"Seeds of Good & Evil"

"To prayers as usual and then to recitation in [classical literature]. After breakfast, worked a little on Euclid and at 9 a.m. went to . . . lecture on rhetoric. . . .

"Poor Woodbridge fainted away just at the close of recitation today. [He] studies hard."

Amherst men of 1946, reading these 1846 jottings, will probably be grateful that they were not born a century too soon. To help mark Amherst's 128th anniversary, the diary of Amherst undergraduate William Gardner Hammond (Remembrance of Amherst; Columbia University Press; $3) was published last week. Hammond graduated second in his class, became chancellor of the University of Iowa's Law School, and dean of Washington University's.

Cider and Eggs. "I find that one can get along without much study, but if he wishes to rank high must study hard. As I am ambitious . . . my time is fully occupied. . . . Our examination in Demosthenes lasted nearly three hours. . . .

"Was initiated into the Psi Upsilon fraternity. . . . Introduced to a great many young ladies I never saw before and never wish to see again; also to some that I do. ... [A group of classmates and I] waked the departed term most gloriously over eggs, pie, and cider, with song, joke, and laughter, not having the fear of the faculty before our eyes. Kept it up till nearly midnight.

"How little I have accomplished of my [Christmas vacation] plans for study and reading! [He had read Euclid, Tacitus, Swift, Shakespeare, Moliere, Dickens, Macaulay and Carlyle.] . . . The soul seems for the moment to forget its baser nature and yearn for more noble things. But the feeling soon passes off, and I remain the same as before. Such is man."

Murder. "That splendid apostrophe in Demosthenes . . . was in our lesson today. Felt really provoked that the tutor gave it to Belknap, who murdered it by his tame translation. . . . The most interesting debate we have had this term. Subject: 'Are the causes which tend to perpetuate stronger than those which tend to dissolve the Union?'

". . . Kept an account of time wasted today in chat, romping, etc. . . . Positively frightened at the result. . . . Made me a Chronicon today, a little book to keep a registry of time spent [to help me] husband my time. . . .

"Tonight while gazing on the heavens I realized . . . that this earth beneath our feet . : . swung unsupported through the void. Reason long ago taught me this and I knew it, but tonight I felt. I could almost imagine I felt the motion as we rushed on! . . . Something whispers that if I become a Christian I shall forfeit my liberty of mind: that I shall be restrained from judging all things freely, and forced to reduce all to an arbitrary standard. . . .

"Tutor was late at recitation; I got into his chair and was acting him out when I looked up and saw him close by. . . . Rushed to my seat and was called up first one in revenge!

"Had a glorious day, a comfortable carriage, a good horse, a beautiful ride, and by my side Jennie in all her loveliness . . . enjoyed it most exceedingly. . . .

"After dinner, feeling sick and savage, started off for a solitary ramble. Traveling eastward, found a beautiful road through the woods . . . was gone all the p.m. Conceived a great work to immortalize me to all posterity . . . 'Confessions of an Egotist.' . . . Went off to walk with Freshman Thompson in the p.m. Visited a cider-mill [and] got some sweet cider and good apples. Conversation ranged widely: religion, poetry, schoolteaching, genius, societies, etc. . . . [With another student] discussed the Episcopal Church . . . preaching, prostitution, and a variety of other subjects. . . . Found the North College semi-joe [outhouse] all in a blaze, surrounded by students apparently not very anxious to put it out. . . ."

Sancho's Dinner. "Saw a book in Adams's, Half Hours With the Best Authors. . . . I would rather make my own selection. Such compilations may be serviceable to those that have access to few books, but to employ them in other cases is too much like Sancho's dinner of state: one gets what another's taste has provided, and but precious little of that. . . . Played a game of whist in Jenks's room this afternoon. . . . Did wrong: won't do it again in term-time. Not that I think card playing sinful, but it is against college laws. . . .

"The term is over, a broken and eventful one to me, full of the seeds of good and evil. . . ."

Hammond's diary was edited by Amherst's English Professor George F. Whicker, biographer of Emily Dickinson (This Was a Poet). Writes he: ". . . We are prone to belittle what colleges [before the Civil War] were contributing [and to] think complacently of the bargain-counter curriculum currently spread before the freshmen's fastidious eyes. [But it is wrong to conclude] that education took place apart from and even in spite of the college.. , . The student of the 18405 . . . was going to college with an earnestness that his successors might well envy. He was not dabbling in the waters of learning; he was completely submerged."

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