And knew the same celestial glow
That young and burning spirits know
In the bright dreaming days of youth,
Ere visions have been chilled by truth,
And feelings gushed without control
Of those cold fetters fashioned by
That wayward king, society.”
And yet these considerations are modified by the reflection that they have nobly used the training that they here received, and are exerting influences that survive them, and have sown seed that shall be the increment of future harvests.
I feel grateful that a lengthened life and an intimate acquaintance with the history and former faculty and the students of this college have enabled me to appreciate the progress of this institution for the last fifty years. For more than forty years circumstances have so ordered it that I have been brought into most intimate relations with the faculty and students of Bowdoin College. They have loved me and I have loved them. I have been brought into contact with these young men at a period in their moral and mental development when a youth will tell his whole heart, all his best plans, aspirations, and difficulties to an older person who he feels understands him and whom he knows he can trust; and in the light of this experience, I do not hesitate to say that this college never stood so high in moral and intellectual work as it does this day. In 1838 I listened to the farewell address of President Allen to the faculty and students of this college and the inhabitants of this town, in which he declared that this college was a seething tub of iniquity, and he could not in conscience advise any parent to send a child here. Mr. President, do you think you could in conscience make such a declaration? And whatever may be thought, I say whatever may be thought of the good judgment of the reverend gentleman, it cannot be denied that he had good grounds for his assertion.
There were at that time a great many pious and devoted students in college, as many, probably, in proportion to the number, as have ever been since. They had a praying circle, and the college church kept up their religious meetings and attended them promptly. They lived, the greater portion of them, devoted and consistent lives, and from time to time they received the influence of the Divine Spirit, and many strong men were brought to Christ and fitted for usefulness; but in general they had the fire all to themselves and it warmed no one else. The good went with the good, and the bad with the bad. There was a line of demarcation between them. I did what I could to break it, came very near shipwreck, and shall carry the scars of it to my grave, but I am glad I made the attempt. Those were not the methods which the changing times required. The Christian Association which has superseded them, built on a broader basis, meets the requirements of to-day, and does more to promote the morality of the college. Things have broadened since I was a boy. Why, when I was a young man, it was thought that a person couldn’t be converted till he was married and settled in life.