|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 15
"On the twenty-sixth day of September, A.D. 1828, this Stone was erected
by Graduates of the University of Cambridge in honor of its founder, who
died at Charlestown, on the twenty-sixth day of September, A.D. 1638."
This is in his mother-tongue. On the side looking toward the seat of
learning which bears his name is the following inscription, in classic
Latin:
"In piam et perpetuam memoriam Johannis Harvardii, annis fere ducentis
post obitum ejus peractis, Academiae quae est Cantabrigiae Nov-Anglorum
alumni, ne diutius vir de literis nostris optime meritus sine monumento
quanivis humili jaceret, hunc lapidem ponendum curaverunt." The
following is a literal translation:--
"In pious and perpetual remembrance of John Harvard, nearly two hundred
years after his death, the alumni of the University at Cambridge, in New
England, have erected this stone, that one who deserves the highest
honors from our literary men may be no longer without a monument,
however humble."
Edward Everett delivered the address at the dedication of the monument.
The closing passage of his oration is as follows:--
"While the College which he founded shall continue to the latest
posterity, a monument not unworthy of the most honored name, we trust
that this plain memorial also will endure; and, while it guides the
dutiful votary to the spot where his ashes are deposited, will teach to
those who survey it the supremacy of intellectual and 'moral desert, and
encourage them, too, by a like munificence, to aspire to a name as
bright as that which stands engraven on its shaft,--
'Clarum et venerabile nomen
Gentibus, et multum nostrae quod proderat urbi.'"
The citizens of New England entered most heartily into the idea of
establishing this college and contributed whatever they could; utensils
from their homes, stock from their farms, their goods, merchandise,
anything, in fine, which they had to give, so anxious were they to
educate their youth, and especially to provide for an educated ministry.
Peirce, in his History of the college, says:--
"When we read of a number of sheep bequeathed by one man, of a quantity
of cotton cloth worth nine shillings presented by another, of a pewter
flagon worth ten shillings by a third, of a fruit-dish, a sugar-spoon,
a silver-tipped jug, one great salt, and one small trencher salt,
by others; and of presents or legacies, amounting severally to five
shillings, one pound, two pounds, &c., all faithfully recorded with the
names of the donors, we are at first tempted to smile; but a little
reflection will soon change this, disposition into a feeling of respect
and even of admiration."
"How just," says President Quincy, "is the remark of this historian!
How forcible and full of noble example is the picture exhibited by
these records? The poor emigrant, struggling for subsistence, almost
houseless, in a manner defenceless, is seen selecting from the few
remnants of his former prosperity, plucked by him out of the flames
of persecution, and rescued from the perils of the Atlantic, the
valued pride of his table, or the precious delight of his domestic
hearth;--'his heart stirred and his spirit willing' to give according
to his means, toward establishing for learning a resting-place, and
for science a fixed habitation, on the borders of the wilderness!"
Mr. Sibley gives an extract from New England's First Fruits, a work
printed in London, not long after the first class was graduated. It
gives us the feelings of the emigrants about their new institution.
It says:--
"After God had carried us safe to New England, and wee had builded our
houses, provided necessaries for our liveli-hood, rear'd convenient
places for God's worship, and settled the Civil Government; One of the
next things we longed for, and looked after, was to advance LEARNING and
to perpetuate it to Posterity; dreading to leave an illiterate ministry
to the Churches, when our present Ministers shall lie in the dust. And
as wee were thinking and consulting how to effect this great Work, it
pleased God to stir up the heart of one Mr. HARVARD (a godly Gentleman,
and a lover of learning, there living amongst us) to give the one halfe
of his Estate (it being in all about 1700 pounds) toward the erecting of
a Colledge, and all his Library." The edifice is described as "faire and
comely within and without, having in it a spacious Hall, where they
daily meet at Commons, Lectures, Exercises, and a large Library, with
some books to it."
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|