"From my Hutt in Hanover Woods in the Province of New Hampshire,
August 27, 1770.
"My dear Sir:—I long to see you and spend one day with you on the affairs of the Redeemer's kingdom. It would be vain to attempt to tell you of the many and great affairs I am at present involved in, in all which I have had much of the loving-kindness, faithfulness, and goodness of God. I am this day sending for my family and expect the house will be made comfortable for their reception by the time they arrive. My prospects are, by the goodness of God, vastly encouraging. A series of merciful occurrences has persuaded me that God designs great good to his church among English as well as Indians by this institution. I was informed at Boston, in my late journey, that the Commissioners have plenty of their constituents' money which lies useless for want of missionaries, and for many weighty reasons I have thought that the Redeemer's cause might be much served by Mr. Kirtland's[26] going to their pay. This was an important point I wished to consult you in. Likely your own thoughts may suggest some reasons and such as you shall think sufficient without my disclosing many that are not public. If you think favorably of it, please to propose it to them, as you will likely have an opportunity for before you leave the continent. I have a number fitted and fitting for missions more than the fund already collected will support, and if that may be saved, and at the same time uniformity and good agreement between the Boards is promoted, it will be well. I wrote you from Dedham on my late journey from Boston. I rejoice to hear that your bow yet abides in strength; that God has once more made you useful in America. I am chained here; there is no probability that the buildings will be seasonably and well accomplished if I should leave them. I don't expect to see you till we meet in the general convention on the other shore. Please to favor me with a line, and your thoughts on the question proposed. You may send from Boston by the Northfield post, directed to me at Hanover in this Province. Oh, how glad should I be to see you in this wilderness!
[26] The modern orthography is Kirkland.
"My dear sir, farewell.
"I am yours in the dear Jesus.
"Eleazar Wheelock.
"Rev. George Whitefield."
There appears to have been no subsequent meeting, on earth, of these eminent coadjutors in all good works. The one was called to his reward above, just as the other was beginning to enjoy the fruition of his labors on earth. Few names deserve more honor, in connection with the founding of Dartmouth College, than that of
George Whitefield.[27]
[27] Many things, which cannot be specified, illustrating the history of this period and others, are necessarily placed in the Appendix.
GROUND PLAN OF THE FIRST COLLEGE EDIFICE:
Erected in 1770, near what is now the Southeast corner of the Common.
Text in image:
This room in the second story was appropriated solely to the library.
This room on the lower floor was devoted to the Academy and when necessary both these rooms were thrown into one.
CHAPTER VIII.
COMMENCEMENT OF OPERATIONS.—COURSE OF STUDY.—POLICY OF ADMINISTRATION.
Instruction at Dartmouth appears to have commenced in December following the removal, with four classes in attendance.
In writing to Dr. Erskine, December 7, 1770, President Wheelock says: "I am now removed into the wilderness with my family, and about thirty students, English and Indians, who are all designed for the Indian service." After referring to the erection of a house for his family, and "another" for his students, he says: "I have also built a school-house, which is convenient. My nearest neighbor in the town is two and one half miles from me. I can see nothing but the lofty pines about me. My family and students are in good health, and well pleased with a solitude so favorable to their studies."
In President Wheelock's account-book, David Huntington, Thomas Kendall, Ebenezer Gurley, Augustine Hibbard, James Dean, and Joseph Grover, are charged with tuition from various dates, ranging from December 7th to December 14th. The rate is 1s. 4d. per week, "deducting abscences." In Connecticut, the tuition, for classical instruction in the school, had been 1s. 6d. per week.
The following, from President Wheelock to a distant correspondent, indicates sufficient patronage of the new institution:
"Hanover, December 3, 1770.
"Dear Sir—Your son, with companion, are safely arrived. I've sent back part of my students to Connecticut. I've just got studies fitted, and made provision for the support of the rest of them. The great difficulty in taking your son is the want of provisions in this starved country. I send to Northfield and Montague for my bread, and expect supply chiefly from thence."
The facilities for acquiring classical and scientific education appear to have been substantially the same at Dartmouth, at the outset, as in other American colleges of that period.
The discoveries of Newton and Franklin had a marked, if not controlling, influence upon the thought of the eighteenth century.
No American college, perhaps, felt this influence more than President Wheelock's Alma Mater, in which Franklin took a deep interest.
At the period of the founding of Dartmouth, we find that, in Yale College, the Faculty consisted of Dr. Daggett, who was President, and Professor of Divinity; Rev. Nehemiah Strong, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, and two or three tutors.
President Wheelock doubtless had his Alma Mater especially in mind, in planning the curriculum of Dartmouth. He was himself Professor of Divinity, as well as President. His first associate in instruction, who acted in the capacity of tutor, was Mr. Bezaleel Woodward, who had graduated at Yale College in 1764, during the presidency of Rev. Thomas Clap, of whom his associate in the Faculty, the future President Stiles, says: "In Mathematics and Natural Philosophy I have reason to think he was not equaled by more than one man in America." The fact that Mr. Woodward was subsequently, for many years, a highly esteemed professor of Mathematics in the college, indicates that he was a worthy pupil of his distinguished teacher.
There can be no doubt that the college was highly favored, in its beginnings, in having a president who had been, while at college, distinguished as a classical scholar, and in later life as an able and a learned divine, aided by a younger teacher, whose scientific attainments well qualified him for the duties of his position.
The first preceptor of the Charity School, at Hanover, was David McClure, who had recently graduated at Yale College. He was an able and a successful teacher. The various relations of the school and college were so intimate at this period, that it is nearly impossible to dissociate them. The word "school," as used by President Wheelock, frequently includes the college.
Three of Dartmouth's first class were prepared for college at the "Indian Charity School" in Lebanon, and passed their first three years at Yale.
The following letter from an eminent teacher, referred to in a previous chapter, addressed to President Wheelock, introduces their only new classmate:
"Lebanon, August 10, 1770.
"Rev. Sir: The bearer, Samuel Gray, entered my school about two years ago, and in that time has been about four months absent. He was well fitted for college when he was first under my care, and having