Excerpt from Exercises in Celebration of the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of Hartford Theological Seminary: May 23d to 26th, 1909 The duty laid upon me on this august occasion is no easy duty. That it falls to me arises from the accident that I am the only remaining relic in the faculty of a regime that is now almost'a piece of antiquity. Yet, in the economy of society, as in that of geology, even fossils have their use. At first sight, perhaps, one who has been connected with this Seminary for more than a quarter-century might be expected to speak with assurance of its history. But, on the other hand, it is clear that I have stood too close to its heart to behold it with the objective and dispassionate eye of a critical historian. So, by your leave, I shall today speak simply as a humble annalist of but selected topics, remarking upon them only from certain points of per sonal observation. My task is indefinitely lightened by the fact that in 1884, at our Fiftieth Anniversary, we were privileged to hear a monu mental Historical Address from our beloved Dr. William Thomp son, who was qualified to speak as no one else could or ever can about the half-century then past, since he had been in service for the whole of that long period. With the vivid memory, not only of what Dr. Thompson said on that occasion, but of all he was and all he stood for, I shall not seek to imitate or duplicate his line of thought. It would be most unbecoming for me to traverse again that entire early history into which he entered with such delicate sympathy and luminous insight. You will naturally look to me, I take it, first, for a compact survey of the several principal stages through which the Seminary has passed, and second, for some fuller reference to the period, just preceding that in which we now are, with which I have been personally familiar. Not to detain you too long, I must limit myself to events prior to the coming of President Mackenzie in 1903, for the story of his fruitful and inspiring administration properly belongs to him who shall be the historian at our Cen tennial Celebration in 1934. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.