Porter read a
letter from Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, a portion of which follows:--

Abbot Academy has no superior. Its graduates go forth fitted
for life's true work. The education they have received has been
admirably adapted to form both mind and heart. It has had the
social, intellectual and spiritual elements in due
proportion.... I have sent six daughters to Abbot Academy and
do not fear to compare the result as seen in their training,
with the results attained in any other institution of our land,
provided the persons selected are of equal natural gifts. The
missionary work of Abbot Academy has been wide in extent and
noble in character, both at home and abroad; and should be
understood by friends of missions. It cannot be spared; its
work, its history, its example, make it one of our choicest
schools for the education of women, and I pray God it may be
abundantly, richly endowed.

Mr. Edwin Reed of Cambridge, who married an Abbot Academy graduate,
after felicitous compliments to the school, made a graceful, sparkling
speech, from which we quote,--"The wise, judicious, painstaking
administration of affairs there goes always to the roots of character,
and gives us:--

'The perfect woman, nobly planned
To warn, to comfort, and command.'

One uniform spirit of devotion to the highest good of all presides
there, and impresses itself on every pupil. Indeed, I am not sure, if I
had my way and could educate but one of the sexes, that I would not
take the girls, and give them the colleges of the land, in preference to
the present occupants. This would be hard on the boys, but, if I should
'turn the rascals out' and put their sisters in, it would be for this
reason, great men always have great mothers. No great man ever lived who
did not derive the native strength of his character directly from the
mother who bore him. Mothers impress their qualities on their sons, and
to get a generation of great men at the earliest possible moment, I
would adopt the order of nature and secure first a generation of great
mothers."

Dr. McKenzie spoke affectionately of the academy and its toilsome
growth, saying that almost every object in the school had its history.
He referred to the great force of the demands made by schools and
colleges, and said that it was a sign of health and vigor when a school
asked for better accommodations, because it had wider opportuni