a dancer and acrobat.

* * * * *

From 1840 to 1860 Harvard University practically stagnated. The world
about it progressed, but the college remained unchanged. Its presidents
were excellent men, but they had lived too long under the academic shade.
They lacked practical experience in the great world. There were few
lectures in the college course, and the recitations were a mere routine.
The text-books on philosophical subjects were narrow and prejudiced.
Modern languages were sadly neglected; and the tradition that a French
instructor once entertained his class by telling them his dreams, if not
true, was at least characteristic. The sons of wealthy Bostonians were
accustomed to brag that they had gone through college without doing any
real studying. To the college faculty politics only meant the success of
Webster and the great Whig party. The anti-slavery agitation was
considered inconvenient and therefore prejudicial. During the struggle
for free institutions in Kansas, the president of Harvard College
undertook to debate the question in a public meeting, but he displayed
such lamentable ignorance that he was soon obliged to retire in
confusion.

The war for the Union, however, waked up the slumbering university, as it
did all other institutions and persons. Rev. Thomas Hill was chosen
president in 1861, and was the first anti-slavery president of the
college since Josiah Quincy; and this of itself indicated that he was in
accord with the times,--had not set his face obstinately against them. He
was not so practical a man as President Quincy, but he was one of the
best scholars in America. His administration has not been looked upon as
a success, but he served to break the ice and to open the way for future