Ionic porch of the new
academy, we see they were by inheritance and nature well worthy the
broad and generous course of study marked out for them by Dr Jackson,
Samuel Farrar and the others. That course, of more than half a century
ago, was as wide as any laid down in the women's colleges to-day; and
although it was gradually modified in conformity with popular sentiment,
still it speaks well for the sagacity and practical wisdom of the
trustees. It is pleasant to note that Dr. Jackson lived to see his
theories of women's education carried into practice by the establishment
of colleges for them. Mr. Charles Goddard, grandson of Dr. Langdon,
president of Harvard University, was the first principal of Abbot
Academy. He was tall and fine looking, with refined and polished
manners, worshipped by the little girls and greatly admired by the older
ones, who, as one of their number writes "woke up wonderfully and
enjoyed their studies exceedingly." "It was the universal opinion," says
another, "that the advantages offered by Abbot Academy were very
superior to anything in the region, and the building was considered
commodious and elegant." French and German were taught by Dr. William
Gottlieb Schauffler, whose romantic history and extraordinary musical
gifts had already attracted much personal interest, and whose after
career has made his name a household word from the shores of the German
Ocean to the Stairs of the Bosphorus. Who wonders that he was a hero to
those girls of fifty years ago? No theological student called upon them
who had not some story to tell of his enthusiasm, daring or cleverness,
and how eagerly must they have listened as the adventures of his magic
flute were dwelt upon.

[Illustration: PLAN OF FIRST FLOOR

ADMINISTRATION BUILDING

ABBOT ACADEMY

ANDOVER, MASS.

H. W. HARTWELL & W. C. RICHARDSON ARCHITECTS

68 DEVONSHIRE ST., BOSTON, MASS.]

For twenty-one years Abbot Academy was under the charge of principals
who were all college graduates and men of exceptional powers, uncommon
cultivation, and thorough interest in their work. There was no fund
(then as now it depended upon its fees, systematically as low as
possible) to pay running expenses, and although its superior character
as a school attracted as many pupils as it could accommodate it had a
hard struggle to live. Very early in its existence it was evident that
its great lack was a boarding-house for students from a distance, and
many att