THOMAS HILL. 429 



honor of the whole community, even of those most widely separated 

 from him hy church affinities, — of Romanists as well as of Protestants. 

 He became an active member of the school board, the chairman for 

 the greater part of the time, and was largely instrumental in improving 

 the methods and enhancing the efficiency of the public schools. While 

 he regarded as chimerical, and, were it not so, as eminently undesira- 

 ble, the (so called) phonographic reform in printed literature, he took 

 the lead in utilizing the phonetic method for the earliest reading lessons 

 of children. Thus, by their being taught to pronounce letters as they 

 sound in words, the time and labor in acquiring the capacity of read- 

 ing were abridged by more than one half;* while even when a pho- 

 netic primer was used, it was found that the child in due time passed 

 from it to an ordinary reading-book almost without consciousness of 

 the change. While in this movement, revolutionary for the earliest 

 stage of school life, and of immeasurable value, he took the initiative, 

 and has been followed by the most intelligent school boards and teach- 

 ers, he was unrestingly active in the introduction of methods that had 

 been elsewhere found serviceable, and in testing experimeutarily 

 modes of teaching that had any just claim to careful trial. Thus 

 under his direction the Waltham schools became model schools, and a 

 centre of educational enlightenment for neighboring communities. 



Meanwhile his parochial relations and intercourse were becoming 

 more and more intimate, and were characterized by mutual confidence 

 and affection, so that he was virtually a dearly beloved member of 

 every family in his flock. I have never known a happier pastorate 

 than his, one more fruitful in its best influences, or one which left on 

 either side more enduring and precious memories. It ought not to 

 have been dissolved, and had he not been too ready to yield his own 

 judgment to what was misrepresented to him as a matter of higher 

 obligation, he would probably have died the minister of Waltham. 



He was repeatedly solicited to assume other charges. He was 

 strongly urged, under the most promising auspices, to become minister 

 of a church in Cincinnati. He was subsequently asked to take the 

 Presidency of the Meadville Theological School, but declined, in great 

 part, because he was unwilling to leave the regular ministry. In the 

 summer of 1859, he had the Presidency of Antioch College not so 



* The child can perceive no reason why aitrh-o-jee should spell hog, or why 

 fe-you-bee should spell cub. Each separate word is acquired b} - a separate act of 

 memory ; while if he is taught to pronounce each letter as it sounds in the 

 words in which it is used, the rapid pronunciation of the letters of a word gives 

 him the word. 



