Radio Script #737

Little Talks on Common Things

October 8, 1967

When we consider the present expense of attending college, even public colleges like the University of Maine, or anyone of the five state colleges, or the four vocational technical institutes, it is interesting and somewhat nostalgic to consider college expenses a hundred or even fifty years ago. When we make such comparisons, we must remember that wages and salaries are also much higher today, and that it may be quite as easy for a middle-income family to muster $2,000 toward college expenses as it was for a similar family to spare $200 in the 1910’s.

With that cautionary statement, let us take a look at the expense of attending Colby College. This year the total cost of tuition, room, board and fees is $2,750.

Next year there will be another advance to about $3,000. About five years ago it was said that the total cost of attending a college like Colby for four years was about $10,000. Today it exceeds $13,000, because in addition to the fixed expenses of $2,750 a year, there are other unavoidable costs — books and supplies, laundry and many incidentals. We are already being told that the four-year cost at the Ivy League colleges exceeds $15,000. If a family has more than one child in college, that takes some very careful planning. We should bear in mind, however, that never in the history of American higher education was so much financial aid available -from the colleges themselves, from foundations, and from the state and federal governments. Seldom does any family have to pay the full cost of a child’s college attendance.

Now for some of those odious comparisons. Through the years I have seen many Colby term bills. Two of those now before me contained a number of charges that we today find amusingly unusual. Use of the library 34 cents, fuel for recitation room 24 cents, monitor 12 cents, bell ringer 12 cents, sweeper 10 cents, and use of classics 13 cents. That last charge meant that the college had a number of copies of Greek and Latin texts which it rented to students who could not afford to purchase the books. In those days Greek and Latin formed the core of the curriculum. Every student had to study the literature of both those languages for all four years. When one graduated from old Waterville College in the 1830’s, he had been quite thoroughly steeped in Virgil, Cicero, Horace, Tacitus, Thucydides, Herodotus and Homer.

In 1836 William Woodbury’s spring term tuition was $6.67 and his room rent $3.33. Although from time to time, between 1820 and 1860, the college operated a dining commons, there was none in 1836, so Woodbury’s bill contains no charge for board. Since the college year consisted of three terms, Woodbury’s full year’s tuition was only $20 and his year’s room rent was only $10. Just compare that with today’s Colby tuition of $1,750 and room rent of $350.

When Woodbury finished the fall term of his sophomore year, the tuition had gone up. It was then $8.00 a term or $24 a year. On the bill were printed items “damages and fines”. Woodbury escaped both, but he did pay 30 cents for what was called “general damages”. That was for damage to the dormitories or other college property that could not be pinned on any individual student.

Now let us take a look at Colby fees a quarter of a century later in 1857, when James T. Champlin was president. The faculty then consisted of only four persons in addition to President Champlin, who himself carried a full teaching load. Samuel K. Smith, father of the William Abbott Smith who was for many years pastor of the local Congregational Church, was professor of rhetoric and the college librarian. Charles E. Hamlin, the man who adopted Lulu, daughter of the colored janitor Sam Osborne, taught chemistry and natural philosophy. A few years later the noted Louis Aggasiz would call Hamlin to Harvard. Moses Lyford, who lived on Winter Street, near my own present residence, was professor of mathematics and natural history. Hobart Richardson, a young man just out of college, was instructor in Greek and Mathematics. All of the Latin classes and some of those in Greek were taken by President Champlin.

General costs had advanced but a little since 1836. Whereas tuition and room rent totaled $30 in 1836, those charges amounted to $40 in 1857. During those 21 years room rent had not advanced at all, but tuition had increased merely from $20 to $30 a year. The college was not supplying table board in 1857, but the catalogue announced that it could be obtained in private homes for $1.25 to $2.00 a week. Unless one boarded himself or worked for his meals, the cost of eating was the highest college expense in 1857. If a fellow was lucky enough to get board for $1.25 a week, the year’s cost was $48.75. If he had to pay $2.00 a week, the year’s total came to $78. Fuel, washing and lights were listed at $12, a charge made by the college itself. It would be many years before electricity or even gas light would come to Waterville. Lights were oil lamps, and in 1857 modern, refined petroleum was unknown. Whale oil and other vile smelling substances were used to give dim light from the old lamps.

In 1857 the Colby library had 10,000 volumes. Today it has more than 250,000. But there were at the college in 1857 two other important libraries. Almost since classes had started in 1818, there had been two so-called literary societies, forerunners of the Greek letter fraternities. Those societies were the Literary Fraternity and Erosophian Adelphi. Each jealously guarded its own library, and went to extreme measures to see that it was not confused with the college library, though the college provided for each society a room for its meetings and its library. Together the two societies had two-thirds as many books as did the college itself. The Erosophians had 2,500 volumes, the Literary Fraternity had 3,000.

In those days every college and nearly every academy boasted what it called a cabinet. That was a collection of minerals, stuffed animals, fossils and other items dealing with natural history — a term that covered the sciences now differentiated as geology, mineralogy, paleontology, botany, zoology, physiology, and several others. The Colby catalogue proudly stated that the cabinet contained 2,000 items.

Having taken a glance at comparative fees for today and more than a hundred years ago, let us now pick up a copy of the Colby annual published 86 years ago in 1881. It bore the same name that it has today, the Colby Oracle. It is interesting to note that it was then printed at the office of the Lewiston Journal. The volume reveals that there were then some very prominent men on the board of Colby trustees. Most famous was the man who had been Abraham Lincoln’s vice president, Hannibal Hamlin. Another trustee was Abner Coburn, Maine’s Civil War Governor, and donor of the big, ornate bUilding that long housed Coburn Classical Institute. On the board were Nathaniel Butler and Albion K.P. Small, both fathers of future Colby presidents. Another member was Josiah Drummond, Waterville native who became both a prominent lawyer and Maine’s most noted Masonic leader. And still gracing the governing board was the man whose generous gift had saved Colby from bankruptcy at the end of the Civil War, Gardiner Colby.

That faculty of five persons under President Champlin in 1857 had grown to ten in 1881 under President Henry Robbins. Samuel K. Smith and Moses Lyford were still there. The others of 1857 were gone, but the new faces were those of John B. Foster in Greek, Julian Taylor in Latin, Laban Warren in Mathematics, William Elder in Chemistry and Natural History, Edward W. Hall in modern languages, Albion Woodbury Small in history, and Frederick Robertson in elocution.

The Oracle listed 31 men and three women as members of the Class of 1881. Among the statistics given for the class were those of political affiliation. Colby was decidedly a Republican college at that time. The Class of 1881 listed just one lone Democrat, Fred M. Preble, who later became a prominent Baptist minister and a Colby trustee. One of the girls was Sophia Hanson, daughter of the man who was head of Coburn for more than half a century. There was also a member of the Coburn family in that class, Charles M. of Skowhegan, nephew of GoverAo~ Abner Coburn. Of those 34 students in the Class of 1881, 25 lived in Maine, three in Massachusetts, and one each in New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

There was no general athletic association at Colby in 1881, but separate associations for baseball, track, gymnastics, tennis and the Colby boat club. Heading the baseball association was Warren C. Philbrook, who would one day be a justice of the Maine Supreme Court. Believe it or not, the Oracle listed ten different baseball teams at the college. At the top was what was called the University Nine, captained by J.C. Worcester. Then there was the second team under H.C. Barton. Each class — senior, junior, sophomore and freshman — had its own baseball team, and so did each fraternity — Dekes, Zetes and DU’s. Captain of the tennis team was William C. Crawford, who upon graduation would become Principal of Waterville High School, later the local Superintendent of Schools, and still later one of the best known and best liked schoolmasters of Massachusetts.

Through all the years the Colby Oracle has been supported by advertisers. Let us see who some of those supporters were in 1881. Redington and Company advertised furniture, carpets, crockery, mirrors, mattresses, feathers, coffins and burial robes. L.E. Thayer and Son sold hats, caps and gents’ furnishings. Dinsmore Brothers dealt in boots and shoes. C.G. Carleton was the town’s favorite photographer. Alden Brothers had jewelry of all kinds. I.H. Low was the best known druggist, but he wanted the college crowd to know that he also sold cigars and cigarettes. P.S. Heald was clothier and merchant tailor. George Jewell with his livery stable at the head of Silver Street wanted folks to know that he had hacks for weddings and funerals. Finally the Waterville Sentinel, then a weekly publication, could be had for $2.00 a year.

And with that we must say goodbye until next week.

Year: 1967