The History of Dartmouth College Part 14

President Dana's brief but earnest labors for the college having closed in 1821, the fifth president was Rev. Bennet Tyler, who was called from a pastorate in Southbury, Conn.

We quote in substance some pa.s.sages relating to this subject from his "Memoir," by his son-in-law, Rev. Nahum Gale, D.D.

"Early in 1822, Mr. Tyler was appointed president of Dartmouth College. It was to him a mystery why he should be selected for that station. Located in a retired country parish, he had been devoted to the duties of the ministry, and had paid little attention to science or literature. He was strongly attached to his people and his home, for there had arisen, as 'olive plants,' around his table, three sons and four daughters.

"But he was recommended to the Trustees of Dartmouth by Dr. Porter, of Andover, and others, in whose judgment he had great confidence; his brethren around him in the ministry, and the consociation with which he was connected, believed it to be his duty to accept the appointment. Accordingly, he broke away from an endeared people, was inaugurated at Dartmouth in March, and entered upon the duties of his office the following June. In the autumn of 1822, the newly-elected president was honored by the degree of D.D., from Middlebury College.

Of his connection with Dartmouth College, Dr. Tyler has left the following record:

"'I was among strangers, and engaged in duties to which I was unaccustomed. But I found myself surrounded by able professors, who treated me with great kindness, and rendered me all the a.s.sistance in their power. My situation was much more pleasant than I antic.i.p.ated; and through the a.s.sistance of a gracious Providence, I was enabled to discharge the duties which devolved upon me with acceptance. I have never had any reason to doubt that I was in the path of duty when I accepted the appointment. My labor in the service of the college, I humbly trust, was not altogether in vain. I had the satisfaction to know that I left it in a more prosperous condition than I found it. It was no part of my duty, as president of the college, to preach on the Sabbath; but the health of the professor of Divinity failing soon after my inauguration, I found it necessary to supply his place; and during the whole period of my presidency I preached a considerable part of the time. In the year 1826, there was a very interesting revival of religion, both among the students and the inhabitants of the village, which will be remembered by not a few, while "immortality endures."

"'I was connected with the college six years; and, although I never felt so much at home as in the duties of the ministry, still I had no serious thoughts of relinquishing my station, till, very unexpectedly, I received a call from the Second Church in Portland. When I received this call, I felt a new desire for the duties and joys of the pastoral life, and believing I could resign my office without putting in jeopardy the interests of the college, I concluded to do so. I parted with the Trustees, Faculty, and students, with feelings of great cordiality, and I had reason to believe that the feelings were reciprocated.'

"The following letter from the venerable Professor Shurtleff, addressed to Rev. John E. Tyler, will give the impressions of one a.s.sociated with Dr. Tyler during his presidency at Hanover.

"Hanover, N. H., September 22, 1858.

"Reverend and very dear Friend: Permit me thus to address you; for I can truly say that I regarded you with much interest and affection during the whole time of your residence here, and I may also add that your venerated parents had no friends in Hanover more sincere and ardent than Mrs. Shurtleff and myself.

"When your dear father was appointed president of Dartmouth College, he had been little heard of in New Hampshire. His first appearance, however, was very prepossessing, and his preaching was much admired.

His popularity was so general in this region, that a gentleman of a neighboring town inquired, 'Why, if he is such a man as they say, was he not heard of before?' To which I replied, if you will allow me to quote my own words, that 'the Lord had kept him concealed in an obscure parish for a blessing to our college.' The impression which his first appearance made was not lowered by further acquaintance. I do not recollect hearing a complaint of him from any member of the college. All his intercourse with them was tempered with the utmost kindness, while he was punctual and faithful in every official duty. I think he originated the project of raising, by subscription, a fund of ten thousand dollars for the aid of indigent students seeking an education for the ministry.

"This object he not only conceived, but completed by his own personal efforts. For this, as well as for other services, he should be gratefully remembered by the college, by the church, and by the public.

"But the religious influence of Dr. Tyler, while president of Dartmouth, will never be forgotten. In the summer of 1825, the professor of Divinity was arrested by a severe and protracted affection of the lungs. The president at once took the services of the sanctuary; and the following spring term was rendered memorable by a revival of religion, which issued in adding to the Lord many students and inhabitants of the village.

"During his residence here we had a cla.s.s of students in their professional studies, who wished to enter the ministry earlier than they could by entering a public seminary. We met with them once in a week, heard their dissertations on subjects that had been a.s.signed, and each of us spoke on the performances, and on the subjects. The young gentlemen were all licensed to preach after about two years, and became useful ministers of the gospel. By these exercises, as well as by long intimacy, I was convinced that Dr. Tyler had peculiarly clear and discriminating views of the doctrines of the gospel, and an uncommon facility in explaining and defending them; and I have often remarked in years past, that with the exception of my friend, Dr.

Woods, of Andover, I would sooner recommend him to young men as a teacher of Theology than any other clergyman in the circle of my acquaintance.

"With many pleasing reminiscences, I remain your friend and brother in the gospel,

Roswell Shurtleff."

Dr. Asa D. Smith writes thus:

"New York, December 14, 1858.

"Rev. J. E. Tyler,--

"My dear Sir: You ask for my recollections of your honored father, as president of my Alma Mater. I regret that I can furnish but little in that relation. He remained at the head of the inst.i.tution some two years only after I was matriculated.

"The two lower cla.s.ses had, of course, much less intercourse with him than those more advanced. You could doubtless obtain more ample information from those who were Seniors under him, and who had more largely the benefit of his instruction. Such impressions as I have, however, I am happy to give.

"It was when a member of Kimball Union Academy, in preparation for college, if I mistake not, that I first set eyes on his commanding form, and listened to the impressive tones of his voice. That academy, as you know, is about a dozen miles from Hanover. Not long before the graduation of one of its cla.s.ses, he visited the place, and preached on the Sabbath. It is not impossible that his visit had some reference to the fact that there were among us so many candidates for college life. It was, at all events, well for Dartmouth that he came. Judging from the influence on my mind, I cannot doubt that not a few were the more inclined, for what they saw of him, to connect themselves with the inst.i.tution over which he presided.

"It was the year before I entered college, I think, that is, in 1825-26, that Dartmouth was blessed with one of the most remarkable revivals of religion it has ever enjoyed. Transformations of character were wrought then which have borne the test of decades of years. Some of the finest minds in college were brought under the power of the gospel--minds that have since shone as bright lights in the world.

"When I entered the college, I found him dignified, yet affable and fatherly in his bearing. His preaching then, as we often heard him in the village church, was marked by the same simplicity, clearness, and logical force, the same scripturalness, fullness of doctrine, and evangelical earnestness, that characterized his subsequent ministrations. He preached not to the fancy, but to the conscience and the heart. He confined not himself to hortatory appeals, nor did he, in any wise, skim over the surface of things; but, as both my notes and recollections of his college sermons a.s.sure me, he was apt to handle, and that vigorously, the high topics of theology. He gave us not milk alone, but strong meat. Yet have I seldom known a man so remarkable for making an abstruse subject plain to every hearer."

Rev. George Punchard, of Boston, and Rev. Nathaniel Folsom, D.D., professor in Meadville College, Pa., have furnished their recollections respecting the revival in Dartmouth College, in the year 1826, to which allusion is made by Dr. Smith.

The former says:

"Boston, February 16, 1859.

"Rev. John E. Tyler,--

"My dear Sir: Your venerable father was president of Dartmouth College during my whole collegiate course--from 1822 to 1826. My earliest recollections of him are those only which a thoughtless boy of sixteen would be likely to have of a grave and reverend divine, and are of little value.

"It was not until near the close of my college life that I began really to know him. At that time the college was visited by a revival of religion of uncommon power, and my reverend president suddenly awoke (at least to my view) in an entirely new character.

"He came to the students with a power and unction which were quite irresistible, and manifested a depth of religious feeling for us which made us at once love him and admire him. He seemed to have found his appropriate sphere of labor; to have got into an atmosphere which filled his soul and body with life and energy; to have work to do which was congenial, which he loved, and which he knew how to do as few men did. He was at once a son of thunder and a son of consolation.

His discourses, which had always been able and instructive, and characterized by simplicity of arrangement and neatness and purity of style, had now the additional attraction of an animated and energetic delivery.

"And yet, perhaps, the conference room and the prayer-meeting were the places in which, at that time, Dr. Tyler specially excelled. He was naturally rather heavy and lethargic in his manner of speaking, and it required a good deal to excite and warm him thoroughly. But the scenes and duties incident to a powerful revival of religion, in which a hundred or more young men were more or less interested, supplied the necessary stimulus, and the strong man was fully waked up, and in his extemporaneous addresses particularly, poured out streams of Christian eloquence which he seldom equaled in his more carefully prepared public discourses, and which few men whom I have ever heard, could excel or equal.

"His labors, however, were not confined to the pulpit and the conference meeting. He cheerfully and heartily did the work of a pastor among the students, going from room to room, instructing and exhorting his beloved pupils, and praying with them. He was among us, not as the grave and dignified head of the college, but rather as a loving, anxious father, seeking to instruct and save his children; or, as an elder brother, tenderly solicitous for our spiritual welfare. He was gentle among us, even as a nurse cherisheth her children. And G.o.d, I verily believe, gave him spiritual children from among our number, as the reward of his fidelity; children who never ceased to love him while he lived, and who will cherish his memory with grat.i.tude to their dying hours."

Professor Folsom says:

"Dartmouth College was fortunate in getting Mr. Tyler to stand in the line of its excellent presidents. Each of them was different from the rest in special qualifications, in work performed, in kind and force of influence exerted; but each did what made his administration an important period in the history of the college, and extended its fame and usefulness. Dr. Tyler was inferior to none of them in the depth and extent to which he affected the character of the students for good, and through them, wherever the Divine Providence called them to live and labor, promoted the welfare of the country; the enlightenment and moral activity, and power, and happiness of the people.

"His splendid physique, in which he surpa.s.sed everybody in the region; his n.o.ble stature and well-proportioned form; his head finely poised, and around it a halo of parental benignity, its perpetual and unfading crown; these struck every one at first sight, and prepossessed all in his favor. I know of none with whom to compare him in these respects except Ezekiel Webster. In his whole spirit and mien, in look and word and action, he was a father, and his whole administration was parental in the best sense of the word. This benignity, as we learn from his 'Memoir,' marked his subsequent career as president of the East Windsor Theological School. His biographer, taking notice of the fact that 'the perversities of human nature make their appearance in such inst.i.tutions as well as elsewhere,' observes that 'the strong affections of the father in him occasionally swayed the firmness of the tutor and governor, and rendered him indulgent and yielding in cases where there was call for the peremptory and authoritative.' In the first two years of our college life, from the fall of 1824 to the spring of 1826, two or three instances of wrongdoing pa.s.sed unnoticed which perhaps deserved such a mode of treatment. There were, moreover, it is to be confessed, irregularities and bad practices among students in all the cla.s.ses at that period, but they were exceptional, so far as my knowledge of them extended, and would have required a system of espionage to detect them, or informers from the guilty ones themselves. Dartmouth however, at its worst, in that period, was not one whit behind any other college in New England, in its general tone of morals, in observance of law, in habits of study and in scholarly attainments. There were not a few whose sense of honor was very high, and as they were popular and influential, they in some degree necessarily gave tone to others. Nay, surrounded by such an atmosphere of benignity--of which every student was more or less conscious, feeling it not only in the presence of the president, but also more or less in our connection with every other officer of the college without exception--I think there was far less tendency to excess, far less of the irritation of inclination against prohibition of law; and a.s.suredly there was never apparent a disposition to rebel from hope of impunity through the recognized forbearance of our teachers.

"In the spring of the year 1828, a higher influence was brought to bear, reinforcing and extending the moral element throughout the college; recovering not a few from irregularities of conduct and waste of talent; awakening the religious nature; giving birth to new motives, and leading many to n.o.ble and useful lives. From that period until our cla.s.s graduated in 1828, I cannot recall an act deserving special even animadversion, nor remember an instance of a student obnoxious to discipline for indolent of other censurable habits. But I remember several young men of exemplary deportment and distinguished ability, among them Salmon P. Chase, who though not publicly regarded as 'subjects of the work,' were greatly affected, their future being largely determined by it. They all subsequently exhibited deep moral and religious purpose, and were foremost in philanthropic action.

Without the preaching of Dr. Tyler as its great instrument, and without such a man presiding over it, and guiding it, there is no reason to suppose that the revival would have taken place, or would have been so extensive and powerful.

"It is by looking at Dr. Tyler from every point of view that we alone can form a just estimate of his qualities. His greatest power was that of preacher, and he was most at home in this office. He did not seek it, but it providentially came to him in the illness of Professor Shurtleff, the professor of Theology, and he retired from it when in the year 1827, Professor George Howe succeeded Professor Shurtleff. He had risen in it to the very height of the duty he attempted to discharge, and was majestic in it. His mode of delivery and gesture were beyond criticism, and at times sublime. I never heard a student speak of him in this capacity without the highest praise; and his power ended not simply in producing admiration, but in influencing his hearers to duty. The great object aimed at in his preaching was to induce his hearers to be willing, unconditionally, to do and submit to the revealed Divine will. He who succeeds in persuading his fellow-men to faithfully and perseveringly try to do this, does the highest Christian work, and most for the benefit of man. No one who has sat in the presidential chair of Dartmouth, or of any other college, during an equal length of time, has done more in this direction than Bennet Tyler."

The librarian says:

"In 1819, Isaiah Thomas of Worcester, Ma.s.sachusetts, presented the college library 470 volumes, which were perhaps an equivalent for the books recently lost, as Professor Haddock makes the statement that there were probably no more books in 1820 than in 1815. In 1820 the Trustees appropriated $400. The three libraries at this time must have numbered not far from 8,000 volumes. In 1826, the 'Social Friends'

obtained a Charter, and one was granted to the United Fraternity'

during the following year. These Charters gave the societies the right to hold property, and transact business, and made necessary the consent of a majority of the existing members in order to dispose of the libraries. The society libraries had been increasing more rapidly than the college library, and at this time they had reached it in size as well as exceeded it in practical value and in circulation. It is quite noticeable that these three libraries for the twenty-five years following were kept so nearly equal, by additions and losses, that at no time the number of books actually upon their shelves differed by more than a few hundred.

"The work and influence of the societies was neither small nor to be lightly estimated, and in that work the libraries had no small share.

Professor Crosby, in speaking of the college life of the cla.s.s of 1827, says: 'The college library was small, and had been so collected that it contained few books which either the instructors or students wished to read. The chief dependence of the latter was upon the society libraries, in which they took much pride, and to the increase of which they contributed with so great liberality in proportion to their means. During the first years of our course, the library of the "United Fraternity" occupied a place in the north entry of the college, corresponding to that of the "Social Friends" library in the south entry. The libraries were open only on Wednesdays and Sat.u.r.days from 1 to 2 P. M., for the delivery and return of books, and the students at these times gathered around the barred entrances to be waited on in turn by the librarians and their a.s.sistants. The rooms were so small that only three or four others were admitted at a time within the bar for the examination of the books upon the shelves. The opening of the philological room and of a reading-room about the same time by the members of the "Fraternity" led to the great enlargement of the library rooms, and great increase of library advantages, which took place in the latter part of our course. The ample rooms were now opened daily, instead of twice a week, for the delivery and return of books.'

"The college library is spoken of as, at that time, being open once in two weeks, and occupying a narrow room on the second floor of the college."

The marked advance in the course of study and general advantages of college life, during this period, are too well known to many living readers to require especial notice in this connection. The leading facts will be developed upon succeeding pages.

The following paragraphs from a member of Dr. Tyler's family are worthy of perusal.

"My first recollections of importance regarding Dartmouth College were my father's great concern for its financial interests. There was great need of money at this time for new buildings and scientific apparatus, and no one was found willing to a.s.sume the responsibility of soliciting funds except President Tyler, who in his vacations undertook the matter, and was eminently successful in the work. When he first started upon his mission he called upon the late Hon. Isaac Hill, at that time editor of the New Hampshire 'Patriot,' which paper had been, as some thought, opposed to the interests of the college.

This gentleman had attended a Commencement at Dartmouth, and had an interview with the new president, and being pleased, had spoken highly of the college and its president in his paper. This emboldened President Tyler to ask Mr. Hill to head the list of subscribers to the college, and to his surprise he did so, pledging himself for one hundred dollars. Mr. Hill's signature was worth many thousands of dollars to the college.

"During one of his winter vacations, President Tyler started with his own horse and sleigh on his mission, going through the State of Vermont into New York. He returned after six weeks' earnest and arduous labor, having been very successful in his mission.