Cambridge sketches
Estelle M. H. Merrill, Ed.

[108] in Sever Hall as well, by the professors of the University and other acknowledged leaders in their subjects. Concerts, too, by the various college musical clubs and by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, take place here. Memorial Hall is open to visitors at all times during the year.

As we leave the northeastern entrance to the hall, we find ourselves on Kirkland street, or “The road to Charlestown,” as it was known in Revolutionary times, the oldest highway in Cambridge. Turning to the west and following this street, we will look for a moment at the bronze statue of John Harvard. Through the generosity of General Samuel J. Bridge, we have here from the hands of the sculptor D. C. French. the face and figure of an English Puritan minister such as we may suppose the founder of the college to have possessed. Few facts concerning the life of John Harvard have come down to us. We know that he was a graduate from the English Cambridge University, for which reason the name of Newtowne was changed to Cambridge. After leaving England John Harvard settled in Charlestown, and at his death in 1638 left to the “colledge at Newetowne” his library and £ 500 in money. This one act on his part determined forever the name and future of our University. The statue was unveiled October 15, 1884.

Continuing our walk and crossing Kirkland street, another group of college buildings comes into view. The first which we pass, a brick building, is the Lawrence Scientific School, the gift of Abbott Lawrence of Boston in 1848. Immediately back of this stands the Jefferson Physical Laboratory, built in 1884. This building is completely equipped with all the apparatus necessary for making the most delicate and accurate experiments in physics.