Dartmouth College - Aegis Yearbook (Hanover, NH)

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8 ' Re AEGIS.sa..1907 Va!.XXXIV Melvin Ohio Adams BY PROF. CHARLES F. RICHARDSON O NO graduate of the college does the expression a 5414 C215 typical Dartmouth man belong more truly than 4 X W IN F - A , .-2 to Melvin Ohio Adams of the class of 1871. Self- reliant, resourceful, and helpful, he has shown during Qgffjffw all his life that 'ldirective capacity which wiiiiam T. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education, once declared to be, in his opinion, the distinctive QA? mark of the Men of Dartmouth. One of the busiest men in Boston, with his ofhce in the heart of the old city, Mr. Adams has always found time to lend a hearty hand to the interests of the college, and he is one of the men to whom is due the strong hold of the institution upon the public, educational, and social life of Massachusetts. Melvin Ohio Adams was born in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, Novem- ber 7, 18 50. In that old hill-town both his father and his mother were born and lived and are buried, and there, or in neighboring villages, like so many New England boys of the 'sixties and 'seventies, he worked on the farm, stood behind the counter of the country store, and taught district school in winter. Another way of money-earning in his early days-work- ing in a tannery-was less common, though tanning hides used to be called one of the duties of the country pedagogue, He fitted for college at the neighboring Appleton Academy, in New Ipswich, New Hampshire-a famous old prep school in its day, which has sent not a few strong men to Dartmouth 3 and in August, 1867, he entered the Freshman class in the college. During his four undergraduate years he was undoubtedly the most popular man in the class, his cheery ways, abounding vitality, and spirit of good fellowship making him both a leader and a favorite. At graduation his rank, as shown by the assignment to him of a philosophical eration, was third, fourth, or fifth in a class of seventy men. The theme

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115132 iiann. ffielhin Qbbin Qhams

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1f01.XXX11f Re AEGIS .SPA 1907 9 on which he enlightened his hearers on Commencement day, 1871, was Bacon in Retirement, which probably anticipated the philosophical and scientific pursuits with which he will brighten his old age at the distant day when he shall permanently forsake the court-house for the seclusion of his property of Middle Brewster, Boston Harbor, for Sancho Panza's dream of being governor of an island has long been fulfilled in Adams' case. His law studies were pursued in the Boston University Law School, and he was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 187 5. The next year he was appointed Assistant District Attorney of Sullolk County, and during the ensuing decade he developed, in that position, thc broad and deep knowl- edge of criminal law which afterwards made him one of the most prominent of Boston lawyers in that division of practice. ln 1886 he resigned to go into general practice, four years later he got his title of Colonel by an appointment on the staff of the governor of Massachusetts, and in 1891 he was elected president of the Boston, Revere Beach, and Lynn Railroad. Of all his ofhces the last-named, perhaps, has endeared him to the greatest number of Dartmouth students, for while few of them have needed his powerful defence in the criminal court-room, many a manly and self- supporting undergraduate has-thanks to President Adams-earned money for his college bills by working summers as conductor, brakeman, ticket-seller,'or mail-agent on his railroad. Although the mileage of the Revere Beach system is not the largest in the United States, it is interest- ing to note that while, when Mr. Adams became president, it carried 2,25o,ooo passengers a year, it now transports 1o,ooo,ooo, a good share of whom brave the waters of Boston Harbor in the staunch ferry-boat Dart- mouth, belonging to the line. Mr. Adams, by the way, is now the dean, by length of service, of all the railroad presidents of lines radiating from Boston. , In IQO4 President Roosevelt appointed Mr. Adams United States District Attorney, at the earnest request of Senators Lodge and Crane and the Boston bar in general. The acceptance of this high station was made because of a sense of duty, and at a large loss of annual income. Again and again Mr. Adams has been asked to allow the use of his name in connection with city, state, or national offices, but has in almost every