Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 10.djvu/280

 268 The Founding of Dartmouth College.

THE FOUNDING OP DARTMOUTH COLLEGE.

BY HARKY STEAUNS.

Down in the heart of the " nutmeo; " state,

In Lebanon town, the books relate,

Lived pious P^leazar, whose surname was Wheelock,

Gifted with knowledge and a very large stock

•Of good common-sense, and of ever}' virtue

He had such a store that it really would hurt you

To take them all in at a single sitting,

Especially if done without intermitting ; —

And good Eleazar was from Pui-itan stock,

And his faith was firm as New Hampshire rock ;

His face in length like a coffln-box ;

His creed was the straight stiff orthodox ;

His business (if yon should wish to know)

Was to teach mankind the way they should go

In order to get to that haven of rest

"Where all good people are finally blest ;

And now and then 't was his wont to tell

Of a place that people do n't like so well,

Though a place where sinners oft go to dwell

After the sound of their funeral knell ;

A region more dark than any creole.

That now is known by the name sheol.

Now pious Eleazar, with his store of knowledge, Conceived the idea of founding a college To train the poor red man in stiff mathematics, And reveal him the beauty of sterile quadratics, And likewise to drill him in Latin and Greek, For curbing his spirit and making him meek.

Now good father Wheelock having this intent. Formed some sound, pious plans, and his course he bent Towards the wilds of New Hampshire where redskins were thick. Determined to locate, and thei'e to stick.

Well, times were hard in that ancient day

When the elder Wheelock took his northward way,

And about all the baggage in the parson's domain

Was an extra cravat and stockings — twain.

And likewise the chronicler hath cribbed it down

That good mother Wheelock had but a single gown.

Be this as it may, 'tis all the same,

And takes not a bit from their goodly fame.

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