'd Academy, I received the
benefit of its excellent instruction, and that although uever a student
there, I obtained one of its highest prizes.
The honorable President of the day, who has with so much ability
and good taste presided upon this occasion, has, among other reminis-
cences of boyhood which he has awakened, reminded me that we were
then both residents of Guilford, in this county, and that he received
from my official hand a certificate to teach a common school. Although it
had long been forgotten, I now remember well the circumstances and the
occasion. It could not have been, I am quite certain, that I gave it him
because I knew he was fresh from the halls of Oxford Academy, which
we all held in profound veneration for its learning, — for he had not then
entered them ; it could not have been because of the strong sympathy
as brother mechanics which bound us together ; it could not have been
because of the private friendship wdiich sprung up between us at an
early day and has existed to the present moment, commencing in the
confiding spirit of youth, and growing stronger and brighter with years ;
— but my good genius must have whispered me, that the candidate for
pedagogical honors would one day discharge high and responsible pub-
lic trusts, — that in the exercise of a high profession he would stand up
in the legal forum, in the Queen City of the West, and there eloquently
vindicate the cause of virtuous innocence, abash fraud, and chastise
knavery as with a lash of scorpions, until his brow would be laden with
wreaths of laurels. Thus aided by this mysterious guidance, and look-
ing unconsciously into the future in view of the part the candidate was
to play upon the great theater of existence, it seems I ventured to certify
to the important fact, that he was of good moral character, possessing
sufficient learning and ability, and was in all other respects qualified to
teach a common school in the town of Guilford for the term of one year.
Chenango was my early and beloved home. Here were passed the
seasons of childhood, youth, and early manhood. Its faces are still
familiar. There is scarce a hill, a stream, or a mountain side but I can
give some passage of its history. Chenango is now thrice my home,
for at my own residence its beloved river rolls at my feet. I love it for
the interesting memories which it awakens, for the sad yet pleasing
recollections which cluster around it. I love it for its noble social
structure, its healthful clime, its sunny slopes, its gay green valleys,
its industry and frugality, its pure morals, its sturdy sons ; and will close
by suggesting that I have practically shown my sense of regard for its
daughters.
Mil. MARSH'S SPEECH. 103
yil. The Learned Professions. — ^'^ Let all the ends they
aim at he their Country, God, and Truth:' So shall their pro-
fession he respected, and their teaching and example follo^oed.
Daniel H. Maksh, Esq., of Oswego, a student in
1821, responded, and said:
Mr. President : —
ITnlike the distinguislied gentleman who responded to the last senti-
ment, I appear here in my own right, and in the double capacity of a
former pupil of the Oxford Academy, and as its " boy teacher," alluded
to by my friend who responded to the third toast. And, Mr. President,
before I address myself to the sentiment just read by you, permit me to
allude to a ludicrous mistake, which, as I w^as approaching this place, I
came near making.
More than thirty years since, I was a student in the Academy whose
sixtieth anniversary we now celebrate. Here, as such student, in this
delightful village, I passed many of my happiest days, and formed many
of my strongest attachments ; and when, after I had completed my
collegiate course, I was solicited by the trustees of the Academy to be-
come its Principal, I could not resist the temptation of again making
Oxford, a place so endeared to me by past associations, my temporary
home ; even though by so doing I assumed a responsibility beyond my
youthful years ; a responsibility in w hich I might have failed, but for
the efficient aid and kind encouragement of my much esteemed friend
on my left. (H. Yan Der Lyn, Esq.)
Since then, twenty-seven years have passed, and I had not seen this
home of my youth, though memory often called it and the associations
connected w ith it to my mind ; and when the invitation of the Home
Committee announced to me that this anniversary was to be held, and
solicited my attendance at its celebration, I resolved at once to revisit
my Alma Mater, and again look upon the scenes and the friends of my
happy by-gone days. I came, and as I Avas wending my way hither,
memory vividly recalled those scenes and those friends, and fancy pic-
tured them to my mind's eye as when last I saw them. And, when I
entered the green valley of the Chenango, old and familiar objects pre-
sented themselves to my view, and, as I advanced, became more and
more frequent ; and when I entered this beautiful village, though I saw-
that the hand of improvement had been here, yet enough of the olden
104 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
time remained to give me a liome feeling; and soon familiar faces pre-
sented tliemselves to my view, and friendly greetings welcomed me; and
when I met my old and tried friend, Connselor Van Der Lyn, vigorous,
active, and energetic as when last I saw him, and my lionored friend, the
late Lieutenant Governor, John Tracy, and saw how lightly the liand of
time had rested on him, and my warm-hearted friend. General Rathbone,
whose daguerreotype of twenty-seven years ago would be his daguerreo-
type of to-day, memory and fancy completely tricked me, and made me
imagine myself a boy again ; and as, just then, a highly esteemed and
much respected former pupil of mine (H. R. Mygatt, Esq.) asked me to
respond to some sentiment to be given at the table, I was surprised, and
was on the point of asking him why he did not solicit some older per-
son, at least a middle-aged man, to make the response; but, unfor-
tunately for my fancied youth, a young man approached (just about the
age that my respected pupil was when I left him twenty-seven years
ago), and my interlocutor introduced him to me as his son. Fancy took
her flight ; and Madame Reality told me that want of years would not
excuse me from responding to a toast. And here I am, Mr. President,
shorn of my fancied youth, and transmuted into a middle-aged member
of one of the learned professions, ready to respond to and reiterate the
sentiment which you have just read : " The Learned Professions — Let all
the ends they aim at be their Country, God, and Truth."
Educated as gentlemen of the learned professions should be, they
have the power to wield a mightier influence over the destinies of their
country than the mass of its citizens ; and duty requires that that power
should be exercised for the best interests, the greatest good, and the
highest glory of that country ; and whoever would perform that high
and holy duty, must do it in dependence upon God, who is Truth itself.
Though the peculiar sphere of action of the diff'erent professions
be unlike, though to one is allotted more especially the pecuniary or
property interests of the country (and by country I understand, not
the territory alone, but all the citizens which together make up the
nation), to another its health, and to another its morals and religion, — yet
each is bound so to perform the duties of his peculiar station as to pro-
mote and advance all these interests.
Though it be the peculiar province of the lawyer to protect and
defend the interests of his client ; yet he is not required to protect or
defend those interests at the sacrifice of principle, or truth, or morality,
or religion. Though it be the especial duty of the physician to exercise
his best skill in the care of the body ; yet he is not freed from the further
MR. MARSH'S SPEECH. 105
obligation to point his patient to the Great Physician above, and to ad-
monish liim that He has commanded him to love his neighbor as himself.
And thongh there is devolved npon the clergyman, as his chief dnty,
the care of the eternal interests of his fellow immortals ; yet he is not
absolved from regarding their temporal wants, or their temporal inter-
ests. And no one has a right to assume either of these highly honorable
and useful professions in ignorance of the ivhole duty which it imposes
upon him.
I am aware, Mr. President, that a large portion of the community
have an impression, that the profession to which you and I belong
absolves us, while professionally engaged, from the ordinary principles
of morality ; and that we are bound to undertake any cause, however
bad, or unjust, or unrighteous it may be ; and to win it, if by trick, or
fraud, or perversion of truth and common honesty it can be won. A
most erroneous impression, and unjust to one of the most noble and
honorable professions in the world. I grant that there are those among
us whose practice tends to foster such a belief. But fortunately they
are few ; and none despise them more than does the great body of our
own profession.
We are accused, too, of resorting to technicalities, to gain our ends
and free our clients from the penalties of the law. Grant that this is
so. AVhat then ? Laws are only useful as they are rightly adminis-
tered. They cannot be rightly administered without fixed rules. Throw
aside established rules, and the administration of the law becomes as
uncertain as the wind, and as variant as the integrity and intelligence of
the judges appointed to administer it. Throw aside such rules, and the
increased "glorious uncertainty of the law" would indefinitely extend
the field of litigation, to the exhaustion of the litigants' pockets, and
to the degradation of our high and honorable profession. And yet,
Mr. President, I am ready to admit that a slight divergence from tlio
path of rectitude in one of our profession, does not draw down the
frowns and anathemas of the world upon us to so great an extent as it
does upon the physician or the divine, inasmuch as the purse is of less
consequence than the body or the soul ; though perhaps I risk some-
what of criticism upon my own intelligence in making such an assertion,
at a time when there are so many who, for the " mighty dollar," would
sacrifice will, body, and soul.
But, Mr. President, though the duties of the legal profession are often
misunderstood and the profession maligned, — though a few unworthy
members draw opprobrium on the whole fraternity ; yet I will venture to
14 *
106 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
say that no equal body of men can be taken from any occupation of life,
among whom there are more men of noble aspirations, high honor, strict
integrity, or pure morality.
Even the medical fraternity, Mr. President, honorable and useful as
is their vocation of carrying comfort and hope to the chamber of sick-
ness and distress, have empirics among them ; and not unfrequently do
we hear the noble science of medicine itself maligned because of its
unworthy professors.
And can I say as much of tliat high and holy profession whose
special duty it is to minister at the altar of the Living God ? who have
taken upon them a vow to be the servants of the meek and lowly Jesus?
who are as a light set upon a hill to guide and direct erring mortals in
the pathway to immortality ? Can such a one fall from his high estate,
and bring deep disgrace upon himself? and not only so, but bring into
disrepute, with the giddy and the thoughtless, the holy and sacred cause
he professed to advocate, and bow down the heads, and make sad the
hearts, of the true servants of the Most High ?
Certainly, Mr. President, there will be none such in this sacred pro-
fession, none such in either of the learned professions, if their members
" let all the ends they aim at be their Country, God, and Truth ;" and
such being their aim, "their profession shall be respected, and their
teaching and example followed."
That many such have gone forth from the institution whose anniver-
sary we celebrate, we know. That others will go forth with like aim
we do not doubt, if the trustees of the Academy continue, as doubtless
will be their aim, to entrust its charge to such a man as was its Principal
when I and many others here present, had the good fortune to be pupils
within its time-honored walls. To him (Professor Prentice) kindly
allusion has already been made by the orator of the day, and others.
Permit me to say that I was a pupil of his, and a member of his family,
for a longer time than any other person present ; and I can bear witness
to his intelligent and untiring zeal in training the minds of those com-
mitted to his care. Nor were his efforts confined to their mental cul-
ture alone. He sought with equal ardor, and with parental care, to
instill into their minds a high sense of honor and an exalted morality.
It becomes me not to say how successful he was. Suffice it to say, that
he ever has had, and I trust he ever will have, my warmest gratitude for
his judicious care and kindness to me. And in all his efforts, especially
towards those who, like the orator of the day and myself, were inmates
of his family, he was greatly aided by his most excellent and accomplished
MR. STUART'S SPEECH. 107
wife ; who watched with anxious care over our habits, manners, and
morals, and who sought successfully to make us feel her house to be
our home, and herself our warmest friend. And when we parted from
her, it was with feelings akin to those we bear towards an elder and
much-loved sister, — feelings which time has not, and I trust will never
erase.
May teachers with a zeal as untiring and intelligent as his whom I
have named, ever preside over the destinies of the Oxford Academy !
and may Oxford emulate its ancient namesake of England in its mental
and moral training, whilst it avoids the erroneous and dangerous teach-
ings of its modern theology !
YIII. The Press.
"Freedom's impenetrable shield,
The sword that wins her best success —
The only sword that man should wield."
William Stuart, Esq., editor of the Binghamton
Republican, replied.
Mr. President, and Ladies and Gentlemen :
The many eloquent speeches with which we have been favored, and
the lateness of the hour, admonish me to be brief in the response I am
called upon to make in honor of the press.
As the press is identified with all subjects, it would be parliament-
ary in me to be equally discursive. Indeed, I am informed by a distin-
guished friend near me, that a member of Congress was once called to
order for speaking to the question. But the press is peculiarly identi-
fied with education and general intelligence. Were it not for its
mighty and ceaseless instrumentalities, where would be your noble insti-
tutions of learning, such as we have this day met to celebrate ?
It has been truly and beautifully said that, " Learning is an orna-
ment in prosperity, and a refuge in adversity." It is a brilliant gem in
the golden casket of fortune, which throws its radiance on all around it.
It expands and liberalizes the mind, softens and keeps fresh the aff'ec-
tions, and renders the possessor a worthy almoner of the bounties of
Providence ; while money and ignorance are generally a miserable
partnership of conceit, vulgarity, and meanness, of which the sordid
108 O X F U K D ACADEMY JUBILEE.
and unhappy victim is often the ohjcct of ridicule, and generally of
pity.
Riches, as they are commonly understood, may take to themselves
wings and fly away. Disease and death may invade our dwellings, and
snatch from us the friends we most loved and cherished. The many*
colored clouds of misfortune may lower and settle on our pathway, and
the cold ear of the world may he turned against us ; slander, " whose
tongue outvenoms all the worms of Nile," may rifle our reputation, and
sunshine friend after friend desert us, leaving us, externally, a mere
wreck on the sea of life ; but so long as a merciful Providence vouch-
safes to us our reason and our intellect, the inestimable wealth of learn-
ing defies the storm and the tempest, fire, pestilence, and famine, the
execution of the sheriff", and the rage of malice. Its gentle and con-
soling humanities return to us, as the dove amid the deluge, throw
their mellow splendor like the rays of the setting sun over the tAvilight
which precedes the grave, and remain a faithful and enduring treasure,
which moth and rust do not corrupt, nor thieves break through and
steal.
From the bright history of the past, and from the brilliant auspices
of tlie present Jubilee, Oxford — whose venerable and classic name
vividly recalls the triumphs and the fame of learning — may draw the
most flattering omens of the future.
In the accommodated and accommodating verse of Gray, whose in-
spired and immortal pen cheered the last hours of one of the mightiest
intellects the world has produced, the imperishable property of our
country, —
" Perhaps ia this sequestered spot may rise
Some genius pregnant with celestial fire,
Hands that the rod of empire yet may seize,
Or wake to ecstacy tlie Hving lyre, —
Some village Hampden that with dauntless heart,
The little tyrant of his fields withstood ;
Some mute, inglorious Milton here may start,
Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood,
The applause of listening Senates to command.
The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land.
And read their history in a nation's eyes."
MR. TOMPKINS' SPEECH. 109
IX. Agricultuke. — Property and yovermnent rest upon it ;
mamirfdctiores and conimerce flourish with its growth ; directed
hy science^ the labor of the husbandnian reaps a (jenerous and
unfailing reward.
The exercises being protracted, no reply was called
for to this toast.
X. OuK SisTEK Academies. — lUcals only in public advance-
me id. We glory in tJieir numbers^ and rejoice in their pros-
perity. While the clarion note of war rouses Europe to arms
from the Baltic to the Mediterranean^ our llep>ublic swnmions
her children to the cultivation of the nobler arts of peace.
Edwaed ToMPKms, Esq., of Binghamton, replied :
Mr President :
Unlike the most of my "illustrious predecessors," I am neither
" surprised " or " embarrassed." It is, however, proper for me to say,
that I owe this exemption to one of " the ills to which flesh is heir," —
not to any want of appreciation of the importance of the duty you
have imposed, in calling Upon me to respond in their behalf to the
kind greeting- now extended by you to your sister literary institutions in
this pait of the State, but rather to the fact that I have within a few
hours found myself in possession of a manuscript that it is my intention
to read, in the place of any remarks that I might otherwise have made.
Before doing so, however, you will allow me to add, that those institu-
tions most warmly reciprocate the good wishes you have so cordially
expressed, and that looking up to you as the " elder," they will strive so
to emulate your noble example, that at last it may be their privilege to
exult in the fact that you are no longer " better soldiers " than they, in
the great warfare against ignorance and crime. The manuscript to
which I have referred will show you what they think of Oxford and its
sons ; and, with a word of explanation, I will detain you from it no
longer.
In glancing over it, I notice that the lines begin with capitals, and
that it jingles as if intended for rhyme. The author evidently sup-
posed that our honored Governor was to be here in person to-day ; and
as I have not had time, even if I had the right, to alter it, I must ask
the favor of you, Sir, at the right place, to " make believe " Governor,
110 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
for a moment. It may be that a little practice in that way, will stand
you in good stead on some future occasion. As my worst enemy has
never accused wie of attempting to write poetry, it cannot be necessary
for me to make a formal disclaimer of the authorship of the manu-
script : —
A voice from old Oxford comes borne on the gale,
It's tones are unburdened by sorrow's sad wail ;
But cheerful and joyful, its notes are rung forth;
And southward, and eastward, and westward, and north,
Wherever her sons in life's pathways yet roam,
" These presents come greeting," you're wanted at home I
You are wanted at home! How the warm blood will start.
And leap in the veins, and rush back to the heart!
How the eye with the tear-drop of pleasure will fill,
And the soul and the senses with ecstasy thrill,
When to weary and wayworn this message shall come,
That telleth life's truants they yet have a home !
You are wanted at home ! Away with the cares
That deepen your wrinkles and silver your hairs !
" Throw physic to dogs," leave your sermons unwritten I
Let your clients be hanged, and their lawsuits forgotten I
Leave 3^our goods on your counters, your plow in the furrow !
To-day is your own, let dull care have to-morrow ;
And hasten to Oxford, renew there your youth.
At the fountains of learning and friendship and truth !
The hand's firm grasp, the kindling of the eye
That there you'll meet, will warm your heart for aye.
Those well-known faces will once more recall
Scenes long since covered with dimmed memory's pall ;
And as with them your once-loved w^alks you tread.
You'll weep with them, for those, the early dead
That there will meet you not, but that perchance
From their blessed heaven will meet the upward glance,
That there will radiate from your tear-dimmed eye.
And catch e^en there, the burden of your heart-felt sigh.
MR. TOMPKINS' POEM. Ill
Ah ! there was one ! and, 'midst the long array
That's thronged thy halls, old Oxford, from the day
When thou wert born, in early ninety-four.
Till now thy years have reached mature three-score,
Thou ne'er, within thine arms maternal, hast embraced
A son more noble, or more truly graced
With all the virtues that thou lovest to trace
In any of thy children. Pass we by
A theme so sad. The rather let us try
To tune our notes to gladness ; for the living throng
That now doth crowd thy halls, is fitter theme for song.
Thy living sons ! They gather here to day
To sing thy praises, one and all to lay
Upon thine altar from their varied lives.
Thy share of all their honor — save their wives !
Right well they know, for shrewd they are as elves,
That honoring thee, they honor yet themselves :
Thou thinkest them thy jewels, let us see.
Whether their light's their own, or caught from thee !
So shalt thou know, as through the list we haste,
The genuine diamond from deceitful paste :
Thy first-born, Morris, leads the long array ;
His locks proclaim him yet a " silver gray."
Lording with gentle sway o'er wide domains,
The blood of brave old patriots in his veins.
The nobleman of nature ! let him stand
Where thou hast placed him — ^leader in thy band I
Thy JuLiAND follows next ; there let him rest.
He well deserves his place, the second best ;
Who through long years has learned the priceless art,
Known only to sound head and guileless heart,
That he who truest happiness would find,
Must seek it in the good of all mankind.
Tracy and Locke are both good men and true ;
And Stephens follows next ; what carCt Jie do ?
Have you a law suit? Let Mm make your brief!
Want you a rail-road? Get Mm for your chief!
And if on politics, rail-roads, or law
You'd have a good round speech, get Mm to wag Jiisjaic !
112 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
Next Cometh Hewitt ; who has heicecl his way
With his own hands, till he stands here to-day
Thy richest son ; and any other'll rue it,
Who strives to measure common-sense with Hewitt !
The list's too long to follow through in course ;
Your patience would give out — perchance the verse.
And as men's faulU are surely riddled o'er.
Of tliose lohom all men praise, we'll say no more!
But there are some that have escaped the woe
Pronounced 'gainst those w^hom all the world lets go
Scot-free from slander, scandal, and the rest
Of the sweet graces that our virtues test.
In whose behalf I fain would interpose.
And say in poetry, what I might not in prose !
Judge Judson's face here comes upon the scene,
His law and logic, as his wit, are keen ;
By every test a diamond he must pass,
For he cuts everything — then why not glass V
The Buckeye State, exulting, claims a son
Tn Allen ; the honors he has won
He wears becomingly ; may their verdure be
Perennial as the foliage of the tree
Whose leaves shall heal the nations! — next
To him is Seymour ; if the sacred text
Works " e converso" — then 'twill clearly follow.
That he, of all men, has least cause for sorrow.
If being praised runs human nature down.
Then being blamed should surely win the crown ;
And clear it is, that at this very date
There's none so well abused in all the State ;
And in the nation there is only one
Can bear the palm from New York's ftivored son.
Rhyming, like politics, makes us "artful dodgers"—
Exit the Governor — enter Mr. Rogers !
We've made worse changes many a time and oft,
Than getting a good "Hard" in place of ' Soft"
You welcomed him as j^ou had ought, with true and heartfelt joy ;
As he declared he felt again, as w^hen he was a boy !
Go study human nature, and thou shalt find it plain
'Tis the brave and manly only, that can be "boys again."
MR. TOMPKINS' POEM. 113
And now there cometh, neither slow nor late,
Thy gallant Forman from the " Golden State "
A good foreman to lead the adventurous hosts
That on Pacific's shores guard well the western posts
O'er which the stripes are floating ; when will it be
That all our office-holders shall be half&s fit as he ?
From every Common School throughout our State,
The nurseries whence to draw the good and great
For future time, comes Randall's honored name ;
And honor there, is truly deathless fame.
The "Empire Builder" lived to see his work
Laughed at alike by Christian and by Turk ;
But he who at the fountain cleanseth out
The springs of evil, boldly puts to rout
The hosts of ignorance and sin and crime, -
Builds up a fame that's bounded by no clime,
But spreadeth ever in perpetual youth,
Changeless, eternal, as the reign of truth !
Judge Dickinson still holds the even beam
Of Justice 'twixt his fingers ; and between
His well-done duties, findeth time to edit
The best of papers ; if you doubt it, take it !
HoTCHKiss and Balcom grace the bar of Broome ;
Work day and night, yet half their work's undone ;
Count up their suits by dozens and by scores.
While waiting clients crowd their office doors.
Earnest and driving, they must "go ahead ;"
True to their clients, eating not the bread
Of indolence or ease ; and, whether " Hards " or " mellows,"
They're right good lawyers, and most clever fellows !
Full well they know that they must not " look back,"
While thine own Northrup follows on their track !
But hark ! o'er Delaware's hills in thickening crowd.
Peal after peal comes rolling long and loud ;
That to each listener doth most clearly tell
Thy Cannon hath discharged both shot and shell
Among his foes ; sure he's no little gun.
Who for fat office made so great a run 1
15
114:, OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE
There's broad-backed Sturges, sturdy as an oak.
And Banks, of Bainbridge, never yet has broke,
And never will ; for, run him as ye may.
His pure gold basis ne'er will waste away.
Thy Towers are founded upon solid rock,
The worthy scions of a noble stock.
Playing a valiant part on every stage.
For all the great improvements of the age !
Thy Richmond engineers for half the land.
Nor fears six Richards ; though the crook-backed band
From Albany, should come in that dread form,
By ponderous Committees only worn,
When with three dollars each for every day.
They search for that which, found, would stop fheir pay!
Keen eyed, long billed, in public crib their claws,
No wrong could 'scape such guardians of the laws.
Thy Clarks, good fellows all, will win
Rich prizes in life's battles ; so will Van Der Lyn.
Thy Clapp's no clapper, yet it's not 'denied.
That belles give sweetest tone when at his side.
And strive with glance and sigh to make him tell
When he, with holy rite, will ring his helle !
Thy Ely walks alone, as you may see, ,
'In maiden meditation" — ^yet, not " fancy free."
Esteemed, respected, he hath well begun
A life of honor worthy of thy son
Thy Selah Squires expands with rolling years ;
His well-won triumphs greet our listening ears.
Well is it, that a worthy wife he took unto his arms,
For all the girls cried " Selah" — nor thought of David's Psalms :
Thy Miller though his hogs are fat, yet takes but lawful toll ;
Thy Patchen needs no public patch to keep his garments whole
Thy Hyde sticks to thee, sure 'tis not a sin,
Than brother closer, close as is thy skin.
Thy Stockings shall be worsted — never !
Thy Bakers are well-baked, forever I
MR. TOMPKINS' POEM. 115
Thy faithful Hunt, thy Wakd shall ever be,
Though none hath need of guardian less than he.
And Richards too, whose logic's terse and sound,
As aught in Locke or Bacon can be found.
How brilliant were the honors that thy Park
Gained at West Point ! yet were they dim and dark.
Compared with those he's won in nobler race,
Adorned and hallowed by each Christian grace —
See from his "Orchard" home in right of Madam,
Great Daniel comes to judgment — so did Adam !
Shrewd lawyer he, to find the law that gives
"Estate by courtesy," while his wife yet lives;
And shrewder still, if from this sequence he can twist.
That dower and husbands now may co-exist.
And thus the list we close, which thou with pride maternal
Didst range in double rows, in public journal.
That aught's " Pickwickian " here, you'll not suppose ;
Sage Mr. Piclcwick^ only wrote in prose!
But where's the "Home Committee"? — direst of mishaps,
'Twould be in truth, should we o'erlook those heroes in "small caps."
There's Clark and Baldwin lead the van, right worthy leaders they.
BuNDT and Hyde do their parts well, as we have seen this day.
Perkins and Miller hold their own, need we say more than that ?
While after them, the name we read, of Henry R. Mygatt.
Let no surprise your minds excite at meeting with him here ;
In all of lifers processions^ the post of honor is the rear !
The place doth well become him, and he well becomes the place,
Who in all life's noblest duties, hath run so well his race.
Who for every generous purpose, with most unstinted will,
Says, " Do it as it should he, and send to me the Mil/"
The end we sought is reached, the answer gained ;
Thy sons, old Oxford, are, and shall remain
Thy jewels — shining with refulgent light,
That shall shed luster, ever growing bright.
On thee ; and they thy crown and pride shall be.
When thou mak'st up thy record for Eternity !
And thou, old Oxford ! — ^may thy course still be
Right onward, changless as the eternal sea !
116 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
May innovation never come, to blast
Thy growing honors — brightening to the last !
Dread innovation! — whose remorseless maw,
Hath swallowed the leviathans of law ;
And in their stead, hath spawned along life's road,
The quibbling minnows gendered by the Code !
Press nobly on ! — thou knowest thou art right I
And so, a glory-shedding, gilding light
Shall gleam upon thy turrets from Time's setting sun.
When the full measure of thy work is done !
The recital was attended with, and followed by,
shouts of applause.
A number of volunteer sentiments were offered. To
one of them, complimentary to himself, Merrit G.
McKooN, Principal of the Academy, replied as follows :
Surrounded by this enlightened assemblage of trustees, teachers,
and former pupils of Oxford Academy, widely known and highly hon-
ored as many of them justly are, a timid mind might well despair of
educating a generation which shall be the pride of the parental present,
as those I witness around me are of the venerated past. But the dis-
tinguished names of those w^ho have honored this occasion with their
presence, and of those absent whose wantten contributions have de-
lighted and instructed us, will, I trust, lend an additional incentive to
my endeavors, and stimulate me to higher and nobler efforts. Aided
by the co-operation and counsel of a liberal and enlightened Board of
Trustees, sustained by the prayers of a virtuous community, and
cheered by the approving smiles of a Providence who loves to reward
suitably all good endeavors, I confidently look forward to the time, not
far distant, when the fondest anticipations of the friends of this Acad-
emy will be fully realized. This confidence is founded on the broad
basis of enlightened human enterprise, and reared in the faith of a
Providence interested in human aff'airs. Progress has marked every
effbi-t of the past year. Obedient to that watchword, a new and spa-
cious Academy has been erected, a model building of its kind. The
VOLUNTEER SENTIMENTS. 117
substantial Academic building w liich lias done good service for twenty
years past, lias mounted the wheels of progress and planted itself by
its side, with a promise of speedy enlargement in height and extent, and
corresponding elegance of proportion, with all its appointments adapted
to the physical wants of the fair votaries of science. The sage of Mon-
ticello, in a letter to the patriot of Quincy, written late in life, aftection-
ately inquires after some early school acquaintances, declaring that
his academic days were the most pleasant of his life ; and that as age
advanced, bringing the extremes of life nearer together in second child-
hood, the mind delights to revert and inquire kindly after long-forgotten
associates. If this be so, the assembling of ourselves together at this
time is but obeying a natural impulse, and based in good philosophy;
and many precious morsels for the comfort of age, may here be treas-
ured up anew. I sincerely hope the occasion has been pleasant to all
in attendance. To me it has been a source of no ordinary gratification.
It has been worth the toil of nearly a quarter of a century, as a teacher,
to have the privilege of greeting so many of my earlier pupils and
friends as this occasion has called together. Their congratulations have
given me hope, as they have imparted pleasure ; and would that I could
reciprocate their kindness in words that give assurance of more worthy
and successful labors in the cause of such an education as ennobles man,
and in behalf of that truth which endures forever.
A Lady sent up the following J^^^ d? esprit^ as a senti-
ment :
The Eloquent and Amiable Defender and Advocate for
Ladies. — " A Daniel come to judgment ! Yea, a Daniel !
wise Judge, how do I honor thee ! "
Mr. Dickinson said that although his fair friend had complimented
him in language which had been extended to a judge in other times by
the great Poet of Nature ; yet she could not, he thought, complete the
parallel, and say of him in this case, as was said of the judge in that, —
'•''How much more elder art thou than thy looks /"
As, however, brevity was the soul of propriety, after a proceeding so
protracted and interesting, and as the lady had honored him by drawing
from the highest source of inspiration save one ; he would return his ac-
knowledgments by drawing from the entire highest, and say to her : —
" Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all."
118 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
A guest offered the following, after Mr. Richards
had retired :
IIev. Mr. E-ichakds — The fire of 'whose genius has left an
undying halo on his Alma Mater.
The President of the day, Mr. Rogers, offered, in
reply to a sentiment complimentary to himself :
The HosriTALiTY of the CrnzENs of Oxford. — Fresh a/nd
free as the breezes that fan her hillsides and valley^ and graceful
as the waters of their oeautiftd river.
t J J t i S 4
Henry K. Mygatt, Esq., read tlie following letters,
which, had been received by the Home Committee :
LETTER OF JOHN L. NEWCOMB, ESQ.
Syracuse, July 2*1 th^ 1854.
Henry R. Mygatt, Esq., and others, Committee :
Gentlemen : — I exceedingly regret that business engagements will
prevent me from being present at your Academic Juhilee.
Oxford, my birth-place, your quiet village, is full of interest to me.
I would like once more to see the river along which I played in child-
hood ; to roam again over the hills where I picked berries ; to ramble
through the forest where I gathered nuts ; and to meet my playmates
again.
But, ah ! how many would I now meet of those that were there
twenty years ago ? The most of them are scattered widely o'er the
earth ; some, the grave has claimed. Chenango contains the bones of
many of my relatives. My father and my pious mother rest there ; my
sister and little brothers sleep there ; and my grandsire, who in my boy-
hood would swing his cane over his head and fight his battles o'er again,
there found a grave. Full twenty years ago, I there bid adieu to the
scenes of my childhood, and wandered forth from my once happy home,
with no patrimony but a dying mother's blessing — no protector but the
orphan's father.
But time hath wrought its changes upon us all. In the midst of
120 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
business we seldom recall tlie past. But your invitation has moment-
arily drawn aside tlie veil, and the earlier scenes of my life crowd upon
my memory ; but I must not give vent to my feelings. I must remem-
ber that matters personal to myself might not interest you.
The citizens of Oxford, so unwearied in their efforts to sustain an
Academy there, are deserving the highest approbation. They reap their
reward in seeing so many who were there educated now occupying
prominent positions in life.
I hope that the Jubilee will be largely attended by persons from
abroad, and that it may afford all the happiness that the most ardent
and hopeful anticipate.
I thank you for your kind invitation.
yours, sincerely,
JNO. L. NEWCOMB.
letter of d. prentice, ll.d.
Henry R. Mygatt, Esq. :
Dear Sir : — With sincere pleasure I have to acknowledge your
kind favor, inviting me to an occasion of meeting my old friends and
pupils in Oxford Academy, in the early part of August.
For the civilities of your letter, please accept for yourself personally,
my highest regards, and through you, my sincere acknowledgments to
the Home Committee, with my unfeigned regret that prior engagements
will deprive me of the pleasure of complying with your request, and
compel me to decline an invitation to an anniversary of uncommon
interest.
At such a time I may be allowed to say that I know of no occasion
of meeting those with whom I was once connected in the relation of
teacher and pupil, that could call forth deeper feelings of warm and
hearty congratulations than that of joining my old friends and pupils in
Oxford Academy, in the festivities of a day which will mark an aus-
picious era in the history of the institution.
We can but glance at the important considerations that cluster
around such a celebration. At such a time, a period of more than a
quarter of a century is to be gone over anew ; the memory of departed
friends is to be recalled ; the personal history of surviving friends comes
up anew ; volumes of facts and personal incidents are to be gathered
LETTERS. 121
up, which though widely scattered are waniily cherished ; all of which
are a part of the history and well being of your institution from the time
of its early struggle for an existence, till it has reached a broad and
permanent foundation for the prosperity, honor, and usefulness of
numerous classes of pupils of both sexes.
Are we called upon for the evidence of her prosperity and her influ-
ence ? What stronger or more honorable testimony can be presented
to the consideration of a right-minded man than the fact, that, on looking
abroad into every portion of our wide-extended and prosperous country,
among the vast numbers who have arisen to wealth and the highest sta-
tions of usefulness and public confidence, we meet the names of many who,
a few years since, were toiling in your Academy and pondering over the
mysteries of grammar and the bitter elements of science, but whose
personal and intellectual abilities were shaping in the direction that
never fails to lead to success ?
May we not find another source of congratulation in turning our
attention to the early history of your institution, — when, without funds,
without the aid of experience, without books, without public sympathy,
and with none of the advantages which its prosperity has enabled it to
command, its progress has been onward until it has arisen by honored
exertions to the highest rank among the best literary institutions in the
State ? Gladly am I assured that at your celebration higher motives of
congratulation will be presented by the orator of the day, and the ad-
dresses lo which it will be your happy privilege to listen ; ever keeping
in mind our relations as pupils and students, friends and associates,
and that,
"Per varies casus, per tot discrimina rerum,
Tendimus in Latiiim.
Forsan et hsec ohm meminisse juvabit."
With my best respects to yourself and your associates upon the
Committee,
I am most cordially yours,
D. PRENTICE.
Geneva, Juli/ 26, 1854.
16
122 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
LETTER OF THE HON. JOHN W . ALLEN.
Cleveland, Ohio, July 28th, 1854.
Sirs :
I am greatly obliged by your kind invitation of the 8th instant, to
join you in celebrating the Sixtieth Anniversary of your Academy.
Let me assure you nothing would give me more pleasure than to
accept it ; and that I could I did not doubt till within a day or two ; but
circumstances have within that time occurred that compel me most
reluctantly to decline it. Among the happiest days of my life were
those, running into six or seven years in all, passed in your beautiful
village ; and a thousand times since, when threading the crowded streets
of great cities, have I thought of the quietude of your village, in favora-
ble contrast. How could time be otherwise than agreeably spent in a
society so intelligent, polished, virtuous, and kind, as Avas that of Oxford
then, and yet is ? Of my preceptors, academic and legal successively,
Prof. Prentice, Mr. Van Der Lyn, and James Clapp, Esq., the first
two are alive, and the memory of the last will be affectionately cher-
ished, and the most so by those who best knew him.
I have had the high satisfaction of enjoying, unworthily perhaps,
the confidence and friendship of all of them undiminished.
For them all I have ever had the profoundest respect, strengthen-
ing with the lapse of time.
So it has been with others of their circle now no more, and with
many yet on the stage.
I never cross the Susquehanna at Havre de Grace or Harrisburgh,
or the Chenango at Binghamton, without the reflection that a portion
of the waters of those beautiful rivers have coursed by the graves of the
dead, and the homes of the living, of my valued friends of Oxford.
For sixty years the Oxford Academy has been an important aux-
iliary for the dissemination of light and knowledge among the youth of
the current generation.
None more earnestly than those who have enjoyed its benefits, will
more heartfully hope that it may continue to perform its mission for
generations yet unborn.
Many of its pupils seem to have acquired the confidence of their
fellow citizens, as indicated by their selection for important official posi-
tions ; and all, it is to be hoped, have played well their parts in the act-
ing and ever-changing scenes of life.
LETTERS. 123
Begging leave to reiterate my deep regret at my inability to join
yon, and to assure you of my appreciation of your kindness, and to
thank you individually,
I am, Gentlemen,
your friend and humble servant,
JOHN W. ALLEN.
To R. J. Baldwin, Esq., and others.
Home Committee.
LETTER OF JOHN CLAPP, ESQ.
BiNGHAMTOX, July 31s^, 1854.
R. J. Baldwin, Esq., and others.
Dear Sirs : — Your approaching jubilee promises to be an event of
great interest, reviving pleasant recollections, warming and rekindling
friendship, and carrying the heart back to the joyous days of boyhood.
During a half century, many changes have occurred, not only to
individuals, but to states and governments, and the world at large. I
do not remember to have read of any period of fifty years, into which
so many events of great and universal interest have been compressed.
It is a long time in the life of an American State, and far beyond
what is allotted to a majority of the human family. It is a period at
which man may well pause, and take a retrospect of life. The curtain
begins to descend, and very soon will commence that eternal rest now
enjoyed by most of the founders and patrons of Oxford Academy.
There are so many things of painful interest to me in and around
Oxford, that I cannot go and mingle in a scene of joyous festivity and
congratulation. A shadow now passes before me ; and, indeed, most of
those I loved and honored are in .the land of shadows.
We are panting with the mercury at 94. Had you not best hold on
a little for old Sol to rein in his fiery coursers ?
I am sensible of the kind compliment contained in your circular. It
touched a chord which yet vibrates faithful to the memory of other
days. In the Academic walks and groves around your classic halls, youth
have been prepared for the contest of life, .and with the armor of virtue
and the saber of intellect, have been assigned to duty ; and at this mo-
ment, many of them are pillars, on which the government of our conn-
1^4 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
try may safely I'cst. My heart clings affectionately to Oxford and her
warm-hearted, hospitable citizens. In Oxford my days of boyhood were
passed, and many a change have I witnessed. Yonr institution was
then a mere germ. It has expanded and strengthened, until its rank,
capacity, and usefulness, make it equal to a college. My earliest friends
were there. Some remain, but alas ! most of them are gone. I wish I
could be with you ; but I cannot.
Please accept my thanks for the honor, and believe me, dear Sirs,
Yours, very truly,
JOHN CLAPP.
LETTER or REV. G. R. H. S HUM WAY.
Newark, Wayne Co., N. Y., Jvhj 29th, 1854.
Henry R. Mygatt, Esq., and others :
Dear Sirs — Permit me to acknowledge to the " Home Commit-
tee " the reception of their circular inviting me to attend the exercises
to be had during next week, on occasion of the dedication of your new
Academy.
Through misdirection and some delay by mail, it did not reach me
in season to make it convenient for me to be present. The most that I
can now do, is to express the interest I shall ever feel in whatever concerns
the prosperity and usefulness of the venerable institution the educational
advantages of which in early youth I so largely shared, in common with
yourself — advantages intimately connected with whatever of success has
crowned the studies and pursuits of later life. Right glad should I be
to meet again, amid the green hills which surround you in my own na-
tive village, the many with whom I was so long and pleasantly asso-
ciated in early life, and at school, coming together there, after a long
separation, and from distant localities, to mingle our cheerful greetings,
to dwell on the reminiscences of the past, of which the place and
occasion would be so suggestive, and to start forth anew for the work
on our hands, with quickened energies and stronger hearts. Never can
I be led into forgetfulness of my happy youth, passed in the valley
where " the bright waters meet," free from the cares of life, and un-
shackled by the fetters of worldly custom ; and more and more, as years
advance, am I reminded of tlie truth of a great poet of nature,
" Heaven lies about us in our infancy/'
#
-^:
^''^^■■"-ed by J.aBunr, from a mcWfe^?^-
^^
P??^^^^ .
LETTERS. 125
Men we now are, among men, bearing the responsibilities of manhood,
lia\ ing something to do worth our doing, and in the social, business,
and religious relations which we sustain, living, I trust, with constant
reference to life's great end.
Give my kind remembrances to the Committee, and my best wishes
for their usefulness and happiness.
Yours, very truly,
G. R. H. SHUMWAY.
LETTER OF GOVERNOR HORATIO SEYMOUR.
Utica, July 31s^, 1854.
Henry R. Mygatt, Esq., and others,
Sirs — It was my purpose to have been present at the anniversary
celebration of the Oxford. Academy, but official duties will prevent me
from satisfying myself in that respect.
The pressure of public and private duties have heretofore completely
engrossed my mind. The enjoyment of a little leisure at this time, has
enabled me to recall the pleasant memories connected with your beau-
tiful village, and my personal obligations to those who, thirty years
since, were among the prominent and influential inhabitants of your
section of the State. Some of them are not now living ; others con-
tinue to occupy honorable positions as leading citizens of New York.
At that early day Oxford was a small village in a somewhat sequestered
portion of our State. But it was remarkable for a large number of
refined, cultivated, and gentlemanly citizens. Many of them were edu-
cated men ; and the duties of pioneer life, the establishment of schools
and churches, the work of organizing society, gave them all vigor of
character and scope and generosity of purpose. I remember with
lively pleasure the events of my school-boy days at your Academy; and I
contimie to cherish the respect I then felt for the families of the Tracys,
Clapps, Van Der Lyns, Mygatts, Rathbones, Hydes, and others.
I think to have heard the plain wooden building then used for Aca-
demic purposes, is now replaced by another and more commodious
structure, which is undoubtedly more suitable for the purpose of educa-
tion. My interests were connected with the former, more humble
structure. It is associated in my mind with the recollections of former
companions, and of the Principal, David Prentice, who is honorably
knoWn for his learning as a scholar, his skill in instruction, and his worth
as a man. There are many, in diflferent parts of the United States, who
feel and acknowledge their indebtedness to his care«and fidelity.
126 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
I am aware that this expression of my interest in your beautiful vil-
lage, its hills and streams, with which I am so familiar, and my respect
for its citizens and its Academy, may seem somewhat unseasonable ; but
I cannot deny myself the satisfaction of expressing, even after the lapse
of so many years, what I feel so deeply and earnestly, and of claiming
my privilege as a former student of your Academy, — my boyhood's liter-
ary mother, at the assembly of whose sons, were it possible, I should so
joyfully and heartily renew the associations of other days.
Very truly yours,
HORATIO SEYMOUR.
LETTER OF HON. A. R. CORBIN.^
AsTOR House, New York, July ISth, 1854.
Henry R. Mygatt, Esq., and others :
Sirs : — Before leaving Washington, I had the pleasure and honor
of receiving your circular, in relation to a convocation of all persons
who have been students in the Oxford Academy.
I think the idea a happy one, and shall make every effort to be pres-
ent ; as such an occasion would be to me peculiarly agreeable.
Congress adjourns on the 4th of August ; and into the last days of
its sessions is crow^ded the bulk of the most important business annually
consummated by Congress. This is likely to render it impossible for
me to be absent from Washington on the 2d of August ; but accident
may favor me. But whether I shall be able to be present or not, I
highly esteem the plan, and have no doubt it will be eminently success-
ful. Such reunions are productive of good to literary institutions, and
are exceedingly agreeable to those absent in distant parts of the country;
for it is inexpressibly pleasant to be kindly remembered by those re-
maining amid the cherished scenes and haunts of one's youth.
There are times amid the strife and turmoil of life when all that
seems worth the keeping are the memories of youth, springing up like
a fresh bubbling fountain amid the seemingly arid and parched desert of
the world.
The recollection of days passed at Oxford, years ago, will be to me
" a thing of joy forever."
Please accept my thanks for this kind femembrance. You were
right in supposing that I retain a vivid recollection of the Academy, and
in counting upon me as a friend.
Most respectfully, your friend,
A. R. CORBIN.
LETTERS. 127
LETTER OF HON. S. S. RANDALL.
Albany, June 30, 1854.
R. J. Baldwin, Esq., Sec'y, tfec. :
My Dear Sir : — I assure you, Sir, that I am deeply sensible of the
honor conferred upon me by this invitation to attend your Academy
Jubilee, and by the kind and flattering mode in which it has been com-
municated.
Nothing could afford me greater pleasure than to be with you on
this interesting occasion, and to renew those delightful associations
which thirty years ago were formed in the time-honored institution of
your village ; and I have detained your letter for two weeks, in the
hope of being able so to arrange my official and other engagements, as
to enable ine to indulge my wishes in this respect.
Those engagements, however, are of such a nature as to preclude
me from the possibility of complying with your request and my inclina-
tions without a sacrifice of public duty, and the neglect of other and
greater and paramount obligations which I have incurred by the accept-
ance of the City Superintendency of Public Instruction in New York.
My whole time, and all my energies, mental and physical, are im-
peratively required for the discharge of the important and responsible
duties thus devolved upon me ; and my esteemed Chenango friends will,
I feel confident, appreciate the position in which these claims place me.
I could not do justice either to them, to the occasion, or to myself,
without neglecting the high and pressing interests which have so
recently been confided to my charge under circumstances which de-
mand my entire devotion.
Begging you, therefore, my dear Sir, the gentlemen of the Commit-
tee, and the Trustees of the institution, as well as the citizens of Oxford
co-operating with them, to accept my most sincere thanks for the honor
conferred upon ine by their flattering invitation, and my heartfelt wishes
for the continual success and prosperity of the noble and flourishing
institution whose jubilee they propose to celebrate, and deeply regret-
ting my inability to participate in the festivities of the day and of the
the occasion,
I remain, with great respect.
Your friend,
SAMUEL S. RANDALL.
128 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBILEE.
Mr. Mygatt presented a scheme of an Exhibition at
the Oxford Academy, held on the 13th September,
1822, on dingy j)aper, in (Quaint type, of which the fol-
lowing is a copy : —
MUSIC.
Latin Snlutatoiy, J. W. Allen.
Oration on the Study of Mathematics, . - . Win. Patterson.
Oration on Ancient Classic Learning, . . K Scofield.
MUSIC.
Indian War Song, William W. Dean.
On the Catholic Question, . . . . L. Cook.
Scipio Restoring the Captive Lady to her Lover, J. S. Howe.
Madam Lavalettc, N. K. Wheeler.
MUSIC.
Cupid, Hymen, and Plutus, . . . . W. Hunt.
The Painter, H. Seymour.
The Traveled Monkey, . . . . . E. Turtleott.
Declamation from Lord Mansfield's Speeches, R. T. Gibson.
Declamation from Mr. Pitt's Speeches, . . S. S. Gibson.
The Sluggard, J. W. Gibson.
The Chamelion, J. F. Rathbone.
The Village Church, . . . . . W. R. Rathbone.
Soldier's Funeral, J. Kent.
Kosciusko, H. Nichols.
Thunder Storm, B. H. Throop.
MUSIC.
Ode on Napoleon, H. R. Myyatt.
Tippling Philosophers, J. 8. Hunt.
Burial of Sir John Moor, . . . . T. B. White.
The Bubbles, ...... a (7. Tracy.
Lines on the Death of Sheridan, . . . R. A. Hosmer.
MUSIC.
FATHER OUTWITTED. (A Farce.)
Tracy, Howe,
Mr. W. White,
Miss Knapp.
EXHIBITION SCHEME.
129
MUSIC.
Battle of Alexandria,
Pleasures of Hope,
Phelim O'Connor,
S. Franklin.
J. W, Allen.
J. S. Howe.
MUSIC.
Sailor's Dream, J, S. Hunt.
The Preacher, S. Franklin.
Philosopher's Scales, JST. IT, Wheeler.
Scene from Hamlet, Hosmer and Mygatt.
Lochiel's Warning, Allen and Clapp.
J. W. Alleii.
By a Qenileman.
Miss Wheeler.
J. W. Allen.
MUSIC.
Occasional Poem, .....
Counsellor O'Garnish, ....
Scene from Town and Country,
MUSIC.
Dramatic Piece, , By a Gentleman.
MUSIC.
BLUE DEVILS. (A Farce.)
Megrim, . . Mr. Morgan.
Bailiff, . . Tracy.
Demisou, . . Mr. Clapp.
Annette, . . Miss Brown.
James, . . . Allen.
MUSIC.
Collins' Ode on the Passions, .... Mr, Morgan.
MUSIC.
THE HONEST THIEVES. (A Comedy.)
Mr. Day, . . Mr. W.
Abel, . . Tracy.
Col. Careless, . Allen.
Bailiffs.
Capt. Manly, . . Mr. M.
Servants.
Lieut. Story, . Howe.
Mrs. Day, . Miss B.
Teague, . . , Mr. C.
Ruth, . . Miss Wheeler.
Obadiah, . . Mr. R.
Arabella, . Miss Knapp.
Bo Ben (a Comic Rehearsal),
IT
By a Gentleman.
130 OXFORD ACADEMY JUBIJ^EE.
The festive company only dispersed as the shades of
evening were gathering about the arbor,- — and in the
happiest mood. All seemed and expressed themselves
delighted with the exercises, and the opportunity of re-
viving old associations, and renewing the ties of early
attachments. The spirit of the occasion cannot be de-
scribed. It was of the most genial and exuberant char-
acter, free from every rivalry and jealousy, which too
often distract festivities of a different character. It
was in every respect a Litekaey Jubilee.
INDEX.
PAGE
Allen, John W., letter, 122
Andrews, Edward, response, 94
Appointment of Home Committee, . . . . . . .5
" " Finance Committee, 10
Balcom, Lucy Ann, ode, 33
Circulars to former teachers and students, 6
Clapp, John, letter, 123
Corbin, Abel R., letter, 126
Dedicatory Epistle, 3
Dickinson, Daniel S., response to regular toast, . . . . 99
" " response to volunteer toast, 117
Dinner, 87
Exercises at the Academy, 33
Church, 15
U ((
Historical Discourse, 35
Hunt, Ward, delivers oration, 63
Hyde, William H., historical discourse, 35
Letters, 119
McKoon, Merritt G., remarks, 116
Marsh, Daniel H., response, 103
Mason, Charles, response, 98
Meeting, preliminary, of citizens, 9
Mygatt, Henry R., welcome, H
Newcomb, John L., letter, 119
1 32 INDEX.
PAGE
Ode, 33
Officers, 10
Oration, 63
Park, Roswell, poem, 64
Poetry, . . . «2, 33, 53, 64, 85, 110
Preliminary proceedings, 5
Prentice, David, letter, . 120
Randall, Samuel S., letter, 127
Reception, 11
Response to welcome address, ........ 14
Richards, George, sermon, 16
" toast to, 118
Rogers, Henry W., response, 14
" " speech at dinner-table, 88
" " toast, ......... 118
Scheme of exhibition, 128
Sermon, 16
Seymour, Horatio, letter, 125
Shumway, George R. H., letter, 124
Smith, Addison M., marshal, 10
Stephens, Henry, response, 89
Stuart, William, response, 107
Toasts, 89, 91, 92, 94, 98, 99, 103, 107, 109
Tompkins, Edward, response, 109
Tracy, John, response, 91
Van Der Lyn, Henry, response, ....... 92
Washburn, Daniel, odes, 32, 85
Welcome address, . . . . H
003192
Oxf # The Oxford Academy
iubilee, held at Oxford,
3 0005 npnPAftn.'^ ft —
/ O98o
098
Oxford Academy, Oxford, N.Y.
The Oxford Academy jubilee,
held at Oxford, Chenango
Countv. N.Y.. Aueust 1st and
373, 73H
098o
098
Oxford Academy, Oxford, N.Y.
The Oxford Academy jubilee, held
at Oxford, Chenango County, N .Y . ,
August 1st and 2d, 1854
The R.W.B. Jackson
Library