F. The War of the Revolution loosened the joints of society. It closed in 1783. In 1784 the emancipation act of the Legislature was passed. For one cause and another, some of the soldiers of the Revolutionary army of Connecticut found their attachment to their native State weakened By the adoption of the first Federal Constitution, and also by the adoption of the second, the views of many of the people were extended beyond the boundaries of their native State or colony. They were ready to say, "No pent-up Utica contracts our powers, They were now ready, as a part of the "universal Yankee nation," to find a home anywhere on the continent, and to carry with them the institutions under which they themselves had been educated. Judge Jacob Collamer once informed me that a certain very considerable tract of country in Vermont was largely settled by New England soldiers of the Revolution. Among these, many were from Connecticut; and in the region where these soldiers were settled, the "point of honor" was often evident and influential. Marietta was settled to some extent by Connecticut officers and soldiers. As many as one-fifth of the towns of Vermont borrowed their names from Connecticut. The lands called the "Connecticut Reserve," in the northern part of Ohio, amounting in the whole to 3,666,000 acres, came into market in 1795. Five hundred thousand acres of these lands were called fire-lands, from their being given to Norwalk, Danbury, and other towns, to compensate them for their losses by fire in the Revolutionary War. The school lands amounted to 3,166,000 acres. The tide of emigration moved westward from every part of the State. Every town lost some of its best blood, which was transfused into communities in the West, and imparted vitality, health, and vigor, while it left the towns languid and weakened. In 1816 an oration was delivered at Commence ment by one of the graduating class of Yale College, “On the spirit of Emigration from the Eastern to the Western States." In 1817 Governor Oliver Wolcott, in his inaugural message, spoke of the importance of encouraging manufacturing industry, in order that the people of Connecticut should be induced to remain within the limits of the State. The loud cry was, "Westward ho! who'll follow?" and multitudes responded to that cry, "We'll follow." G. Fifty years ago, or more, when the London University was under consideration, in one of the principal English reviews it was declared, "Oxford makes gentlemen." There was then, and there has been since, every reason to believe the truth of this declaration. At least, the present writer, after spending ten days there, with the best opportunities for observation, became thoroughly convinced of its truth. The history of that University from its foundation, and of the University of Cambridge, go to show that their alumni carried into every part of England the manners which they acquired at those places, and thus promoted good manners in England. Harvard College, and Yale College, have, in like manner, promoted good manners where their alumni have been settled, in Massachusetts or Connecticut. The early ministers of Connecticut, whether educated in England, or at Harvard, or Yale, zealously promoted good manners among the people. The youth were taught good manners in the church, through the aid of the tithingman; good manners in the school, through the aid of the teacher; and good manners in the family and in public, through the aid of their parents. The children were taught to "make their manners" when they came into the school-room and when they left it, by taking off their hats or making a courtesy; and to do the same to respectable passers by, whom they met in the streets, just as students in college were re quired by law to take off their hats to the Faculty, when they met them. In going into church the minister was received by the congregation standing, at least by those in the lower part of the house, and more especially by those near the broad aisle. The minister and people both had their Sabbath-day clothes, which they used in going to church, and other important occasions, and every-day clothes, which they used in their daily business. The minister was dressed sometimes with a cocked hat and wig or cue, black coat, waistcoat, breeches, stockings, kneebuckles, and shoe-buckles, and black gloves. Yale College was to Connecticut what Oxford and Cambridge were to England for a long time, as a promoter of good manners. To see this distinctly let us select some period, say from 1812 to 1816. At that time, Timothy Dwight was President of Yale College. His manners, derived, in part, from the ante-Revolutionary period, or from the army, in which he was a Chaplain, but chiefly from his own nobility of soul, produced reverence and admiration in strangers and friends. They were such as would become a dignitary of the Church of England, even the Archbishop at Lambeth. It was said of Edmund Burke, by one well acquainted with life and manners, that no one could pass ten minutes with him under a shed in a rainy day, without feeling that he was a man of uncommon ability. The same might be said of President Dwight. The manners of Professor Jeremiah Day, afterwards President, were bland and courteous, indicating the poise and gentle graces of his soul. It was said of the father of Prof. Day, by one who revered him greatly, that "he never could look at him, without the momentary impression that he was God." No one could be well acquainted with the son, without feeling that he was the partaker of the divine nature, or without feeling "how awful goodness is, and virtue in herself, how lovely." The manners of Prof. Benjamin Silliman were genial and winning. He was sympathetic; his own feelings going out towards others. He was magnetic; drawing the feelings of others towards him. In the words of Cowper he was, "A man of letters and of manners too, Of manners sweet as virtue always wears, The manners of Prof. Kingsley were modest and retiring. His pointed stories; his juicy humor; his pungent wit; his quick perception of the ridiculous, and his fervent indignation at wrong when coupled with dishonor, and the whole seasoned with Attic salt, produced a pleasing and lasting impression upon those who had intercourse with him. It may not be out of place to repeat here an anecdote. Prof. Kingsley, somewhere near 1820, visited Harvard College, and was received with the urbanity and politeness characteristic of the officers of that institution. At an evening party, at which he was present, the conversation turned upon the difficulty that had arisen between some of the orthodox people of Brooklyn, Conn., and a Unitarian minister, who had preached there as a candidate. President Kirkland, in his pleasant way said, "Prof. Kingsley, what is the difficulty at Brooklyn? Is it that the preacher's creed is too long or too short?" Prof. Kingsley, in a manner equally pleasant, while all the company were waiting for his answer, replied; "As I understand it, the difficulty is not that his creed is too long or too short, but that he has no creed." This finished the conversation on this topic. The tutors of Yale in that period were Aretius Bevil Hull, Matthew Rice Dutton, Samuel Johnson Hitchcock, John Langdon, Josiah Willard Gibbs, Chauncey A. Goodrich, Ralph Emerson, Wm. Danielson, John Witter, Alexander Metcalf Fisher, and Denison Olmsted. All these men were Christian gentlemen, whose influence was powerful in forming the minds and manners of the students. It was interesting to see how a young man, somewhat clownish or somewhat rowdyish, would enter College, and after remaining there four years, would graduate with his taste refined, and his manners polished, prepared to go into the community to refine the taste and improve the manners of others. John Adams, the second President of the United States, in a letter to President Stiles, in 1788, speaks of Yale College as THE LIGHT OF A COMMONWEALTH THAT I ESTEEM THE PUREST PORTION OF MANKIND." * View them near At home, where all their worth and pride is placed; Faithful in love, in honor stern and chaste, In friendship warm and true, in danger brave, And minds have there been nurtured, whose control Is felt even in their nation's destiny: Men who swayed senates with a statesman's soul, Names that adorn and dignify the scroll Whose leaves contain their country's history, HALLECK. In what Arcadian, what Utopian ground |