perity of the Commonwealth. We all remember the
first instance of the manifesting of this purpose in
the Commonwealth, in the founding of the college at



254 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.

Cambridge. Out of their poverty they gave it, with
struggle and sacrifice sustained it, with prayer and
pious faith watched over it, and brought the whole
power of state and church to guide and govern it. In
the terse and simple language of its founder, in the
statute establishing it, in many laws since, and finally
in the constitution itself, everywhere is found a recog-
nition by the people of the place and power of higher
education in the body politic. As church and state
became more distinct and the latter assumed more
fully the practical duties of government, she did not
fail to cherish the higher institutions of learning as an
integral part of our great system of popular education
upon which the security and prosperity of our free
institutions must ever rest. As among the first acts of
the colony was the founding of the college at Cam-
bridge, so the latest legislative act of the colony,
October 4, 1780, was the giving of a charter to Phillips
Academy at Andover, based upon its declaration that
the education of youth has ever been considered by
the wise and the good as an object of the highest sig-
nificance to the safety and happiness of a people. In
this same year the noble sentiment and purpose of our
wise and pious ancestors was incorporated in those
splendid provisions in the fifth chapter of our constitu-
tion which enjoin upon the legislators and magistrates
in all future periods of the Commonwealth to cherish
literature and the sciences and all seminaries of them,
in order that wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue,
may be diffused generally among the body of the
people, as a necessity for the preservation of their



THE LUNCHE02f. 255

rights and their liberties, — convictions which have
endured for more than one hundred years, and will,
so lonff as that fundamental charter exists.

So the wisdom of our ancestors and their devotion to
education was vigorously maintained in the laws and
by the acts of generations of their children. One such
act, hardly second to any in importance, to-day we
celebrate. In the founding of this, the next college in
the Commonwealth, and the necessity of its creation, in
the generous spirit and lofty sentiment which gave it
birth, in the principles and purposes which surrounded
it, there was a striking resemblance between the elder
and the younger sister, between the two great institu-
tions which were to plant civilization and learning,
each in the midst of a wilderness. That resemblance
marks, I believe, the continuity of Puritan influence,
the development of the work of the founders of our
State, and the permanence of their ideas and institu-
tions. Here, in the depths of the primeval forest, in
the days of colonial government and the very midst of
war, a frontier colonel with armor on, facing his
country's foes and standing in the shadow of death,
brave and generous, filled with practical Puritan senti-
ment and the gentle spirit and forecast of Harvard and
Shepard, anxious that others might have advantages
which he lacked, — here, with this spirit and with this
purpose, he founded this College of the wilderness.
But two conditions he imposed upon the gift, — we
thank him for both : one, that the infant institution
should be formed within the colony of Massachusetts ;
and the other, that it should bear his name. Its loca-



256 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.

tion, but not its influence or its teaching, was to be
limited to this State. Like the Old Farmer's Almanac
of Bailey Thomas, it is " calculated for the Meridian
of Massachusetts, but will answer for any of the
adjoining States."

So came the second of our great institutions which
are to permeate and develop that higher element in
our public education which, in accordance with the
universal and dominant sentiment of our people, had
found recognition through all our colonial legislation,
and become permanently embodied in the constitution
of our State. And now we come to celebrate its hun-
dred years of useful life, to rejoice in its prosperity, and
to note how faithfully it has carried out the purpose of
its creation. Others will tell its history, and speak of
the master minds who have guided its destiny, and
of the many men who have gone forth from here to
carry the influence and teaching of Williams into every
walk of life. Religion and education have felt its
quickening touch ; science and the professions have
been much advanced by its work, and public life in
state and nation has been uplifted by its high ideals.
In all of this its life has gone out into the world's
activities, following the injunction of our constitution
to diffuse knowledge and learning generally among
the body of the people, and recognizing the duty of
education not only to instruct but to influence and lead
them. Mills and his associates, planning under the
haystack in yonder meadow to carry the gospel of
religion and civilization which their ancestors had
brought to Plymouth Rock back across continent and



THE LUNCHEON. 257

ocean to the Old World for the enlightenment of
heathen peoples, rose to the true conception of the
duty resting upon education if it would fulfil the pur-
poses of the founders of our colleges and of the framers
of our constitution. Many a son of Williams since,
feeling upon him the impress of Griffin or of Hopkins,
and their associates or successors, has gone forth into
other fields of usefulness in the spirit of the divine
command, " Freely ye have received ; freely also give."
So, in the lives and work of her children, this mission-
ary college has made higher education not the mere
preparation for professional life, but often a pioneer
and a leader in the great movements to benefit man-
kind. In the teaching and example of its authorities
it has ever followed the high ideals and aspirations of
its famous president, who believed the truest education
to be when the spirit of literature and the spirit of
science shall minister unto the spirit of piety, and
pour their oil into the lamp which feeds its waxing
flame, when study shall be nerved to its highest
efforts by Christian benevolence, and young men shall
grow up at the same time into the light of science and
the beauty of holiness.

President Carter : Our next address is from the
Williams family. It was our ardent hope that Bishop
John Williams of Connecticut, the presiding bishop of
the Protestant Episcopal church in the United States,
who is the great-nephew of Ephraim Williams, and who
cherishes an ardent affection for his memory, would be
here. He was here once within a few years, enjoying

17



258 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.

the hospitality of a home which has been a home to
many of the friends of Williams, namely, that of Mr.
Frederick Leake, and he brought with him three vol-
umes of Locke's Philosophy which belonged to his ances-
tor, and presented them to the college. He has written
more than one letter expressing his interest in this
celebration and his desire to be with us, but his
engagements have made it impossible. But we have
here to-day three great-great-nephews of Ephraim Wil-
liams. One of them • — a great-grandson of Dr. Thomas
Williams, who was on Colonel Ephraim Williams', his
brother's staff — like our founder is a soldier. Like
him, his name is Ephraim ; like him he has shed his
blood for his country ; and like him he was wounded
in a fight with the Indians. It is almost as if from
that shadowy century there had emerged the soldier's
form which we honor. I present to you Captain
Ephraim Williams of the United States Army.

CAPTAIN EPHEAIM WILLIAMS'S SPEECH.

I BEG to thank you for the honor you do me in ask-
ing me to be present on this occasion. After the chief
executive of the Commonwealth, it may seem great
presumption on my part to say anything ; but there
may be a certain fitness in my doing so, as I bear the
honored name of the founder of this College, and in
some measure have repeated his experiences as a sol-
dier in Indian warfare, having been severely wounded
in an engagement with the Cheyenne Indians, one
hundred and twelve years after his death, in the



THE LUNCHEON. 259

same month of the year in which Col. Ephraim
Williams so gallantly met his fate near the beautiful
shores of Lake George. Few traditions have come
down to us of the life of the founder of this College.
He was born in Newton, Mass., early in the reign of
the first King George, and received a good education
in the schools of those days. In his youth he followed
the sea and visited foreign countries, but at the earnest
solicitation of his father, he abandoned a sea-faring life
and lived for a time at Newton in this State, in the
family of his maternal grandfather, Ephraim Jackson,
one of whose descendants was a generous benefactor
of this College. Later he removed to Stockbridge,
where his father had joined the colony of Rev. Dr.
Sargent, missionary to the Stockbridge tribe of Indians.
Dr. Sargent married the sister of the founder, and their
daughter. Electa, was the grandmother of Dr. Mark
Hopkins, for many years the beloved president of this
institution. In Stockbridge Colonel Williams made
investments in land which were the foundation of the
estate afterwards devoted to the founding of this
College. In the French and Indian wars of 1744-
1748 he took part in the Canada expedition with the
rank of captain, and later commanded a line of forts
extending from Fort Dummer in Vermont on the
Connecticut River, with outposts at Coleraine, Rowe,
and Heath, to Fort Massachusetts and the small mili-
tary work in this town. His brother, Dr. Thomas
Williams, was stationed at Fort Massachusetts ; and a
few days before its capitulation, Aug. 20, 1746, he
was granted leave of absence to visit his family in



260 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.

Deerfield, where he lived, with an escort of thirteen
men. As was learned after the surrender of the fort,
in his march over the Hoosac mountain the Indians
lay in ambush in the underbrush so near his path on
either side that they could have touched him with
their muskets; but they allowed him to pass unharmed
lest the sound of firing should arouse the garrison.
Thus he escaped the fate which befell the brave Ser-
geant, afterwards Colonel, Hawks and his small com-
mand, in their wearisome march and their distressing
captivity in Canada. In the expedition of General
Johnson in 1755, Colonel Williams was given, by Col-
onel Shirley of Massachusetts, command of a colonial
regiment. On his staff were five of his own name.
Among the family relics we have the ivory tablets
found in Colonel Williams's camp-chest after his death,
and which I saw mentioned in the inventory of the
property at the library yesterday. We also have the
red coat worn on this expedition of 1755 by Dr.
Thomas Williams, whose letters from the seat of war
at that time were published in the magazine of the
Historical Society of New York, in 1870.

While Colonel Williams was in Albany, waiting for
supplies for the army, he made his will, leaving the
bulk of his property to the establishment of the free
school which later became the Williams College of
to-day. I have in my hand, and will now read, the
original letter in which he enclosed his will to his
executors, in which letter he refers to some of the pro-
visions of the will. This letter, written seven weeks
to a day before his death, is as follows : —



THE LUNCHEON. 261

Albany, July 21st, 1755.

Sir, — Inclosed I send you my last will and Testament
desire you together to consult with Mr. Worthington whether
it be legal — if it is not please to write one yt is ; — send it up
and I will execute it. I have altered my mind since I left
your House for reasons as to what I designed to give (which
should have been Handsome) to one very near to you, — have
given a small matter to others as near, to you whose conduct
to me has been most amiable — Also since I left your house
for reasons I have altered my mind as to what I designed to
give to ye children of my Great Benefactor, — have given but
a small matter to two of you — you will perceive I have given
something for the Benefit of those unborn — & for the sake
of those poor Creatures I am mostly concerned, for fear my
Will should be broke — I believe, Sir, it would have been more
agreeable to you if I had gave it for an Academme at Hadley
— I turned the affair over & over in my mind — found so many
difficultys, I thought it was best to give it in another shape —
I desire yt you & Mr. Worthington would inquire into the
affair of Stockbridge Indians which my Hon Father left in

charge .... (letter damaged and illegible) Also

please to pay the following persons whose names are hereafter
mentioned — if they are to be found ; being Soldiers under my
Command ; I received the money out of the Treasury but
never could find the men — have paid all but these — Danel
Wood ^4:10:8, Jonathan Conrally <£ 1:13:6, Nath Ranger,
£2:12:0, Wm Williston £1.16: lives near Rehoboth. These
things above mentioned are most material. I shall conclude
by Recommending myself to your prayers & you & your Dear
family to the Divine protection.
I am Sir, with great esteem

Your Hons most Humble & Most obliged

Servt
Eph. Williams.
To Israel Williams, Esq.

P. S. In my Will you find I ordered some money for the
benefit of ye East Town : I don't know there will be enough



262 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.

for the West ; but so far as it goes very well & then some good
will come of it. E. w.

P. S. Sr. Let no one but yr whole self & John Worthing-
ton know what my will contains.

The misgivings which Colonel Williams expresses in
this letter with regard to his wishes being carried out
about the school would have been forever dispelled
had he lived to behold this noble institution, standing
among these grand old Berkshire Hills, a shining light
for present and future generations.

" The Knight's bones are dust,
And his good sword rust ;
His soul is with the saints, I trust."

President Carter : We have already heard this
morning that this College was under the fostering care
of Yale men at its beginning. We were told that eight
of the thirteen trustees were Yale men. I confess I
have counted that list myself, and I thought I made it
nine. Perhaps I made a mistake of one, because I am
half a Yale man myself. But the connection does not
stop there. Not only was the first president a grad-
uate of Yale College, but in 1790, the year in which
the Academy was started. Rev. Dr. Griffin was gradu-
ated at Yale. Kev. Dr. D wight, the grandfither of the
present president of Yale College, signed the diplomas
of three men who later became trustees in this College
and one of them its vice-president. I have in my hand,
through the kindness of Fisher Howe of Boston, who
has given some precious relics to this College, and has
cherished a genuine antiquarian interest in all these



THE LUNCHEON. 2G3

matters, a copy of the first letter, I suppose, that was
written by President Fitch after he became head of
the free school. Though appointed in 1790, he did
not take his position until 1791. This letter, written
to Rev. Dr. Stiles, president of Yale College, I will
read.

WiLLIAMSTOWN, NoV S"*, 1791.

Rev'^ & Dear Sir, — As you are kind enough to take a very
friendly and parental interest in my concerns, I shall take
pleasure in communicating to you everything material respect-
ing the state of this Institution and my prospects of usefuhiess
& support. On my arrival here the 8th Ult. I found the Build-
ing unfinished. The next week the Board of Trustees met
here. They passed a Vote approving &, ratifying the doings
of their Committee in the engagements entered into with me,
and also another Vote empowering and directing their Stand-
ing Committee to provide me a house and garden spot when-
ever I need them. I assisted them three days in forming Laws
& Regulations for the Academy. The 26th Ult. the Building
was so far in readiness that I entered on business ; and, with
the Master of the English Freeschool, admitted, on exami-
nation, into that school 45 scholars. The Students in the
Academy pass no examination when admitted. The number
of these is as yet under twenty ; but it will probably be forty
in a few weeks. I am cleverly settled in my chamber & in an
amiable family ; and, except the want of the society I enjoyed
at New Haven, my situation is agreeable & my prospects of
usefulness & support as good as I expected. Board is 5/?
wood 5/ a cord, wheat 3/9, & horsekeeping 2/ to 2/6 a week
thro' the winter. If my salary is tolerably well paid, I trust
I can live decently, and at the same time contribute my mite
towards promoting the interest of learning and virtue.

While I am engaging in an employment that requires most
of my attention, the welfare of Yale is not forgotten. I feel,
& I trust, ever shall feel, deeply interested in the prosperity
of that Institution ; where I spent seven of the best and hap-



264 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.

piest years of my life, & where I found, in the Head of it, a
friend & a father, to whom, under providence, I owe much of
my literary improvement, present happiness & prospects of
reputation & usefulness. I shall rejoice to hear, from time
to time, that all things go well there ; & that you, Sir, and
your amiable family are in health & prosperity.

In the hurry of Commencement, I forgot to request the
Corporation to present a set of Leland's View to this Acad-
emy. If it be proper for you to do it, I wish a set may be sent
to Mr. Beers's to be packed with some books I expect him to
send me by Mr. Noble the bearer of this letter. If this cannot
be, I wish. Sir, you would lay the matter before the Corpora-
tion in Dec'. They certainly will not hesitate to give us a set,
as so many lie useless in the Library.

The Assembly of Vermont, which is now sitting at Windsor,
have passed a Bill for incorporating certain gentlemen as a
Board of Trustees for the purpose of instituting a College at
Burlington. Please to present my cordial respects to Mrs.
Stiles, & compliments to the young Ladies. With the warmest
sentiments of esteem and respect, I am,
Rev"* & dear Sir,

Your obliged friend & very humble Serv*

Eben^ Fitch.
Revd President Stiles,

The relations between Yale and Williams did not
end in these early days. Graduates from each institu-
tion have been professors in the other.

The Rev. Dr. Dwight, the grandfather of the present
president of Yale, in his '' Travels in New England,"
says that the climate in New England is most beautiful
between the 20th of September and the 20th of Octo-
ber. He also says that one principal amusement of
the people of New England is attending college exhi-
bitions. Now, just at the climax and centre of this



THE LUNCHEON. 265

beautiful period of the year, his grandson, the present
president of Yale, has come up here to enjoy a college
exhibition, and to give the blessing of the " beautiful
mother " to the " beautiful daughter," and to tell us
that the ties of motherhood and daughterhood and
sisterhood in college education are forever permanent
because they rest on devotion to the deepest things
that concern the welfare of man. I have the great
honor of introducing to you President Timothy Dwight
of Yale University, also still retaining, I believe, his
connection with the theological seminary, where cer-
tainly in the past he has taught many of our own
graduates.

PKESIDEKT DWIGHT'S SPEECH.
Me. President and Gentlemen of Williams College:

I am called this afternoon to fulfil a peculiar duty
and perform a peculiar ceremony, namely, to convey
the congratulations of the mother, as you have so
kindly called her, to the daughter, — a beautiful
mother to a beautiful daughter. But the mother is
just approaching her two hundredth birthday and the
daughter her one hundredth birthday. It is an inter-
esting duty and ceremony, but one with which I am
so imfamiliar in the past that I fear I may not satis-
factorily meet the occasion. The congratulation, how-
ever, which Yale University presents to Williams this
afternoon is a most hearty congratulation, and there
are perhaps some reasons why I, unimportant person-
age as I am in the great history of Yale University,
should convey it.



266 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.

The first president of this College was, as has been
already said by you and others, a graduate of Yale.
He was also closely related to my birthplace, Norwich,
Conn., which is the most beautiful town — in New
England, I should say anywhere else, but here I con-
ciliate, or try to conciliate, the audience by saying that
it is the most beautiful town — in New England ex-
cepting Williamstown. Almost everything good has
come out of Norwich. President Oilman, who sits at
my left hand, and I myself, both came from Norwich.
The president who originated all that was good in the
early days in Williams College, received all that was
good in him out of Norwich. Col. Ephraim Williams
was not from Norwich, but his grandfather came from
Norwich in England, which is one of the most inter-
esting places in the old country, and out of which
came the Norwich from which we come. And the
impulse which entered that noble man's mind to
make a college among these beautiful hills, that
impulse came from the old Norwich through the new
Norwich, which is surrounded by equally beautiful
hills.

There is another reason why it is fitting that I should
bring to you the congratulations of my own university.
What is a will that gives money to a college unless the
legal authorities take charge of it and put it in right
condition ? We know in these days what a will is after
the lawyers have taken hold of it. But the will of
Ephraim Williams was probated by Timothy Dwight,
who was an honest judge of Probate in Northampton,
Mass., and this most important fact has come to light,



THE LUNCHEON. 267

SO far as the graduates of Williams College are con-
cerned, within these days. The fac-simile of the will
and of the certificate that the will was probated, signed
by Timothy Dwight, is found in the library of Wil-
liams College, having just been received. The gift
of Ephraim Williams, which was so greatly to his
credit, was made sure by one who bore my name.
Gentlemen, I congratulate you that the will was pro-
bated. I was looking at this fac-simile of the will
yesterday with a friend, who suggested that the hand-
writing in the signature "Timothy Dwight," was
strikingly like that found in the present signature of
Timothy Dwight. Considering that that signature
was made by Timothy Dwight in 1755, I think it is
remarkable ; and perhaps while I congratulate you on
many things, I may congratulate myself on this. I
think it is remarkable that the handwriting in these
later days is so similar to the old handwriting. We
find generally that the handwriting declines as old age
comes on.

But, gentlemen, as I have been hearing and reading
of the early days here, it has seemed to me that there
are two very beautiful things connected with the two
men who, in a certain sense, may be said together
to have originated this college ; the one connected
with its founder, Ephraim Williams. Apparently the
thought, natural for a soldier as he is about to enter
into battle, occurred to him that he might in a few days
be called away from his life in this world ; and he gave
his mind to the disposition of his property, — to the
question what he should do for others after he had



268 WILLIAMS COLLEGE.

passed away. He had but little, very little as it seems
to us in these days, but he thought that that little
might be used for the education of those who should
come after him. He was a gallant soldier, but he
would have been forgotten among the multitude of
men who in those years gave their lives for their
country and for the welfare of mankind ; but the
thought that he could give something for the educa-
tion of those who should come after him, that thought
which came to him so lovingly at that hour, has made
him immortal. What a beautiful picture before our
minds he is as he thought that thought ! Certainly we
may learn from such a thought as this how much better
life is for any one of us when we have done something
for the permanent institutions of the country, and for
the education of men in following time ; how much
nobler life is for us ; how much more glorious our mem-