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NEW ENGLAND MAGAZINE
AND
BAY STATE MONTHLY.
Old SeriesJune, 1886.New SeriesVol. IV. No. 6Vol. I. No. 6.Copyright, 1886, by Bay State Monthly Company. All rights reserved.Transcriber's Note: Minor typos have been corrected and footnotes moved to the end of the article. Table of contents has been created for the HTML version.
Contents
WILLIAMS COLLEGE.THE HUNTING OF THE STAG OF ŒNOË.WEBSTER'S VINDICATION.HAWTHORNE'S LAST SKETCH.ON HOOSAC MOUNTAIN.A VERITABLE TRADER.LYDIA MARIA CHILD.BONNIE HAREBELLS.MYTH IN AMERICAN COINAGE.AN INCIDENT OF PORT HUDSON.LUCY KEYES.EDITOR'S TABLE.HISTORICAL RECORD.NECROLOGY.LITERATURE.INDEX TO MAGAZINE LITERATURE.
[Pg 487]
WILLIAMS COLLEGE.
BY REV. N. H. EGLESTON.
Williams College has something peculiar and romantic in its history, as well as in its site amid the beautifulhills of Berkshire. It had its birth upon the very frontiers of civilization, and amid the throes of that strugglewhich was to decide finally whether the control of this continent, and the permanent shaping of its institutionsand its destiny were to be French or English. The nascent colleges of Colorado, Dakota, and Oregon arerelatively to-day in the position held by Williams when it was founded.Col. Ephraim Williams, from whom the college takes its name, had been an active participant in the struggleNEW ENGLAND MAGAZINE1
 
to which we have alluded. He had been commissioned by the General Court of Massachusetts to construct andcommand a line of forts along the northern border of settlements from the Connecticut River on the east to thevalley of the Hoosac on the west. This line coincided nearly with the northern boundary of Massachusetts; allabove, to the borders of Canada, being then a wilderness, through which the roaming savages often burst withsudden violence upon the settlements of the English colonists. The westernmost of the line of forts was not farfrom what is now the site of the college, and this, being the most exposed and most important, Williamscommanded in person.After acting in this capacity for a time, and in a manner which[Pg 488] gained him much distinction in thecolony, he was placed in charge of a regiment of troops, designed to participate with other forces in anexpedition against the French; the special object being the capture of Crown Point, a fortress on LakeChamplain. While on the way to Crown Point a French force was met, near the head of Lake George.Williams, with a detachment of troops, was sent against it. The movement was successful. The French wererepulsed, but in the encounter Williams lost his life. A monument, erected in recent years by the alumni of thecollege, marks the spot where he fell. From Harper's Magazine.Copyright, 1881, by Harper & Brothers.CLARK HALL.While engaged in his military duties on the frontier, Williams became much interested in the soldiers underhis command. Through his agency chiefly, two townships of land in the vicinity[Pg 489] of FortMassachusetts—the name given to the most western fort in the valley of the Hoosachad been set off byorder of the Legislature, and lots in them had been disposed of to the soldiers on favorable terms. Williamshad also expressed the intention of still further benefiting his comrades in arms. While resting for a day or twoat Albany, on his way to Crown Point, he bethought him of his purpose, the execution of which had hithertobeen postponed. Accordingly, he made his will on the spot, by which he devised his property, after makingsome bequests to relatives and friends, for the purpose of establishing what he termed a Free School. The Project Gutenberg eBook of The New England Magazine, Volume 1, No. 6, June, 1886.BY REV. N. H. EGLESTON.2
 
 From Harper's Magazine. Copyright1881, by Harper & Brothers.East College. EAST COLLEGE CAMPUS. Library.Such was the beginning of Williams College, for the school took the name and form of a college in two orthree years after its organization. It was noble in purpose from the outset, but humble, indeed, in pecuniaryendowment. Some will smile, now that we think hundreds of thousands, not to say millions, necessary forthe[Pg 490] establishment of a college, when they are informed that the executors of Williams' estate wereobliged to allow the proceeds of it to accumulate for thirty years before they ventured to organize the schoolor erect a building for its use. From Harper's Magazine.Copyright, 1881, by Harper & Brothers.WEST COLLEGE.That it was to be something more than an ordinary school was insured from the beginning by the character of the trustees who so patiently brooded over the work committed to them while the funds in their hands weregaining the needful increase. They were among the most distinguished and intelligent citizens of the Colony.Most of them were of collegiate training, and a large number graduates of Yale. They believed in the value of a liberal education, not only to the person immediately concerned, but to the community of which he might bea member. They believed in the importance of basing liberty upon sound education. Such men, at such a time, The Project Gutenberg eBook of The New England Magazine, Volume 1, No. 6, June, 1886.BY REV. N. H. EGLESTON.3

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