CHAPTER XX.
PROF. JOHN SMITH.—PROF. SYLVANUS RIPLEY.—PROF. BEZALEEL WOODWARD.
Having completed our survey of the work of the successive presidents, the deceased professors now claim our attention.
The following sketch of the life and labors of Prof. John Smith, is, in substance, from "Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit."
"John Smith, son of Joseph and Elisabeth (Palmer) Smith, was born at Newbury, (Byfield parish,) Mass., December 21, 1752. His mother was a descendant of the Sawyer family, which came from England to this country in 1643, and settled in Rowley, where she was born. The son was fitted for college at Dummer Academy, under the instruction of the well known 'Master Moody.' He early discovered an uncommon taste for the study of the languages, insomuch that his instructor predicted, while he was yet in his preparatory coarse, that he would attain to eminence in that department.
"He entered the Junior class in Dartmouth College, in 1771, at the time of the first Commencement in that institution. He went to Hanover in company with his preceptor and Governor Wentworth, and so new and unsettled was a portion of the country through which they passed, that they were obliged to encamp one night in the woods. Their arrival at Hanover excited great interest, and was celebrated by the roasting of an ox whole, at the Governor's expense, on a small cleared spot, near where the college now stands.
"He was admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1773; and immediately after, was appointed preceptor of Moor's school at Hanover. This appointment he accepted; and, while discharging his duty as a teacher, was also engaged in the study of Theology under the direction of President Wheelock. In 1774 he was appointed tutor in the college, and continued in the office until 1778. About this time he received an invitation to settle in the ministry in West Hartford Conn., and, in the course of the same year, was elected professor of Languages in the college where he had been educated. His strong predilection for classical studies led him to accept the latter appointment; and until 1787 he joined to the duties of a professor those of a tutor, receiving for all his services one hundred pounds, lawful money, annually. His professorship he retained till the close of his life. He was college librarian for thirty years,—from 1779 to 1809. For two years he delivered lectures on Systematic Theology, in college, in connection with the public prayers on Saturday evening. He was a Trustee of the college from 1788 to the time of his death. He also officiated for many years as stated preacher in the village of Hanover. In 1803, the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Brown University.
"Dr. Smith's abundant and unceasing labors as a professor, a minister, and an author, proved too much for his constitution, and are supposed to have hastened him out of life. He died in the exercise of a most serene and humble faith, on the 30th of April, 1809, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. His funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Burroughs of Hanover.
"Dr. Smith was enthusiastically devoted to the study of languages through life. He prepared a Hebrew Grammar in his Junior year in college, which is dated May 14, 1772; and a revised preparation is dated February 11, 1774. About this time he also prepared a Chaldee Grammar. The original manuscript of these grammars, as also the greater part of his lectures on Theology, is deposited in the Library of the Northern Academy of Arts and Sciences at Dartmouth College. As early as 1779, he prepared a Latin Grammar, which was first published in 1802, and has gone through three editions. In 1803 he published a Hebrew Grammar; in 1804, an edition of "Cicero de Oratore," with notes, and a brief memoir of Cicero, in English; and in 1809, a Greek Grammar, which was issued about the time of his decease. He published also a Sermon at the dedication of the meeting house at Hanover, 1796, and a Sermon at the ordination of T. Eastman, 1801.