Radio Script #578

Little Talks on Common Things

May 26, 1963

I want to devote this program to Coburn Classical Institute, because I recently had opportunity to examine several issues of the old Coburn Clarion, from the first volume in 1887 to an issue in the fall of 1909. From that school paper one can glean much information about an academy that at the turn of the century and even earlier was one of the best known and highest regarded of Maine preparatory schools.

In 1887 Coburn’s great principal, James Hanson, was still living. He had taken charge in 1843 when the school was called Waterville Academy and was about to close for lack of patronage. He rapidly built it up to a prosperous school with more than a hundred pupils. The school had been founded in 1829 as an adjunct of Waterville College, because at that time it was the custom for almost every college to have either a preparatory department or a separate school under close supervision of the college faculty. Under Dr. Hanson the school became independent, with a separate board of trustees, but most of its teachers were drawn from graduates of the college.

In 1854, after a temporary physical breakdown, Hanson left Waterville to become principal of the Eastport High School. Waterville Academy immediately felt the loss. After a succession of principals and steady loss of enrollment — all made worse by the Civil War — the school came near to closing for the second time in its history.

In the fall of 1865, after the war was over, the trustees persuaded Dr. Hanson to return as principal, and in that position he remained until his death in 1892. Then Dr. Hanson was succeeded by a man who would gain national fame as an educator, Franklin W. Johnson, who only the year before had graduated from Colby College. After ten years at the head of Coburn, Dr. Johnson was to become principal of the famous University of Chicago High School, then joined the faculty of Teachers College at Columbia University. whence he would come to the presidency of Colby College and lead the successful campaign to move the college to Mayflower Hill.

In 1874 former Governor Abner Coburn of Skowhegan offered $50,000 to the school under conditions which required that Colby raise stipulated amounts for Hebron and Ricker, so that all three schools could be designated official preparatory schools for Colby. The conditions were fulfilled in 1877, and in gratitude to Governor Coburn the name was changed from Waterville Academy to Coburn Classical Institute.

In 1883 Governor Coburn erected for the school the commodious and splendidly furnished school building that held Coburn classes continuously until it was destroyed by fire only a few years ago. The building was given in memory of Governor Coburn’s brother and nephew. who had died in a drowning accident on the Fourth of July a year earlier.

Almost everyone who now lives in Waterville remembers that large Coburn building that stood. facing Elm Street, just south of the park; and I am sure all such persons will be astonished to learn that the big edifice was erected at a cost of only $45.000.

Now let us take a brief glimpse at the school when its new building was only four years old in 1887. For some time Coburn had admitted girls. and in 1887 they were in charge of Miss Harriet Estey, who had the title of lady principal. Dr. Hanson himself taught Latin and Greek; Miss Estey taught English literature. German and French. Miss Julia Winslow was the teacher of History. Arithmetic and English Composition. Mathematics, except arithmetic. was in charge of J. K. Soule. and Mrs. Hanson taught any classes not assignable to another teacher. There were three teachers of special subjects outside the college preparatory curriculum: Edna Phillips in music, Sarah Allen in drawing and painting, and K. J. Knowlton in penmanship.

In the Clarion for January, 1882 there appeared an unusual endorsement for business education, but not at Coburn. The editorial said: “An education is needed for any business, but the discipline from classical education is not all that business requires. So~ while we recommend a course at Coburn for all who have the taste and means to pursue classical studies, we recommend a course of instruction at the Dirigo Business College in Augusta for all who intend to enter the field of commerce and trade.”

A few years before 1887 Coburn had started an interesting experiment in female education with its Ladies Collegiate Course, giving girls a year or two of a kind of finishing school subsequent to the regular academy program. That explains why in 1887 one entire day of the Coburn Commencement was devoted to the graduating exercises of the Ladies Collegiate Course.

What social events in school or college were like in the 1880’s is shown by the Clarion’s account of what it called the school’s annual sociable. The account said: “After a short entertainment, the charade ‘Massachusetts’ was played. A short march was participated in; then the company seated themselves for ice cream and cake. Then another march, Tucker, and the ‘Threshing Machine’, after which it was time to disperse.”

Now I remember very well the game of Tucker, but I haven’t the slightest idea what the “threshing machine” was, nor how the charade “Massachusetts” was played. Can anyone enlighten me?

In December, 1888 the Clarion had something to say about sports: “The racket and bat now lie dormant, and the polo stick and skates are awakening from their summer’s sleep.”

A conspicuous item in the Clarion ten years later in 1898 was an advertisement for Colby College. The ad said: “Now in its 79th year, Colby is better prepared for service than ever before. A course without Greek for the degree of Ph. B. has recently been added. A department of Biblical Literature has been established.

The new chemical laboratory, furnished with the best modern facilities, will be ready for use this year. The College Library has 34,000 bound volumes and 20,000 pamphlets. Many of the best literary and scientific periodicals are taken. Physical training is emphasized in its most desirable features. The gymnasium has recently been enlarged and improved at an expense of several thousand dollars. Athletic sports under proper conditions are encouraged, Expenses are at the lowest practical point. The total expense of the year, including board, washing, fuel and lights, need not exceed $250. Scholarship aid is available to worthy students who need assistance. Prizes are offered for excellence in reading, declamation, composition, German and general preparation for admission to college. For catalogues and detailed information address the President, Nathaniel Butler.”

Coburn itself in 1898 advertised the opening of Hanson Cottage as “a new building for the young ladies, newly furnished, steam heated, well lighted, and provided with all the conveniences of the modern home.”

The end of the 19th century was a time when the preparatory schools were aping the colleges in the formation of fraternities. Coburn was no exception and in 1898 the Clarion announced: “The 0KA fraternity has taken the place of the old worn-out Debating Society. Its membership has been limited in the hope that a rival society will be formed. The 0KA goat has already seen good service.”

Some persons who later gained prominence were on the editorial staff of the Coburn Clarion in its early years. The first editor was J.P. Perkins, and helping him were Norman Bassett, Kate Hegarty and Hannah Powell. D.M. Bangs was the first business manager. Then years later the editor was Martin Long and the manager was Cecil Daggett. In Coburn’s class of 1898 were George Files of Fairfield, Linwood Wortman of Cherryfield, who would be long associated with a Massachusetts teachers college, and George Stephenson, who would follow Franklin Johnson as Coburn’s principal.

In 1899 the Clarion showed excitement about the annual tournament of the Colby Junior League. That was a spring contest held at the college, where baseball teams from Colby’s four preparatory schools (Coburn, Hebron, Higgins and Ricker) played each other for the year’s championship and a trophy offered by the college. The Clarion said: “In the Colby Junior League last year Coburn beat Higgins and Ricker beat Hebron, but on account of the bad condition of the diamond, there was no playoff. This year Higgins did not come, so Coburn played an exhibition game with Waterville High School. On the next day came the show-down. Hebron had already won from Ricker, and we expected to find a hard foe. But after the first inning we knew we were safe. We won from Hebron in the easiest game of the season. The blue and white banner of the Colby Junior League for this year now adorns our walls.”

On the Coburn faculty in 1899, besides Principal Franklin Johnson, were some persons who are very well remembered today by older residents of Waterville. Four of the best known were women. Jessie Hubbard, wife of the man who would later become Colby’s first full-time treasurer, taught vocal music; and Miss Helen Plaisted, a member of one of Waterville’s oldest families, had charge of modern languages. The male teachers, besides Dr. Johnson, were A.L. Lane in science and mathematics, and young John Hedman, assistant in mathematics. Hedman would leave in the following year for a year’s study in France, after which he would join the Colby faculty as a teacher of French.

In 1883 Colby began the practice of presenting annual scholarship prizes to those applicants for admission who got the highest marks in the Colby entrance examinations. In the following seventeen years first prize was won twelve times by a Coburn graduate. Among those Coburn winners were Lincoln Owen, Norman Bassett, Dennis Bowman. Harry Dunn and Henry Spencer, all of whom became distinguished graduates of Colby.

Another nationally famous graduate of Coburn was Holman Day of the Class of 1883. In a 1900 issue the Clarion published a poem which Day called “The Sun Browned Heroes of Maine”, in which the popular versifier extolled the virtues of the rugged men who wrested a living from Maine’s rocky soil, yet somehow managed to send sons to college. The poem ended with these two lines: “Their drear campaign, their sacrifice, their toil is never done; God grant that each may live again in some devoted son.”

And with that we must say Good Night for Old Time’s Sake.

Year: 1963