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��THE GRANITE MONTHLY.
��down academy, we believe to be unex- ampled in the record of New Hamp- shire schools.
This was partly due to favorable circumstances, and still more to Mr. Hunt's good fortune in securing excel- lent assistants. His preceptress, Miss Mary Clough, a native of Canterbury, has for many years held a high reputa- tion as teacher and artist, both in New Hampshire and Massachusetts ; while the Hon. George C. Hubbard, mathe- matical teacher, has since been honored with the highest offices of his native town, Sullivan, besides serving for sev- eral years with credit as a member of the Legislature. Above forty teachers were sent forth at one time for the pubhc schools ; many were mem- bers whose names have since become prominent . at home and abroad, of whom we will only mention Judge Hardy, Hon. Mr. Hammond, of the Executive Department of Government, and Sanborn Tenney, afterward pro- fessor of Natural History in Williams College, who was mostly fitted for col- lege at that school. His text books are well known.
This unexpected success and liberal addition to his exhausted finances de- termined Mr. Hunt's vocation ; and the following spring he accepted an invitation to the High School of Castine, one of the oldest and most romantic little seaports on the coast of Maine, of which, when the British held pos- session, an officer wrote home, " That it was the prettiest place out of Heaven." Here he remained two years, receiving a generous increase of salary the second.
Having concluded an engagement of two years in the Standish, Me., Academy, he was called to Boston, where, after having taught for several years, and his health becoming some- what impaired, he abandoned the pro- fession for a while, with the design of engaging in other pursuits.
During this interval, Mr. Hunt had the good fortune to secure for himself a wife, a Miss Caroline Higgins, of Standish, one of the estimable ladies of
��that part of Maine famed for noble women, whose social nature, executive ability, kindness, and the happy faculty of making the best of everything, have procured hosts of friends wherever their lot has been cast, and lightened the toils and perplexities incident to a most laborious profession.
Recuperated by a two years' rest, Mr. Hunt gave up the design of at- tempting other employment, and began to cast a longing eye again upon the familiar work of the school room ; and was shortly found to be seated in the principal's chair of Powers Listitute,. Bernardston, Mass., where Prof. Dixon, the veteran teacher of mathematics in the Tilton Seminary, was associated with him during the first year. Mr. Burroughs, Miss Bullard and Miss Mer- rill also rendered efficient support. His predecessor had sunk the school to less than a dozen pupils. Amid this enfeebled state of affairs, the vivifying effect of Mr. Hunt's administration was soon manifest. Its reputation spread, the school grew and became one of the prominent educational institutions of the Connecticut valley, till, at the close of his five years' engagement, he could point to nearly 120 members of the Institute. Though strongly urged by the trustees to continue his engage- ment for another five years, he pre- ferred to heed a louder call from Fal- mouth, Mass.
Educationally speaking, there existed a bad state of affairs at this time in Falmouth. The State Superintendent's. Report on the Public Schools of Mas- sachusetts assigned Falmouth a very low grade ; her rank being near the bot- tom of the list. Lawrence Academy was in a still more deplorable condition. But one contracted, ill-shaped room was used for school purposes ; the others being filled with lumber, broken desks, debris and dirt. This room was heated by an insignificant sheet-iron stove, which stood awry, with more dints and holes in it than an old toper's dilapidated hat could boast of. Cheap teachers were employed, few repairs made, and the surplus under the name
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