Radio Script #931

Little Talks on Common Things
April 30, 1972

One of the best sources of information about any community a century ago is a carefully kept diary. Of course, the diarist is usually representative of a particular stratum of society, but he often comes into contact with others. We would thus expect a diary of a college professor during the last half of the 19th century to be concerned chiefly with college affairs. Fortunately, the diary I bring to your attention today is by no means so limited.

Although kept by a professor at the college he first knew as Waterville College, then as Colby University, and finally as Colby College, this diary shows that Samuel K. Smith was a man of wide acquaintance and a successful business operator. The Collection of those Smith diaries cover the long period from 1855 to 1904, a few weeks before the man’s death. In the early years there are some omissions, especially during the Civil War. Perhaps years ago the family may have placed some of the diaries in other hands, but those that remain are in the possession of his grandson, Dr. Abbott Smith, Colby Rhodes Scholar, who recently completed a notable career as a high-ranking executive in our National Central Intelligence Agency.

Samuel King Smith, was a native of Litchfield, Maine, to which town his family paid many visits long after his birth there in 1817. He graduated from Waterville College in 1845 in a class that totaled only seven graduates. He then attended Newton Theological Institution after spending a year as tutor at Waterville College. After Newton he was for two years editor of the Maine Baptist weekly Zion’s Advocate. In 1850, he was made Professor of Rhetoric at the college, and maintained that post for 42 years, retiring at the age of 75.

He married Annie Abbott of Litchfield. They had five children, three girls and two boys. Perhaps the two of those children whom Waterville people remember best were Miss Jennie Smith, Librarian of the Public Library, and Rev. William Abbott Smith, pastor of the local Congregationsl Church. Members of the First Baptist Church of Waterville revere another Smith daughter, Mrs. Frank Philbrick, who wrote the church history and for whom the Philbrick parlors are named. Another daughter, Bessie, was long a teacher of modern languages in Waterville High School. The oldest son, George, left Maine for a newspaper position in St. Paul, Minn., but left it early for an educational career, culminating in the presidency of Colgate University.

As of this time you must be aware that this diary is first of all concerned with a highly educated and talented family, of which the father and mother had every reason to be proud, and we expect the diary to say much about intellectual pursuits, but I assure you it also has plenty of other, more everyday items. The first volume of those little hand-written notes is not a diary at all. Dated 1855, it contains not day-by-day events, but rather brief notations on subjects Smith wanted to remember. All his life the man was interested in philology and the development of the English language. On April 19, 1855, he entered a quotation from Ritters’ History of Philosophy that said, “There are cases in which more knowledge may be conveyed by the history of a word than by the history of a military campaign.”

In the 1850’s there was in college no instruction in English as we understand it today. Every member of each of the four classes was required to write two compositions each term, and to take two terms of a course called Rhetoric – a study of English style based on books developed from such ancient sources as the Latin Rhetoric of Quintillion. In his 1855 notes, Smith lists the topics for composition that he assigned to the junior class. Among the topics were The Rights of Neutrals, Battle Laws of Nations, Rights of Search, Examination of the Arguments of Webster in the Goodwin case. He assigned to sophomores the writing of dissertations based on such books as Dequincey’s Opium Eater, Wordsworth’s Prelude, Scott’s Lady of the Lake, and More’s Utopia.

You will note that a central theme ran through the assignments. For the seniors it was Influence of Catholics in U. S. Four of the individual assignments were Origin of the Catholic Church, Origin of the Greek Church, Variations of Popery, Loyola and the Jesuits.

One of Smith’s outside duties in 1855 was that of local supervisor of schools. He lists Miss Comforth teaching 37 pupils at Ten Lots, S. E. Blunt in charge at South Grammar (not the present building, but one in that general area), and Eliza Jane Lewis with 20 pupils in West Waterville.

Besides reading compositions, Smith had to hear the oral declamations of all classes and prepare the students for the public speaking exhibitions in 1855. It is interesting to note his comments on some of those student speakers

Barton – bows too low, rests too long.
Chase – gestures bad, elides last syllables
Soule – dull
Mayo – double gestures
King – stands ,too far back
Boothby – awkward with left hand

Perhaps his most caustic comment was on a fellow of whom Smith wrote, “groans beneath a yoke of ignorance.”

The public schools, when Smith was town supervisor, were still under the district system, but each district agent was supposed to report regularly to the supervisor, who was especially solicitous about school property. In 1856 Smith sent out to all schools this notice: “Teachers are particularly requested to report to the agent any damage done to the school houses, furniture, fences or outbuildings, in order that the perpetrators may be punished according to law.”

Many of the Smith reflections are couched in the pompous language of the mid-nineteenth, century. Here is a sample, referring to Daniel Webster in 1856. “Webster’s best work was done between the ages of 38 and 48. His masterpieces were the address at Plymouth Bicentennial in 1820, the Oration at Bunker Hill in 1825, and the Reply to Hayne in 1830. It seems to be a law of history that great men come and go, not singly, but in companies, just as great mountains stand in ranges, and stars march along in constellations.”

By 1865 Smith was keeping a genuine diary. Besides his teaching at the college he was then preaching nearly every Sunday. In January he was preaching at East Benton and Benton Falls. During one week in February, he conducted daily prayer meetings each evening in that town. He could devote such time readily because in those days college was closed during January and February for what was called the long vacation, several weeks longer than any vacation period during the summer. The reason for that kind of college calender was to give students – all of them men – a chance to teach the winter term in common school s and academies.

Smith was constantly attending funerals. On January 10, 1865, he recorded: “Attended funeral of LudV’lig, a soldier of the War of 1812, at Benton.” In March he was preaching in Augusta, in April at Clinton, which he designates as Hunters Mills. But Samuel Smith, during the long vacations, had other duties besides preaching. Like every ether member of the Colby faculty, which then numbered a total of six, he went on long journeys collecting money for the college. In the winter of 1865, he made two such trips to Turner, about a month apart. On the first trip he did well, collecting $204 in cash and some $300 in pledges. His expenses included one dollar stage fare from Lewiston and a dollar for hire of a horse. His two nights in Turner were spent as a guest in Baptist bomes. His second trip was different. He wrote: “Came to Turner on college business. Everything changed since I was here a month ago. People have made up their minds to give nothing.”

In mid-February Smith was soliciting in Bangor, where also he found the response disappointing, but he soon had better luck in Buckfield, where the pledges amounted to $500. It cost him $1.20 to go by stage from Buckfield to Danville Junction, Where for another $ 1.00 he rode on the Androscoggin and Kennebec R. R. home to Waterville.

By 1865 Smith already owned property in Waterville that included a wood lot. “February 23 – Went into the woods with Pullen and cut wood. Feb. 24 – Pullen brought out two loads of wood. March 1 – Finished hauling wood. Paid E. G. Smith $ 24.37 for his work cutting and hauling.

In mid-March, Smith made an accounting to the College treasurer on his collections. “Settled with College Treasurer. Paid him $359.60. I still owe the college $157.80.

On March 15, Smith recorded that he had his children vaccinated.

An item for April 9 is of historical interest “Lee’s Army surrendered to Grant. Bells ringing and guns firing allover the country for the victory over Lee.” .

“April 14. Pres. Lincoln assassinated today in a theatre booth. The assassin, Seward also stabbed. April 19 – Today, set apart for services to mourn the President’s death. April 27 – News received today of Booth’s arrest.”

Of course, the fact was that Booth was not taken alive, but was killed by the soldiers who found him.

Early in July the people of Hunters Mills should have heard a good sermon. Before it Smith wrote, “Wrote sermon until 1 a.m.”

Besides wood, another product of the Smith place was hay. “July 10, 1865. Went to Hunter Mills and bought lumber for hayrack. Paid $1.00 for it and 21 cents for hauling. July 14 – Sold two loads of hay to Lyford.”

In September, Smith sent money to Winthrop for a Jersey cow, and the next day sold the old cow.

At the end of that 1865 diary, Samuel Smith noted that, during the year, he had collected $1519 for the college.

Next week we will continue our examination of the Smith diary with the building of his fine, large house on College Avenue.

Year: 1972