A TRIBUTE 
 
 TO THE MEMOR Y OF 
 
 GARDNER COLBY, 
 
 PRINTED FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 FRANKLIN PRESS : RAND, AVERY, & COMPANY. 
 
 1879. 
 
/J36-^/ 
 
 
 :s> 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER. 
 
 By Rev. Henry F. Colby S 
 
 ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL. 
 
 By Rev. O. S. Stearns, D.D 64 
 
 ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL. 
 
 By Rev. Alvah Hovey, D.D., LL.D. . . . . 71 
 
 TRIBUTE. 
 
 By Rev. Heman Lincoln, D.D 77 
 
 ADDRESS AT THE BOSTON BAPTIST SOCIAL UNION, 
 APRIL 28, 1879. 
 
 By Hon. J. Warren Merrill 80 
 
 MEMORIAL POEM. 
 
 By Rev. S. F. Smith, D.D 84 
 
 EXTRACT FROM THE BACCALAUREATE SERMON. 
 
 By Rev. Henry E. Robins, D.D 86 
 
 MEMORIAL. 
 
 By the Trustees of Newton Theological Institution . 90 
 
 MEMORIAL. 
 
 By the Trustees of Colby University .... 92 
 
GARDNER COLBY. 
 
 GARDNER COLBY was bom in Bowdoinham, 
 Me., Sept. 3, 1810. His father, Josiah C. 
 Colby, was a well-known citizen of the town, and 
 was for several years successfully engaged in the 
 building of ships, and in business enterprises con- 
 nected with owning them. He possessed a com- 
 fortable home, held some public offices, and exerted 
 considerable influence both at Bowdoinham and 
 in the neighboring town of Bath, to which his 
 business extended. In 1807 he was married, at 
 Charlestown, Mass., to Miss Sarah Davidson. Her 
 father was Jesse Davidson, who had formerly lived 
 at Nottingham West, N.H., but had afterwards 
 removed to Boston, and then to Charlestown, and 
 had died a few years before the time referred to. 
 She was one of six orphan sisters, and was about 
 sixteen years of age at the time of her marriage. 
 Bright, enthusiastic, and capable, she made her new 
 
home in Bowdoinham attractive to all, faithfully dis- 
 charged the duties of superintending a large house- 
 hold consisting in part of her husband's employees, 
 and delighted in the grace of hospitality. Gardner, 
 the subject of this sketch, was the second of her 
 four children. Amongf his earliest recollections he 
 cherished pictures of that old-fashioned home, the 
 bustling scenes of the ship-yards, and a trip with his 
 father down the river to Bath. But a dark cloud 
 soon gathered over the bright prospects of his 
 childhood. During the war of 1812 his father lost 
 his property and his business by the depreciation of 
 shipping that was kept in port by the embargo, and 
 by the capture of several vessels at sea by the 
 foreign privateers. Crushed by disappointment and 
 failure, his energy and courage never rallied ; and it 
 was not long before Mrs. Colby found herself de- 
 pendent upon her own energies for the support of 
 herself and her four young children. Though less 
 than twenty-five years of age, she addressed herself 
 heroically to the task. At first at Bath, and then at 
 Waterville, she opened her little store, working early 
 and late in the presence of the greatest hinderances 
 and discouragements. At the latter place Gardner, 
 then a boy of about twelve years, worked in a 
 potash-manufactory. In after-years he remembered 
 the weariness of bringing up one hundred pails 
 
7 
 
 of water from the river each day to empty into 
 the vats, and of his chopping the wood for the 
 family all winter. Occasionally he turned an hon- 
 est penny by setting up pins in a bowling-alley. 
 His mother seems to have early impressed upon 
 him the habits of concentration, energy, courage, 
 and hope, which characterized herself, and which 
 became so conspicuous in his later life. It is 
 worthy of mention, that among the incidents which 
 he recalled of his boyhood at Waterville was an illu- 
 mination of the college-building, when " there was 
 as much as one candle in each window," and when 
 all the people were full of enthusiasm. They did 
 not imagine that the poor hard-working boy, least 
 noticed, perhaps, among them all, would be the 
 means under God, in after-years, of helping that 
 institution of learning to shine with a stronger 
 light. 
 
 After living about three years in Waterville, Mrs. 
 Colby was compelled, by an accumulation of trying 
 circumstances, to make another change of resi- 
 dence. Having taken counsel with Dr. Jeremiah 
 Chaplin, the president of the college, and others 
 who had shown themselves her friends, she deter- 
 mined to remove to Boston. She was obliged to 
 seek homes for her children in different families 
 until she should be able to gather them together 
 
again in a home of her own. A Mr. Stafford, who 
 a short time before had removed from Waterville to 
 St. Albans, kindly took Gardner, and agreed to give 
 him his board for what work he might be able to do. 
 In an autobiographic sketch still treasured in the 
 family, she describes the bitterness of her parting 
 from him. " Before letting him go," she writes, 
 " I took him alone. We knelt down, and with my 
 hand upon his head I committed him to the God of 
 the fatherless and the widow. I had been weighing 
 the probabilities as to how long it would be before 
 I could reasonably expect to see my child. It did 
 not seem possible, that, even if I were prospered, I 
 should be able to take him to myself for years to 
 come." It would be apart from our present pur- 
 pose to describe in detail the struggles through 
 which she passed in the following months. It is 
 sufficient to say that she went to Boston with but 
 a few dollars in her pocket, and with a letter of 
 introduction from Mrs. Chaplin to Mrs. Deacon 
 Farwell of Cambridge, whose husband she speaks 
 of as "that man of blessed memory;" that by her 
 indomitable energy and skilful tact, aided by the 
 encouragement of these and other friends, she estab- 
 lished herself in business, first in Boston, and after- 
 ward in Charlestown ; and that, contrary to her ex- 
 pectations, she did not have to wait much more than 
 
a year before she was permitted to gather her chil- 
 dren again around her, securing them a home either 
 in her own economical household or in families in 
 the immediate vicinity. Coming from St. Albans in 
 Maine, Gardner went, on his arrival at Boston, to 
 the book-store of his mother's friends, Messrs. Lin- 
 coln & Edmands. John Wiley Edmands, a boy not 
 much older than himself, a son of a member of the 
 firm, kindly agreed to show the way to his mother's 
 home in Charlestown. As the two boys walked 
 across the bridge together, — their conversation on 
 the way interrupted by the ridicule of the enemy, 
 for there was a feud between the Boston boys and 
 those of Charlestown, — they formed an acquaint- 
 ance with each other which proved to be the begin- 
 ning of a life-long friendship. In after-years they 
 were associated in business enterprises, and as 
 neighbors in the homes which they built and 
 adorned at Newton. Soon after coming to Charles- 
 town, Gardner attracted the attention of Mr. Phelps, 
 of the firm of Phelps & Thompson, grocers in 
 Charlestown Square. An arrangement was made 
 by which he was to have a place to stay in, and an 
 opportunity to go to school. He was to work in 
 the store when out of school, and get his board 
 with " very kind people." He had been so sadly 
 deprived of schooling in his childhood, and was so 
 
lO 
 
 behind other boys of his own age in the knowledge 
 of books, that he labored under great disadvantages 
 in the public school. He had to leave school about 
 the age of fourteen. He then received his clothing 
 as well as his board for his work in the store. His 
 energy and determination to please made him use- 
 ful to his employers. He was sent out with a 
 wheelbarrow to collect orders, and deliver goods at 
 the houses of customers. He remembered wheel- 
 ing a barrel of flour up Bunker Hill, and on another 
 occasion trudging with his heavy load over the 
 bridge into Boston, even as far as Winter Street, 
 where an old lady kept a shop. This he thought 
 was rather a severe task ; but he was stout and 
 strong, and prided himself on the skill with which 
 he could whirl ten or fifteen heavy boxes of sugar 
 into or out of the store without aid. He was so 
 anxious to accomplish work, that even when he 
 might have been at leisure he sought something to 
 do in the cellar or garret of the store, that might 
 tend to promote the convenience and despatch of 
 business. A love of order kept him always "clear- 
 ing up " and " putting things to rights ; " and what- 
 soever his hand found to do, he did with all his 
 might. 
 
 When he was about sixteen years old he be- 
 gan to realize the defects of his education. He 
 
longed for some personal and skilful attention to 
 his wants in this respect- So his mother finally 
 managed to send him for a time to a private board- 
 ing-school in Northborough, Mass., where he dili- 
 gently improved the opportunities given him. It 
 was during this winter, 1827-8, that he executed 
 the " Emblem of the United States," which in its 
 frame still adorns one of the rooms at Newton, and 
 bears witness to his unusual proficiency in penman- 
 ship. He thought it was at Northborough that he 
 received his first deep religious impressions. It 
 was while he was listening to the preaching of a 
 minister by the name of King. Becoming some- 
 what interested in the needs of the church there, he 
 made a plan for a new house of worship, — the first 
 experiment of a special talent for which he after- 
 wards found larger opportunities. But his stay at 
 Northborough was very short, not exceeding six 
 months. He was unwilling to be longer dependent 
 upon his mother, and was anxious to secure some 
 position in a business-house where he might not 
 only be earning his own living, but have good pros- 
 pects of advancement. The meagreness of his 
 schooling he regretted throughout all his life. " If 
 I had only had an education ! " he would often 
 exclaim. But those best acquainted with him will 
 probably agree that he was specially adapted to a 
 
12 
 
 life of business, and that the early concentration, 
 under Providence, of all his energies upon that one 
 line of effort, was a large element in his success. 
 As the years went by, also, he evinced many of the 
 qualities which are often obtained only by a famil- 
 iarity with books. We might illustrate this by re- 
 ferring to the clearness and conciseness of his state- 
 ments of his views upon any subject in which he 
 was interested, the correctness of his language, and 
 the excellence of his taste. These traits are doubt- 
 less to be attributed partly to natural gifts, partly to 
 the severe intellectual training he obtained in com- 
 mercial affairs, and partly to his intense interest in 
 educational institutions and his habitual friendship 
 with educated men. Christian purposes and refined 
 associations were an effective school for the devel- 
 opment of his powers both of mind and heart. 
 
 On his return from Northborough he obtained a 
 situation as clerk in the dry-goods store of Mr. 
 Foster, No. 107 Washington Street. His mother 
 was still keeping her store in Charlestown, where 
 she lived. His custom was to go home to dinner 
 every day, hastening back so as to be absent but an 
 hour from business. In the evenings he kept his 
 mother's books. Healthy, active, and ambitious, he 
 threw his whole soul into his work, thus securing 
 the confidence and favor of Mr. Foster, whom he 
 
^3 
 
 was accustomed to speak of as a very kind man. 
 One day while his employer was in New York, he 
 sold a bill of goods to a lady customer from " down 
 East, " It amounted to five hundred dollars. He 
 thought that he had done a grand thing ; but, when 
 he told Mr. Foster of it, he received the gentle 
 reply, " It is no good." So indeed it proved. 
 "This," he said, in relating it, " made me feel badly, 
 but it took me down, and did me good." Not long 
 after, Mr. Foster went out of business, giving it to 
 his brother and a former salesman. The firm be- 
 came Houghton & Foster. They moved to a new 
 place of business, on Washington Street, opposite 
 the head of Water. Mr. Colby continued with 
 them, upon a salary, until he started in business 
 for himself. 
 
 The religious impressions received while at school 
 at Northborough were deepened under the faithful 
 preaching of Rev. Henry Jackson, D.D., who was 
 at this time pastor of the First Baptist Church in 
 Charlestown. The result was that on the twenty- 
 fifth day of April, 1830, in the twentieth year of his 
 age, and while he was a clerk with Houghton & Fos- 
 ter, Mr. Colby made a public profession of his faith 
 in Christ, and united by baptism with the Charles- 
 town church. He had little to say at the time of 
 his reception. He was not skilful in the analysis 
 
and description of subjective experiences; but he 
 often spoke in after-life of the decided change 
 which then came into his heart, and of the joyful 
 relief which he found in his first apprehension of 
 Christ as his personal Saviour. Every thing around 
 him, he said, seemed to be rejoicing. He became 
 a man of prayer. Religious aims sanctified his 
 ambition. That his consecration of himself to the 
 service of his Lord was at that time heartfelt and 
 profound, the remainder of his life bore witness. 
 
 Not long after he united with the church, an inci- 
 dent occurred, which, in the light of his subsequent 
 activity in the cause of ministerial education, may 
 be regarded as prophetic. He was accustomed 
 himself to refer to it as the beginning of his inter- 
 est in all such things. It is here given as related 
 by Mr. Ebenezer Thresher of Dayton, for many 
 years a warm personal friend of Mr. Colby : — 
 
 "Dayton, 0., June 20, 1879. 
 
 " You request me to give you my recollections of 
 an incident in the early life of your late father, to 
 which he was accustomed to refer as having had a 
 determining influence upon his future Christian life, 
 and with which he was pleased to associate my 
 name. 
 
 " The Northern Baptist Education Society, with 
 
15 
 
 which I became connected as corresponding sec- 
 retary in 1830, had the opportunity of assisting a 
 large number of young men in their studies pre- 
 paratory to their work in the Christian ministry ; 
 and it required extraordinary efforts to meet the 
 demands made upon the society. The amount 
 then appropriated to each young man, annually, 
 was seventy-five dollars. This amount was called 
 a scholarship ; and it was the habit of the secretary 
 to solicit individuals and churches to take one or 
 more of these scholarships. Your father, then in 
 his minority, was a member of the Baptist Church 
 in Charlestown, and was known to the secretary as 
 a Christian young man of more than ordinary 
 promise ; and he requested him to undertake the 
 collection, in the church of which he was a mem- 
 ber, of one hundred and fifty dollars, that is, two 
 scholarships. He cheerfully accepted this service, 
 and accomplished his object in a single day, a holi- 
 day, in which he was released from his engrossing 
 duties as clerk in a dry-goods store, and in the 
 accomplishment of which he felt great satisfaction. 
 It was my privilege to enjoy an intimate and life- 
 long acquaintance with your late father, and his life 
 has been an inspiration to me ; and I hope it may 
 become such, especially to the young men of the 
 Baptist denomination. 
 
 " Ebenezer Thresher." 
 
i6 
 
 The holiday referred to was Thanksgiving Day. 
 Mr. Colby himself gave five dollars of the amount 
 he raised. It was a large subscription for him at 
 that time ; but he always insisted in after-life that 
 small means are no excuse for not giving, and that, 
 if young men do not begin to give away money 
 when they have little, they will not be likely to do 
 so when they have acquired much. In connection 
 with the letter above quoted, it may be of inter- 
 est to add, that the writer of it, now living at an 
 advanced age, has had for the last twelve years as 
 his own pastor one of Mr. Colby's sons. 
 
 When he reached his majority he felt anxious to 
 engage in business for himself. He was confident 
 that with the experience he had obtained he could 
 win success. He talked of renting a store on the 
 corner of Washington and Bromfield Streets; and 
 Mr. Foster, his former employer, kindly introduced 
 him to influential business-men in the city, from 
 whom he sought advice. Some of these doubted 
 the wisdom of his project : one of them said de- 
 cidedly, "That is too expensive a store for you. 
 You had better go to some place not so central, 
 where your rent will be smaller." One of them, 
 however, Mr. James Reed, said, "What do you 
 think about It yourself? Have you thought it all 
 over carefully, and do you think you can succeed ? " 
 
17 
 
 — "Yes, sir," was his reply. "Then," said Mr. 
 Reed, "go ahead, and consult no one." "This," 
 said he in after-years, "was just the sort of advice 
 I then needed. It encouraged me in self-reliance, 
 and made a man of me." There were a hundred 
 and fifty dollars salary due him. This amount, 
 together with a small sum which he borrowed 
 from his mother, constituted the whole of his 
 money-capital. But, what was worth far more to 
 him, he had a good reputation for promptness, 
 energy, and uprightness. He purchased a small 
 stock upon credit, and opened his store, having 
 tacked up tablecloths over the large number of 
 empty shelves, — those in the front of the store 
 only being filled with goods. The realization that 
 he was incurring considerable expense in his rent, 
 large for those days, and his great dependence at 
 first upon his credit, operated together with his 
 ambition to make him exceedingly watchful and 
 lab(?rious. He made laces, gloves, and hosiery a 
 specialty. His store soon became headquarters in 
 the city for these articles. His trade was chiefly 
 with ladies, with whom he gained the name of being 
 very polite and obliging, as he would get them any 
 thing, or send any thing to their houses. Over his 
 clerks he kept a sharp but kind scrutiny : they must 
 always be behind the counter, ready any moment 
 
for business. The cost and price of every thing 
 at time of sale were put down ; and the cash was 
 balanced every night, so that he always knew just 
 where he stood. To one practice especially did he 
 attribute much of the success of his first venture in 
 business, and afterwards frequently recommended 
 it for the adoption of young men. He did not 
 wait for his notes to become due ; but as soon as 
 he had money he would advance payments upon 
 them, and by means of these advances secure from 
 his creditors a corresponding extension of time for 
 the payment of the balance. This made every one 
 ready to sell to him, and provided against embarrass- 
 ment in unexpected difficulties. At the end of the 
 first year he had paid all his expenses, and had 
 cleared a profit of about four thousand dollars. The 
 second year his success was even greater, and thus 
 he continued to be prospered. Mr. Arthur Tappan, 
 to whom he showed his trial-balance, said, " Mr. 
 Colby, you will fail. No young man can stand such 
 prosperity." He replied, " I do not mean to fail, 
 because I mean to keep on the same careful plan 
 upon which I have begun." 
 
 In 1836 he had acquired sufficient means to war- 
 rant his undertaking a larger business enterprise. 
 To save commissions paid to importers, he had 
 begun early to import goods for himself. When 
 
19 
 
 Mr. Henry Thornton, afterwards well known as the 
 head of one of the largest business-houses ever 
 built up in England by an American, first went out 
 from this country, Mr. Colby gave him the largest 
 order he took. The step, therefore, was a very 
 natural one, by which, when he left his retail store 
 on Washington Street, he became an importer of 
 dry goods on Kilby Street. Though almost at the 
 outset he had to encounter the financial crisis of 
 1837, ^^^ was able to outride the storm. In those 
 days English steamers came only to Boston. Cus- 
 tomers came from New York and other places, and 
 waited for the arrival of the steamer to see the 
 pattern-cards. When they came to the store, he 
 would take the first comer into his office, lock the 
 door, and give him the first selection ; then the 
 next, and so on. He continued to carry on busi- 
 ness with the greatest zest, and found his labors 
 rewarded by large returns. 
 
 On the I St of June, 1836, just after he had 
 entered the importing business, he was married at 
 Gloucester, Mass., to Miss Mary Low Roberts, 
 daughter of Major Charles L. Roberts of that 
 town. He had first met her during the previous 
 autumn, when she was visiting at the house of Mr. 
 Nathanael R. Cobb, in Brookline, with whom her 
 brother Charles was associated as a junior partner. 
 
20 
 
 The choice was a singularly happy one. She had 
 become interested in evangelical truth under the 
 preaching of Dr. Spencer H. Cone in New York, 
 where her brother lived, and had been the first 
 person baptized into membership with the Baptist 
 Church of Gloucester. She was thus ready to sym- 
 pathize with her husband's religious views and pur- 
 poses, as well as to make his home a constant com- 
 fort and delight. As she survives him, it may not 
 be fitting here to enlarge upon her special adapted- 
 ness to be his partner for life ; but all who knew 
 them both have marked that fact. In the spirit and 
 movement of their life they were one. The forty- 
 three years which passed between their marriage 
 and Mr. Colby's death were made beautiful by the 
 tenderest affection ; and until that event the happi- 
 ness of their home was not shaded by a single 
 domestic bereavement. They commenced house- 
 keeping in No. 32 Temple Street, and became by 
 letter members of the Federal - street Baptist 
 Church, of which Rev. H. G. Nott was the pastor. 
 After a little more than three years they moved 
 to Roxbury (now Boston Highlands), where they 
 united with the Dudley-street Baptist Church, then 
 under the pastoral care of Mr. Caldicot. During 
 their residence there, in the cottage still standing 
 at the corner of Dudley and Kenilworth Streets, 
 
21 
 
 many intimate associations were formed, and inci- 
 dents occurred which were pleasant for them ever 
 afterwards to recall. Specially worthy of mention 
 is the remarkable revival which prevailed for two 
 years in the church. In its labors and blessing 
 they were both active participants. Mr. Colby 
 brought the same enthusiasm to the meetings which 
 he carried to his store. He had also already be- 
 come known as a generous giver. Some of his 
 contributions to benevolent objects at Federal 
 Street had been so large as to occasion surprise, 
 and to cause him to be sought out by the agents of 
 Christian enterprises needing aid. About this time 
 he was made treasurer of the Northern Baptist 
 Education Society, in which he always felt the live- 
 liest interest. 
 
 In the spring of 1841 his business made it desir- 
 able for him to visit Europe, and it was decided 
 that Mrs. Colby should accompany him. Providen- 
 tially, they could intrust their two children to the 
 care of her sister. Miss Frances L. Roberts, who 
 then, as afterwards, till her death in 1873, made her 
 home with them. Indeed, without some mention 
 of the amiable character and self-denying fidelity of 
 " Aunt Fanny," as she was familiarly known, no 
 story of the family life could be complete. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Colby sailed from Boston in May. At Halifax 
 
22 
 
 the steamer ran upon the rocks, so that they were 
 detained there some days ; and the pleasure of the 
 voyage was further marred by the severe seasick- 
 ness to which he was always subject. Reaching 
 England, they visited the manufacturing cities 
 where he had correspondents ; and, after short trips 
 to Scotland and Paris, they returned by a tempest- 
 uous voyage to Boston. They were absent from 
 home only three or four months ; but the busi- 
 ness objects of the journey were accomplished, and 
 many pleasant pictures were stored up in the mem- 
 ory for future enjoyment. 
 
 In the autumn of 1844 he again transferred his 
 residence to Boston, to No. 12 Pemberton Square, 
 where he lived for two years and a half. During 
 this time two events occurred which should be 
 chronicled. One was the building of the Rowe- 
 street Baptist Church. The Federal-street Society 
 had been agitating the subject of a new house of 
 worship ; and, soon after he became a worshipper 
 again among them, Dr. Hague said to him, " Mr. 
 Colby, if the new church is going to be built, I 
 believe Providence lays it upon you to be chairman 
 of the building-committee." Though engrossed in 
 his business, he accepted the trust, contributed gen- 
 erously, spent much time in the examination of 
 plans and contracts, and went morning and evening 
 
to superintend the workmen, so that he was accus- 
 tomed to say that he saw every stone that went 
 into it. The other event was the entertainment at 
 his house of Dr. Adoniram Judson, who, after more 
 than thirty years heroic service as missionary to 
 Burmah, was then making his only visit to this 
 country. On the voyage hither he had stopped to 
 bury the second Mrs. Judson on the rocky island of 
 St. Helena. He was accompanied by three of his 
 children. " Among the millions," says Dr. Way- 
 land, "who had known of his labors, and revered 
 his character, probably not fifty had seen him. A 
 new generation occupied the places of those vener- 
 ated men who were the active supporters of mis- 
 sions at the time of his embarkation. Hence the 
 desire to see him was intense. Men of all profes- 
 sions and of all beliefs were anxious to make his 
 acquaintance. When he arrived in Boston, before 
 coming on shore, he was much troubled with the 
 apprehension that he should not know where to 
 look for lodgings. The idea that a hundred houses 
 would at once be thrown open to him, and that as 
 many families would feel honored to receive him as 
 a guest, never entered his mind." This honor Mr. 
 Colby and his family enjoyed. Of course their 
 house was a centre for the time of great interest. 
 A crowd of visitors came to it. Words from the 
 
24 
 
 good missionary's prayers, as at the family altar he 
 sought Heaven's blessing upon the family of his 
 host, have been cherished in memory as a precious 
 benediction. " May they," he said, " and their chil- 
 dren, and their children's children, in every gen- 
 eration, to the end of time, follow each other in 
 uninterrupted succession through the gates of 
 glory." Letters afterwards received from him, 
 from Burmah, bear witness to the Christian friend- 
 ship that had been formed between the two men. 
 " What would I not give," he wrote, in closing 
 one of them, "just to look in upon you at Pember- 
 ton Square an hour! May every blessing be with 
 you all until we meet in glory ! Yours ever affec- 
 tionately, A. JUDSON." 
 
 Here may be the place to record the fact that 
 Mr. Colby became, soon after this, a member of the 
 Executive Committee of the American Baptist Mis- 
 sionary Union, and continued for several years to 
 perform faithful service in that capacity. A few 
 years before his death he was the largest single 
 contributor to its funds. 
 
 In 1844 he accepted another responsibility which 
 had an important bearing upon his subsequent 
 course. Nathanael R. Cobb and Deacon Levi 
 Farwell were the men who carried the burden, in 
 connection with its professors, of Newton Theologi- 
 
25 
 
 cal Institution in the early years of its history. 
 Through their sohcitation Jonathan Batchelder of 
 Lynn, Michael Sheppard of Salem, and others, were 
 led to contribute to it. Mr. Cobb died in 1835, l^^s 
 than ten years after its founding. Then every thing 
 fell upon Deacon Farwell, who gave his mind, his 
 heart, and his property to fostering it, and caring for 
 all the details of its affairs. When he died in 1843, 
 Rev. Ebenezer Thresher took his place for one 
 year at the request of the board of trustees. His 
 health did not permit him to become the permanent 
 treasurer, and in 1844 Mr. Colby was elected to 
 that position. Mr. Thresher, referring to the condi- 
 tion of the Institution at that time, says, " No one 
 will ever know how much work Mr. Colby had to 
 do." There were the buildings, cattle, utensils, and 
 crops of the farm to be looked after, a steward to 
 be employed and directed, difficulties arising from 
 the boarding of the students in commons to be set- 
 tled, and the board-bills of the students to be regu- 
 larly collected. These details often required great 
 care, patience, and tact. In addition to them was 
 the great burden of financial management. The 
 funds were rapidly decreasing. The salaries of 
 the professors were altogether inadequate, and the 
 property was groaning under mortgages. During 
 the summers of 1845 ^^^ 1846, desiring to take his 
 
26 
 
 family to board for a few weeks in the country, he 
 selected Newton Centre as the place, as indeed 
 throughout those years any opportunity to ride out 
 from the city was always made the occasion of an 
 official visit to the Institution. 
 
 In 1847 ^^ decided to move to the country for 
 his home. He was led to take this step by his anx- 
 iety for his four young boys. Both his wife and 
 himself have would preferred to continue in the 
 city on account of its social privileges, and the 
 greater convenience of a residence there to his busi- 
 ness engagements ; but every thing had to bend to 
 the moral welfare of his children. His watchful eye 
 detected already the insidious influence upon them 
 of certain city temptations. Once resolved upon a 
 rural home, his connection with the Institution of 
 course determined him in his choice of a locality ; 
 although at that time Newton Centre was a small 
 isolated village, and a ride of two miles in an omni- 
 bus, as well as seven miles in the cars, was neces- 
 sary morning and evening in order to his daily trips 
 to the city. He occupied a house near the base 
 of the Institution hill for a year and a half, at the 
 expiration of which his new house upon the land 
 which he had purchased a mile distant was brought 
 to completion, and he moved into it, there to reside 
 until his death. Admiring visitors to that home can 
 
27 
 
 scarcely understand the transformation the place 
 has undergone in these thirty years. When he 
 bought the thirty-six acres of land, ten of which 
 were wild woodland, and the lower portion of which 
 was cultivated as a farm, the remaining portion 
 where the house now stands was nothing but an 
 open pasture with a few old applertrees along its 
 edges. The stately elms and pines and maples 
 which now cast their shadows across the lawn, or 
 embower the garden-walks, together with the large 
 variety of fruit-trees and vines and shrubbery, were 
 all planted under his personal direction. Their 
 grouping and distribution, every curve of every 
 path, each peculiarity of stone wall or rustic fence 
 or arbor, or opened vista through the foliage, as 
 well as the structure and ornamentation of the 
 house itself, are the creations and expressions of his 
 own thought and taste. He watched the growth of 
 the trees from year to year almost as he watched 
 the physical development of his children. He took 
 delight in driving a fleet horse, and in observing 
 the few sleek Jersey cattle which he kept ; but he 
 was never disposed, as some are, to make extrava- 
 gant outlays of money in that direction. His chief 
 recreation was in the enjoyment of nature, and in 
 landscape art as far as it is the imitation of nature, 
 and not its manipulation. Often after a long weary 
 
day at business in Boston, he would sit under the 
 shadows in the summer twih'ght, his mind, it is true, 
 not altogether free from great plans and anxious 
 study about business, — for it was the misfortune of 
 his temperament, that the excited brain would often 
 work intensely far into the night, — yet soothed and 
 diverted by the calm and freshening scene around 
 him. Then it was that he delighted to talk and 
 frolic with his family, to hear reports from his sons 
 concerning their different enterprises, to give them 
 his practical counsel, to watch the play of his little 
 grandchildren, and to welcome the calls of his 
 friends and neighbors, his pastor, or the professors 
 of the Institution. Conversation with the latter 
 about church or educational matters was for him 
 a useful diversion from the cares of office or store. 
 How much reason for gratitude has every member 
 of his family, that he so early selected and improved 
 a suburban residence ! His decision has often been 
 justified by its effect upon their health, their happi- 
 ness, and their character. How great a tonic and 
 safeguard, too, it was to his own physical and intel- 
 lectual strength during the period of his intense 
 business activity, none can ever estimate. The 
 comfort it gave him during his last years was 
 beyond expression. He had then built a house for 
 his eldest daughter, Mrs. Arthur C. Walworth, close 
 
29 
 
 by his own ; and her Httle children furnished enter- 
 tainment for him in his playful moods. Among- 
 pleasures and palaces where'er he roamed, his heart 
 still turned fondly to Newton, and it was a cause of 
 thankfulness that he was permitted there to breathe 
 his last. It seems to those who loved him, and 
 whom he loved, as if every part of the house and 
 grounds bore the impress of his strong mind and 
 affectionate heart, and as if every rustling breeze 
 was almost whispering his name. 
 
 It was also a home of generous hospitality. At 
 the anniversaries of the Institution it was always 
 crowded with guests. That was the great occasion 
 of the year for the household. A very large num- 
 ber of Newton alumni will remember not only their 
 cordial welcome there during their student-life, but 
 also their entertainment within its walls when they 
 returned from year to year, their host enjoying their 
 visits quite as much as, if not even more than, they 
 did. Ministers and foreign missionaries especially 
 were made to feel that they were there giving as 
 well as receiving pleasure. As the house in Boston 
 had been the home of Dr. Judson for a time, so that 
 at Newton welcomed his widow for a protracted 
 stay, and also afforded a place for rest and recupera- 
 tion to the venerated Dr. Oncken of Germany when, 
 during his visit to this country, he had been injured 
 
in the terrible disaster at Norwalk on the New York 
 and New Haven Railroad, 
 
 When Mr. Colby moved to Newton Centre, the 
 financial condition of the Baptist Society there was 
 exceedingly feeble. It consisted of the professors, 
 who were laboring under the burden of great anxie- 
 ties ; and of several other families, mostly fg.rmers, 
 who either had not realized the necessity of gen- 
 erous and systematic plans for meeting the current 
 expenses of the church, or had not the talent and 
 energy to execute them. They had agreed to pay 
 their pastor four hundred dollars a year, but they 
 were many months behindhand in their payments. 
 His business mind at once took in the situation, 
 and chafed under it. " Brethren," he said, "this will 
 never do. Your pastor's family is in need, and the 
 church is becoming disgraced. You must all raise 
 your pew- taxes at once." The extreme conservatism 
 of the society made at first considerable opposition 
 to what some regarded as the rather officious sug- 
 gestions of a new-comer from the city. But soon 
 all concurred in the correctness of his judgment ; 
 the advance was made, and almost all felt happy 
 about it. From that time he was the acknowledged 
 leader in every thing pertaining to the business of 
 the body. They learned that his outspoken direct- 
 ness was accompanied with good-nature, and they 
 
31 
 
 were pleased to find how much sometimes was 
 accompHshed under his leadership. This was nota- 
 bly the case at the time of the remodeling of the 
 meeting-house. It sadly needed repair, but nearly 
 all thought the church was too poor to have it done. 
 He pondered it until he had thought out an eco- 
 nomical plan, offered to give generously himself, 
 and then, measuring in thought the purse of every 
 man, suggested what seemed to him to be within 
 their reach. Falling in cheerfully with his proposi- 
 tion, they committed the superintendence of the 
 work into his hands ; and the remodeled building 
 has continued to be a comfortable place of worship 
 to the present time, although before his death Mr. 
 Colby felt that the time had come for a new one, 
 and made some provisions in his will for a contribu- 
 tion to that end. He felt a strong personal attach- 
 ment to many of his brethren in the church, and 
 would often speak of the value which he placed 
 upon their character and friendship. They may 
 have thought him at times a little exacting and 
 headstrong, yet he yielded without hard feeling to 
 the opinion of the majority. An illustrative inci- 
 dent may here be introduced as related by Dr. 
 Stearns, who was pastor at the time the meeting- 
 house was remodeled : — 
 
 " Following the plan of his favorite architect, Mr. 
 
32 
 
 Esty, a cross was to be placed upon each of the 
 towers. The senior deacon, who was a member of 
 the building-committee, had seen the plan, and had 
 accepted it, but had failed to notice the two crosses. 
 The reconstruction went on, and the two crosses 
 took their predestined place. A few days after- 
 wards the deacon, who lived some two miles away, 
 rode into the village, and was appalled by the sight. 
 He believed that the church had now gone over 
 bodily to Romanism, and was so troubled about it, 
 that, although a very reticent man, he did not fail 
 to allow his thoughts expression in very strong 
 language. Mr. Colby heard of the fact, and at 
 once, with another brother in the church, sought 
 an interview with the good deacon, and tried to 
 convince him that it was all right ; but he would 
 not be convinced. The next morning the deacon, 
 Mr. Colby, and myself met in front of the meeting- 
 house, and the matter was talked over again. Fi- 
 nally a compromise was suggested, — the removal of 
 the cross from the lower tower, suffering the other 
 to remain. The deacon reluctantly assented. Mr. 
 Colby saw instinctively the disfigurement which 
 would thereby be occasioned, the discrowned tower 
 resembling a smoking-cap rather than any thing 
 else ; but, turning to me, he said, ' Decide it. The 
 carpenter is there now. If you say so, down it 
 
33 
 
 comes ! ' I assented for the sake of harmony ; and 
 he at once exclaimed, ' Cut it down ! ' and it became 
 what it is. But he went away the happiest man of 
 the three, and never referred to the scene again 
 except jokingly. I recall this incident as illustrative 
 of his firm yet conservative individuality, an indi- 
 viduality which shaped his piety, and the manifesta- 
 tion of that piety by his benevolent acts." 
 
 It should be added to the incident here related, 
 that, so far was it from lessening the regard which 
 Mr. Colby and the deacon felt for each other, they 
 continued to the end of their lives to be true and 
 appreciative friends. 
 
 As treasurer of Newton Theological Institution 
 he continued for more than twenty-four years to 
 discharge the duties of his office, not merely with 
 fidelity, but with a degree of consecration and abil- 
 ity that will never be forgotten. The discourage- 
 ments which he encountered in its financial condi- 
 tion at the outset were so great that many of its 
 best friends had said that the only thing to do was 
 to dismiss its professors, and close its doors. " I 
 shall never forget," he once said, " the meeting of 
 the trustees, at which it was almost agreed to give 
 up. I got up crying. I was a young man among 
 old ones, but I could not stand it to hear them talk 
 so. I said, ' There is only one thing to be done. 
 
34 
 
 You, Dr. , must take this subscription-paper, 
 
 and go around among your people.' — ' No, 
 never,' was the reply. ' I can never do that.' 
 Turning to Dr. , the pastor of another promi- 
 nent church in the city, I said the same thing. He, 
 too, shook his head. And yet that meeting was the 
 starting-point. We first tried a fifty-thousand-dol- 
 lar subscription, but could not make it go. At one 
 time the institution owed me thirty thousand dol- 
 lars. How I was able at that time to spare such a 
 sum from my business, I am sure I do not know ; 
 but in some way the Lord helped me through it. 
 Afterward we planned and started the one-hundred- 
 thousand-dollar subscription. Thirty-two thousand 
 of it were subscribed in the trustees' meeting ; but 
 to get the rest of it, was a great undertaking. How 
 I worked over it, nobody will ever know. But the 
 Baptists came up nobly." 
 
 Other subscriptions were afterwards planned and 
 carried through. Under his management also some 
 portions of the land were well sold ; and a new 
 building for library, chapel, and recitation-rooms 
 was erected. To this the name of Colby Hall was 
 afterwards given by the trustees in acknowledg- 
 ment of his contributions and services. President 
 Hovey in his historical address In 1875, at the fifti- 
 eth anniversary of the Institution, said of him, 
 
35 
 
 "The finances of the school were managed by him 
 with extraordinary skill during almost a quarter of a 
 century. Not a penny was either lost or wasted. 
 Vigilance, promptness, personal supervision, were 
 everywhere manifest. The lands, buildings, invest- 
 ments, students, and even the professors, seemed 
 to be under the treasurer's eye from September till 
 June. With inexhaustible vigor and hope he sus- 
 tained the burden that was laid upon him, and 
 secretly rejoiced, I doubt not, in the opportunity of 
 expending a part of his superfluous energy for so 
 good a cause. To serve a good cause is indeed the 
 highest glory of man ; and to serve such a cause 
 with unconquerable purpose, and inward assurance 
 of success, has been the rare privilege of our 
 brother. The treasury was strengthened by his 
 administration ; and we are indebted, under God, to 
 him with a few others, for the preservation of our 
 cherished school in the darkest hour of its history." 
 When the one-hundred-thousand-dollar fund was 
 raised, he gave three thousand of it. In 1864 he 
 subscribed to the new library building eleven thou- 
 sand. Later to the two-hundred-thousand-dollar 
 fund he gave eighteen thousand. Other gifts also 
 he made to the Institution, besides a large bequest 
 in his will ; and to all these must be added the 
 value of his services in inspiring others to contrib- 
 
36 
 
 ute to its funds. He loved it as he did the church 
 of which he was a member, and all the interests of 
 the kingdom of God. He was treasurer until 1870, 
 when, at the death of Rev, Baron Stow, D.D., he 
 was made president of the board of trustees, with 
 which office he continued to be honored until his 
 death. 
 
 To return again to the time when he moved out 
 to Newton : the dry-goods importing business in 
 which he had been engaged for ten years was soon 
 after given up by him, and he retired with a hand- 
 some competence. Though he thus found relief 
 from the routine of the store, he continued to be a 
 very busy man, going to Boston every day to attend 
 to various enterprises in which he was interested. 
 Others sought his counsel in their pecuniary affairs, 
 and his retirement from business was made the rea- 
 son for committing to him important trusts. He 
 used at the time to remark that he had more work 
 to do for other people than he had formerly had to 
 do for himself. In 1850 he went into regular busi- 
 ness life again. He purchased one-half of the 
 Maverick Mills (now Merchants' Woollen Com- 
 pany), of Dedham, Mass. He thus became associ- 
 ated in business with his neighbor and early friend, 
 Hon. J. Wiley Edmands, in the manufacture of 
 woollen goods. He was himself the selling agent 
 
Z7 
 
 in Boston of the manufactured goods, being in the 
 wholesale commission business, first on Milk Street, 
 and afterwards on Franklin. No business house 
 stood higher for fidelity and earnestness. The 
 demands of the government for soldiers' clothing 
 during the war made it highly lucrative during the 
 latter part of his continuance in it, when also he 
 had the satisfaction of associating with him his eld- 
 est son, who, in company with others, afterwards 
 succeeded to the business in New York and Bos- 
 ton. During the great national struggle he was 
 firmly and enthusiastically loyal to the government, 
 and was a large contributor to the various patriotic 
 charities which the war called into existence. A 
 Webster Whig in his early life, he became after- 
 wards a firm member of the Republican party, inter- 
 ested in all the great movements in national affairs, 
 and having decided opinions upon every issue ; yet 
 he never became at all prominent in political strife, 
 or an aspirant for political honors. In 1863 he 
 again retired from business, if that expression 
 could ever be used of one so intensely active in 
 disposition. He now devoted himself to the care 
 of his investments in manufacturing, mining, and 
 railroad companies, and in real estate. He was 
 also interested in shipping, in connection with his 
 son Charles, who was in that business in New York. 
 
38 
 
 A fine vessel, a ship of about twelve hundred tons, 
 had been built, to which his name had been given; 
 and it was a pleasant thought to him, that upon the 
 first voyage which the "Gardner Colby" made to 
 Calcutta, his young friends Rev. C. H. Carpenter 
 and wife were passengers going out as missionaries 
 to Burmah. It would have been well, if, after his 
 retirement from the wholesale commission business, 
 he could have contented himself in his comparative 
 freedom from anxieties without subsequently incur- 
 ring heavier responsibility. He was now fifty-three 
 years of age ; he had been almost uninterruptedly 
 successful, and might have enjoyed, so far, as we 
 can see, an honorable and useful leisure for the 
 rest of his life. 
 
 In 1864 he made his notable gift to Waterville 
 College in Maine. The occasion of his first forming 
 the generous purpose is interesting, and illustrates 
 the method of divine Providence in using the brief 
 words of men for producing important results, and 
 of causing seed-truth to germinate years after it has 
 been cast into the ground. It was the evening of 
 the day of prayer for colleges. The late Dr. Sam- 
 uel B. Swaim was present at the prayer-meeting, and 
 related, as in harmony with the thought of the hour, 
 an incident which occurred in his early ministry at 
 Portland. As he entered, he said, the house of one 
 
39 
 
 of his parishioners for a pastoral call, he met Dr. 
 Chaplin, then president of Waterville College, just 
 about to leave it, evidently an unsuccessful solicitor 
 for aid in behalf of the college. As he stood there, 
 hat in hand, he groaned out, " God help Waterville 
 College ! " The picture of the self-denying and ear- 
 nest servant of Christ standing in that doorway, and 
 thus giving vent to his over-burdened heart, had 
 remained indelible in the memory of Dr. Swaim ; 
 and of course he described it with earnest feeling. 
 Mr. Colby was present at the prayer-meeting, and 
 heard the story and its application. That night 
 meditating upon his bed, as he was wont to do, 
 sleepless and restless, he finally said to his wife, 
 " Suppose I give fifty thousand dollars to Water- 
 ville College." Always ready to encourage him 
 in any noble purpose, she gave her approval to 
 his thought. He continued, as the days rolled 
 by, to think of the matter. He considered what 
 might be the results of the gift, and what would 
 probably be the sad results unless he or some 
 one else should come to the rescue of that seat 
 of learning. He had been acquainted with its 
 history. He was a native of Maine. As a boy 
 he had lived at Waterville ; and the president. 
 Dr. Chaplin of whom Dr. Swaim spoke, had 
 early befriended his mother in her struggles. He 
 
40 
 
 was interested in the cause of Christ in that 
 portion of the country, and in the growth of the 
 State in power and cuhure. He beheved that it 
 furnished some of the best material for useful, 
 educated men. He had learned to regard with 
 esteem some of the graduates of Waterville with 
 whom he had become acquainted at Newton ; and it 
 was a pleasant thought to him, that he might not 
 only relieve a useful school from a dangerous finan- 
 cial embarrassment, but in doing so confer a great 
 benefit upon many worthy poor young men such as 
 he himself once was. The more he thought and 
 prayed over it, the clearer the conviction became 
 that God called upon him to do it ; and the next 
 August the gift was made. Thus the exclamation 
 of the hard-working and perhaps desponding presi- 
 dent, related years after his death to a little group 
 assembled for prayer, was the seed-thought from 
 which germinated an answer to the petition which it 
 breathed. Rev. J. T. Champlin, D.D., president of 
 the college at the time of Mr. Colby's gift, writes as 
 follows : — 
 
 "At the commencement in August, 1864, I 
 received from him, and read at the dinner, the fol- 
 lowing communication : — 
 
4^ 
 
 " ' Waterville, Aug. lo, 1864. 
 
 " ' Rev. J. T. Champlin, D.D. 
 
 " ' My dear Sir, — I propose to give Waterville 
 College the sum of fifty thousand dollars (^50,000), 
 the same to be paid without interest as follows, 
 viz. : — 
 
 " ' Twenty- five thousand dollars when your sub- 
 scription shall amount to one hundred thousand 
 dollars, independent of any from me ; 
 
 " ' Twenty-five thousand dollars when one hun- 
 dred thousand is paid on your subscription, not 
 including any from me:, and upon the condition 
 that the president and a majority of the faculty shall 
 be members in good standing of regular Baptist 
 churches. 
 
 " ' If either or any of these conditions are broken, 
 the entire fifty thousand dollars shall revert to my- 
 self, or my heirs or assigns. 
 
 " ' I remain, 
 
 " ' Yours very truly, 
 
 " ' Gardner Colby.' 
 
 "The charter of the college being a general one 
 for academic purposes, this last condition was intro- 
 duced as the simplest and most effectual way of 
 securing the denominational interests of the institu- 
 tion. The other conditions were soon fulfilled, and 
 
42 
 
 the munificent gift secured. In consequence of 
 this gift, the trustees, at their annual meeting in 
 1866, voted to apply to the legislature of the State 
 for an act changing the name of the college to 
 Colby University ; and the act was passed in the 
 following year. 
 
 " Mr. Colby's benefactions did not stop here ; but 
 in each of two subscriptions, one to complete the 
 payment for the Memorial Hall and increase the 
 general funds, and the other to erect Coburn Hall, 
 he gave ten thousand dollars, besides five hundred 
 dollars a year to the library for ten years. 
 
 "These subscriptions, making in all seventy-five 
 thousand dollars, were all promptly paid. 
 
 "In 1865 Mr. Colby was made a trustee of the 
 college, and continued to serve as such to the end 
 of his life. He never failed to be present at the 
 annual meetings as long as his health allowed, and 
 contributed largely to the wisdom and success of all 
 the measures entered upon. And not only as a 
 trustee, but in all the relations and intercourse of 
 life, he was an active friend and helper of the Uni- 
 versity. He not only gave liberally himself to the 
 institution, but to my knowledge influenced many 
 others to do so. In his death the University has 
 lost not only a bountiful benefactor, but an able and 
 judicious counsellor. 
 
 " J. T, Champlin." 
 
It should be added that the perpetuation of his 
 name by changing- that of the college to Colby 
 University was entirely unsolicited by him. He was 
 also an earnest worker upon the board of trustees 
 of Brown University at Providence, R.I., where two 
 of his sons were graduated. Both institutions were 
 remembered in his will ; Colby University receiving 
 the largest bequest, and Newton and Brown each 
 an amount half as large. He once said to one of 
 his sons, ''I suppose people will think, that, because 
 I give more to Waterville than I do to Brown, I 
 have a greater desire for the prosperity of the for- 
 mer than I have for the latter. That is not the 
 case. If I know my own heart, I have a deep affec- 
 tion for both ; but Brown is surrounded by a large 
 number of wealthy men who profess to be its 
 friends, and from whom large gifts to it may reason- 
 ably be expected, while Waterville is by no means 
 so favored. It has seemed to me therefore to be 
 my duty, as a native of Maine, to plant the largest 
 sum there." 
 
 His fondness for business and for large enter- 
 prises would not allow him to be contented out of 
 business but about six years. He had formed in 
 early life no taste for literary occupations, and his 
 mtense activity for so many years had unfitted him 
 for a life of leisure. " I had rather wear out than 
 
44 
 
 rust out," he used to say ; and, " I am so constituted 
 that I beheve I must Hve and die in the harness. 
 I do not care to make more money for myself or 
 for my family ; but it is pleasant to have it to give 
 away, and 1 always enjoy the work of a great under- 
 taking." In 1869 he made a trip West to look at 
 the St. Croix & Bayfield Railroad, in which he had 
 some interest. He then drove across the country 
 from St. Paul to Bayfield on Lake Superior, through 
 the forest, making the trip in about a week, camp- 
 ing out nights, or sleeping in Indian wigwams. He 
 staid several days at Bayfield. The fresh air and 
 the outdoor exercise, and the novelty of that sort of 
 life, charmed and invigorated him ; and he returned 
 home very enthusiastic about that country, and very 
 sanguine about its future. 
 
 Shortly after this the Portage, Winnebago, & 
 Superior enterprise (now the Wisconsin Central) 
 was broupfht to his attention. The line was located 
 partly through the very country over which he had 
 travelled. The road was to run through the forests 
 of Northern Wisconsin ; and, according to official 
 reports from the Land Office at Washington, the 
 land-grant was of great value and magnitude. He 
 then made another trip to Wisconsin, in company 
 with other gentlemen ; and the result was that he 
 took hold of the enterprise with all his usual energy, 
 
45 
 
 determined to make it the great work of his life. 
 It promised very well at the first, and for a year or 
 more he found great pleasure in the employment 
 which it gave to mind and body. It opened up an 
 entirely new field of activity for him. He made 
 many new acquaintances, and among them are 
 numbered some of his warmest friends. 
 
 To construct this railroad large sums of money 
 were needed. When the work commenced, funds 
 were easily raised. Railroad securities were con- 
 sidered among the safest and most desirable invest- 
 ments, and were easily sold at good prices. Early 
 in 1872 there began to be a decided change. The 
 "Alabama" claims excitement in England sud- 
 denly ruled out all American securities from that 
 market ; and from that time for five or six years, 
 there followed in rapid succession a series of disas- 
 ters and financial revulsions which are unparalleled 
 in the history of our country. The fire in Chicago, 
 the fire in Boston, the money panic in England and 
 on the Continent, and the great panic in New York 
 in 1873, — all these supplemented by hostile legis- 
 lation in the West, and a general prostration in 
 business, caused the ruin of many great and prom- 
 ising enterprises, and sadly crippled the Wisconsin 
 Central Railroad. In Mr. Colby's younger days he 
 scorned obstacles, and laughed at difficulties. He 
 
46 
 
 then never seemed happier than when hard pushed. 
 He had always before been equal to any emergency. 
 But this constant and prolonged strain upon his 
 mind proved too much for the strength of his body, 
 and he gave way under the pressure of anxiety and 
 care. 
 
 He always had great faith in the merits of the 
 enterprise, and invested his own money in it freely. 
 He realized that many of his friends and acquaint- 
 ances had put in their money by reason of their 
 confidence in his sagacity, — though he was careful 
 not to urge any to invest in the road who were not 
 able to subject their money to the ordinary risks of 
 all such financial enterprises, — and, whenever new 
 calls for funds had to be made to meet the require- 
 ments of the work, he always headed the list him- 
 self, and gave the highest prices. He bought a 
 large amount of bonds and stock of this company, 
 and never sold any of either. He never received 
 any compensation for the years of service and labor 
 which he rendered ; and, although he at different 
 times indorsed the company's paper for large 
 amounts, he never charged any thing for the use 
 of his name and credit. 
 
 His thought and care were always more for his 
 friends who had invested, than for himself; and it 
 was his solicitude for them, and his anxiety on 
 
47 
 
 account of their losses, which preyed upon his 
 mind, and finally destroyed his health. He said to 
 his son Charles, who has succeeded him in the 
 presidency of the road, " Be careful always that no 
 member of my family ever makes a dollar out of 
 this road unless every one who is interested in it 
 makes his equal proportion." How persistently he 
 struggled against overwhelming odds, and how 
 patiently he endured the mortification and sorrow 
 of defeat, but few of his best friends can ever appre- 
 ciate. Yet he was defeated only in his confident 
 purpose to make the road immediately a great 
 financial success. He had the satisfaction of seeing 
 it completed and in full operation before his retire- 
 ment from the presidency, and could console him- 
 self with the expectation that other persons would 
 at some time reap large benefits from it. Towns 
 and villages are rapidly springing up along its line ; 
 and, as the country develops, its business is steadily 
 increasing. 
 
 Though possessed of unusual vigor, and of a 
 ruddy countenance, he had not been in good health 
 for years. He had always been subject to severe 
 sick-headaches, and occasional violent attacks of 
 dyspepsia. The necessity for his complete retire- 
 ment from business became evident in 1876. In 
 the autumn of that year he passed through a long 
 
48 
 
 and dangerous illness. At times scarcely any hope 
 was entertained of his recovery. Such had been 
 his active temperament, that his friends had ex- 
 pected he would be impatient and desponding 
 under such encroachments of disease ; but the con- 
 trary proved to be the case. From the beginning 
 of his confinement to the house, he resigned him- 
 self to the situation ; and, though often suffering 
 the intensest pain, he awaited with great calmness 
 the decision of that Providence whose guiding hand 
 he felt sure had led him thus far in life. At last 
 his naturally good constitution had so rallied under 
 the best medical care and good nursing, that he 
 was able again to ride about, and occasionally 
 to make a trip to his office in Boston. His physi- 
 cians, however, forbade his giving any attention 
 to business ; and anxious friends perceived that any 
 attempt to do so produced at once unfavorable 
 re-action. His will to work was unbroken, but the 
 strength to endure it was gone. That he was thus 
 laid aside, made him at times feel sad ; but his 
 bodily weakness welcomed rest, and he contented 
 himself as well as he could with the diversions of 
 a quiet life. In the latter part of January, 1877, he 
 was able to go to New York ; but returned sooner 
 than he expected, owing to the death of his neigh- 
 bor, and long associate in business, Hon. J. W. 
 
I' 
 
 49 
 
 Edmands, by which event he was much affected. 
 About this time he wrote to one of his sons as 
 follows : — 
 
 "My own health, I think, is still improving; but 
 at times I feel a little discouraged that I don't get 
 up faster. I see so many things to do, that it 
 makes me uneasy ; but I try to be patient and 
 quiet. I leave many things to take care of them- 
 selves ; rather, I should say, I leave them in the 
 hands of that kind and ever-blessed Father who has 
 ever taken care of me for more than sixty-six years, 
 day by day and night by night, and has done more 
 for me than I could ever have wished or thougrht. 
 Cannot I trust him now, and for the future? I feel 
 that I can. Christ is every thing, and I am noth- 
 ing. I want my dear children to feel this more and 
 more for themselves. ... Be bold and fearless for 
 the truth." 
 
 By the advice of his physician, he made, the 
 following winter, a journey to the South. He 
 stopped at Columbia, S.C., where his brother Rev. 
 Lewis Colby was then in charge of the Benedict 
 Institute for freedmen ; and reaching Florida he 
 sojourned there for a few weeks. He thus avoided 
 the severity of the winter at home, and seemed 
 somewhat improved in health. During the next 
 summer he enjoyed the usual visits of his chil- 
 
50 
 
 dren and grandchildren at Newton ; but when the 
 autumn again came round he was persuaded to 
 take his wife and his youngest daughter, and spend 
 the winter abroad. Something of the kind seemed 
 necessary in order to occupy his mind, and to keep 
 him from becoming absorbed in the business cares 
 which were so injurious to his heakh. They sailed 
 from New York in October. After a pleasant 
 voyage across the Atlantic, they visited London and 
 Paris, and lived for some weeks at Nice in the 
 South of France, where the mild breezes from the 
 Mediterranean seemed to do him good. They 
 then went to the chief cities of Italy, to Genoa, 
 Pisa, Rome, Naples, Florence, Venice, Milan, and 
 Turin. Though an invalid throughout the journey, 
 he enjoyed some things greatly, and was especially 
 interested in Rome, returning quite enthusiastic 
 about the sources of instruction which are there 
 presented to a thoughtful mind. They reached 
 home in July. He seemed better, but during the 
 following winter the struggle with ill health con- 
 tinued. The comforts of home, the sympathy of 
 friends, the satisfaction which he took in the edu- 
 cational institutions he had fostered, and his deep 
 interest in the affairs of his sons, served in a 
 measure to cheer the weary days. In March he 
 made a visit with his wife to New York, which he 
 
51 
 
 particularly enjoyed. He met many of his old 
 friends, and was encouraged by finding that he 
 could attend successfully to a few business items. 
 But it was only for a few days. He was taken 
 suddenly worse, the attack this time taking the 
 form of a disease of the stomach ; and it was with 
 difficulty that he reached his home at Newton. 
 Every thing possible was done for his relief, but 
 with no success. The recuperative powers had 
 been exhausted, and his whole physical system 
 was giving way. When it became evident that 
 his end was approaching, the absent members of 
 the family were summoned by telegraph ; and all 
 of his six children but his youngest son (who, on 
 account of his great distance, arrived a few hours 
 too late) were able to be around him in his last 
 hours, to receive from his lips expressions of affec- 
 tion, and to minister as far as was possible to his 
 comfort. Permitted the use of his mental faculties 
 almost to the last, he seemed to be aware of his 
 condition, and declared his willingness to depart. 
 It was on the morning of Wednesday, April 2, 
 1879, that he welcomed his pastor to a final inter- 
 view. He also said a few tender words to the 
 servants of the household. To his wife and chil- 
 dren he had declared that nothing gave him so 
 much satisfaction, as he looked back over his life, 
 
52 
 
 as the deeds he had tried to do for Christ and his 
 cause. Yet he did not rely upon these as the 
 ground of his acceptance before God. Repeated 
 affirmations of his sense of his personal unworthi- 
 ness, and of his trust in Jesus as the needed and 
 only Mediator between God and men, were summed 
 up in his words, more than once repeated, " I am 
 nothing, Christ is every thing." He responded 
 heartily to the repetition of familiar promises of 
 Scripture. The voice of prayer was gratefully 
 welcomed, and seemed to soothe him. Referring 
 to the change he was soon to meet, he said, "This 
 is a step." A moment afterwards he added, " But 
 not in the dark." Early in the afternoon he fell 
 into a slumber ; and as the shadows of evening 
 were beginning to gather around his home, his 
 life's day was ended, and his spirit passed peace- 
 fully to its reward. 
 
 The funeral services were held at the house, on 
 the afternoon of Saturday, April 5. A large com- 
 pany of friends and neighbors, old associates in 
 business from Boston, and representatives of the 
 institutions he had loved, gathered to show their 
 respect for his memory, and their sympathy with 
 his afflicted family. The face of the deceased 
 wore a calm and lifelike expression. A large 
 bouquet of pure-white lilies stood near the head of 
 
53 
 
 the casket, and a wreath of passion-flowers lay upon 
 it. It was a special gratification to the family, that 
 four of the ministers who had been Mr. Colby's 
 pastors could officiate on the occasion. Dr. Clarke, 
 the pastor of the Newton Centre Church, took the 
 direction. The hymns, " My faith looks up to 
 thee," and " My soul, be on thy guard," both 
 favorites of the deceased, were sung. Dr. Hague 
 offered the prayer. President Hovey and Dr. 
 Stearns both made feeling and appropriate ad- 
 dresses, and Dr. S. F. Smith offered prayer at the 
 grave. The burial was in the beautiful Newton 
 cemetery, upon the lot which, years before, he had 
 himself selected and enclosed. 
 
 The facts here sketched in outline, and the mem- 
 ories which they will awaken in the minds of those 
 who knew him, will be to all such a sufficient reflec- 
 tion of Mr. Colby's character. Yet some special 
 mention of the chief features of his character may 
 not here be out of place. In every thing he was a 
 man of integrity, force, and faith. In business, in 
 the family, in the church, and in all public duties, 
 these traits were constantly exemplified. 
 
 As a business man, he worked incessantly, and 
 infused the same spirit of enthusiasm and determi- 
 nation to succeed into those associated with him. 
 He had a well-disciplined mind in commercial plan- 
 
54 
 
 ning, and a remarkable faculty of looking at the 
 probable or possible result that might follow from 
 certain observed conditions of trade or of the 
 market. Hence, while he worked with great spirit, 
 he was generally prudent. He sometimes made 
 the remark, " I might have made a great deal more 
 money at that time if I had not been so cautious ; " 
 but he never regretted such caution, for it also 
 secured the success of the movements he decided 
 on. He would always look for himself upon all 
 sides of a proposed course of action, and would 
 never make any investment upon the judgment of 
 other people. When he had thought a project 
 through, then he was ready to bend every energy 
 to work it through. He pressed on when others 
 were disheartened, and was loath to admit that 
 there was any such word as "fail." His high sense 
 of honor, and his strict regard for truth, on all occa- 
 sions, won him the respect of men. He was very 
 positive in his opinions, and liked, of course, to 
 have his own way in matters in which others were 
 associated with him ; but they generally . had to 
 acknowledge the soundness of his judgment, and 
 were remarkably ready to follow his lead. He had 
 great confidence in his own sagacity, and power to 
 achieve. Sometimes this would provoke a smile 
 from others ; but the result generally justified him. 
 
55 
 
 As a buyer, he was skilful and foreseeing ; as a 
 salesman, he was unusually persuasive. With those 
 in his employ he was fair and strictly just. Kind 
 and considerate to every one who tried to do his 
 best, he had no patience whatever with those who 
 were disposed to be slack and careless. The mis- 
 take of his life, of course, was his entering at the 
 age of sixty upon a new and herculean effort ; but 
 it must be admitfed that the complication of obsta- 
 cles which then interfered with an immediate success 
 was such as rarely occurs in the financial world, and 
 could hardly have been foreseen by any one. 
 
 In his religious character his individuality was 
 equally marked. He always maintained the same 
 earnest and outspoken allegiance to the truths he 
 early espoused. In business and abroad, as well 
 as in the church and in society, he was never 
 ashamed to let men know that he was both a pro- 
 fessing Christian and a Baptist. The type of his 
 piety was not meditative and introspective, but 
 practical and executive. The question with him, 
 in religion as in business, always was, What is to 
 be do7te ? rather than, What is to be thought ? and 
 when he saw that an undertaking was really neces- 
 sary and desirable for the furtherance of his Re- 
 deemer's kingdom, he delighted to tax himself with 
 the problem how it could be accomplished. This 
 
56 
 
 disposition to look outward, rather than inward, had 
 much to do towards making him a very cheerful 
 man. When any financial difficulty arose in the 
 church, or any new enterprise was needed, such as 
 the clearing-off a debt, or the building or remodel- 
 ing of a house of worship, he was ready not only 
 to give liberally, but also to study out the most 
 harmonious and effective methods of raising the 
 money, as well as of its most economical expendi- 
 ture. We have seen that he was chairman of 
 committees for these purposes, both at Rowe Street 
 and Newton Centre. But, while executive charac- 
 teristics were the most striking in his religious char- 
 acter, they were by no means the whole of it. He 
 attended regularly not only at both services of 
 public worship on the sabbath, but also at the 
 weekly prayer-meeting. Although he was very 
 timid and embarrassed in any effort to express his 
 thoughts in the latter, he was determined to im- 
 press upon his family his appreciation of such gath- 
 erings, and to give his pastor and brethren the 
 encouragement of his sympathizing presence, as 
 well as to obtain there the help which he felt he 
 needed in his own spiritual life. Through all his 
 intense business career, he kept up the practice of 
 leading his family in prayer at the family-altar. He 
 was always deeply interested in all efforts for the 
 
57 ^ 
 
 spiritual welfare of his fellow-men in all parts of 
 the earth. No heart beat with a readier assent to 
 proclamations of gospel truth, and no eyes more 
 quickly filled with sympathetic tears at the narration 
 of personal religious experience. 
 
 In his family life he presented a combination of 
 strictness and playfulness. He was uncompromis- 
 ing in his insistance upon obedience from his chil- 
 dren, but at the same time won their confidence by 
 affectionate familiarity. They were given to under- 
 stand that there was to be no deviation from the 
 principles laid down : yet he was reasonably indul- 
 gent, and ready in every hour of leisure to be a 
 happy participant in their frolics. He was always 
 stimulating his sons to independent thinking and 
 acting. "Boys," he would say, "be something! 
 Do something in the world ! Strike out for your- 
 selves ! Don't lean on me." He gave his children 
 to understand that he desired for them all, first, a 
 devout Christian character, and, second, a life of 
 great usefulness. 
 
 In society he was a genial companion. His 
 countenance easily broke into a smile, and no man 
 laughed more heartily than he over any thing 
 humorous. But a word or a thought approaching 
 that which is indelicate or vulgar was always dis- 
 gusting to him, and frowned upon as ungentle- 
 manly and wrong. 
 
58 
 
 On the boards of public institutions, when an 
 emergency arose he generally had some movement 
 to propose. Possibly some thought him officious at 
 times in his confident leadership ; but, if the cause 
 of his readiness had been inquired into, it would 
 have been found, that, while others had postponed 
 the practical consideration of the matter until the 
 meeting, he had already been anxiously pondering 
 it, and had thought out the only feasible plan. It 
 was his promptness to attack the problem, rather 
 than rashness, that had made him the man for the 
 hour. He was ready to undertake great tasks 
 assigned him, but he did not like to be tied up with 
 others in working. "It is not of much use," he 
 said, "to put me on a large committee, and oblige 
 me to consult with them. If any thing is to be 
 done with which I am identified, I must plan and 
 execute it myself. My friends may misunderstand 
 me. I cannot help it. If any thing is to be 
 accomplished under my supervision, I must do it all 
 myself." He regretted his inability to smooth the 
 way, by the skilful use of language, for startling or 
 unpopular propositions when he had determined to 
 make them. He may thus at times have been 
 blunt, and may even have seemed to some dictato- 
 rial ; but practical tests never failed to develop the 
 strength of his good-nature, and to show that he did 
 
59 
 
 not intend to be imperious. He never willingly dis- 
 regarded the feelings of others, and quietly yielded 
 if the majority overruled him. 
 
 By his benevolent gifts he made his influence felt 
 in a great variety of directions. The world did not 
 know, and never will know, many of the deeds by 
 which he brought relief and joy to burdened hearts. 
 He found his reward at the time in the happy con- 
 sciousness such acts gave him, and many were the 
 grateful acknowledgments which came to him from 
 the recipients of his kindness. In regard to his 
 methods of giving, we may quote the language of 
 Dr. Stearns, uttered at the memorial meeting of the 
 Boston Baptist Social Union, of which Mr. Colby 
 was one of the founders : — 
 
 " His large donations were mainly within the 
 sphere of his own denomination. His smaller ones 
 were not thus limited, while those smaller ones un- 
 seen by the public eye in the aggregate amounted 
 to a very large sum. After he became known as a 
 man of wealth, the drafts upon him in this respect 
 were constant. Some men give solely by impulse. 
 Start the tear, and the purse opens. Some men are 
 more generous than beneficent. Emotional, they 
 trust to the honesty of the pleader for help, though 
 he may be an impostor. They pour out their treas- 
 ures spasmodically and thoughtlessly, and some- 
 
6o 
 
 times cast their pearls before swine. Other men 
 are more beneficent than generous ; that is, they 
 give as they transact business, according to receipts 
 and according to relative claims. They wish to 
 know, first of all, where it is wisest to place their 
 gifts. Mr. Colby belonged to the latter class. He 
 would not give what was not his own. He would 
 not promise to give under uncertainties. He 
 looked the claim through for himself, and then 
 graduated his action by its relative merits and his 
 ability to meet that and other kindred demands. I 
 never knew him to give much without careful 
 inquiry, but once. A letter from a father, person- 
 ally unknown to him, requesting aid for his son in 
 college, secured a hundred-dollar check by return of 
 mail. Speaking of it afterwards he said, ' I fear 
 I was unwise. I let my heart control me.' And, 
 knowing the case better than he, I assented to the 
 unwisdom. 
 
 " Another characteristic of Mr. Colby's benevo- 
 lence was what may be called provisional giving. 
 I do not mean that all his gifts were conditioned, 
 especially the minor ones ; but when he saw more 
 was needed than he purposed to give, or was able 
 to give, as a rule he made his gifts dependent on 
 the gifts of others to the same object. I have 
 often laughed with him for his persistency in this 
 
6i 
 
 method. A plan for the casein hand was sketched. 
 He thought it out, said what each man could do or 
 ought to do ; and church and congregation were 
 down on his list with each man's due set off against 
 his name. He became the grand assessor ; and, 
 what was most remarkable, when the soliciting 
 committee came round, nearly every one appealed 
 to acknowledged the justice of the assessment. He 
 was born to lead. 
 
 " Let me name one more characteristic. He gave 
 fore-sightedly. All his larger gifts assumed that 
 type. Where will my work do the most good in 
 the rolling of time ? How may I by divine help 
 stretch myself into the future ? The colleges and 
 seminary he aided, and other beneficent institutions, 
 will be the perpetual memorials of this far-sight- 
 edness." 
 
 To these words of his friend and former pastor, 
 may be added the observation of another, that 
 " the most noticeable thing about his service to the 
 cause of Christ was the fact that he was far broader 
 and wiser than his early training and experience 
 would lead us to expect. He had but small school 
 advantages in his youth : yet he gave his money 
 and his influence, and not a little hard work, to 
 schools of higher learning." 
 
 But we must not prolong these reflections. 
 
62 
 
 Enough has been said to point out the chief 
 features of his character, and the main Hnes of 
 his great usefulness. Will any one say that our 
 view of him as here expressed has been too 
 eulogistic, that it has been too highly colored by 
 personal affection ? Possibly so. Yet we have 
 tried to give nothing but a just representation of 
 his life, and a true view of the feelings and mo- 
 tives that filled his heart. Faults of course he 
 had, like every other member of our sinful race ; 
 and he would be the last one to sanction any 
 words which might declare him free from infirmities. 
 Yet, while he always showed forth exactly what he 
 was, no stigma could ever fasten itself to his name ; 
 and his excellences have been so striking as to 
 make him in many respects a bright example. 
 Of him it could be said that those who knew him 
 best, honored him most. Such had the opportunity 
 of testing the purity of his life and the consecration 
 of his purposes. They became familiar with the 
 man upon all sides of his character, and, striking 
 the true balance between his virtues and his faults, 
 were ready to love and praise him. As that fallen 
 tree is missed the most from the grove or the land- 
 scape, which sent down its roots the deepest, and 
 spread out its shade the farthest, and reached up 
 to heaven the highest, so the loss of him is felt 
 
63 
 
 to be a great one on account of the strength of 
 his character and the breadth of his beneficence. 
 He has gone to join the great company of the 
 redeemed, who have proved their faith by their 
 works. He has gone to enjoy the blessed reward 
 which the Lord has in store for those who humbly 
 trust in his name, and who endeavor to glorify him 
 according to his commandments. Gardner Colby 
 now rests from his labors, and his works do follow 
 him. It remains for his children and his children's 
 children to revere his memory, and- to emulate his 
 virtues ; for his associates and acquaintances in 
 business, to imitate his example of uprightness 
 and benevolence ; for all who knew him, to follow 
 him so far as he followed Christ. 
 
ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL. 
 
 BY REV. O. S. STEARNS, D.D. 
 
 IT is fitting that we pause for an hour, and in this house, which 
 was so emphatically the home of our friend, recall him, and 
 bid him live in our presence. The form is before us. The spirit 
 which animated it has departed. But the hfe it enshrined is ours, 
 and will continue to be ours while time is ours. We cannot 
 separate him from our thoughts, nor can we sunder him from our 
 lives. He was ours ; we were his. He lived in us ; we lived in 
 him. A friend whose frank and honest bearing led us to accept 
 in his acts the sincerity of a manly heart ; a friend who could 
 reprove with fidelity, as well as cheer with sympathy ; a friend 
 vi^hose words were bonds, and whose deeds harmonized with his 
 words, — cannot be eliminated from our lives by passing from us 
 into another sphere of existence. Like the air we breathe, like 
 the thoughts we think, subtile yet real, the memories of departing 
 loved ones enter into the substance of our lives, and constitute a 
 large part of our earthly happiness. 
 
 To Mr. Colby this house was not a mere residence. It was his 
 home ; the retreat of his soul from the wearying cares of business ; 
 the resting-place towards which his soul trembled as naturally as 
 the needle to the pole. He sought to make it a happy home, 
 where he and his could feel as one, free from needless restraint, 
 each sharing the other's joys, aspirations, and plans, all working 
 together for the good of all. He endeavored to make it an 
 
65 
 
 honored home, where true honor sat enthroned, and petty Uttle- 
 nesses were trampled under foot. More than all, he labored to 
 make it a Christian home, where personal piety assumed its right- 
 ful place ; where personal religion was a topic of familiar conver- 
 sation ; where the children were expected to " seek first the 
 kingdom of God and his righteousness ; " and where the family- 
 altar, the place of social prayer, the worship of God in his 
 sanctuary, were acknowledged to be as essential parts of a true 
 existence as the education of the schools, the preparation for 
 business, or the attainment of high places among men. 
 
 I recollect an hour, some thirty years ago, when at the morn- 
 ing devotions, though several clergymen were present, he read the 
 Scriptures and prayed himself. It surprised me at the time, 
 knowing, as I did, his extreme sensitiveness as to performing such 
 public acts ; but I reverenced his conscientiousness, when, soon 
 after, he said to me, " You do not know what that act cost me ; 
 but I feel, that, as the head of my family, I must be known and 
 recognized as a Christian." This, however, was not his uniform 
 custom. None more than he enjoyed the prayers of others on 
 such occasions. 
 
 To live and walk with God in his home, was his ideal of domes- 
 tic happiness and power ; and none will ever know the central 
 spring of that heart which has now ceased to beat, except those 
 who have seen him here, and enjoyed him here. Here it was 
 that the child and the man felt the magnetism of his genuine, 
 genial nature. 
 
 As I seek to delineate the character of our friend as he 
 appeared to me, I regard him as a man of great energy of char- 
 acter. From early life he was thrown upon his own resources, 
 and was compelled to make himself. With a very limited educa- 
 tion, with few to aid him, with much to discourage him, from his 
 youth he felt that all he was to be depended upon himself, and 
 
66 
 
 upon himself alone. He has often said to me, repeating the 
 saying in my last interview with him but one, " No man is a man 
 who does not make himself so much of a man as to be needed 
 by his fellows." And he wrought his life by this maxim, toiling 
 hard and struggling hopefully to make himself a necessity. His 
 favorite hymn was the talisman of his life : — 
 
 " Oh, watch, and fight, and pray ! 
 The battle ne'er give o'er ; 
 Renew it boldly every day, 
 And help divine implore." 
 
 If there is one text of Scripture which he emphasized and 
 exemplified most perfectly, it was the exhortation of the Preacher, 
 "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." In 
 his most playful moods, you were sure to be startled suddenly by 
 the suggestion of some plan of action with which his mind was 
 teeming. His mind worked rapidly and orderly. He had the 
 rare power of concentrating it upon a subject, holding that subject 
 with a firm grasp, and compelling every thing allied to it to play 
 into the execution of its main purpose. The method by which it 
 was to be developed, he deemed the wisest one, resting, as he 
 thought, upon the truest principles of foresight and right ; and, so 
 earnest was he in the result to which his mature thinking had 
 come, all obstacles must give way to it. He was bound to put it 
 through. And, so strong was his personality, those who were to 
 be executors of his purposes often seemed to move like automata 
 under the energy of his single will. All who knew him regarded 
 him as a man of marvellous sagacity ; and, as a consequence, 
 men of culture sought him for his good judgment, men of busi- 
 ness for his experience, and men engaged in large Christian 
 enterprises for his far-sighted discretion. As a merchant, and as a 
 friend of the denomination to which he belonged, few have filled 
 
67 
 
 so large a sphere of influence ; and to few has been conceded 
 such unquestioned abiUty. 
 
 But to see the man, we must blend with his energy of character 
 his benevolence of heart. To those who knew him intimately 
 this trait was always apparent ; but to those less familiar with 
 him, his quick, brusque manner, his strong expression of his con- 
 victions, the imperial tone of his voice, doubtless led some to 
 believe that he was cold and unsympathizing, wilful and exact- 
 ing. They did not understand the man ; and in no one of my 
 acquaintance dwelt a warmer heart, or a soul more responsive to 
 real need. 
 
 It is true, that in his acts of beneficence he did not pour his 
 treasures into the lap of the needy with a mere impulsive gen- 
 erosity. He did not give without forethought. He gave upon 
 well-grounded principle. He weighed as accurately as he could 
 the relative claims of the objects which appealed to him for aid. 
 He demanded a full and truthful statement of all the facts in 
 the case ; but when they were apprehended, if deserving his 
 assistance, the claim received a ready response. I need not 
 speak of his noble gifts to institutions of learning, and to various 
 Christian enterprises. They are well known. They have built 
 a monument to his memory which time will never destroy. I 
 refer rather to that tenderness of spirit, expressed by the irresisti- 
 ble tear at the story of human suffering, the warm grasp of the 
 hand in the hour of needed sympathy, and the broken tones of 
 the voice, which meant more than words could speak. It was 
 easy for him who knew the key to unlock the secrets of such a 
 heart. " The cause he knew not, he searched out ; " but when 
 found out, " he was eyes to the blind, and feet . was he to the 
 lame ; " " the blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon 
 him, and he caused the widow's heart to sing for joy." Instances 
 without number come before me, where the appeal of the father 
 
68 
 
 to aid his son, the request of the mother to cherish her children, 
 and the desire for help by some young man struggling with pov- 
 erty, were responded to quick as thought ; and the joy of his 
 soul in his ability to comfort another soul seemed to exceed the 
 happiness of those thus benefited. 
 
 But that to which he traced all his prosperity was his firm 
 behef in the providential care of God. I remember a private 
 interview in this house, during the financial troubles of '57, 
 when he knew not what was to be on the morrow. We entered 
 each other's hearts. We wept, and we prayed. He laid bare 
 his past life. "His life," he said, "had been a miracle of divine 
 labor. He had been wonderfully provided for, and as wonder- 
 fully delivered when he came to those strange passes where two 
 ways meet. He had been conscious for years of a mysterious, 
 guiding hand. He could not define it, he was totally unworthy 
 of it ; but the rescuing hand had always appeared at the right 
 time." Now his faith wavered. He could not pierce the cloud 
 of the morrow. "What will be on the morrow?" said he. I 
 tried to re-assure him, by affirming that God would not forsake 
 him, and that on the morrow he would find a way of escape ; 
 and bade him "good-night." And I shall not soon forget his 
 "joy of faith," when I next met him, as he told me the story of 
 the deliverance which God had wrought for him, effecting it in a 
 way totally unexplainable to himself. 
 
 I recall, too, the growth of his Christian graces about the same 
 period of his life, when he nerved himself up to lead a Sunday- 
 morning prayer-meeting, triumphing over his natural diffidence, 
 and encouraging his fellow-Christians by their mutual faith. 
 
 He was a firm believer in the protecting care of his heavenly 
 Father, and in the all-sufficiency of sovereign grace. His sense 
 of sin was deep and genuine. His trust in Christ was as 
 impKcit as one so little inclined to introspection could expect. 
 
69 
 
 But his life, his hfe from childhood through manhood, he felt to 
 be a charmed life, on account of the presence and help of his 
 God. Although always in the house of God, at the appointed 
 hour, when it was possible to be there ; although conscientious in 
 his attendance upon the social and business meetings of the 
 church ; although ever ready to cheer on those laboring to build 
 the walls of Jerusalem, — he did not rely upon such acts for his 
 present and ultimate acceptance with God. He knew too well 
 the weakness and errings of his heart to indulge such a blind 
 faith. But he knew, also, that "the blood of Jesus Christ 
 cleanseth from all sin ; " and he hoped in God, " who was the 
 health of his countenance, and his God." 
 
 His last hours, so full of tender farewells, are all fragrant with 
 this abiding faith in God. These farewells are the pressed sen- 
 tences from the lessons of his life's experience. " I am ready 
 to die," he said : "I have laid down my armor." " I can only 
 trust in my Saviour." " Jesus Christ is my all." " Christ is every 
 thing; I can do nothing of myself." "When I look at my 
 imperfections, I turn to my Saviour." Such were some of the 
 precious utterances which will be fondly remembered by the 
 cherished loved ones of his heart. 
 
 In my last interview, I repeated to him parts of the twenty- 
 third Psalm ; and when I came to the verse which says, " Though 
 I walk through the valley and shadow of death, I will fear no 
 evil ; for thou art with me : thy rod and thy staff they comfort 
 me," — emphasizing the word " comfort," I asked him if he 
 could say that; when, looking at me with the old, famihar, con- 
 fiding, earnest look, he replied, with the word characteristic of 
 him when specially pleased, " Beautiful ! Those are beautiful 
 words." And when I repeated two lines of one of his favorite 
 hymns, — 
 
1^ 
 
 " Thou, O Christ, art all I want ! 
 More than all in thee I find," — 
 
 he responded, " Jesus is enough : Jesus is all." 
 
 And there submissively we leave him, singing, as we may 
 beUeve, " unto Him that hath loved us, and washed us from our 
 sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto 
 God and his Father ; to him be glory and honor and dominion 
 forever. Amen." 
 
ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL. 
 
 BY REV. ALVAH HOVEY, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 THREE days ago a neighbor came to my door, and tenderly 
 said, " Our friend Colby sleepeth." The message was not 
 a surprise, for I had been expecting for a little while that the 
 change would soon come. Yet the words moved me deeply, and 
 carried my thoughts swiftly back over a third of a century to the 
 hour when I first met this friend and brother. He was then 
 thirty-five years old, and ' I distinctly recall the impression which 
 he made upon me at that time. He was treasurer of the Institu- 
 tion, and I called at his room in the Mansion House on the hill. 
 Greeting me kindly as a new student, he proceeded naturally and 
 at once to the business which brought me to him. Meanwhile I 
 could not fail to observe his countenance and bearing, the decis- 
 ion of his manner, the directness of his words, the penetration of 
 his look, and the many signs of character, of purpose, and of 
 energy, that appeared in the man with whom I was dealing. 
 
 The acquaintance which was thus begun in the autumn of 1845, 
 and continued through my course in the seminary, was pleasantly 
 renewed upon my return td Newton ; and gradually, as our rela- 
 tions to the Institution and to the church brought us more fre- 
 quently together, acquaintance ripened into assured friendship, so 
 that for a score of years I have felt that no difference of taste or 
 of opinion would be able to disturb our mutual confidence. For 
 this reason, I have been requested to say a few words in respect 
 
72 
 
 to that part of his Hfe with which I am most famiHar, — his connec- 
 tion with institutions of learning and with foreign missions. 
 
 Mr. Colby was distinctly a man of clear purpose, working for 
 definite ends. In harmony with this trait of his character, he 
 early resolved to use some part of his income for objects of benev- 
 olence which his judgment approved. How deeply he pondered 
 the duties of life, or the particular way in which he could best 
 honor God and serve mankind, before forming this purpose, I 
 know not ; but, from what I have learned in later years respecting 
 his character, I am sure that it was not formed without careful 
 thought, and that when formed it was not a nie7'e purpose, signify- 
 ing nothing beyond itself. For with Mr. Colby, as with all effec- 
 tive workers among men, thought and purpose were in order to 
 action. To resolve was to do. Hence he began to give when he 
 began to gain ; and in his later years he sometimes expressed the 
 belief, that, if he had refused to give in his early life, he would 
 probably have continued to do so to the end. Yet he was never 
 troubled with regret for what he had done in behalf of religion or 
 of education. However keenly, in the days of his strength, he 
 enjoyed the excitement and competition involved in " bu)dng and 
 selling, and getting gain," he has often testified that his greatest 
 satisfaction was in what he had given, and not in what he had 
 acquired. Nor is this at all surprising ; for the Lord himself has 
 said that " It is more blessed to give than to receive ; " and no 
 man who has supported a worthy cause with a. right spirit and a 
 liberal hand has ever failed of the blessing. 
 
 The beneficence of our friend was rarely misdirected, for it was 
 rarely thoughtless. Resting upon principle, it was applied to the 
 support of enterprises which commended themselves to his judg- 
 ment, as well as to his heart. He loved to assist in laying founda- 
 tions for the time to come. He was ready to identify himself with 
 institutions that gave promise of good when he should have passed 
 
11> 
 
 away. And he was resolute and hopeful when difficulties multi- 
 plied, and the courage of many failed. Once interested in a 
 cause, he was always its friend. 
 
 From the age of thirty-two to the age of fifty-six, — a period 
 of twenty-four years, — Mr. Colby was treasurer of the Newton 
 Theological Institution ; and it is simply just to say that he dis- 
 charged the duties of his office with eminent abiUty and success. 
 During the first ten years of that period, it required no ordinary 
 courage and skill to preserve the Institution from bankruptcy. 
 Temporary expedients had been resorted to in meeting the current 
 expenses, until the churches were dissatisfied with them, and de- 
 manded relief : yet few beUeved it possible to secure an adequate 
 permanent fund. But the treasurer did not lose heart : vigi- 
 lance, promptness, personal supervision, were everywhere manifest. 
 With unconquerable purpose and inward assurance of success, he 
 sustained the burden that was laid upon him, and looked forward 
 with hope to a brighter day. At the end of ten years' service he 
 was permitted to greet the dawn of that day ; and, though the fund 
 then raised was insufficient to make the seminary all that it ought 
 to be made, it was a foundation laid securely, on which good men 
 were certain to build in due time. 
 
 During the last ten years Mr. Colby has been president of the 
 Board of Trustees. The duties of this office have been less ar- 
 duous than those of the treasurer ; but he has so performed these 
 duties as to prove his undiminished regard for the seminary. 
 Through thirty-four years of official service has he carried in his 
 heart the welfare of this school of Biblical theology. 
 
 That our brother who now sleeps in Jesus was a true friend and 
 a great benefactor of the Institution, that he loved it, planned for 
 it, toiled for it, prayed for it, believed in its usefulness, rejoiced in 
 its growth, desired its improvement, and associated it in thought 
 with the progress of true religion among men, — many of you well 
 
74 
 
 know ; but none of you can be as familiar with certain parts of his 
 service to it as myself, and none of you have so much reason to be 
 thankful to God for that service. Many a secret rill from the 
 fountain of his heart have I directed to students who were in 
 need ; and I rejoice that his name will be connected with the 
 Institution till its work is done. 
 
 But, while our own seminary was the first to gain the heart and 
 support of Mr. Colby, it was not the last or the only seat of learn- 
 ing that profited by his bounty. There is a college in his native 
 State, and within sight of a place where he played in childhood, 
 that has put on new strength and beauty as the result of his mu- 
 nificence. It was a college that had been founded by noble men 
 of his own religious faith, that had rendered important service to 
 the cause of sound learning, that had struggled with poverty, and 
 had deserved assistance, and that could be made, as he believed, 
 a glory and blessing to mankind. I happened to be in Waterville 
 when his gift of fifty thousand dollars to the college was announced, 
 and I well remember the joy which it brought to many hearts. 
 The future of the college was felt to be assured by his act, and 
 from that hour to this it has steadily advanced in character and 
 work. This greatest benefaction of Mr. Colby was followed from 
 time to time by others, and by such personal interest in the Uni- 
 versity, now called by his name, as it was possible for a man with 
 his other cares to feel. Many an hour during the last three years 
 has he spent with me in conversation respecting that college, and 
 I am sure that his love to it became one of the deepest feelings of 
 his heart. And if we consider the needs of the college when he 
 came to its relief, the sum of his gifts in comparison with what it 
 had received from any one before, and the efforts which he made 
 to enlist the good-will of others in its behalf, we shall be almost 
 ready to pronounce his work for that seat of learning the noblest 
 work of his life. 
 
75 
 
 But his interest in Waterville did not prevent him from doing 
 service elsewhere for the same cause. He was a hberal benefactor 
 of Brown University, from which two of his sons were graduated, 
 and w^as for many years an active and honored member of its cor- 
 poration. In its welfare he rejoiced, and for its growing useful- 
 ness he was solicitous. 
 
 But his interest in these seats of learning was not only literary, 
 but also and chiefly religious. He believed in Christian educa- 
 tion, and contributed to the support of it as a means of spreading 
 the light of divine truth over the world. It is not therefore sur- 
 prising that he was also a warm friend and steady advocate of for- 
 eign missions. How much he gave for the spread of the gospel in 
 other lands, I cannot tell, though I am certain that the average of 
 his contributions for the last nineteen years has not been less than 
 a thousand dollars a year. And his interest in this holy cause was 
 often expressed by words as well as deeds, by his presence at the 
 monthly concert of prayer for missions, and by his abundant hos- 
 pitality to laborers in the foreign field. Few of us have enter- 
 tained as many of the Lord's heroes — like Judson and Oncken — 
 as were welcomed to his delightful home by our brother. And 
 now his spirit, released from earth, has already, it may well be, 
 resumed its fellowship with them in the world of light. How 
 many dark providences will be made luminous there ! How many 
 burdens will be left behind, and pains forgotten ! How many dif- 
 ficulties removed, and questions answered, and doubts silenced, and 
 hopes fulfilled ! Our friend and brother, though deeply conscious 
 of ill-desert before God, was one who trusted in the Saviour, and 
 fervently desired to have all men do the same. He would not suf- 
 fer me, if he were present, to say that he was faultless ; but he 
 would, I believe, allow me to say that he was willing to work with 
 his might for the highest cause while he lived, and that he leaned 
 
76 
 
 upon the arm of Christ when he died. This, then, is our comfort 
 to-day. 
 
 Neighbors, friends, and kindred, we now bid farewell to one 
 who has filled a large place among us, who has run strenuously the 
 race of life, who has builded monuments that will endure, and who 
 has not been ashamed of Jesus, — but who has also felt the pains 
 of disease, and has welcomed the summons to the life beyond. 
 We believe it is well with him there. We believe that the Lord 
 whom he served has taken him from the home below to the home 
 on high. 
 
T 
 
 TRIBUTE 
 
 BY REV. HEMAN LINCOLN, D.D. 
 
 [From " The Watchman."] 
 
 HE death of Mr. Colby, which occurred at his home in 
 Newton, April 2, leaves a great gap in Baptist ranks. For 
 nearly forty years he has been a recognized leader, honored and 
 loved ; wise in counsel, hearty in sympathy, generous in gifts. We 
 can recall the name of no layman in our New-England history, 
 whose services have been so long and so valuable ; who has given 
 so freely of time and brain and money for denominational interests. 
 
 He was born to be a leader. No intelligent observer could 
 mark the broad brow, the searching eye, the firm lips, the 
 compact frame, without a perception of the great personal force 
 that lay behind them. No one could come into close personal 
 intercourse without feeling his power. He was accustomed to 
 have his own way, and carry his own ends ; but it was by virtue of 
 stronger convictions, and superior energy of purpose, and tenacity 
 of will. He did not forfeit his own self-respect in the means used, 
 nor wound the self-respect of others. In the most eager struggle 
 for mastery, he never forgot the duties of a Christian gentleman. 
 
 His hfe, from opening manhood, was singularly happy and 
 successful. He was never bereaved of brother or sister: his 
 brothers and sister survive him. Death never entered his own 
 family-circle : wife and sons and daughters all hve to mourn his 
 loss. Nor was the peace of his home marred by the sorer griefs 
 that come to so many parents. It was an almost ideal Christian 
 
78 
 
 home, controlled by principle, and filled with an atmosphere of 
 joy. He ruled his household, but love mellowed the rule ; and 
 his children grew up to call him blessed. No man had more 
 reason to be proud of his sons, all inheriting his principles, his 
 large heart and open hand, and aspirations for a useful hfe. 
 
 Nor was his business-life less fortunate than his home, during 
 the larger part of its history. The struggles of boyhood, when 
 the father's fortune as ship-builder was wrecked by the war with 
 England, in 1 812-15, taught him self-reliance. The example of 
 a noble mother, whose energy and sagacity provided a home and 
 an education for the children, nurtured this spirit; and from 1832, 
 when he commenced business on a capital borrowed from his 
 mother, until 1870, success attended him with a uniformity 
 scarcely broken. 
 
 Repeated changes from a retail trade to an importing commis- 
 sion, to a wholesale dry-goods business, and to the manufacture 
 of woollens, only enlarged his fortune, and proved his business- 
 capacity. His name in the mercantile world was a synonym for 
 insight and energy. In 1870 he became president of the Wis- 
 consin Central Road, and undertook the gigantic task of building 
 a road forthree hundred and forty miles, a large part of it through 
 primeval forests. No better test could be given of his extraordi- 
 nary business capacity than his success in pushing the road to 
 completion in the face of the appalling monetary troubles of the 
 last few years. It was an herculean task, but his courage never 
 failed till the work was done. The burden of toil and anxiety 
 was no doubt too heavy for his advanced years, and developed 
 the disease which at length proved fatal. 
 
 Mr. Colby has been known chiefly by his benevolence. His 
 gifts have been large and uniform and cheerful. In early man- 
 hood he was associated with those noble laymen, Cobb and 
 Farwell and Freeman and Kendall, and the Lincolns, Ensign and 
 
79 
 
 jHeman. He caught their spirit, and has exceeded them all in the 
 largeness of his gifts. He began to give freely as clerk, with a 
 small salary, and gave freely from that time to the day of his 
 death. He gave on principle, not from impulse ; and no worthy 
 claimant was turned from his door. His courage and hopefulness 
 did much to save Newton and Waterville in dark hours ; and his 
 large donations stimulated others to create the endowments which 
 assured the future prosperity of these institutions. His benefac- 
 tions were liberal to Brown University, and to other institutions, and 
 flowed in a perennial stream to the Missionary Union, and to other 
 agencies for Christian work at home and abroad. It was an 
 occasion of grief to him, that many Christians are penurious in 
 charities ; and he often annexed conditions to his gifts, to develop 
 benevolence in others. 
 
 His death was peaceful and triumphant, before his eye had 
 dimmed, or his mental force abated. A great company gathered 
 at the funeral services, conducted by Dr. Clarke ; and the tributes 
 of Drs. Hovey and Stearns to his character were eminently 
 beautiful and just, while the prayer of Dr. Hague, a former pastor, 
 filled all hearts with peace, and a sense of God's infinite grace. 
 The grave closed over a good and useful man, and his place will 
 be hard to fill among the living. 
 
REMARKS 
 
 BY HON. J. W. MERRILL, 
 AT THE BAPTIST SOCIAL UNION, BOSTON. 
 
 I HAVE been associated with Mr. Colby for thirty or more 
 years in the various missionary, educational, and other philan- 
 thropic movements of our denomination, and have been accus- 
 tomed to look to him for the devising of liberal plans, for an 
 example of generous giving of time, thought, and money, and 
 for a courage and resolution that knew no discouragement when 
 other men's hearts failed them. 
 
 I remember well when the large endowment was being made 
 up for Newton, and it was within a few days of the time limited 
 to make the sum up, and make the subscription binding, when we 
 were informed by the agent that he should fail to accomplish it, as 
 the time was not long enough to secure so large a sum as was 
 then lacking (some thirty thousand dollars, I think), Mr. Colby 
 at once left his business, and engaged for some days in personal 
 solicitation ; and had the satisfaction of seeing the thing accom- 
 plished. * 
 
 He had a strong and clear conviction that knowledge is power 
 in a denomination as in an individual, and that the triumph of the 
 principles in which he believed with all his heart must be secured 
 by the union of sound learning with true piety ; and nothing gave 
 him greater pleasure than to count over the names of the eminent 
 men in the various walks of life all over our country, who are use- 
 ful and honored, and who owe their power, in part at least, to the 
 training they received in these institutions. 
 
He occupied one of the most responsible, trying, and dangerous 
 positions in the world, — that of a wealthy Christian. It is a 
 solemn assertion of our Saviour, that " it is easier for a camel to 
 pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the 
 kingdom of heaven." Let those who are in danger be thankful 
 that he also said, "But all things are possible with God." Our 
 brother sought the kingdom of heaven first ; and, in accordance 
 with the promise, all these things were added unto him. He 
 accepted them, however, not as his for the gratification of himself 
 alone ; but he felt that he must " occupy till He comes," and use 
 as a wise steward for the Giver's glory. 
 
 Early in Christian life, I am told, he began to give away money 
 as he was able. As he gave, Ijis means increased \ and he formed 
 large plans for doing good with what he had and what he hoped 
 to acquire. He lived to accomplish some of his plans, and I have 
 reason to know that some of them were not accomplished when 
 he died. His mantle has fallen on worthy shoulders, — sons who 
 fully appreciated their father's noble life-work, and whose hearts 
 are in full sympathy with it. 
 
 He early discovered that indiscriminate giving of money was 
 
 not the best use to make of it, but he was accustomed to make 
 
 careful examination and inquiry in order to give wisely. He thus 
 
 saved his money at the expense of his time. Some one has 
 
 sung, — 
 
 " Pity the sorrows of a poor old man." 
 
 He might have sung, " Pity the sorrows of a generous rich man." 
 He was beset in season and out of* season by applicants for his 
 money, and each thought his object the most important and wor- 
 thy of his consideration. 
 
 Often when engaged in his office or counting-room some 
 one would make his way in, with the assurance that he would 
 detain him but a moment; and, though informed that he was 
 
82 
 
 engaged, would sit and occupy his time for half an hour, and on 
 leaving would say, " I see you are busy : I will call at your house." 
 
 After his large gift to Waterville he was pestered by all kinds of 
 demands. For example, one old lady, whom I think he never 
 saw or heard of before, wanted him to buy her a house, and 
 assured him that she needed it much more than Waterville needed 
 fifty thousand dollars. 
 
 But none of these things moved him : he kept his genial good 
 humor ; and instead of saying, " I will give no more money away," 
 he selected such causes and objects as he had confidence in, and 
 regularly and systematically gave to them. 
 
 But he was not contented with this : he made it a study to 
 influence others to benevolent deeds. If he saw a young man 
 prosperous in business, or an old man who had made money, he 
 made it in his way, whenever an opportunity occurred, to interest 
 him in some good object, and gradually lead him to know the 
 blessedness of investing in it. 
 
 Even when most occupied with his business, his mind was 
 constantly turning to his plans for accomplishing good to his 
 fellow-men, and he was constantly devising hberal things. 
 
 Who shall take up and wear his mantle ? 
 
 As to our friend's business-Hfe, I must leave that to those who 
 were more intimately acquainted with it. 
 
 I was associated for a few years with him in his last great 
 enterprise, — the building of a vast railroad system in the West. 
 I remonstrated with him against taking upon himself, so late in 
 life, such vast and complicated responsibiUties ; but when he 
 assured me that he must do something to keep his mind em- 
 ployed, and I found he was decided to go forward, I joined him 
 to a limited extent, and know something of what a burden he 
 carried for the rest of his life. 
 
S3 
 
 I doubt if our country can show so much accomplished by one 
 man under such adverse circumstances. 
 
 Ahiiost as soon as he had built and paid for the first hundred 
 miles of the road, the financial embarrassment, under which the 
 country has ever since labored, began. But he pushed forward, 
 saying that if he was ever good for any thing he was good in a 
 storm. He raised large sums of money, always, as I have reason 
 to believe, until laid aside by sickness, contributing his full quota, 
 and sometimes more ; and as president of the road, and trustee 
 for all parties, discharging his duties in a most self-denying and 
 conscientious manner. 
 
 He accomplished what he undertook to do, and lived to see 
 the road finished to its terminus at the foot of Lake Superior, a 
 monument, built in troublous times, to pluck and indomitable 
 perseverance under most discouraging circumstances. 
 
MEMORIAL POEM. 
 
 READ AT THE MEETING OF THE BAPTIST SOCIAL UNION, APRIL 28, 1879. 
 BY REV. S. F. SMITH, D.D. 
 
 PASSED from our sight, but grandly living still, 
 As glows the light behind the western hill, 
 When towering summits hide the vanished sun, 
 And the long course of weary day is run ; 
 The disk concealed, the brightness backward turns, — 
 For other lands the same full radiance burns : 
 A noble life, cut off, still journeys on, — 
 A trail of light behind it, when 'tis gone, 
 And life before, — a faithful life's reward ; 
 A joy to earth, and, ever with the Lord. 
 
 We hail thee, brother, — favored now to see 
 
 Unveiled at last life's doubt and mystery ; 
 
 What fields thy works have blessed, what conquests, won, 
 
 Attest the worthy deeds thy hands have done. 
 
 What hungry mouths thy willing love has fed ; 
 
 What souls enjoyed, through thee, the living Bread ; 
 
 To what rich seeds thy life has given wings. 
 
 Sheaves for the garner of the King of kings ; 
 
 What halls of learning, fostered by thy care, 
 
 Have nurtured men, whose lips are trained to bear, 
 
 To nations born, and nations yet to be, 
 
 Tidings of life and immortality. 
 
85 
 
 Dost thou, from heaven, the honest praise disclaim, 
 Caring no more for earth or earthly fame ? 
 Not for thyself we weave these honored bays, 
 Yet for thyself, and for the Saviour's praise. 
 
 All that was great in thee we cherish still, — 
 All that accorded with the Master's will : 
 Thousands the lessons of thy life shall read, — 
 The kind in word, the generous in deed ; 
 The ready, helpful hand, the open heart, 
 The soul to plead, the tender tear to start ; 
 The wealth of hand and brain, to yield supply 
 To every worthy work, or low, or high ; 
 Accounting nothing small which God deems great ; 
 So prompt to act, so patient too to wait ; 
 Holding, of right, with men an honored seat, 
 But laying all things at the Master's feet. 
 
 Long will his memory live in many a land, 
 Long the foundations which he planted stand ; 
 And grateful thousands shall, with glad acclaim, 
 Breathe from full hearts their blessings on his name. 
 
 We leave thee, brother, and our way pursue ; 
 Patient to bear, and prompt, like thee, to do. 
 Be ours, like thine, through grace, the victory won. 
 And ours, like thine, the Master's glad " Well done ! 
 
A LIFE OF SERVICE. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM THE BACCALAUREATE SERMON PREACHED AT WATER- 
 VILLE, ME., JULY 20th, 1879. 
 
 BY REV. HENRY E. ROBINS, D.D., PRESIDENT OF COLBY 
 UNIVERSITY. 
 
 THAT the conviction that a hfe of service is the only true 
 life of man controlled Mr. Colby, is as certain as that he 
 was a Christian. For a Christian, by virtue of the fact that he is a 
 Christian, is a servant of God and his fellow-men. Into this char- 
 acter he is brought by his union with Christ by faith. Christ not 
 only teaches that by as much as a man possesses more of power, 
 of gifts of any sort, whether material, intellectual, or moral, he is 
 by so much a servant of others, but he does that without which 
 his teaching would accompHsh no more than the teaching of 
 Socrates, — he inspires those who believe in him, with power to 
 illustrate his teachings by their Uves as he illustrated them by his 
 life. We do not hesitate to claim that it was because Mr. Colby 
 was a partaker, through faith, of the life of his ascended Lord, we 
 are permitted to-day to rejoice in the service which it was his 
 high honor to render to his fellow-men. 
 
 We are authorized to do this, not only because he bore the 
 name of Christ, but by the evidence of a significant sentiment 
 which was often on his lips. In an interview shortly before his 
 death he repeated with emphasis the words, " No man is a man 
 who does not make himself so much a man as to be needed by 
 his fellow-men," — words fit to be chiselled on the marble which 
 marks his tomb. Mr. Colby thus opened his heart to us, and 
 
87 
 
 suffers us to see the springs of his action. He sought to make 
 himself a necessity by service rendered to others. He gave so 
 bountifully of his wealth, not from the promptings of ambition, 
 not to gain a name and build for himself a monument. However 
 lower and subordinate motives may have actuated him, — and they 
 doubtless did impel him ; far be it from us to claim for him a 
 perfection exhibited only by the Lord whom he served, a perfec- 
 tion which he would have shuddered to claim for himself, — never- 
 theless the deepest, the generic motive of his action, which alone 
 is the touchstone of character, was his sense of obligation to 
 serve, to the utmost of his ability, his fellow-men, as a service to 
 God. Accordingly in the closing hours of his life, as we are 
 informed by those whose privilege it was to minister to him then, 
 when he was thoughtfully reviewing his work, he declared that 
 what gave him his deepest satisfaction was not that which he had 
 achieved for himself, but that which he had done for the public 
 interests with which he had been identified. 
 
 Not, however, to the fact that Mr. Colby bore the name of 
 Christ, nor to his words, nor to any single act of munificent giving 
 alone, do we make an appeal, but to the general tenor of his life, 
 "known and read of all men." In the morning of his career he 
 recognized the obligation of service. He did not wait, therefore, 
 for overflowing coffers, before he began to bless others by his ben- 
 efactions. Had he done so, — this is his own thought repeatedly 
 expressed, — he would never have learned the art of princely giving. 
 He began to give when he began to accumulate, and thus enlisted 
 the mighty energy of habit on the side of virtue. Nor did he 
 wait for the leisure which wealth could command, before he gave 
 time and thought, more valuable thcua money, to the furtherance of 
 public ends. Leisure, indeed, he never knew, and, with his views, 
 could never know. The right use of the powers with which he 
 had been intrusted by God — in other words, industry — he saw to 
 
88 
 
 be a duty, from which no amount of wealth could exempt him. 
 Idleness, by whomsoever indulged, was to him a sin. For more 
 than a generation, interests not his own, and public interests many 
 and various in their claims, had the benefit of his sagacious coun- 
 sels, his untiring labors, his contagious enthusiasm, his generous 
 benefactions. Surely we may say, while reverently recognizing the 
 moral distance which must always separate the imperfect disciple 
 from his peerless Master, that Mr. Colby was inspired by the spirit 
 of Him who said, " I am among you as he that serveth." 
 
 Let us notice that this conception of life also insures constancy 
 of service. It is a life of service to which the true man devotes 
 himself. Not exceptional to the general course of his thought 
 and action are his deeds of beneficence. His way resembles not 
 the path of the meteor, but the path of the sun which shineth 
 more and more unto the perfect day. One of Mr. Colby's most 
 remarkable characteristics was the persistency of his devotion to 
 any cause to which he had committed himself. No difficulties 
 daunted him, no discouragement dampened his ardor. His fideli- 
 ty to the cause he had espoused caused men to depend upon him 
 with singular confidence, because it shone only the more conspic- 
 uously in days of darkness and desertion. Other men would give 
 time and money on occasions, but were careful not to take up 
 public institutions as personal burdens ; but he took them into his 
 heart, and cherished them as a man cherishes his children. Even 
 when most engrossed with the care of his private fortune, he would 
 turn with alacrity and with a sense of relief, as he used to say, to 
 plan for their welfare. In the constancy of his service, he was a 
 prince among his fellows, almost without a peer. 
 
 As a final lesson, let it b§, noticed that this conception of life 
 insured breadth of sympathy in service. The true servant cannot 
 be a narrow man. He has undertaken to serve, not this interest or 
 that interest, but mankind ; and he has entered upon this service 
 
89 
 
 not self-moved, but inspired by Him who, being no respecter of 
 persons, loved and served the race. Accordingly we find that Mr. 
 Colby was distinguished for the breadth of his views in the service 
 which he rendered. It was not narrowed by kindred, or town, or 
 state, or nation : his was a service to mankind. No one can read 
 his will, and note the scope and amount of his bequests, with- 
 out being impressed by a certain grandeur. It bears the impress 
 of an extraordinarily noble nature. The figures dictated by his 
 own lips are his most eloquent eulogy. Had he been actuated by 
 selfish and ambitious motives, he might well have concentrated 
 upon this university all the benefactions he bequeathed to various 
 institutions. When on one occasion it was suggested that he 
 would do this, he repelled the thought. He sought only, as he 
 repeatedly said, to be an efficient fellow-helper with others in 
 building a monument for the honor of Christ, in a well-endowed 
 and well-conducted Christian college. His bequest is only an 
 encouragement and generous challenge to the friends of Christian 
 education to perfect the work so auspiciously begun. Although 
 himself deprived of the advantages of a liberal education, his 
 native sagacity enabled him clearly to see its necessity as indis- 
 pensable to the triumph of Christian civilization. Feeling keenly 
 his own need, he labored unweariedly while living to extend its 
 benefits to others, and dying made provision to bless generations 
 yet unborn. 
 
MEMORIAL 
 
 BY THE TRUSTEES OF NEWTON THEOLOGICAL INSTITU- 
 TION. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the Trustees of Newton Theological 
 Institution, held June lo, 1879, the following paper was unani- 
 mously adopted : — 
 
 It pleased God on the 2d of April, 1879, to release from his 
 earthly labors and responsibilities, and to call to his reward, our 
 brother Mr. Gardner Colby, the President of this Board of Trus- 
 tees. To us this is a great bereavement. A life of extraordinary 
 usefulness has closed, and a man of remarkable power has been 
 removed from our body. 
 
 From the commencement of his successful career as a mer- 
 chant, Mr. Colby identified himself closely with the missionary 
 and educational enterprises of the Baptist denomination, not only 
 as a liberal contributor, but also by his personal and untiring efforts 
 in their behalf. In 1843 he was elected a member of this Board 
 of Trustees. In the year following, 1844, he was elected to fill the 
 place made vacant by the death of Hon. Levi Farwell, the first 
 Treasurer. For twenty-four years he retained this trust, and dis- 
 charged its heavy responsibilities with great fidelity, sagacity, and 
 success. He not only administered the finances of the Institution 
 wisely, but also superintended the real and personal estate belong- 
 ing to it in a most satisfactory manner. And for nine years he 
 has been our able and efficient President. 
 
 During this long period of service, thirty- six years, Mr. Colby 
 has manifested a very deep and unceasing interest in the welfare 
 
91 
 
 and growth of this school of sacred learning. He has not only 
 cared for the minute details of its business, but he has been among 
 the foremost of the originators and promoters of every organized 
 movement to broaden its foundations and extend its usefulness. 
 He has been one of the most liberal contributors, not only to its 
 ever-recurring special needs, but also to its permanent endowment. 
 And his last will and testament affords evidence that his love for 
 the Institution remained strong till death. 
 
 Though himself denied the advantages of a Uberal education, 
 Mr. Colby was in full sympathy with the most enthusiastic educa- 
 tors in his estimate of the importance to the Christian minister of 
 sound learning and high culture, and second to none in his efforts 
 to place the means of securing such helps within reach of the can- 
 didates for the sacred calling. 
 
 It seems becoming that as members of this Board we should 
 record our grateful recognition and appreciation of God's wisdom 
 and goodness in raising up such a man, and sustaining him through 
 a life of such abundant and protracted usefulness, and our deep 
 sorrow that we shall enjoy his presence and share his wise and 
 efficient co-operation in our responsible work no more. 
 
 We make this record also in the hope that the contemplation 
 of such an example of Christian benevolence and faithful service 
 may stimulate us and our successors to carry forward the enterprise 
 which now seems so worthy of his labors and munificence, and 
 which will ever reflect such honor upon his name. 
 
MEMORIAL 
 
 BY THE TRUSTEES OF COLBY UNIVERSITY. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees of Colby 
 University, held at Waterville, July 22, A. D. 1879, the following 
 was adopted as an expression of the Board in regard to their late 
 associate : — 
 
 As, in the providence of God, Gardner Colby, Esq., one of our 
 associates in the management of the University which bears his 
 name, on the 2d of April last departed this life, we, in order to 
 express our appreciation of his character and of the importance 
 of his gifts and services to the institution, place on our records the 
 following minute : — 
 
 Mr. Colby was a Christian gentleman of the highest character 
 and the largest benevolence, which were fully shown in all the 
 relations of life, through a course of intense business activity from 
 his youth up. He came to the aid of our college at the time of 
 its greatest need, when the number of its students was greatly 
 diminished by enlistments in the Union armies, its funds almost 
 wholly exhausted, its buildings in a ruinous condition, and general 
 discouragement pervaded the minds of its friends. 
 
 His offer of fifty thousand dollars soon secured the other hun- 
 dred thousand upon which it was conditioned, forming at once the 
 foundation of a permanent fund ; and subsequent offers secured 
 other contributions with which new buildings were erected, and 
 the old ones repaired, and thus an entirely new face put upon 
 things. 
 
 A man of remarkable judgment as he was, he showed it in noth- 
 
93 
 
 ing more than in conditioning his subscriptions on others to be 
 made by other friends, thus securing large contributions and aug- 
 mented interests. He came, as he often said, not to undertake to 
 carry the college himself, but to help others carry it. He was 
 willing to work, but wanted others to work with him. His whole 
 connection with the University was eminently useful, closing only 
 with his death, which revealed still larger purposes in regard to the 
 institution in the noble bequest which in time, under favorable 
 circumstances and wise management, may amount to an addition 
 of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars to its funds, which 
 the trustees hereby gratefully acknowledge and highly appreciate 
 as evidence of his unabated interest to the last. 
 
 Such a life and such benefactions make his name a most appro- 
 priate and honorable prefix in the designation of the University. 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of this testimonial be communicated to 
 his family, with the sympathy of the Trustees, and that the same 
 be published in "Zion's Advocate." 
 

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