THE boys who took their places on the hard benches in the old joiner's shop were not harassed by the intricacies of a complex curriculum, or by the problem of choosing among seductive optional courses. The schedule of work prepared by Preceptor Pearson included only Latin, Greek, a little --- a very little mathematics, and some reading in religious treatises. Josiah Quincy complained of being obliged to get by heart passages from Cheever's Accidence, or Short Introduction to the Latin Tongue, one of the standard New England textbooks. Much of this, as he confessed, he was unable to understand: ---

My memory, though ready, was not tenacious, and the rule being that there should be no advance until the first book was conquered, I was kept in Cheever's Accidence I know not how long. All I know is, I must have gone over it twenty times before mastering it.

Quincy was naturally a playful child, fond of games and outdoor life, and full of harmless pranks; it was inquisitional torture for him to be confined on warm summer days, four hours in the morning and four in the afternoon, sitting with his companions on an uncomfortable pine bench and trying hopelessly to memorize Latin declensions which conveyed to him no meaning whatever.

The routine for an average day in Quincy's time was described by Pearson himself, in a letter written in 1780: ---

School begins at eight o'clock with devotional exercises, --- a psalm is read and sung. Then a class consisting of four scholars repeats memoriter two pages in Greek Grammar, after which a class of thirty persons repeats a page and a half of Latin Grammar; then follows the "Accidence Tribe," who repeat two, three, four, five, and ten pages each. To this may be added three who are studying arithmetic: one is in the Rule of Three, another in Fellowship, and the third in Practice. School is closed at night by reading Dr. Doddridge's Family Expositor, accompanied by rehearsals, questions, remarks, and reflections, and by the singing of a hymn and a prayer. On Monday the scholars recite what they can remember of the sermons heard on the Lord's Day previous; on Saturday the bills are presented and the punishments administered.

There was occasionally a mild variety in this dreary schedule; frequently the boys read lessons in the Bible, or learned by heart some of Dr. Watts's Hymns for Children, or were set lessons in Mason's Self-Knowledge, that uninspiring manual of conduct which, published first in 1744, had by 1778 reached its tenth edition. Some public declamation was required, and selections were delivered by pupils at the annual Exhibition. An entry in the Records for May 22, 1782, conveys the thanks of the Trustees to the parish for granting the boys permission to use the meeting house for their practice in oratory. The question of employing a French instructor was considered, and eventually one was allowed, with the provision, however, that his students pay him an extra fee and that his teaching be not permitted to interfere with the exercises of the school. A writing-master is mentioned, the first one apparently being Abiah Holbrook, who must have begun giving instruction before 1790.

Little Josiah Quincy boarded with the Reverend Jonathan French in the quaint old "ministry manse" on the corner of School and Central Streets. In that house lived some six or eight students, sleeping in one large room, two boys to a bed. Their food was simple but plentiful, consisting chiefly of beef and pork, with a variety of vegetables, and, in the winter, frozen cod. The only bread they had was Indian or rye, or a mixture of both. In that pious household every inmate had to attend morning and evening prayers. On Sunday each boy carried with him to church a pen and ink-bottle, for the purpose of taking down the text, with the topics and sub-topics of the discourse. Quincy, who found Master Pearson "distant and haughty in his manners," passed his happiest hours in the good minister's home, where he could enjoy a welcome relief from the relentless discipline of the classroom. Of his gloomy experiences at school Quincy wrote in his Recollections: --

Child as I was, my mind was abroad with my bats and marbles. It delighted in the play of the imagination. The abstract and the abstruse were my utter detestation. The consequences were that I often came home to Mr. French in tears, having been either censured or punished. I found in his bosom a never-failing place of rest for my sorrow and suffering.

Principal Eliphalet Pearson, who thus struck terror to the soul of the seven-year-old boy, has been called "in some respects the most remarkable man ever connected with the institutions of Andover." More than one historian of those days has lavished superlatives upon him. He was a stubborn, autocratic pedagogue of the old school, powerful in physique, domineering in manner, and exacting in his requirements from his pupils. But he was something more than a leader in the classroom. Washington once said of him, "His eye shows him worthy, not only to lead boys, but to command men." His astounding energy and versatility made him seem to be a kind of "superman." He was an able musician, both in theory and practice: a good bass singer, a performer upon the violoncello, and the author of an authoritative treatise on psalmody. A skilled mechanic, he could take apart an engine or construct his own violin. As a farmer and trader he displayed shrewd business sense. His scholarship was impressive, for he knew not only Latin, Greek, and French, but also Hebrew, Syriac, and Coptic. His restless and eager intellect carried him into almost every field of research.

Pearson's temperament, which was naturally irritable, made him no friends. His students, with whom he was far from popular, called him "Elephant" Pearson, because of his ponderous name and figure; and older people were not inclined to waste upon him any terms of endearment. He once said to his son, "I care not a straw what the world thinks of me." More than once this disregard of the views of others was the cause of his being denied the credit for achievements which were really due to his aggressiveness and persistence. There was nothing flabby about Pearson's personality, nothing vague about his opinions. A dogmatist on problems of politics, education, or theology, he was accustomed to speak ex cathedra and to brook no opposition. His faults, however, were never those of weakness. Even those who disliked him would have agreed with Professor Park that Pearson was "a many-sided and strong-handed laborer for the welfare of his race."

Much of what has been said of Pearson in the preceding paragraphs is applicable to him only in the later stages of his diversified career. At the time when he was Principal of Phillips Academy his real genius was, perhaps, not quite so manifest. Born in Newbury, Massachusetts, June 11, 1752, Eliphalet Pearson was about four months younger than his friend, Samuel Phillips, Jr. He was the eldest son of David Pearson, a thrifty farmer and miller. In order to attend school Eliphalet had to give his father a promissory note for the sum advanced for his education; and he had then to walk four miles each way, through fields and along lonely crossroads, to Dummer School. From there Pearson, in 1769, followed Phillips to Harvard College, where he graduated in 1773, two years later than his friend. Pearson's scholastic record at Cambridge was decidedly brilliant, and his Commencement oration denouncing the African slave trade was considered so remarkable that it was published in pamphlet form.

After graduation, Pearson spent some months in further study in Cambridge, where he made the acquaintance of the widow of President Holyoke, of Harvard, and her daughter Priscilla. In April, 1775, following the news of the clash of arms at Lexington, he promptly escorted these ladies to Andover, hoping that they might there be safe from intrusion. So pleased was he with the reception accorded him by Samuel Phillips, Jr., that be also settled in Andover, taking charge of the grammar school, acting as a kind of private chaplain in the Holyoke home, reading extensively in both theology and science, and filling the pulpit in adjacent parishes. The part played by his knowledge of chemistry in insuring the success of the Phillips powder-mill has already been related.

In 1780, after his election as Principal of Phillips Academy, he married Priscilla Holyoke, who was then forty, twelve years older than he, but who looked and acted like the younger of the two. She brought him a dowry of $8000. Pearson and his bride moved at once into the Abbot House on Phillips Street, just vacated by Samuel Phillips, Jr.; but their life together was short, for Mrs. Pearson died in childbirth, March 29, 1782, leaving a daughter, Maria. Three years later Pearson took a second wife, Sarah Bromfield, daughter of Edward Bromfield, Esq., of Boston, by whom he had four children. She was singularly plain and unprepossessing in appearance, but impressed her acquaintances as being amiable and intelligent. She survived her husband at his death in 1826.

Pearson had cooperated heartily with Samuel Phillips, Jr., in discussing plans for a school, and, as we have seen, he had a strong influence on Phillips's attitude towards several important problems. It was understood from the beginning that Pearson was to be the first Master. He himself, with an attention to details which would have done credit to Phillips, drew up a contract in which his emoluments and privileges were carefully specified. When this was ratified, he proceeded to organize the administration of Phillips Academy.

In his methods of discipline Pearson closely resembled the notorious Dr. Busby, of Westminster, and the execrated Dr. John Keate, of Eton. He believed in making his boys thoroughly afraid of him. "I have no recollection," wrote Josiah Quincy, "of his ever having shown any consideration for my childhood. Fear was the only impression I received from his treatment of myself and others." Once, after an offender had been censured by Pearson, the victim was asked, "How did you feel?" "I pinched myself to know whether I was alive," was the answer. On one occasion after a flagrant breach of the rules the Principal suddenly appeared before the students, stamped his foot ferociously, and cried, "Let the one who performed that outrage instantly come forth." So terrified was the culprit that he at once confessed and took his punishment. He kept during the week an account of all offenses, and on Saturday compelled the delinquents to spend in study a part of the holiday proportioned to the misdemeanor. Edmund Quincy once said of him: "Dr. Pearson had the faults of his period, and was cruel in the punishments he inflicted. As a master he was severe and sometimes unjust." There can be no doubt that he was impatient and irascible; as he put it, "I have been so long a teacher of boys that I have spoiled my temper."

Even when the argument was clearly against him, Pearson was unreasonably obstinate. One day some bright members of his class found in Caesar's Commentaries the original Latin of a passage which the Principal had asked them to translate from English into Latin, and roguishly brought in Caesar's writing as their own. Pearson, in his usual fashion, commenced to point out flaws in the work; when told of the trick, he only said, "It must be an interpolation; Caesar never wrote such Latin." Josiah Quincy once described vividly Pearson's methods of instruction: --

I was called upon to give the principal parts of the Latin verb noceo. Unfortunately I gave to the "c" a hard sound, which in those days was considered incorrect. I said, "nokeo, nokere, nok-i." The next thing I knew, I was knocked.

In Quincy's case Pearson proved himself to be a poor prophet. So dull did he conceive the boy to be that he advised Mrs. Quincy not to send him to college. More discerning than he, she disregarded the recommendation, and the dunce became, not only Valedictorian of his class at Harvard, but afterwards one of the most illustrious Presidents of that university.

In defense of Pearson's despotic mode of government it may be said that it was approved by the spirit of the age. "Spare the rod and spoil the child" was a maxim in nearly every New England household, and parents expected teachers to continue the system. If under it the natural instincts of childhood were constantly repressed, as they undoubtedly were in too many cases, the blame must not be laid altogether at Pearson's door. It should be added in all fairness that the watch which he kept over the health, studies, and moral welfare of his charges and his zealous personal supervision of them were calculated to give parents confidence in his guardianship, and therefore in the newly founded school. It was probably fortunate that his firm hand was there to guide its destiny through those early crucial days.

A man of Pearson's nervous and domineering temperament was bound, of course, to meet with trouble. Many of the minor duties of his position weighed upon him heavily. He was a scholar, with literary tastes which he loved to gratify, and the restraint imposed upon him was extremely irksome. He once wrote: ---

To hear prepared recitations is a delight to me, but I have to keep my eye at the same time upon the idle and the dissipated. I have only one room for sixty boys; much noise and confusion is going on. I have to listen to many requests, and stop and settle many difficulties.

Like many an apparently self-confident man, he was also sensitive to criticism and chafed under the fact that he could not inspire affection. Under the circumstances it was remarkable that he remained at Andover so long.

With all his faults, Pearson was unquestionably a brilliant and thorough teacher. His students, most of whom went on to Harvard, made distinguished records, and the reputation of Phillips Academy for scholarship was soon established. During the eight years of his administration eighty-nine boys went from the school to college, seventy-six of them to Harvard.

While Pearson was busy organizing the work of the classroom, the Trustees were settling questions of future policy. When it was first decided in 1778 to levy a tuition fee, a committee was appointed to determine what students should be exempted, in whole or in part, from the payment of this assessment. In this way arose the scheme of scholarships for poor boys, which has done so much to preserve democracy in Phillips Academy. The entrance fee was not required until August 17, 1781, when it was voted that pupils must pay eighteen shillings "advance money" when they were admitted, this sum to be returned at the end of the course. This deposit, slightly increased from time to time, was finally in 1815 made a regular entrance fee of five dollars, which was not refunded.

For many years the Trustees kept a tight rein on the conduct of the students, and occupied themselves often with matters which to-day are entirely in the hands of the Principal. In 1780 they voted, "That no scholar who has taken lodgings in town, shall be at liberty to shift his boarding-place without first informing the preceptor." A fine of one shilling was imposed upon any pupil who was absent without excuse; and every boy planning to leave was required to give notice six weeks in advance. The Trustees also forbade the boys to use or carry firearms, unless with the "particular leave" of the Principal.

In 1782 Judge Oliver Wendell and John Lowell, of the Trustees, presented to that body a seal, thought to have been engraved by Paul Revere, which is still the official insignia of Phillips Academy. It represents a hive, with the bees busy swarming to and fro; the sun at noon shining brightly above, with the motto, "Non Sibi"; and below the traditional motto of Judge Phillips, "Finis Origine Pendet."

Only one change in the Board of Trustees took place in Pearson's administration. In 1781 the Reverend Josiah Stearns resigned, and was succeeded by the Reverend David Tappan (1752-1803), another of the classmates of Judge Phillips at Harvard. Mr. Tappan was then minister at West Newbury, but was later to be louis Professor of Divinity at Cambridge.

It was not long before an agreeable necessity drove the Trustees to deal with the problem of housing properly the steadily increasing number of students. As early as 1780 the matter had been broached, but not until July 13, 1784, was a committee instructed to choose a location for a more commodious building. This second structure, which was completed on January 30, 1786, was erected on the southwest corner of the present Main Campus, slightly to the west of where Brechin Hall now stands. It has been described as "a two-story edifice of wood, with recitation rooms and a study-room on the lower floor, and a spacious hall for exhibitions and other public purposes on the second floor." This hall was sixty-four feet long and thirty-three feet broad. The entrance was towards Main Street, and there was a rear door at the opposite side. Samuel Phillips, son of Colonel John Phillips, has left a short description:---

The second Academy was a very commodious house --very spacious cellar ample school room above; with recitation room for the assistant and a museum on the same floor --- with what seemed to us then a rare show of natural and artificial curiosities.

The cost of construction and of the land to the south used for a training-field was nine hundred and fifty pounds, --- the equivalent then of $3166.66, --- which was defrayed in equal shares by the three Phillips brothers, Samuel, John, and William.

The old Academy building remained for some years on the original site, being used, first as a singing-room, and then as a storehouse for rags. In 1803 it was sold for thirty dollars to Abbot Walker, who removed it to a farm about half a mile to the east, and turned it into a workshop. About 1845 it was torn down.

Pearson's fame as a scholar and teacher extended rapidly as his work at Andover became known. In October, 1785, he was notified by President Joseph Willard, of Harvard, that he had been elected to succeed Stephen Sewall as Hancock Professor of Hebrew and the Oriental Languages in Harvard College, at a salary of two hundred and eighty pounds a year. The offer both financially and scholastically was too advantageous to refuse, and accordingly on January 3, 1786, be sent in to the Trustees his resignation of the Preceptorship. He remained in Andover only long enough to see the School safely housed in the new building, and then, on February 3, moved to Cambridge.

For the next twenty years Pearson was intimately connected with Harvard College. We are told that "his stately, courteous manners inspired awe rather than love," but he seems to have won a kind of leadership among his colleagues. He was frequently the agent of the Fellows on special business, especially in relation to college properties. At Commencements his house --- the one which was later bought by the Holmes family and in which Oliver Wendell Holmes was born --- was a center of hospitality where many eminent guests were entertained. Among the many honors which he received he was Fellow and Secretary of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Founder of the American Education Society, a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and President of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. He was honored by both Yale and Princeton with the degree of Doctor of Laws.

In his home in Cambridge he was fond of music, especially of the violoncello and bass-viol. Of the latter instrument, on which he was an excellent performer, he once said, "As it is commonly played, it might be compared to a wash-tub strung with a wheel-band, and played upon with a knotty apple stick." His love of nature led him to take a keen interest in botany and ornithology. Occasionally be is remembered as a critic, as when he said of Young's Night Thoughts, "Every line is a thunder bolt." Little Oliver Wendell Holmes was impressed by the Professor's "large features and conversational basso profundo."

Even in his new environment Pearson took care not to get out of touch with Andover. The stress of his collegiate duties did not prevent him from keeping exact lists of the boys each year at Phillips Academy, with an account of the term bill of each. We have his memoranda giving a reckoning of all the expenses incurred by him as Trustee from 1778 to 1819. As a member of the Board, and later as President of it, he was still a power to be considered in the administration of the institution, and when, in 1806, he returned to Andover Hill, it was to round out the career which he had begun there thirty years before.

After Pearson had taken his leave, the Trustees were confronted with the difficult problem of naming his successor. The time was the first of many such disturbing periods in the Academy history, for Pearson, despite his policy of ruling by fear, had created a vigorous and flourishing school, and a feeble second Principal might easily undo all that the first had accomplished. While investigation was being carried on, Caleb Bingham(1) (1757-1817) took charge for two months, but his strength proved unequal to the task. On March 2, 1786, Judge Phillips wrote Madame Phillips: --

Mr. Bingham had better attend the Academy as health will permit, though it should be but half the time, than to overdo and render himself unable to attend at all.

He was succeeded by John Abbot, 3d(2) (1759-1843), a young Harvard graduate, who, however, showed no especial efficiency. At last, on May 10, 1786, Ebenezer Pemberton, who had just resigned from the Plainfield Academy in Connecticut, came to Andover for a period of probation, and two months later was given a permanent appointment as Principal.

EVEN the sedate Judge Phillips must occasionally have smiled in noticing the differences between the first Principal and the second. Pearson, burly in body and brusque in manner, was an American Dr. Johnson; Pemberton, slight in build, dapper, and uniformly courteous, was not unlike Lord Chesterfield. Pearson was always "great Eliphalet," inclined to overawe and browbeat his students; Pemberton, who was small and unimpressive in appearance, spoke with a soft voice, seeming to persuade rather than to command. Josiah Quincy, who found it difficult to repress his dislike for Pearson, said of Pemberton :---

Mild, gentle, conciliatory, and kind, inspiring affection and exciting neither fear nor awe, while he preserved and supported discipline, he made himself beloved and respected by his pupils.

Pemberton was at this time nearly forty years old. He was born in 1747 in Newport, Rhode Island, a grandson of Ebenezer Pemberton, minister of the Old South Church in Boston. An uncle, also a Reverend Ebenezer Pemberton, who was pastor of the New Brick Church in Boston, brought up the boy, sending him to Princeton (then called the College of New Jersey), where he was Valedictorian of the class of 1765. During an engagement as tutor which kept him in residence at Princeton he had among his pupils Aaron Burr and James Madison; and it is said that even in his old age he preserved with pride a copy of the Latin address delivered to him by Madison in behalf of the latter and his classmates at the time of their departure from college. His wealthy uncle was ambitious that Pemberton should become a clergyman, and, to that end, offered to make him his heir. The young man, however, realized his unfitness for the ministry, and refused. Even when his uncle urged him repeatedly, and promised to leave him his fortune if he would only study for the ministry and preach one sermon, Pemberton persisted in his decision. As a result he lost the favor of his relative, and was compelled to rely almost entirely on his own resources. About 1778, after finishing a course of theology with the Reverend Samuel Hopkins, of Newport, he accepted a position as Principal of the Academy at Plainfield, Connecticut. Here he taught for some years with considerable success, and his record was brought to the attention of Judge Phillips.

The Trustees were not averse to engaging Pemberton for life; but, owing to the uncertain state of his health, he declined to accept on these terms, and it was therefore specified that he should be allowed to withdraw at any time after three months' notice. His salary was fixed at one hundred and forty pounds, "lawful money." At the meeting when this contract was ratified it was voted "that the title of the chief instructor, in future, shall be Principal, instead of Preceptor." The old title, however, appears in the Records for many years after this resolution.

Principal Pemberton soon showed that the school was not to deteriorate under his régime. Without the assertiveness, the versatility, and the brute power of his predecessor, Pemberton possessed no less valuable virtues of his own: tact, dignity, and marked executive ability. Although he used force only as a last resort, he managed to maintain strict discipline. His interest in deportment and in the technical details of etiquette was, perhaps, excessive; but it led him so to systematize the routine of the Academy that each day's schedule ran with perfect smoothness. At the early hour of morning chapel every student was expected to be in his proper seat; then, as Pemberton in his stately fashion entered the hall, the pupils rose and bowed formally, while the Principal, no less gracious, returned the salutation. He next ascended the platform, where he pronounced the invocation, after which the boys read verses in turn from a Bible chapter. At the close of the afternoon session the same ceremony was repeated, each student leaving only after bowing politely, first to the Principal and then to his assistant. Pemberton kept a close watch over the personal habits of his pupils; we find, for instance, that Caleb Strong, Governor of Massachusetts, wrote Judge Phillips at the end of a term: "My son's manners are much improved. He is a good deal mended of the trick of moving his feet and fingers."

It would be a mistake, however, to regard Pemberton as merely a fanatical censor morum. He was himself no mean scholar, and under him the prestige of Phillips Academy in the community did not suffer. The curriculum was apparently broadened to include geography and some higher mathematics. The Principal laid particular emphasis on public declamation, and insisted that each boy should have thorough drill in addressing an audience. At the Exhibition in 1786 Josiah Quincy and John Thornton Kirkland(1) (1770-1840), two future presidents of Harvard College, delivered the dialogue of Brutus and Cassius from Julius Cæsar. Nor did the number of students diminish. During the seven years of Pemberton's administration seventy-seven of his pupils went to college, all but a few of them to Harvard. In the same year, 1792, there came to Phillips Academy Stephen Longfellow (1776-1849), father of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Charles Lowell (17821861), father of James Russell Lowell. Francis Cabot Lowell (1775-1817), for whom was named the city of Lowell, Massachusetts, preceded his brother Charles to Andover, and graduated in the class of 1789. Charles Pinckney Sumner (1776-1839), father of Charles Sumner, finished his course at Phillips Academy in 1792. These distinguished names indicate that Pemberton was able to inspire confidence in his school. What the Trustees thought of his success may be judged from an unusual resolution which they passed, July 6, 1792, and in which they expressed their appreciation of "the care and attention which the Principal, & Assistant, & Writing Master, have paid to the instruction of the students as well as to their manners." The personal attitude of Judge Phillips is brought out in a letter to Dr. John Phillips, July 26, 1790:--

This Academy is in a more flourishing state than it has been for some time --- its numbers before the vacation about 54 --- twelve in the Sen'r class well fitted for college tho' but 7 have yet been offered for admission ---the morals and deportment of the youths regular. The satisfaction to the Trustees, upon their examination, better than in some years past.

In the maintenance of order and his insistence upon good conduct Pemberton must have been fully as exacting as Pearson. In this connection it is a pleasing pastime to glance over the Records and note some of the matters over which the Trustees assumed jurisdiction. Under the date of July 11, 1791, we meet with the following resolutions: --

That single ladies shall be licensed to keep but two scholars at a time.

That no scholar who is under the age of twenty-one years shall be allowed to purchase anything of another scholar on trust .... But that every scholar shall be obliged to keep a particular and regular account of his expenses, and exhibit it to the Principal whenever he shall call for it.

That no scholar shall be allowed to bathe in any millpond.

That no scholar, who cannot swim, shall be allowed to go into the water, except in company with two or more scholars who can swim; or in the presence of a man who shall be approved of by the principal, or assistant, or any one of the Trustees.

The Trustees also felt concerned for the morals of the student body. On July 7, 1788, they resolved as follows: --

Voted, that if any member of the Academy shall be guilty of profanity or any other scandalous immorality; for the first offense it shall be the duty of the principal to administer a serious reproof. In case of a second offense notice thereof is to be given by the principal to the parent or guardian of such youth; and upon the third offense notice thereof shall be given to the Trustees.

The refusal of one of the boys to give information against a classmate led to the insertion of another clause in this penal code: ---

Voted, unanimously, that it shall be the duty of each scholar, when required by the principal, the assistant, or any of the trustees to give evidence in any case of criminal misconduct in others, to declare the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And in case any scholar shall be so lost to all sense of moral obligation, as to be guilty either of withholding evidence, or of giving false evidence; upon conviction thereof at any future time, while a member of the academy, he shall be publicly and solemnly admonished before the whole Academy, & such of the Trustees as can attend the sad solemnity. And upon conviction of a second offense of this kind, he shall be expelled from the Academy.

These votes of the Trustees upon matters which today are left almost entirely to the Principal and his Faculty show how sedulously the members guarded the academic peace. They were Argus-eyed in their efforts to detect misconduct; indeed, they often felt called upon to extend their official duties so far as to report and punish the most trivial infractions of the rules. The Founders, especially Judge Phillips, did not hesitate to reprimand boys, and frequently took occasion to address them in the school hall on the odiousness of vice and the beauty of virtue.

The religious instruction so stressed in the Constitution was certainly not neglected under Pemberton. Here again, however, the Trustees, not satisfied to let the Principal use his judgment, reminded him, on July 5, 1792, of what was required of him: ---

That Mr. Pemberton be desired to appropriate as large a portion of the forenoon on Mondays to the purpose of examining the scholars in the exercises assigned them for the Lord's days, and making observation thereon, or on religious instruction, as he shall judge proper. It is expected that the Principal assign to the scholars, to be committed to memory on Lord's days, a portion from the Assembly's Catechism or Watts's Catechisms, or poetical works, or any other books he shall think proper, having due regard to the desire of parents when expressed.

On Sundays the boys still marched in a body to the Old South Church, where they occupied the three rear seats in the lower section of the gallery. While the new meeting-house was being built in 1788, the congregation, at the invitation of the Trustees, used the Academy Hall for their Sunday services.

Although Judge Phillips had wished to provide aid for poor students at the Academy, no feasible method of accomplishing this had as yet been discovered. During 1789, however, he had some correspondence with Dr. John Phillips, with the result that in October, 1789, the latter conveyed to Phillips Academy at Andover the sum of more than $20,000 "for and in consideration of further promoting the virtuous and pious education of youth (poor children of genius, and of serious disposition especially) "--- the largest single gift to the school for more than seventyfive years. At the annual meeting held on July 12, 1790, the Trustees passed a vote of appreciation: ---

That the thanks of the Board be presented to the Hon. John Phillips, Esq. for his pious and liberal donation, whereby he has still further manifested his generous and ardent zeal for the promotion of knowledge, virtue, and piety, and conferred an additional and lasting obligation upon the Academy. Upon this occasion the Trustees cannot but add their fervent wish and prayer, that the Donor, the distinguished friend and patron of science and religion, may live to behold, with increasing joy and satisfaction, the happy fruits of this, and of all his other pious liberalities; and at a very remote period, his numerous acts of benevolence may receive that reward which original and infinite goodness can bestow.

The news of this munificent gift was reported to the Trustees at the last meeting which Esquire Phillips, then almost seventy-five years old, was able to attend. His health, which had for some time been failing, was absolutely broken with the death of his beloved wife. On July 6, 1790, Judge Phillips wrote to Dr. John Phillips: ---

I wish I could give you more favorable accounts of my hon'd Father's health ---his flesh and strength appear to be still wasting, and we have small ground to expect his continuing much longer to survive my hon'd mother.

A few weeks later, on August 21, he died. The loss of the oldest of the Founders brought sorrow to every one connected with Phillips Academy. Since its opening day he had been President of the Board of Trustees, and had attended faithfully every meeting until his increasing feebleness compelled him to withdraw from active life. In his stead Dr. John Phillips was chosen President; and on July 5, 1792, probably because Dr. Phillips found it inconvenient to be present at every meeting, the office of Vice-President was created, Judge Phillips being selected for the position. To fill the vacancy left by the death of Esquire Phillips, another member of the family, His Honor William Phillips (2) (1750-1827), of Boston, was elected a Trustee.

The most striking event of Pemberton's administration was probably the visit of General Washington to Andover during his tour of the Eastern States in the autumn of 1789. Leaving Haverhill on the morning of Thursday, November 5, he drove to Andover, where he breakfasted at Deacon Isaac Abbot's tavern, a building still standing on Elm Street. From there, escorted by Judge Phillips and other prominent citizens on horseback, he passed near the Old South Church and up the turnpike (now known as School Street) to the Phillips Mansion House, then a comparatively new residence. Here he was entertained by Madame Phoebe Phillips and her husband, who, it will be remembered, had been intimately associated with Washington in 1775, while Boston was under siege. In the afternoon the President held an informal reception on horseback in the training-field, the open lawn in front of the present Treasurer's house. When this ceremony was over, he and his party rode down the lane now called Phillips Street, over the Wilmington Road to the battlefield of Lexington. The moment General Washington left that southeast room in the Mansion House Madame Phillips tied a strip of ribbon on the chair which he had occupied, and there it remained until the day of his death, when she substituted for it a band of crape. This chair is now in the possession of Andover Theological Seminary.

On October 8, 1793, Pemberton, whose health had broken under the strain of his responsibilities, proposed his resignation to the Trustees, who, in consideration of his illness, appointed for him a second assistant, Mr. Abiel Abbot. After waiting two months in the hope that Pemberton might possibly be able to return to his duties, the Board, on December 24, 1793, accepted his withdrawal, and added a resolution in which they recognized the "ability, attention, and fidelity" which be had displayed in office.

There is something rather mysterious about Pemberton's departure. He could not have been seriously incapacitated, for in the following autumn he was established as Principal of a school in Billerica, where he taught until 1810. On October 2, 1796, John Phillips, of Andover, wrote to his mother, Madame Phoebe Phillips: --

It seems as if Mr. Pemberton were determined to injure our family and the academy as much as possible. I suppose that he has now thoughts of making his office at Billerica hereditary.

Two months later, on December 4, 1796, Pemberton married Miss Elizabeth Whitewell, of Salem. Everything indicates that he left Andover mainly because he had incurred the displeasure of Judge Phillips, probably because of some love affair which did not satisfy the Phillips family.

Unlike Eliphalet Pearson, who ultimately returned to Andover and who never severed his connection with Phillips Academy, Pemberton apparently broke off all relations with the town; from the day of his departure he is not mentioned in the Academy Records. In 1810 he opened a small private school in Boston, and succeeded in obtaining about a score of pupils. General H. K. Oliver, who was for a short period his pupil there, has described him in eulogistic terms: --

A man he was of the most refined and graceful manners; dignified, yet courteous in demeanor, pleasant of speech, accurate in language, pure in thought and life, conscientious in all he said and did, presenting himself to my memory as a living model of a Christian gentleman and godly man.

We have this picture of him from another source: ---

His dress was that of the last century: a full-skirted, single-breasted, collarless coat, long & full vest, breeches with knee buckles & long stockings, with buckled shoes, the buckles some 6 by 8 inches --- or thereabouts a powdered wig, with queue, adorned or disadorned his head.

About 1825 his increasing infirmities forced him to abandon teaching. Although he had a son and two daughters, they were for some reason unable to be of much assistance to him, and be was entirely without resources; fortunately some of his grateful pupils came to the rescue and paid him an annuity during the rest of his life. He died June 25, 1835, at the age of eighty-nine.

When we estimate his long career as a whole, we must confess that he fell just short of success. Faithful, industrious, and conscientious he undoubtedly was, and his personality left a delightful impression on those who sat under his instruction. In his temperament he was

but he lacked some quality which might have made him great as man and teacher. For this failure his weakness of body may have been partly accountable; but it is even more likely that some supersensitiveness, some want of force and sell-assertion, may have kept him from attaining that rank to which his ability in other respects entitled him. As Principal of Phillips Academy he performed valuable service, but he was never fully praised during his period of labor, and his last days were a pathetic end for a life of sacrifice.

For a few months Phillips Academy was placed in charge of Abiel Abbot(3) (1770-1828), a young man who had just finished a year of teaching at the Phillips Exeter Academy, and of Mark Newman, who had been made an assistant in 1793. On July 7, 1794, the Trustees voted to offer Abbot one hundred and twenty pounds a year if he would accept the position of Principal, even for only six months; and, if he refused, to propose the same office to Newman, with a salary of one hundred pounds. Abbot declined, and Newman, on July 23, 1794, accepted the Principalship.

In his farewell address to the Senior Class on July 6, 1794, Abbot painted a melancholy picture of our American colleges. Assuming that his auditors were all going to Harvard, he warned them of the future: ---

You are now about commencing the most perilous period of your lives, a period in which every passion unfriendly to virtue will be excited; every temptation dangerous to morals will be set before you; and every act calculated to mislead will be practiced upon you. You are going to act a part upon a stage where wrong ideas and false principles have great influence .... You will sail upon a Sea whose surface is beautiful and tempting, but dangerous rocks and quicksands lurk beneath.

He was especially severe in condemning trips to Boston: ---

Seldom visit the Capital; it is dangerous ground, particularly if you hunt for pleasure in it. Town pleasures, like forbidden fruit, are tempting to the senses, but the most innocent of them have a mixture of deadly poison.

It is gratifying to know that he accepted in 1821 the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the college whose temptations he had so luridly portrayed.

In 1794 Dr. John Phillips, aware that his growing infirmities would soon render him incapable of covering the thirty miles between Exeter and Andover, resigned his office as President, and was succeeded on July 7 by his only surviving brother, the Honorable William Phillips, of Boston. Dr. Phillips died suddenly on April 21, 1795, and an eloquent memorial sermon, eulogizing him and the members of his family, was preached at Andover a few weeks later by the Reverend Jonathan French.

The Reverend William Symmes resigned from the Board in 1795, "chiefly on account of the increasing failure of his sense of hearing." To fill the vacancies three new members were elected, all distinguished men; the Reverend Jedediah Morse (1761-1826), an eminent clergyman of Charlestown, known as "the father of American geography," but better remembered as the father of Samuel F. B. Morse, P. A. 1805; Samuel Abbot (1732-1812), a Boston business man living in Andover, who later endowed Andover Theological Seminary; and Jacob Abbot(4) (1746-1820), a partner of Judge Phillips in the management of the Hill store. On July 7, 1795, Nehemiah Abbot, who had acted nominally as Treasurer since 1778, asked for compensation for his services, but his request was denied. Two months later, when he was voted four hundred dollars, he resigned his office, feeling that this tardy and paltry remuneration was but shabby treatment. He was succeeded as Treasurer by Judge Oliver Wendell, who held the place until 1803.

In 1794 the Honorable William Phillips transferred to the Trustees ten shares in Andover Bridge, the money to be used "for the purpose of aiding the education of Youths of serious and promising capacities, who need pecuniary aid." By the terms of the will of Dr. John Phillips the school was made a legatee to the extent of one third of the residue of his estate, and it was specified that it should be employed "for the benefit more especially of Charity scholars, such as may be of excelling genius and of good moral character, preferring the hopefully pious." This legacy, soon consolidated with Dr. Phillips's larger donation of 1789, amounted to over seven thousand dollars. Gifts of this kind show how well established was the idea that it was part of the Academy plan to assist poor but deserving boys. Phillips Academy was becoming more prosperous. Thanks to the generosity of the Phillips family it was acquiring funds which were to prove of inestimable value at a later period.

MARK NEWMAN, the third Principal, was not an impressive figure. Kind, affable, and popular with his associates, he was neither feeble nor dangerous, but he lacked both the virility of Pearson and the intellectual distinction of Ebenezer Pemberton. He was an eminently respectable gentleman of engaging manners, but deficient in qualities of leadership and without the capacity for meeting extraordinary situations. Coming into office when he was but a careless boy, with little real experience as either teacher or administrator, he did his best to fill the place of his predecessors. That he failed to maintain their standard is not remarkable; the real wonder is that, in his hands, the school did not lose itself irrevocably. His nephew, Wendell Phillips, in passing judgment on him, gave him credit for many fine characteristics: ---

Most men thought Newman too easy and contented in his mood .... Except for this matter of a too easy disposition I should have willingly offered him to any who doubted the practical value of the old New England creed, as a test of that faith in making an honest, just, liberal, and public-spirited man, pure in heart, fair in his judgment of others, and as perfect as the lot of humanity admits in the discharge of social and civil duties.

It was this "too easy disposition" which unfitted him for the position of Principal, and which later involved him, through no extravagance of his own, in financial embarrassment. His personality was attractive, but his dignity was a little too unruffled, his calmness a trifle too serene.

Mark Newman, the son of Samuel Newman and Hannah Hastings, was born September 7, 1772, at Ipswich. He prepared for college under the famous Benjamin Abbot at the newly founded Phillips Exeter Academy, and was thus the only graduate of Exeter hitherto to become Principal at Andover.(1) While in Exeter, he was assisted by Dr. John Phillips, who, knowing him to be poor, gave him employment for his spare hours and made him an inmate of his household. Newman was an exceedingly handsome youth, with a personal magnetism which won him many friends. It was said of him, too, that he was not ashamed to work.

He early gained the power to pay
His cheerful, sell-reliant way.

MARK NEWMAN

SAMUEL FARRAR, ESQUIRE

Through Dr. Phillips's advice and aid he went to Dartmouth College, where he graduated in 1793. On July 5 of that year be was appointed an assistant at Phillips Academy at a salary of three pounds, twelve shillings a month, and board. He had originally intended to become a clergyman, but this new opportunity altered his plans. At Andover he became intimate with John Phillips, Judge Phillips's son, and, because of this friendship, he was allowed to have rooms in the Mansion House. Newman, who may have been somewhat spoiled by good fortune, was an imaginative and romantic young man, with an attitude towards life best described as "sophomoric." A characteristic passage may be quoted from a letter written November 14, 1793, to John Phillips, then a student at Harvard: ---

Last evening I attempted to write a few lines and was interrupted. Your mama's desire with my own inclination induces me to make a second attempt. The evening is far spent and imagination dull.

However I can probably form an idea of your happiness while puzzling your pate with the dry problems of Euclid and loading your memory with the dialects of Homer. You are wishing and expecting happier days. Don't be too confident, lest the object at which you are grasping shall prove a delusive shadow. Let us, like rational beings, enjoy the present, and lay aside anxiety concerning the events of to-morrow.

I enjoy as much happiness as I ought to expect, considering the disturbed nature of this ocean of life. In addition to the happiness which Miss Sally communicates, we have another young lady in the family who is by no means devoid of merit. Your hon'd parents are well. In walking the fields of science that you may crop the best of every flower is the sincere wish of Your friend and humble servant.

The "Miss Sally" here mentioned was Sally Phillips, sister of the Honorable John Phillips, of Boston. Newman married Miss Phillips in 1795, and Judge Phillips, who was her second cousin, later stood as godfather for their eldest son, Samuel Phillips Newman.

Doubtless Newman's affiliations with the Phillips family helped to secure for him his election as Principal. Newman was also approbated as a preacher, and frequently supplied pulpits in the vicinity, especially at the Old South when Mr. French was ill or absent.

Shortly after his marriage Newman moved into the old Abbot House on Phillips Street, which Pemberton had left a short time before. His salary of one hundred and fifty pounds a year was considered fairly liberal; but within a few months he presented to the Trustees a petition, with the general tone of which that body has since had ample opportunity to become familiar: ---

Considering the high price of the necessities of life my salary proves insufficient for the support of my family; if therefore it should be the pleasure of the Honorable Board to make some addition, such a favor will be gratefully acknowledged.

In recognition of the justice of this appeal the Trustees promptly voted him the extra sum of one hundred dollars, "on account of the present advanced prices of the necessaries of life." This annual grant was continued until 1802, when it was raised to two hundred dollars; in 1805 it was increased to three hundred dollars and in 1806 to four hundred dollars, at which sum it remained until the coming of a new Principal. It is interesting to notice the gradual introduction of the decimal system of dollars and cents in place of the English pounds and pence. As late as 1797 bills were made out to pupils in terms of shillings, although the newer coinage was everywhere in use.

The policy of admitting to the Academy very young boys had, after a fair trial, proved to be rather unsatisfactory. In 1796 Mr. William Foster, Jr., asked permission of the Trustees to start a school "for instructing youth in reading, writing, orthography, the english grammar and arithmetic, for the purpose of qualifying them for admission into Phillips Academy." Mr. Foster, who was described in the Records as "a person of good morals and exemplary deportment, & well calculated to take the charge of, & instruct youth," obtained the desired sanction, and accordingly opened his establishment in the Foster homestead (now Mr. Homer Foster's farmhouse) on Central Street, and maintained it successfully for nearly twenty years. At times there were in attendance there over twenty-five boys, most of whom later entered Phillips Academy.

The plan of working through the year with only six weeks of vacation doubtless appealed to the strenuous Pearson, but his successors were ready to sympathize with complaints from the boys. In 1791 a new schedule was arranged providing for four vacation periods: two of a fortnight each, one of three weeks, and one of a week. This arrangement was modified in 1796 so that the vacations came as follows: two weeks, beginning the second Wednesday in July; two weeks, beginning the third Wednesday in October; two weeks, beginning the second Wednesday in January; and two weeks, beginning the third Wednesday in April. School was regularly held on both Thanksgiving and Christmas Days, and also during the greater part of the summer, now considered too hot for effective work. Vacations to-day cover approximately twice the length of time allowed in 1796.

The Academy Exhibitions had by 1796 become important occasions in the school year. The first Exhibition held at Phillips Academy took place April 20, 1779, and is recorded as follows: ---

In the afternoon the Trustees visited the school, examined their writing, heard them construe and parse -& speak several pieces in english, & perform an excellent piece of musick.

A similar event, May 22, 1782, is mentioned briefly: ---

The Trustees visited the Academy, where the scholars exhibited a specimen of their writing, of their proficiency in the latin and greek languages, & in the art of speaking.

The programme gradually took a form corresponding roughly to our modern Commencement exercises; and before the construction of the new Academy gave the school a spacious hall, the Exhibitions were held in the South Parish meeting-house. Naturally the performances varied in quality. On July 3, 1792, Judge Phillips wrote apologetically to his son John:---

Mr. Pemberton says the Exhibition will be quite lean. You will remember, if any one should talk of coming from college, to tell them that it is proposed to be only a private Exhibition.

At the exercises in 1795 little Samuel Phillips, Judge Phillips's younger son, spoke Cowper's "I am monarch of all I survey."

In general the Exhibitions seem to have aroused only favorable comment until 1798, when, at a gathering immediately after the ceremonies, the Trustees voted: ---

That a reform in our Exhibitions be attempted by rendering them less theatrical, more sentimental, to consist more of single pieces, and the exercises not to exceed the limits of two hours.

In 1800 their disapprobation took the form of a resolution forbidding any public Exhibition for that year. Apparently the offensive features still persisted, for we find in the Records for August 19, 1806, the following entry: ---

Voted, that the time allowed to the exercises should not exceed one hour and a half, and the pieces consist wholly of single speeches and dialogues not theatrical.

Samuel Phillips(2) (1801-77), son of Colonel John Phillips, gives an account of the Exhibition of 1809:---

The attendance at the Exhibitions used to be very large --- and on one occasion I remember the scene was enlivened by music. And such Music! We had no brass or brigade band in those days; and so a sturdy member of the school, one Abijah Cross, performing on a bass viol, and Henry B. Pearson (son of the professor, an incipient flute player) combined their power, and entertained the audience with "Roslyn Castle" and "O dear! what can the matter be?"

No programmes of these early Exhibitions are in the Academy archives; but it requires little effort of the imagination to picture them as like the old-fashioned speaking contests, where boys declaimed in dramatic style favorites drawn from the Columbian Orator and other popular collections. Now and then a more serious note was introduced by an address delivered by some prominent clergyman; such a talk, given by the Reverend Jedediah Morse at the Exhibition in 1799, was afterwards printed by request of the Trustees.

Singing, both solo and chorus, diversified the programme, although we hear of no teacher of music until 1795, when Ichabod Johnson was engaged to provide instruction in that subject. Johnson, who had been a fifer in the Revolutionary army, had only a short career on Andover Hill, for his lessons in the old first Academy were accompanied by wild disorder, including the breaking of nearly every window in the building. On November 30, 1795, the Committee of Exigencies voted to dispense with Johnson's services, and he retired to another less tumultuous community. Other singing masters, however, took up his task, and with better success.

Throughout Newman's administration the Trustees, conscious, perhaps, of his weakness, continued to interfere frequently and often ostentatiously with the discipline of the school. A committee was appointed in 1797 "to adopt such measures, as shall appear to them expedient for the reformation of idle boys belonging to the Academy." On July 3, 1800, a mysterious entry appears: ---

Voted, that the Scholars be prohibited from exercising themselves in any wheel, called a federal balloon, fandango, or by any other name.

Students were forbidden, it seems, to put locks on their trunks and boxes. In 1805, as a result of a drowning accident in the Shawsheen River, the Trustees appointed a committee to secure a suitable bathing-place for the boys during the hot summer season. In 1808 Newman was requested to prevent the shopkeepers in town from giving credit to the students on the Hill.

For some reason impossible to ascertain the school, "because of the disorder prevalent at present in Andover," was shut down on February 10, 1796, for four full weeks. It is not apparent whether this "disorder" was an epidemic of disease, or a heightened public feeling due to our involved relations with France and England. Later, as a result of the excitement aroused by the revelations of the "X.Y.Z. papers," the Trustees, on May 25, 1798, passed a resolution recommending the students, "considering the present state of our public affairs," to form a militia company, and to admit to it town boys of "good character."

The changes in the equipment during this period were only of a minor sort. In 1799 new seats were built in the Academy building, and an additional alley was made on each side of the center aisle; in 1802 a door, with a covered porch, was constructed at the eastern end. The Trustees on January 9, 1804, sent a fulsome letter to Madame Phillips, thanking her for a "large and elegant clock," and also for "four green window blinds for the school room; for sundry articles of stationary [sic] for the use of the Trustees; & also for painting one room & staircase in the house occupied by the Preceptor." In 1805 the small Academy library, started by Newman about 1796, was placed in alcoves and shelves put up on the north side of the school building, and Samuel Farrar, Esq., was appointed librarian.

Andover Hill had not changed greatly in the thirty years after 1778. Morse's Geography (1803) says of Phillips Academy: "It is encompassed with a salubrious air, and commands an extensive prospect." To the south, on the Woburn-Boston Road, Madame Phillips had as her nearest neighbor Moses Abbot, who dwelt in the old red house once occupied by Judge Phillips; to the north lived Joseph Phelps, who carried on a store and boarded Academy boys in the house which had just been built by Judge Phillips on the south corner of Main and Phillips Streets. Between this place and the Old South Church, along the "meeting-house road," there was not a single building. The site of Abbot Academy was then a woodlot. The present Main Street to the village was not yet opened; and there was no road to the east of the Campus lawn. On Salem Street stood the" Blunt Tavern," erected by Captain Isaac Blunt before 1765. A portion of the present Hardy House, then occupied by Captain Towne, was standing on the same site on Salem Street; and across the road from it to the north was the home of Deacon Amos Blanchard, who took boys as boarders. To the south of the Academy building stretched a level lawn used as a training-field for the town militia.

The most impressive local event of Newman's administration was probably the funeral of Judge Samuel Phillips, which took place on February 15, 1802. At the services in the Old South Church the Reverend Jonathan French offered prayer, and the Reverend David Tappan, Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard College, delivered the sermon. In the long procession the students of Phillips Academy were followed by the Trustees of the two Phillips schools at Andover and Exeter. The pallbearers were the Governor, three of his Council, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House. The body was interred in the Phillips tomb in the adjacent cemetery. Dr. John L. Taylor, in his Memoir of Judge Phillips, describes the scene: --

The immense concourse, the presence of so many distinguished civilians, the universal sensibility, and the impressive exercises with which her favorite son was then laid in the tomb made this a memorable day to Andover; such as she had never seen before and will never see again.

The tone of all the speakers was that of sincere eulogy. Dr. Tappan in his address said of his dead classmate: ---

His fervent and uniform piety, his upright and zealous devotion to every private and public duty, prompted and strengthened by large capacities for usefulness, rendered him a distinguished ornament and pillar both of the church and commonwealth.

In a sermon preached at Boston, February 10, 1802, the Reverend Thomas Baldwin, Chaplain of the House, referred to Judge Phillips as "the accurate scholar, the enlightened statesman, the accomplished gentleman, and the exemplary Christian." Long afterward, in 1855, Josiah Quincy, then an octogenarian, wrote of Judge Phillips: --

I can truly say that I have never met, through my whole life, with an individual in whom the spirit of Christianity and of goodwill to mankind was so naturally and beautifully blended with an indomitable energy and enterprise in active life.

By a donation of $1000 made on December 12, 1801, Judge Phillips had provided for the distribution of religious books among the citizens of Andover, one stipulation being that Dr. Doddridge's Address to the Master of a Family on Family Religion should be given "to every young man who may be about to enter into the family state." A second gift of $4000, bequeathed to the Trustees on January 7, 1802, had two aims: the improvement of female schoolteachers in Andover and the distribution of Bibles and religious treatises to "poor and pious Christians" elsewhere and to "the inhabitants of new towns and plantations." The main object of these bequests, in Phillips's own words, was "the preservation of the essential and distinguishing doctrines of the Gospel, as professed by our pious ancestors, the first settlers of New England, and of such writings as are consentaneous thereto." The fund thus created has been for more than a century administered in various ways by the Trustees with increasingly solicitous care for the Founder's "fear that the object of this donation will be totally frustrated." The fund for Andover teachers and for Andover young husbands is now, by permission of the Supreme Court, used for suitable books for the Andover and North Andover public libraries. The "inhabitants of new towns" are represented to-day by the new inhabitants of old towns, and to them the Massachusetts Bible Society (of which His Honor William Phillips was the first President) supplies "Bibles, Testaments, and Psalters" at the expense of the fund. Aside from these benefactions the bulk of Judge Phillips's fortune was left to his wife and son.

Since 1796, when his uncle, the Honorable William Phillips, had resigned as President of the Board, Judge Phillips had performed the duties of that office; he was succeeded by Eliphalet Pearson, elected August 17, 1802, who, as Judge Phillips's nearest friend, could be trusted to continue the Academy in accordance with the ideas of the Founders. The deaths of Judge Phillips and the Honorable John Lowell in 1802, and the resignations of the Honorable William Phillips and Jacob Abbot at about the same time, left several vacancies on the Board. In 1801 Colonel John Phillips was elected, and a year later the Honorable John Phillips, of Boston, was added to the number. Josiah Quincy was chosen in 1802, and the list was made complete by the election of Samuel Farrar, first as Trustee, and, in 1803, as Treasurer in place of Judge Oliver Wendell. On January 15, 1804, the Honorable William Phillips, the last of the three notable brothers, died in Boston, "in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honor." In a codicil to his will be left to Phillips Academy the sum of $4000, as a fund for "indigent students." In his place the Reverend Daniel Dana(3) (1771-1859), then a minister at Newburyport, was elected. His term of office of fifty-two years is likely to be the longest in Academy history.

In his last days Judge Phillips had not been altogether satisfied with the standing of his school, and in his final interview with the Trustees he made a particular request: ---

That a select committee be chosen to meet once in a quarter or oftener, to inquire into the state of the Academy, the proficiency of the scholars, and the conduct of the instructors, that the core of the Institution may be attended to.

On November 2, 1802, the first committee of this kind was named, consisting of the Reverend Jonathan French, Samuel Abbot, Colonel John Phillips, Dr. Pearson, and Dr. Morse. Their proceedings and conclusions, preserved systematically in a musty, discolored record book, throw much light on the state of the school under Newman. At their first examination, June 17, 1803, this committee spent three and one-half hours in the morning and the same period in the afternoon in fulfilling their duties. That they took these duties very seriously is proved by the fervor with which they attended to trivialities. On November 8, 1803, for instance, they made a report:---

Voted, that the Chairman inform the Academy at large, that to their great satisfaction the Committee have found by a careful examination of the bills for the last fourteen weeks that of the fifty-seven students now present 38 have distinguished themselves by their punctuality, having no mark of tardiness against their names; 31 by their silent attention to business, not being charged with a whisper since the last visitation of the committee; 6 by their correctness in spelling, having made no mistake in that exercise during the same period; and four by their correctness of conduct in general, no mark being found against either of their names upon either of the three bills.

They were not always, however, so lavish in their praise. On November 20, 1804, they passed a vote of a different tenor: ---

That Mr. Newman be requested to inform the students at an early period of the next term, that the Committee with regret and disapprobation have noticed the increased number of whispers on the part of a large number of them as appears by the bill. And further that he be requested to use such methods to remedy that evil as he in his wisdom may think best.

Occasionally this committee even passed sentence on offenders. On July 8, 1804, a vote was recorded: ---

That ------, having been admonished by the Preceptor at the request of this Committee at a former visitation, for his frequent whispering in the Academy; & not having reformed, but being found upon the bills at this visitation highly charged for the same offense, be consigned to the Rev. Mr. French to be seriously reproved for his continued delinquency; & that six others of the students, being found by the bills to be eminently faulty for whispering in the Academy since the last visitation, be consigned to the Preceptor to be admonished by him for the same.

There is something irresistibly ludicrous in the spectacle of these stately gentlemen, sitting gravely on these cases of inveterate whispering, and prescribing punishment as if the culprits were a menace to society. A laugh at one of those solemn meetings might perhaps have cleared the atmosphere. Certainly their investigations encroached on Newman's field, and he must have been either very patient or very subservient, to submit to the intrusion.

The question of the quality of the instruction offered in Phillips Academy had for some years been giving concern to the Trustees, and a report of the Select Committee on May 4, 1808, brought the matter to a head. Since the foundation of the school a period of thirty years had elapsed, during which thirty assistants, exclusive of writing-masters, had been employed. Of this number only three had been prevailed upon to continue in office for two years, two others about one and one-half years each, most of them for but one year, and several for a shorter term. The situation is vividly depicted by the committee: --

With a few exceptions, these Assistants have been immediately transformed from Pupils into Instructors, most of them young and without experience. The natural and necessary consequences have followed. Instantly connected with sixty young strangers, oppressed by a crowd of different occupations, and hurried from one object of instruction to another without intermissions, not weeks only, but months passed away, before the young Preceptor has learned the characters or even the names of all his pupils; and certainly before he has had leisure to renew his acquaintance with authors, or to refresh his mind with the principles of those Arts and Sciences which he is now called to teach; tho', without such previous preparation even the best scholar will be exposed to frequent mistakes and much embarrassment, to the no small danger of his respectability and usefulness among his pupils. It is indeed a common and voluntary confession of Assistants themselves on leaving the Academy, that they are scarcely qualified to commence their course in it. But even admitted, what can never be expected, that an Assistant, on entering the Academy, is master of the various branches of knowledge taught in it; still he is a stranger to the science of government, and unacquainted with the avenues to the human mind. Happy indeed if he have made any considerable advance in the knowledge and command of himself. Of all arts, that of insinuating instruction in the most pleasing form, and of gaining the ascendency in young minds, is the most difficult, and the last acquired. What then can in reason be expected of a young man, transiently caught, and a few moments detained in the Academy, who never finds his object in his employment, and thro' the day is longing for the hour that will dismiss him to his professional pursuits.

This graphic but veracious description, undoubtedly from the ready pen of Dr. Pearson, seems to have aroused his colleagues, for they soon agreed to engage a "second permanent instructor," whose salary, not more than seven hundred and fifty dollars, should be paid through taxes on the students. It was settled also that "the title of the first Instructor shall be Principal, & that of the second Instructor be Preceptor." The southwest room in the Academy building was at once fitted up as a room for the Preceptor, with a desk for him, and seven rows of seats, divided by an alley in the middle, for the pupils. Provision was also made for a readjustment of the teaching hours: --

That the instruction in the learned languages be so divided between the first and second instructors, that one of them shall be responsible for the correctness and proficiency of the pupils in Latin and the other in Greek. Particular branches of instruction in any other language, in the arts & sciences, and in morality & religion to be in like manner statedly shared between them, as may best comport with the circumstances of the Academy, and with the character and feelings of the Instructors.

The first teacher to be engaged as Preceptor was Mills Day (1783-1812), brother of President Jeremiah Day, of Yale, who, however, remained only one year. As a matter of fact the new system was never put fully into operation, and, under a strong Principal, it was, by common agreement, ignored. In its origin it was certainly a scheme to remove some of the power from Newman's hands, and his resignation made it no longer necessary.

On March 7, 1809, 'Squire Farrar suggested that twelve dollars of the annual income of the sum of four hundred and fifty dollars, which, as his salary for three years as Treasurer, he had presented to the Trustees, should be "expended in prizes among the most meritorious pupils of the Academy, agreeably to such regulations as you may think best adapted to increase attention to the Latin and Greek languages, and to Moral and Religious instruction." Three separate prizes of four dollars each were actually determined upon: one in Latin, one in Greek, and one in religious knowledge. But the Puritan conscience soon began to feel twinges; it seemed wrong to appeal to such motives in the human heart; and finally the Trustees quietly came to the conclusion "that scholars were sufficiently stimulated in their studies without such an incentive." 'Squire Farrar, not discomfited, added to this so-called "Prize Fund," and asked that the income be devoted to secure a master in the Theory and Practice of Music. It was later increased by the accretion of income and by gifts until it amounted to over $12,000, when it was used to build the Double-Brick House, and afterwards in part for the erection of the Commons dormitories.

We have already hinted that Phillips Academy, after 1805, was steadily declining in numbers and in efficiency. In 1803 there had been fifty-seven boys in the school; in the winter term of 1809 there were only eighteen. This decided falling-off was caused partly by the increased attention which the Trustees gave to the new Andover Theological Seminary, but far more by the fact that Newman was not the man to command the confidence of parents. His dependence on the Select Committee is merely one sign of his lack of force; a strong personality, like Pearson or John Adams, would never have submitted peacefully to the restrictions imposed by that body, or would have made them unnecessary. Newman himself recognized that his abilities were better displayed in other occupations, and, on August 22, 1809, sent in his resignation, assigning as a reason the fact that the labors and responsibilities of the office were a burden which the state of his health did not permit him longer to sustain. His resignation deprived him automatically of his place on the Board of Trustees; but he was at once reelected to fill the vacancy caused by the death on July 2, 1809, of the veteran Jonathan French. At the same time Newman was made Clerk of the Board, and held that position until 1836. Although they did distrust him as a teacher, the Trustees seem to have regarded highly his judgment and helpful counsel.

Newman lived in Andover during the remainder of his long career. In 1811 he built a new house, the handsome residence now occupied by the Treasurer, and on an adjacent lot to the south he erected a store, a square, ugly building where he kept a miscellaneous assortment of small wares. General Oliver well remembered "running up a bill" of thirty-one cents for writing-books at that store. In 1818, having fallen into financial difficulties, he exchanged his residence on the Hill for the house and estate of Samuel Abbot, Esq., on Central Street. He then, at a store in the town, built up a fairly lucrative business as bookseller and publisher of religious treatises. From 1811 until 1845 he was a Deacon in the South Church; and he was, in 1818, the first Superintendent of its Sunday-School. In 1829 he gave an acre of land for the site of Abbot Academy, and he was President of the Board of Trustees of that institution from its foundation until 1843. He was still alive, a venerable gentleman of eighty-six, at the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Andover Theological Seminary in 1859. He died June 15, 1859, in a house which once stood where Christ Church is now located but which has since been moved to a site down the hill towards the railroad station. The funeral sermon, preached by the Reverend George Mooar, was afterwards published.

Newman was a small, handsome man, with fine delicate features. He was slow of thought and speech, deliberate in manner, and often shy and sensitive. Some people still recall him in his old age as "a man of mild and gentle character," feeble, decidedly deaf, but rich in entertaining reminiscences of a bygone generation. An occasional Andover resident remembers his little bookstore on the second floor of a Main Street business block, where he moved in leisurely fashion among piles of yellow pamphlets and dull tracts. He was a fanatical teetotaler, with a propensity to lecture on the spot those whom he saw in any way affected by liquor. To various charities he was, in proportion to his means, a liberal donor. In the important movements started in the Andover of his time he had a share, although never as a leader. He was one of the group of seven which used to assemble in Dr. Porter's study, and which organized the American Tract Society, the Temperance Society, the American Education Society, and other associations. It has been said of him that he had no vices; indeed, he was genuinely pious, in the sense in which that much-abused word was employed seventy-five years ago. His memory will live, if not because of his own merit, at any rate because of the famous men whose friend he was.

The period of the first three Principals might well be treated as a single topic, because it was a time of organization and construction. At the close of Newman's administration the Founders had all died; but Phillips Academy had certainly justified its existence. During these thirty-two years 1031 students had entered the school: 263 under Pearson, 270 under Pemberton, and 498 under Newman. The average entering class in each year was slightly under 33 for Pearson, about 30 for Pemberton, and over 33 for Newman. Despite the vicissitudes which invariably occur in any institution the attendance had, on the whole, been remarkably even. The largest registration had come in 1804, when 52 entered. After that date the numbers had gradually declined, until in 1809 only 16 candidates presented themselves, the smallest group since 1779.

According to the most complete available statistics Pearson sent 89 boys to college, Pemberton, 84, and Newman, 198. This entire number was about one third of all the pupils registered in the Academy during that period. Harvard was then the popular college with Phillips alumni. In Pearson's time 76 out of 89, in Pemberton's 76 out of 84, went on to Harvard. Of the 198 of Newman's pupils who continued work in college, 150 selected Harvard, 17 Dartmouth, and 13 Yale. This trend towards Harvard is readily explained by the fact that Phillips Academy had been founded by Harvard men, and that most of the Trustees up to 1820 had close associations with that college. The Academy, furthermore, was then largely local in its patronage, and the majority of the boys, being New England born and bred, were familiar with the history and traditions of the Cambridge university.

It is not easy for us to-day to conceive of the provincial nature of Phillips Academy at this early period. The attendance, as has been pointed out was almost entirely from New England, mainly from Boston and vicinity. Of the fifty-two boys admitted in 1804, an average year, forty-two were from Massachusetts, and only two came from outside New England. Of the sixteen who entered in 1809, all were from New England, and all but three from Massachusetts. In this state of affairs there was, of course, nothing unusual. It was hardly to be expected that parents, in the days before railroads and steamboats, would care to entrust their children to schools at a distance from their homes.

To one family, however, the poor transportation facilities seem to have presented no obstacle. General Washington had so much confidence in Judge Phillips and his theories of education that he induced several of his relatives to come to Phillips Academy. The first to arrive was Howell Lewis,(4) son of Washington's favorite sister Elizabeth, or "Betty," who, in 1785, at the age of thirteen, was registered from Fredericksburg, Virginia. Ten years later, in 1795, Colonel William Augustine Washington, a nephew of the President, came with his wife from their estate at Haywood, Westmoreland County, Virginia, in order to enter their two sons, Augustine,(5) aged fifteen, and Bushrod,(6) aged ten. The President himself gave to Colonel Washington a letter of introduction to General Lincoln, asking for his good offices in helping to place the boys at Andover. Two other grandnephews of General Washington also arrived in the same year: Cassius Lee,(7) aged sixteen, and Francis Lightfoot Lee,(8) aged thirteen, sons of Washington's niece, Mildred, who had married Thomas Lee, son of Richard Henry Lee, the patriot. Thomas Lee, in corresponding with Judge Phillips, wrote with regard to his son Cassius: --

One of my principal inducements in sending him and his brother so far from Virginia and their friends, was that they might be brought up in the purest principles of religion, morality, and virtue.

Still other members of the Washington family arrived in 1803: George Corbin Washington,(9) the youngest son of Colonel William Augustine Washington; and three brothers from another branch. Richard Henry Lee Washington, John Augustine Washington,(10) and Bushrod Corbin Washington, sons of Corbin Washington, the President's nephew, and grandchildren of Richard Henry Lee. Judge Bushrod Washington was the legal guardian of these boys, who lived with him at Mount Vernon when they were not in school. Bushrod C. Washington, a descendant of the youngest brother, wrote in 1879: ---

I have no doubt the reason these brothers were sent to Andover, Massachusetts, was because of the respect Judge Washington had for Governor Phillips's memory, and the friendship that had existed between General Washington and Governor Phillips.

In all, then, one nephew and eight grandnephews of General Washington were educated at Phillips Academy.(11)

Only two graduates of the school in Newman's time became figures of national importance: Samuel Finley Breese Morse(12) (1791-1872), the inventor of the electric telegraph; and Joseph Emerson Worcester (13)(1784.-1865), the lexicographer.

During all this early period the simple curriculum devised by Pearson had remained substantially unchanged. All work was built around the four essential subjects: Latin, Greek, mathematics, and religious instruction. Newman had arranged in addition for regular drill in writing and sacred music. Elementary geography, arithmetic, and Greek and Roman history made their appearance before the opening of the new century. The admission requirements, based on the statement in the Constitution, "None shall be admitted till in common parlance they can read English well," were not severe. Samuel Phillips, Judge Phillips's grandson, reported that his oral entrance examination before Principal Newman was remarkably easy. On the whole the policy of the Trustees had been conservative, in conformity with the wishes of the Founders.

As we attempt, on the basis of contemporary descriptions, to reproduce the school of Newman's day, we are likely to be struck by its simplicity. There were no dormitories or eating-houses, noisy with student restlessness and energy; there were no societies, either literary or social, and no school publications; there was no Abbot Academy, for the convenience and entertainment of the "fusser." Although there was some interest in outdoor games, there were no organized teams. Exeter was a remote village, of which Andover men seldom heard, and with which there could be no possible rivalry. The boys at Andover were not little prigs; they played mischievous pranks upon one another, and spent many happy hours on warm summer afternoons in the cool waters of Pomp's Pond, or along the wooded banks of the Shawsheen. On the whole, however, their opportunities for diversion were fewer than those which exist to-day, and their life was much more monotonous. Largely because of their home environment and their strict early training, most of the boys were less sophisticated than their successors of the twentieth century; they regarded school, not merely as a pleasant interlude, but as a part of life's real business. It was a time when education was taken seriously.

As for Phillips Academy, it had earned an excellent reputation, even outside scholastic circles. Its teaching was said to be thorough, and its graduates had done the school credit. A reasonably safe foundation had been constructed on which future Masters could build an institution which should expand until it was not local, but national; not Puritan, but American. interests of both, were often unable to treat one apart from the other. Seminary students frequently acted as assistants in the Academy. The officers and teachers of the two schools were naturally often thrown together, both professionally and socially. Such men as Principal John Adams and Dr. Samuel H. Taylor were the intimate associates of the Seminary professors, and were regularly consulted by them. Unfortunately, the Trustees often came to view the Academy as subsidiary to the Seminary, and, probably without deliberately intending it, neglected the needs of the older school as being relatively unimportant. The close connection between the two institutions makes it impossible to write the history of Phillips Academy without many incidental references to the Seminary and its able men; but no attempt can be made in this volume to review, even briefly, the story of that divinity school. When, in 1908, the land and buildings of the Seminary came to be the property of the Academy, Andover Hill, marvelously altered, was again, as in 1808, the seat of Phillips Academy alone.