ground at Amagansett, a part of the township of Easthampton, a modest sandstone monument carries this inscription: 44 'Here Lies the Body of Mr. 1740, in ye 68 year This was probably one of the ancestors of Luther Conklin; and Senator Roscoe Conkling traced his lineage to the same stock in Amagansett. In other mortuary inscriptions at Amagansett, the name is spelt sometimes with the final g, and sometimes without it. The same diversity of spelling prevails among the living owners of the name at Amagansett. Luther Conklin's mother was a Guthrie, whose ancestors came from the north of Ireland. He was the youngest of eight brothers and sisters, his father dying when he was only six years old. He began the Christian life at sixteen, and two years later began his preparation for college, as a candidate for the ministry. While in college he was intimately associated with Prof. Theodore D. Dwight, Rev. Dr. Henry Kendall, Rev. Dr. L. M. Miller, and Rev. Dr. H. A. Nelson, who were classmates of his brother, Rev. Oliver P. Conklin. After graduating from Auburn Theological Seminary, in 1844, Rev. Luther Conklin began the work of his ministry in the Presbyterian Church at Liverpool, N. Y., at the age of 27. He was married at Leicester, Mass., November 19, 1844, to Miss Almira Henshaw, with whom he became acquainted while she was principal of the Female Seminary at Fulton. After a service of two years at Liverpool, he took charge of the Congregational Church at Moravia, where he labored very successfully for five years, 1846-51. Then he accepted a pastorate at Freeport, Me., where he labored for seven years, 185158. He was then called to the pastorate of the Congregational Church at East Bloomfield, N. Y. Here he remained for ten years, and then resigned, mainly by reason of broken health. With the hope of regaining his health by out-door labor, he purchased a small farm near Rochester, in 1868, where he spent the remainder of his days, preaching as he had opportunity for ten or twelve years after leaving East Bloomfield. His health has been always uncertain, and in his later years he was called to endure very great suffering. His final illness, however, was brief, and the end of his life was reached October, 2, 1888. While his contributions to benevolence during his life were very liberal, he may be regarded, though dead, as yet preaching the gospel in the large bequest which he made to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. His widow survives. MARRIED. BROWNELL-MILLS.-In the Presbyterian Church in Oneonta, N. Y., March 5, 1890, by Rev. Ernest H. Hardman, Dr. ARTHUR HAMILTON BRownell, '84, of Oneonta, and Miss MARY ELLEN MILLS, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. WILLIAM M. MILLS, of Oneonta. STEBBINS MERRITT.—On Saturday, March 9, 1890, at the home of the bride, ARTHUR ALLERTON STEBBINS, '87, of the Utica Saturday Globe and Miss LULU A. MERRITT, of Rye, Westchester county, N. Y. Contents of this Number. Longfellow and Hawthorne in Their Use of Colonial Scenes, CARL Hermon DudLEY, '92, Hamilton, Webster, Seward, WALSTEIN ROOT, '90, Junior Discussion, Affirmative, H. PLATT OSBORNE, Its aim is to furnish a Review of our College Literature, a faithful representa- tion of our College Life, and a medium for the communication to the Alumni The "Alumniana" is under the charge of Prof. NORTH, a guarantee of its worth and interest. The "LIT." is furnished at exactly cost price; and, to save the Editors financial loss, must meet with the cordial support of the Alumni. THE COLONIAL SCENES. SOPHOMORE TERM ESSAY. 'HE social life and character of no period of our national existence is more interesting, simple and vigorous than that of the colonial period. The Puritans, immediately after landing on the desolate shores of the new world, established a new social order, differing greatly from that they had left. The basis of their new social structure was essentially a religious one; and every phase of life was imbued with a deep religious feeling. Their unswerving belief in and obedience to the letter of divine law, which in so marked a degree characterized the Puritans, produced those rough, practical, healthy and strong, though narrow and bigoted characters for which this period is distinguished. The simplicity of their life and the intense reality of their early struggles against seas, forests, Indians and wild beasts, arouses, even now, a keen interest. To two of our greatest authors we are indebted for most charming and faithful pictures of these early scenes. Hawthorne and Longfellow, each according to his genius, has made the dull, prosaic life of this primitive people immortal. Their every-day life, with its trials, joys, anticipations, fears and hardships, more vividly impresses upon us a sense of its stern realities, because of the writings of these authors. Two of Hawthorne's most powerful and successful works deal with questions which were of paramount significance to the Puritans; and, in fact, his inspiration is largely derived from the influence colonial subjects had upon his mind. Though Longfellow does not so freely use colonial scenes, yet his writings have scarcely less importance in giving us a true knowledge of those times. The ways in which the writings of Hawthorne and Longfellow are stamped by the influence of colonial life are as diverse as the mental temperament of the authors themselves. The former was of a dreary, romantic, mystical nature; the latter, full of life, hope, love and truthfulness. If our conception of colonial life was confined to the historical, it would be vague and unsatisfying; if to Hawthorne's writings, it would be gloomy, sombre, incomplete; if to Longfellow's, it would be light, fanciful and cheery; but, happily, we have the three sources from which we can gain a complete and varied yet unique picture. Witchcraft, with all its dreadful sinister incurring, will forever darken the memory and distort our conception of the otherwise hallowed life of the Puritans. The undefined terror, haunting mystery and fiendish workings of this imperfectly understood spirit of evil, is one the most prominent features of their social life. Its impress upon their mind was indelible, and its subtle power was supposed to work ruin from generation to generation. In Hawthorne's "House of the Seven Gables" its malign influence and devilish nature is clearly portrayed. Hawthorne himself, essentially a Puritan, fully appreciating this undefined something in its broadest significance, has shown its various workings through all the tangled maze of the civil relations of the Mauls and Pyncheons, terrifying the Pyncheons with a sense of their injustice to the Mauls, and haunting the empty chambers of their imposing mansions, which had been reared upon soil obtained by blood. The mysterious whispers and stealthy tread of unseen beings made the interior desolate and horrifying. The midnight blasts, shrieking through the garrets and howling around its seven gables, made it seem the very abode of fiends and demons, and its chambers re-echo with their hellish plans. The Pyncheons die, choked with blood. |