430 THOMAS HILL. 



much offered to him as forced upon him. The College never had a 

 reason for being, and its pecuniary capital consisted largely in promises 

 that were never fulfilled. It had the disadvantage of being largely 

 supported, befriended, and reputedly managed by strong and "ood men 

 in New York and Boston, who were too remote from the site of the 

 College to detect shams and subterfuges which from the first boded 

 no good. Thus the man who was the earliest incumbent of the Greek 

 Professorship commenced the study of the Greek Reader after his 

 election, and had just finished it when he entered on his official duties. 

 But Dr. Hill's friend and kinsman (by marriage), Rev. Dr. Bellows, 

 not only had faith in the College, but was enthusiastic in the advocacy 

 of its claims. He rightly imagined that such an institution could have 

 ho more precious godsend than a President who was regarded as 

 hardly second to any as a man of science, who held so honored a 

 position as a minister, and who was already distinguished for his edu- 

 cational ability and services. He felt, and contrived to make Dr. Hill 

 feel, that the needs of the growing West demanded such qualifications 

 for the charge of higher seminaries as could be furnished only from 

 among trained educationists who could not accept such places without 

 serious sacrifice. Dr. Hill consciously made a very great sacrifice ; 

 but he had reason to expect at least food and clothing for himself and 

 his family. He was shown, not indeed actually invested capital, but 

 pecuniary guarantees that seemed to provide adequately for the 

 salaries and the running expenses of the College. These guarantees 

 proved to be worthless, and he was obliged to devote the time and 

 labor which might have been of unspeakable worth to the College to 

 solicitation for funds to keep the institution alive. He was so far 

 successful, that when he resigned his office, in the summer of 1862, 

 he had secured the payment of all arrears due to the members of his 

 Faculty, but had not reserved for himself more than ten per cent of 

 his own salary, having been obliged to supply the deficit in part by of- 

 ficiating on Sundays in a Cincinnati pulpit, at a distance of more than 

 seventy miles from the College. Meanwhile, his over-strong sense of 

 obligation made him unwilling to shorten the three years for which he 

 had pledged himself to serve, though within that period he might have 

 had a situation which, if unencumbered, he would gladly have accepted. 

 Among the most influential proprietors of King's Chapel were several 

 men who had been his summer parishioners at Waltham, and they 

 earnestly besought him to suffer his name to be presented for the then 

 vacant pastorate of the Chapel, with the assurance that there would 

 be a unanimous vote in his favor. But this was early in his Presi- 



