'JiSi:^ m " I ^ lEx ICthns SEYMOUR DURST -f ' 'Tort nwiiw ^m/ferdam' o^ <^ li I \\ V\ ( lili VAIIIMA II I 11 AviKY Architectural and Fine Arts Library Gift of Skymour B. Durst Old York Library 1 I I Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/chroniclesoferasOOeras ff^'lV?' Copyright, iqo6 BY THE General Organization Erasmus Hall High School Brooklyn preface /yi^HE story of Erasiiuis Hall as an academy, from 1787 to 1896, when IIL it became a part of the public educational system of the city of Brook- lyn, is in a large measure the story of the secondary education of this country. It is the story of the earnest efforts of cultured and self- sacrificing men and women who, as trustees, principals and teachers have devoted time and means and energy to the best and most elevating interests of this community. There are few of the old fannlics in this region whose sons and daughters did not receive a part of, and in many cases all, their formal education in the old Hall. At least three college presidents, many lead- ing scientists, and men learned in the professions, have been among its instructors; while enrolled among its students have been leaders in Church and State, and captains in the industrial world, who liave looked back to this institution with its stately trees and broad stretches of lawn, as the inspiration for their later achievements. While no history of education in this country has been without references to the work and standing of the school, its complete history has never been written, and much of it has been already lost in the overwhelming growth and development of later years ; and so those who have taken upon them- selves the responsibility of carrying on the work, so well performed during all these years, have felt that as the institution is about to leave the familiar old quarters for the larger opportunities ofifercd 1)y a century of progress, a tribute to the past should be paid. Proud of the glorious history of the Academy, and proud of its high achievements, the present teachers and pupils trust, through the inspiration to come from a more complete knowledge of the past, to be able to add new luster to the name and fame of Erasmus FTall. Tn the making of this volume especial mention must be made of the tireless efforts of its principal con- tributor. Dr. Willis Boughton, who for many years has made the collection of this historical material his constant aim, and who has given to the task all the strength and efficiency which years of experience along similar lines have given him ; of Mr. Eugene W. Harter, who, as head of the classical department from the establishment of the High School, has been one of the leading factors in its later growth and development; of Mr. xAllen B. Doggett, the chairman of the art department; of Mrs. Mildred McNeal-Sweeney, for years an earnest and efficient teacher; of Mr. Charles M. Skinner, a prom- inent patron and active supporter of the school; of the valuable assistance rendered by the officers of the ^Academy, who have placed all their records at the disposal of the committee, and by personal letters and earnest encourage- ment and co-operation have done all in their power to make this work a success ; of the many other friends of the school, the names of whom are so numerous as to prevent mention here, who have contributed generously of their experience; and, finally, of our whole body of teachers and pupils, old and new, who with accustomed loyalty have upheld our hands in this, as in every other movement of interest to the school. To one and all we beg to express our sincere thanks and appreciation. Brooklyn, April 25, 1906. jforetoorti I STORY is seldom conscious of its own importance, when it is in the making. Therefore, the teachers and pupils of Erasmus Hall do not realize that it is a finer institution, now that it is part of the ]nihlic school system, than when it was a private enterprise, twice as famous, and a quarter as well attended. Excel- lence commanded fame in those davs more surelv than it does at present, when there is so much more of it. We have leveled our common schools up to a point where thev surpass the hest of the uncommon ones of an earlier generation. Contrasting my own experience with that of the youngsters who are at their books to-day, T am struck by this radical difference : that, whereas I was driven to my studies, the boy in Erasmus Hall goes willingly, and even with enthusiasm, and has a loyalty to his teachers, his class and the institution that could not comport with the severities w^hich were once supposed to be at the foundation of learning. And here we see a reason for the difference. Learning! That was the old standard. It was not education. The old w^ay was to crowd facts into the student. The new way is to get him to seek the facts himself. We stood in a line and sing-songed our lessons, and had a black mark ])ut against us if we deviated from the text. Nice wa\', that, to develo]) reason and individuality! Later the folly of it became too apparent to endure, and the i)upil was taught to recite in his own language. 1diis showed that he knew what he was talking al)out ; whereas if he repeated words, like other ])arrots, it might indicate that he had not the least idea what they meant. The teacher in old times did not ba\e to know nuich. He held a book, and saw that the scholar recited the sentences, and if the unha])pv varUt put in a word which was not there, he was walloped. Oh, the welts 1 have carried home, for unwitting substitutions of my own language for that of some personage who had got into print, and knew a vast deal more about his facts and his vernacular €l)rDnicIe-8? of €ta^mu^ !paH 7 than I ever could, or will ! There is another mark in the advance : there are no punishments ; at least, none that puts the scholar in fear ; but there is what is better : he is put on his honor as a si)eaker of truth and a gentleman, and one lives up to a trust a good deal more surely than he lives down to other people's expectations. It has seemed to me that some of the credit obtained, and deservedly, by Erasmus Hall, has been due in the past to its situa- tion. It was isolated from disturbing and dissipating influences, and it has the guarantee of a partial continuance of its liberties. Some day the city will buy the entire square on which it stands for a campus that will enhance its architectural dignity, and will afiford room and measurable quiet for its classes. I fear for its usefulness if this is not done, for in time Flatbush will be covered from the park to the sea wath ten-story flats, and there will be no sun, no air and no repose, except in just such reservations as we must secure about our public buildings. It is in relative isolation that intellectual work becomes fruitful, and here we find a reason for the supremacy of Erasmus Hall among the schools of the city : the scholar has been detached ; he has been so happily environed that he could put his mind upon his work ; in this removal from the busy districts of the town it is natural that the scholars and teachers should form a more complete sodality, that there should exist an implicit mutual and self reliance, that time should avail for study which in some institutions is wasted in formalities and excitements. Two of my sons have been students in this school, and their progress has been a matter not merely for pride but astonishment, for I have constantly fallen into the way of contrasting their advance with my own experiences, a few years earlier. It seems to me that the supreme worth of education, as it is forwarded in this oldest of our academies, is that it develops individuality, whereas, under the obsolete systems of my youth the tendency was to crush it. Our way is to mass in such numbers that the individual is submerged ; we are governed, not merely as to laws, but in our faiths and customs and politics and thinking, by 8 Clironiclcs of aJraaniu.i^ l^all averages, whereas we slionld l)e governed by ideals; and it is to the purpose that, at least in this school, the pupil hnds strengthening for a ])ersonality that nature devised for the better service of man- kind, since it is always the individual, and never the multitude, that leads, teaches, inspires, reforms and recreates. Erasmus Hall to-day is doing a service e(|ual to that of Harvard a century ago. and looking not far into the future I see its useful- ness still increasing: 1 see its scientific and literar\- collections taking form, its teaching force increased, its curriculum diversified, its material being enhanced in beauty, its walls covered with works of art; I see public s])irit among its alumni ])r()\ing itself in gifts and endowments. It will continue to be a jo\- and a privilege to enter its doors. And from it, every _\ear. will gradu.ate bo_\s and girls who are destined, through its training, to take high ])lace in the world : but whatever their stations, 1 am sure that among their happiest memories will be those of ])upilage under Dr. Ciunnison and his earnest and able associates. 1 |)ay a cheerful homage to Erasmus Hall. Cii.\Ri.i:s M. Skixxi-.k. .*<- ^''^.^m Commemoration |doem Cfjc Jfounbing of (Crasmus J^all, iioUcmbcr 17, 1787 Summons; tuitljout a name, Jf lame tfjat no epe map gee, Coucf) tljat no man felt asi it came Asking l)ig congtancp— 3n tfje Ijeartg of men it tiurneb Hons £iinee, anb continually St lightens anti liftg in promise— 0\}tv tueafenesigesi tuept anb gpurneb, 0\}tv courage loon fjarbilp— iilafeing fjour bp fjour tlje immortal claim Cfjat toe follolo— cast all befjinb us; anb folloto— jf oHoUj tije leab of tije flame. iilan'g poor £ielf Still musit crabe Cfje serene anb ultimate sigfjt, ^nb must in beSire outbrabe Cbe bull beart, tfje toeafe bobp, tfje nigljt ^brougij tfje long busk of fjis breams ^ toonber floobing of ligfjt Jfar off. Sets a mark for tfje journep: ^nb fje takes tfje patfj as it gleams ^long fielbs of stubble anbbligfjt, ^ast I3oubt btuelling bark in fjis^ bitter cabe, ^nb toils on, footsore pet eber untoearp l^itfj rain=UJorn mantle anb knotteb stabe. 3rt toas So tfje ;^eekers of olb &pt toatcfj nigf)t=long toitf) a star 0i flame on tfje busk anb golb (Bi tfje lanb. Y^erp lustrous anb far, Higfjting tfje steep of tfje bill* 3t summoneb men fortb to tuar 0n tfje easp slotfj of tfje spirit Coo long suffereb; anb still Cfje sbining spaces unbar Cfjeir beautp, Inben men atoake anb are bolb ^S men, in rcqiueSt of tfte infinite toisbom Clje bjonber not to be tolb. 10 €{)ronicle^ of €rai6?mu.e? l^all Jfaitfjful tfjesie unnumbereb pears^, ^teabfast, tualking alone 0n ti)t tuap, pa£(s; tije militant Seerg— taking no pri^e for tfjeir otun ^abe tije obercoming of boubt, Cbanting sfbjeet tone on tone ^ jopous faitb in tbeir bision, Carbing tfjeir beautp out Jfrom tJje bjaiting tobite of tbe stone, (^lab toben tbe great busik gomebJbat clears, ^nb out of tbe lobelp, neber4ogt ligbt ^i)t begireb anstoer nears;. Countle£^s;, name upon name, iBo recorb, no memorp of all W\)o ran tuitb tbe tordj of flame! |3agt tbe sicourge anb tbe cup of gall ^0 tbe uttermost neebp sbore ^i)tiv ligbt fleb on, out of tbrall; ^nb tbe obermasitering beautp, ^bf potoer anb tnonber it bore €nfeinbleb in palace anb ball ^nb but anb among all men tbe same Jfire of arbor, flame of besire, Jfear of tbe bullarb's sbantf. J^ames toe bolb for a cbarm ^nb utter tuitb reberent breatb, i^ames to bib \)eavt^ tbrill tuarm W\)tvt tbep stanb, outlibing beatb - IDbibiaS, ;^appbo, J)omer— \Tain is tbe fabing Uireatb Wo crobjn tbe abibing presence— Colomba, !clugustine, !lllfreb, iHen of tbe UieSt Uibo bequeatb IDitb glorjp of soul anb migbt of arm Wi)tmit{\}t9i, for ligbt courageous, continual, lligbt to outlast t\)t last great barm. Cl)ronicle30? of (fira^mu^ l^all n Beab tf)i£J manp a pear — ^ijafecsfpeare tuiti) tofjom toe bream, Bante toitfj tofjom toe fear,— ^et tofjen bib t\)tv pass tf)e stream? ^nb tofjen pasisieb tfje man tofjo flung learning like largesis of golb agleam, JBage upon printeb page to all peopled? IS^fjen last fjag ^cfjuliert sung Strains trigfjt as tfje bap's oton beam? ^nb li^rotoning— boes Ije not pace near, i^anlp anb great, tofjen men for a little i^roto atoearp anb tofjisper of fear? ^nb tf)e loftp spirit of one, Jfrom an ible lanb tfje tofjile Hping pleaseb toitlj its Hittlebone — J^oto it came long since— manp a mile l^esttoarb tfjrougfj malice of mist anb foam! ^nb tfje i^ame, tlje libing i^ame, Erasmus, itlafees fjere more generous fjome Jfor a people in long exile — (^itjes soul to tfje great life bail? begun ^neto, neber toearp, neber bull, neber aging Jfrom splenbib fatfjer to splenbib son. ;llnb fjere tfje ligfjt libes, neber bimmeb ^fjese manp anb faitfjful pears: Hong since its glorp fjas brimmeb Cfje first lamp ober, past fears ^nb foes anb ills as tfjep came. ^nb Still to all listeners Hopal men anb lobing toomen 3)ealouslp guarbing tfje flame, proclaim tfje treasure it bears, letting free tfje trutfj, glab tvth, poung limbeb, ^nb toorfeing all, master anb learner togetfjer Jfor trutl)— glab bream tfjat tfje toorlb f)as fjpmneb. 12 Cfjroniclci^ of r fleetlp or lagginglp, (Tbe call of tlje eager spirit; ^nb out totoarb tbe ultimate bap IDb^re man's poor minb Sball be itlabe perfect foreUer, past frailtp, fame, IDitb toil, toitb ?op, toitb infinite pearning Wt folloto tfjt Icnb of tbe flame. —Mildred I. McNcnl-Swcciicv Dr. John 11. Livingston. Cljronicles of Crasmus Hall ^icaUemp 1787^X896 Willie S^ousftton, mM / SnttotiuctiDn C RASMUS HALL is a public high school of the New York City system, located in Flatbush, Borough of Brooklyn, Twenty-ninth Ward, Thirty-eighth School District, near the corner of Flatbush and Church Avenues. It was founded in 1787 as a private academy. In 1896 it was transferred, as a gift of its Trustees, to the City of Brooklyn. At the consolidation it passed naturally into the New York City system. Any complete history of the school must recognize the two main periods, that of the Academy, and that of the City High School ; and the Academy may be best pictured, perhaps, on the background of the history and the environment of the community in which the school is located — Flatbush. Flatbush is located somewhere near the center of Kings County, Long Island. When the Dutch settlers took possession of that ter- ritory, midway between the East River and the sea, it was a flat, densely wooded tract, appropriately termed Flatbush. As early as 1630 to 1634, squatters planted their cabins in these forests; but in 1636 the Indian owners were induced to deed the land to white settlers, Wouter Van Twiller receiving a large parcel of it. In 165 1 Governor Stuyvesant completed the organization by g-ranting to the settlement a town patent. In aboriginal times there had been an Indian-path running in a zigzag course, from Jamaica Bay, through the forest, to the East River. This trail became known as "Main Road" in the village of Flatbush. Crossing this road at unequal angles, the settlers estab- lished another thoroughfare which they familiarly called ''Cow Lane." The former, through the changes incident to environment and prosperity, has become dignified by the name of Flatbush Avenue, and the latter by that of Church Avenue. The corners at the Cross-Roads at once became the center of the life of the village. In plotting the town, it was thought safest, because of the sav- ages, to range the dwellings as close to one another as might be along the sides of Main Road. The farms, therefore, were laid out into 2 17 i8 Cf)rDnicIe.0 of oEraismusf l^all SlcaDcmp forty-eight lots, averaging twenty-seven rods in width, and extend- ing to the east or to the west to the distance of six hundred Dutch rods. After setting aside a parcel of land at the southwest corner of the Cross-Roads for church purposes, and converting another parcel into a "Common," the remaining tracts were apportioned by lot to the settlers. In Revolutionary times Flatbush seems to have had some sym- pathy for the King's cause ; in fact, quite a proportion of her in- habitants were pronounced Tories. The village was even occupied by British forces. The King's officers were very popular in Flat- bush society, and the atmosphere was decidedly frigid for any who sympathized with the patriotic cause. This condition of affairs led to two delightful romances that have an indirect connection with Erasmus Hall Academy — one the story of Aquila Giles, and the other that of Bateman Lloyd. W\)t i^omance of Aquila (^ilesi Every one has noticed the avenue of white pines on the right side of Flatbush as you go toward the Bridge. Until quite recent times, a fine old Colonial house stood at the east end of this ever- green lane. Even now it may be seen away back on Bedford Avenue, where the late Dr. Homer L. Bartlett moved it when he owned the property. The house has long been called Melrose Abbey, named that by the once celebrated actress, Mrs. Anna Cora Mowatt, who resided there. The romance of Aquila Giles centers around this old house. In Revolutionary times the building was owned by a Colonel Axtell, a violent Tory, who not only welcomed the British to Long Island, but received the officers as guests and furnished them royal entertainment. It is claimed that he turned the cellar of his residence into a prison and furnished it with fetters and chains for such rebels as might be sent to him by the British. When, years afterward, the bones of a young woman were found in the cellar, unless gossip is wrong, there was foundation for the ghost stories that had gathered about the place. Of old many a belated traveler over the old Flatbush Road could swear that he had plainly seen the ])alc face of the unfortunate girl looking out at one of the gal)lc windows, at the end of the avenue of pines. For his loyalty to the King, ]\Ir. Axtell was honored with the title Cfjroniclc^ of o^ra^mu^ i$M aicaDcmp 19 of Colonel in General Howe's army. It must have been in "the early (lays of the war that the following episode oc- curred. A niece of Mrs. Ax- tell was living with her. This was Miss Shipton, quite a belle in Flatbush society. It is not strange that she should meet Aquila Giles, and that he should fall in love with her. This may have been all right mitil young Giles was inju- dicious enough to be- tray his sympathy for the rebel cause. When this fact became known, however, Colonel Axtell was very angry. This attitude on his part probably made the passion of the young people more ardent. Finally, though the Tory master of Melrose Hall opened his parlors to the elite of Flatbush society, though the brilliant balls given were the talk of the town, Aquila Giles v/as forbidden to enter the house. Yet the lovers were betrothed and remained true to each other. Hostilities began. Aquila Giles joined the American army- and rose to the ofBcial rank of colonel. The war ended and he- returned to Flatbush to live. Then it was that the United States. Government confiscated the property of the Tory Axtell, and advertised it for sale at public auction. On the twenty-first day of October, 1784, Colonel Aquila Giles purchased Melrose Hall. Then he married Miss Shipton and took up his residence in the house from which, as a lover, he had been so angrily ordered. Colonel Giles lived in Flatbush for many years and was an active member of Erasmus Hall Board of Trustees until 1797- In 1809 he sold Melrose Hall to Bateman Lloyd, another trustee. Melrose Hall 20 Cfjroniclcs of oJrasmu.sf I^all 9(.caDcmp Romance of JBateman Hlopb Air. Bateman Lloyd was a native of Woodstown, Salem County, New Jersey. As far as is known, he resided there until the break- ing out of the Revolutionary W ar, when he was in his nineteenth year. Though he was a Quaker, this did not prevent him from taking an active part in the struggle. He first became a Lieuten- ant, and then a Captain, in the American Army. On February 2^/. 1778, he was taken prisoner, and remained such until April 1, 1781, when he was exchanged. Tradition has it, and without the slightest doubt truthfully, that during a large portion of his life as prisoner, he w^as lodged in the County Jail, which was then located in Flatbush, and given by parole the freedom of certain portions of the village. In those days ]\Ir. Jacob Lefferts, an honored citizen of the village, with Tory sympathies, resided in an old Dutch house on the northwest corner of the "Cross-Roads." His daughter, Abigail, was one of the belles of the town. It is not strange that the manly young Captain and Aliss Abigail should meet, and having met, looked, "no sooner looked but they loved, no sooner loved but they sighed, no sooner sighed but they asked one another the reason, no sooner knew the reason but they sought the remedy." But here the real romance begins. Captain Lloyd may have been billeted, for his meals, on the family of Mr. Lefferts, and in that case only the Tory prejudices of Abigail's father would have needed to be overcome. But there were those, possibly just village gos- sips, who declared that the limits of his parole would not allcnv the young prisoner to cross Church Lane, as the road was then called. Now Aliss Abi- gail was a very exemplary and proper young lady, and her ideas of ])ropriety, undoubtedly, would not allow her to cross the street to seek the company of a young man. I^hc situation was a variation of the "Pyramis and Thisby" affair, and the (piestion a variation of ''The Lady and the Tiger" l)roblem. Did Captain Lloyd violate liATiiMAx Llovu the conditions of his parole, or did C^rDnicIc0 of €ra0mu.0 l^all acabrmp 21 the very proper ]\Iiss Abigail Lefferts violate her ideas of propriety? Neither horn of this dilemma is tenable. Aliss Abigail had an uncle who. it is said, had watched the growing love between these two }oung people. He had no Tory scruples and he had a live sympathy for the lovers. As his res- idence is admitted to have been within the limits of the prisoner's parole, the imagination can easily picture many accidental meetings of the young peo- ple at his home. Then one day, the preacher happened there simultane- ously with the meeting of the lovers. After the marriage, which occurred January 19, 1780, it is said, ]\Ir. Jacob Lefferts overcame his Tory scruples and gave the young people his blessing. Air. and ]\Irs. Lloyd spent the greater part of their lives in Flatbush and became the ancestors of two lines of Trustees of Erasmus Hall Academv- — the Zabriskies and the Lefiferts.* Abigail L. Lloyd Jf latJjusit in l^epublican ^imes; In Republican times Flatbush continued to be of first impor- tance among the villages of Kings County. It was first made County-Town in 1668; it remained the Count}'-Town in post- revolutionary times. It contained the court-house, and when court w^as in session, the lawyers, their clients, and all interested in litigation flocked to the village. The most important Reformed Dutch Church of Kings County was located in Flatbush. Here was the best school in the county. The farmers were thrifty and prosperous, many of them becoming even wealthy, as wealth was considered in those days. Flatbush, however, was not, even after the Revolution, a large village, as late as 1840 the population being only 1,540. The dwellings were largely the residences of farmers, who were lineal descendants of the first Dutch settlers on Long Island, or Nassau Island, as it was called. The center of life continued to be at the Cross-Roads. Until 1832 the court-house and jail stood on the west side of For the facts relating to this romance, see The Zabriskie Homestead. 22 €f)rDniclc!^ of oSra.ie^mu.i^ l^all acaDemp Alain Road, nearly opposite the southern corner of the new Eras- mus Hall building. In front of the jail, in plain sight, were the stocks and whipping post. In general the county officials lived in Flatbush, but when court was in session the stages brought many strangers to the otherwise quiet village. The coaches stopped at ^Wi!#-^^^ Third Court-House^ 1796 the village inn or tavern, just north of the jail, kept by Widow Schoonmaker. The old tavern sign, with its English coat-of-arms, that swung in front, was, when taken down, placed in the Acadeniy for safe keeping, but eventually found its way into the kindling- pile of some ruthless teacher. The main part of the Schoon- maker Inn, modernized, has been con\'erted into a residence, now occupied by Dr. Ferris. At the Cross-Roads, on the southwest corner, stood the church edifice, second in point of time to occupy this site. *Tt was of stone, facing the east, with a steep, four-sided roof, in the center of which was a steeple.""^' ''The ]:)resent church is the third upon the same spot; it was completed in 1796." It was customar\- in carl\^ post- revolutionary days, for what were called the six collegiate Dutch churches in Kings County, to lia\c two i)rcaclicrs called colleagues, who in succession made a circuit of the six churches. Thus every church would Irive a forenoon and an afternoon service once every two weeks. The preaching w^as in the Dutch language until Vandcrhilt. Cfjronicle.i^ of €ra.-^mu.0 l^all academp 23 1792, when the afternoon sermon was made an EngHsh one. In Flatbush the last Dutch sermon was deUvered in 1824. The first students of Erasmus Hall, when they attended church, heard either the Rev. Martinus Schoonmaker or the Rev. Peter Lowe. The for- mer, who resided in the parsonage just south of the church, always preached in Dutch. Mr. Lowe seems to have lived in the second house north of what is now called Vernon Avenue, on the east side of Alain Road. The main parsonage "was a long, low building, without front windows on the second story, and with a steep, heavy roof, after the pattern of the first Dutch houses.""^ Returning to the Four Corners, we find on the northwest corner of Alain Road and Church Lane one of the very old land- marks, later known as the Zabriskie Homestead. ''There were none who could furnish a record of the time when, or by whom, it was built. In its heavy, sloping roof, its long, narrow front stoop, and the low^ ceilings of its roomy first floor, it showed the The Four Corners — Flatbush, 1787 characteristics of the houses built at an earlier period." Near the gable end of this house stood an immense linden tree, under wdiich A\'ashington is said to have pitched his tent, and British officers to have stationed themselves, at various periods in Revo- lutionary times. Vanderbilt. 24 €l^ronicIc,i^ of €ra.0mu.0 l^all Slcaticmp A liberty pole stood at the northeast corner of the Cross-Roads. Xear it was the Stryker Homestead, a long, low brick house. On the remaining corner stood the Neefus House. It too was of the old style Dutch architecture. "There were half-doors, with round glasses in the upper half to light the room into which the front door opened. A large linden tree stood upon the sidewalk before the door, shading the long stoop. "'^ South of this house, on a triangular lot of ground, stood the old village schoolhouse. It consisted of "three distinct buildings joined together, and evidently erected at different periods of time. The most eastern, which was probably the first erected in the town, was built of stone, and stood about sixty feet from the street, being one story high. The second was composed of wood, more elevated than the first, having a steep roof in front, and a long, sloping roof in the rear, reaching so near the ground as to admit of only a small window behind. The third, also a frame building, was of more modern date, the gable end of which fronted the street and stood in a line with it. . . . The whole fronted the south," the west- erly front room always being used as a schoolroom. The school- master lived in the building, and the east end of the house served as a kitchen. t The schoolmaster was an important personage in the village. His duties were so varied as almost to alarm the modern teacher. After 1776, he was forced to teach English to the children, though they were to be also instructed in the ordinary branches of a Dutch education. The master was obliged to give a thorough course in catechism. "He was to keep the church clean and ring the bell. Before the sermon he was to read a chapter out of the Bible, the ten commandments, the twelve articles of faith, and take the lead in singing. The afternoon duties were of a similar nature. When the minister preached in some other village, he was required 'to read twice before the congregation from the book commonly used for that ])urpose, and also to read a sermon (mi the explanation of the catechism.' " He ])rovided the bread and wine for the cele- bralion of the Lord's Supper, and the water for the administration of baptism. He invited friends to the funerals ; he dug the graves and removed the dirt from the church ; and he assumed the respon- sibilitv of vSundav School teachers. During- the sessions of the court he was employed as court messenger, th(Migh he received extra pay fr)r this serxice.i Vandcrl)ilt. t Sire nfj, p 118. t \';in(KrliiIt. pp. 5.2, 53. .'^■nneMcs^.i^^ i»..t." iyj^^iaruwiiiteSr CJjronicIe^ of €ra^mu^ I^all acatiemp 21 The Zabriskie and the Neefus houses have already been men- tioned. The J. C. Bergen house, probably erected for David Clark- son in 1735, stood, until 1902, on the northwest corner of Flatbush Avenue and Albemarle Road. On the vacant lot south of the end of Albemarle Road stood another old Dutch house, since owned by Dr. Vanderveer, but in the first years of Erasmus Hall, it was the reputed residence of Dr. Livingston, the first principal of the Acad- emy. Here he was accustomed to spend his summers lecturing to his theological students. Between the Bergen house and the court- house were probably a couple of small inns, known as the Wiggins Inn and the Van Buren Inn. South of the J. C. Bergen house lived Johannes E. Lott, and still further down the road were the homes of the Ditmas family. The Vanderveers lived on the east side of the road, south of the home of the Rev. Peter Lowe. The property on the west side of the road, from the Dutch Church on the south to what is now East New York Avenue on the north, was once held entirely in the names of the Lefferts, Martense and Vanderbilt families.""^' Where the Midwood Club now stands was, in the early settlement, the home of Senator John Vanderbilt, who, with Dr. Livingston first conceived the idea of an academy in Flatbush. There he resided in an old Dutch house. Next, probably, was the home of George Martense. In these early times there were more slaves in Flatbush than in any other part of Kings County. Nearly every family had its slaves, whose descendants remained in the family from genera- tion to generation, until a law was passed which gave the children of slaves their freedom. It is possible even now occasionally to find a descendant of the slaves of the old time a faithful servant in the family where his ancestors lived and served as bond-servant. Flatbush with its old church and its parsonages, with its court- house and its jail, with its inns and its old Dutch houses, with its liberty pole and its village school, was a fitting place to become the patron of a sounder education than other communities afiforded. To enable the children of the community to enjoy the best educational advantages possible, Erasmus Hall Academy was founded. For years the struggle to maintain it was severe. There was not a penny of profit in the school, but the founders v/ere persistent and self-sacrificing; it was maintained and it flour- ished. Its influence on the community is beyond all calculation. Vanderbilt, p. 212. 28 €l)ronicle0 of €ra.0mu0 l^all 3lcaDcmp Jfounbins an ^cabemp "To the Reverend Dr. John H. Livingston and Senator John X'anderbilt is due the credit of founding an academy in Flatbush." Dr. Livingston was eminently fitted for the position which he assumed in the matter of founding Erasmus Hall Academy. A descendant of the Livingstons who had settled in Eastern Xew York, he prepared himself fully for the occupation of a clergyman in the Reformed Dutch Church. After the ordinary schooling in Xew Milford, Conn., he, at the age of tw^elve, passed the examination and entered Yale College as a Freshman. This w'as in Septem- ber, 1758. After four years he took his A.B. degree, and three years later was awarded the A.^L degree. His first plan was to enter the profession of law, but his health failing, after a rest his attention was called to the ministry. Having determined to enter upon this line of work, he declared that he must have the best preparation possible. So in 1766 he sailed for Holland to prepare for his life work. After four years of severe study at the Univer- sity of Utrecht, he w^as graduated with the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Fully restored to health (through prayer, he claimed), he returned to America to begin his wonderfully active career as clergyman and educator. There seems to have been something remarkable in the per- sonality of Dr. Livingston, even in these formative years. His preparation for life was the best that the New World could afi^ord : his preparation for the ministry was the best the Old AA Orld could offer. His relationshi]) with the learned men of ITrccht was rather that of an equal and a companion tlian that of a student. At the close of his I^niversity career he was called to the ])as- torate of the New York City church. In this pastorate he had three colleagues, for there were four congregations in the city. The Dutch churches, even in America, were acknowledged to e(|ual if not exceed those of other denominations." ^\^t there was a schism which threatened to disrupt the entire church, l^r. r>i\'ingston became ])eacemaker, and succeeded in forming a union of the factions. During the Revolution, while the bjiglish occu- pied the City of New ^^)rk. he preached at Alban\-, Foui^hkeepsic and other places along the Hudson. At the close of the war he reopened the old Dutch Churcli in Garden Street. New ^^ork, where the remnants of the four congregations gathered around • T-iviiiRston ^T(Mno^I■^ Cf^roniclcs of aEraemus? l^all SlcaDcmp Johannes E. Lott was one of the six delegates from Kings County to the Provincial Con- gress in New York Cit}^ in 1776. He was a member of the Assembly from his county in 1784. He was first surro- gate of the county under the State Constitution and one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, becoming final- ly First Judge of that court. feet by twenty-two and a half feet, and twelve smaller rooms. There could not be found in the country a more imposing build- ing dedicated to the purpose of education. The Academy was named in honor of Desiderius Erasmus, the Dutch scholar who brought the New Learning to England in the time of Henrv \'III. "The first public exhibition of Erasmus Hall was held Sep- tember 27, 1787, 'and the scene,' says Stiles, 'was graced by the presence of the Governor of the State, several members of the Assembly, and a large concourse of prominent gentlemen of the vicinity.' ''* Before carrying the work to completion, however, the found- ers of Erasmus Elall Academy determined to make the institution as prominent as possible among the schools of the State, and as soon as things were in a condition to warrant it they made overtures to the Regents of the University of the State of New York for a charter. Their application is dated May 18, 1787, and their recpiest is, "That the Academy erected by them might be incorporated by t h e i r Honorable Body, a n d become subject to their visitation. "t The matter came before the Regents on the 17th of November, 1787. "The board resolved itself into a committee of the whole upon the appli- cations of Jacob Lefferts and others and of Samuel Buell and others. After some time spent thereon, Dr. Rodgcrs reported that the committee had con- sidered those reports of the sub-conmiittecs and were of opinion lliat they should be confirnu'd. "Whereupon it was ordered that the said reports be confirmed, and it was further orderc(( that the Secretary i)rcpare the draft of an instrument for incorporating the said John Van Der \\\\t and eighteen other persons for that purpose nominated and that he sul)mil such draft to the Attorney-General of the State for his opinion thereon. The Secretary, in conformity to the above order, laid before the board the draft of an instrument approved by the Attorney-Cieneral for the i)ur])ose of incorporating the said John Van Der Bilt and others ])y the iinnu- of 'The Trustees of ICrasnms Ilall in Kings County,' which was ordered and agreed to. * ()strrinur Corners" i n a (juiet Dutch village. Tlie first meeting of the Board of I'rustees, after the charter was Seal Adopted 1787 granted, was held in the Hall, Deccnd)er 17, 1 7S7. vSenalor John \i\u Der l)ilt was chosen President; A(|uila (liles, Secretary or Clerk, and Leter Lefferts, Treasin-er. At this meeting the President-elect offered the Board a seal for tise in 1)usiness transactions. Tlie device rep- resented ''Pomona watering a vine and the sim rising thereon, H-3 n ■^--^.•rr <->'^'- ;.; - o >__:2fc_ Ci-- 35 OTftronicle^ of oEra^mu^ I^all aicaticmp z7 with the motto, Cnstode Dea Crescet/'"^' The seal was accepted, and is still the seal of the School. The Academy was built ; it was incorporated by the Regents; and a strong Board of Trustees was created ; yet the men who were entrusted with the task of making an academy had no model after which to shape one. They were pioneers in the field of academic instruction in America. Erasmus Hall is, therefore, a growth and may be taken to illustrate steps in the progress of secondary education under the Regents of the wState of New York. ^bminisitratioit of tl)t 3^eb. 3Fof)n ^, Hibinsston, B. 1B„ 1787=1792 From the first conception of the idea of an academy in Flat- bush, Dr. Livingston was the real strength of this educational niovement. In addition to his duties as pastor of a New York City church, and as Professor of Sacred Theology for America, he, at the request of the Board of Trustees, assumed the duties of Principal of the new academy. The Trustees did not see their way clear to allow him a salary, but they generously notified him that they proposed, when the funds of the institution would warrant it, to pay him a salary which would "not be below their dignity to offer, or his to accept. "t Dr. Livingston, however, never acted as a teacher at the Hall. His influence was felt in the selection of the teachers, subject to the approval of the Board, and in his. close supervision of the work. At first the work of the Academy must have been very simple., but this was at a time when the college course was extremely ele- mentary. Edward Everett Hale is reported as saying that wliei> he prepared for college he was expected to know his Greek alpha- bet and to be able to read his Virgil. In 1788 the Trustees fixed! the standard of Erasmus Hall as follows : '*As this institution is designed to be superior to a common school, the Board resolved that no scholars be admitted into the Hall but such as have begun to write. "J Early in 1788, the first year of the Academy, the school was visited by Regents Egbert Brush and Peter Sylvester, who made the following very flattering report : * Minutes of the Trustees, December 17, 1787- + Minutes of Board, April 3 and November 9, 1788; January 23 and February 13, 1789- J Minutes. 38 Cf)ronicIc$ of (Srasmus^ I^all glcatiemp "The academies which have been incorporated by us are : Erasmus Hall, at Flatbush, in Kings County, and Clinton Academy, at East Hampton, in the County of Suffolk; the first (Erasmus Hall) consisted, at the late visitation, of 26 students under the tuition of Air. Brandt Schuyler Luptin. The Revd. John H. Livingston, Doctor of Divinity, had been appointed Principal of the Academy, and in conjunction with the trustees had signified a deter- mination that the classical and English departments shall be regularly attended to by proper teachers; the first of these departments is to comprise the Latin and Greek languages, with geography and the outlines of ancient and modern history ; the latter to comprehend the English language, reading, writing, arithmetic and bookkeeping. It is intended that the French language shall also be taught to those who request it, and elocution attended to in both departments. This institution is at present in its infancy and unprovided with funds, but the scholars have given encouraging proofs of diligence and pro- ficiency."* The Trustees, careful and painstaking in their management and supervision of the young school, early deemed it wise to have a fixed code of laws regulating the conduct of pupils and teachers. Therefore, to satisfy patrons, on the first of November, 1788, the Board adopted the following rules for the government of Erasmus Hall. CHAPTER I. 1. Erasmus Hall being incorporated agreeable to the Act of Legislature of the State of New York, the government of the institution is immediately vested in the Trustees, who are distinguished by the same name and title of the Trustees of Erasmus Hall, in Kings County. 2. The particular care and direction of the Academy is placed in the principal, who, by an instrument executed for that purpose by the Trustees, is authorized to procure teachers and superintend the general concerns of the institution. 3. The discipline is committed to the Principal and teachers, who are to enforce the laws and be exemplary and diligent in procuring the peace and good order of the Academy. CHAPTER II. OF THK TEACHERS. 1. The number of teachers in the Hall will depend upon the numl)er of students, but there shall be constantly two departments at least supplied with competent and able teachers. 2. The first department is the Classical, in which the Latin and Greek languages shall be taught, and to which Geography shall be annexed. 3. The second department is the I'.nglish. in which Reading, English, the luiglish Grammar, Writing, Arithmetic and I bookkeeping are comprehended. Report to I'o.-ird of Regents, l'"cl)rnaiy 26, 1788. Cfjroniclci^ of €rai^mii!^ l^all aicaticmp 39 4. The teachers in both departments shall mutually assist each other as far as their diligent attention to their own respective branches will per- mit, and shall always unite in promoting the reputation and prosperity of the Hall to the utmost of their ability. 5. The teacher in the Classical Department is the first in rank, and shall have a right to inspect the progress of all the students in their respective branches as often as he shall judge necessar}^, unless the Principal shall other- wise direct. CHAPTER HI. OF THE STUDENTS. 1. Every student who is admitted in Erasmus Hall shall be regularly matriculated in a book kept for that purpose. 2. No person shall be received as a student who is of evil fame or has been obliged to leave any other seminary for bad conduct, unless he pro- duces sufficient testimony of his reformation. 3. Every student shall be subject to the laws, rules and ordinances of the Hall, and his parents or guardians shall punctually pay such sums for entrance and education as the Trustees shall stipulate. CHAPTER IV. OF REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 1. As it is the object of this institution to educate youth on a liberal plan and frame their manners upon the principles of virtue and politeness, no vulgar expression or boisterous and indecent threatenings shall ever be used by the teachers, but such arguments and incentives to diligence and duty be urged as shall habituate the students to language and conduct worthy of gentlemen. 2. The obedience and industry of the students shall be rewarded at the public examinations by some literary premium, at the discretion of the Principal and Trustees, or by a public address calculated to excite and encourage them to a generous perseverance in well doing. 3. The punishments to be inflicted in the Hall shall not tend to create a slavish fear, or by any species of cruelty or meanness debase the students, but they shall be such as will operate on their sentiments of honor and gen- erosity, of duty and of piety. 4. If private and public admonitions shall prove unavailing, the teachers shall report the case to the Principal, who, together with the Trustees, shall decide the matter. CHAPTER V. OF EXAMINATIONS. I. There shall be four quarterly examinations every year in Erasmus Hall, in the presence of the Trustees and Principal and such patrons of learn- ing as choose to attend, when the progress of all the students shall be strictly inquired into. 40 €i}to\ndt$ of aBrasmus l^all 3lcaDcmp 2. Ill the examinations public orations shall be delivered by the students. 3. Private examinations shall be frequently held by the teachers at their own discretion. CHAPTER VI. OF VACATIONS. I. There shall be only two stated vacations in a year, each three weeks; one to commence in the beginning of April, and the other in the beginning of October. 2. The day following the quarterly examinations shall always be a day of rest to the students, on which the ordinary exercises of the Hall shall be suspended. 3. On New Year's Day, Easter, Whitsuntide and Christmas, the ordinary duties may also be remitted, at the discretion of the teachers. 4. It shall also be in the power of the teachers to reward any singular diligence and hard study by giving a deserving student or class the half or the whole of a day for recreation, provided such rewards be not too frequent, and that the students do not leave the village on such davs. ^&^ CHAPTER VII. OF THE CONDUCT AND BEHAVIOR OF THE STUDENTS. 1. The students shall honor the teachers and always testify a proper respect, subordination and obedience to them. 2. Every student as well as the teachers shall be punctual in attending public prayers, both morning and evening, in the Hall. 3. Every student shall be friendl}^ kind and affable to all his fellow students. There shall be no nicknames, no harsh words or angry threatenings used, nor shall anyone presume to strike another, and the teachers shall make strict inquiry to discover the cause of every quarrel and distinguish the student who gave the provocation by superior and exemplary punishment. 4. The students shall be polite in their conversation and intercourse with strangers, and shall most carefully avoid all low, vulgar, obscene words, as well as all indecency of conduct. 5. The students shall always appear clean and neat in their person and dress. They shall take ofif their hats when they enter, and continue with their heads uncovered while they remain in the Hall, nor shall any of them run or make any noise on any pretence whatever in the Hall. 6. No students shall either in jest or anger throw anything at any per- son, or offer an\' violence whereby others may be hurt or injured. 7. No student shall trespass upon the property of any person, or walk on any enclosure, or take any fruit, without hrst obtaining permission of the owner. 8. There shall be no profane swearing in Erasmus Hall. Every student who shall be guilty of cursing another or taking the holy name of God in vain or using any profane language shall be immediately called to account and punished, agreeably to the order and process hereafter specified without any discretionary pardon. 9. No student shall be permitted to practice any species of gaming, nor Old ]\Iantel ix the Office CfjrDnicIe-e? of €ra>0fmu^ i^all 3lcaDemp 43 to drink any spiritnons liquors, nor to go into any tavern in Flat Bush under any pretense whatever without first obtaining the consent of one of the teachers. 10. The students shall not break the Sabbath by any plays or diversions, but every one shall attend prayers on that day in the Hall with the teachers, unless there is English preaching in Flat Bush, when at least one of the teachers and all the students, excepting such as are excused at the par- ticular request of their parents or guardians, shall walk together from the Hall to the church and stay decently in such places together as shall be assigned for that purpose. 11. No student shall be permitted to fire a gun within the bounds of Flat Bush, nor shall any one possess powder or divert himself with pistols or any fireworks whatever. 12. Students shall not go beyond the limits of the township of Flat Bush without first obtaining the permission of one of the teachers. 13. No student shall be absent from the Hall on the stated hours for study without the consent of the teacher of the class to which he belongs. 14. All the students shall be at their lodgings early every evening, and shall by an affectionate, polite and faithful behavior endeavor to recommend themselves to the respective families where the}' board, and give no cause of complaint or dissatisfaction. 15. The students who shall not in every respect obey the aforesaid laws shall for the first offense be faithfully admonished in private b}^ the teacher of their class ; for the second offence they shall be admonished before their class; for the third they shall be publicly admonished before the whole Hall, and in case of a fourth offense, their crime shall be reported to the Trustees that they may expel such offenders. 16. As a farther inducement to obedience and good order, the Principal and teachers shall keep a book in which they shall enter the name of every student who is publicly admonished in the Hall, together with his crime, which book shall be laid before the Trustees whenever they shall call for the same. The chapters and paragraphs foregoing are to be considered as containing the laws, ordinances and statutes of Erasmus Hall ; and that none may plead ignorance of the laws, the seventh chapter, which respects the behavior of the students, shall be fairly copied and hung up in the Hall for the inspection and instruction of all concerned.* In reviewing- the history of Erasmus Hall we are brought back to the days of the militia and of general training. The projectors of the Academy, in their anxiety to guard the interests of the institution, earnestly petitioned the Legislature to exempt the pupils at the Hall from service in the militia. The reason assigned was that such service would be unjust to students from the Southern States and from the West Indies. t In early years the entrance fee to the Hall was one half guinea, and the tuition was three pounds ten shillings for English instruc- ATinutes, Xovcmlier i, 1788. t Minutes, November i, 1788. 44 Cf^ronicICiB? of a2ra^mu0 l^all SlcaDcmp tion. For instruction in all other departments the entrance fee was one guinea, and the tuition was six pounds. There seems to have been some discrimination in favor of Flatbush pupils. On being requested by the Regents to make no discrimination, the Trustees replied that ''Owing to the opposition of the inhabitants of Flatbush" they feared that the Church would employ a good teacher in the Public School, and charge only four pounds a year for tuition.* It seems froni many indications that there was a little feeling, on the part of those who were not financially interested in the Academy, against the institution. Some of the residents of Flatbush who could easily afford to send their children to school refused to do so. As it will appear later, there were those who were interested in the Commons, who refused to sign away their rights in the interest of the Hall. The story is told of an old resident who, when driving along the road with a load of grain, fell from his wagon, and on rising from the ground, cursed Erasmus Hall for the accident. This feeling, however, was overcome at a later time. One of the first movements on the part of the Trustees was in the direction of se- curing a library. As early as 1/88, one dollar was ex- acted from every pupil study- ing the languages for the pur- pose of purchasing books. The complaints of parents, however, caused this practice to be discontinued. t So the Trustees became dependent upon the Regents for library and equipment. On May 2, 1 79 1, the Regents presented the Academy with 115 books and the following pieces of apparatus : one thermometer, one barometer, one very small magnet, an electrical appara- tus, one theodolite and chair, Book Platk, AnoiTKi. 1797 0"e Fladley's (juadrant, a Minntos, 1791. t Mituitcs, April 3, 1788. ^=^-\^ orftroniclcs? of ^raamu.s? l^all 3lcaDcmp 45 small telescope, two ])risms, and a case of drawing- instru- ments. John Tod, the chief teacher, was appointed cus- todian of apparatus and books. Among the books furnished at this time were Johnson's Dictionary, Goldsmith's Roman His- tory and his Animated Nature, the Spectator, the Rambler, the Guardian, Paradise Lost, and others of similar character, some of which are still in the school library. It will be noticed that this selection was made when Goldsmith, as a historian and scientist, was an authority, and his books were very popular. The school would be considered progressive to have such books in its library. Outside of Flatbush the school seems to have become popular at once, though there is no record pertaining to the methods of advertising employed. Students came not only from the neigh- boring villages and cities and States, but from long distances. In a list of the students for 1787 w-e find tw^o from the West Indies, one from Xew Orleans, and one from France. In a list for 1788, Pennsylvania and North Carolina are represented, while there is a student from each : The Island of Jamaica, Island of St. Thomas, Island of Granada, Island of Tortolo. In 1789 South Carolina, Georgia and ^Maryland are represented, while among foreign countries, St. Croix, France, and Portugal are sending students. So well w'as the institution known that in an old leather- bound book published in Boston in 1791, a traveler from New England makes this statement: "In this State [New York] there are several academies. One of them, Erasmus Hall, is in the delightful and flourishing village of "Flatbush.""^' Again, in 1790, Erasmus Hall was subject to visitation by the Regents, and the condition of the Academy may be learned from the report recorded in the IMinutes of that body under the date of February 15th: ''Doctor (William) Linn and General (Mathew) Clarkson reported that they had, according to the directions of the Board, visited Erasmus Hall in October last (at which time there were ^2 scholars) and were highly pleased with the growing state of the seminary, the diligence of the teachers and the pro- ficiency of the scholars." Originally the number of Trustees of Erasmus Hall w^as nine- teen. This self-perpetuating Board assumed the responsibility of increasing the number of members. Candidates were elected by vote, on nomination, at any meeting, a majority vote electing to V'anderbilt, p. 201. 46 Cl)roniclc.0 of aJra$mu5 l^all Slcaticinp membership. In the period between 1787 and 1789, six new names were added to the hst of Trustees. Early in the existence of the Board the Trustees adopted the following rules of conduct, indicating that they had their own troubles while attempting to legislate for the interests of the Academy: "( i) Only one mem- ber shall speak at a time ; (2) All motions and addresses shall be made to the Chair, and standing; (3) Xo notice shall be taken of any motion that is not seconded; (4) If two members shall rise to speak, the President shall decide Avhich is entitled to speak first."* On the 26th day of April, 1790, the Board of Trustees adopted an important resolution govern- ing the membership of that body. Some members had never attend- ed the meetings of the Board, others were indifferent about at- tending. On the above date it was resolved that if any member should absent himself from the meetings for one year, without sufihcient excuse, his seat should be considered vacant. This is called the "By-Law of Limita- tion."''' This method of comi)el- ling attendance upon its meetings did not seem to have the desired eff'ect, so on the 17th day of Octo- ber, 1 79 1, a fine of two shillings was voted on members for ab- sences from the meetings of the Board. There is no record of this regulation having been en- forced, though the former one continued in force as long as the institution remained a ])rivate academy.'^ (){ student life in these (la}-s \'er\' little can be learned. Ouite a number who came from a distance boarded in the school; yet as the numl)er increased and the rooms l)ecame full, some of the students found h\ ing places in the homes of the farmers. Though their circumstances did not com])el them to take Ix^arders, the inhabitants of I'datbush entered into an agreement to take pupils into tlu'ir families and to give them homes. They furnished bed. Wn.LiAM Alexander Duer was once a student, according to Mrs. Strong, in Erasmus Hall. He was born in Rhine- beck, N. Y., Sept. 8, 1780, and died in New York on the 30th of May, 1858. By profession, he was a lawyer. He became distinguished as a writer for some of the periodicals of the time. He was a supporter of Aaron Burr. As a member of the State Assembly, he served upon the Committee of Colleges and Academies. He was the originator of the bill estabhsh- ing an income for the common schools. He became Judge of the Supreme Court, and in 1820, he was elected President of Columbia College, where he re- mained until 1842. — Cyclopedia of American Biography. Minutes. Cl)rDnicle.0 of aEra,i6^mu.s? l^all ^catieinp 47 board and washing for twenty pounds per annum. -^'' The boys undoubtedly, hke other boys, were fond of a good time. One of the Trustees made at one time complaints against a boy for steal- ing apples. In a journal kept by J. Baxter, who lived in Flat- lands, under the date of October 13, 1792, occurs the following laconic note: ''Went to the meeting to the church about the Academy boys, who had played the d 1." The money obtained by voluntary contributions was first applied to the debt incurred by the projectors, but it proved insuf- ficient to defray the expenditures. The buildings and grounds had cost $6,250. After all subscriptions had been collected, there still remained a debt of $2,500. The founders and benefactors of the institution then turned their attention to another source of in- come. A considerable tract of land belonging to the inhabitants of Flatbush and held by them in common, was directed to be sold. "The founders of the Academy held proportionate rights in the Common, and agreed that their respective proportions should be applied towards paying the debt which they had contracted, and the money obtained in this way was accordingly ap]died."t The tract of land thus sold lay east of the village, and was known as "Twiller's" and "Corlear's" Flats. After paying those inhabitants of the town who would not relinquish their rights to these com- mons in favor of the Academy, the projectors were able to reduce the incumbrance by about $1,500. By the 12th of September, 1789, the debt had been reduced to $1,064.94. It is interesting to note that in their report to the Regents in 1791, the Trustees were able to state that those who had been unfriendly had been so far won over as to contribute over one hundred pounds toward the debt of the school. In the selection of teachers, the wisdom of Dr. Livingston and of the Board of Trustees may be judged from a few facts gathered largely from the Minutes of the Board. The Principal John ]\Iacpherson Berrien, once a student at Erasmus Hall, was born in New Jersey, August 21, 1781. He died in Savannah, Ga., January i, 1856. In 1796, after graduating from Princeton, he was admitted to the bar of Georgia and rose to the position of District Judge. He served a term in the Georgia Senate and four terms in the United States Senate. From 1829 to 1831, he was At- torney-General of the United States. In 1844, he was a dele- gate from Georgia in the Con- vention of Baltimore that nomi- nated Henry Clay for presi- dency. He was one of the Board of Regents of the Smith- sonian Institution. — Cyclopedia of American Biography. Minutes. Febrviary 2^, 1791. t Lott, ^linutes, December 2-/, 1809. 48 €f)roniclc0 of a2ra.$mu.i8f l^all acaDcmp himself represented the highest education of the times, being a grad- uate from one of tlie greatest of American universities, and also from a very distin- guished European uni- versity. Among the teachers selected was James Tod, who was distinguished at that time as a teacher of Latin and Greek. Ed- ward Shepherd, who was appointed two years after the opening of the school, was paid a salary of one hundred pounds, fully equivalent to $1,500 at the present time. Albert O'Bleniss, a graduate of Queens (Rutgers) College, was appointed to a posi- tion as first teacher in 1791, at a salary of ninety pounds. In 1792 a French teacher was appointed, indicating that the man- agement of the Academy was fully alive to the demands of the times. But the action, as far as teachers were concerned, which showed the greatest wisdom on the part of the Trustees and the greatest confidence in the future of the institution, was the appointment of Dr. Peter Wilson as chief teacher. This appointment w-as extremely formal and business-like. First, the Board "Resolved unanimously that Peter AVilson, Esq., Professor of Languages in Columbia College, be called as chief teacher in this Ilall, and that the following instrument of waiting have the seal of the corporation affixed thereto:" A Window in the Old Attic Instrument. "The Trustees of Erasmus Hall in Kings County, being well acquainted with the character and abihties of Peter Wilson, I^sq., Professor of Languages in Columbia Colk'ge. and having resolved to call Peter Wilson, I'^sq., to be chief teacher in said Ilall, these persons witness that they have called and hereby do call said Peter Wilson, I'lsq., to be the chief teacher in said Hall; and to take upon himself the direction and management of the tuition of the youth, agreeable to the constitution of the said Hall; and in all things to fullil the duties of a chief teacher; and upon his faithful!}' fultilling the arfjroniclcs of OSrai^mui^ l^all glcaticmp 49 said duties, the Trustees of said Hall do hereby promise and engage and bind themselves and their successors to pay the said Peter Wilson, Esq., yearly and every year in half-yearly paj'ments as long as he shall remain a teacher in said Hall, the full and just sum of 400 pounds current money of New York; and further, the said Trustees do also engage to bring to the Hall from the landing place all the fire wood that shall be wanted and consumed in the said Hall yearly and every year ; and lastly, the said Trustees do also promise to put the said Peter Wilson, Esq., in full possession of the house and garden as heretofore have been possessed by the late teacher, and per- mit him to remain in the quiet possession thereof as long as he shall continue the chief teacher as aforesaid. "In witness whereof the Trustees aforesaid have hereunto affixed the seal of the said corporation this twenty-sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand seventeen hundred and ninety-two, by order of the Board. * "Aa. Giles, Clerk. "John Vanderbilt, President." Dr. Wilson accepted this call, as well he might, for the salary offered him was an extremely large one for those days. His appearance at the Academy greatly relieved the Principal from the t wt tt ^ JOHN Ward Hunter was onerous duties as such. born in Brooklyn, N. Y. Octo- For five vears Dr. Livingston ber 15, 1807. He was educated ,1 -r. • ' • 1 r ^1 \ 1 in the common schools of acted as Prmcipal ot the Academy. Brooklyn and attended the In November, 1792, realizing, Academy at Flatbush. He was probably, that his theological sem- elected to Congress to fill 1 J ,1 , . 1 . out an unexpired term. He mary would not be located at ^^.^^^ ^^^^^^ ^f Brooklyn from Flatbush, he determined to with- 1875 to 1876. — Cyclopedia of draw from active participation in American Biography. the management of the Hall. His attitude toward the Academy may be understood from his letter of resignation. New York, November 28, 1792. Dear Sirs : It is necessary for me to inform you that my attachment to the interests of Erasmus Hall has from the first projection of the institution to the present moment always engaged me to do everything in my power to advance its usefulness and growdng reputation. It was for that reason I consented to accept the proposals which were first made to me by the Trustees ; and afterwards, when an alteration was conceived to be proper in the general arrangement, I as cheerfully acquiesced. It was to fulfil the requirement of the law which made the office necessary that I determined to continue as Principal, and I am conscious of having been always ready to afford every * Minutes, March 24, 1792. 4 50 arf|ronicfc.0 of Cra^musf I9all acaDcmp assistance which my friendship and attention could bestow. I am now happy in seeing the prosperity of an academ}' whose welfare lies so near my heart ; and as the great end for which I consented to be your Principal appears to be fully obtained, I conceive it to be proper to communicate to the Board of Trustees b\- this letter that I wish to resign to them the office, and at the same time congratulate them upon the success with which it has pleased God in His good providence to crown our mutual endeavors. My personal friendship for Mr. Wilson, but chiefly my full confidence in his abilities and integrity which wnll ever prompt him to exert himself in pro- moting the best interests of the Academy, incline me more particularly to make this resignation in order that the office may be conferred upon him ; as he is the chief teacher, I wish him to be also the Principal. I am so fully determined in favorable sentiments respecting him that I conceive any inter- ference of a Principal is altogether unnecessary, and what on my part will never be done. I shall continue as much as ever to wish well to the Hall, and will in common with the other Trustees endeavor to promote its suc- cess. The Board will please to accept of my resignation with my sincere acknowledgments for their friendship and confidence, and indulge me in my request that ^Ir. Wilson may be appointed the Principal in my room. I have not spoken to him upon the subject, but as I judge it proper that not only the real but also the nominal care of the superintendence of the institution should rest wholly and alone in him, I hope he will not refuse the appoint- ment. With sentiments of friendship and high respect for yourself and the whole Board of Trustees, I ever am, dear sir, your affectionate humble servant. J. H. Livingston. The Honorable John Vanderbilt^ Esq., President of the Board of Trustees, Erasmus Hall. This communication elicited the following answer from the Trustees : Erasmus Hall, December 8, 1792. Reverend Sir: Your friendly letter was handed to us by the President of the Board on Wednesday evening last. The warm attachments you so politely express to the interests of Erasmus Hall claim our grateful acknowl- edgment. We are fully persuaded of 3^our benevolent heart. We cannot for- get the great exertions you have made for this seminary when yet in its infant state. You was advisedly chosen its Principal, and in that character you have distinguished yourself by your unshaken fidelity, your candor and disinterestedness. The patronizing care you have ever observed to this hopeful institution has been crowned with success, and we rejoice with you that its usefulness is so extensive and its reputation growing. At this juncture of our prosperous circumstances you are pleased to communicate to the Board your wish to resign your office as Principal. To this a'OU are inclined (adopting your own sentiments) not from any reluctance to espouse its inter- ests, but as the great end for which you consented to act under that char- acter is now fully obtained, and thereby an\' further interference on your part superseded. It is not our wish. Reverend Sir, to call in question the chronicles of a2ra0itiu$ l^all SlcaDcniti 51 propriety of those motives by which you are influenced in this determina- tion. We can only say that your resignation is received with that sincere regret which the long experience of your worth and usefulness naturally inspires, and which can only be allayed by the full confidence we place in the worthy gentleman you wish to succeed you in that office. While your useful life is prolonged, we shall ever esteem it our happiness to discharge the important trust committed to us in fellow membership with }Ou. We are proud of the connection and doubt not while Erasmus Hall is in being the tribute of gratitude will be sacred to your memor\-. We request no more but a continuance of your favor and patronage and take leave to add with the sincerest acknowledgments of the obligations you have put upon us, our mutual prayer for your personal and family prosperity. Long may you live, Reverend Sir, an honor to the high office you sustain, a patron of the cause of literature and an ornament of that society of which you are so valuable a member. We remain with the most affectionate regard. Reverend and dear Sir, your most obliged devoted friends and servants. By order of the Board. Aa. Giles^ Presiding Trustee. It will be remembered that Dr. Livingston was the first, and at that time, the only theological professor for the Reformed Dutch j^^^. g^^^^ Linn was born Church in America. He had no in Shippensburg, Penn., March salary. In 1791 the Svnod took ^f, i777. He died in Philadel- ' -^ , , - phia. August 30, 1804. He was Steps for the raising of a fund to educated at Erasmus Hall endow this professorship, and Dr. Academy and at Columbia Col- . '■ lege. After graduatmg. he read Peter \\ ilson was made custodian law with Alexander Hamilton, of that fund.* There was thus a though he finallv turned his at- . , . . , tention to the mmistrv. When Strong foundation for the friend- he died he was pastor of the ship between these two men. After First Presbyterian Church, of . . , , , . . Philadelphia. He was an au- retiring from the principalship of thor of some celebrity and the Hall, Dr. Livingston still fa- shared his labors with his IT-.,., . , 1 brother-in-law, Charles Brock- vored Flatbush as a site for the den Brown. — Cyclopedia of theological seminary of his Church. American Biography. In 1794. the Synod demanded the time of its professor, and adopted the report of a committee that was of the opinion ''That the town of Flatbush, upon Long Island, is a proper place where a divinity hall may be opened ;: and therefore recommend the same to the Synod for that purpose. A flourishing academy is there established, which will afford an opportunity for the students in theology to revise their other studies, and advance in collateral branches of education."'^ The hopes of Dr. Livingston and his friends, however, were * Tklanual of the Reformed Dutch Church in America, Fourth Edition, p. 165. t Quoted in Memoirs of Dr. Livingston, p. 216. 52 €f)ronicIc.s of ^ra,3^mu.s? i^all ^caDemp never realized. The theological seminary was finally located at New Brunswick, as a department of Rutgers. Dr. Livingston w^ent thither as Professor of Theology. Then he became Presi- dent of the college, ending thus a very active career as a religious instructor. ^t^ ^bminisitration of Br. ^eter Wilson, 1792=1805 In accordance with the suggestion of Dr. Livingston, the Trustees elected Dr. Wilson to the position of Principal of Erasmus Hall Academy. Dr. Peter Wilson Dr. Wilson was a man of considerable note in political and educational circles at that time. He was born in Ordiquhill, Banff, Scotland, November 23, 1746. He died in New Barbadoes, N. J., August I, 1825. He was educated at the University of Aberdeen, where he paid particular attention to classical studies. Removing to New York City in 1763 he found employment as a teacher. Later he was called to the principalship of the Hacken- €{)rDnicIc-e? of ^ta-e^mu^ i$M 9lcaticmp 53 sack (N. J.) Academy, where, over the front windows of his resi- dence his own name and that of his wife, cnt in the stone, were to be seen until a very recent time. In 1775 he threw himself with great zeal into the political movements that preceded the Revolution, and from 1777 until 1783 he served in the New Jersey Legislature. It is said that on one occasion, not having the means or the opportunity to reach his home in any other way, he left the Legislative halls and walked to Hackensack in one night. At the close of the war in 1783 he was appointed to revise and codify the laws of the State, and the volume bearing his name may be found among the law books of any comprehensive law library of the present time. In 1789 he was elected Professor of Greek and Latin in Columbia College, and he held this office until 1792, when he resigned to become a teacher in Erasmus Hall Academy. In 1797, after giving up his work as active teacher at the Hall, he was recalled to Columbia as Professor of Greek and Latin, and of Grecian and Roman Antiquities, which chair he filled until 1820. On the i6th of July, 1800, Dr. Johnson, of Columbia, pre- sented his resignation as president. The vacancy in the pres- idency continued a year, during which time Professor Wilson, in connection with another professor, discharged the duties of the office. In 181 7 the trustees discovered that Dr. Wilson was feel- ing the effects of advancing years, and that he was desirous of devoting his time to the higher classes in the college. There was established for his benefit an adjunct professorship of Latin and Greek, and he was appointed to the professorship.* In scholarship he was a fit successor to the learned theologian and founder of the school. As an educator he was, no doubt, the more celebrated of the two ; but as an organizer and adminis- trator he did not seem to have the ability and the power of his predecessor. The school, however, still had sufficient celebrity to call it to the attention of people from abroad. Through the courtesy of the late Dr. Homer L. Bartlett an interesting notice of Erasmus Hall has been secured. It is from a book entitled, ''An Excursion to the United States of North America in the Summer of (1794) '94," by Henry Wansey, F.A.S. ''We soon got to Flatbush, where I observed a College or Academy ; thither, as soon as the coachee stopped, I directed my steps. I was civilly received, and shown * Cyclopedia of American Biography and notes furnished by Mr. G. O. Ward, Chief Clerk of Columbia University, 1905. 54 €l)rDniclc0 of €ra,sfmus? l^all glcabemp up into the library, where I saw a very good pair of globes of Adams's, a reflecting telescope of Dolland's, and an electrical apparatus. A small, but well chosen library ; but seeing very few Greek or Latin books, I asked the reason of it ; the master informed me that though they had near a hundred pupils, from different States of the Union, and some as far off as Georgia, that very few of them learned the classics ; wdiich (from the idea that it employed too much of the boy's time) was getting very much out of fashion. There were, he said, now such good translations into English, of almost all the fine classic authors that the knowl- edge of them could be obtained very completely without a young man's hammering so long a time at hie, haec, hoc, tupho, tupso, tetupha. I smiled at his observa- ^ „ „, . , I tion, which encouraged him to Dr. Peter Wilson resigned ° his professorship at Columbia say that the habits and manners in 1820, and for his "faithful ^f Americans were so different and eminentlv useful services during a period of twenty-eight from those of Europe that they years," he was granted an an- (Ji^-j j^^^ ^^nt to breed up men of nuitv 01 niteen hundred dollars . for life. Dr. Wilson received deep Speculation and abstract his LL.D. degree from Union knowledge; for a man amongst College in 1798. He is remem- '^ 1111 bered as the author of "Rules them was no more valuable than of Prosody for the Use of | ^s he was useful in improving the Schools," "Introduction to . , t , 1 Greek Prosody" and "Com- State of the country. I thought pendium of Greek Prosody" there was good sense in his ob- together with editions of Sal- . lust, Longinus, the Greek Testa- servations. 1 he endowment, he ment and Adams's "Roman An- said, allows only six pounds for tiquities. , , , . ,, , each boy, but it generally made an expense of thirty pounds a head; the rest is defrayed by their parents. It is kept very clean and healthy, and everything in neat order. It was then the vaca- tion time. I returned to the place where the stage was waiting its hour." In the life of Erasmus Hall it seems there were seasons of great activity and seasons of great depression, ^^'ith an educator like Dr. Livingston at its head, even though that individual did not teach, the institution seems to have been very prosperous. Dr. Livingston's unusual administrative power had placed the young acadcni}' on a footing of e([uality with the best schools of the times. Its superiority, even, o\'cr many of the schools was recognized. I'lider Dr. Wilson there seems to have been a falling a\va\ in the reputation of Lrasmus Mall. 'Hiere do not seem to Ct)ronicle^ of Cra^mu^ef i$all aicatiemp 00 have been as many students from abroad as there had been. Then the finances were not properly managed. James Tod, the teacher, and clerk of the Board of Trustees, was appointed to collect the tuition from the pupils. There was sickness in the fam.ily, and not being- forced to make stated reports, he seems to have come finally to the point of appropriating some of the money to his private use. Awakening to the condition of affairs, the Trustees appointed a commitee to investigate the matter of Mr. Tod's indebtedness to the Hall. Then steps were taken to prosecute him, but he left the Hall and the matter seems to have been dropped. However, under the constant inspection of the Regents, Eras- mus Hall seems to have stood the test. In 1795 Regent Linn, who seems to have visited the Hall, reported as follows : "The Academy of Erasmus Hall con- sists of 105 students, all of them boys or George McIntosh Troup was also a student at Erasmus Hall in early times. He was born at Mcintosh Bluff, on Tombig- bee River, Georgia, September 8, 1780. He died in Lawrence County, Ga., Alay 3, 1856. He T7r, r ,1 1 • was a graduate of Prmceton young men. rifty of these are learnmg j 1 u ^^^t^^^:^^ u^ ■' o J t=> ^j^(^ ^ lawyer by proiession. He the Latin and Greek languages ; 25 writ- ing, arithmetic and English grammar ; 20 mathematics, bookkeeping and geog- served in the State Legislature and in Congress, und^r the Presidencies of Jefferson and pedia of American Biography. , , r • 1 • xt Madison. In 1816, he became raphy; 10 foreigners are learnmg the United States Senaior and later English language, and 30 of the Governor of that State.— Cyr/o whole number are learning the French language. Those who learn the Latin and Greek languages apply themselves also daily to writing and arithmetic and, as soon as they have obtained a competent knowledge of these, they begin mathematics, geography, the belles lettres, etc. Due regard is paid to the circumstances of students and their time of life. Where these will not admit a thorough education, it is conducted so as to qualify them as soon as possible for their business, but, where a regular course of study is intended, the proper measures are perfected. The price of tuition is 20s at entrance and £6 per annum. The teachers are a Principal and three assistants. The salary of the Principal is £400 per annum; of the first assistant, iiio; of the second, £75, 'and the third, who is a French teacher, has no fixed salary, but depends on his scholars. This seminary has no funds. To say that it is in a very flourishing state cannot be deemed unjust or invidious, because it possesses so many advantages. Its early incorporation, its eligible situation, and also all the experience and industry of its Principal and his assistants exalt its character and contribute to its prosperity." * In the period covered by the administration of Dr. Wilson there were several matters of importance to those interested in * Extract from Regents' Report to Legislature, February 26, 1795. 56 Cfjroniclcsf of aBra.$mu^ l^all SlcaDemp the growing institution. In 1794 another portion of the Com- mon was sold and the proceeds devoted to reducing the debt on the building. The Trustees in 1795 formulated a petition to the Regents of the University of New York to use their influence with the Legislature for securing the sum of 200 pounds annually for ten years, to provide for the teaching of moral and natural philosophy at the Hall."^ As nothing further is learned of this enterprise, it is to be supposed that the Legislature did not respond to the appeal. It was in the administration of Dr. Wilson that ]\Ir. Giles brought a charge against one, John Roosevelt, a student of Erasmus Hall, for robbing his orchard, indecent behavior toward Mr. Giles, and other conduct unbecoming a student. It was ordered, however, that the consideration of the case be postponed until the next meeting of the Trustees, wdien the evidence did not seem to justify a prosecution. t The Regents continued to Ansit the school, and the reports are flattering. In 1796 we are told: "The Academy of Erasmus Hall in Kings County, has received an accession to its numbers, before great, and consists of 125 students. A new teacher of the French language has been appointed and the Trustees have been obliged on account of the dearness of the necessaries of life to raise the price of tuition to i'j per annum. About i8o of the moneys appropriated are reserved for the purchase of a few articles of philosophical apparatus, the importation of which has been directed. This academy has no connec- tion with the village school, and the students are all boys or young men from different parts of the United States, from the West Indies and from Europe. It has no funds and greatly owes its prosperity to the established character of its Principal for skill and unwearied diligence. "t Such reports, however, do not always tell the whole truth. To the visitors the school seemed to be in a flourishing condition, yet the Trustees were bearing a great financial burden, even more than they cotild stand ; for, whether from a falling off in attendance or from other causes, on the twentieth of ]\Iarch, 1797, the Trustees found themselves in such straits that they ap- pointed a committee to wait on Messrs. OT)lcniss and Schoon- makcr, teachers in the Hall, and suggest that they submit to a reduction of salary. lioth refused. ( )n the 29th of June, 1797, Dr. Wilson resigned as teacher, and gave the Trustees twenty- five ])()unds *'to be used in l^aying the debts of the institution." * Minvites, May 2t, 179=;. t Minutes, August i, 1795. J Extract from tlic Report of tlie Regents to the Legislature, I-'ebruary 24, 1796. Cf)rDincIc0 of oSrasmus l^all Slcatiemp 57 Some information about the condition of the school may be gained from the letters which at this time passed between the Trustees and Dr. A\'ilson. To Peter \\'ilsox_, Esq. : Sir : The Trustees of Erasmus Hall have received your resignation with the most sincere regrets. They have attended to the reasons you have assigned for your departure at the present instance and are fully satisfied as to their propriety. We cannot, however, take leave of you without expressing the grateful sense we unanimously entertain of the service you have rendered to this Hall for a series of years. Since your residence among us, our warmest expectations have been realized in the growing reputation and extensive usefulness of the seminary. You have furni'shed us with the most unequivocal proofs of your strong attachment to Erasmus Hall. Your labor has been indefatigable, and that labor, we are happy to add, has been crowned with ample success. We cannot forbear at this time to take a retrospect of the enduring connection that has so long subsisted between us. We are happy to mention that the most pleasing harmony has uniformly pre- vailed in the internal government of the seminary, and that mutual confi- dence and friendship has united the members of this Board to each other and to you. As we are well persuaded that the future welfare of the institu- tion is an object in which you feel yourself interested, and having no doubt of your best wishes for its increasing usefulness, we still hope to act in con- cert and to discharge the important trust committed to us in fellow member- ship with 3'ou, and permit us to assure you that we avail ourselves with pleasure of your consent to continue your superintendence of the institution entrusted to our charge. Long may you live, Honored Sir, to reap the fruit of your useful labors, and in a good old age may you enjoy the pleasant reflections that flow from a well spent life, or a life devoted to the public good. By order of the Board, JoHAXXES E. LoTT^ President. Erasmus Hall, June 29, 1797. Letter from Peter Wilsox to the Trustees. The Presidext axd Board of Trustees of Eras:mus Hall: ]\Ir. Presidext : Happy in the recollection of the connection which for a number of years has subsisted between the Trustees of Erasmus Hall and myself, permit me through you. Sir, to express to them my gratitude for the steady support I received and the friendly attentions I experienced while employed as a teacher under their patronage. The very obliging manner in which they have been pleased to express their approbation of my past services has made an indelible impression on my heart, though the ideas it has excited cannot easily be communicated by the common vehicle of human thought. Their good wishes for me, be sure, are heartily reciprocated. I feel a growing interest in the prosperity of Erasmus Hall and an unabated zeal for its reputation, and consider the continuance of my connection with the Trus- tees and with the institution under their care as one of the greatest honors 58 Cfjronicte.sf of €ra.sfmu.$ l^all SlcaDenip of my life. I earnestly pray that the Supreme Disposer of all events may long preserve you and them, the faithful guardians of a seminary which has the fairest prospect of usefulness, when we shall be mingled with our kindred dust. P. Wilson. Columbia College, July 21, 1797. Dr. Wilson, according to the wishes of the Trustees, held the nominal ofTfice of principal until 1805. The managers of the school referred all matters of government and policy, so far as the teach- ing at the Hall was concerned, to him. A single illustration will show the wisdom of the Trustees in this matter, as well as their progressiveness. In 1798 Joshua Genet was their choice as a teacher of French, but before appointing him they referred him to Dr. Wilson for proof of his qualifications for that work. In a few days (Jan. 12, 1799) Mr. Genet returned with a certificate from Air. Marcellin, French teacher in Columbia College, stating his "ability as Teacher of the French Language." He was then appointed to teach, though he remained only one quarter.* This is an early illustration of the custom of requiring a candidate for a position to teach to pass an examination given by an expert. While in many ways the Academy seemed to be prosperous at this time, the struggle to pay expenses was a very serious one until the year 1830. There was a mortgage upon the property, and in 1797, at the death of Senator John Vanderbilt, the Trustees were put to some inconvenience to raise the money due his estate. The same year, as another illustration of the condition of finances at the Hall, the Board created a committee ''to petition the Honor- able Legislature of the State for license to raise the sum of 1,200 pounds by lottery to appropriate for the use of Erasmus Hall."t About this time the reports from year to year of the Regents' committee on visitation become somewhat monotonous. Occa- sionally, however, a new inference may be drawn from a mass of data. In 1798 we are told that there are three teachers at the Academy, and that Dr. Wilson, the nominal Principal, does not reside in the Hall, "being a ])rofessor in Columbia College." The school had 1)ccn ]:)r()fesscdl}' a l)oys' school. It is from the report of the Regent visitors for 1801 that we learn that a great change has taken place. The doors of the Academy have been opened to the girls. This report reads as follows: "The committee ap- pointed to visit Erasnuis 1 1 all report the number of pupils of both Minutes. + Minutes, November 2R and Dt-ceniber 20. 1707. €1)tomdt^ of Crasfmu^ l^all 3lcaDemp 59 sexes to be 76. Twenty-six of the males are tang-ht tlie languages and mathematics and the remainder English grammar, and the females, being 22 in number, are instructed in grammar, reading, writing and arithmetic.''"^ This point is corroborated by the report of the following year. It gives the whole number of pupils as 88, "of which 54 are lads and young gentlemen, and 34 are girls ; of the former, 34 are engaged in the study of the lan- guages, the practical braiiches of the mathematics, geography and English grammar. The rest are employed in studies of an inferior and preparatory nature. The young misses are occupied in reading, writing, arithmetic, geography and such other studies as promise to render them useful and ornamental members of society. "t From the founding of the Hall there seems to have been much discussion among the teachers, and some jealousy over the matter of rank or precedence. \Mien Mr. O'Bleniss came as teacher, the question of authority must have arisen over and over again. It became necessary finally for the Trustees to settle the matter. The Trustees did so (Dec. 8, 1798J by naming Mr. O'Bleniss "chief teacher in the classical department." His authority, when we remember that the classical teacher had supervision over the English work, was thus made almost as absolute as that of a principal. In the first two decades of Erasmus Hall history, sal- aries were by no means stable. In 1799 we find Mr. O'Bleniss, who had refused a reduction of salary in 1797, making special arrangements with the Trustees whereby he was paid proportion- ately to the money collected from the students. The proviso is also made that he is to cart his own firewood, w'hich in early times seems to have been very scarce. It is an item mentioned in almost every contract made with the chief teacher or principal. The wood had to be brought from the mainland by ferry-boat, and then carted from the landing to Flatbush. It was not only the outlay of money in its purchase, therefore, but the time, trouble and cost of carting that made it an important iteni in the payment of the teacher. It seems under this arrangement that Mr. O'Bleniss virtually rented the building, for in 1804 he was again placed on salary, the Trustees taking to themselves the management of the Hall.t as his profits for that vear had exceeded S867. * Annual Report, February 23. 1801. t Annual Report, ^Nlarch 26, 1802. J Minutes, November 17, 1804. 6o ustees it may be inferred that they still valued the services of the Principal, though they recognized that he was becoming aged. His resignation A\as accepted on the 9th of February, 1805. t The examination seasons referred to by Dr. \\ ilson were stated periods just before the spring and fall vacaticMis, when the Principal, the members of the Board of Trustees, and i)arcnts were in\ite(l to the school to hear the pu])ils examined, and perhaps themselves to ask ciuestions. The examination ]:)eriod, it will be remembered, closed with ])ublic declamation and a half holiday. Minutes, November 8. t Minutes, Mareli 16, 1805. t Minutes. C^roniclc.!^ of aEra.30fmu^ l^all acaDemp 61 It would seem strange to the youth of to-day for these staid old smooth-faced (for no one in Flatbush wore a beard before 1825) fathers to come marching into the room to ask the pupils questions. ^bmintfitration of 3^et). ^eter Hotoe, 1805=1818 Upon the resignation of Dr. Wilson, the Trustees went in search of a successor. Among the Trustees was the Rev. Peter Lowe, one of the colleagues of the Dutch Reformed Church, who resided in Flatbush. After due consideration he was chosen to fill Dr. AVilson's place. In his case the Trustees agreed that his connection with the institution should be largely supervisory. The administration of the Rev. Peter Lowe does not seem to have been a very prosperous one for the Hall. The number of teachers w^as necessarily limited. In 1806 there are the names of only two teachers men- tioned in the Minutes of the Board of Trustees.'^ These were Joab G. Cooper and Evan Beynon. This Mr. Cooper was the editor of that old classic known as "Cooper's Virgil." At this time the success of the insti- tution may be indicated from the fact that the school-yard was a pasture ground. One teacher, R. A\^. Thomp- son, at one time collected from the Board $12 damages to his pasture rights, sustained because the fence had not been repaired. t This I\Ir. Thompson came to the school in 1809, ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^'^^ advent the Trustees "Resolved, That the Board will not exact any entrance money from such students as have studied under ]\Ir. Thompson in other academies, and who are brought to this Hall through his influence. "t The Board, desirous of placing the Academy on a good finan- cial basis, applied to the Regents for help, and in 1808 received from that body $100 to be used toward reducing the debt of the institution. In this administration the strife over the matter of precedence on the part of teachers was continued with extreme bitterness. As Rev. Peter Lowe December 20. t ^Minutes, August 13, 1810. t Minutes, September 30, 1809. 62 Cf)ronicIc.sf of €ra^mu.s? l^all acaDemp early as 1808 there were complaints made to the Trustees that the head of the English work was persuading students "out of the Classical Department of the Hall to enter into the English Depart- ment."* Finally the Principal himself endeavored to exercise what he believed to be his prerogative. Thereupon the Board took action as follows : "Resolved, That the removal of Beaumann Lowe by the Rev'd Peter Lowe, as Principal of Erasmus Hall, from the Classical Department of the Hall to the English Depart- ment does not appear to be warranted by the Constitution and Laws of the Hall, but that he had a right by the fifth section of the second chapter of the Constitution to prohibit the first teacher to inspect the progress of the said Beaumann Lowe, he being under the care of the second teacher."t On November i, 1814, the Regents of the University of the State of New York demanded an annual report according to a set form.t Erasmus Hall was prompt in taking the matter up. This form was followed faithfully every year for many years, and the reports w^ere copied in the jMinutes of the Board of Trustees. They thus become a source of accurate and suggestive historic information. In June, 1813, the State Legislature passed "An Act for the establishing of Common Schools." This seems to have been the origin of the common school system in the State of New York. As a sequel to this Act, as the village school had already been incorporated with the Academy, on April i, 1814, the Legislature passed "An Act relative to Erasmus Hall." It reads as follows : "The school money granted from time to time to that part of the town of Flatbush, in the County of Kings, commonly called the 'Old Town,' under the Act entitled 'An Act for the establishing of Common Schools,' passed June 19, 1813, shall yearly and every year be paid by the several officers appointed in and by the said Act, to the Trustees of Erasmus Hall. ... to be applied to the education of such poor children belonging to said Old Town, and sent to said Academy, and who in the opinion of said Trustees shall be entitled to gratuitous education." i; There were times in the following years when this common school fund added to the income of Erasmus Hall nearly $80 a year. ^ In another direction the Trustees were searching for those ele- ments which tend to make an institution live and active and up •Minutes, October i. t Minutes, September 15, 1813. JMinutes, November 8, 1814. § Laws of 1814, Chaj). 79. II In i8-'9, $78.40. Cl)ronicIe^ of aEta-e^mU"^ i^all academp 63 to the times. In 1815 it was resolved by the Board "That the Trustees of Erasmus Hall for the purpose of promoting the lit- erary respectability of the Academy under their charge feel desirous to place their institution under the immediate patronage of the Trustees of Columbia College, and that a committee of four members of this Board be appointed to confer with the Trus- tees of said College as a Committee of that Body for such pur- pose."* It seems at this time that schools were placing themselves under the patronage of colleges, but this matter seems to have been allowed to drop or else it met with no success, as it is not again mentioned by the Trustees. The administration of the Rev. Peter Lowe came to an end at his death in 1818. There was a Rev. Peter Lowe was born April 30, 1764, at Esopus, New York, where he received his education. He pursued his theological studies with Dr. Livingston and, soon after his licensure, received a call from the six churches of Kings County. In this relation he faithfully discharged the func- tions of the holy ministry for twenty-one years ; until, the collegiate connection between the six churches being dis- solved, he accepted a call from Flatbush and Flatlands, where he continued to labor, until his death, in June 1818. Baxter has in his Journal the follow- ing characteristic note : "J^^^ic II, 1818, died, Rev. Peter Lowe, cancer in his lip." "June 12, 1818, funeral — 4 el- ders of each church as bearers and 12 ministers as pall-bearers with white scarfs. Rev. Peter Van Pelt delivered the ser- mon." ^ransiitional ^criob, 1818=1823 of four or five years succeeding this administration. On August 28, 1819, Mr. Joseph Penney agreed to teach Flatbush pupils reading, penmanship, arithmetic, English grammar, geography, his- tory and book-keeping, for $5 a year each. If the pupils desired theoretical and practical mathe- matics, natural philosophy, rhet- oric, logic, and Latin and Greek, they were charged at the rate of $7 a year. Mr. Penney seems to have been the first teacher, or Principal, for two years, when he was succeeded by the Rev. Timothy Clowes, who also served for two years. It will be remembered that the village school had been trans- ferred to a room in the Academy. When the State enacted the law establishing a common school fund, the Hall received annu- ally money from the State. In 1822 certain families from the village were allowed ten shillings a quarter for every child registered. t Minutes, February 20. t Minutes, August 24. 64 €ftraniclc0 of oSra.^mujB? l^all Slcaticmp The Academy was the scene of marriages, deaths, and births. Mr. Albert O'Bleniss, the teacher, Baxter says, married ]\Iiss Lottie Cortelyou on January 3, 1796. On the 23d of October, 1806, accord- ing to the same authority, he died at the Hall. But the most interesting of remin- iscences are those related to Adrian Hegeman, and his son, Joseph. Adrian Hege- man, who was a teacher at Erasmus Hall, ]\Iay 23, 1814, to j\Iay I, 1823, became a man of considerable distinc- tion in Brooklyn history. \\diile he was a teacher and lived at Erasmus Hall, on December 29, 181 5, his son Joseph was born. This Jo- seph Hegeman, after a long and successful business career in Brooklyn, died in Detroit, Mich- igan, in his eighty-fourth year. His life spans a period when change succeeded change in astonishing rapidity. The transfor- mation of Elatbush was, perhaps, as wonderful as that of the city of Brooklyn. ''During his long life Mr. Hegeman saw Brooklyn develop from a village to its present proportions as a most impor- tant factor of Greater New York. Illustrative of this growth, be it said, he was, at the age of thirteen, Assistant Postmaster, under his father, then Postmaster of Brooklyn, and managed the affairs of the office to such an extent that when he went home at noon to dinner he locked the office, put the key in his pocket, and the United States mail had to wait his pleasure."* ''Mr. Hegeman. on July 4, 1825, then nine years old, was the l)oy orator of the day, and stood beside Lafayette, who laid the corner-stone" of the Prenticos Library at the corner of Cranberry and Henry Streets. ''After the ceremony the Marquis lifted Mr. Hegeman u]) and held him in his arms." Adrian Hegeman Brooklyn Eagle, March 4, 1899. Cf)rDnicle>a? of €ra,s?mu3^ ]^all acaDemp 65 ^bminisitration of 3Fonatf)an W, i^ellogg, 1823=1833 At this point in the history of Erasmus Hall Academy, when conditions were not satisfactory, when the school was losing somewdiat in its popularity, the Trustees very wisely chose to the principalship ]\Ir. Jonathan W. Kellogg, A.B., A.]\I., a man "emi- nently qualified for the official instruction of youth, in all the branches of useful, classical and ornamental education. Grad- uated at Yale College, and habituated to the practice of teaching for more than twenty years (chiefly in the City of Xew York), his various acquirements and peculiarly happy methods of train- ing youthful minds" gave him "a large share of public patronage and confidence.""^ He began his work at the Hall in 1823. The late Mrs. Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt, in a private interview in 1902, described Mr. Kellogg as a popular teacher and a pleasant, genial man Avho made good progress with his pupils. "This was before the days of steel pens," she said, "and the teacher was expected to make and repair quill pens for use in the school. Mr. Kellogg was an adept at making pens, and on any day he might be seen pacing the halls of the school-building with two or three pens back of each ear. As his hair was short and gray, the quills bore no small resemblance to diminutive wings, and created con- siderable mirth among the scholars." At first Erasmus Hall Avas a boys' school. In the early years of the nineteenth century the Regents' Committee on A^isitation found girls reciting with the boys as regular pupils at the Academy. In 1823 the Board recognized the importance of the female element in the school by the creation of a Female Depart- ment, and a ^liss ]\Iaria Jones, possibly the first woman teacher in the Academy, was employed to preside over this department. So important was this phase of school work that in a circular, dated January, 1826, Mr. Kellogg informs the public that "Sub- ject to the direction of the Principal, and under the immediate care of a well qualified Governess" there is at the Hall a "School for the instruction of young ladies in all the various branches of an accomplished education. The family arrangements of the Hall are such as to secure the greatest comfort, cleanliness, health, regularity, and general improvement of the boarders." * From a Circular of Information, dated January, 1826, filed in the Minutes of the Board of Trvistees. 66 ((ri^roniclc.0 of €ra,£?mu.i^ l^all SlcaDemp Now that there was a Female Department, ]\Ir. Kellogg was able to make the Hall the center of social life in Flatbush. His "ornamental studies" attracted young ladies from a distance, among them being a sister of Lieutenant Hiram Paulding, who was then stationed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The young officer visited his sister often, and indeed became so interested in the Academy that he pursued the study of mathematics under one of the teachers. The true lode-star, however, may have been one of the Principal's young lady daughters, for his visits cul- minated in a wedding, the ceremony being celebrated in what is now the office of the Principal, Dr. Gunnison.^ The young lieu- tenant afterward became the celebrated Admiral Paulding, of the United States Navy; his sister died of cholera in the year of the great plague and is buried in the cemetery of the Reformed Dutch Church of Flatbush. As an aftermath, one day in October, 1902, three daughters from this marriage called at the old Hall, for the first time to view the scenes of their mother's youth. They were Mrs. Rebecca Paulding Meade, widow of the late Rear-Admiral Rich- ard W. Meade, of the United States Navy ; ]\Irs. General ]\Ieade, wdiose husband was at that time commandant of the ]\Iarine Bar- racks at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and Miss Emma Paulding, of Huntington, Long Island. It was with extreme delight that they passed along the halls from one point of interest to another. They entered the very room where their mother had reigned at the social gatherings of the village. They sat by the fireplace W'here, no doubt, the lovers had often sat. But eighty years had passed, and what changes had taken place ! The building had grown into a labyrinth of many rooms. Even the old fireplace had assumed the airs of a new era ; for instead of a bed of glow- ing embers to cheer and comfort, a brace of gas logs with a gaudier flame gave welcome. Yet enough of the old remained to afford the visitors great satisfaction and unusual pleasure. The connection between the Academy and the Reformed Dutch Church of Flatbush continued to be very close. In 1823 a small i)ortion of the school lot, an irregular piece with twenty-five feet frontage and a width at the rear of fifteen feet, was leased to the Consistory at the rate of one dollar per annum for a period of twenty-one years. On this lot the Church built * Mr. Peter Neefiis and Mrs. Rebecca I'tuildinij; Mcadc are authorities for the above statements. Jonathan W. Kellogg 67 Cl)rDnide^ of €ra>5niu^ l^all acaDcmp 69 ERASMUS UALL - / tUfOmx V *» IVmO" «(■ Rntmtt * K. Um**^» . .^;^.-ww7f- *,./ .-^-f . dbti. P M / m U tw' •fkn -mint Tnfl^ a parsonage.* It is probable that this lot lay along the northern side of the present school lot. A further indica- tion of the interdependence of the two institutions was a resolution of the Board of Trustees, in 1830, directing the clerk to post call-notices, eight days before its meetings, on the outer door of the Church as well as on that of the x\cademy. The period covered by the admin- Call-Notice istration of Mr. Kellogg was one of the most prosperous eras in the his- tory of the town of Flatbush or in that of the Academy. He seems to have added a new energy and to have inspired new confidence in the institution. The old building was not large enough to accom- modate the numbers who came to the Hall. The first improve- ment, so far as the building was concerned, was the erection on the east side of the Hall of a porch, wdiich cost $125. This was in 1823. The next improvement, three years later, consisted of what is usually called the *'wing," added to the north end of the old building. This wing was fifty by twenty-six feet in size. It contained four rooms, and cost $i.500.t It was that part of the present building known as rooms number one and two, the library, and the drawing room adjoining it. The plan on which the wing was erected was as follows : The total cost was not to exceed $1,400, though an extra $100 w^as to be allowed for carting the material. In addition to his former rent, the Prin- cipal, Air. Kellogg, was to pay seven per cent, on the cost of the addition. A sinking fund of $314, derived from the Regents' Fund and from the rent of the Hall, was formed ; this in four years paid for the building, leaving the institution again free from debt.t In the Kellogg days the Trustees were as careful as ever in their supervision of the educational work. They demanded that the Prncipal provide a teacher in the lower departments with whose qualifications they were satisfied ; and further, that when he had made his selection, he present such teacher for examina- tion by the Board. § In 1827 a music teacher was employed, and * Minutes, January 30, 1823. t Minutes, September 9 and 26, 1826; May 18, 1827, t Minutes, September 9, 2^6 and 30, 1826. § ^linutes, December 21, 1826. 70 Cl^rDniclc0 of aEraamu? l^all acaDemp soon after instruction was furnished in both voice and piano.* In 1829 an instructor of needlework and drawing was added to the corps of teachers. As for text-books, in 1833 the authorities determined that the following books should be used in the English department of the Hall : Colburn's Arithmetic, Web- ster's Spelling Book, A\^oodbridge's Geography, Kerklan's Eng- lish Grammar, Colburn's Algebra, Legendre's Geometry, Hutton's or Day's Mathematics, Tytler's, WHielpley's, Frost's or Herren's History. One of the teachers under Mr. Kellogg was William Henry Campbell, who was born and reared in the city of Baltimore, where his father, a Scotch emigrant, was a prosperous merchant. Erasmus Hall in 1824 One day the father said, "To-morrow, my son, I will talce you to Dickinson College ; I want you to be ready by nine o'clock." William, taken completely by surprise, replied that he did not want to go. ''My son, I did not ask you what you wanted ; I said, T want you to be ready,' " asserted the father. He was ready and was taken to college the next day. This was in 1824, when he was sixteen years of age. At the end of four years he graduated from Dickinson and entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton. In 1829, however, reverses came, and his father failing in business, he was obliged to leave his studies and become a bread-earner. After walking from Princeton to New Bruns- wick, fifteen miles, he had just enough to pay his passage to New * The late Mrs. Vanderbilt is autliority for tlic siatc-inciit tliat tla- first jiiano was ])r()iif?lit to l'"latl)iish in 1812. €l)conicle^ of €ra.sfmu!9f i^all aicaticmp n York City. Landing- from a ferry-boat, he passed up Broadway to the store of Mr. John Lefferts, of Flatbush. After hesitating a moment, the young man walked boldly in and accosted Mr. Lef- ferts as follows: "I am William Campbell, the brother-.in-law of the Rev. Thomas M. Strong, of Flatbush. I wish to go to that village, where I hope to secure employment as a teacher, but I am out of money. If you will lend me a few pennies, enough to pay my ferriage across to Brooklyn, I will repay you to-morrow." Mr. Lefiferts looked at the thin, gaunt young man, "with a great shock of red hair," and concluded from a study of his face that it would be a safe investment to lend him the money. With the pennies the young man crossed the ferry, and walked to Flatbush, a distance of five miles. The next morning he applied to Mr. Jonathan W. Kellogg, Principal of Erasmus Hall Academy, for work as a teacher. He found Mr. Kellogg in his shirt-sleeves, on the back porch, shaving. The Principal had, by resignation from a/t t t ,, ^ i ^ i ' -^ ^ Mr. John Lefferts^ who so his force of instructors, lost Mr. l ki^^ly aided Mr. Campbell, was Jonathan B. Kidder, teacher of a trustee of Erasmus Hall from the classical branches and lecturer Januar}^ 20, 1807, to September on chemistry and mineralogy, but ^8, 1829. He was President of • ,,,i- ,• .1-1- I the Board from April 29, 1829, it took hnii some time to decide in , , . , , • iff,- , , . , to his death, in the lollowing favor of this young theological September. student fresh from college. After | some severe questioning, how- ever, he decided to give the youth a trial, so he put him at once into the class-room. His salary was to be $200, and he was to teach the Latin and the Greek. At the close of the first day's work, Mr. Campbell drew a little money from his prospective wages, walked to the ferry, crossed to New York, paid Mr. Lef- ferts the few pennies he had borrowed, and returned to Flatbush, having walked the ten miles to meet his honest obligations. In these years of groping toward the best in .educational lines, the fostering care exercised by the Regents had a marked influ- ence in shaping the career of Erasmus Hall. Sometimes the vis- iting committee from Albany appeared at the Academy unan- nounced, and then there was consternation ; yet the work was inspected under the most favorable conditions for the visitors. At other times the committee notified the Trustees in advance* of a proposed visit ; then the school was seen under conditions of Minutes, December 26, 1824. 72 Cl)ronicIe0 of aEra.0mu^ i^all 3lcaDemp best advantage to the teachers. The annual reports of the visitors were usually creditable to the school and to the management. The creation of the Regents' ''Literary Fund" marks the be- ginning of quite an important era in secondary school life — the introduction of the library as a factor in educational work. The statute creating this fund* reads in part as follows : ''That the control of the Literary Fund is vested in the Regents of the University ; and that they shall annually divide the income thereof into eight equal parts, and assign one part to each separate district ; that they shall annually distribute the part so assigned to each district among such of the incorporated seminaries of learning, exclusive of colleges, within such district '■ / •4 //^^^^aJ . 'Xfi^^^ K- An Old Bill, 1830 as are now subject or shall become subject to their visitation by a valid corporate act." In 1830 this fund was placed in a con- dition for distribution among the schools of the State. As a result the Trustee "Committee on Visitation" for this year was able to report : "We have been enabled to add to the library 262 volumes; should this plan (the Regents' Literary Fund ])lan) be persevered in, the wisdom and importance of which cannot be questioned, we shall keep our library constantly furnished with nearly all the works of merit of a modern character which may issue from the press. It is now a most important appendage to the Flail, and if the means now in operation shall l)c continued, we have reason to believe it will give character to the Academy that will not suffer by comparison with any similar institution in * Recorded in the Minutes of the Board of Trustees, December 25, 1829. €l^tonicU^ of €ra^mu>6? l^all 3(^caDemp 73 the State." In 1834 the Board of Trustees raised $250 to secure a Hke amount offered by the Regents. The whole amount, $500, was spent in equipment suppHes.* In 1835, the portion of this fund awarded to Erasmus Hall to be expended for books and apparatus was $895. One of the teachers was made librarian, and his duties were to keep a catalogue of the books and a record of those that were in circulation, to collect fees and fines, and to report to the Trus- <^/^ ^.. /v mm /nr/rj/ ♦ ^J<>,^A- ^^?^ .-/^-^^j^A*^*-' '^'"^^'' ;.^J^W/ A^^^ ^^^ .^^\^/y^^, ^llIP- -^^ _^^ Jiiuk^ Z^''^' '^^-^''''^^^ '^^^ .«S^ 'f^/-^^ f-i-*^' Old Letter Found in Partition in 1896 tees once a year. The Academy library was, in fact, a circulating library. Books were lent, not only to pupils, but to inhabitants of the town and to transients. An entrance fee of $5 charged every pupil was transferred to the library fund, and this was aug- mented by fines and fees. For the use of books from the library, Flatbush people were charged $1.50 per annum, while the charges to transients were placed at the discretion of the librarian. For several years the Academy was popular and growing in Minutes, December 25, 1834. 74 €f)r0niclc.0 of €ra>5mui^ l^all Stcaticmp popularity. The school was patronized by the people of Flatbush not only, but continued to draw from long distances — Xew Orleans, other Southern cities, and the West Indies. The Hall was full of boarders, and even though it was visited by an epi- demic that threatened to impair permanently the prosperity of the school, the institution speedily recovered from the blow.* In 1826 the income from tuition alone amounted to $3,225.50, and this was increased, in 1828, to $3,726.50. In 1824, although the Trustees paid Mr. Kellogg a $1,500 salary, the debt had been reduced to $723. t In 1825 this debt was lifted and the Trustees, with wise foresight, began the accumulation of an endowment fund — a fund that, increased by small accretions, came in after years to amount to $7,500. Even before the end of the Kellogg administration the fund gave an annual return of $200 in interest. In spite of this unusual prosperity, there may be detected indications of a growing dissatisfaction with the administration of Mr. Kellogg. His salary in 1829 reached $1,500. Then there seems to have been a falling ofif, so that in 1833 it had been reduced to $800. It may be that the change in the prosperity of the village of Flatbush had something to do with the conditions at the x\cademy. The county buildings were burned in 1832 and the county-seat was changed to the now rapidly growing city of Brooklyn. The quiet Dutch village may have lost its prestige among the towns and cities of Kings County. At any rate, on December 2^, 1833, the Trustees appointed a committee to find a suitable successor to Mr. Kellogg. At the close of the school year, May i, 1834, he retired, taking with him a large number of disaffected pupils. ^timini£(tration of tfje l^etj. l^illiam J^enrp Campbell, 18344839 The conditions at Erasmus Hall at the close of ]\Ir. Kellogg's administration, were, possibly, brought on by some social or administrative misunderstanding. When the committee of the Trustees appointed to secure a successor to Mr. Kellogg made their report, they said that they had had several interviews with the Rev. William H. Campbell, "late principal of the Polytechney at Chittcnango," and recommended him to succeed Mr. Kellogg on the first day of May, 1834.* I\lr. Campbell was not a stranger to the people of Flatbush. Minutc-s, Dcccmhcr 25. i8jg. t Minutes. Dcccniher ,31. t ^Minutes. Rev. William H. Campbell 75 djronide^f of €ra^mu^ i^all ^Lcabemp ii He was a brother-in-law to Dr. Thomas ]\I. Strong, under whose supervision he had completed his theological studies; and he had been for two years, it will be remembered, a teacher of classical studies with j\Ir. Kellogg. In these years he had found time to woo and to win Miss Katherine Ellis Schoonmaker, a grand- daughter of Dominie Martinus Schoonmaker, who preached the last sermon in Dutch in the Flatbush church. He left the Acad- emy to begin work in his chosen field and spent two years as pastor of the Reformed Church at Chittenango, New York, where he had been also a successful principal of a leading acad- emy of the State. Though he had established himself as an eloquent speaker and as a preacher of power, he had been forced to withdraw from the ministry for a season to give his voice a rest, and at the very time of his election as Principal, he was con- ducting a successful private school in the village of Flatbush. Thus he was within easy reach when the Trustees needed a successor to Mr. Kellogg. The choice, therefore, was highly pleasing to the patrons of the Hall, and the school rose again to a very prominent place among the educational institutions of the country. \\ hen ]\Ir. Campbell entered on his duties as Principal, he had three assistant teachers, John W. Thompson, Anna F. V^ose and C. B. Raymond. The aggregate amount paid to the entire teaching force was $2,350 a year, but the school seemed to take new life. ]\Irs. Vanderbilt speaks of Miss Vose as her favorite teacher, and says that she soon married Mr. Thompson ; then in a short time they left the school. In Principal Campbell's last year at the Academy he had four assistant teachers, and the aggregate amount paid in salaries was $3,400. Among these teachers was Mark Hopkins Beecher, a graduate of the Poly- techney, of Chittenango. Mark Hopkins Beecher was an assistant teacher in Erasmus Hall until 1840. He was a young man and roomed in the Academy. The incorrigible boys feared his rattan. If they were truant or dull, he was accustomed to take them to his room after school hours, and while he was dressing for the street, make them sing their geography. He seems to have endeared himself to the young ladies of Flatbush. As he was bright and witty they w^ere fond of his society and spent the after-school hours promenading the street with him. It is reported that on one occasion, for punishment he sentenced a small offender to what was called 78 Cfjronicle.igr of ^ra^efmu^ ©all Stcatiemp "the dark hole." Putting the key in his pocket, he started out on one of his promenades and forgot all about the boy. At dark, when the frightened parents came in search of their child, they found the teacher with his young lady friends upon the street. The boy was liberated and allowed to go to his home. Xow a man of seventy, he remembers with a feeling of pain his experi- ence in "the dark hole.""^ This "dark hole" has left a very vivid impression in the mem- ories of several of the respected citizens of Flatbush ; for we have reached in the history of the Acad- emy a period which the memory of man can recall. This place of Dr. William Henry Camp- bell, after leaving Erasmus Hall was in the ministry as pastor at various places. In 1844, Union College conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. In 1848, Dr. Camp- bell returned to the educational field, becoming Principal of the Albany Academy. From 1851 to 1863, he was Professor of Biblical Literature and Belles Lettres at Rutgers ; then for nineteen years, he was Presi- dent of that famous college. At the age of seventy-four, he again returned to the pastorate and continued to preach until within a few months of his death, which occurred Decem- ber 7, 1890. — Memorial. confinement for the incorrigible is described as a closet on the second floor of the old building, near the stairway. ( )f the many inter- esting stories related of this period the reader may pardon another. One boy, often condemned to im- prisonment, was usually befriend- ed by his schoolmates. A\ hen the master was busy with his classes, some pupil would slip out, steal the key from the nail where it usually hung, and liberate the culprit. This boy, now a respected resident of Flatbush, relates how he spent the hours when he was supposed to be still in the closet, foraging in the teachers' rooms, devouring such fruit as he found, and spending the day in happy indolence. As the time for closing school approached, he would return to his prison, \\dien the master came around, the door would be safely locked, and the key in its place. Perhaps the teacher had learned the tricks of the pupil, and that may be why Mark Hopkins Beecher was carrying the key in his pocket that day when he forgot the prisoner. While Dr. Campbell was Princi])al of Erasmus Hall, the reforms. so noticeable in the administration of ]\Ir. Kellogg, continued. In 1834 the matter of training the public school teacher was before * Mr. I'clcr Necfus relates this story. €f)rDnicIe0 of ^raamus l^all 3lcaticmp 79 the Xew York public. On ]\lay 2d the Legislature empowered the Regents to use a portion of the "Literature Fund" providing for such training. The State was divided into eight districts, and the Regents proceeded to endow a department for the education of common-school teachers in one academy of each district. Eras- mus Hall was the academy selected in the first district; first, because the value of philosophical and chemical apparatiis and library was superior to that of other academies of the district ; second, because the course would be likely to be least expensive at Flatbush.''"^ The next year, however, the Trustees resigned the charge" because of the "high price of board in Flatbush and its vicinity, and from the fact that many of the patrons of the school have in view higher prospects for their children than teach- ing common schools. "t Having reached a period to which the memory of man easily reverts, the chronicler meets the personal element in the conflict- ing stories told about the various teachers. In matters of disci- pline, for instance, some of the elderly residents of Flatbush remember Dr. Campbell as of a mild and perfectly charming dis- position ; others, with an equal care for truthfulness, speak of him as irascible and ungenerous. At times, to punish a pupil he would pin the culprit to his coat-tail and walk briskly up and down the hall. If the ofifender were fortunate enough to keep up with the master, he was soon released ; but if he were to trip or stumble, a severer punishment awaited him. One day the clock in the old Dutch Church struck twelve, and yet the master mani- fested no sign of his intention to dismiss school. "The clock has struck twelve," announced one of the larger boys. The teacher looked at him in surprise, then quietly dispatched a messenger to Afrs. Campbell to announce that he would not be home to dinner. Remarking that matters had come to a singular pass when the teacher must be prompted in his duties by Mark Hopkins Beecher * Regents' Report. 183;. p. 108; Minutes of Trustees. February 10, 1835. ber 31, 1836. i Hough, Historical and Statistical Record, p. 545. t Decern- 8o C{)ranicle30f of oEra.smui^ l^all 3lcaDcmp a pupil, he continued the morning session without intermission until time to close school for the day. But there was a too fre- quent resort to the rattan. On one occasion. Dr. Campbell, after flogging the wrong boy, remarked that the whipping might stand in anticipation of one of which he would be deserving."^ Perhaps it is not wise to censure the principal of that time for severity in punishment, for there are indications that the young people of the Hall tried the patience of more than the teachers. The annual public exhibitions, which were usually held in the Reformed Dutch Church, were very important occasions. On these occasions the Academy boys were not always in the best of order. Things came to such a pass that the Trustees, on one occasion, appointed a committee of five members ''to preserve order in the church." Then there were little incidents which, though they may seem trivial to us now, tended to break Training Ships. Mark Hopkins Beecher ^he monotony of school life. Such finally, according to both Mrs. an incident was the experience of Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt ^ -^ ^^^^^^^^ Cremoni. This and Mr. Peter I. Neefus, left the ^ ^ Academy to accept a position boy was brought from the \Yest in the Observatory at Washing- Indies by an uncle, who registered ton, D. C. Afterward, he be- i • • .-i a i t^- ' -n , r AT .1 .• him m the Academv. It seems came Professor of Mathematics at the Annapolis Naval Acad- that there was a family feud over emy and made cruises on the -j-i^g child, and soon a Stranger was seen loitering about the grounds, acting suspiciously and mysteri- ously. The excitement reached its height one day when this mys- terious stranger was discovered in one of the enormous willow trees which stood on either side of the gateway entrance to the school-yard. He had concealed himself there to kidnap young Cremoni, but he failed in his effort. The boy spent several years at the Academy, becoming finally an inmate of Dr. Campbell's family. To the more timid girls, however, that tree ever after contained among its drooping branches a horrible kidnapper who was ready to reach down and seize them as they ran through the gateway. t About this time a new educational ideal attracted the atten- tion of the Academy management. Awake to new ideas, in 1836 the ]k)ar(l dcleizated 'I'rustees Strongs and Schoonmakcr as a * Mr. IVtcT I. Xrc'fiis. t Vouclu-d for by several residents of I'latlmsh who were pupils at the Academy wlun tlie events oeeurred. > C w > r r 00 CO ^ ^ 8i €{)ronicIe^ of €ra^mu^ I^aU acaticmp 83 committee to attend a convention called to endeavor to establish a manual labor school, and it paid the expenses of the delegates. The Trustees do not record the report of this committee.* The next year the attendance on the part of the young ladies of the vicinity and elsewhere was so great that the Trustees seriously discussed plans for the erection of a female seminary in Flatbush.t These plans, however, came to naught. In the report for 1835 may be found the following extracts, which indicate the nature of the work done at Erasmus Hall : ''Exercises in prose and verse are written every week." 'Tn higher mathematics the course is about as complete and nearly the same as that of our colleges." The pupils are taught to com- pute latitude and longitude, ''important errors being frequently detected by the pupils in their school maps." The report of the Committee on Visitation, furnished with every report to the Regents, often throws a side-light Dr. Campbell, avers Mr. upon the conditions at the school, Peter I. Neefus, was an in- and at the same time furnishes veterate smoker. He was ac- ^^^^ ^j-^^^ ^j.^ of historic interest, customed, even while hearmg „,, . • 1 • o recitations, to walk up and 1 he committee appomted in 1837, down the broad hallway smok- state : "The Principal has report- ing a long pipe. Yet no one ^^j jq. classical scholars or schol- seemed to regard this as m . , . . , , , ^ anyway incongruous with the ^rs m the higher branches of environment. English education, for whom the Board will be entitled to draw a proportionate share of the revenue of the Literature Fund. This is the largest nundDer of this class which has ever been reported, at least within the memory of your committee. It is one of the most pleasing as well as positive proofs of the present flourishing state of the institution. "t Although the Academy was rapidly approaching the fiftieth anniversary of its founding, there still remained a feeling, pos- sibly inherited, of cold indifference toward its welfare. Dr. Campbell, however, seems to have possessed the power to draw all the people of Flatbush together. The Trustees recognized his merits and recorded their appreciation of his success as follows : "While the institution has been in operation for a good many years, only a very few in this neighborhood, comparatively, have seen proper to embrace the advantages which it has offered to * ^linutes, April 5. i ;Minutes, April 14, 18, 22, and October 10, 1837. ± Minutes, December 25. 84 €l)ronicIc!5 of aSrasmus l^all 3lcaticmp their sons for a classical education. But we are happy to perceive in this respect a very great change. The sons of many of the inhabitants of the village and of the neighboring towns are now pursuing studies preparatory to professional life ; and we fondly hope that the influence of the institution will be yet more generally felt and its usefulness yet more extended. It combines at present the best advantages for a finished classical education. The teach- ers are all competent, industrious, faithful, and ambitious of their scholars' improvement."* On the 26th of November, 1838, ^Ir. Campbell resigned, his resignation to take efifect at the close of the term. ]\Iay i, 1839. I^ seems, however, that he continued to teach in the Hall for several months after his successor came. The reason for his leaving was his desire to return to the work of the ministry. He left the school in a very flourishing condi- The portrait of Desiderius tion. Certain it is that the matter Erasmus, which has hung in of income did not discourage him; the Principal s office for manv r • o o 1 r years, was painted in Holland ^OV m 1 838 the revenue from tuition at the request of :\Ir. Campbell, and interest amounted to $4,531.06, who took it with him when he , r 1 • 1 1^1 left the Hall in 1839. Principal ^^^^ ^^^^ of his descendants de- Van Kleek purchased this por- clares that when he left Flatbiish trait from Dr Canipbell for $15 j.^ i,^^ $15,000— the net savings and had it iramed, and when ^ ^' o he left the Academy, in i860, from his income for the five years the Trustees purchased it from him. — Mr. Peter Neefus. while Principal of Erasmus Hall Academv. 1839=1843 The immediate successor of ]\Ir. Campbell was the Rev. Dr. Joseph Penney, who, it will be remembered, served as a teacher in the school from 18 19 to 1821. Dr. Penney was called from the presidency of Hamilton College to preside over Erasmus Hall at a salary of $T,200.t The only light we get on the administration of Dr. Penney comes from a number of letters that were rescued from destruc- tion by Mr. Henry B. Davenport, of Flatbush. In one from a pupil in Erasmus Hall to a student of Union College, dated June 19, 1840, we glean the following point of interest: "I was greatly * Report of the Committee on Visitation, Minutes, Deccml)er 31, 1835. t Minutes of Trustees. Cljroniclc.ie^ of ^raamu.sf l^all aicaDcmp 8; disappointed in ^Ir. Penney at first, and thoug-ht several times to leave him and to return to my former school. But I am more pleased with him now than I was then. But yet he is far from being such a teacher as the one I left. He is not so obliging and so willing to help one along in his studies, which is of great advantage to a student." In another letter, dated September lo, 1840, written from Flatbush, we have selected the following statement about the Academy : "Erasmus Hall students are preparing for the examination which takes place in October. The question is, 'W^as Bonaparte a great man?' There will be a great Rev. Joseph Penney, D.D. display of talent, with folly, mirth, nonsense, beauty, flirtations, etc." It seems at this time that the pupils were given the advan- tage of a good course of lectures, and in a letter from Flatbush to a friend in one of the colleges, dated February 5, 1841, a lec- ture by Dr. Campbell is mentioned, on the following subject: "Early History of Holland ; or. Whether the Hook Caught the Fish or the Fish Caught the Hook." One of the teachers of Erasmus Hall, in a letter dated ]\Iay 5, 1841, gives a point which <-> 86 €f)rDnicle,0 of €ra.^mu0 l^all 3lcatiemp indicates that the school has somewhat fallen off in attendance. He states : "\\> have nearly fifty scholars, boarders and all, so that the room is nearly running over." Finally, from a letter dated November 8, 1841, the following statement is taken: "Dr. Penney has left the Academy, and Air. L^ercnson has taken charg-e of it. School commenced last Mon- day. The boys are much pleased with him, and I have heard some of the scholars say they have learned more during this week than they would in a whole quar- ter of Dr. Penney." Dr. Penney resigned his position on August 17, 1 841. He was succeeded by Mr. James Ferguson, who was appointed Principal on the 5th of the following October. The most that we gain from any source about Mr. Ferguson's administra- tion is that he was Principal at a salary of $1,200 for nearly two years — from October 5, 1841, to June 15, 1843 — ^^^^ t^'^^t during his administration the school was declining in prosperity. It is in- teresting to note, however, in con- nection with life in Flatbush, that at this period the village was reached only by stages. "The mail bag, not a very bulky one in those days, was taken over to the post office, nearly opposite the ~~ ~- ' — ' Dutch Church, and w^as sorted by Mr. Michael Schoonmaker, and then it was flung back to the driver.'"'' In 1840 to 1843 stages gave place to onmibuses, which ran ever}- hour. Flatbush Avenue was not o])en from l^^dton Street, however, until 1856, when the street cars came. Often, it seemed, in those days the ])rosperity of the Academy varied in inxcrsc ratio to the ease with which the outside world and out- side schools could be reached. Joseph Penney was a native of Ireland. After the proper preparation, he entered Trinity College, Dublin, but finished his education at Glasgow, in 1813. In these institutions, he was distinguished as a thorough and accurate scholar. In the spring of 1819, after being licensed to preach, he came to this country, and for two \ears taught in an Acadeni}' at Flushing [un- doubtedly Flatbush], L. I. In 1821, he became Pastor of the First Church in Rochester, where, for eleven 3'ears, he con- tinued his work. In 1832, he accepted the pastorate of the First Church in Northhampton, though his health had become greatly impaired. Later, he was chosen President of Hamilton College. After serving in this capacity for a short term, in 1839, "greatly to the regret of the trustees and against their earnest request," he resigned and accepted a call to the Prin- cipalship of Frasmus Hall. He died at Rochester, New York, in March, i860. "As a preacher, pastor and scholar, Dr. Penney had few superiors." — A Memo- rial of the Semi-C entennial Celebration of the Founding of Hamilton College. V'anderhilt. j). 301. Rev. Richard D. Van Kleek, D.D. 87 €J}rDniclc.0 of aEra.0mu0 l^all aicaticmp 89 ^timintstration of tije ^ctj. Bicfjarb Dabifi "VJan llleefe, B.23., 1843=1860 Mr. Ferguson was succeeded as Principal by the Rev. Dr. Van Kleek. When Dr. \"an Kleek came to the Hall, he had as his advisers among the Trustees five of the most distinguished men who had served in that capacity. These w^ere Jeremiah Lett, President ; John A. Lott, Treasurer; Dr. John B. Zabriskie, Secretary ; the Rev. Dr. Thomas ^I. Strong and Dr. Adrian Vanderveer. One little discordant note is found in the ^Minutes, and that is as follow^s : "The committee expresses the hope that the Trustees will patronize the school as an example and recom- mendation."^ It would seem from this that the people of Flat- bush, including some of the Trustees of the Academy, were already beginning to patronize the more fashionable schools of the neighboring cities of Brooklyn and New York. But the new Principal proved equal to the emergency and capable of over- coming all obstacles by changing the conditions. Though of slender build, he was of an iron constitution and of remarkable activity of body and of mind. He was, above all, an all-round teacher and ready for any emergency. Then he was thoroughly prepared for his work, being ''a brilliant English grammarian, an excellent Greek, Latin and Hebrew^ scholar, a good mathema- tician, and an excellent instructor in oral and physical oratory." It is not strange, therefore, that he succeeded in checking the tide toward the city schools and in rallying to his support the best element in the village. Dr. Van Kleek put new life into the old Academy. In making his first report to the Regents, he mentions three departments in the school, a ^Nlale, a Female, and a Department for the Instruc- tion of Teachers of Common Schools. Though this department was abolished several years before, here is evidence that Dr. Van Kleek w^as still trying to keep it alive. ^ The school was not without its lighter courses of study. A young lady writing to a friend at college in 1843, says : "There is a dancing school established at the Academy, and I suppose you will wish you were at home to have the benefit of it."t An indication of the extreme prosperity of the Academy at this time is the following lengthy but interesting report of * October 30, 1843. r [Minutes. December 31, 1843. $ Letter owned by Mr. H. B. Davenport. 90 Cfjronicle^ of aEra>6?mu.s? l^all SlcaDcmp Richard L. Van Kleek visitation made to the Regents by Regent John A. Dix, February 26, 1846. It is signed by Regents Dix and \\>tmore : "The undersigned members of the committee of the Regents of the University appointed to visit the academies on Long Island, and the counties of Westchester, Dutchess and Orange, report that on the 17th day of October, in- stant (1845) the}^ visited Erasmus Hall at Flatbush in the County of Kings. As it was their desire to see the institution in its ordinary state they gave no notice of their intention. On arriving at Flatbush they found that the fall vacation had commenced, and they were unable to therefore do anything more than to examine the building and inquire into the condition of the finances of the institution and the arrangements of the Trustees in respect to teachers. The Academy building is large and commodious, hav- ing been designed for the accommodation of boarders, as w^ell as for the purposes of study and recitation. The Principal, Mr. V^an Kleek, occupies a part of the building with his family, and there is a dining room with a sufificient number of dormitories for the convenient accommodation of fifty persons. The lecture and recitation rooms are all under the same roof, so that the pupils who are inmates of the establishment are never under the neces- sity of going into the open air for any academical purpose. The building stands nearly in the center of a lot of three acres, fur- nished with shade and grounds for recreation and exercise, and there is a large garden and spacious outbuildings — everything, in short, which is requisite for the Principal and his family, as well as for the pupils. The village in which the institution is situated is quiet and healthy, and though less than four miles from Brooklyn it enjoys for a large portion of the year all the seclusion of a settlement in the interior of the Stale, in all respects the position of tjic institution is admirably adapted to academical instruction ; and the undersigned learned with regret that it had not recently enjoyed its customary share of public ])atronage. The price of l)oard and tuition has heretofore been fixed at $180; Cl)rDnicle.i0f of oEra.i^mu.i^ i$M 3lcaDemp 91 but in consequence of the competition of rival institutions, some of which have recently risen up in its neighborhood, the charge is to be reduced to $150, and it is to be hoped that the number of pupils may be increased in proportion. The Principal of the insti- tution was unfortunately absent, and had locked up the keys of the library and lecture room, so that the undersigned were unable to examine either the books or the apparatus."* Perhaps one of the most significant indications of the scho- lastic condition of an educational institution may be found in the nature of the books chosen for the library. Many inferences regarding the teachers and the value of their instruction may be drawn from a study of such a list as the following, added to the Erasmus Hall library on October 31, 1846. There were fifty books in the list, and among them were Darwin's "Voyage of a Naturalist," Schiller's "Thirty Year's War," Schiller's "Revolt of the Netherlands," France's "Ora- tors of the Age," Miss Edgeworth's Novels and Tales, Chateaubriand on English Literature, "The House I Live In," Bacon's Works, and Wirt's "The Spy." Certainly such a choice of books would indicate a progressive spirit and a healthy condition so far as reading was concerned. Among other testimonials as to the worth of the library and the lasting influence of the school of this time, is that of Mr. John S. Lott. He asserts that though he was college bred, the influence of his college was as nothing compared with that of Erasmus Hall. He never goes into his own library without feeling grateful to the old school. Although in science he was given Goldsmith's "Animated Nature" as a text- book ; he owes all that he is and all of his love of books and of learning to Erasmus Hall. He was a student here until 1862. The first effort at grading seems to have been made in the Dr. Richard D. Van Kleek, born in 1804, graduated from Union College and from the Theological Seminary of New Brunswick. In his first pastor- ate, at Somerville, New Jersey, he laid baptismal hands upon the infant brow of the Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, D.D. He succeeded in turning an un- usually large number of his pupils into the ministry. Among these may be mentioned : Jacob Wyckoff, John G. McNair, John Howard Suydam, Daniel Rapalje, John S. Lott, J. Lott Zabriskie, G. W. Bacon, James Lent, Robert G. Strong, Mason Strong and John T. Rhodes. In i860, having resigned his Principalship of Erasmus Hall, Dr. Van Kleek moved to Jer- sey Git}-, where, at his own ex- pense, he erected a school house and for several years taught English branches and the clas- sics. There he died, in 1870, full of years and of good works. Minutes of the Regents. 92 €f)rontcle0 of aBra.^mu.s l^all 9(.caDcnip time of Dr. Van Kleek. The Trustees record the fact that the Principal had separated the smaller children and those in the elementary branches, and placed them under his daughter to teach, while he was devoting himself exclusively to the pupils in the classical and the higher departments of English. "The Prin- cipal finds that in this way he will not need the services of any male assistant. And while this plan has been adopted with the approbation of your committee, we are decidedly of the opinion that it will be highly advantageous to the Academy, and give far more satisfaction than the previous arrangements.""^' This seems to be in keeping with the progress Dr. John B. Zabriskie "was of education, as about this time a man of fine phisique and .1 u- 4. £ ^^ ^.^ 4- noble appearance His tastes in- ^he subject of grading was attract- dicated refinement and intelli- ing the attention of teachers. gence for he devoted his lei- ^j teaching force also received sure irom professional duties ° to the cultivation of music and proper attention from Dr. \"an to books. Fond of reading him- ^^^^^^ ^y|^-j^ j^^ ^j-^ ^^^^^^-^ ^^^^^ self, he was ever anxious to en- courage young people to study, his facultv the various members and he endeavored to promote ^^ j^-^ ^^^^^ f^^^^^i ^3 rapidly as a love of learning in the village. -^ f j He was in the habit of lending they became fullv prepared for out books from his private li- ^j^^ ^^.^^^ j^^ ^j^^^^.g l^^j enough brary, and was ever willing to ' - , ° direct the course of reading teachers of suitable preparation to among his young friends and counteract any charge of nepo- the children of his neighbors. ... — Mrs. Vanderbilt. tism. The Principal's influence ever tended toward the spiritual and the moral elevation of the pupil as well as toward his intellectual development. An indication of the requirements supposed to be necessary for teaching at this time may be traced from a report of the Trustees on the proficiency of a Miss Schafifer, whom they were about to engage. They note in their AHnutes that she had studied astronomy, natural philos- ophy, Whelpley's Compend, Tytley's History, music, moral and intellectual philosophy, Kames's Elements of Criticism, algebra and French. The higher branches she had studied with her father, W. C. Schafifer, Professor of Chemistry, Center College, Danville, Ky.t Dr. Van Kleek was one of the principals that drew students from great distances. ^Many young people came to the Academy from foreign countries. There were several from Brazil, some * Minutes, Report of Committee on Visitation, October 31, 1846. t Minutes, October 31. 1847. Cfjraniclc!^ of €ra.0mu.i^ l^all StcaDcmp 93 from ^lexico, and more from Cuba, while Sweden and Spain had representatives at the school. The Trustees report : The Principal has nineteen pupils living in his family. ''W'e cannot but hope and believe that, as the excellent qualifications of the Principal for his important office become more extensively known, the institution will enjoy as large a share of public patronage as any other in the vicinity of the city of Xew York.''"^ That the Principal was popular with his pupils is proved by the testimony of all ; and a large number of his old pupils are still living. The following letter will recall pleasant scenes to those who tised to sit in the presence of Dr. \'an Kleek, and will also express the sentiments of many others w-hose memories revert to that period. Dr. Walter B. Gunnison : Dear Sir : The request for reminiscences of Erasmus Hall turns the glance of memory down a long vista of time. I am seventy-one years of age. Erasmus Hall had its influence and made its impressions upon me at almost the very beginning of my life. W^ith two brothers and two sisters, all born in the old house at the north- west corner of Flatbush and Church Avenues, I could look out to the south and see the Academy grounds, with their flourishing shrubs and trees. We all knew there was our school. We knew^ also, if any of us w-ere in danger of becoming "limbs," there we would find the correction intended to properly bend "the twig." With childish eagerness, I listened to the talk of an elder brother, wdio was under the instruction of Principals Penney and Ferguson, to catch any news which would give hint of experience to be expected there. I entered Erasmus Hall, probably, in my ninth year, 1844. Through my entire course I was continuously under the supervision and instruction of Rev. Richard Davis Van Kleek and his assistants. Mr. Van Kleek was Prin- cipal from 1843 to i860. I had an almost instantaneous view of dis- cipline. On my first da}- of attendance, my first task w-as to reproduce in a "copy-book" two examples of script, printed on a strip of card board — "fine hand" above, "coarse hand" below. I followed the upper line, and filled about one-half of my page with work, of which I felt rather proud. Do not mention it to more than two or three of your most inti- mate friends — I came very near getting a Jeremiah Lott Zabriskie genuine "strapping" with a real strap. The ^rinutes. December 25, 1847, 94 CI&tonicIc>s? of €rai^mu^ I^all acaDemp roomful of boys was under the care of the athletic and morose assistant teacher, Mr. Morris. It was his habit, between recitations, to pace up and down one of the long aisles between the desks with a strap of old harness, coiled around his right hand, the effective end lying up along his forearm, ready to bring down a stinging blow. What was my disma}^ to find the teacher stop to examine my work, with right arm raised, and the fierce de- mand, "Why did you not copy coarse hand?" I was saved by the inter- vention and explanation of my neighboring, kind-hearted, senior pupil. They were the days of the ferrule and the rattan. All important cases were relegated to the Principal, especially those which required rattan, and which were known among the boys as cases ,,,,.„ . of "capital punishment." All the older Mary Van Kleek was given , , • , i i charge of the Primary depart- ^oys were seated m the one large lower ment on October 31, 1851. After room of the easterly wnng of the old teaching a few years, she be- building. That room was furnished came the wife of Mr Peter I. ^j^j-, .^ j ^ g^^^^ jj-j ^^^^ center, from ?^eefus. Elizabeth Van Kleek 1 , • , 1 . • , , • was a teacher at the Hall in ' ^^ich a long stove pipe ran to a chimney 1853. Richard Lawrence Van m the rear, supported at intervals by Kleek, after graduating from wires of considerable length, spreading the University of the City of ^^^^ .„,j attached to the ceiling. The New York, was employed as i- 1 . . .• . • u assistant at the Academy. He slightest motion upstairs would cause left this position to study medi- | much vibration m those wires. When cine, a profession in which he ■ an aggravated case required immediate met with unusual success. attention, the culprit would be ordered rannv Van Kleek and her sis- ^ ^, ^ , ,, ui ter, Virginia, were likewise ^° ^^'''^ "PP^^ ^^o"^' ^'"o^" ^^ ^^'^ 1^^" teachers at the Hall in the ad- ture room." The Principal would grasp ministration of their father. his rattan, and, with an injunction for Every member of the family silence, would follow, carefullv closing thus seems to have been of a ^, , .1 ^ • -r> I1 u pedagogical bent, possibly in- ^^^^ ^^°°^ ^'^ ^^^ ^^'''^^- Presently would heriting the teaching faculty i be heard the scuffling of feet, the muffled from their very fortunate par- | sound of blows, and occasional exclama- tions. The wires would be in violent vibration, and some of the waiting pupils below would call beneath his breath, "Oh, fellows! see the telegraph!" Sometime we were obliged to admit that the provocation was great. The closing exercises of each Friday afternoon were devoted to reading com- positions and delivering of orations, the Principal presiding, and the task of presenting one or the other of these efforts falling to each boy above a cer- tain age on alternate weeks. On a certain occasion, one of the eldest pupils read an excellent composi- tion on a rather abstruse subject. The Principal asked, "Mr. . Did you compose that, or did you copy it from some book?" Promptly the response came, not much to the credit of the pupil's rhetoric or logic, "It does not matter where you get it, as long as you get it." We could see righteous indignation rise in the Principal's face, as he seized his rattan and glided from his rostrum, while the pupil also rapidly left his location. With bated breath and staring eyes, the entire company saw pupil and Principal three times circumnavigate the periphery of the large room, the rattan getting in ent. C^roniclce of €ra0mu.0 l^all acaDemp 95 its blows whenever they could be made to tell, until pursuer and pur- sued, exhausted, dropped in their respective stations. Occasionally cases demanded the wisdom of a Solomon to decide. As, for example, when the Baldwin twins, who so closely resembled each other that their classmates could not distinguish them unless they stood side by side, were de- tected in some mischief, and the ac- cused culprit would say, "No, Sir ! It was my brother !" The case would be given up as inscrutable, or they would both be punished, because they both deserved it. But we came to learn that Prin- cipal Van Kleek, while insisting that "discipline must be maintained," was not all hardness. He was a good instructor and had a warm heart within. This we found when he had opportunity for confidential ad- vice and encouragement for his pu- pils. We shall always remember the kindness and care with which he accompanied three of us, classmates. Bacon, Neefus and myself, as we appeared for the ordeal of the entrance examinations at Columbia College, and also the affection and pride with which he looked upon us when it was known that we had safely passed the test and w^ere entered as sophomores in the class of 1854. Sincerely yours, Jeremiah Lott Zabriskie. Dr. J. B. Zabriskie For several years now the institution ran in a regular and an easy way. always popular and always well attended. The event of each year was the public exhibition which took place in the month of April. Dr. \"an Kleek was well qualified to exercise the young people in the art of writing and delivering orations. In 1845, from a program that is at hand, w'e find Mr. Peter I. Neefus speaking on the subject of 'TndifTerence to Popular Elec- tions," Air. John H. Ditmas on 'Tnlidelity," John L. Zabriskie, *'A Discourse on Head-dresses." In 1846 the names of ^Ir. Ditmas and Mr. Xeefus reappear on such subjects as ''Duties of American Citizens," and "Lafayette." In 1848 we meet the name of Jacob 96 Cf^roniclcs of oSra.^mujSf l^all 3(.caDemp S. Wyckoff, who spoke on ''The Msion of Belshazzar," and J. K. Smyth on "The Immortahty of Alan." In general, these exhibitions were remarkable for their length, forty-three different persons appearing on the same program with orations, compo- sitions or declamations. Interspersed with these exercises there were the usual number of musical selections. In the midst of this prosperity, at a meeting of the Board of Trustees, held April 4, 1848, the death of Dr. John B. Zabriskie was announced. He had been Clerk or Secretary of the Board since 1836, and his influence had been felt in the management of the Hall. The regard with which he was held by his colleagues is expressed by the following resolution, adopted by the Board : ''Resolved, That we deeply regret the death of our associate Trustee, Dr. John B. Zabriskie, who by his long intercourse with us, by the faithfulness in the discharge of all his duties, by the purity of his life, and the disinterestedness of his mo- tives, endeared himself not only to this Board, but to its members indi- vidually."* In 1849 Erasmus Hall was selected by the Regents as one of the institu- tions at which meteorological obser- vations w^ere to be taken. From that time on there w^as some one employed regularly to take these observations and report them. For many years this work was delegated to the Rev. Dr. Thomas M. Strong, a Trustee of the institution. In 1850 the financial condition of the institution was at its best. The permanent fund had increased to $7,500. This money was invested and returned a regular annual income. A little later, in 1859, new rates of tuition were adopted. They were as fol- lows : For spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic, $3 a term ; for these with geography, $3.50 a term ; for the same with English grammar and second arithmetic, $4 a term ; for history, astronomy and composition, $5 ; for algebra and higher English branches, $6; for classics, that is, Latin grammar and English translations, $7; for the classics wnth higher branches, $8; for all Fannie Van Kleek * Minutes. €f)rDmcIcs of aSraemus? l^all acaticmp 97 other studies, from $8 to $io a term. The year was now changed so that the vacation, consisting of nine weeks, occurred in the summer, while school extended from September to July, with the ordinary holidays. On the 27th of February, i860, after serving the Academy for about seventeen years. Dr. \'an Kleek of his own free will gave the Trustees notice of his intention to withdraw from the prin- cipalship on the ist day of ^lay following. In his letter of resig- nation he gives no definite reasons for his action ; but on the other hand, he says: 'T beg that the Trustees may not ascribe the present movement to any failure on my part to appreciate the importance of their kindness to me, nor, in a word, to anything inconsistent with the kindest, most grateful, and most respectful regard." In reply, the Trustees ex- press confidence in him and an appre- ciation of his w^ork, cherishing, as they did, a high regard for him *'as a man, a scholar, a Christian, and an instructor of youth."* Cransiitional ^eriob, 1860=1879 The next Principal was the Rev. William H. Howard, w^ho filled the position from September 5, i860, to May I, 1863. He was a graduate of Oxford, England, and had been prin- cipal of an academy at Jersey Shore, Penn. In October, 1863, the Trustees report that ''the entire discipline of the Hall has been greatly improved."" Among the assistant teachers of this time were two of some importance — Erskine Howard, educated at Western ^Military Academy, Kentucky, and Abbie Sexton, grad- uate of the State Xormal School. In i860, Erasmus Hall caught the military fever. This is not strange, for two reasons : First, the Civil W^ar was pending ; and second, Mr. Erskine Howard was fully equipped for teaching military science. On the 13th of October the Trustees began to consider the matter of organizing a military department. Before the month was over, the department was established, and twenty Jeremiah Lott, (Trustee- President, 1829-1861.) * Minutes, ^larch 3, i860. t ^linutes, October 13, i860. 98 arfjroinclcs of oEraamuj^ l^all acaDcmp Rev. William H. Howard muskets, cartridge boxes, etc., were purchased. After the Howards left the school, efforts were made in vain to dispose of this apparatus, which seemed to be of no further use."^ It is interesting- to note that at every turn in the affairs of village or county or State or Nation, Erasmus Hall Acad- emy and its loyal Trustees stood ''four- square to all the w^inds that blew^" and foremost among the inspirers and pro- moters of good citizenship. A\'hen the idea of free education for every child as a necessity for making good citizens was advocated and the State provided a Common School Fund, when the library was suggested as a necessary part of any com- plete school equipment, when the State realized that in order to have progressive schools provision must be made for the better training of her teachers, when the process of grading was insti- tuted as an improvement on the old method of grouping pupils in classes regardless of age and proficiency, when the country was calling her young men to arms in the defense of her Union and needed the private in the ranks as well as the officers trained in the military art — at every turn and at every call the Academy was ready to take the lead. The idea might be a new one and the Principal of the school might be little more than a transient, hold- ing his place in the community for only a year or two, yet the spirit of progress and loyalty and patriotism was ever present and characterized the action of teacher and trustee at every crisis in the his- tory of education. Erasmus Hall was doubly fortunate in her guardians whose lives of useful- ness were often extended into unusually long periods. When the end of service of such trustees came, the loss to the school was often a serious one. Tn this administration, indeed, there fell upon the Academy a very severe blow. At a meeting of the r)Oar(l of 1'rustees on October 12, i^'C)i, was announced the Mr. Erskine Howard Minutts, ()ct e r . ) MUSIC. ) William .\. YouNf; Jlohmliiuhn. ,JoHM Garkktson. .... JInmr. John A. Case, .. . . . . Amrrirn. John H. Ditmas, .... Washingian. MUSIC. > , John L. Zahriskir, .... Heroes of ih' Inst ^rar. Jamks Dki'KVstkk, .... Rinorx to sell. Thomas Cnfruii. ..... The VHiir'nn. R. 0. Ckommklin, . . . . CdS'ihinnrii. B. Ben.nem Rowland, . • . The Bth/r ((s a ehssic. MUSIC. Gf.oroe Lovett, .... Kfhirafioii. John L. Voinv;, A i>ftir nl' Bmsts. Ahraham DiTMA.s, .... Jirilish reiianl lo rivil lihertij. William II. Story, .... Jlim: thr hll. MUSIC. fc/i JA(•ot^ P. Vandkrs i;i.i;, . . Mnrro Jhr.arris. (jEoiuje Martkn'se, .... Nalliiiiai ili'irtir/rr. J. Oa¥EV, J. R. VANDKRVi;f;K, i r)ialn:»n<' — A. Lfvrr, \. Ditmas, ... \ An isiair ilisjioac'l of. PkTKU CoUTKLVOf. ... f-j'of/iniirr. MUSIC f > > RoHEKT O. Cko.mmi.li.v, Nnlionii!si!j'.ri-iii<'. PkTKR WvCKOFK, ..... ll'ljiX to rrild. .John R. Van dkbveer, . . , Gi r.ms in Amrricn. |JoHN Oakey, ...... Dttef/ini:. MUSIC ' .'jtiEonoE W. Warner, . . . Shnji/irii^/ of our r>ri/ Inslilnrn.n^. Abraham Vanulkiiilt, . . Tlf future. Abraham LoTT, ..... V.-uati'Mi — Thr Vn:, - - ■ Program of Public Exhibition, 1844 102 €f)ronicIc$ of €ra>5mu.i^ l^all acaDcmp Now that the nature of the trial is known, better results may be looked for hereafter. The questions proposed are open to some criticism as to their fairness and propriety, as for instance the one in arithmetic which called for an original problem in propor- tion. If we remember correctly there were two of these. We suppose that in very few^ schools are the pupils taught to make their own problems; and it is surely not just to spring such a proposition upon the class without warning and make it a test of knowledge. The sentence presented to be parsed was also, to say the least, of quite unusual English and by no means a speci- men of chaste and elegant English. It was open to considerable variety of opinion as to how por- tions of it should be construed. It was hardly the right kind of a sentence to test the grammatical knowledge of the scholars of an academy." Thirteen pupils presented them- selves for examination. The sub- jects w^ere arithmetic, grammar, geography, spelling, and penman- ship. In arithmetic there were two trials of two hours each. Twenty-four questions were given, eighteen of which must be an- swered correctly in order to pass the pupil. Four of the thirteen passed in this subject. In gram- mar, eighty questions were asked. Sixty correct answers were required for passing, and six passed. In geography, forty questions were proposed, thirty correct an- swers required, and six passed. In spelling, one hundred ques- tions were given, eighty must be spelled correctly, and four passed. Specimens of penmanship were submitted. "The writing in nearly every instance was neat, distinct and satisfactory ; but as no standard was submitted all that can be done is to send the si)ecimens to Albany for examination." The following is the summary of the results: Miss Bertha C. Gantries and Masters Charles N. Wells and Cornelius Bergen passed all the examinations, entitHng them to Regents' certifi- cates. I{^llcn (]. Dean passed in grammar, geograph}- and spclHng; Dr. Adrian Vanderveer, who had served on the Board since the 9th of May, 1818, died on July 5, 1857. His life had been an active one in many lines. In his profession, he was recognized as a leader, having served as Secretary of the Kings County Med- ical Society. In fact, the meeting preliminary to the organization of that Society was held at his residence Feb- ruary 25, 1822. In religious lines Dr. Vanderveer was a leading member of the Re- formed Dutch Church. In 1825 he organized the Sunday School for the F 1 a t b u s h Church. His death left a vacancy, extremely difficult to fill in the Board of Trustees of Erasmus Hall. 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J Jr. .v ./7/: .I'll- , 33n r- « \H r •Jd-^-art^/ /ru a p . ^2.fJ 3r-3f JO ^■y 'fru LVrf// 36, rt j..i, CO S.t: y.3/ J. s /.3: j':r. y. > ss i ■ h //J /.. .. 330 ^ /k /. Ae ,y^u ■^/f^^ . - S'^^^/, ZSS, (^/Cc^.^y. ^fs: . /t:*<^-^, 633 J'j^<^< . /J .t.,.. */ '^e-t' M-i/^'n^ Jfi'^ir/ e<.^.c SJr" t^c^cy /fu^**iz:// i/^y^ /y 'f r../:^,y/' S' z-' ^y,)/. ^/^r* ^^^ /'.< ,,y y Oi.i) Wkatiikk Kf.i'ort, hS^^ J . ///.frr//'r^//^r'ff^ '9rj/**w^/^J. 4L../ /^ txr/Cj c/ .^tf^TfO-^ />^ /WX *^'tt,^ ^f*tr/ J^i-<~f^- t^A-r/r^'y^ /,.^'r/^ / / / / /^ rrrt/ /-ffa/i/ ?^ut*^i^pw ncrirf/ (."///. c//f/iri/tr//y ^ i hrrf/cccA/,,// /,e.a/y // >i/,//i Ar // /r^/r/ ^eittr ^, // //Atr ,,,/,/ J ,4, //^/i y/ Old Weather Report, 1833 112 Cf)r0nicle.s of aSrasmug l^all StcaDcnip relating the circumstances of his first coming to Erasmus Hall,"^ Dr. Campbell spoke somewhat as follows : I formed friendships then that last till this daj-, those of them that are still living. I was made President after the resignation of Dr. Kellogg, and I did the best I could to discharge my arduous duties. I am glad to be here to-night. Hallowed memories surround us. I would like to mention some of those I loved and who have passed away, but will refrain from doing so for fear that in mj- haste I might overlook some of the honored names. The living of you among whom I have lived so long I love, and of those dead I speak but words of reverence. I love Flatbush and love the people who live here. What a blessing it will be if the second century of our Academy shall be better and younger than it ever has been. That this may be and that God's blessings may rest upon you all is my constant pra3'er. As the representative of the Regents. Dr. St. Clair ]\IcKelway next spoke. He said that he had been much impressed with the interest and suggest- iveness of Dr. Ferris' history, and with the ability and attractiveness of Dr. Campbell's reminiscences. To both gentlemen he paid a high compliment. The three points which he elaborated were: (i) The steady progress and improvements in methods which the Academy had made in one hundred years; (2) the constancy with which it adhered to its foundation principles of morality and religion, and (3) the creditable fact that it had never called on the town for tax money but had supported itself. He closed b}' adjur- ing the people to emulate and even to exceed in the future the excellent record which Erasmus Hall had made in the past. The next address was deliv- ered by the Rev. J. Howard Suydam, D.D., of Xew Jersey, who represented the sttidents of the Academy. He was a Flatlands boy in earlier days, and gave reminiscences con- nected with his school days in the Academy. I lived, said he, in New Lots, when a very small boy, and I recol- lect the May anniversaries when we had to meet in the church here. I Mrs. Robert Grier Strong was a pupil of Erasmus Hall. She is closely connected with the insti- tution through a long line of an- cestors. She is the daughter of Dr. John B. Zabriskie, the grand- daughter of Jeremiah Lott, the great grand-daughter of Bateman Llo\d, the great great grand- daughter of Jacob Lefferts, the sister of Dr. J. L. Zabriskie (de- ceased) and the aunt of Dr. J. B. Zabriskie, Jr., all of whom were Trustees of the Academy. As Mr. Jacob Lefferts was a charter mem- ber of the Board of Trustees of the Academy and Dr. J. B. Za- briskie, Jr., was elected a Trustee at the last meeting of the Board before the transfer of the school property to the city of Brooklyn, ]\Irs. Strong is a connecting fig- ure between tlie very old and the very new. The author of this part of the Chronicles desires in this place to acknowledge his in- debtedness to Mrs Strong for help, suggestions and material. See p. 70. Cf)roniclc.0 of o^raamus l^all SlcaDcmp lu was attending the district school at New Lots. I remember that I used to peep through the fence at Erasmus Hall and say that one da}- I would go to school there. I remember that when Dr. Zabriskie, the father of our present friend, brought the first school library to Flatlands, I read through every book in that library. When I came to Flatbush to school, I noted, what I also noted in the last catalogue, that everybody was related to everybody else. I thought Flatbush was the most beautiful place I had ever seen, and a good deal of that feeling lingers with me yet. The Rev. Mr. Van Kleek was then in charge. He was a thorough-going teacher, going to the roots of things. In two years he prepared me in Latin grammar for the junior class in college. We used to pronounce differently in those days from what they do now. I think there ought to be a convention to settle this matter of Greek and Latin pronunciation so that one shall not say "Cicero," and another "Kickero." It is a very great trial to those of us who try to keep up with the times. I wish I had the time to mention some of the boys of that day. They are a good ways from boyhood now. They are scattered all over the world. So the influences of the Academy have radiated through all the earth. In conclusion the speaker recommended the example of Erasmus as a tvpe of sound scholarship ,. ,. -^ 1 Tr 1 - Mrs. Gertrude Lefferts and polite literature, and Vanderwort, ot Vaxderbilt was the daughter Leyden, as an example of the man who of John Lefferts, who was a would not vield to the enemies of re- Trustee of Erasmus Hall Acad- ligious truth. The two men, he said, emy from 1807 until his death , J 1 1 • 1 1- u u in 1820; the wife of Judge presented an example which should be j^^^^ Vanderbilt, a Trustee emulated by Erasmus Hall. | from 1841 to 1877, and the T-1 -n T-^ T^- 11 . 1 mother of Lefferts Vanderbilt, The Rev. Dr. A\ ells next read a ^ Trustee from 1878 to 1895. most interesting paper prepared She was a pupil under Mr. Kel- by Mrs. Vanderbilt, of Flatbush. !°^^ ^"^k °';, Campbell She -^ . ^ ^ is remembered as the author ot entitled "Reminiscences of School a "Social Historv of Flatbush." Days at Erasmus Hall." It gave ^ the old school from the coigne of vantage of the girls' school- room. ]\Irs. A'anderbilt wrote as follows: With all the congratulations presented on this pleasant occasion, we mothers who were once children here wish also to add our greeting. We who have sons and daughters to take our places can recall many pleasant memories of days spent at school in Erasmus Hall, our alma mater as well as 3'ours. Accepting the privilege accorded us, we would add our quota by introducing the social element in the form of some reminiscences of the girls' school-room. Life being in the decline with us, there ma}- be a sunset glow thrown over these memories irradiating them with brighter colors than were theirs at the dawn. Some of us here present to-night (now past the meridian of life) may go back as far as when Mr. Kellogg entered our names on his roll-book as children in his primary department. That age and this are marked with differ- ences every step of the way, and the changes 'twixt now and then challenge a contrast from the very beginning, for those were the days of quill pens. Steel pens formed no part of our school outfit. A neat bundle of goose quills always had their place on the teacher's desk. . . . He (Mr. Kellogg) was 8 114 €{)toniclc>6^ of €ra^mu^ l^all acaDemp always pleasant and gentle, ever ready with his sharp penknife to mend a sputtering quill or to accept it as an excuse for poor penmanship or for want of neatness in a copy-book. In those days we walked to school through the rural beauty of the village street, sometimes loitering under the shade trees, sometimes hurrying as we heard the tinkle of the cowbell as the herd were driven home from pasture and we were afraid to pass some dilatory animal that lingered to graze on the sidewalk. On rainy days no public conveyance gave us the facility now offered to reach school at a cost of five cents. Some accommodating parent harnessed up his horses, and the wagon stopped and took in all the neighbors' children who lived on the way. As a means of heating the houses furnaces were then unknown. Our school-rooms were heated by cast-iron stoves. We can recall one of these in a recita- tion room. Curiously enough it had an oven in it with two doors open- ing out on either side. The class sat close to this stove — half on one side and half on the other. The French teacher often wondered why the covers of our books were so scorched. It would not be telling tales out of school at this late hour to explain how it happened; but perhaps it might betray to this gen- eration the stratagems of their grandparents when lessons were not properly committed to memory, I am free to admit, however, that there is very little in this direction that we could teach the children of the present day. . . . The boys had a yearly exhibition, and on that occasion a platform was erected in front of the pulpit in the church. We thought our brothers and cousins and young friends who spoke upon th;it platform as clcxincnt as ever Webster or Clay might have been. We expected them in after years to fill the highest places of honor that the nation could bestow. Nothing less than pubhc recognition from the Mississii)pi to the Atlantic Coast was considered to be their just due. At one of these exhibitions instead of selections from the celebrated orators and poets of the worhl, tlic l>oys were taught to take sides in a discussion on the character of Napoleon Uonaparte. . . . Among our teachers we recall with affectionate respect Dr. Campbell. We look up to him, however, with something like awe, because it was \vhisi)crc(l among us that he could speak in Latin, Greek and I~lel)rew just as easily as he could in ICngJish. We also recall Professor Mark 1 iopkins Beecher, who among Dr. Adrian Vanderveer aEf)rDnicfc,0 of ^ra-^mu^ l^all 3lcatiemp II other things taught us botany and took his class out in the woods botanizing. As on these occasions we begged for the tin cake boxes from the pantries in which to collect our specimens (and carry cake) these botanizing excursions were not as popular with our parents as with ourselves. We were delighted with the tramp through the woods which this method of acquiring knowledge afforded us. And here again is a contrast between past and present, for Flatbush was encircled with woods then. Now, chestnut, oak and hickory have dis- appeared like the frailest wild flowers they sheltered. This being before the days of sewing machines, one afternoon in the week we were taught to sew. It Dr. Homer Lyman Bartlett, Trustee of Erasmus Hall after October 8, 1870, was a native of Jericho, Vermont. Contrary to his father's wish, he pur- sued the study of medicine, graduating from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. Establishing himself in Flatbush. in 1857. he attended to an extensive and exacting practice from Brooklyn to the sea. Ever fore- most in promoting improve- ments in the village, he was the originator of the Health and Police Boards, and super- intendent of each for a time ; a leader in the Gas and Water W^orks companies ; prime mover in starting the Midwood Club, becoming its first President, and a supporter of every worthy local enterprise. He was be- sides an industrious writer and contributor to newspapers, medical journals and other pub- lications, and was considered an authority on matters per- taining to the history of Long Island, having collected from original sources, facts and leg- ends, which he wove into story, romance or article. Thus Dr. Bartlett was a many-sided char- acter, broad-minded, public- spirited, tender-hearted, witty and humorous. He died at Thomasville, Georgia, February 3, 1905. is a good thing for girls to learn. I commend it to teachers of the present day. In order to combine this with men- tal improvement some one read aloud to us. I fear we did not appreciate this surreptitious method of hindering us from whispering while engaged in sew- ing. It was not a very varied menu from which our minds were daily fed. The books (which 3-ou may still find on top shelves of old closets) are a little anti- quated now. The geographies did not tell us much of the country west of the Mis- sissippi River, and our maps left blank and empty spaces where now there are thriving states and great cities. We studied algebra and geometry, rhetoric, Kames's "Elements of Criticism," history, both ancient and modern. The history of the United States scarcely brought us into the days of Martin Van Buren. Just think how much that leaves untold. With many sighs and tears we struggled over the writing of compositions. We do not wonder now at the tears when we re- member that we children were expected to write criticisms on Young's "Night Thoughts," Pollock's "Course of Time," or Harvey's "Meditations," with now and then a review of "Paradise Lost." Erasmus Hall library was to us a place full of wonders, for besides the books there were glass cases filled with natural curiosities, bugs, beetles and lizards preserved in alcohol; weapons from the Cannibal Islands; ornaments worn 1)\- natives of the South Sea Islands, and mineralogical specimens from the far West of Ohio and Illinois. There was nothing there from Japan, and the fact marks another stride forward in history, for where now do you find shelves which are not filled with curios of Japan? There were also in ii6 Cftronide^ of oJras^mUjG? l^all 3lcaDcmp the library, glass retorts and all sorts of instruments for experiments in chemistr}- — in fact, quite a laborator}-. We had frequent lectures on chemistry and natural philosophy during the winter. Brooklyn and Flatbush were widely separated at that time by woods and muddy roads, and the absence of public conveyances, so that it was difficult to attend lectures in winter, and lectures were held in high estimation then as a valuable means of instruction. The wonders shown by means of the glass cylinders and retorts seemed to us children like nothing short of necromancv We sometimes had Rev. Dr. John Mason Ferris was born in Alban}^ New York, January 17, 1825. He attended, in turn, the Albany Academy (1832-1835), Forrest and Muf- ligan's School, New York City (1835), ^rid Columbia Gram- mar School (1836-1839). He graduated from New York University in 1843, and in 1849, entered the Theological Semi- nary at New Brunswick, New Jersey, Soon entering the lectures on astronomy illustrated by an orrery, in which Jupiter and Saturn and all the planets in their turn were sus- pended from the ceiling and spun around the sun in a ver\' creditable manner, un- less, as sometimes happened, some moon got a little refractory and accompanied the wrong planet, or Mars got in undue haste and usurped the orbit of some other world. Had the great solar sys- tem acted upon the same erratic prin- ciple, I fear that to-day we should not have a world in which to keep the cen- tennial of Erasmus Hall. We took books weekly out of the library and read them faithfully. Owing to the various chemicals kept in that room the books eventually were permeated by a peculiar odor which became associated in our minds with histories and biographies, so that when about this time a teacher, giving us a biographical sketch of some old worthy, remarked that he died "in the odor of sanctity," we thought that of course we understood perfectly what was meant by the phrase. The old library made it plain to us; yes, we knew. Oh, the simplicity of little chil- dren ! In a school where there were boys and girls studying together a little flirt- ing might perhaps be expected, but it was very harmless and innocent, and we all know of some happy marriages in which the acquaintance began in the companionship in the school. Beside secular instruction, our religious training was not forgotten. The school was opened by religious exercises, and on our way home Thursday afternoons we were gathered in the old consistory rooms to repeat our catechism to our beloved pastor, Rev. Dr. Strong. These catechetical exercises were considered as important as other studies, and we were reprimanded if we failed to attend. While we admit that the old forms of instruction have been superseded by newer and better methods, yet we feel that the minds of the children were less taxed ih.en, and there was a slower and more natural unfolding and ripen- work of the ministry, he served successively as pastor of Re- formed Churches in Tarrytown, New York, Chicago, Illinois, and Grand Rapids, Michigan. While there he taught in what is now Hope College, at Hol- land, Michigan. In the fall of 1865, he was elected Corre- sponding Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed Church in Amer- ica, and while in this position had a share in the opening of Japan to intercourse with the world, and in providing for the education of Japanese young men in the United States. In 1883, he became editor of the Christian Intelligencer, a posi- tion which he still holds with the privilege of writing when he cliooses. €i)tomdt0 of €ra^mu^ l^all 3lcaDemp 117 ing of the faculties, so that our girls seemed to retain longer the sweetness and simplicity of their childhood. When we look upon the gray-haired matrons who are here among the happy groups of their children to-night, we can scarcely realize that these are they to whom we have alluded as school-girls. So the swift years pass; later generations have come to maturity; other children have taken our places ; many have entered upon the better life. We can recall bright young faces to whom is that immortality of youth which is given by early death. We who w^ere once in the girls' school-room of Erasmus Hall are glad to be present and add our word of greeting to-night. We rejoice that our sons and daughters have had the opportunities which this school has afforded. We want them to be good and useful men and women. Looking at the device assumed in the last century, and placed in the books in the library, we would also point them forward and onward, saying as we do so, "Fortiter! Ascende !" The choir sang the "Hallelujah Chorus" from the "Alount of Olives," and then the audience joined in singing the "Doxology." The Rev. Dr. Campbell dismissed the gathering with the benedic- Judge John Vanderbilt was tion. A collation followed at the a Trustee of Erasmus Hall TT 11 ^1 1 r 1 • 1 from 1841 to 1877, the date of Hall, the groimds of which were ^^.^ decease. He had served perfectly illuminated with Chinese terms as County Judge and lanterns '^ "^^ State Senator, and had been nominated for Lieutenant-Gov- The career of Air. Strong con- ernor. Though for many years tinned at the Academv for neariv P"^^ to his death he had been ^ . 1 • ' • . ■" an mvalid, m the fifties, "he hve years alter this interesting was easily the most popular celebration. The success of his and one of the most consider- 11 1 111 sble men at this end of the Em- labors may be gauged by t h e pire State.'' — The Brooklyn income, which, after paying his Eagle. | assistants, ranged annually from $1,700 to $2,320. In these last years of ]Mr. Strong's administra- tion the subject of physical training, as w'ell as intellectual, was attracting the attention of educators. The pupils of Erasmus Hall at once showed their interest in this matter. On February 9, 1889, the male pupils of the Academy sent a communication to the Board of Trustees asking for an appropriation for the pur- chase of apparatus for use of the gymnasium class. The Trustees appropriated $50, provided the Principal approved of the matter. So the work continued until the spring of 1892, when, after a brief illness, death closed the career of Mr. Strong, one of the most beloved of the Principals of the Academy. To the work of instructing the young he had brought the conscientious and faithful endeavor that had ever characterized him. As a teacher * Largely quoted from The Brooklyn Eagle. ii8 €f)ronicIe>5 of aErasfmus l^all aicatiemp he aimed at the full development of the scholar. He won the confidence, the esteem, the affection of those he taught ; his moral influence was of the highest order. Such forces perpetuate themselves and live in other lives. The success of the institution was as great as could reasonably have been expected under the circumstances.'^' The ^Minutes of the Trusteest contain the impres- sions of the members of the Board regarding the Principal and his w^ork : "The Board laments the loss of the Rev. Robert Grier Strong, who entered into rest on April 22d, after a wasting illness patiently endured through a large part of the present school year. He was a graduate from the Academy, having received here his entire education previous to entering college. For the past eight years he has been Principal of this . ^j ,r Academv, in wdiich position he Adrian Vanderveer Mar- •" ^ TENSE, son of Jacob Van Brunt has rendered faithful and efficient Martense and Eliza Vander- service. As the only pastorate of veer Martense, and grandson at c^ .. 4_ x- r !-» \j ■ \r 1 ^\ii*- otrono- was spent at New of Dr. Adrian Vanderveer, sue- ^ i ceeded his father as Trustee of Baltimore, in this State, the ma- Erasmus Hall on February ii, jority of the members of this 1882. He prepared for college RoarH have been his associates at the Academy. After grad- J^oara nave Deen nis associates uating from Rutgers and Co- through life, and having an inti- lumbia Law School, he prac- i-j-j^te knowledge of his character ticed his profession in Brook- , 1 1 1 ^ ^- lyn until his death, which oc- ^nd career, hereby bear testimony curred in January, 1S9S.— Mrs. 1 to the integrity of his life, his con- Elisa A. Martense. j scientious and faithful discharge of the duties, of the relation he has sustained as a man, a citizen, a Christian, a minister of the gospel, and as a teacher. His life has been a devoted and a useful one. ''During the years of his principalship, service of high value to the comnnmity has been rendered. ]\Lin\- of those who have been under his instruction will hold him in affectionate remembrance." (Erafiimug J^all tC^ransiferreb, 1802=1896 After Mr. Strong's decease, Erasmus Flail Academy lapsed into a ])criod of decline. His immediate successor was Dr. R. Arrowsmith, a graduate of Columbia, and a post-graduate of I'uncrnl orritinn !)>• Dr. Wells. t May 7, 1802. €l^tonxdt^ of €r:a^mu^ l^all acatiemp 119 Hon. John A. Lott, who died July 20, 1878, had been a Trustee of Erasmus Hall al- most fifty years. He was Treas- urer of the Board from 1850 until his death. "He came to this school the son of a re- spectable farmer. He closed his long and distinguished pub- lic life as the Chief Commis- sioner of Appeals of this State, one of the highest and most responsible judicial positions in the country. ... By his death, this Board has lost an invalu- able counsellor and officer ; the Academy, a most active and devoted friend, and this town, its most eminent citizen." — Minutes of Trustees. Berlin University, Germany. The following letter to Dr. W. B. Gunnison, the present Principal of Erasmus Hall, embodies the experiences of Dr. Arrowsmith : Dear Dr. Gunnison : The year 1892- 1893 was so uneventful in the old Acad- emy that I fear I can contribute little of interest to the history of the school. Perhaps the most significant feature was the final severance of Church and State effected b}- the appointment of a lay Principal, all the long list of my prede- cessors for one hundred and five years having been clergymen.* The year also offered a fresh proof of the inadvisability of attempting to put new wine into old bottles, and marked the end of the old Academy system, at the same time indi- cating very clearly the only possible lines of future development which the school has since then so successfully followed. In 1892 the Academy became demor- alized, for the death of Mr. Strong had weakened the ties of personal and Church loyalty to the Academy; a new population, to whom the traditions of the school meant nothing, was rapidly taking the place of the old families; while the growth of the public schools had to a large extent left no place for the type of education which the Academy had provided for so many years. It was evident that the character of the school must be radically changed if the Academy was to continue. Ac- cordingly, courses of modern character were laid out, trained teachers were en- gaged, provision was made for pupils from the primary grade to college pre- paratory students, and plans were formed for extending in various directions. The cost of such equipment, however, made a substantial increase in the tuition fee essential, and this proved to be the rock on which the future of the school as a private institution was shipwrecked. Between the memory of the very low tuition of the past, and the advantages offered without cost by the public schools, it was found impossible to col- lect more than about twenty-five pupils, a patronage which of course did not even meet the running expenses — and at the end of an otherwise pleasant year, the experiment was regretfully abandoned. Dr. Cornelius Low Wells was almost the immediate suc- cessor of Dr. Strong as pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church of Flatbush. A native of New Brunswick, New Jersey, he graduated, in turn, from Rut- gers and from the Theological Seminary. To crown his scholastic life, his Alma Mater, in 1878, conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. While at Rutgers and at the Seminary, he studied under Dr. Campbell, once Principal of Erasmus Hall. Dr. Wells died on December 12, 1904, in the seventy-second year of his age. This statement may mislead. Both Dr. Wilson and Mr. Kellogg were laymen. 120 Cf^ronicle^ of aKra^mu^ l^all 3(.catiemp The main building was in use as a private boarding house, and, as only day pupils appeared, the arrangement was continued, the three old-fashioned school-rooms affording plenty of space for the small body of students. The present office was the parlor, connecting with the dining room. All the rest of the house was given up to private apartments, of which the Principal shared the huge southwest corner room on the second story with a regiment of very active rats of nocturnal habits. The focus of the Academy then as now was the unique mantelpiece now in the Principal's office, but at that time in Mr. Lett's room on the second floor ; and it is still a source of regret to the former Rev. Thomas M. Strong^ D.D. (See p. 99.) Principal that his many plans for securing possession of the ancient relic were not put into effect. The old library, too, with its antique volumes, distinguished chiefly for their utter uselessness except as historical monuments; the curious collection of educational apparatus and scientific appliances were never failing- sources of enjoyment, though only, I fear, to the instructors. Of modern equipment there was nothing; yet the year was full of interest to the teach- ing force, and, I trust, to the pupils also, since the small classes made possible very close relations between teacher and student and a personal interest in individuals which the large numbers of to-day do not permit. The contact with the past, also, in the fine old building with its splendid setting of lawn and great trees, was not without its moral effect. Something €1jmnitlt^ of oEra^mu^ i$M 3lcatiemp 121 of the old academic atmosphere was still there and made itself felt ; — but the Academy had served its purpose to many generations, and it was time for it to come under the new order of things, and begin a larger though perhaps not more important influence, than that which old Erasmus Hall had exerted on its day and generation. Very truly yours, R. Arrows M IT H, January 25, 1906. 100 Washington Square, New York. Dr. Arrowsmith was succeeded by Miss Mary Wheeler Haw- ley, a graduate of Van Wagenen's Training School, New York City, who served as Principal from March 3, 1893, to July, 1896. Among her teachers was Mr. Allen T V T .1 B. Dog^p^ett, of the Roval Acad- JOHN Z. LoTT^ the present '^^ Secretary of the Board of ^'^^Y' Munich, who still retains his Trustees, was born in Flatbush, connection with the school. In July II, 1838. He was prepared 1893 there were one male and for Union College at Erasmus three female teachers in the school. Hall. After completing his j^^ ^g ^^^ number of female course at Union, m 1857, he , , , . 1 • ^1 , ^, T c 1 1 ^ XT teachers had increased to six. ihe entered the Law School of New York University, from which ' school was in this condition when he graduated in i860. He is , the plan of transferring it to the now the President of the Flat- i City of Brooklyn was consum- bush Trust Company. mated When Flatbush became a part of Brooklyn, Erasmus Hall Academy was found to be ahnost in the geographical center of the city. Then came the trolley cars bringing scores of new people who were searching for homes. The old farms were sold to stirring real estate men; they were transformed into city lots; beautiful dwellings of a newer type supplanted the old Dutch houses; the old town could not main- tain her staidness. Flatbush awakened one spring to find that she was a real live suburb of a very live city. Dr. John L. Zabriskie, Secretary of the Board of Trustees of Erasmus Hall, soon after the incorporation of Flatbush into the larger city, became a member of the Brooklyn Board of Edu- cation. The old academy was not as flourishing as it had been ; in fact, it had become little more than a boarding house and a kindergarten. The young people of the community were search- ing the greater city for suitable schools. Then it occurred to several members of the Erasmus Hall Trustees that the cele- brated school would take on new life if the public were made its guardian. 122 CJ^ronicIe]^ of (Cras^mu^ i^all 2lcaDemp The subject must have been a very deHcate one for the Trus- tees to handle. The old Hall had endeared itself to every man, woman and child in the village of Flatbush. Every member of the old families had spent his school days within its sacred walls. There was the accumulated sentiment of more than a century surrounding the institution. To many the plan of turning the school over to the unfeeling care of a cold and unsentimental public bordered on sacrilege. The Trustees, no doubt, fully realized just what opposition there would be to even the sugges- tion of plans for the transfer, yet they had the courage to stand by their convictions and to act for the good of the school. The movement, indeed, was fostered and supported by the leading mem- bers of the families who had always given their earnest support to the Academy. On the 20th of June, 1895, ]\Ir. John Z. Lott ofifered to the Trustees the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted on condition that the consent of the Consistory of the Reformed Dutch Church of Flatbush could be obtained : ''Resolved, That it is the opinion of the Board that it is for the interest of the Academv and of the Twenty-ninth Ward of the City of Brooklyn that the Academy should be placed under the care of the Board of Edu- cation of the City of Brooklyn. ''Therefore, resolved. That the Board offer the grounds of the x\cademy to the Board of Educa- tion of the City of Brooklyn upon the fol- lowing conditions, viz. : In consideration of the gift of the land the Board of Education are to erect and maintain upon said land a High Schoc Building of the same chare and grade as oilier High School Buildings in the City of Brooklyn." John Lkffkkts Cl)roiucIc,i^ of oEra.^mu^ i$M aicaDemp 123 John Z. Lott, Henry Sherrill and Dr. Homer L. Bartlett were appointed a committee to present the matter to the Board of Education/'' The resolution came before the City Board on July loth. A committee consisting of Messrs. AVeir, McNulty and Zabriskie was created to investigate the matter. Dr. Zabriskie was soon removed by death, and ]\Ir. Richard Young was appointed to his place on the commit- tee. This appointment was made November 12, 1895. Almost the first official duty of j\Ir. Young was a con- ference with the Trus- tees of Erasnnis Hall. He was present at a meeting of that Board on December 28, 1895. It was reported by the committee that the Board of Education had accepted the offer of the Trustees. It was agreed that the ofifer should in- clude library, equip- ment and endowment. It was indeed a generous gift. Yet, probably, even the recipients did not realize to the full extent the true value of the property received, when at a meeting of the Board of Education of the City of Brooklyn, held December 3, 1895, the following resolu- tion was adopted :t ''Resolved, That this Board does hereby determine and decide to accept the gift of Erasmus Hall and grounds in the Twenty- ninth Ward, and to establish and maintain a high school thereon in accordance with the stipulations contained in the proposition of the Trustees thereof, dated July 10, 1895, and the Corporation Counsel is hereby requested to prepare the necessary papers to vest Rev. Cornelius L. Wells, D.D. Minutes, June 20, 1895. t See ]\rinutes of the Board of Education, 1895. 124 Ct^ronick^ of oErasfmu^ l^all acatiemp the title of said buildino^s and grounds in the Board Education of the City of Brooklyn.'"^ By this gift a piece of property vahied at $150,- 000, including $4,634.12 cash, the amount of the reserve fund of Eras- mus Hall at that time, and library of 2,000 vol- umes, came into posses- sion of the city. With beautiful grounds, a substantial old building, a fair school library and certain school appara- tus, Brooklyn thus re- AbrAHAM I. DiTMAS ceived the penny savings of a century on the part of one of the most con- scientious groups o f men who were ever en- trusted with a public responsibility. The deed, dated July 28, 1896, was delivered to the Board of lulucation on the 24lh of August. On the 14th of Sc])tem- l)er, simultaneous with the opening of the other schools, iM'asnius llall was opened as a city high school. 1)k. John L. Zahkiskh-: * Ivfcords of till' r.oard of I'Mucation. Cily of Brooklyn, ])cccinl)cr .3, 1895 Cf)rDnicIc.s of Erasmus l^all 3lcaDcmp 12 = Only one or two more items belong to this chapter of the history of Erasmus Hall. To make the transfer complete, the Regents must act ; so on June 28, 1897, on the unanimous request of the Board of Education of the City of Brooklyn, the Regents voted, "That the transfer of Erasmus Hall Academy to the city for use as a high school be approved and that the school be con- tinued on the University roll under the name of Erasmus Hall High School.'"''' The institution thus remains a Regents' school. Although the prop- erty and the trust had been transferred to the City of Brooklyn, the corporation had not ceased to exist. In fact, there is to-day a corporation known as the "Trustees of Eras- mus Hall in Kings County, Xew York." The members of this corporation meet a t least once a year for the transaction of busi- ness. The President of this organization is the Rev. John ]\Iason Ferris, D.D., who, over eighty-one years o f age, has served in that office since 1878. His career has been an active one. The Secretary is Mr. John Z. Lott, who succeeded Dr. J. L. Zabriskie to that position in 1895. A word from the venerable Dr. Ferris at this point may not be unfitting. In a communication dated Bedford Avenue, Brook- lyn, January 25, 1906, he says : My earliest recollection of Erasmus Hall Academy goes back to about the year 1845, when I spent a part of a vacation with Pascal Strong, a fellow- student in the Theological Seminary at New Brunswick, N. J., at the parson- age of the Rev. Dr. Strong, adjoining the grounds of the Academy. After Rev. John ^M. Ferris, D.D. * Extract from Regents' Minutes. 126 Cf^roniclcs? of aSraamui^ l^all aicaDemp Adrian V. Marten se various introductior.s on taking a seat by a window, I saw a young Spaniard walking about the grounds of the Academy, and expressing surprise on seeing such a person, was told that the Academy had students from the West Indies, and, as I recollect now, even from South America, and had received such pupils for some years. In the course of the conversa- tion mention was made of students from the Southern States, especially from South Caro- lina. Proof was given that even so long ago as sixty years or more the Academy had a re- markable reputation in the States along the Atlantic from New York southward. These facts recited at various times from day to day were very impressive, especially when one learned that the village was a rural community, the houses being the residences chiefl}- — almost wholly — of farmers. And the town was in a degree secluded, for it was reached by an ordinary country road extending from the triangle on which the City Hall now stands, to the long line of farm-houses. Going as I did from the stage plying from the boats of the Catharine Street Ferry from New York, the stage ride consumed a full hour. That was not all. Wandering about the grounds I found a funnel, almost buried in the soil, and this was to catch the rain and convey it into a bottle below. Inquiry brought out the fact that the Academy was keeping a weather record for the State agricultural office in Albany. These and other facts furnished abundant proof that Erasmus Hall Academy, secluded as it was, was one of the leading and most useful educa- tional centers in the State. It had no equal in Brooklyn and no superior in the State. This high rank was maintained through rather more than half a century. The time came, however, when there was a Polytechnic, a Packer Institute, and a Dr. West's School in Brooklyn. They had attractive buildings and abundant appara- tus, and were almost on the line of the surface railroad, and they drew the young people, and Erasmus Hall suffered, and that more and more as the years passed away. The time came, about ten years ago, when the question before the Trustees was, what shall we do for the school ? The man was present who was equal to the occasion. He said. "Give it to the city — the grounds and the building, with the small fund in the treasury, to make a high school of it." That man was John Z. Lott. Esq. 11 is advice was accepted. Jeremiah Lott The building has been enlarged, adjoining Cl)ronicIe>5 of oEra^mu^ i^all 3lcatiemp 127 Dr. Homer L. Bartlett buildings have been occupied, a fine stretch of land from Flat- bush Avenue to Bedford Avenue has been acquired, and over two thousand scholars are under instruction. They come from all parts of the city, are enthu- siastic advocates of Erasmus Hall, have a noble band of teachers, and an accomplished and devoted Principal. What next? Why, a college, or university. There is land enough and room for a university. The building now in hand and soon to be completed in part, will af- ford room for the beginning of a college or university. The position is central. Look at the skeleton map of the city on the eighty-hrst page of the Brook- lyn Eagle Almanac of last year or this year. It show^s that the cen- tral point in the city is the south side of Prospect Park. The Academy is only a block or two farther south. The location is accessible by trolleys and transfers. All the street railways in Brooklyn wish to carry people to Coney Island and therefore have a system of transfers, which will carry passengers to the door of Erasmus Hall. The adjacent territory is rapidly being covered with buildings. At Bergen Beach, to which our young athletes can easily walk, arrangements can be made for aquatic sports in still water. The grounds at Prospect Park afford ball grounds and space for foot- ball practice. The position of Erasmus Hall is central. John ^^Iasox Ferris. These are the words of hope and of prophecy of the latest President of the Board of Trustees. If his view into the future were to prove true, the last years of Erasmus Hall may be made more glorious than those of the period when she stood foremost among- the secondary schools of the coiuitry. A hundred and ten years had passed between the founding of the Hall and its transformation into a city high school. It was a century of many changes. Flatbush had passed from the niost considerable village in Kings County to a quiet rural hamlet obscured by the shadow of her greater neighbor, Brooklyn. After all has been said, this village seems to have been an ideal place for an Academy. 128 €f)ronicIei6? of €ra,i^mu.i6^ i^all Slcaticmp John H. Ditmas Another remarkable feature of the hfe of the Hall was the good fortune of the Trustees in securing the services of cele- brated teachers. The principals were almost invariably men of note. They were strong men. Indeed, among the great men of the Reformed Dutch Church none were greater than Dr. Livingston and Dr. Wilson, Dr. Campbell and Dr. \^an Kleek, while the Rev. Robert Grier Strong was fully their equal in many respects. The influence these men exerted, through the youth who attended the school, left its impress upon nearly every one of the original States. And no one in the decades still to come can calculate the extent of that influence. The Trustees, also, were sturdy men of strong character and steadfastness of purpose. It w^as an immense undertaking for them, so soon after the close of the great struggle for freedom, to launch such an enterprise as that of building a school. They willingly, however, spent their time and their savings in a cause which, they knew, would never yield a money return on the capital invested. Year after year, decade after decade, genera- tion after generation, they stood firmly behind the enterprise, and the school as well as the community partook of the sturdiness of those who had the supervision of its interests. Another example of such unselfish faithfulness, through more than a century, to a cause of like nature, will be difficult to] find. With the transfer of Erasmus Hall to the City of Brooklyn, the Chronicles of the Academy must end. The old institu- tion did its work well and fulfilled its mission to the immediate pu1)Hc and to the country at large. It stands alone among the schools of tlie State as a rep- resentative of the old and of the new. It is the outgrowth of the educational ideals of the State; its mission was to test these ideals from the practical point of \ie\v. It has seen the day of the quill pen and that John Z. Lott C{)rDnicIefif of oErai^mu^ \$aU 9lcaDemp 129 of the typewriter, the day of pounds and shillings and that of the dollar, the day of "accomplished education" and that of manual training, the day of "general training" and that of State militia, the day of mixed classes and that of graded. The way has often been a perilous one. It might have suffered wTeck on imprac- ticable fads, yet it has steered safely through the maelstrom of educational processes to a harbor of safety in the public school sys- tem. There have been periods of doubt and depression, but there have been loyal hearts and per- severing minds at the helm. The anchor has been cast and the craft has been safely moored. It alone of the old schools has sur- vived, and, it is believed, in its new career as a city high school, Erasmus Hall will be a leader in rendering practical the new ideals of the centuries to come. Mrs. M. S. Jepson occupied the living rooms of Erasmus Hall from 1888 to 1896. Here Mrs. Jepson's granddaughter, Clara Crosby, was born on July 6, 1895. Both are still liv- ing in Flatbush. 132 C|)ronicles of Crasmus i|all Higl) ^c|)ool 1896^1906 b? Cugenc 1^. J^arter, iH. ^. 133 €l)e l^etD fiegime /ywp^HE summer of 1896 must have been a trying one for the LIL dignity and self respect of old Erasmus Hall. In her old age she was to lose all the perquisites of dignified vener- abilitv. She was even in a measure to lose her caste, for from her proud position of an aristocratic academy she was to become, at the age of one hundred and ten, a public servant. To be sure, reverses had come to her in her latter years, but nothing that was incompatible with a stately sort of gentility. Certainly poverty Erasmus Hall in 1896 was almost a badge of true worth in the degenerate days that had come upon her. Now, all was to be changed. She must deck herself in a kind of smartness which could not conceal her infirm- ities. She must even try in a forlorn fashion to assume a look of youth for her new admirers. She must paint and powder : try to heighten her charms by patches, and put on a sprightly air. Her jewels must be burnished and reset, especially that chief pride of hers, the famous old mantelpiece. It all seemed so entirely opposed to her old Dutch phlegm and dignified repose. 135 136 Cf)roniclc.s of aSra>5mu.0 l^all i^iglj :&cIjooI She might have been a Httle astonished if she had been told that soon she was not only to endure her transformation with equanimity but was even to glory in the mad rush of new life that was destined to brighten her ancient walls. To be sure she might not feel the same sort of pride that she had experienced in the olden time, when from her portals had gone out men destined to play a creditable and even famous part in the history of their times. She would always remember with affection \A^illiam Duer, who became the president of Columbia College, and George Troup, who became the governor of Georgia. It might not be necessary that history repeat itself in these matters, but she soon clearly saw that it was imperative that the output of the new school should consist of manly boys and womanly girls with a foundation in their mental life which should make for culture. It is pleasant to muse on those old days of the school, and peer w^ith interested eyes into the dim past — that old Dutch past illumined with the uncertain mellowness of candlelisfht. We trv to imagine the life led within these w'alls, a life in its way as full and vital as that of to-day. A^ague rumors of all sorts of delightful and romantic happenings reach our ears. It has the effect upon us of some old song — a sweet melody faintly heard. The career of the old school had begun just as the smoke of the Revolutionary War rose like a curtain on an historical drama absolutely unique. The new school started with national conditions fixed, but still the freshness and zest of the new republic made possible an independence along educational lines not always to be found in older and precedent-ridden civilization. The hazard of new fortunes upon which Erasmus Hall Academy entered when it became Erasmus Hall High School, in Septem- ber, 1896, was extremely interesting, not only to its old friends but to the friends of education in New York City. Although the school was in the geographical center of the city of New York, many doubted whether it was wise to establish a high school any- where save in the densely populated parts. The rapid growth of Flatbush has proved the wisdom of the course decided upon. It was a time of anxiety but of hopefulness undismayed to those interested in the new school. The situation had the most alluring possibilities but it was full of dangers and pitfalls. From the time when the first principal of Erasmus Hall High School was elected, in the summer of 1896, the best efforts of him- self and the committee of the Board were put forward to get the school ready to open on the 14th of September of that year. The Ct)i:onicIc^ of aEra>$ttiu^ l^all l^igf) :§cf)ool 137 building must be practically made over, a faculty must be selected, and that with the greatest care, for its quality might in a way determine the quality of the new^ institution. The policy of Dr. Gunnison was a definite and in some ways an aggressive one. He knew so clearlv what he desired himself that he made others see clearly his point of view. There were objections in certain quarters to the idea of opening the new school as a co-educational institution. It was urged that this could be done possibly in smaller cities but would be inadvisable in a New York school. Dr. Gunnison held out consistently for co-education, and the event has seemingly proved that these objections were not well taken. The local committee of Erasmus Hall High School did all in its power to make the new school a success. Its power was always used to expedite the working of the machinery of the school, never in any way to block it. It was the first committee to place the nomination of teachers in the hands of the principal. It was voted unanimously "that Dr. Gunnison be directed to make the nomination of teachers for such vacancies or new^ posi- tions as should occur, to the committee ; that in so doing it should be the policy of the committee to maintain the number of male and female teachers as nearly equal as possible — in the interest of the school." It was with feelings of some doubt as to the immediate future, but with a steady confidence as to the ultimate destiny of the new school, that the twelve original members of the faculty met on that first ]\Ionday. Some pessimists went so far as to declare that there would not be more than one pupil for each teacher. About one hundred and fifty boys and girls actually presented themselves — a modest number, to be sure, when compared with the enormous increase w^hich the school was soon to know. There was a peculiar charm about those first days — the new set in the frame of the old. The sense in a way of an experiment, of liberty to work out a unique problem in an independent fashion, the absence of too much red tape and of the numbing effect of precedent. — all of these matters gave a zest to the undertaking. One might not like the old building but one could not help loving it. Situated as it was in the heart of conservative old Flatbush, the very approach under the noble sycamores screening the building gave an air of august age and dignity to the entire neigh- borhood. The school itself was almost decrepit in some ways, notwithstanding the youthful toilet it was frantically endeavoring 138 CJ^roniclcs of €ra^mus l^all l^igl) :§)cI)ddI to make, so that the inrush of young new blood was all the more startling by contrast. One cannot proceed very far in the story of the school's rein- carnation without finding that it becomes identified in a measure with the story of its first principal, for all the varied resources of a powerful personality were directed towards the success of this new project. The career of Dr. Walter Balfour Gunnison had l^eculiarly fitted him for this task. .\ New England man by birth, he was graduated from St. Lawrence University, where for sev- eral years he held the professorship of Latin. He studied and practised law, but the subject of the education of the young always appealed to him strongly. \\'hile principal of a large and flourishing grammar school in Brooklyn, he was called to the presidency of St. Lawrence L^niversity, but declined the offer. He had accepted, in the spring of 1896, the office of Assistant Superintendent in the School Board of New York, but resigned this position when elected Principal of Erasmus Hall High School. His eleven years of experience in grammar school work had pre- pared him for this larger field of work. He has always managed to keep in touch with the larger currents of thought, not only educational but social and political. He has been president of a number of large societies, notably the New York State Teachers' Association, the New York Schoolmasters' Club, and the Univer- sity Club of Brooklyn. Though a self-made man, he did not spend his time in worshipping his creator, as is the manner of many of til is ilk. There was always something for him to do, not simply something for him to be. If his whole-souled devotion to the success of the new school had not been sufficient, that, combined with a certain magnetic gift of appealing to the enthusiasm of both pu])ils and teachers, proved irresistible. If it were possible to select one matter in education for which Dr. Gunnison pre- eminently stands, when of necessity he represents so many issues, it would be his insistence upon the recognition of the individual and the development of personality in pupil and teacher. In a symmetrical education, the purely mental development is only one half of the problem ; that to be sure must be encouraged with sympathy and understanding. But aside from this, a secondary school such as I^rasmus Hall, situated in a large city, should give opportunities for develojnnent along other lines, chiefly athletic, social and aesthetic. I'^rom this need arose primarily the baseball and football teams, the basketball teams, the tennis club, the Cl)ronxcIe^ of €ra,s?mu>6f l^all l^igft ^cfjool 139 Medal for Scholarship hockey team, the fencing ckib ; in the second place, the various Greek-letter societies and the different social events coming in the course of the school year; and in the third place, the literary clubs, the art clubs, the camera club, the orchestra, the mandolin and glee clubs. In a large school there is to be found of necessity a great number of these organizations — perhaps to an out- sider, who has heard of them super- ficially, an astonishing nund^er of them. But each has its definite place in the economy of the whole. If any outlives its usefulness, it is soon discontinued. In a sober chronicle, it mav not be fitting: to do more than mention a factor which has had more to do with the smooth progress of affairs than any other one thing. I refer to the feeling of loyalty and affection of the pupils for their Principal, and the feeling of sympathy in aims and of loyalty of the faculty for its head. No one could possibly understand the history of the school at this ])erio{l without taking this element into account. The formal transfer of Erasmus Hall and its grounds to the city was made at a public meeting held in the Dutch Reformed Church on the evening of October 14, 189C). This meeting was interesting from many points of view. The aff'air proved an excellent illustration of the blessedness of giving and the blessed- ness of receiving. It appealed to many of the old families of Platbush who for over a century had been interested in this school. It appealed to the city of Brooklyn and its represent- atives because such a gift was absolutely unicpie. It came at a time when the demand for secondary education was grow- ing and when the exchequer of the city found it difficult to meet this demand. One most vividly realized at such a meet- ing what an important moral force Erasmus Hall had been for more than a century, and 7j^p School Pin ^^^^mumm^. ^^" j^^'m'>m> ■m-'^mm iilS. ^'W '^W"-^'^B ^f lis -mrw^mm il^H MO Cftroniclcs? of €rasmu$ l^all I9igl) :$>cl)ooI the assurances of Dr. Gunnison on assuming the guidance of its new career were most solemn. Especial gratitude was felt toward the late Dr. John L. Zabriskie, for years a firm friend of education in Brooklyn, who had conceived the idea of the transfer of the school, and who, together with ^[r. John Z. Lott, had been active in carrA^ing the matter through. ^Ir. Richard Young, as the chairman of the Committee of Erasmus Hall, naturally presided and made the opening speech. This school had no truer friend then nor later. In all the many trying questions that arose in regard to the school, the Principal received the warmest sympathy and support from the chairman of the committee. Xo one not directly connected with the school has shown in so many different ways so vivid an interest in its success. In a few forceful words ]\Ir. Young showed of what impor- tance this gift might prove to Flatbush and to the boys and girls who availed themselves of the opportunities this school oft'ered. Dr. Cornelius L. Wells, representing the Church which was so intimately connected with Erasmus Hall in its various fortunes, then spoke of the foundation of the school. Dr. Homer L. Bartlett, speaking in behalf of the Trustees of Erasmus Hall, showed what a solemn trust the last committee of the Academy felt their office to be, and in behalf of the comniittee said : ''The Trustees have felt and still continue to feel that the free gift of this valuable property with all the associations con- nected with it deserves public recognition." He then gave an interesting resume of the early history of the school. In speaking of a contract made by the authorities with a cer- tain teacher, he said that it was stipulated that ''the teacher should not only do the usual duties appertaining to his office, but in addition thereto should l)e the town clerk, sexton and grave digger, bell ringer, fore singer, catechist and lay reader!" In these days of specialization such an amazing combination of pur- suits strikes one aghast. Dr. Bartlett proceeded : ''Dutch only was taught up to the time of the English occupation — Dutch and English from then to the time of the American Revolution, and during the time of the British occupation only English. An Englishman by the name of Gabriel Ellison filled the part of teacher during the American War. He must have been a rare character. As has already been said, nothing but English was taught in this school during the war, and no Dutch was allowed to be spoken during school hours. As this was at that time the Richard Youxg 141 Cf)ronidc^ of (gra^mu^ i^all i^igf) ^c{)doI 143 language mostly spoken at the homes of the children, it became a matter of great difficulty to prevent the speaking of Dutch. He therefore devised the following ingenious method: He cast a pewter coin about the size and shape of our silver dollar.' This he suspended with a string about the neck of the first offender. This child was then placed as a sentinel over the rest, and if he detected any delinquent, No. 2 w^ore the medal, and so on to the close of the school, and the unhappy wight on whom it was last found received the punishment of all. Although Dutch was prohibited in school during the time above mentioned, still all the services in the church were conducted in that language, and poor Ellison, being an Englishman, found it exceed- ingly difficult to intone the hymns and psalms in the language of Holland, especially when the min- ister gave out Psalm cxix, with its 176 verses." In conckision, speaking of the gift, he said : "It is indeed a glo- rious heritage, a noble trust. I speak not of its money value, but of its history and its work. There it stands, a connecting link be- tween the generations gone and the generations to come. Almost within its life the nation has de- xeloped from thirteen dependent colonies to forty-five imperial States ; this county from being a few scattered villages has grown into a mighty city — pulsating with the throbbings of a million human hearts. What has been the secret of this growth ? Knowledge — knowledge, human and divine. Gentlemen, we commit this object of our love to your tender care." Mr. J. E. Swanstrom, the ])resident of the Board, spoke from the point of view of the future: "While it (the school) has hon- orably discharged its duties and obligations within the scope of its functions as a private agency, its noblest work, its highest mission is yet to be performed." Medal for Athletics 144 Ci^roniclc.sf of aEra-efmu^ l^all l^igf) .-§cl)ool After i\Iayor ^^'urster had accepted the gift in the name of the city. Dr. Gunnison accepted the trust in these words : ''Erasmus Hall shall stand, as far as in me lies, for sound scholarship, for general culture and refinement and for that character that shall be self-reliant and manly. The traditions of the past shall be cherished and shall ever be an inspiration for the future, my one hope and abiding faith is, that the great glory of its past shall be heightened and extended by the greater glory which the new opportunities and greater facilities seem to place within its reach." The next occasion of public interest was the throwing open for inspection of the old-new building. It was natural that those who were interested in the old school should wish to see it in its rehabilitation. Invitations to the number of five hundred were issued. i\Iany an ancient alumnus was present. At this time a policy was instituted which has prevailed since. The school remains open every Saturday during the school year, and from eight to five on other days. This is done not only for the benefit of parents and others who wish to visit the school but also for the scholars, many of whom continue their work outside of school hours. The educational welfare of the pupils was found to be materi- ally enhanced by a series of parents' meetings, instituted about this time. In the first years of the school life, an urgent need of a place where the entire school could assemble was felt. The chapel of the Dutch Reformed Church was offered for this purpose, and for three years the school assembled there at least once a week. Many men came to speak to these young people who vividly reached and interested them ; at times, of course, there were those who in the time-honored mode addressed the wondering assembly in Johnsonian or Brobdingnagian phraseology, which tended to conceal the trite platitudes which their authors were trying to express. But in those old days there was some live work done by the pupils themselves. Talent of all sorts was exploited here — musical, rhetorical, dramatic. Exercises in honor of famous men, such as W^ashington Irving, Franklin, Tennyson, Poe, Emerson and Kipling, were prepared with care. German and French plays were given, and a translation of the "Captives" of Plautus was presented. All the accessories of a full-fledged high school were soon to be found. Colors were chosen — the Continental buff and blue ; C{)rDnicIc0 of a2ra0mu.i^ l^all l^igl) M^tt^ml us a pin. Avhich was an adaptation from the famous mantelpiece in the office, was adopted ; even yells, trained to the highest perfec- tion in precision, pitch and volume, were to be heard at the games ; medals — gold, silver and bronze, bearing the head of Erasmus, were struck off, to be used variously as prizes. The following letters, as showing the points of view of teacher and of pupil in those earlier days may be found of interest : Paterson, N. J., February i, 1906. Mr. Eugene W. Harter: Dear Sir: The charm of old Erasmus Hall lay in its simplicity, in its air of what is for America the remote past, and in its seclusion behind the fine old trees. I remember the Hall during its renovation in the summer of 1896 to make ready for occupancy by us, the invading public high school people of the city of Brooklyn; but I also remember it in earlier years, before its discovery by the moderns, with their free education, their numerous electives from art and science to basement shower baths, their co-educators and co-educated, their habitual blue stationery, and their atmosphere of don't- seem-to-work-as-hard-as-you-really-do-work. The entire spirit of the regen- erated Erasmus was in keeping with the traditions of the old. The pitch was a little higher, the third of the old keynote. There were not very many of us that first 3'ear, my only year. The memory is not very distinct as to the exact statistics, but impressions remain of some dozen teachers and rather less than two hundred pupils the first half year and of a few more teachers and many more pupils the second half year. I wondered whether the old timbers and walls would stand for them all. Many of the teachers were women, and an uncommonly attractive set of women they were; and, of course, as in all other co-educational high schools, most of the pupils were girls, of w^hom I remember not a few to this day. I confess not regretfully that the teachers and pupils and, be it said quietly but firmly, the Principal had not that appearance of restraint and of con- straint which is supposed to mark the caste of high school folk. The gen- eral good nature was indubitably a good thing for the soul of one who had seen other things in his time. Many events come vividly to my mind. One day in early spring, the janitor in solemn dignity appeared in my room, full of boys and girls really trying to answer one of my unanswerable history questions, and informed us all that a man, driving by, had seen a fire in the cellar through the window and that they two had just put it out. Considerably relieved by this discovery of what might easily have put an end to our interesting school experiment, I took up anew the class discussion, only to be interrupted by the same worthy who, before departing, remarked, 'T should be sorry to have the building burn down, I should miss standing in the cellar under the floor of your room and hearing your recitations." Whereupon one of the students, whom I still count among my personal friends, remarked sardonically, "And the professor's jokes." 10 146 €l)i:onicIc^ of oBra^'mus? l^all l^igl) ct^cljool If I had been as old then as I am now, I should not have forwarded that student by express to the office for further enlightenment. Xo, we were not too informal. We made room for the '"self-activity" of the pupil. There was more practice of sound pedagogy in Erasmus Hall than in most other high schools. Upon information, I am sure that this is as true in 1906 as it was in 1896. I cannot forget the details from singing classes to Saturday morning bicycle runs, not yet out of fashion in those elder days. Everyone had a decided disposition to take hold and to do something. Erasmus Hall was a co-opera- tive academy of learning and teaching, a true college, a getting together. We began in September, with a few pupils ready to do the second half year work of the first high school year, so that, in February, we had three half years represented. Nothing interested me more than the comments upon the Erasmus Hall methods compared with those in other high schools and in the grammar schools from which our pupils came. Our boys and girls seemed to think that they had found a new world of freedom and of oppor- tunity and looked upon the head of the school as a modern educational Columbus. And yet the differences in courses and in methods were but slight in themselves. It was the administration, the spirit of hearty good will toward everyone that dififered. The hitherto mischievous boy and the anaemic girl, victims perhaps of too much cit}- and of too much school in the past, found the better air of the open country at Erasmus Hall. This is true materially as well as figuratively. The boAS could play ball and the girls stroll around upon the grounds ; and the head not merely looked on approv- ingly but on occasion went to the bat himself. I am not certain whether he made three bases or a home run, but I am certain that in ten years he has not struck out yet. I have studied and taught in so many schools and in so many different places that a mere catalogue would fill this page; and I have visited hun- dreds of schools, yes, I fear, a thousand. Erasmus Hall fills a very peculiar and a very special niche in my memory. It seems like an embodied idyl. In two hundred days, I do not recall a single unpleasant incident. And yet it was the year of organization with many opportunities for misunderstand- ings and disagreements. We sailed on a pleasant voyage past the Scylla of Tyranny and the Charybdis of Anarchy, and never suspected the possibility of the existence of either. Such was the skill of the pilot. I would like to write of the individual teachers. The records, of course, show who they were in that annus mirahilis. We lost one who became a school principal in the spring. Later I disappeared. Then came acces- sions on accessions until, I suppose, the old faculty is engulfed indis- tinguishably in the new. Some day the old building will be swallowed up in progress, to become a mere memory of the past. Photography and engraving will save it from oblivion after those of us who have known its walls, the teachers and the pupils of more than a century, have gone the way of all flesh. To go forward is best. To go forth out of the little rooms and from beneath the low ceilings is a true kind of salvation, of health making. But lest we forget, it is indeed fitting to prepare this book as a memorial. If ari)ronicIe>6? of €ra^mu^ l^all i^igJ) ^c()doI 147 buildings have their proper ghosts, I hope that the spectral spirit of old Erasmus Hall will in the moonlight future look benignantly upon the massive piles of the new Hall. Very sincerely, William E. Chancellor, Superintendent of Schools, Paterson, N. J. II. Brookline, Mass., February i, 1906. My Dear Mr. Harter: As I look back to the Erasmus Hall which I knew nearly ten years ago, my chief impression is one of warmth and kindness in every relation of school life. In that small school all were well acquainted. From the moment when the new classes assembled in the study room, and the "old" scholars made errands thither that they might see how the "children"' looked, to the moment when the same children passed out for all time from study room and school, there was constant, friendly exchange of interest between pupil and pupil, teacher and taught. The conditions of our life were so informal. We jostled the same scholar in the same narrow halls hour after hour, recited to the same teachers, and felt that they knew us well. All our clubs and organizations were necessarily small and intimate. I well remember the first meeting of the Orchestra in the little Library — three first and two second violins and a guitar, all very much afraid of each other. I remember, too, Dr. Gunnison's delight in our efforts, and his happiness as term by term new members came with new instruments, and the Mandolin Club sprang up by our side, to share with us the Chapel Exercises. What a splendid beginning for the week those exercises were. To "pass" to the Chapel in the crisp morning air, and to sing out loud and joyfully, "On, Comrades Bold!" or "On to the Battle!" and, at the end, to join in the enthusiastic "Erasmus Hall" was an excellent weapon against the Monday blues. The recitations were interesting, sometimes even thrillingly exciting, but I think the great charm lay in the sense of being wholly an intimate part and parcel of the three or four or six hundred, as the term might grant (for we grew rapidly in those years), who listened or sang together in friendly harmony. The actual classes were small and informal, especially for those of us who prepared for college out of course. For us no pains were begrudged, no planning spared. Especially I marvelled then and marvel still at the infinite patience of her who arranged our conflicting studies and desires with con- stant sympathy and skill. I have been in a Homer class of four, which wandered from hall to office, to librar}^, and to lawn as occasion offered; in a Roman history class of five, which met in the teacher's lunch room, where the potato-patterned oil-cloth of the tables was a never- failing refuge to a nervous and forgetful mind ; and even — best of all — in a Vergil recitation of one, where the busy Principal gave an hour from each crowded day to one unclassified girl, who has never forgotten his goodness. Despite our informalit}*, however, the work was most excellently done ; for there was no careless freedom, but rather, through training and intelli- ms C^ronidcia? of ^ras^muj^ l^all l^igf) :§c^ddI gence, the closest parallel to and preparation for subsequent college work which I believe possible in a school. Stimulated to self-dependence and self- trust under friendh- guidance, we learned unconscioush' day by day how best to meet the intellectual and social problems of school life. I could write almost endlessly of our days there. It is, I think, a note- worthy thing that whatever the after years have brought to us who once knew and loved Erasmus Hall, those memories stand out keen and clear. We have known many happy days of home or college life, but I believe that for most of us the peculiar charm of Erasmus Hall still abides and holds in our hearts a place which nothing else can fill. We feel too that though much of this charm had its birth in the quaint old building and the intimacy of our own limited numbers, far more lay in the devotion of the teachers who always so willingly befriended and guided us, and that the most of all was due to the man who was never too busy to share in our pleasures or sorrows, and who inspired teachers and pupils alike with his own spirit of broad-minded and unfailing kindliness. Wherefore, though many of us, with all our joy for the school in its new building, must ever feel a love and regret for the simpler, b3'gone days, we yet know that under his hand Erasmus Hall will remain for those who are, who have been, and who are to come, the home which his loving care has always made it. To the children of the New Erasmus Hall High School I bear greeting from the children of the Old. May their school days be as happy as ours. Very sincerely \ours, Theodora Batks, Class of 1899. III. Brooklyn, New York, March 15, 1906. Dear Mr. Harter: I am pleased at the opportunity offered by you to speak of the first com- mittee of the Erasmus Hall High School, to whose influence and direction the new school is much indebted. Authorized in mid-summer of 1896, the task of organizing the staff of teachers, repairing an old building, practically abandoned, and equipping it for the use of a modern high school, was no small task. In appointmg this committee President Swanstrom therefore placed only the most tried and capable members of the Board of Education upon it. Mr. Richard Young, as chairman, had all the interest of the others in the school as a city high school, and in addition the warm personal attachment of a resident of Flatbush and of a patron of the old school. During his entire connection with the chairman- ship, his kindly sympathy in all connected with the institution, and his pride in its upbuilding, was the strongest factor in its successful development. His one demand was that its aims should be the highest possible, and his strong personality, genial character and generous disposition were always ready m its needs. Mr. Henry W. Maxwell was in close sympathy with him in his work. It would be a pleasure, did space permit, to enumerate the many thoughtful deeds of this great and kindly man, at whose death in 1902 the whole city chronicles of €ra^mu^ l^all l^igl) ^cl)ooI 149 mourned. On his first visit to the school he saw that many new enterprises were being started. He insisted that he be allowed to assist personally in all, and on his return to his office sent a liberal check "as a starter."' The Prin- cipal once wrote him of the case of a very poor young girl who was eager for a college education but who was debarred by lack of funds. Without waiting to write, he 'phoned at once to send her to college, and to call upon him as the funds were needed. Before her course was completed he passed away, but a memorandum found among his papers caused his brother to con- tinue the generous assistance. Professor Franklin W. Hooper, Director of the Brooklyn Institute, gave his best energies and interest to the work, especially to the development of its courses of study. ^Ir. John ]\IacNamee, one of the most devoted friends the educational system of the city has ever had ; Dr. George D. Hamlin, then a comparatively new member ; ]\Ir. James Weir, for many years the head of the leading committee of the Board, and Mrs. Eliza- beth Pettingill, were very actively interested in the new movement. All these formed a committee which for influential standing and wide experience could not be duplicated. They gave whole-hearted attention to the problems of organization. No teacher was appointed until after most careful investigation he proved to be the very best available for the place. They were jealous of the good name and traditions of the school. Their co-operation could always be depended upon, and when needed, generous personal contributions were freely tendered. Erasmus Hall in its whole long history was never served more effectively and disinterestedly by any body than by its first committee. 'Sir. Young remained as chairman until within a few months prior to con- solidation, when ]\Ir. Edward M. Bassett as acting chairman effectively carried on his w^ork until the local committee system was abolished under the charter. During all these years City Superintendent William H. Maxwell was at the head of the school system, and from first to last always gave generously to the support and encouragement and direction of the committee and the school authorities. Whatever success has come to the school is largely due to the harmonious working together of all the elements of administration and supervision from the very beginning. Very truly yours, Walter B, Gunnison. And now the new school grew in numbers so rapidly that there was serious talk of a new school building. The Board of Education, recognizing this necessity, made an offer of awards to architects submitting plans for a new building. Twenty plans were received. The first prize of $600 was won by J. Graham Slover and Henry Clay Carrel ; the second of $400, by John J. Petit and James C. Green ; the third of $200, by David William AATlson and Jacob Thinnes, Jr. ^luch interest was shown in the plans of the successful competitors. Xo one of these plans was eventually used, however, as none of them successfully solved a difficult architectural problem. The Board of Education, how- ever, found it necessary to make some provision for the rapidly i=;o €f)rDniclc.0 of aBrasmue? l^all l^igl^ :f)cl)ool increasing registration. It therefore added two commodious wings to the old building. These new excrescences gave one an impression of some modern kind of ugly phoenix which renewed its youth from time to time. The view from the back especially was architecturally impossible, but within the building all was light and comfort. In this Avay many extra recitation rooms were provided, as well as two large study rooms, a lecture room and well-equipped laboratories for science, two well-lighted drawing rooms and a commercial room. Even with this extra room it was found impossible to keep pace with the growth of the school. Classes were sent to the rooms of the Board of Education in Liv- ingston Street, two were provided for in a new grammar school at Bay Ridge. Even then it was found necessary to resort to half-time classes in the lower grades. At one time this peculiar condition of affairs prevailed. There were four dift'erent time schedules in the school. One part had a session from nine to twelve ; one from ten-forty-five to four ; the third from one to four, and the upper classes had the full session of from nine to half-past two. To the half-day classes the usual number of reci- tations were given but no study periods. There proved to be too many drawbacks to this system, and when the Bedford Avenue purchase of land was made in 1902 it was discontinued. The six cottages acquired by the purchase were fitted up into recitation rooms, two each, which provided for some three hundred pupils. These new plans made in appearance at least a miniature uni- versity of the school. Such ver}' rapid growth entailed naturally many drawbacks, and each term the problem put on new dif^culties. The growth of the school from less than two hundred to eighteen hundred in three or four years was marvellous and in some ways disconcert- ing; but it made it impossible for the system to fall into a rut and avoided the e\'ils of dry rot. No one can gain an adequate conception of the school unless he take into account the large accessory life provided b}- the \'arious societies and clubs. The question of Greek-letter soci- eties is a xexed one in many schools, and under some circum- stances the}' ma\' d()ul)tless ])r(n-e undesirable, l)ut they have ])ro\'ed on the whole to be successful here. In so large a school it is im])ossible for an}' one i)U])il to know intimately any great num])er of his mates. The ])u])ils naturall}' fall or form them- selves into bands of those who ha\'e similar tastes, points of view w O o H H > a m c« o :^ bd a o > Cl)ronicle30f of oEra.iefmu^ l^all l^igJ) :§cf)ooI 153 and pursuits. It was found desirable that these should form defi- nite organizations, each of which should be under the charge of a special teacher. No one is allowed to join these organizations unless his scholarship and general standing in the school make hini in the eyes of the Principal a desirable candidate. For a number of pupils in such as school as Erasmus Hall, the greater part of any desirable social life is to be found in their school rela- tions. The social instincts which in the young it is very unde- sirable and even disastrous to try to thwart, are here naturally developed along lines which prove valuable often not only for the time being but in after-life. Several cases are known where the personal interest taken in the members of these clubs by their mates has urged them on to greater endeavor, and has made impossible lapses which might occur when no sense of personal sympathy is felt. Of an influence as strong but very different are the literary clubs. The very flower of education is the ability to write ade- quate and intelligent English, and a very difficult art it is. It was to develop and foster talent in this line that the Monday Club was formed by Dr. Boughton. The essays, poems and stories of the young authors are often crude but nearly always exhibit some kernel of originality and talent. This club has had some interest- ing public meetings, at which such men as AA'ill Carleton, Charles ]\I. Skinner, Herbert F. Gunnison, Alexander Black and others have spoken. A\ hat strikes an outsider as peculiar in the economy of the school is the degree to which the life of the school is organized. The number of clubs and societies of various kinds is remarkable. One might think that the spontaneous charm of school life might be eradicated by this process but it does not prove so. Xow, in all these matters, the perspective of interest for the casual reader is very difficult to catch, \\dien it was decided to prepare a history of old Erasmus Hall, some years ago, many queries arose about many interesting points to which no answers could be found. If only one could have visited the old school in the old days, and seen with his eyes the cjuaint methods of former times ! It is perhaps natural to wonder what the inquirer into the history of Erasmus Hall High School, if he were to live in the closing days of this century, would find interesting if he visited in astral body the school as it is to-day. If the pedagogue one hundred vears hence differs as much from the instructor of the 154 Cl)raniclc.0 of a2ra$mu$ l^all I9igl) ^^^cftool early twentieth century as the latter does from the schoolmaster of the beginning of the nineteenth, he may view many things with a superior smile on his fin-du-XXe-siecle face, but in the true spirit of antiquarian research he may deign to be interested in some few matters. We will first take him to see the class-room work, and will watch with anxiety to catch what his impressions of our poor primitive methods may be. Then, for variety, to the huge play-ground to watch the tussle of the boys at football or some exciting track events such as the hundred-yard dash. He may conceivably prefer to watch our girls with glowing faces playing at basketball. For it would take a bold man to undertake to fore- shadow the state of the woman question at the end of the century. Perhaps all important afifairs, including the entire world of ath- letics, will be exclusively in the hands of what has been mistakenly or ironically called the weaker sex. Xext he surely will be pleased to listen to the melodic felicities of the orchestra, while the director explains that his task is like that of Sisyphus, for no sooner is talent developed to any considerable degree than it is apt to take itself off, diploma in hand. We explain how many programs of commencements, plays, etc., have been brightened in a musical way by this organization. If our guest prefers a pro- gram of a more purely popular character, and may be interested from an historical point of view in the ''rag-time" mode in music, we will take him off to a concert of the mandolin and glee clubs, for the severely classical is strictly tabooed in these clubs. Per- haps in this old Dutch school he would choose to attend a meeting of the Unter Uns. The elocution contests or the debating soci- eties would surely interest our anachronistic guest, for probably nothing varies so much with the passage of time as modes of rhetorical expression. Would he like to drop into the Philately Club, or will the subject of stamps cease to be of interest in A. D. 2000? Perhaps our astral visitor would be most impressed by a cer- tain spectacle often to be seen on fine days. A sound of bells is heard in every room in hall and cottage. At the re])etition of the signal there is seen to issue from e\ery mouth of each building a line of pupils, coming out (juickl}', ciuicll}' and in order. In an astonishingly short time the buildings are entirely empty. This constitutes what is known as a tire drill. h^)rtunately, no fire has ever taken ]:)lace in any ])ortion of the 1)uildings while the school was in session. \\'1umi the fire drill, admirable as it of course is, 155 Cl)ronicIe^ of oEra^mu^ l^all l^ig^ Mi^ool 157 comes just at the climax of a knotty problem in algebra, or when some experiment in physics is nearing its brilliant finish, or when some Greek root has nearly been located in the soil of antiquity, the aghast instructor sometimes notes a veiled twinkle of relief in the eyes of the scholars as they rise to obey the summons of the bell. AMien all the pupils are quickly assembled either before or behind the building it is an inspiring sight to look down into their fresh young faces. The songs of the assembled school are quite effective coming as they do from sixteen hundred throats. For years this has constituted the only auditorium that the whole school had — the open campus in the open air. At last — shall we confess it? — with a feeling of relief we send our guest out on one of the fascinating excursions of the Science Club, sure that he will be thoroughly entertained and edified. One ventures on a record of this sort with a certain feeling of doubt and reluctance, for it is expected of him that he shall not fall into the Scylla of enumerating in a merely judicial and non- committal manner a mass of dry details, nor must he incur danger from the Charybdis of any tendency to an undue enthusiasm or a suspicion of glorification. It is all the more difficult where enthusiasm stands for more than any other one thing in the story of the school's progress. Indifferent neutrality in a chronicle which aims at something more than mere statistics would be disloyal and discordant. It is in athletics perhaps that this enthusiasm is most graphic- ally evident. From the first it was realized that the new school had a great advantage in the large athletic field into which it could set free its boys and girls. Nearly all boys come to the high school with a normal fondness for outdoor sports. All real sport develops a spirit of gentle-manhood and with it goes that passion for justice and fair play which is natural to the normal boy. In the athletic meets with other schools or with each other the boys perceive that in a way they are making history. The highest skill and judgment of which they are capable must be used. They must be resourceful, sturdy and ready to play their best, no matter what the issue. The halls of the old school are made gay with various brightly colored banners representing prowess in different branches of athletics. Glass cases are filled with fair shaped silver cups, each representing some event hotly contested. Of course the football team is a ''complicated machine of infi- nite exactitude," and not all boys are fitted for such sport. The 158 aif)roiuclc.0 of a2ra0mu.0 l^all Ifigf) :t^cl)DDl same is the case with other "teams" of picked men. There was danger that the benefit of athletics, that of physical development and relaxation from mental work, might become confined to the few. It was suggested that perhaps a scheme conld be devised whereby cz'cry boy, big or little, athletic or otherwise, might become interested. This led to the institution of the "Button Contests." The meaning of a button signifies that the holder has not only qualified in certain prescribed athletic tests but that he has a very creditable average in his studies. Different degrees of athletic and scholastic ability are rewarded by bronze, silver or gold buttons. Each boy can choose the lines of athletics for which he has the greatest aptitude. This contest attracts over seventy-five per cent, of all the boys, few of whom would without this scheme ever enter athletics or receive any of its benefits. (See Appendix.) The offerings of the Dramatic Societ}- have always been received with enthusiastic appreciation, and some very creditable work has been done. Some of the plays which have been pre- sented are "As You Like It" (in part ), "The Rivals" (twice), ''She Stoops to Conquer," "The Critic." "David Garrick," ''Pygmalion and Galatea," and the "Ulysses" of Stephen Phillips (in part). An experiment was tried in 1901, which was j^erhaps not without interest as being the natural outcome of a class-room attempt to prove to pupils that Greek, though a dead language, had once been a very live one. A dramatization of various spirited episodes in the Anabasis and Cyropsedia was prepared and under the title "The Treachery and Trial of Orontas" was presented by some seventy pupils of the school. ]\Iusic from the Mendelssohn set- ting of "Antigone:" from Dr. Parry's setting to "Agamemnon;" the hymn to Apollo, composed in the third century F). C were used, and Greek dances were introduced incicf)ool 159 development of the course of study in English. A\'hilc the work for each grade was shaping, especially in composition, the feeling became general in the department, encouraged by the enthusiastic support of the Principal, that the work in composition, for each term should be supplemented by a theme of considerable length, to be developed through the different stages of rough draft, out- line and completed essay, and to be submitted in the last weeks of the term as the result of the individual study and research of each pupil. For the purpose of classification this theme was given the name — Term Essay. Group from the Greek Play The general plan of the work is as follows : The essay for each term illustrates the class-room work in composition for that term. First grade pupils write narration ; second grade, narra- tion or description ; third grade, exposition ; fourth grade, argu- ment ; fifth grade, any form of composition ; sixth grade, more carefully developed expositions ; and seventh grade, advanced argument. Eighth grade (Seniors) pupils are excused from this work, owing to the increased amount of work in composition i6o Cf^ronicle^ of OBra^mui^ l^all l^igl^ :§cftDoI required of them in preparation for their examination in Enghsh for graduation. The length of the theme is placed at 800 words for the first year, 1,000 words for the second, 1,200 words for the third, and 1,400 words for the fourth. Early in the term each pupil presents a topic for the approval of the teacher. During the following month he collects his material and submits a rough draft or outline, which is carefully criticised. AA'ith this cor- rected draft he works out the completed essay and submits it as his work in written English for credits on his third report. The most interesting phase of the essay follows, and that which is the great stimulus to good, conscientious work. These themes are carefully read by the English teachers, who select the best two in each grade and turn them over to a committee of teachers from other departments in the school. This committee selects the best eight. These eight themes are read by some person in no way connected with the school, who selects the best, the second, and the third. In recognition of this final classification and as a reward, Mr. Richard Young, a warm friend of the school, estab- lished what are known as the Young Medals. A solid gold medal for the best essay, a silver for the second, and a bronze for the third in rank. Another feature of this work in theme writing is the attention given to the covers. Each pupil must submit a cover design appropriate to the subject matter, and receives in recognition of this work, judged in a similar w-ay, a silver medal for the best cover and a bronze for second best. In the fall of 1903 a committee was organized, with Dr. Hub- bell as chairman, to provide lectures and entertainments for the school. Almost since the beginning of Erasmus Hall's history as a public high school, visitors had been frequent who talked on topics of art, literature and science to the faculty and teachers, and it was thought that now that the school was firmly estab- lished in the life of the city of Brooklyn, it would be an easy thing to persuade men and women of prominence to lecture to the students. Since 1904 Dr. Hubbell has not been connected with the lecture committee, but the work that he inaugurated has been continued by an efficient committee of five, of which ^Ir. O'Brien has been chairman. The entertainments and lectures have covered a wide field and have served to stimulate the stu- dents to better work in all departments of school work. Lectures on literature, science, history, travel, nuisic, and entertainments Cl)roniclc$ of OBraemu.i^ l^all l^igl) ^ci^ool i6i by the several literary and musical clubs of the school, have been given each vear. and the attendance at the lectures and entertain- ments has averaged for each year for twenty entertainments an aggregate of about 3,000. It may be a matter of wonder and conjecture as to how all this various mass of school organization is supported. The mat- ter has been arranged in a comparatively simple and satisfactory way by adopting a system which has since been employed under various names by numerous other schools — that of the General Organization. This constitutes the financial system of the school. Membership in this organization is open to any one in the school upon the payment of twenty-five cents each semester. The mem- bership certificate entitles the holder to the privilege of member- ship in any club to which he may be elected, without the payment of further dues. Begun in the fall of 1897 with a membership of about four hundred, it soon rose to a membership of over fifteen hundred, the membership averaging over ninety per cent, of the entire enrollment. Aside from its membership dues a large amount of monev is derived from the sale of tickets at grames and dramatic entertainments, the latter being given free by the Dra- matic Society to members of the organization. Out of these revenues it is possible to fully equip all the athletic clubs and societies without any expense to the members of these organiza- tions. There are at present twenty-seven sub-organizations in the school, all receiving some support from the General Organi- zation. This organization also acts as trustee for all moneys raised by the school in connection with commencement, class day and junior promenade. It is even the proud possessor of china ware, glassware and silverware, which it furnishes to receptions, etc., given by any of its sub-organizations. The effect of the multiple life in this school is almost that of a busy university. A\'e can imagine it adopting as its motto that saying of Bacon's, ''God only and the angels may be spectators." The aim is to give free play and opportunity for any possible taste and talent a boy or girl may have. Nearly every man, even a cultured and educated man, finds some side of his nature which is practically undeveloped. It is not uncommon to see a man whose intellect is developed to the very highest degree so that it is a marvellous instrument, feeling, for instance, the appeal of music no more than the veriest savage ; Huxley confesses that he lost entirely, through intensity of concentration, the taste for poetry II i62 €i^tomtlt^ of €ra^mu.0 l^all l^igl) ^cJ)odI he once possessed. The thought in this school has been to give an opportunity for the development of any latent taste. In these days of specialization such a course is especially desirable. We have but five senses but these may be practically multiplied indefinitely by careful training. And it is when one is young that one walks in the gardens of life and plucks the flowers which make a whole life fragrant. It is not merely in graveyards, unfortunately, that one finds a "mute inglorious ]\Iilton," but among those who have felt the nunibing influence of lost oppor- tunities. There is infinite pathos in such might-have-beens. Elwin wrote, "Men seldom become masters in any department of knowledge unless they have learnt the rudiments of it in their youth. Taste in literature is acquired before twenty." The original library which had been bequeathed by Erasmus Hall Academy to Erasmus Hall High School consisted of about six hundred and fifty volumes. The books of science, though use- less as information, were interesting as showing the wide strides that science has taken within the century, and representing the naive sort of guesses that unscientific science books made in the old days. A copy of Johnson's Dictionary, the Bayle Dictionary, an old translation of Tacitus, a unique geometry with graphic models as illustrations, a Brooklyn Directory for the year 1826, and a weather record for the years 1826- 1858, might also be mentioned as interesting. The library was soon increased by about 1,500 books, which had belonged to the Flatbush School Library. Dr. Homer L. Bartlett and 'Mr. John Z. Lott, trustees for the library of School District Xo. i, as they had no fund to care for these books relin- quished them to the Board of Education, and the Board in turn transferred them to Erasmus Hall. From funds furnished by the Regents and by the Board numerous valuable books have been added from time to time until now the library contains nearly seven thousand books. Recently a number of valuable old books have been given to the library by Dr. John ^\. Ferris. Arrange- ments are being made to house this library adequately in the new building. Aside from the gifts of books, otlicr va1ua1)le gifts have been made to the school. Air. Richard Young lias gi\cn to the school generously in various ways and has presented it with a number of handsome pictures, consisting principally of classical subjects ; Mr. Davis gave a large i)icture of the Acropolis ; the faculty and ( HOLBEIN-LOUVRE GALLERY. ) Desiderius Erasmus 163 Cfjroniclcg of OEraeniu^ l^all i^igf) ^cf)ooI i6n >,2^ ^^^^^^M^ 'A 4 # 1 Air. Young- have pre- sented the school with a copy in oil of the famous Holbein head o f Erasmus hanging in the Louvre; the faculty has also given to the school a por- trait of ]\lr. Young painted by ]\Jr. Joseph Boston, and a portrait of Dr. Gunnison painted by Air. John W.Alexander, A.N.A. ; Miss AI a r y Young gave a fine photograph of Dr. Thomas Arnold, of Rugby ; and Mrs. Zabriskie gave the old school-bell. The list would not be complete unless we mentioned the very generous donations of the late Air. Henry W. Maxwell to the school. In the fall of 1898 a school paper, "The Erasmian," was started under the editorship of Air. Willis Earle. Previous to this, space in the "High School Recorder" had been given for Erasmus Hall news. The interest shown in these items led to the establishment of the independent paper. It w^as a success from the start. Here the busy life of the school was mirrored. It is impossible in a short compass to give a taste of its quality, but one or two extracts with a touch of ''local color" may be found interesting: J. W. Alexander's Portrait of Dr. Gunnison The Old School Bell i66 OTftcDnicIca of a2ra.$mus? l^all i^iglj :§fl)ool ^ Jf resifjinan Catecfjisim. Q. What is your name? A. Little I A. Q. Who gave you this name? A. ]\liss Turner and Dr. Gunnison on entering. Q. What did they then do for you? A. They gave unto me a Latin book and adjured me to study three hours at night, come early, and never drop Latin. Q. Dost thou not think thou art bound to believe and to do as they have requested of thee? A. Inasmuch as I may thereby obtain the required seventy per month, I do so think. Noon Recess at Erasmus Hall Q. Who made you ? A. The omnipotent Senior, for his own good pleasure and intinite amuse- ment, did create me. Q. Rehearse the articles of thy belief. A. I believe in the Faculty and the Assistant Principal, who doth bring judgment alike on cutters and grinds. I believe in the Course of Study, and the Maxwell Examinations. I believe in the General Organization, the glorious attainments of the Football Team, the Dramatic Society, the com- pletion of the New Building, and the Lunch Room Pie and Sandwiches. Amen. Q. What dost thou chiefly learn from these articles of thy belief? A. According to rule established, the h'reshman is as grass, yea verily, as green grass, and his days are numbered by the blue report and yellow slip. Q. What are those commandments which thy sponsors did require of thee? A. They are ten in number. 1. Thou shalt on all occasions exalt Erasmus Hall. 2. Thou shalt not sport the colors of any other prep school whatsoever. Cfjronicle"^ of aBra.0mus? l^all l^igl) ^^cftool 167 3. Thou shalt consider diligently the Athletic Notes in The Erasmian to thy great edification and instruction. 4. Remember the Music period and do not rough-house, or thou shalt be sent to the Doctor, and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 5. Honor thy teachers and obey them, that thy general average may wax fat and flourish. 6. Thou shalt not cut. 7. Thou shalt not fail to subscribe to The Erasmian. The Cover of The Erasmian 8. Thou shalt not acquire three late slips a month. 9. Thou shalt not let thyself be rushed by Fraternities. 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's desk, nor his pad, nor his pencil. Thou shalt not covet th}- neighbor's books, nor his frat-pin, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. Q. What dost thou chiefly learn by these commandments? A. My duty to the Faculty and to my neighbor. 168 arf)ronicIe!5 of €rasmui^ l^all I^igf) :t>c{)ooI Q. What is thy duty to the Faculty? A. That I shall at all times give heed unto their commandments when they are on my side of the room. Q. What is thy duty to thy neighbor? A. That I shall not steal his pads while he is looking, nor place his over- shoes on the transom, nor stuff his gloves with chalk. Q. What is the chief end of man? A. To join the Debating Societ3^ Q. What is the chief end of woman? A. To join a Fraternity and be in the Yellocution Contest. J^otD bo tfjep go boton to Unnti) at tfje J^all? How do they go down to lunch at the Hall? A rushing and surging and prancing. And lurching and sliding and dancing. And crowding and pushing and slamming, And spilling and jumping and jamming. And throwing and banging and running, And dashing and tumbling and humming. And laughing and shouting and chasing, And shoving and yelling and racing. This way they go down to lunch at the Hall. A pleasant variation from the ordinary class-room work has been found in a modernized and modified version of the old spell- ing bee, which has been used with success in the Latin and Mathematics departments. Questions have been so arranged that each could be answered briefly. These have been searching and exhaustive, and a very considerable knowledge has often been shown by those remaining up till the last. This exercise furnishes an excellent example of the survival of the fittest. The class win- ning the most points received a banner, and the one holding out till the end, a medal. Of similar interest have been the inter-class debates in the history department, where a most creditable amount of knowledge and interest has been shown by the young debaters. A very delightful custom has been instituted of having the alumni meet for a big informal conference, a day or two before Christmas each year. Back they troop from their colleges or work in large numbers. The very time seems to have been well chosen, for a holiday flavor pervades the entire affair. It is after all largely by the alumni that a school nmst be judged. No mat- ter how fair a rose bush may be, if it does not bear beautiful Cf)ronicle.0 of €ra.0mu0 l^all l^igl; ^c{)odI 169 blossoms it has lived in vain. One cannot but be impressed by the very remarkable feeling of affection shown by the alumni towards "old Erasmus." Such a meeting is a good thing all around. It is good for the faculty in refreshing them with the thought that their endeavors have borne some pleasant fruit at least ; it is good for the graduates in making it possible to renew old friendships and to compare notes on their young impressions of an old world ; it is good for those undergraduates who are present to hear from the college world and from that wider life into which they are to step so soon. To many people a teacher, whether he be found in college or secondary school, means an anomalous being whose name is hedged in by a bodyguard of letters implying the acquisition of all kinds of unnecessary and unpractical knowledge. To many more the life of a teacher appears peculiarly dull and unexciting. New books, new apparatus, new material in the shape of the unique pupil — these are the events, these the stuff* of which his quiet life is made up. But who shall say that a book may not become the most startling event in the life of a man, or that the fresh intellect of youth may not be more stimulating than more spectacular matters? Life for the teacher at Erasmus Hall has not been without its compensations, though it is somewhat out of the broad current of metropolitan life. The absence of red-tape and of a fussy and officious interference in natural and individual methods of teaching, tends to a hearty enthusiasm in the work. The social life of the faculty has been enlivened and deepened by a series of dinners held annually. These dinners have been decidedly original in conception, and pleasant in the performance. Each has been a progressive dinner, the aim being to promote opportunities for sociability. The first one, with Dr. Gunnison as toastmaster, was held at the Clarendon, December 9, 1898. The toasts carried out the conceit indicated in the title, "From our Librar}' Shelves." Some of the titles were suggestive: "Looking Backward," "Great Expectations," "Through One Administra- tion," "Reveries of a Bachelor" and ''The Lay of the Last Min- strel." The second dinner was held January 26, 1900, with Air. J. Herbert Low as toastmaster. "A Little Journey into the World" was the subject for the toasts. The third dinner occurred December 14, 1900, at the ]\Iontauk Club. The toasts formed an ''Erasmus Extra," with Aliss Anna H. Adams as managing editor, and the motto, "All the news that's not in print." On January 170 Cfjronicle.s of Craamu^ l^all l^igl) ^cl)ool 10, 1902. at the Midwood Club, was held the fourth annual din- ner; subject, "'Round the Camp Fire;" officer of the day. Dr. Charles S. Estes. An interesting episode of this dinner was the presentation to the school by the faculty of a large oil painting- of Mr. Richard Young. One of the most interesting dinners of the series was held at the Hanover Club on December 15, 1902. The effect, as one en- tered the room, of the tables lighted only with Greek lamps, was striking. But the surprise of the evening was a series of lantern slides, satirizing amiably the hobbies and foibles of various mem- bers of the faculty. The toastmaster for this extremely pleasant evening was Dr. von Xardroft". At the same place, on Lincoln's Birthday, February 12. 1903, was held the sixth dinner of the series. The feature of this din- ner was an original play or skit entitled, "A Pedagogue in Spite of Himself ; A ]^Iidwinter Night's Absurdity." The chairman of the committee was Mr. Harter. The next dinner was held at the Kings County Democratic Club, on the evening of February 25, 1905. The speaker of the evening was Dr. James H. Canfield, of Columbia University. An interesting feature of the evening was the presentation on behalf of the faculty of the portrait of Dr. Gunnison, painted by Mr. John W. Alexander. The master of ceremonies was i\Ir. Willis Earle. The eighth annual dinner was held at the Assembly on Pierre- pont Street, on February 17, 1906, under the direction of Miss ^lary H. Holmes. A burlesque "Chapel Exercise" proved very diverting. Xot only in a social way have the teachers banded together. They have a local Science Club ; a Latin Club, which has read Horace, Plautus, Terence, Catullus, the Younger Pliny, and Tacitus; a Greek Club, devoting itself to Homer. A successful combination of the social and scholastic has been found in a series of receptions given by the different departments to the teachers of the city interested in the various subjects. The first meeting was given 1)\- the English department, the guest of the exening being Mr. lulward Markham, who read several original ])ocms ; then followed the histor}- department, with ])v. Truman J. Backus and Dr. j. Coleman Adams as guests of honor; then the classical (k'])artment, with \)r. Harry Thurston Peck as guest ; the mathematical department entertained as guest Pro- fessor Da\'id luigene Smith, of Columbia University; the science Miss Kate E. Turner 171 €i^tonitlt^ of €ra"^muj^ I^all l^ig^ ^c^ool 173 department, Professor Garrett P. Serviss ; the department of modern languages, Dr. Heinrich Conried, of the Irving Place Theatre and Metropolitan Opera House ; the art department, with Mr. Frederic B. Crowninshield, President of the Municipal Arts Society, as guest. A second reception has been held by the English department, at which Irving Bacheller was the guest of honor. A department which has done much for the progress and repu- tation of the school is the art department. Its different studies are as distinct and individual as may be, but all add to the sum total of the artistic impulse felt throughout the school. This tribute printed in the ''School Journal" comes from the St. Louis Exposition : ''When speaking of the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx and Queens, I should have added that Erasmus Hall High School, Brooklyn, shows the best art w^ork of any Eastern high school." Not only is the chairman of the department, Mr. Allen B. Doggett, an accomplished artist with the pencil and brush, but with the camera also. In the first decade of the high school, we have what might almost be styled an illustrated biography of its life, thanks to his endeavors. While on the subject of art, it is of interest to recall the loan of famous paint- ings of American artists, entirely filling the two great studio rooms, made in 1900 by Mr. William S. Hurley, a consistent and helpful friend of the school. Not only the pupils but the public were admitted to see these examples of the work of such artists as George Innes, F. S. Church, George H. McCord, Walter Shirlow and Bruce Crane. By two of these artists, Mr. McCord and Mr. Crane, interesting talks on art were given before the pupils during which landscapes were painted, entirely characteristic of the artists, though painted in a very few moments. Rather a striking innovation for a high school in New York City was the introduction of the system of promotion by sub- jects, a scheme subsequently adopted by many schools of the city. No pupil was kept back in a subject in which he had done satisfactory work because he had failed in other subjects, unless indeed, his average of scholarship was notably bad. This plan necessitated a great deal of care in the preparation of programs, as the school grew in numbers and the curriculum broadened. Especially as the pupil neared graduation did the matter become complicated. Much credit is due to the clear-headed and system- 1/4 €f)ronicle,0 of €raj^mu.s l^all l^igl) :f>cI)ooI atic method of the Assistant Principal, Aliss Kate E. Turner, in the successful carrying out of this scheme. In the list of those who have made addresses at the gradua- tion exercises of the school are to be found such names as Theo- dore C. Search, President of the National Association of ]\Ianu- facturers ; Dr. St. Clair AIcKelway; Dr. Truman J. Backus, of the Packer Collegiate Institute ; Dr. J. Coleman Adams ; Martin \V. Littleton, Borough President, and Dr. George A. Ilubbell, of Berea College. An interesting exercise took place on the front lawn of the school on May 26, 1903. The occasion Avas the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the charter of Xew York. The program was as follows : Song, "America" B\' the School Address, "New York" Hon. Richard Young Address, "Emerson" Dr. Geo. A. Hnbbell Recitation, "Concord Hymn" Miss Gertrude Taylor Song, "Erasmus Hall" By the School But an occasion of much more local interest and one which had been looked forward to for years, was the laying of the corner-stone of the new building on January 18, 1905. At last the promises of the city, and the hopes of the friends of the school were fulfilled. Plans had been adopted for a series of buildings illustrating various distinct periods of architecture, from ancient Greek to the scholastic Gothic of the seventh century, and the first section would soon be completed. This wing forms part of the facade of what wdll be the largest preparatory institution in the country. It will probably be ten years, however, before the last stone is laid. It is not hard to imagine, wdien from some side street in Flatbush one catches through the trees a sight of the new tower as it raises its gray loveliness into the air, that one is looking at one of the old buildings at Oxford or at l'heli)s ITall at Yale. The first section is to contain a large assembly hall with a seating capacity of sixteen hundred ; this will be furnished with a large pipe organ. The following letter from the architect. Air. C. P). Snyder, will give an idea of the intended treatment of the new building: HALL OF EDUCATION,, Park Avenue and 59th Street. ^, T- ^,. fT New York, March 16, 1906. A In. I'-. \\ . I Tarter : Di-.Ak Sir: 'J'here is an old sa\ing wliich hohls tliat '"Xcccssily is the mother of invention," which is mainly a short, concise way of assigning a reason for all human dcvelopnienl along material lines. I?^ €t^tomclt$ of €ra.i9?mu^ l^all i^XQt^ c&cfjool 177 It applies as well to the farmer, without the ready recourse of the store or shop ; to the artisan and mechanic, who seeks some new or more economi- cal method of accomplishing results; and even to the architect, who is called upon to solve a problem along new lines. Thus it was with the new Erasmus Hall High School. The writer was called before the Committee on High and Training Schools and asked if he could design a building for the school : First — The cost of which would not exceed $300,000. Second — That the construction thereof should not disturb the occupancy of the present group of frame buildings at the center and rear of the plot constituting the school ; and Third — That the design and plan should be such that this first portion built would in itself be complete and yet a part of a scheme which, when completed, would afford accommodations for as many pupils as Erasmus Hall High School might at any time in the future be called upon to receive. The crowded condition of the mass or aggregation of frame buildings constituting the present school, many rooms in which are unfit for school purposes, absolutely demanded relief. But there were no buildings in the district which could be hired and in which the students could be placed until the new building could be constructed. Had this been possible, the result would have been, without doubt, a high school building along lines familiar to all. A careful study of the matter convinced me that after all it was a good thing for the future school that the present one could not be disturbed, for therein lay the suggestion for a design unique in high schools of the country. The block plan reproduced herein* illustrates what it is hoped can be carried out. A quadrangle enclosed by buildings devoted to various depart- ments of the school work. The former residential character of the neighborhood about the school is undergoing a rapid transformation into a business center. This was duly recognized, but the peculiarity of the deed of gift and the value of the plot as it lay ready for use, while a proposed change of site — which would mean years of delay — rendered a change to another locality, where perhaps more quiet could be secured, an impossibility unless the school was to cease its growth and refuse for several years to come, to care for the students who would demand admittance. The buildings, therefore, have been designed as a screen across the end of the quadrangle, shutting out the noise and confusion of Flatbush Avenue traffic, the only entrance being through the large arch under the tower, which is placed on the axis of the longer dimension of the plot. As the old school had never had an adequate assembly hall or room, one of the features of the first portion of the new structure was designed to overcome this lack of a most essential utility in school life. This, as designed, would be called a chapel were it part of a college, but if we may not aspire to this, 3^et I have thought that it might be known * See page 191. 12 1/8 €f)ronicIej^ of Erasmus? l^all l^igJ) ^cfjool as "the Hall." As such the endeavor has been to design a harmonious, impressive room, in a style permeated with history and romance ; a place which, of all others, will stand out clearly in the loving memory of the student in after years for his Alma Mater. Its walls, columns and arches should bear the trophies won in athletic and scholastic contests, there to be preserved and handed down as a part of the glorious history of the school. It is to be regretted that the utiHtarian uses to which the "Hall"' must be put compels us to close our eyes to the incongruity of the use of an organ, fixed furniture and, above all, "opera chairs.'' In all else, style and its traditions have been closely followed. The need of a gymnasium has been ver}^ great and can now be only partly met by assigning for temporary use the open space beneath the Hall, which is ultimately designed as a lunch room, it being the expectation that a proper gymnasium building will be erected in the near future as one of the new group, which will have its beginning in the completion of the Flatbush Avenue front at the left of the tower and will extend on both sides of the quadrangle or campus to Bedford Avenue. There have been no designs made for the elevation on this avenue, but the aim has been to have a central tower on the same axis as that on Flat- bush Avenue, through the archway in the base of which will be afforded a view of the "quad" with its green sward, trees, shrubs and vines. What the ultimate design of the various buildings going to make up the group may be, it is, of course, impossible to sa}-, but in designing and planning that portion which you now see approaching completion, I have always intended that the whole should be a graphic illustration of the various phases of the so-called Gothic movement, from the Round Arch to the Flamboyant and on through its later transitorial stage. I confess that it is a bold project, but am convinced that it is correct from all points of view, and I hope most sincerely that the years may be but few before I shall have the pleasure of carrying it out and of turning the buildings over com- pleted and ready for use. , Very truly yours, C. B. Snyder. On September 2^, 1787, was held the first public exhibition of Erasmus Hall, and "the scene," says Stiles, "was graced by the presence of the Governor of the State, several members of the Assembly and a large concourse of prominent gentlemen of the city." Of fair renown also were many of the men gathered to do honor to the old-new Erasmus Hall on this January day of 1905. The program arranged for the out-door exercises was as follows: Song "America" Invocation Rev. John M. Ferris, D.D. Laying of the Corner-stone Mr. George M. Schacdle DOXOLOCV. Benediction Rev. John T. Woods ^ < ft- o' 3 y p' O =: C/3 > m (T) r-f- t/) n ^^ w a o > r-h ^ t/) O § 5: _> r* CD 1/4 rri "— ; O K rt) > cr ("5 r ru O r y :i :i: »— • 'U l-H CD O ^— (■& ^ n <7i o — 1^ -t o o >^ P CI. 1— t (/J C. p cr n> c p < Cl- p <-> ^ Crq p cr i-t- O ri) •-i o' 179 Cl)ronicIe^ of €ta^nni^ i^all i^igf) ^cljool ^si First the corner-stone was laid and declared ''level, plumb, square and now truly laid." It contained: Annual report of the Board of Education, 1902. Directory of the Board of Education, 1904. Manual of the Board of Education, 1904. Minutes of the Committee on Buildings, August 15, 1904. Minutes of the Executive Committee of the Board of Education, August 17, 1904. Minutes of the Board of Education, September 12, 1904. Minutes of the Executive Committee of the Board of Education, November 16, 1904. Minutes of the Board of Education, November 23, 1904. Syllabuses of Course of Study for Elementary and High Schools. Fifth Annual Report of City Superintendent of Schools for year ending July 31, 1903. The ]\Ianual Training Schedule. Report of the Superintendent of School Buildings, 1902. Holy Bible. United States Flag. Medal, Erasmus Hall High School, struck in commemoration of the laying of the corner store. School pin, Erasmus Hall High School, and colors blue and buf¥. Seal, Erasmus Hall High School, adopted in 1797. Photograph, Erasmus Hall High School as existing in 1904. Card of invitation issued for the ceremony of laying the corner stone of nev^ Erasmus Hall High School. Copy of the school song, composed by E. W, Harter, E.H.H.S. Copy of the graduating exercises, 1904. Three postal cards in local use, giving different views of the High School. History compiled by Dr. Willis Boughton. Copy of "The Erasmian," school paper, December, 1904. Copies of plans. Copy current issue of "School," The exercises resumed within the old building were opened by an address by the Superintendent of Schools, AATlliam H. Maxwell. He said in part : "In 1882, the year in which I became connected officially with this system of schools, there was (in Brooklyn) just one school that could by some stretch of imagination be called a high school. The Board of Education did not dare in 1882, twenty-two years ago, to call that school a high school — there was so much opposition among people of the city of Brooklyn to spend- ing any money for what is called 'higher education.' . . . This year there are in the high schools of Brooklyn alone 7,553 pupils. . . . This beautiful building whose corner-stone you have laid to-day will cost before it is finished, I suppose, anywhere from half a million to three-fourths of a million of dol- lars. . . . Last year the cost per capita in the high schools, based on register, for each pupil instructed m high schools was $74.16; on the average attend- ance, $85.00. These seem enormous sums, but they are less than half the cost of similar instruction in the best private schools Great as is the cost, I submit that it is very small compared with the advantages to the community the people derive from high schools. "In the first place, there is the material advantage — and I will put it to the good people of Flatbush if you have not had abundant illustration of the material advantage of having a high school established in your community. Why, Flatbush is now probablv one of the most beautiful parts of the city of New York, and I suppose it has grown to be ten times as large as it was before this high school came to it. High schools always attract population. Real estate is the most important asset of Brooklyn. Anything that increases the demand for real estate increases the wealth of the city. This high school where we stand to-day had added enormously to the value of the property, not only in this part of Brooklyn, but throughout all of Brooklyn. In the second place, education increases the general intelligence of the people, and therefore makes each brain and hand more productive. Every increase in intelligence is an increase in wealth-producing power. In the third place, higher education increases the power for the rational enjoyment of life, and that power is not confined to those who have gone through the high school, because the instruction given in the high school improves the quality of the teachers in the elementary school, and so the blessings of the high school, through its graduates who become teachers, through its graduates who go out in all directions, are diffused throughout the community. "Again, a good system of high schools is of vast civic importance. The diffusion of high school education leads directly to independent thinking. Independent thinking leads to independent conduct; independent conduct leads to independent voting and to independence in the discharge of all the duties of citizenship. "But the most important argument for high schools remains to be stated. Public schools are established and maintained for many reasons, but chiefly for this reason, nanieh', that all children, whether the children of the rich or the children of the poor, shall have equal opportunity for success and hap- piness, as far as education can make them equal. It follows that the public school must go further, and must be as good a school as the best private school. We believe that our high schools are giving a secondary education that is in no respect inferior to that given in the best private schools. Indeed, if we may judge from the awards given to our educational exhibit at St. Louis, and from the fact that the number of students entering our great public institutions from high schools now far exceeds the number entering from private schools, and from the further fact that our boys and girls have demon- strated time and time again that they need fear no competition for prizes and scholarships; if we may judge from these facts, we are well within l)ounds when we sa}^ that during the last seven years the public high schools of New- York have assumed the leadership in secondary education. At last we have realized the dictum of Horace Mann : 'The school that is not good enough for the son of a rich man is not good enough for the son of a poor man.' "in the year 1787, before Washington had become President of the United States, before a single line of great poetr}- had ever been penned in the ter- ritory embraced in the United States, while Sir Walter Scott was still a boy <; o ►1 o <-(- m o (/Q 2 2 ^ kJ (-1- -! O ^^ '-! U P Pu B p 13 Cfq o o " n> ^ > ^. C/) 5" ^ CO ^ o P ^ •-t O P c :=! ^ P > r I— I o n HH C r p p p^ n> rir . v.- .^''^' -'^■*> />"■'. ;;iS5-^^.^t 183 arfjronide^ of aEras^mu^ l^all l^igJ) ^cf)ool 185 at school, in the same year in which Byron was born, before railroads traversed the land or steamboats plowed the ocean, before the fires of the French Revolution had burst forth to consume the remains of a degraded and decadent feudalism, Erasmus Hall Academy was founded by the Dutch citizens of Flatbush and chartered by the Regents of the University of New York. That Academy had a glorious history, and now on this land dedicated one hundred and eighteen years ago to the sacred cause of education, is about to arise a more stately building with ampler halls and richer equipment, which will have, I doubt not, a still more glorious history, a more glorious history, because it is dedicated to the service not of the few but to the service of the many, because it is dedicated to the cause of free public education." Mr. Richard Young spoke feelingly of the old school when in its ''hoary old age, its mantle fell on the free public school system of Brooklyn." "I know," he said, "there are those sitting before me to-day who look with mixed emotions on the changes taking place. There are those who played under the trees and took their recesses and ate their lunches there in the old times, and every stroke of the axe meant a stroke of the heart to them. But they realized that there was a greater thing than trees and open lands and beautiful grounds ; that there are hearts and minds to be developed and built up, and that we are to go out into the world to do this." President Finley, of the City College, said in part : "I think this is a most auspicious day, not only for this part of New York, but for the city and for the country itself. This is a splendid thing which democracy is doing out of her own treasures. I was asked a few weeks ago to say one word to the Archbishop of Canterbury, as he was leaving our shores to go out to his home, and the word that I tried to say was what democracy is doing for the training of her own children. It is not what we are doing out of our private purses ; it is not what we are doing in the way of charities or establishing private institutions; these are not our noblest gifts, it seems to me; it is what democracy is doing out of her own treasures; this is the best token of her high-mindedness, and it is the best promise of a broadening and a heightening and ennobling of life in this democratic country of ours. I congratulate 3'ou with all my heart this day." I\Ir. John Greene, of the Board of Education, said : "Alone among the high schools of the city, now the Borough of Brooklyn, the interests, the ambitions, the ideals of the high school cluster about a name, the name of Erasmus, a name of which the people from whom he sprang may to the remotest generations well be proud. He was the light of the humanistic movement in Europe. Fie was skilled in the graces of the writers of antiquity, and he has transmitted to the descendants a record for scholarship, a record for the style which should be the result of scholarship, which has given Erasmus Hall a typical place among the high schools of the city. Other high schools since have been dignified by the addition of the i86 Cfjroniclcs of o^ra^mus? l^all l^igf) .^cl)ool names of great men. Erasmus Hall will always remain as the first of its class in point of time, and it rests with you, the teachers and the Principal and the members of the Board who take an interest in the school, to see whether it may not retain a first place in rank. "You are situated in the most beautiful part of the city of Brooklyn, a part which retains more than any other the pristine characteristics of an early population. We see here traces of the existence of men who lived two hundred years ago or more in buildings which remain to this day. It is for you for whom the school is especialh' designed to carry on the traditions of the man whose name the school bears, and of those who have labored to carry on his work, of the simple virtues, the high living, of the people among whom you have been brought up, and of those who represented the best even to them." Looking back over the story of the school during the past decade, one is amazed at the variety of life and circumstance exhibited. Of course this period is a mere point of time when one thinks of the time when Desiderius Erasmus was selling his clothes to buy Greek books w^th, or later when Eskemoppas, the Sachem of Rockaway, claimed to be the owner of ]\Iidwoiit and sold it to the Dutch burghers for a song or for something less valuable ; or when the branching sycamores, old even in those days, looked stolidly down upon glimpses of the battle of Long Lsland ; or even to the time when the rosy cheeked Dutch boys trudged sturdily each morning to the colonial academy building. The thought of this school for so long a time — "Hiving wisdom with each studious year" is a stimulating one. Without doubt, within the last ten years this school has had opportunities such as fall to the lot of very few educational institu- tions. It will be for time, with its true perspective, to tell in what degree she has lived up to them. Has she proved herself worthy of her motto, ''Fortitcr asceiidc?" She not only had a past, dig- nified, of good repute, with all the moral impetus furnished by its precedents ; she has, if successful, a most glorious future. In the story of these latter years there have been some gray days among the gold, days of storm and stress, days of discouragement, when the hoped-for progress was not apparent. If ever Erasmus Hall has her epic poet, he will, I think, choose to sing this ten years' war against numerous trials and disappointments. He will not fail, though, to sing the happier days. Eor in general, the school seems to 1)e fulfilling her destiny and to be coming measurably near the exi)cctations of her most sanguine friends. o .* -t ^- ^ < a o ■— o > F in - ■ in ^ o ^ p o c 187 Cfjronicfe^ of ^ra>s^mu^ i^all l^igf) ^cl^ool 189 Carmen ^aeculare ^unc bieg almus; bcnit aureaque Hmt ^ol omnEs; fjomines; iubatiit ; Mo9i triumpfjali quatiamusi astra Carmine celsia. Corbe ferbenti tumiboque tempug J^oc cupiberunt proabi bibere ; J^unc biem fesitum fugientis anm i^og gtatuamug. ^aeculum longum, benerata jHater, l^olbit annorum bolucrique curs;u 3Fnclptae famae populi beberunt ^erta becora. J^it ubi patres! mobo bella nositri jHagna gesserunt, ubi bepulerunt JBvitontsi burog, patriae tprannos;, Jf ortibusi armis, ^arba surrexti caput ante gentefi Ceu loco guabcsi biolae remoto jFloSculos toUunt ab fjumo fragrantifii l^ere benigno. Cibitas; bisfcorsJ erat una facta J^uper ex multisi animique ccncors; i^atio foebu?^ celebrabat oinnis; ^ectore laeto. 190 Cf)roniclc,0 of oErasmua l^all l^igf) ^cJjool J^ic Jiataborum beterum birilesi Jf ilii boctasi coluere itlus;a£f :ltque tjirtutem bibicere pulcftram temper amare. Cum grabi£( belli quotjue bensfa nubeg lUettera umbrabit glabiusique birug, i^untiusf luctusi, rubefecit arba Sanguine fratrum, Cum boleng iHarti tencrog feroci Corbc bemisgo pueros bebi^ti i^e labor patrum cabcrent piorum €t monumentum. Cibium tanbem rabiesi quiebit: Mox fabri in falcefii glabios; cruentos; 3gne curbabant fjominesique agebant iilunera ^acis;. i^aubcant omnesi iubcnes in urbe; J^ic nobem, ^fjocbi comites, gorores; 3incolcnt temper pretiosia cultusi Bona ferenteS. ^irgines; absiint puerique casti (^loriam laete meritam s^onantts; ; Bebitac laubesi bccorcnt Crasmi i2obilc nomen. Denis A'. O'Brien n ?r o CfQ O) o o cr Orq m cr > c > r r in o c c r o o O o o 3 ?r n 3 a. n' p 191 25ibliograpl)p Jdoofesi Consiulteti in tfje preparation oi tfje Cfjronicles; of Crasimusi J|aU ^cabemp History of Flatbush in Kings County. By Thomas M. Strong, D.D. An Excursion to the United States of North America in the Summer OF 1794. By Henry Wansey, F.A.S. Memoirs of the Rev. John Henry Livingston, D.D. By Rev. Alexander Gunn, D.D. The Social History of Flatbush. By Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt. A History of the City of Brooklyn and Kings County. By Stephen M. Ostrander, M.A. History of County of Kings and City of Brooklyn. By Henry R. Stiles, A.M., M.D. Journal of J. Baxter, of Flatlands (In MS. form). Reports of Regents of The University of the State of New York. Historical and Statistical Record of The University of the State of New York. By Franklin B. Hough. Historical Sketch of the Zabriskie Homestead. By p. L. Schenck, M.D. Records of the Board of Education, City of Brooklyn, December 3, 1895. A Manual of the Reformed Church in America. By Edward Tanjore Corwin, D.D. A Memorial of the Semi-Centennial Celebration of the Founding of Hamilton College. Funeral Sermons on the Death of Rev. Thomas M. Strong, D.D. A Tribute to the Memory of the late Rev. Robert Grier Strong. By C. L. Wells, D.D. ^ Higt of tfje ^re£(ibents; of tJje JHoarb of trustees? from ]7S7-\S0e John Vanderbilt (Senator) from Dec. 17, 1787, to Jan. 7, 1797 Johannes E. Lott from Jan. 7, 1797, to Oct. i, 1808 John C. Vanderveer from Oct. i, 1808, to Apr. 29, 1829 John Lefferts from Apr. 29, 1829, to Sept. 28, 1829 Jeremiah Lott from Sept. 28, 1829, to Oct. 12, 1861 Henry S. Ditmas from Oct. 12, 1861, to Oct. 12, 1878 J. M. Ferris from Oct. 12, 1878, 193 13 194 Cftronicles^ of €raj8fmu,0 l^all ^ ILi^t of tfje Clerfeg of t!)e Jioarb of ^rusitees from 1787=1896 Aquila Giles from Dec. 17, 1787, to Apr. 3, 1788 James Tod (Not a Trustee) from Apr. 3, 1788, to Alay 7, 1792 Peter Wilson from Thomas jM. Strong from Apr. 29, 1829, to April 3. 1830 David Johnson from Apr. 3, 1830, to Dec. 31, 1836 Dr. J. B. Zabriskie from Dec. 31, 1836, to Apr. 4, 1848 John Vanderbilt from Apr. 4, 1848, to Oct. 21, 1856 Dr. John L. Zabriskie from Oct. 21, 1856, to Nov. 11,1895 John Z. Lott from Nov. 11, 1895, — ^ m^t of tf)e CreajJurers; of tfjc Jlioarb of ^rusftees! from 1787=1896 Peter Lefferts from Dec. 1 7, 1787, to Garrett Vanderveer from to Dec. 25, 1832 Simon Cortelyou from Jan. i. 1833, to Cornelius Duryea from to Aug. 8, 1845 David • Johnson from Aug. 8, 1845, to Apr. 9, 1849 Henry S. Ditmas from Apr. 9, 1849, to Dec. 14, 1850 John A. Lott from Dec. 14, 1850, to July 20, 1878 Abraham Lott from July 27, 1878, to July 13, 1889 W. H. Story from July 13, 1889, ^ Hisit of tfje Crusftccg of (Srasfmus; J^all ^cabemp Charter iHcmbers Name. John Vanderbilt Date 1796 Walter Minto Dec. 12, 1792 Peter Lefferts Oct. 17, 1791 Johannes E. Lott Oct. i, 1808 Aquila Giles Nov. 28, 1797 Cornelius Vanderveer Dec. 3, 1788 George Martense Dec. 31, 1835 Jacob Lefferts Nov. 28, 1797 William B. Gifford Nov. 8, 1801 Hendrick Suydam Dec. 3, 1788 John J. Vanderbilt Nov. 14, 1806 Martinus Schoonmaker Oct. 27, 1808 Philip Nagle Dec. 20,1792 Pktkr Coknkij July 17, 1789 of Re)iwral and Cause. Death. Noted in ]\Iinutes of Trustees, Jan. 7, 1797. Seat declared vacant by Board. Death. Resigned on account of age. Seat declared vacant. Resignation. Death. Seat declared vacant. Resignation. Resignation. Resignation. Resignation. Removal from the county. ^{jroniclc^ of a2ra.0mus? l^all 195 Name. Date of Removal and Cause. John H. Livingston Feb. 11, 1S03. James Wilson. . Samuel Provost. John Mason Comfort Sands. Seat declared vacant. These four members never attended a meeting of the Board of Trustees. Their seats were declared vacant in conformity to a By-Law passed April 26, 1790. Zi)t J^oartJ of Zvn^ttt^ toas; a s;elf=perpetuatins bobp, anb in guccesisiion tlje foUotDing=nameb men fjabe been memtiers; of tftat J^oarb Xame. Date of Election. Rev. Peter Lowe Dec. 17, 1787 Garret ]\L\rtense Dec. 17, 1787 Peter Striker Nov. 19, 1788 John C. Vanderveer Dec. 3, 1788 Hendrick H. Suydam Dec. 3, 1788 Lawrence Voorhees July 17, 1789 Cornelius Bergen Oct. 17, 1791 Rem. Hegeman Oct. 17, 1791 Abraham Ditmas Oct. 17, 1791 Dr. John H. Van Beuren Oct. 17, 1791 R. Martense Mar. 24, 1792 Peter Wilson Dec. 8, 1792 John Nagle Dec. 20, 1792 Garret Vanderveer Dec. 19, 1793 Lefferts ]\L\rtense Mar. 7, 1796 Samuel Garritson Nov. 28, 1797 John Cortelyou Nov. 28, 1797 Garret Vanderveer Dec. 13, 1799 John Lott Dec. 13, 1799 Andrew Suydam Dec. 13, 1799 Garret Stryker May 2, 1800 Bateman Lloyd Feb. 11, 1803. Jeremiah Lott Nov. 23, 1804. Jeremiah Vanderbilt Dec. 7, 1805. Date of Removal and Cause. June — , 1818. Death. ]Mar. 7, 1796. May 7, 1800. Apr. 29, 1829. Nov. 23, 1804. ]\Iay 7, 1806. Resignation. Resignation. Resignation. Resignation. P r e s e rut at Board fleeting for last time. Sept. 26, 1826. Dec. 13, 1799. Dec. 7, 1805. Dec. 19, 1793. :May 18, 1812. Dec. 14, 1804. Dec. 13, 1799. from village."* Refused to accept. Death. "Removed." Death. Resignation. Death. Resignation. Removed Dec. 13, 1799. Death. Dec. 7, 1805. Law of lim- itation. Dec. 25, 1832. Resignation — Advanced age. Jan. I, 1842. Resignation. ^lay 9, 1818. Resignation. Dec. 5, 1818. Present at Board fleeting for last time.t Nov. 20, 181 5. Death. Oct. 12, 1861. Death. Apr. 22, 1837. Resignation. * Sold his farm at \'endue to Judge Lott, April 14, 1798, for £4,645. — Baxter. "i" June 21, 1819, Garret Stryker buried. — Baxter. 196 €f)rDnicIe.s? of oEras^mUj^ l^all Name. Date of Election. Peter Stryker^ Jr Dec. 7, 1805. John Lefferts Jan. 20, 1807. John J. Ditmas Oct. 27, 1808. Dr. Nicholas Schoonmaker.. .Oct. 27, 1808. Abraham Vanderveer Dec. 11, 181 1. Richard Fish Dec. 11, 1811. Rev. Dr. John Bassett Jan. 13, 1813. Garret L. Martense Dec. 22, 1813 John Vanderbilt Nov. 20, 1815 Abraham Lott Jan. 11, 1817 Dr. Adrian Vanderveer Alay 9, 1818 Cornelius Duryea, Jr May 9, 1818 Rev. Walter Monteith May 18, 1819 Isaac Cortelyou June Rev. Dr. Thomas J\I. Strong.. Dec. George Martense ]\Iar. Henry S. Ditmas Mar. Matthew Clarkson Mar. John C. Bergen Sept. David Johnson Apr. Michael Schoonmaker Apr. John Vanderveer^ Jr Sept. John A. Lott Sept. Simon Cortelyou Dec. John Ditmas June Dr. John B. Zabriskie Dec. John J. Vanderbilt Apr. Samuel G. Lott , . . . Dec. John Vanderbilt Dec. John I. Lott Jan. Garret Martense Jan. John D. Prince Jan. Richard L. Schoonmaker Aug. John Cortelyou Dec. John Lefferts Apr. I, 1820 21, 1822 I, 1823 I, 1823 I, 1823 26, 1826 II, 1829 II. 1829 1829 1829 1832 1833 1835 1837 1841 184 1 1842 1845 1845 1845 1845 1848 28 28 25 II 31 22 4 Jacob V. B. ]\L\rtense Oct. 9 John Schenck Oct. 9 1849 1849 Date of Remo val and Cause. Aug. 5, 1832. Death.* Sept. 18, 1829. Death.t Apr. II, 1829. Resignation. May 9, 1818. Death. Dec. 5, 1818. Present at Board Meeting for last time. Feb. 20,1815. Present at Board Meeting for last time. Feb. 20,1815. Present at Board Meeting for last time. July 5, 1857. Dec. 25, 1841. Dec. 25, 1841. July 5, 1857. Aug. 8, 1845- Dec. 21, 1822. itation. Dec. 25, 1845. Oct. 12, 1861. Dec. 31, 1835. Oct. 11,1884. Apr. II, 1829. Oct. 8, 1870. Oct. 9, 1849. Jan. 4, 1845. May I, 1863. July 20,1878. Dec. 25, 1844. Nov. 6,1880. Apr. 4, 1848. July 25, 1893. Oct. 30, 1866. Oct. 20, 1877. Oct. 27, 1855. Oct. 9, 1849. Veh. 9, 1889. Feb. 10, 1877. Apr. 12, 1 85 1. July 25, 1893. ticed in Minutes. I'cb. II. 1882. Death. Apr. 9, 1850. Declined accept. Death. Resignation. Death. Death. Death. Law of Lim- Death. Death. Death. Death. Resignation. Death. Death. Resignation. Resignation. Death. Resignation. Death. Death. Resignation. Death. Death. Death. Death. Death. Death. Death. Vacancy no- to * Aug. 5, i83_'. died, Peter Stryker, of cholera. Baxter. t Dec. 15, 181J, elected to Congress. I'axter. Cfjroniclc"^ of oEra^mu^ l^all 197 Name. Date of Elect Jeromus J. Johnson Dec. 13 Van Wyck Cortelyou Dec. 13 John L. Zabriskie Oct. John F. ]\Iartense Mar. Abraham Lott ^lar. James L. Lefferts Oct. John Oakey Oct. Abraham I. Ditmas Oct. Rev. C. L. Wells Apr. Jacob P. Vanderveer May Henry Lyles^ Jr Oct. Theo. B. Lott Oct. Dr. Homer L. Bartlett Oct. Rev. John M. Ferris Oct. John Z. Lott Oct. Lionel A, Wilbur Oct. Lefferts Vanderbilt Oct. John H. Ditmas Oct. William H. Story June Adrian V. Martense Feb. John A. Lott^ Jr Oct. Robert Lefferts Oct. Rev. Jeremiah Lott Zabriskie. Feb. Freeman Clarkson Feb. L N. Ford July H. N. Sherrill July L. T. German July William Schwarzwalder ....Apr. John D. Prince Apr. John B. Zabriskie^ Jr Sept. Jeremiah Lott Sept. 27 3 3 13 12 12 II I 8 30 8 8 12 12 12 12 II II II II 9 9 25 25 25 12 12 20, 20, on. 851. 851. 855. 860. 860. 860. 861. 861. 863. 863. 864. 866. 870. 870. 878. 878. 878. 878. 881. 882. 884. 884. Date of Removal and Cause. 889. 893. 893. 893. 893. 893. 896. 896. Oct. 13, i860. Oct. 8, 1870. cant.* Nov. 13, 1895. Apr. II, 1863. June 13, 1889. Oct. 8, 1864. Dec. 2Z, 1873. Apr. 15, 1894. Dec. 12, 1904. Resignation. Declared va- Death. Death. Death. Resignation. Death. Death. Apr. 12, 1893. Resignation. Feb. 3, 1905. Death. Oct. II, 1884. Death. July 25, 1893. Resignation. Jan. — , 1898. Death. Apr. 12, 1893. Resignation. Dec. 29, 1900. Death. Ceacfjcrs; of €ra£imusi J^all ^cabempt REV. JOHN HENRY LIVINGSTON, D.D., Principal 1787— 1792 See pp. 37-52. James Tod^ Classical Department 1788 — 1792 Secretary of the Board of Trustees. James Turner^ English Department 1788— Brandt Schuyler LuptinI 1788 John Gibson 1789 — 1791 Edward Shepard 1789 — 1790 * Never took his seat. t It is not possible to make this list complete. The dates are drawn largely from the Minutes of the Board of Trustees. t Mentioned by first Regents' Visiting Committee, but not in the Minutes of the Trustees. 198 Cf)roniclc.0 of €i:a,s?niu.0 l^all John Terhuxe 1790 — 1791 Albert O'Blexiss, Classical Department 1791 — 1806 Queen's (Rutgers) College. Michael Schoonmaker 1791 — 1805 Alexander ^McDonald, French 1792 — Jones 1792 — PETER WILSON, Principal 1792-1805 See pp. 52-61. Peter Labagh, French 1792 (Dec. 5) — 1794 John Smith_, French and English 1793 (Feb. 2-Nov. 30) Henry Alaird de Heusch, French 1793 (Dec. 19) — 1795 (Sept. 8) Lecotte^ French 1795 (Nov. 30) — 1797 (May 27) Nicholas Dollett_, French 1797 (Nov. 27) — 1798 (Dec. 8) Peter Van Pelt 1797 (May 23) — Baird 1798 — 1799 (April 4) Joshua Genet^ French 1798 (Dec. 8) — 1799 (]\Iarch 25) Samuel Harris, Assistant 1799 (June 22) — Hugh Miller, English Department 1799 (Dec. 13) — 1800 (May 2) REV. PETER LOWE,, Principal 1805— 1818 See pp. 61-63. Richard Fish 1805 (March 16) — 1806 (]\Iay i) John Wyckoff 1805 (Dec. 7) — Evan Beynon 1806 (IMay 10) — 1808 (Jan. 2) JoAB G. Cooper, Classical Department 1806 (Nov. 8) — i8o8( Jan. 2) Editor of Cooper's Virgil. Valentine Derry, Classical Department 1808 (Feb. 11) — 1809 (Sept. 11) John Brannon 1809 (Jan. 19) — 1810 (April 10) Gray — 1809 (July 7) Richard Whyte Thompson, Classical Department, 1809 (Sept. 15) — 1814 (Dec. 23) William Steward 1810 (Aug. 8) — 1810 (Aug. 21) Edward Cassidy, English Department 1810 (Aug. 21) — 1811 (Jan. 17) John Van Cleef 1811 (Feb. i) — 181 1 (July i) AvA Neil 1811 (March 11) — 1813 (Sept. 15) Nicholas Morris 1813 (Oct. 9) — 1814 (May 16) Adrian Hegeman 1814 (IMay 23) — 1823 (May i) William Thayer, Classical Department 1814 (Dec. 2^) — William Ironsides, Classical Department. ... 1815 (Aug. 19) — 1816 (May i) Columbia College. Andrew Craig, Classical Department 1817 (Jan. 11) — 1819 (June 19) S. H. Meeker 1817— 1820 E. La Jurnelle 181 7 — 1818 James Russell 1818 — 1820 Louis J. Michard 1818 — 1820 Charles F. A. Canda 1818 — 1820 JOSEPH PENNEY, Principal 1819 (Aug. 28)— 1821 (Aug. 14) See p. 63. Cf^ronicle.sf of €ra3^mu.0 l^all 199 REV. TIMOTHY CLOWES, Principal 1821 (Aug. 29—1823 (May i) Wm. J. Clowes, Assistant 1821 — 1822 JONATHAN \V. KELLOGG, Principal 1823— 1834 See pp. 65-74. Jonathan B. Kidder, A.B., Science "... 1823 — 1829 AL\RiA Jones, Female Department 1823 — 1829 Theodore ]\Iorell, French and Spanish 1823 — 1834 John Frey, English Assistant (Male) 1824 — 1825 William Allgeo, English Assistant (Male) 1825 — 1832 Hannah C. Kellogg 1827 — 1830 Eliza Geib, ]\Iusic 1827 — 1830 William H. Campbell, Classical Assistant 1829 — 1831 See pp. 70-71. Julia De Forest, Female Department 1829 — 1830 Philomela Rollo, Teacher of Music 1829 — 1830 Mrs. W. W. ]\L\ltby, Female Department 1830 — 1831 Miss E. Gillingh am. Music 1830 — Isaac Greer, Classical Assistant 1831 — 1832 Almira Meach, English Branches 1831 — 1833 Julia Gillingham 1832 — 1833 Jonathan W. Thompson, Classical Assistant 1832 — 1833 John I. Prentiss, English Assistant 1833 — Abigail Rudd, Female Department 1833 — Louisa M. Ely, Assistant in Female Department 1833 — Wexgate, Supply Teacher 1833 — REV. WILLIAM H. CAMPBELL, Principal 1834— 1839 See pp. 74-84. John W. Thompson, Classical Department 1834 — 1835 Anna F. Vose, Female Department 1834 — 1835 C. B. Raymond, Junior Teacher 1834 — 1835 John McAlpin, Classics and Mathematics 1835 — John Skellie, English 1835 P. ]\Iourquine, Teacher of French 1835 A. U. Hayter, Music ( Piano) 1835 — 1836 Abner Jones, ]\lusic (Vocal) 1835 William James Stephens 1835 Mark Hopkins Beecher 1836 — 1840 See pp. 77-78. Laura McElwin, Female Department 1836 — 1839 Jacob Gillet, Junior Teacher 1836 — 1838 Salary $500. V. M. Hulburt, ]Music (Vocal) 1836 Ambrose Leet, Junior Teacher 1837 — 1838 Belfast College. Ireland. Michael \Y. Erben, Music (Piano) 1837 — 1838 REV. JOSEPH PENNEY, D.D., Principal 1839— 1841 See pp. 84-86. 200 Cl^ronicIciS? of €ra,i^mu.s? l^all Jeromus a. Davenport, Department of English 1840 — 1841 Universit}- of the City of New York. Sarah Parker, Female Department 1840 — 1841 Willis ]\I. Rowel 1840 Mr. House 1840 JAMES FERGUSON, Principal 1841— 1843 See p. 86. Andrew P'ergusox 1841 A.B., Rutgers College. Cornelius Stoothoff , 1841 A.B., Union College. Augusta Ingham, Female Department 1841 Academy of Wilkes-Barre. Robert S. Wright 1842 — 1843 Sara L. ]\Iiller 1842 — 1843 REV. RICHARD D. VAN KLEEK, D.D., Principal 1843— 1860 See pp. 89-97. James D. ^Iorris, French, Mathematics, English 1843 — Hounslow School, England ; taught two years in Paris. IMargaret Odell, Female Department 1843 — Edward Foote 1845 — Cornelia C. Mitchell 1845 — De Witt Nooney, French, IMathematics, English 1845 — 1846 University of the City of New York (Junior). Grace S. Jaycox, Female Department 1845 — 1847 Miss Seeley's Boarding School, New Haven, Conn. James R. Leute 1846 — 1847 Rutgers College, Class of '42. Theodore Morell, Jr., French 1846 — 1851 Sigismond Lazar, iMusic ( Piano) 1846 — 1848 William C. Webster, Music (Vocal) — 1848 Julia Anna Schaffer, Female Department 1847 — ^848 Moravian Seminar}^ Bethlehem, Pa. Starr's Boarding School, New York. Centre College, Danville, Ky. Fanny Van Kleek, Elementary Branches 1847 — ^1854 Albany Female Academy. Erasmus Hall Academy. Harriet O. Putnam, English, Female Department 1848 — 1849 Mt. Holyoke Seminar}'^ (two years). Thomas ]\Ionk, Painting and Drawing 1848 — 1849 Joseph Proctor, English 1849 — 1851 A.M., Union College. Harvard College (Junior). Henry Farrington, English 1851 — 1852 Mary Van Kleek, Primary Department 1851 — Henry Wells, Music (Vocal) 1851— 1853 €f)ronicle.0 of Erasmus l^all 201 Isaac Briggs^ English 1852 — State Normal School. Horace Wickham^ English 1853 — 1855 Elizabeth Van Kleek 1853 — Thomas Lee^ English Department (Male) 1855 — I. Lowexdahl^ French and German 1857 — • Richard Lawrence Van Kleek^ Assistant 1859 — Thomas C, Strong^* Classical teacher 1859 — George W. Bacon/ English 1859 — Rev. I. L. ^IcNair/'" English and Classics 1859 — J. M. Hager^ ]\Iiisic (Vocal) 1859 — Virginia Van Kleek, ]\lusic (Vocal and Piano) 1859 — REV. WILLIAM W. HOWARD, Principal i860— 1863 See pp. 97-98. Erskine Howard_, Preparatory Department i860 — Western [Military Academy, Kentucky. Abbie Sexton,, Female Department i860 — • State Normal School. Serena 'M. Heskett^ Music i860 — ^Iiss ^l. Cunxixgham^ Female Department i860 — REV. ELI T. MACK, Principal 1863— 1874 See pp. 99-104. Mr. Wilson 1864 — Elizabeth !Mack, Primary Department 1866 — 1873 Mr. Pierre 1869 — Helen Mack, French Department 1869 — G. ^I. Bakler 1869— Mr. Gordox 1869 — J. A. Higgins 1868— JARED HASBROUCK, Principal 1874— 1879 See pp. 103-104. REV. ROBERT GRIER STRONG, Principal 1879— 1892 See pp. 104-118. Laura W. Coggers 1880 — Oswego State Normal and Training School. Sarah E. Sedgwick, English Branches 1879 — 1892 Poughkeepsie Collegiate Institute. S. M. IMoREL, Latin, Greek, and French 1879 — 1887 S. M. Morel, French alone 1887 — 1892 Esther G. Leggett, Preparatory Department 1883 — Josephine Partridge, Primary Department 1883 — Oswego State Normal and Training School. Gertrude Havilaxd, Kindergarten 1883 — ]Madam Kraus-Boelte's Kindergarten Training School. * For Strong, Bacon and McXair our authority is Mr. Peter I. Xeefus. 202 €l)ronicIe,iS? of €ra^^muj^ I^all ]\Irs. L. W. Cotton, Elocution 1883 — 1884 Rev. C. H. Schwarzbach, German 1883 — 1884 Bloomfield Theological School. William Ostermayer_, Music 1883 — 1892 Bertha Connell, ]\Iusic 1883 — 1885 Bertha Connell_, Alusic and German 1886 — 1888 Packer Collegiate Institute. Carrie E. Smith,, Preparatory Department 1884 — Oswego State Normal and Training School. Mrs. M. Duval Allen, Painting and Drawing 1884 — 1889 South Kensington Art School, London. Louis C. Mollenhauer, ]\Iusic (Violin) 1884— 1892 Madam Pfeiffer, German 1885 — Jeannette Walker, Primary Department 1885 — 1886 Oswego State Normal and Training School. Harriet E. Lyman, Preparatory Department 1886 New York Normal College. DeWitt V. D. Reiley, Latin and Greek 1887 — 1892 Rutgers College. Sarah B. Strong, Preparatory Department 1887 — 1892 Wells College. Antoinette C. Rogers, Primary Department 1887 — Oswego State Normal and Training School. Mary W. Hawley, Kindergarten 1887 — 1892 Van Wagenen's Kindergartner Training School. Kate C. Robb, Primary Department 1888 (until June) Olive J. Lydall, Primar}^ Department 1888 (after June) Oswego State Normal and Training School. Madam Mann de Ruch ant, French 1889 Grace O. Fornachon, Primary Department 1889 Oswego State Normal and Training School. Archibald Cuthbertson, Calisthenics 1889 Toronto University, Canada. I. S. Preston, Penmanship 1889 Sarah L. Dunning, Music (Vocal) 1889 DR. R. ARROWSMITH, Principal 1892— 1893 See pp. 118-121. Flora E. Pike, Mathematics and History 1892 — 1893 Vassar College. Carrie E. Reynolds, Geography and Latin 1892 — 1893 Fredonia State Normal School. Sallie B. Freeman, Primary Department 1892 — 1893 New Jersey State Normal School, MARY WHEELER HAWLEY, Principal 1893 (March 3)— 1896 Van Wagenen's Training School. Allen B. Doggett, Art 1895 — Roval Acadcmv. Munich. €f)ronicIc.3Bf of aEraj^mu^ l^all 203 iHember£f of tfje ILotal Committee of Crasimug J^all ^igf) ^cfjool, 1896-1901 Hamlin^ George D 1896 — 1899 Hooper, Franklin W. 1896 — 1899 Maxwell, Henry W 1896 — 1899 McNamee, John 1896 — 1899 Pettengill, Emma F 1896 — 1898 Weir, James 1896 — 1898 Young, Richard 1896 — 1901 Fisher, George H 1898 — 1899 Sullivan, Andrew T 1898 — 1901 Bamberger, Ira Leo 1899 — iQOi Bassett, Edward AI 1899 — 1901 Hunt, Joseph H 1899 — 1901 Nostrand, George E 1899 — 1901 Powell, John K 1899 — 1901 Thompson, John R 1899 — iQOO Williams, John J 1899 — 1900 ]\IcIlroy, John 1900 — 1901 ^fje Jfacultp of Crafifmus; J^all J^isij ^cfjool (The names in each department are arranged in order of appointment.) Walter B. Gunnison _---_---- Principal A.B., St. Lawrence University, 1875; A.M., 1878; Ph.D., 1895; Pro- fessor of the Latin Language and Literature, St. Lawrence University, 1875-1885; Principal of PubHc School No. 19, Brooklyn, 1885-1896; Principal of Erasmus Hall High School, 1896- Kate E. Turner -------- Assistant Principal Brooklyn Training School; A.B., Adelphi College, 1903; Head of Department, Public School No. 19, 1895-1897; Teacher, Erasmus Hall High School, January, 1897- April, 1898; Assistant Principal, April, 1898- DEPART^IENT OF ART. Allen B. Doggett ------ CJiairman of Department Student, ^Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass., Cowles Art School, Zepho Art Club, 1877-1887; Student Koehler Art School, Munich, 1887; Student Royal Academy of Fine Arts, ]\Iunich, Anatomy Lec- tures, University of ^Munich, 1887-1890; Student of Anatomy (dissec- tion), Long Island College, 1894; Art Department, Forbes Litho. Mfg. Co., Boston, 1877-83; In charge of Department, 1885-87; In charge of Art Department, Crump Lithograph Co., ^lontclair, N. J., 1883-85 ; Art Department of Harper & Bros., New York, 1892-95 ; Trip to Holland in search of material for the illustration of book, ''Hans Brinker," for Chas. Scribner's Sons, 1895; General illustration work; Teacher of Art, Erasmus Hall Academy, IMiss Hawley's School, Flatbush, Mrs. Perkins' School, Flatbush, 1895-96 ; Teacher of Art, Erasmus Hall High School, Sept., 1896- 204 €ftronicle^ of €ra^mu^ i^alf Joseph Mayo Tilden. B.S., Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 1895; Alass. State Normal School, 1897; M.A., New York Universit}^ 1906; Assistant in Chem- istry, Harvard University, 1895-1897; Supervisor of Art Study, Public Schools, Higham, ]\Iass., 1897-1898; Teacher of Art, Erasmus Hall High School, 1898- Pearl Frances Pond. Diploma, Mass. Normal Art School, 1892 ; Director of Drawing, Hamp- ton Institute, Va., 1892-1894; Diploma, Pratt Institute, 1898; Teacher of Art, Erasmus Hall High School, Sept., 1898- Manton Elwell ]\Ierchant. Diploma, Mass. Normal Art School, 1896; Teacher, Gloucester High School, 1896-1901 ; Teacher of Art, Erasmus Hall High School, 1901- COMMERCIAL DEPARTMENT. Warren L. Starkey -__--__ Head of Department Coleman Business College ; Head Teacher, Commercial Branches, Pat- erson, N. J., High School, 1891-1897; Head Teacher, Commercial Department, Erasmus Hall High School, 1897- George C. Raynor. Graduate, State Normal College, Albany, 1888; Graduate, Zanerian Art College, Columbus, Ohio, 1893 ; Course in Albany Business College, 1896; Principal, Graded School, Shelter Island, N. Y., 1888-1889; Teacher of Commercial Branches, State Normal School, Millersville, Pa., 1890-1893 ; Instructor in Polytechnic Institute, Brooklyn, 1894- 1898; Teacher of Commercial Branches, Erasmus Hall High School, 1898- DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH. Orlando Eaton Ferry. A.B., Hamilton College, 1895; A.M., 1898; A.M., New York Uni- versity, 1902; Teacher, Polytechnic Institute, Brooklyn, 1895-1896; Teacher of English, Erasmus Hall High School, 1896- Abigail Eliza Leonard. Randolph Normal School, 1875 ; First Assistant, Johnson Normal School, 1875-1878; First Assistant, Woodstock High School, 1878-1881 ; First Assistant, Castleton Normal School, 1881-1891 ; Teacher, Girls' High School, Brooklyn, 1891-1896; Teacher of English, Erasmus Hall High School, 1896- Clara a. FIart. Teacher of English, Erasmus Hall High School, Sept., 1896-Sept., 1897. Grace A. Burt Graduate, Emerson College of Oratory, Boston, 1895; Student, New York University, Summer Course, 1903; Martha's Vineyard, Summer Course; Teacher in private schools. New York, Brooklyn, Jersey City, Newark, Newburgh ; Public Reader, and Lecturer for the City of New York, on Shakespearian Plays; Author of "The Art of Expression"; Teacher of Elocution, Erasmus Hall High School, February, 1898- Cfjronicle^ of aEra^mu^ i^all 205 Albert Francis Buck. A.B., Amherst College, 1890; A.M., Harvard University, 1892; Stu- dent in Germany, 1892-93 ; Instructor in Philosophy, Union College, 1896-97; Instructor in Philosophy, University of Chicago, 1897-98; Teacher of English, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1898-Jan- uary, 1904. Willis Earle. A.B., Dartmouth College, 1889; A.M., 1892; Teacher of English, Wor- cester, Mass., Academy, 1889-1890; Norwalk, Conn., School, 1890-1893; St. Paul's School, Garden City, L. I., 1893-1898; Erasmus Hall High School, 1898- ; Chairman, Department of English, Erasmus Hall High School, 1 898- 1 900. Sabra Maude Moore. A.B., Wellesley College, 1898; Student, Columbia University, 1902, 1903; Teacher of English, Erasmus Hall High School, 1898- Florence M. Scovill. B.L., Smith College, 1893 ; Graduate Student, Yale University, 1893, 1894; Teacher of English, Montpelier, Vermont, 1894-1895; Westfield, N. J., 1895-1897; Traveling in Europe, 1897-1898; Teacher of English, Erasmus Hall High School, 1898- George Morris Strout. A.B., Boston University, 1878; Ph.D., 1880; Principal, High School, Nahant, Mass., Chicopee, Mass., Athol, Mass., Cohoes, N. Y. ; Teacher of English, Erasmus Hall High School, 1898- Willis Boughton. A.B., University of Michigan, 1881 ; A.M., Dickinson College, 1891 ; Ph.D., Ohio University, 1900; Higher Diploma, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1902 ; Teacher in Cincinnati Grammar Schools, 1888; in Technical School, Cincinnati, 1889; Professor of History and Literature, Ohio University, 1889- 1891 ; Lecturer on English, University of Pennsylvania, 1891-1892; Professor of English, Ohio University, 1892-1899; Teacher of English, Erasmus Hall High School, 1899- ; Chairman Department of English, Erasmus Hall High School, 1900- 1903. George A. Hubbell. Ph.D., Columbia University; Teacher of English, Erasmus Hall High School, February, 1899-1904; Vice-President Berea College, 1904- Mildred I. McNeal. Teacher of English, Erasmus Hall High School, October, 1899-Septem- ber, 1903. Married Mr. Peter Sweeney, 1903. Adelaide C. Hoffman. Teacher of English and Mathematics, Erasmus Hall High School, 1901- 1903. Married Mr. W. T .Marvin, April 14, 1903. RowENA K. Keyes. Mount Holyoke College ; Teacher of Mathematics and English, Eras- mus Hall High School, March i, 1903-1904; Transferred to Girls' High School, 1904. 2o6 arfjroniclej^ of ^ra^muj^ l^all Prestox Cooke Farrar - _ _ _ _ _ Head of Department A.B., Washington and Jefferson College. 1891 ; A. '\l., Columbia Uni- versity, 1904; Teacher of English and Latin, Allegheny, Pa., High School, 1891-1896; Head of Latin Department, 1893-1896; Head of English Department, 1896-1900; Graduate Student, Columbia Uni- versity, 1900-1903; Teacher of English, DeWitt Clinton High School, New York City, February, 1901-September, 1903; Chairman English Department, 1902-1903; Head of English Department, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1903- Sarah Phoebe Foster. A.B., Wellesley College, 1898; Assistant to Head of Modern Language Department, D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1898-1902; Secretary to Kin- dergarten Department, Pratt Institute, 1902-1903 ; Teacher of English and Secretary to the Principal, Erasmus Hall High School. September, 1903- Frederick William ]\Iemmott. A.B., Williams College, 1895; A.]\L, 1900; Vice-Principal of Drury High School, North Adams, Mass., 1895-1903; Teacher of English, Erasmus Hall High School, 1903- LucY Burns. A.B., Vassar College, 1902; Graduate Student, Yale University, 1902- 1903; Teacher of English, Erasmus Hall High School, February, 1904- DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. William E. Chancellor. Teacher of History, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1896-Sep- tember, 1897. George Edward Bovnton ------ Head of Department Student at Rochester University, 1884-1886; Principal of Victor Union School, 1880-1890; A.B., Johns Hopkins University, 1892; Graduate Student, Ibid., 1893 and 1895; Graduate Student, Cornell University, 1894; Instructor in Sociology, Women's College of Baltimore, 1892; Head of Department of English, Utica Free Academy, 1895-1897; Head of Department of History, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1897- Laura Eunice Sprague. Ph.B., University of Michigan, 1891 ; Teacher of Mathematics, High School, South Bend, Ind., 1891-1892; Teacher of History and English, State Normal School, Buffalo, N. Y., 1892-1897; Teacher of History and ICnglish, Erasmus Hall High School, 1897- J. 1 JERr.ERT Low. A.l)., Amherst College, 1890; A.M.. 1896; Instructor in Latin and History, Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, 1890-1893; Student in Berlin, Paris. London, 1893-1897; Teacher of History, Erasnuis Hall High School, 1897- arfjroniclc^ of ^ra^mu-sf l^all 207 Frances G. Davenport, Teacher of History, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1898-Sep- tember, 1901. Jennie Melvene Davis. Potsdam State Normal and Training School, 1891 ; Special Work, Teachers College, 1894; Harvard Summer School, 1897; Assistant Principal, School No. 17, Potsdam, 1885-1890; Teacher of History, East Orange, N. J., High School, 1891-1898; Lecturer, New York State Teachers' Institutes, 1898-1899; Lecturer, New York State Summer Institutes, 1898, 1905 ; Lecturer on History, New York City Public Lecture Course, 1895-1906; Teacher of History, Erasmus Hall High School, February, 1899- ; Member American Historical Association. Gertrude J. Nelson. Teacher of History, Erasmus Hall High School, February, 1901-Sep- tember, 1901. Married Mr. Clififord R. Burt, 190T. Jenny C. Watts. Teacher of Histor\', Erasmus Hall High School, February, 1901-Sep- tember, 1901. Lolabel House. A.B., University of Nashville, 1893; A.]\I., University of Chicago, 1898; Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1901 ; Fellow in American History, University of Pennsylvania, 1899-1901 ; Instructor in English, Waco High School, Waco, Texas, 1898-1899; Teacher of History, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1901- Caroline T. AIitchell. Teacher of History, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1901-1902; Instructor, Smith College, 1902-1903. Married Mr. Geo. W. Bacon, June, 1904. Antoinette Lawrence. Ph.B., Cornell University, 1891 ; A.M., 1895 ; Teacher, Private School, New York City, 1891-1894; Graduate Student, Cornell University, 1894- 1895; Teacher, Private School, Geneva, 1895-1896; Ibid., Pittsburg, 1896-1898; Assistant Principal, Sewickley, Pa., 1898-1900; Teacher in Yonkers, N. Y., 1900-1902; Teacher of Flistory, Erasmus Hall High School, February, 1902- DEPARTMENT OF LATIN AND GREEK. Eugene Wendell Harter ------ Head of Department B.A., Yale University, 1888; ^I.A., 1891 ; Teacher at "Viewland," Peekskill, 1888-1889; Head of Department of Latin and Greek, New- burgh Free Academy, 1889-1896; Teacher in Dr. Sachs' School for Boys, January, 1896-June, 1896; Head of Department of Latin and Greek, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1896- 2o8 €J)ronicle,i^ of €ra^mu.i^ I^all Susan Perkins Peabody. x\.B., Smith College, 1882; Teacher, High School, Vinton, Iowa, 1883- 1891 ; St. Cloud Normal School, ^Minnesota, 1891-1893; Graduate Stu- dent, Cornell University, 1893-1894; Teacher, Girls' High School, Brooklyn, 1894-1896; Teacher of Latin, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1896- Caroline G. Brombacher. A.B., Barnard College, 1895 ; Fellow in Greek, Bryn Mawr College, 1896-1897; Teacher of Mathematics and Greek, Erasmus Hall High School, September, i897-Februar3', 1906. Denis R. O'Brien. A.B., St. Francis Xavier, 1896; Teacher in Grammar Schools, New York City, 1897-1898; Teacher of Latin, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1898- Sidney Graub Stagey, A.B., Bowdoin College, 1889 ; Fellow in Latin, Johns Hopkins Univer- sity, 1891 ; Acting Professor of Latin, Iowa College, 1894; Ph.D., Uni- versity of Munich ; Teacher of Latin, Erasmus Hall High School, February, 1898- Jesse Willis Jefferis. Boston University; Teacher of Latin, Erasmus Hall High School, Sep- tember, 1898-June, 1900. William Mahlon Strong. A.B., Colgate University, 1894; Instructor in Greek and Latin, Rutgers College Preparatory School, 1894- 1896; Student, Hamilton Theological Seminar}^ 1896-1897; Pd.B., New York State Normal College, 1898; Teacher of Latin, Erasmus Hall Lligh School, September, 1898- Nathalie Luce Vidaud. Oswego State Normal School, 1881 ; Teacher, Greenpoint, N. Y., High School, 1881 ; School for Girls, New York, 1881-1885; School for Girls, Brooklyn, 1885-1892; Yonkers, N. Y., High School, 1892-1898; Teacher of Latin, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1898- JoHN William Bockes. A.B., Williams College, 1896; L.L.B., St. Lawrence University, 1902; Teacher, Bridgeport, Conn., 1896-1897; Westerleigh, Staten Island, 1897-1899; Teacher of Latin, Erasmus Hall High School, 1899- Walter Scott Harley. A.B., Bucknell University, 1887; A.M., 1890; Graduate Student, Uni- versity of Chicago, 1892-1894; Instructor in Latin and Mathematics, South Jersey Institute, 1888-1892; Teacher of Latin, Boys' High School, Reading, Pa., 1894-1899; Teacher of Latin, Erasmus Hall, lligh School, February, 1899- Frederick D. Sherman. A.B., University of Michigan; Ph.D., University of Leipzig, 1897; Teacher, Bay City, Mich., High School; Oshkosh, Wis., Normal School ; Lecturer on Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1897-1899; Teacher of Latin, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1899- April, 1903. €f^tmndc0 of €ra^mu^ ]^all 209 Charles Sumner Estes. A.B., Colby University, 1884; A.M., 1897; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins Uni- versity, 1895; Associate Principal, Ricker Institute, Maine, 1884-1891 ; Acting Principal, 1895-1896; Professor of Latin and Lecturer in His- tory, Furman University, 1896-1898; Principal, Cook Academy, New York, 1899-1900; Teacher of Latin, Erasmus Hall High School, Sep- tember, 1900- Charles Edward Dixon. A.B., DePauw University, 1888; A.AL, 1891 ; Instructor in Latin, DePauw University, 1886- 1891 ; Professor of Latin, Olivet College, 1891-1895; Student in American School for Classical Studies in Rome, 1895-1896; Student of Latin MSS. in European Libraries, 1897; Fel- low in Latin, L^niversity of Chicago, and Instructor in Schools (Lewis Institute, and South Side Academy) allied with the University, 1897- 1901 ; Teacher of Latin and Greek, Erasmus Hall High School, 1901- WiLLiAM Frank Tibbetts. A.B., Bates College, 1888; Ph.D., Laiiversity of Chicago, 1901 ; Teacher of Latin and Greek, High School, Pawtucket, R. I., 1889-1890; Profes- sor of Latin, Hillsdale College, Mich., 1890-I895; Instructor in Latin and Greek, Kenwood Institute, Chicago, 1896-1900; Teacher of Latin, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1901- Mary Foster Volentine. B.A., Adelphi College, 1905; Teacher, Adelphi Academy, 1898-1902; Teacher of Latin, Erasmus Hall High School, Februar}', 1902- DEPARTMEXT OF MATHEMATICS. Arthur C. Perry. Teacher of Mathematics and Science. Erasmus Hall High School, Sep- tember, 1896-June, 1897. George ]\Iorris, B.S., Rutgers College, 1889; Instructor in Rutgers College Preparatory School ; Instructor in Science, Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute ; Har- mony School; Principal of Public School at Oceanic, N. J., 1894-1896; Teacher of Mathematics, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1897- 1904; Chairman of Department, 1899-1904. Jane Hudson Dunham Stone. East Greenwich Academy; Teacher in Public Schools of Rhode Island and New Jersey; Albany Boys' Academy; Episcopal Diocesan School for Young Ladies, Nevada; Teacher of Mathematics, Erasmus Hall High School, April, 1898- KaTHERINE I. HOBGDON. A.B., Boston University, 1893; Teacher, High School, Portland, Conn., 1893-1894; Teacher of Mathematics and German, Wellesley, Mass., High School, 1894-1897; Graduate Student, Gottingen, 1897-1898; Teacher of ]\Iathematics, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1898- 14 210 Cfjroniclc"^ of oSrai^niu^ l^all Louis L. Hooper. Teacher of Mathematics, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1898- Ma}', 1900; Head Master, Washington School for Boys. Frank Dexter Edgell. A.B., Amherst College, 1893; Teacher, Siglar's School, 1893-1895; Blair Hall, 1895-1899; Teacher of Mathematics, Erasmus Hall High School, Februar}', 1899- Mary IMatilda Stone. A.B., Barnard College, 1896; Teacher in Elementary Schools, Brook- lyn, 1898-1899; Teacher of Mathematics, Erasmus Hall High School, February, 1899- Albert Edward King ----- Chainiiaii of Department A.B., Harvard University, 1897; A.M., 1898; Graduate Student, Colum- bia University, 1 899-1 905 ; Instructor in Seal's School, Plainfield, N. J., 1898-1899; Teacher of Mathematics, Erasmus Hall High School, Sep- tember, 1899- WiLLiAM Reuben Lasher. Ph.B., St. Lawrence University, 1899; Teacher of IMathematics, Eras- mus Hall High School, September, 1899- Walter D. Mapes. A.B., Williams College, 1886; Teacher of Mathematics and Elocution, Gambler, Ohio, 1886-1887; Williams College, 1887-1888; Instructor in Mathematics, West High School, Cleveland, Ohio, 1888-1889; Instruc- tor in Mathematics, Latin and Greek, Brooks' Military Academy, Cleveland, Ohio, 1889-1890; Head of Department of Mathematics, University School, Cleveland, Ohio, 1890-1895; Instructor in Math- ematics, Central High School, Cleveland, 1897-1898; Teacher of Math- ematics, Erasmus Hall High School, May, 1900- ; Died, July, 1901. Alice Gertrude Brickelmaipir. B.S., Cornell University, 1899; A.M., Columbia University, 1900; Teacher, Randolph-Cooley School, Plainfield, N. J., 1900- 1 901 ; Teacher of Mathematics, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1901- George Fay Wilder, A.B., St. Lawrence University, 1897; 'i\\'icher of Mathematics and Science, Rutland, Vermont, English and Classical Institute, 1897-1899; Teacher of Science, Ogdensburg Academy, N. Y., 1 899-1901 ; Erasmus I (all High School, Teacher of Mathematics, September, 1901- Edith Nichols Putney. A.B., Smith College, 1899; Teacher of Mathematics, Erasmus Hall High School, I'cbruary, 1904- DEPARTMENT OF MODERN LANGUAGES. Julia Barclay Dennis. Dayton Normal College, 1892; Trenton State Model School, 1893-1896; Law Department, New York University, 1903; Teacher of German, Erasmus Hall High School, vSeptembcr, 1896- Cl^ronicle^ of oEra^mu^ i^all 211 May K. Van Benschoten. Teacher of German and French, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1896-April, 1898. Married Mr. John S. Griggs, April, 1898. Mary Herbert Holmes _ _ _ Chairman of German. Department S.B., Wellesley, 1894; A.M., 1898; Teacher, Woodward Institute, Quincy, Mass., 1895- 1898; Teacher of German, Erasmus Hall High School, P'ebruary, 1898- Anna Howard Adams _ _ _ Cliairman of French Department Ph.B., University of Michigan, 1890; Teacher in High School, Hough- ton, Mich. ; High School, Ann Arbor, Mich. ; Washburn College, Topeka, Kansas; Hillhouse High School, New Haven, Conn.; Teacher of French, Erasmus Hall High School, April, 1898- Elizabeth W. Eaton. University of Michigan; Teacher, Colorado College; Portland, Ore.; Teacher of German, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1898-Sep- tember, 1902. Herman Montague Donner. International Institute, Zurich, 1883; Teacher in Private Schools in New York, 1894-1898; Teacher of French and German, Erasmus Hall High School, February, 1899-June, 1900. Mary E. Young. Graduate of the University of Michigan, 1898; Teacher, Ypsilanti High School; Studied in Europe; Teacher of German, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1899-September, 1901 ; Leave of Absence, Sep- tember, 1901-September, 1902; Professor of Modern Languages, St. Lawrence University, 1902- 1904. Married Mr. F. H. DeGrout, August 17, 1904. Beatrice Shaw. B.A., Vassar College, 1897; Graduate Scholar in Modern Languages, Vassar, 1897-1898; Teacher, Lyndon Hall, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 1898- 1900; Teacher of French, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1900- Helen Ludlow Perkins. A.B., Adelphi College, 1898; Teacher of German, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1901- Walter a. Wight. A.B., Harvard University, 1899; Instructor, Polytechnic Preparatory School, Brooklyn, 1899-1901 ; Teacher of French, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1901- Elizabeth Mary White. Sorbonne, Paris, 1884; Franke Stiftung, Halle, 1885; Privat-Docent, Berlin, 1886; A.M., Bates College, 1900; Diplome Superieur, Al. Fr., Paris, 1903 ; Teacher of French and German, Murdock School, Win- chendon, Mass., 1887-1894; English High School, Worcester, Mass., 1894-1902; Teacher of French, Erasmus Hall High School, September. 1902- 212 Cfjronicles? of €ra^mu^ J^all Minnie Estella Sparks. B.L., Smith College, 1893; Teacher, Holyoke, Mass., High School, 1894- 1897; Student, University of Leipzig, 1898-1899; Teacher, Rome, N. Y., High School, 1899-1903; Teacher of German, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1903- DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE. Grace A. Van Everen. Teacher of Science, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1896- Octo- ber, 1898. Married Mr. Bradley Stoughton, January 4, 1899; Died, January 16, 1905. Sara E. Faunce. Teacher of Science, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1897-June, 1900. Alarried Mr. O. E. Ferry, December, 1900. Ernest Robert von Nardroff - _ _ _ Head of Department E.M., Columbia University, 1886; Honorary Fellow in Mathematics, Columbia University, 1888-1891 ; D.Sc, St. Lawrence Universit}', 1903; Assistant in Physics and Chemistry, Brooklyn Central Grammar School, 1881-1882; Teacher of Physics and Chemistry, Brooklyn Heights Semi- nary, 1882-1887; Teacher of Physics and Chemistry, Model School, Boston, 1887-1888; Lecturer on Physical Science, Brooklyn Evening High Schools, 1888-1899; Instructor in Physics, Barnard College, 1891- 1897; Head of Department of Science, Erasmus Hall High School, Sep- tember, 1897- ; Member, New York Physics Club, New York xA.cadcmy of Science ; Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science; Member, American Physical Societ3\ Laura Brownell. A.B., Vassar, 1895; Teacher of Science, Erasmus Hall High School, February, 1898-February, 1900. Married Mr. Chas. E. Woodbridge, 1900. Frank L. Bryant. B.S., St. Lawrence University, 1891 ; Principal, Public Schools, Orange County, N. Y., 1891-1893; Cornell University, 1893 and 1895; Teacher of Science, Stamford, Conn., High School, 1893-1898; Teacher of Physics and Physiography, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1898- ; President Earth-Science Section, New York State Science Teachers' Association, 1906. Frederick Wolcott Huntington. E.M., C()lunil)ia l^niversity, 1885; Teacher of Physics, Era?;mus Hall High Schocjl, September, 1898- I'l.AXCHE L. NkKDHAM. A.B., Radcliffe College, 1894; A.M., 1896; Teacher, Bloomfield, N. J.; Teaclu-r, lu-asnuis Hall High School, September, 1898-June, 1900. ]\Tarric(l .Mr. C". 11. IJissell, Sei)tcniber 24, 1901. €t)t(}\ndt^ of €ra^mu0 l^all 213 Richard Ellsworth Call. Cazenovia Seminary, 1875; A.B., Indiana University; A.M., 1891 ; M.S., Iowa Agricultural College, 1892; M.D., Louisville, Ky. ; Ph.D., Ohio University, 1896; Teacher, Stonington, Conn., 1877-1879; Super- intendent of Schools, David City, Neb., 1879- 1881 ; Geological Survey, 1881-1882; Principal, Moline, III, High School, 1882-1884; Instructor, University of Missouri, 1884; Teacher, Des Moines, Iowa, High School (hve years) ; Louisville, Ky., High School; Superintendent of Schools, Lawrenceburg, Ind., 1896-1898; Teacher of Science, Erasmus Hall Iligh School, 1898-1900. Margaret Augusta Doolittle. A.B., Vassar College, 1893; M.D., Boston L^niversity School of ]\Iedi- cine, 1898; Hospital work and graduate study, Philadelphia, August 1898-January, 1899; Teacher of Science, Erasmus Hall High School, February, 1899- William Jerome Hancock. B.S., University of Maine, 1888; M.S., 1892; Graduate Student, L^ni- versity of Maine, 1890; Professor of Chemistry, Antioch College, 1890- 1892, and 1893-1899; Teacher of Science, Starkey Seminary, 1892-1893; Student, Harvard College, 1894-1895; Teacher of Chemistry, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1899- R. Wesley Burnham. A.B., Amherst College, 1895 ; Science Department, High School, Glou- cester, Mass., 1895-1899; Teacher of Science, Erasmus Hall High School, November, 1899- Frank John Arnold. A.B., St. Lawrence University, 1896; A.M., 1900; Teacher of Latin, Adams Collegiate Institute, 1895; Principal of ^Matteawan, N. Y., High School, 1897; Teacher of Science, Medina, N. Y., High School, 1898- 1899; Teacher of Physics, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1900- Jennie W. Geer. B.S., Cornell University; Teacher of Science, High School, Plymouth, ]\Iass., 1892-1894; High School, Gardner, Mass., 1898-1900; Teacher of Biology, Erasmus Hall High School, February, 1900- Bkx AIurray Jaquish. B.S., Cornell University, 1893 ; Instructor, The Chicago Academy, 1893- 1896; Instructor, College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City, 1896-1898; Dr. J. Sachs' School for Girls, New York City, 1898-1900; Teacher of Chemistry, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1900- AIabel Agnes Young. B.A., University of Cincinnati, 1889; Graduate Student, Radcliffe Col- lege, 1894-1895; Teacher in Tileston Normal School, 1890-1891 ; High School, Millbury, Mass., 1891-1894; High School, Springfield, Mass., 1895-1900; Teacher of Biology, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1900- 214 Cl)i:Dnicle>^ of aBra>5mu,i8? l^all Carlotta J. Maury. Teacher of Science, Erasmus Hall High School, February, 1901-Sep- tember, 1901. Lewis Caleb Williams. A.B., Kenyon College, 1892; A.M., 1899; Instructor in Natural Science, Kenyon Military Academy, 1892-1896; Cheltenham Military Academy, 1896-1900; Teacher of Physics, Erasmus Hall High School, February, 1901- Marion Raymond Brown. A.B., Wells College, 1898; A.M., Columbia University, 1901 ; Instructor in Science and History, Union School, Fishkill, N. Y., 1898-1900; Teacher of Biology, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1901-1904, and 1906- Frank Adison Rexford. Brockport Normal School, 1900; B.S., New York University, 1905; Teacher, Bay Shore High School, 1900- 190 1 ; Teacher of Science, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1901- EsTELLA May Vedder. B.S., Cornell University, 1892; Teacher, St. Johnsville High School; Cascadilla School, Ithaca, N. Y. ; Yonkers High School; Teacher of Biology, Erasmus Hall High School, September, 1902- MUSIC Joseph Ambrose Campbell. A.B., St. Francis Xavier College, 1886; Teacher of Music in Public Schools of Brooklyn, 1886-1902; Erasmus Hall High School, 1902- LIBRARY. Mary Aurelia Kingsbury. Graduate of Pratt Institute Library School, 1899; Assistant Cataloguer, Library, University of Penns\ Ivania, 1899; Cataloguer, Library, Amer- ican Society of Civil hjiginecrs. New York City, 1899-1900; Librarian of I^rasnnis Hall High School, June, 1900- |)ri^es; for ^tfjletics; Athletics have been a branch in which, of a necessity, but few could be directly interested, h^leven men only, constitute a football team; nine, a base- ball team ; and in track and Held events, there being no substantial recognition for effort of others than winners, the "good athletes" train harder, while the less meritorious ones drop out, discouraged. The benefit of athletics, that of physical development and rela.xation from mental work, has thus become con- fmed to the few rather than to the m.anv. Cfjronicle^ of ^ra^sfmu-e? I^all 215 To obviate this difficulty it was suggested that perhaps a scheme could be devised whereby every boy, big or little, athlete or otherwise, might become interested. Such a scheme must insure that every competitor receive some recognition; or better, some insignia of his ability. Another condition lay in the scholastic merit of the contestant. In order that the "school" should recognize his athletic ability in the form of a prize, he must have a merito- rious standing in his lessons as well. The solution of this double problem has been accomplished, and its result is the present "Button Contest" of Erasmus Hall, held every term. Four designs for buttons have been adopted, popularly known as the Fresh- man, second year, third year, and Senior buttons. The wearing of a button signifies that the holder has not only "qualified" in certain prescribed athletic tests, but that he also has an average of at least 70 per cent, in his studies. Different degrees of athletic and scholastic ability are rewarded by bronze, silver, and gold buttons. The silver and gold buttons thus signify that the wearer is either a much better athlete or a better student, or both, than the wearer of a bronze button. The system used is, briefl\', as follows : Six athletic events arc prescribed, arranged in three groups, together with a minimum credit. Group I. — Sixty yard dash, minimum credit, 8 seconds. Two hundred and twenty yard run. minimum credit, 32 seconds. Group II. — High jump, minimum credit, 3 feet 3 inches. Broad jump, minimum credit, 12 feet. Group III. — Chinning or pull-up, minimum credit, 3 times. Twelve-pound shot put, minimum credit, 20 feet. The contestant chooses one event from each group, and in his trial the above minimums each credit him with 15 points. Should his record be just the minimum in his three chosen events, his total athletic ability would be 45 points. Should his record be better than the above, he is credited accordingly from a carefully computed table of credits. Thus his athletic standing is determined. Should the contestant get an average of 70 per cent, in his studies (which is the minimum scholarship), his total athletic and scholastic ability is 45 points. But if his report shows an average of 80 per cent., all over the min- inumi, 70, or in this case, 10, is added to the athletic record, making now a total of 55 points to his credit. In awarding the prizes, 45 points win a bronze button, 65 points win a silver button, and 100 points win a gold button. In this way, with an easy athletic minimum, it is possible for almost any boy by some practice to get a bronze prize, if his school work is satisfactory. The contests are held early in the term with the idea of stimulating good work in the class room, so that the button, which is only half assured in the field, may become a real award when the first report is announced. The pupil of high scholastic ability has by this method an opportunity of winning the silver or the gold prize, equal to that of the excellent athlete. In fact, in the last contests, October, 1905, the two highest totals, each of which won a gold button, were 123 and 119 points. The 123 boy was an excellent 2l6 Cljrontclc-^ of €ra>5niu^ l^all student, with an average of 96.4 per cent., and hardly an ordinary athlete ; the 119 boy was an excellent athlete, and a student of but 74 per cent, average. The results accomplished are : First, a prize is won by all who really try, hence, reward for effort; second, the good student and the good athlete are on a par as to chance; fliird, boys are led to study in order to insure the but- ton; fourth, the plan attracts over seventy-five per cent, of all our boys, a number which by no ordinary means would ever enter athletics or receive any of their benefits. Event. Record. Date. 100 yards dash. Senior 10 3-5 sec. May 14, 1903 100 yards dash. Junior 10 3-5 sec. May 13, 1905 220 yards run. Senior 23 4-5 sec. May 17, 1905 220 yards run. Junior 23 4-5 sec. May 13, 1905 440 yards run 52 3-5 sec. June 4, 1904 Half-mile run 2 min. 6 sec. May 27, 1904 Mile run 4 min. 52 sec. May 14, 1903 Running high jump 5 ft. 4 in. May 2"/, 1903 Running broad jump 22 it. S in. ]\Iay 21, 1900 Pole vault 9 ft. 9 in. June 14, 1905 12-pound shot put 41 ft. I in. May 28, 1900 120 yards high hurdle 17 sec. May 27, 1903 220 yards low hurdle 26 3-5 sec. May 27, 1903 I mile relay 3 min. 34 4-5 sec. Apr. 28. 1905 Holder. Nobert Hegeman. George McNulty. E. J. O'Connor. George McNulty. E. J. O'Connor. E. J. O'Connor. Nobert Hegeman. C. J. Tafel. H. O. Tafel. Harold Rogers. Frederick Onken. George Beavers. William Conley. r O. V. Korber. E. B. Hutchings. R. McNulty. E. J. O'Connor. ^racfe Captains; 1898 — Ch.\kles Clacgett. 1899 — Virgil Lopkz. 1900 — LeRov B. Vail. 1901 — William O'Donoghue. 1902 — William Conley. 1903 — Charles F. Tafel. 1904 — Ray McNulty. 1905 — Edward J. O'Connor. 1906 — Edward B. Hutchings. 1899 — Joseph O'Sullivan. 1900 — Henry Kohlman. 1901 — W. O'Donoghue. J^ocfecp Captains; 1902— Benj. Nichols. 1 903 — J OS E P H O ' Do N OG H U E. 1904 — (No Team.) 1905 — Charles Beavers. €l)ronicIe^ of oEraj^mu.ie? Ipall 217 1897 — Virgil Lopez. 1898 — George D. Ford. 1899 — Arthur Kelly. 1900 — Harold McNulty. Jfoottjall Captainsf 1905- 1901 — Harold McNulty. 1902 — Joe O'Donoghue. 1903 — Russell Earle. 1904 — Walter Donovan. -Mathew Black. 1897 — David Harrison. 1898 — David Harrison. 1899 — Thomas Lee. 1900 — Harold The all. JliasietjaU Captains; 1905- 1901 — Benj. Nichols. 1902 — Eugene Van Loan. 1903 — John W. Gallagher. 1904 — Clarence Green. -Charles Beavers. i^rabuating J^onors;, Crasimus; J^all J^igij ^cftool 1900 — Highest Highest 1901 — Highest Highest 1902 — Highest Highest 1903 — Highest Highest 1904 — Highest 1905 — Highest Highest Average, four years, Avice M. Watt. Average, two 3'ears, Margaret M. Robb. Average, four years, Clarence G. Bachrach. Average, two years, Emma L. Otterstrom. Average, four years, Elva L. Porter. Average, two years, Carrie A. Seifert. Average, four years, J. Melin Wiley. Average, two years, Eliz. M. Lee. Average, four years, Emily M. Smith. Average, four years. May A. Dooley — January, Average, four years, Eliz. Nitchie — June. tlTerm CsfSap 3^vi}t Winntvi Prizes for Essays. First, Louis H. Pink. Second, Bertha M. Irish. First, Mary E. O'Leary. Second, Gertrude A. Vass. Prises for Cover Designs. February, 1899. First, James Brotherhood. Second, Nellie L. Hart. June, 1899. First, Edwin A. Guissinger. Second, Andrew Holmes. February, 1900. First, Edna Evans. First, Mary E. Guissinger. Second, Clarence Bachrach. Second, E. Brown. Third, Tessa Kelly. 2l8 Cl^roniclcs? of aBta.s^mus" I^all Prices for Essays. First, Viola Pike. Second, Lauretta Burns. Third, Florence Jones. Prises for Cover Designs. June, 1900. First, Anna Foster. Second, Louise Green. First, Mary E. O'Leary. Second, Edith R. Mealley. Third, Hoyt P. Simmons. February, 1901. First. ]\L\bel R. Bartol. Second, Robert H. Blake. First, Harding Johnson, Jr. Second, Clara Knowlton. Third, Louis Bartlett. June 1901. First, Hilda ]\L\nsfield. Second, Ida Brown. First, Edna J. Wakefield. Second, Alice Fuller. Third, Faith Chipperfield. February, 1902. First, George Renouard. Second, Susan B. Townsend. First, Susan B. Townsend. Second, Charlotte Harvey. Third, Harding Johnson,, Jr. June, 1902. First, Emma L. Brock. Second, Theodore Krombacii. First, Allen B. Doggett, Jr. Second, Irma Moritz. Third, Susan B. Townsend. February, 1903. First, Robert H. Blake. Second. Laura Stout. First, Allen B. Doggett, Jr. Second, Portia Patten. Third, George V. Richardson. June, 1903. First, Ida Sicuro. Second, Martha L, Bradt. February, 1904. First, Rachel Kniazinsky. First, Margaret Flynn. Second, Allen B. Doggett, Jk. Second, ]\Iartha L. Bradt. Third, Eleanor Meakin. First, Elmer D. Keith. Second, Salem Munyer. Third, Genevieve J. Williams. June, 1904. First, Gordon B. Dukes. Second, Dorothy Brown, arftroniclca of ^ra.gmui^ If all 219 Prizes for Essays. First, Hazel I. Pitfield. Second, Elizabeth Xitchie. Third, Gordon B. Dukes. Prises for Cover Designs. February, 1905. First, Ida Sicuro. Second, John M. Relph. First, Elmer D. Keith. Second, Blanche Sherman. Third, Ralph W. Hall. June, 1905. First, Gordon B. Dukes. Second, Ida Sicuro. First, Burney O. Jackson. Second, Chin Chung. Third, May Doherty. February, 1906. First, Jacob Mehling. Second, Johanne de Wolfe. 3Jnbex PAGE Act of Legislature, Establishing Common Schools 62 Relative to Erasmus Hall " 62 Alumni Aleeting 168 Anniversary, 250th, of Charter of New York I74 Apparatus in 1788 44 Arrowsmith, R., Letter from 1 19-121 Elected Principal 118 Assembly Room, Illustration 187 Athletics' i57, 214-217 Prizes for 214-216 Axtell, Colonel . 18 Bartlett, Dr. Homer Lyman 18, 162 Address of 140 Biographical Note of 115 Committee on Transfer 123 Portrait of 127 Baseball Captains •- . . 217 Bates, Theodora, Letter from 147 Baxter, J., References to Journal of 47, 64 Beecher, Mark Hopkins, Biographical Note 80 Career of ']'] Portrait of 79 Bees 168 Bergen, J. C, House of 2^ Berrien, John ]\I 47 Beynor, h^van 61 Bibliographv 193 Bill, An Old, Illustration 72 Board of Education, Brooklyn 121 Acceptance of Erasmus Hall by 123 Resolution of, Relative to Transfer 123 Boughton, Willis 5 Chronicles of Academy by 15 Organizer Monday Club 153 Brush, Egbert 2n Burr, Aaron 31 Button Contest 158 By-Law of Limitation 46 Campbell, William H.. Administration of 74-84 Address at Centennial Celebration 108 Biographical Note 78 Early Career of '/'] Portrait of 75 Teacher 70 " Captives " of Plautus Presented 144 Carmen Saeculare 189 Carolinas, The, Students from 45 Centennial Anniversary 107-1 17 Chancellor, William E., Letter from 145 Chapel of Reformed Dutch Church 144 Charter of Erasmus Hall Academy 34 Church, Reformed Dutch, of Elatbush 21 Preachers of 22 Purchase Portion of Academy Lot 66 Clarkson, General 3ilathew 45 Clinton Academy '^2) Clinton, George 31 Signer of Charter 34 2.22 Cf)raniclej6? of aeraj^mu^ef l^all PAGE Clowes, Timothy, Principal 63 Columbia College, Overtures made to 63 Commemoration Poem 9-12 Committee on Transfer 123 Commons, First Sale of 47 Second Sale of 56 Common School Fund Created 63 Conduct and Behavior of Students (1788) 40-43 Cooper, Joab G 61 Court-House, Third, 1796, Illustration 22 Cross-Roads, The 21 Davenport, Henry B 84 Discipline 79 In Village School 143 Rules for, in 1788 38 Ditmas, Abraham I., Portrait of 124 Ditmas. John H., Portrait of 128 Dix, John A 90 Doggett, Allen B 5. 1 ji, 173 Dramatic Society 1 58 Duer, William Alexander 136 Biographical Note 46 Dutch Language Prohibited 143 Earle, Willis 165 Ellison, Gabriel 140 Erasmian, Established 165 Cover, Illustration 167 Extracts, " Freshman Catechism " 166 " How do they go down to Lunch " 168 Erasmus, Desiderius :s^, 186 Holbein Picture 163 Portrait of, Purchased 84 Erasmus Hall, Building Remodeled 135 In 1824, Illustration 70 In 1826, Illustration 25 In 1835, Illustration 81 In 1896, Illustration 135 Erasmus Hall Academy, Absorbs Village School 60 Books used at, in 1833 70 Building Erected 3^ Charter, Application for 3- Illustration 35 Chartered 3^-34 Chronicles of 15-^29 Cost of Building 47 Course of Instruction 69 Dancing School at 89 Debt of 47 Deed of Transfer 124 Departments in 1843 89 Discipline 79 Exhibitions at 32, 80, 95 Female Department Organized 65 Female Pupils at 58 Financial Condition in 1808 61 Financial Condition, 1850 96 Financial Condition, 1889 II7 h^ounding of 28 Governess Appointed 65 Grading Instituted at 9- Cfjronicle^ of a£ra>6?mu^ i^all 223 PAGE Erasmus Hall Academy — Continued. Gymnasium Established at 117 Hostile xA.ttitude Toward 47, 89 Lectures at : 85 Library (1788) 44 Addition to 91 Lot, Purchased 31 Portion Sold 66 Meteorological Observations Instituted 96 Military Department Organized 97 Named 32 Organized 30 Popularity of, in 1825 74 In 1846 92 In Southern States 45 Porch Built 69 Regents' Examinations Instituted at 100-104 Registration in 1837 83 Rented to O'Bleniss 59 Reserve Fund 100 Rules for Government 38 Subscribers to Building Fund 30 Teachers' Training Course Instituted 78 Transferred 1 18-129, 139 Trustees, Board of, Organized 34 Tuition, in 178S 43 In 1859 96 In 1868 99 Valuation of, in 1896 124 Visited bv Traveler in 1791 , 45 " Wing "'Erected 69 Erasmus Hall High School 133-191 Additions to Building 150 Basketball at 154 Chronicles of 133 Colors Adopted 144 Cottages on Bedford Avenue, Illustration 151 Department Receptions at 170 Faculty of 203-214 Art, Department of 203-204 Commercial Department 204 English, Department of 204-206 History, Department of 206-207 Latin and Greek, Department of 207-209 Library 214 ^Mathematics, Department of 209-210 Modern Languages, Department of 210-212 ]\Iusic 214 Science, Department of 212-214 Football at 154, 157 Glee Clubs at 154 Graduating Exercises 174 Graduating Honors 217 Greek Letter Societies 150 Half-Day Classes at 150 History, Two Periods 17 Inspection of Remodeled Building , 144 Local Committee 137, 148 Location of 17 Mandolin Club at 154 224 CJjromclcj^ of aSra^mus? l^all PAG?: Erasmus Hall High School — Continued. Medal, for Athletics, Illustration 143 For Scholarship, Illustration 139 ]\Iedals 145 IMonday Club Organized 153 Opening of. Number of Pupils 137 Philately Club 154 Pin, Adopted 145 Illustration 139 Preparations in Summer of 1896 137 Promotion by Subjects 173 Teachers, Nomination of 137 The New Regime 135 Unter Uns 154 Examinations 39, 60 Regents' Instituted 100 Exhibitions 80, 95 First Public ^2 Facult}', Clubs 170 Dinners 169 Chairmen of 169-170 Farmers Accept Pupils as Boarders 46 Ferris, John ^I 162 At Centennial Celebration 109 Biographical Note 116 Letter from 125-127 Portrait of 125 Female Seminary Proposed 83 Ferguson, James, Principal 86 Finley, President 185 Fire Drill 154 Illustration 155 Flatbush, Cross-Roads at . . . .• 17 Dutch Houses at 23 Farms of 17 P^our Corners, Illustration 2^ In Repul)lican Times 21 In Revolutionary Times 18 Main Road at 17 Map of Old 16 Reformed Dutch Church of 2t Settlement of i/ Theological Seminary at 51 Foreword 6 Football Captains 217 Four Corners, Illustration 23 France, Pupils from 45 French Teacher Appointed. 1792 48 General Organization 161 Genet, Joshua, Examined 58 Georgia, Pupils from 45 Giles, Aquila, Elected Clerk 34 Komance of 18 Trouble with Piii)il 56 Government of Academx- 38 Rules for 43 (jrading Instituted at Academy- 92 Graduating Honors 217 Granada. Island of. Pupils from 45 ((Tfjroniclc.i^ of oEra^mu.i^ l^all 225 PAGE Greek Play 158 Picture of Group from 1 59 Greene, John, Address of 185 Gunnison, Dr. Walter Balfour, Career of • 138 Letter from 148 Portrait of 132 Portrait of, by Alexander 165 Views on Education 138 Gymnasium Established 117 Hamilton, Alexander 31 Harter, Eugene W 5 Chronicles of High Scb.ool, by I33 Hasbrouck, Jared, Principal 100 Hawley, ^Nlary W., Principal 121 Hegeman. Adrian, with Portrait 64 Hegeman, Joseph, Born at the Academy 64 Hockey Captains 217 Howard, Erskine 97 Portrait of 98 Howard, William H.. Principal 97 Portrait of 98 Hunter, John Ward , 49 Hurley, William S 173 Invitation. looth Anniversary Celebration, Illustration 103 Jamaica, Island of. Pupils from 45 Jones, ]\Iaria, Eirst Governess 65 Kellogg, Jonathan W., Administration of 65-74 Education of 65 Portrait of 67 Salary of 74 Lafayette, ]\Iarquis 64 Lectures, Committee on 160 Lefferts, Jacob 20 Lefferts, John, Biographical Xote 71 Portrait of 122 LefTerts, Peter, First Treasurer of Academy 34 Letter Found in Partition, Illustration '/2i Letters, Old, Quotations from 85-88 Library 44, 91, 162 Linn, Dr. W^illiam 45 Visit to the Academy, 1795 55 Livingston, Brockholst 31 Livingston, John H., Administration of 2>7-'i^ At New Brunswick -^2 Biography of 28 Education of 29 Elected Professor 29 Portrait of 14 Preparation for Work 47 Residence of, in Flatbush 27 Resignation as Principal 49 Theological Seminary of 51 Llo_\-d, Abigail Lefferts 20 Portrait of 21 Lloyd, Bateman, Portrait 20 Purchases School Building 60 Romance of 20 Local Committee, High School, ^^lembers of 203 2-^6 €l^ronicIe>^ of €ra^mu^ l^all PAGE Lott, Jeremiah (I), Biographical Note io8 Death of 99 Portrait of 126 Lott, Jeremiah (II), Portrait 97 Lott, Johannes E., Biographical Note 3^ Home of 27 Lott, John A 99 Biographical Note 119 Portrait of 104 Lott, John S 91 Lott, John Z 140, 162 Biographical Note 121 Committee on Transfer 123 Custodian of Charter ; s;^ Portrait of 128 Resolution of 122 Lowe, Beaumann 62 Lowe, Rev. Peter , 23 Administration of 61-63 Biographical Note 63 Portrait of 61 Mack, Eli T., Portrait of 99 Principal 99 ^IcKelway, Dr. St. Clair 112 Manual Labor School , 83 ^lartense, Adrian V., Biographical Note 118 Portrait of 126 ^laryland, Students from 45 Maxwell. Henry W., Gifts of 165 Alember of Local Committee 148 Maxwell, William H., Address of 181 City Superintendent 149 Meade, Airs. General 66 Meade, Rebecca Paulding 66 Melrose Hall 19 Meteorological Observations 96 Military Department Organized 97 Militia, Exemption of Pupils 43 ^Monday Club 1 53 Mowatt, Anna Cora 18 Neefus, Peter 1 94 New Building, Block Plan of, Illustration 191 Corner-stone. Contents of 181 Laying of 174 Picture of 175 Program of 1 78 Interior View of Assembly Room, Illustration 187 Letter from C. B. Snyder 174 Principal Elevation, Illustration 179 Prizes for, Plans of 149 View Across Quadrangle, Illustration 183 New Orleans, Pupils from 45 Noon Recess, Lawn at. Illustration 166 O'Bleniss, Albert, Appointed Teacher 48 Contract with 59 Death of 64 Marriage of 64 Salary of 56 0'P)ricn, Denis R., Latin Poem bv 190 Old Attic V/indow, Illustration. .'. 48 CJ^ronicIe^ of €ra^mu^ i^all 22-7 PAGE Orchestra 154 Paulding, Emma 66 Paulding, Lieutenant Hiram 66 Penne.v, Joseph, Biographical Note v 86 Portrait of 85 Principal, 1819 63 Principal, 1841 84 Pennsylvania, Pupils from 45 Portugal, Pupils from 45 Preface 5 Program of Exercises, Illustration loi Promotion b}- Subjects 1/3 Punishments, 1788 39 Raymond, C. B ^1 Regents, Establish Teachers' Training Course 79 Examinations Instituted by 100-104 Eorm for Annual Report Adopted 62 Literar\' Fund Created 72 Amount of, in 1834-5 12> Report of Committee on Visitation, 178S y] Report of Committee on Visitation, 1790 45 Report of Committee on Visitation, 1795 55 Report of Committee on Visitation, 1796 56 Report of Committee on Visitation, 1801 58 Report of Committee on Visitation, 1846 90 Resolution of, Relating to Transfer 125 Registration in 1896 I37 Resolution Relating to Transfer 122-125 Rewards to Pupils, 1788 39 Roosevelt, John 56 St. Croix, Pupils from 45 St. Thomas, Island of. Pupils from 45 Schaffer, Miss 92 School Bell, Illustration 165 School Buttons, Illustration 158 School-House, Village 24 Master, Duties of 24 Schools, Act Establishing Common 62 Schoonmaker, Katherine E ']'] Schoonmaker, Rev. Martinus 22,, 77 vSchoonmaker, ^Michael 56. 60, 86 Schoonmaker Tavern 22 Seminary, Theological 29 Sexton, Abbie 97 Shepherd, Edward 48 Sherrill, Henry 123 Skinner, Chas. M 5, 8 Snyder, C. B 174 Stewardess Appointed 107 Strong, J. Paschal 108 Strong. Mrs. Robert Grier 112 Strong, Robert Grier, Administration of 104-118 Biographical Note 109 Death of 118 Portrait of 105 Strong, Thomas M., Appointed to take Observations 96 Biographical Note 107 Death of 99 Portrait of 120 Stryker Homestead 24 228 4rf)rDnicIc,0 of oEraj^mus? l^all PAGE Students, Boarding with Farmers 46 Exemption from Militia Service 43 Stu yvesant. Governor 17 Suydam, J. Howard 112 Swanstrom, J. E 143 Sweeney, Mildred T 5, 12 Silvester, Peter y] Teachers of Erasmus Hall Academy 197-202 Qualifications of 58 Question of Authoritv 59- 61 Rules for. 1788 ' \ 38 Teachers of Erasmus Hall High School 203-214 Term Essay 158 Prize Winners 217-219 Theological Seminary 51 Thompson, J. \V 6t. 77 Tod, John 45, 48, 55 Tortola, Island of. Pupils from 45 Track, Captains 217 Records 216 Transfer, Deed of 124 Resolutions Relating to 122-125 Transitional Period, 1818-1823 63-64 1839-1843 84-88 1860-1879 97-104 Troup, George 55. 136 Trustees, of Acadenw, By-Law of Limitation 46 Call Notice, Illustration 69 Charter Members 194 Clerks of Board 194 Election of New Members 45. 46 Letter to Dr. Livingston 50 IMake Overtures to Columbia College 63 Members, List of 195-197 Official Board of, 1896 125 Original Number 45 Parliamentary Rules Adopted by 46 Petition for Funds for Teaching Philosophy 56 Petition to Raise Mone}- by Lottery 58 Presidents of the Board 193 Treasurers of the Board T94 Tuition, 1788 43-44 i8t9 63 T859 96 1868 99 'J urner. Miss Kate E., Portrait of 171 Vacations, 1788 40 Van Buren Inn 27 Vanderbilt, Gertrude Lefferts 65. ']'] . t 13 Vanderbilt, Judge John, Biographical Note 117 Portrait of 100 Vanderbilt, Senator John 21. 31. 34, 58 Vanderveer, Dr. Adrian, Biographical Note 102 Home of 27 Portrait of i M Van Kleek, I<:iizabeth 94 Van Kleek, Ivmnie 94, 96 Van Kleek, Marv 94 €f}ronicIe^ of oEra^mu^ l^all 229 PAGE Van Kleek, Richard Davis, Administration of ^9-97 Biographical Note 9i Portrait of ^7 Van Kleek, Richard L,, Portrait of • 90 Van Kleek, Virginia 94 Van Twillcr, Wouter I7 Village School 60 Vose, Anna F 77 Wanse}', Henry, Visit to E. H., 1794 53 Washington, George 23 Weather Report, Illustrations iio-iii Wells, Rev. Cornelius L., Address of, at Centennial 108 Address at Transfer 140 Biographical Note 1 19 Portrait of 123 Werner, Mrs. John 107 West Indies, Pupils from 45 Wilson, Dr. Peter, Administration of 52-61 Appointed Teacher 48 Biography of 52-54 Condition of School Under 54 Custodian of Professorship Fund 51 Elected Principal 52 Instrument of Agreement 48-49 Portrait of 52 Resignation of, as Principal 60 Resignation of, as Teacher 56 Wiggins Inn 27 Wurster, Mayor 144 Young, Richard, Address at Laying of Corner-stone 185 Address at Transfer 140 Chairman of Local Committee 148 Connection with Transfer 123 Gifts of 162 Zabriskie, Dr. J. B., Biographical Note 92 Death of 96 Portrait of 95 Zabriskie, Dr. J. L 104, 140 Connection with Transfer 121 Death of 123 Portrait of 124 Zabriskie, Jeremiah Lott, Letter from 93 Portrait of 93 Zabriskie Homestead 23 9 1