lege graduate who
walked on the floor of the present Academy Hall. It was said to be the
best school edifice in Essex County or even the state of Massachusetts.
Thus it began its existence with an aspiration in fine architecture. The
style of this edifice is not so classical now as it was fifty-six years
ago. When the academy received its new telescope it was too poor to
provide it a suitable place. Therefore a dome was erected on the roof,
which disturbed the symmetry of the Grecian architecture. The telescope
does good service under the dome; but it is a sign of the indigence of
the academy. When I reflect on the progress made by other institutions,
I am astonished at the march of events. Twenty years after the founding
of Abbot Academy, the little settlement at Chicago had not been heard of
at Andover. When Rev. Dr. Joel Hawes received his first request to
provide a missionary for that settlement, he asked a friend of mine,
'Where is Kick-a-go?' That little settlement of 'Kickago' has now
received a fund of more than three million dollars for a city library.
When our academy was founded, no man in Andover suspected that
California would become one of our United States; but California has
recently received twelve million dollars for the founding of a
University. I was acquainted with the founder of Smith College in
Northampton, and also with the founder of Abbot Academy. In some
particulars the two ladies had a marked resemblance to each other. The
founder of Smith College gave to it four hundred thousand dollars; the
founder of Abbot Academy gave to it $10,109.04. Those four cents have
played a conspicuous role in the history of the academy. They have been
a sign of its indigence from its earliest to the present day."

"Abbot Academy has real estate valued at forty thousand dollars. Its
apparatus, library, furniture, etc., are valued at ten thousand dollars.
Its productive and available funds are valued at $33,636. This valuation
was made two years ago; and it is now safe to say that the whole
property of the institution, including real and personal estate, amounts
to no more than ninety thousand dollars. The number of books in its
library is 2,630. The number of its books relating to the fine arts is
233. The number of its art illustrations is 3,284. Still it has no
convenient rooms for its books, pictures, casts. They are highly
valuable, but are scattered in different and obscure places. It has a
good cabinet of s