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Immediately after graduating, he taught for one year in a Young Ladies' Seminary
at Castleton, Vermont. From September, 1865, until March, 1866, he was Principal of
the Holten High School at Danvers, Massachusetts. He was then for one year Assistant
in Latin and Greek in Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts. He entered Andover
Theological Seminary in September, 1867, and remained one year, when he received the
appointment of tutor of Greek in Dartmouth College, which position he held until July,
1870, when he was elected Professor of Greek Language and Literature in the same
institution. He took the degree of Master of Arts in course, delivering the Master's
oration. When he accepted the position of tutor, he did it with the intention of returning
to Andover Theological Seminary after one year. He fully meant to prepare himself for
the ministry, which was decidedly his chosen profession. He sometimes regretted his
decision, but he knew that his throat would never bear the strain of preaching. After
accepting the Professorship of Greek, he felt deeply his inadequate preparation,
especially his ignorance of the German language, and his consequent lack of access to
German scholarship on the classics. This prompted his strong desire to go to Germany,
and as soon as he could arrange it he went in the Fall of 1872. He spent the first three
months in Berlin, in a German family, where he was obliged to speak and hear the
language altogether, and, under the private instruction of a Dr. Staettbagen, he made
rapid progress in the knowledge and use of the language, to learning which he devoted
nearly all his time, only giving a few days before leaving to examining objects of interest
in the city. He very much enjoyed the music there, Wagner's operas, etc.,
and also the casts of the Antiques in the Museum, especially those connected with Grecian art. He
spent the next four months in Leipsic, continuing his studies with a private teacher and
attending lectures at the University; he also studied distinguished German critiques of
Greek authors, and also commenced the study of Sanscrit.
He had expected to make a short trip to Athens and Rome, but his time was
limited and he was obliged to give it up and content himself with a three weeks' tour
through Switzerland, France and England. This opportunity for travel and study was of
great advantage to him in every way; he gained in health and strength, as well as in the
acquisition of knowledge pertaining to his department. He returned to Hanover at the
beginning of the Fall term in 1873, and continued his duties. His life was a very
sedentary one, being a very close and conscientious student in his department, and had
he lived he would certainly have attained rank with the highest as a Greek scholar. He
gave a great deal of thought to religious matters during the last two years of his life.
Philology and some scientific subjects interested him greatly. To give some idea of how
fully he occupied his time, I quote from a letter which he wrote in December, 1878, to
his old friend Cyrus Richardson: "Just now I am reading a little book by Lacombe, a Short History of the French People.' Have read it once, and am going through it again. I
find I must go through Guizot and Hallam's Middle Ages before I lay the thing down.
Have taken up again the study of Sanscrit, and am reading an Epic in that tongue.
Have also opened this year two new authors in our Greek course, Aristotle and Lucian. Last
year I read Aristophanes, Pindar and Theocritus for the first time entire, and re-read
them all ÄPindar and Theocritus several times. This year I have also been reading the
Latin comedian Plautus somewhat, but have got over only three plays yet. I have an
exposition of Kant's "Critique der reinen Verunnft,'' by a Scotchman named Caird, which
I hope to read before Commencement. Add to this that I am Clerk of the Faculty, and
have one hundred and twenty-five bills to make out quarterly for our Aqueduct
Company, and have a couple of recitations each day, and a biblical' on Sunday, which
are my first duties, though put last. I have much to be thankful for in these elevating and
useful labors. I get fearfully tired sometimes, but a little rest makes me grateful and
eager for new exertions.''
He lived too fast mentally for his weak bodily frame, so that he was illy prepared
to withstand his last sickness. He was taken ill with pneumonia on Friday, October 17,
1879. At first the case was not considered serious, but it gradually assumed a more
threatening character, and he passed away suddenly on Monday evening, October 27,
1879, without giving any sign that he was aware of approaching dissolution.
All exercises were suspended at the college until after the funeral, which occurred on Thursday,
October 30, 1879.
He was married December 7, 1870, to Miss Adeline E. Young, of Hanover, New
Hampshire, who survives him. They had three children: John Harvey, born October 19,
1871; Sarah Eliza, born April 5, 1875, and Charles Albert, born September 15, 1878.
Source: "Memorialia
of the Class of '64 in Dartmouth College" complied by
John C. Webster, Shepard & Johnston, Printers, 1884,
Chicago
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