The History of Dartmouth CollegeSmith, Baxter Perry
History
The History of Dartmouth College
Smith, Baxter Perry
Dartmouth College -- History
"In October, 1811, he accepted the chair of professor of Languages in
Dartmouth College. Here he was greatly respected as a man, a teacher,
and a preacher; and if his attainments in his department were not of
the very highest order, they were at least such as to secure both his
respectability and usefulness.
"In 1815, he was elected to the presidency of Williams College, then
vacant by the resignation of Dr. Fitch. He accepted the appointment,
and was regularly inducted into office at the annual Commencement in
September of that year. Shortly after his removal to Williamstown,
Dartmouth College, which he had just left, conferred upon him the
degree of Doctor of Divinity. He adorned this new station, as he had
done those which he had previously occupied. His connection with the
college was attended by some circumstances of peculiar embarrassment,
in consequence of an effort on the part of the Trustees to remove the
college to Northampton or some other town in Hampshire County. The
measure failed in consequence of the refusal of the Legislature to
sanction it. Dr. Moore, however, decidedly favored it from the
beginning, but in a manner that reflected not in the least upon his
Christian integrity and honor.
"In the spring of 1821, the collegiate institution at Amherst, Mass.,
having been founded, he was invited to become its President, and was
inaugurated as such in September following. The institution, then in
its infancy, and contending with a powerful public opinion, and even
with the Legislature itself, for its very existence, put in
requisition all his energies; and the ultimate success of the
enterprise was no doubt to be referred, in no small degree, to his
discreet, earnest, and untiring efforts. In addition to his
appropriate duties as president and as chairman of the Board of
Trustees, he heard the recitations of the Senior class, and part of
the recitations of the Sophomore class, besides taking occasional
agencies with a view to increase the funds of the institution. His
constitution, naturally strong, was over-taxed by the efforts which he
felt himself called to make, and had begun perceptibly to yield,
before the last violent attack of disease which terminated his life.
"On Wednesday, the 25th of June, 1823, he was seized with a bilious
colic, which reached a fatal termination on the Monday following.
During the brief period of his illness, the greatest anxiety prevailed
in the college, and unceasing prayer was offered in his behalf. His
own mind was perfectly tranquil, and he anticipated the closing scene
and passed through it without a word or look that told of
apprehension. In the very moment of breathing out his spirit, he
uttered in a whisper,--'God is my hope, my shield, my exceeding great
reward.' The funeral solemnities were attended on the Wednesday
following, and an appropriate sermon was delivered on the occasion by
the Rev. Dr. Snell, of North Brookfield.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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