PHILLIPS EXETER ACADEMY.
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��Abbott for about seventeen years, was elected Principal in 1838 and held the po- sition until the election of the present Principal in 1873. The success, the fame and the lasting reputation of the school is largely attributable to the efforts of these venerable instructors. Dr. Soule is still living in Exeter, though somewhat, enfeebled in mind and body. Fifty years each, in almost daily contact with the youthful mind, the virgin intellectual soil, wherein must be sown the germs of science, the seeds of truth, the harvest of which has been gathered by admiring countrymen who have borrowed wisdom from statesmen and instructors !
Dr. Abbott was remarkable for "dig- nity of character and suavity of manners. He never met the youngest Academy scholar in the street without lifting his hat entirely from his head, as in courte- ous recognition of an equal; and an abashed and awkward attempt to return the compliment, was the urchin's first lesson in good manners and respect for his teacher. His government was always successful, because it was not in his na- ture to be stern or passionate ; and as he always allowed the offender time to de- liberate and become sorry for his fault, before sentence was pronounced, the punishment never seemed unjust, even to the culprit. It was not strange, then, that he gained so strong a hold upon the love and respect of his pupils. To them he always appeared as if surrounded by some invisible enclosure, which even the boldest could not overstep without a bowed head and a feeling almost of awe. Others may have been equally, or even more successful as mere teachers ; but in the general discipline of mind and char- acter, in exerting an influence upon the boy which continued through the subse- quent life of the man, no instructor ever surpassed him. It was a common re- mark among his pupils, that it was a shame to deceive Dr. Abbott or tell him a he ; and even if one ventured to do so he had a sort of uncomfortable con- sciousness that the Doctor had detected him, but saw fit to overlook the offence and allow it to be its own punishment."
These few words of eulogy are from the pen of Prof. Bowen, and the writer
��observes of Dr. Soule that "he has al- ways followed the spirit and principles of his [Dr. Abbott's] administration, even while introducing such changes and improvements as the progress of the age in the modes of teaching and in the range of scholarship rendered necessary."
And Prof. Peabody of Harvard College, in his address at the dedication of the new Academy building, June 19, 1872, says of Dr. Soule; "following his prede- cessor , with no unequal footseps, like him, he has reared for himself an endur- ing monument in the republic of letters, in the ripest scholarship of America."
These tributes to the ability, skill and sterling merit of these teachers are mod- est indeed, as their pupils who survive will bear witness. It has been remarked that "Dr. Abbott was remarkably fortu- nate in his pupils" and the observation may be considered a just one, when we mention the names of Lewis Cass, Daniel Webster, Leverett Saltonstall, Joseph G. Coggswell, Edward Everett, John A. Dix, John G. Palfrey, Jared Sparks, George Bancroft and others, eminent in learning and statesmanship, having been under his charge. Webster was present and presided at the dinner given at the Abbott Festival in commemoration of Dr. Abbott's completion of his fiftieth year as Principal of the Academy. The meeting was remarkable and unprece- dented. Among those who made speeches on the occcasion, were, besides Webster, Everett, Palfrey, Saltonstall and John P. Hale. A valuable silver service was presented the Doctor. On this occasion one venerable man rose and said: "You were his scholars, I was his teacher. It was little that I had to impart, but that little was most cheerfully given. I well remember the promise he then gave; and Providence has been kind in placing him in just that position whei-e his life could be most usefully and honorably spent." This speaker was Hon. Jeremiah .Smith (father of Judge Jeremiah Smith, one of the present Board of Trustees) who had served two terms as Representative in Congress, was afterwards Chief Justice and Governor of New Hampshire. He subsequently resided in Dover, but, at his death his remains were interred at
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