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[356]

The committee to consider these answers—amounting to nearly three hundred pages—was composed of Dr. Porter, Mr. Prescott, and Mr. Lowell, all working men. And they did work faithfully. Mr. Prescott, in particular, made an abstract of the opinions of each respondent, arranged under the appropriate heads of the changes proposed, and found a large majority against any change of importance. The Corporation were unwilling to proceed, in this state of things, to make changes. Mr. Norton then proposed to me to print my answers, his, and Mr. Frisbie's, and send a copy to each of the Overseers, and try to stir them up to action; but I was not willing to proceed to such extremities, and declined doing it. Matters therefore rested quietly till May, 1823, that is, a year and a half more, when there was a rebellion, and forty students were sent off together.

Mr. Norton and Dr. Ware then brought up the whole subject of the College, for discussion in a club for religious purposes to which we belonged . . . . I was sorry for it, and so expressed myself. But it was discussed three evenings, and a good deal of excitement produced by it. On the fourth evening there was a very thin meeting at Dr. Ware's, owing to a rain . . . . . Some one proposed to remove the discussion to another body of persons, who should be selected for the purpose, and I agreed to it, both because it had been discussed enough where it then was, and because some of the members of the club were not, in my estimation, the right persons to discuss it at all. It was agreed the meeting should be small, and Mr. R. Sullivan and myself were desired to call it . . . . . Nine of us therefore assembled at my house July 23, 1823.


1

For the consideration of these gentlemen Mr. Ticknor had drawn up a paper, the general object and character of which are shown in the following extracts:—

It is, I think, an unfortunate circumstance, that all our colleges have been so long considered merely places for obtaining a degree of Bachelor of Arts, to serve as a means and certificate whereon to build the future plans and purposes of life. Such a state of things was, indeed, unavoidable at the earlier period of our College, when there

1 Rev. Charles Lowell, Judge Story, and Messrs. R. Sullivan and John Pickering, Overseers; Dr. James Jackson and Mr. Ticknor, present officers; Messrs. G. B. Emerson and J. G. Palfrey, former officers; and Mr. W. Sullivan, former Overseer. Mr. Prescott and Mr. Otis were kept away by having to attend a meeting of the Corporation on the same day.

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