Lyceum Phoenix of Friends School - Phoenix Echo Yearbook (Providence, RI)

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you must visit the pump in the back yard. A rusty, cast iron ladle bound by a chain of iron to the pump, eight inches in diameter, was the only vehicle by which water was transported to the mouths of thirsty boys. If it was frosty it had to be used with wisdom or your mouth was frozen to it. A standing offer of 525 has been out for years for that ladle, to ornament a room of instruments of tort- ure collected from earlier ages to illustrate human suffering. An elaborate account of the history of the School is in the Yearly Meeting Minutes for 1852. The School was vacated in the summer of 1855 for repairs. Joseph and Gertrude W. Cartland came as principals that au- tumn. The School at once took a position which it had not held since the days of John Griscom. They remained only four years, but they established the present classical course and graduated three classes, 1857-8-9. The new impulse in the direction of higher education from them was felt in the Society of Friends throughout New England. Ill health soon took them from the School. but their noble, cultured infiuence has continued to be felt throughout the Society of Friends in America ever since. They have done much to preserve some qualities of the Society which are far too much disregarded in this generation. Albert K. Smiley, and his wife, Eliza P. Smiley, became prin- cipals in 1860, with his brother, Alfred H. Smiley, as associate. This administration continued nineteen years, until 1879, and was very successful. Alumni Hall was constructed in 1869. The first portion of the money was raised at a large reunion after a tent dinner west of the boys' grove, in 1866. The present boys' school- room building was finished in 1872. The general division of the chambers into rooms, with two students in each, in place of vast dormitories. Soon, also, girls and boys recited together in the same class-rooms. Finally they all sat at tables opposite to each other, instead of the girls in one wing and the boys in another. A five-thousand-dollar fence was built about tl1e premises to keep intruders away, but, after all, the School began more and more to recognize that its greatest mission would be in the wide fields of the world, among the Gentiles. The exclusive ideas of the found- ers always are to be regarded with reverence, and always are to guide the policy of the School, so far as possible, yet new occa- sions teach new duties. Many things were done to liberalize the School and to open its doors wider to the public. Greater numbers

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The passing of bounds was a violation of rule, but the spirit and purpose of the boys was good g that was not appreciated, and the boys now did rebel in earnest, and Silas Cornell's usefulness at the School was ended forever. If he had regarded the spirit more and the let- ter less, he would have won their confidence and their hearts: as it was he lost all at one stroke. Like Charles I, he lost his kingdom in one action. The boys' schoolroom at this period was in the west end of the west wing. It was from forty-five to fifty feet, east and west, be- ginning at the present entrance to the boys' schoolroom, and from there extending east the distance named. The present boys' school- room was constructed later. Two boys occupied one desk, sitting on a form and not in chairs. A pin of wood three inches long and less than an inch in diameter stood in the outer edge of the desk, halfway between its ends and between the two boys. The room was lighted with whale oil lamps, everyone of which had sockets that fitted to the -pins on the desks, one for every two boys. And when every lamp was in action, and the wicks indifferently ad- justed, the smoke from them contributed a richness to the odor of the room, and carbon was present to be inhaled as well as oxygen. The house was soon lighted with gas, which was a great improve- ment. The boys' dining-room was the south portion of the present one. The girlsshad a separate one where the bake-house now is. There were two long tables in each room 3 no conversation was permitted at the table unless you wished something to eat or drink, and then in a whisper. Instead of chairs the children sat on stools, three of them attached to a plank so that none could be thrown down with- out a conspiracy of three persons. Table-cloths had not yet ap- peared. There was neither color nor pictures on the walls. The lodging-rooms were large, without partitions. Two persons in each bed. These rooms covered the second floor of each wing. The girls' trunk-room was their present play-room on the third iioor. Alumni Hall was not yet built. The boys' trunk-room was tlie present Belmont. There was a wash-room for boys at the west end of their present dining-room. A great iron kettle, in place of bath- rooms, was heated to furnish warm water Seventh and Fourth days, and held about fifty gallons. A memorable accident burst this at last into eight pieces. If you wished a drink of water, except when in the dining-room,

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of students than ever before were drawn to its instruction and its protection. An order of court was secured to sell land not needed, to make permanent improvements on the estate. A valuable astronomical building was secured, well equipped for the time and place, which has been of great service. The School graduated a good-sized class every year, and the last classes were materially larger. The prominent teachers were able and efficient, and the reputas tion of the School was extended everywhere, and its support was creditable. One character was quite prominent for a time-John F. Rowell- the governor of the boys. His method was not the best, but it pos- sessed the merit of a strong government. And the name above all others on the lips of former students of his period is always John Rowell. Where is john F. Rowell ? H Where most he had used the'rod to save the child, there he was most revered, and tenderly and gratefully praised. He had great personal magnetism, large in size, resolute, fearless, he was born to command and to be obeyed. The boys liked the situation-and so did their parents. Taxes were assessed for the first time in the history of the School, and more than sixty thousand dollars have been paid to the city of Providence. Most of this tax was thrown off in the next administration. It is only just to say of Albert K. Smiley, that he laid the foundation of much of the subsequent prosperity in the School, if any is found in its later history. He built broad and well. He had limitations, as all have who deal with trust prop- erty and vested interests. He has also reflected credit upon the school by his subsequent career. He is an honored trustee of Brown University and of Bryn Mawr College. He has raised at Mohonk a beacon light in aid of the Indian, year after year, seen all over the civilized world, and later, at the same place, he has concentrated the best minds of the nation upon international courts and arbitration. No person can render a greater service to mankind than to help the leaders of the people to see that war is foolish and wicked between Christian na- tions. The name and memory of Albert K. Smiley is warmly cherished at Friends School, and ought to be forever. Augustine Jones, who nineteen years before succeeded Albert K. Smiley at Oak Grove, Vassalboro, Me., also succeeded him as prin- cipal of Friends School in 1879. And has the promise of a lake at