ABBOT ACADEMY.
Joseph Cook says, "Andover, Mass., has founded several new Institutions. Under the elms on Andover Hill is a study, in which a prayer-meeting was once held weekly to devise ways and means of doing good. There originated the first religious newspaper. There began its existence an American Tract Society which now sifts its printed counsels, like the dew, over a hemisphere. There, in imitation of a Scottish custom, was instituted the American missionary monthly concert of prayer, in response to the wants of an American Missionary Society, also originating in Andover, and on whose operations now the moon goes not down by night nor the sun by day. There had its birth the American Education Society, which to-day rings its college bells all the way from Niagara to the Yosemite. There was commenced the American Temperance Society, which in our crowded cities has before it a work of which even wakeful eyes do not yet see more than a glimpse of the importance." It was, therefore, natural that the first incorporated school for the higher education of girls in this Commonwealth should find its birthplace in Andover; and that the first public meeting of which we have any record whose sole object was the education of girls, should have been held in its South parish, Feb. 19, 1828, at the house of James Locke, Esq. The meeting adjourned after voting "that it was desirable and necessary a female academy should be established in this place," leaving the matter in the hands of a committee who were to raise funds and see if a lot of land could be obtained. At the next meeting, on the 4th of March, only a fortnight later, this committee reported that the way was clear to draw up a constitution, buy a lot of land, erect a brick building two stories high, for which funds should be raised by subscription, and that the school should be put under the charge of trustees. These trustees, seven in number, were: Rev. Milton Badger, pastor of the South Church, Andover; Rev. Samuel C. Jackson, pastor of the West Parish Church, who served until his death, a period of more than fifty years; Samuel Farrar, Esq., treasurer of Phillips Academy; Hon. Hobart Clark, State Senator; Mark Newman, formerly principal of Phillips Academy; Amos Abbot, Member of Congress, and Amos Blanchard, succeeded in later years by his son, Rev. Dr. Amos Blanchard of Lowell. Drs. Badger and Jackson and Esquire Farrar were to draft a constitution, while Messrs. Clark and Newman were to serve as a building committee. But, alas! then, as now, it was easy to vote away money, but not easy to collect it; easy to order buildings begun, but hard to find any way to pay for them. So at a trustee meeting, July 4, 1828, it was voted that it was not expedient to erect a building for the Female Academy with their present means. At the Semi-Centennial of Abbot Academy in June, 1879, several persons were present who remembered the sadness and disappointment which settled down upon the hearts which had been so sanguine of success when the plan was first made public. But it is always darkest just before day, and on July 24, 1828, "most important information" was communicated at a meeting of the trustees. The first site selected had not been universally approved. A lady, daughter of Mr. Adams, then Principal of Phillips Academy, writes, "It was the determination to put the new academy on Main Street; but many Andover mothers were dissatisfied, as this was the street most frequented by Theologues and Phillips boys. My mother and Mrs. Stuart consequently drew up a petition requesting a change in location. Elizabeth Stuart (mother of Elizabeth Stuart Phelps) and I circulated said petition. When we had received a sufficient number of signatures, it was handed to the trustees, who deemed the 'objections formidable'; so a portion of the 'important information' was that Deacon Mark Newman had presented the enterprise an acre of land on School Street, and that Madam Sarah Abbot pledged one thousand dollars to be paid at her death." Esquire Farrar was ready to advance the money on such security, and it was gratefully voted to take the deed of Deacon Newman, and begin directly to build from a plan furnished by Mr. Goddard, Principal-elect. Mr. David Hidden of Newburyport contracted to do the work, being assisted by Mr. William Saunders of Cambridge, who, it is said, is proud to claim the honor of having made the columns which support the front portico. Professor Park, who came of age the year Abbot Academy was born, and who entered Andover Theological Seminary the autumn the Academy was building, and who often amused himself by walking upon the uncovered floor joists, adds his testimony to that of many contemporary notices which declare the completed structure, with its fine proportions and classic porch, to be not only the pride of the town but of Essex County.
So Abbot Female Academy fell into line with the other beneficent institutions established by men of kindred blood to its founder, and who, like her, were enthusiastic in their love for learning, passionate in their benevolence, and extraordinarily endowed with common sense.
BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE PROPOSED BUILDINGS.
The act of incorporation was passed Jan. 25, 1829; and there is no record that any opposition was made or any encouragement offered, although all were aware that it was a pioneer enterprise, for a local journal says, "Abbot Academy is the first house built in New England by a corporation for the exclusive work of educating women." Madam Sarah Abbot not only pledged the one thousand dollars before mentioned, but advanced additional moneys from time to time when the exigencies threatened destruction; and so arranged her property before her death in 1848, that two years later, upon the 28th of February, 1850, the trustees came into possession of a sufficient sum to make the whole amount $10,109.04. Naturally enough the infant institution took her name, for, though Abbot Academy has received many donations since Esquire Farrar electrified her by his decided advice, "Surplus money! Use it to found an academy in Andover for the education of women!" she is still its largest as well as its first giver. The grand-daughter[D] of one Abbot, the daughter of another, and the wife of a third, she led a secluded life, unillumined by those opportunities for culture which she appreciated highly for others, and oftentimes, without doubt, like other great benefactors, half uncertain if the generosity, which to her more than frugal habits must have seemed excessive, was not as injudicious as it was unusual. For, as Rev. Phillips Brooks said at a meeting on behalf of Abbot Academy, in Boston, upon the 12th of January, at the time the school was founded, great ideas and great processes which have not yet begun to fulfil themselves had just begun to impress
themselves on men's minds. The old and the new existed together; and that Madam Abbot, without advantages of early education herself, could so entirely have appreciated them that she was willing to bestow her all upon the new scheme, speaks volumes for her strength and foresight. Her portrait, probably painted by T. Buchanan Read, still hangs on the wall of the pleasant hall built by her timely liberality; and women, scattered all the way from Maine to Japan, as they recall its sagacious features, quaint dress, and old-time air, say to their pupils, or record in their books, or whisper lovingly to the little children round their knees, that old Mrs. Abbot in far-off Andover was their real Alma Mater.