AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 419 



be necessarily excluded ; but the new colleges were to push on to 

 the practical application of the sciences they taught, and they were 

 to train all their students as defenders of their country against 

 domestic rebellion or foreign invasion. In a word, they were to 

 educate their students as men and as American citizens. The rank 

 of the education given is ' libei-al,' the terra applied to the educa- 

 tion given b}' the highest institutions then known. It was to be so 

 broad as to fit men for the ' several pursuits and professions of 

 life.' . . . Many who have attempted the management of these 

 colleges, as well as many who have criticised them, have appar- 

 ently overlooked the broad and generous plan upon which they 

 were founded. It is doubtful if they will ever accomplish the 

 great work for which they were intended, until their original pur- 

 pose is so full}' and constantly recognized and carried out by judi- 

 cious, painstaking work, that the currents of education shall be 

 once fairl}' turned toward these new channels. When once fairly 

 turned, that they will continue to flow can no more be doubted than 

 we can doubt the success of any natural process when not artifi- 

 ciall}' obstructed. An education that ' gives boys what the}' need 

 to dail}' use when they become men,' commends itself as rational 

 and practical." 



The plan as thus in general outlined secured the hearty 

 approval of the trustees, and its execution was well begun 

 when Dr. Chadbourne was suddenly removed by death. 



From the time of his death until the beo-inninof of the 

 present college year, the affiiirs of the college were wisely 

 administered by Prof. H. H. Goodell, as acting president. 

 As he was unwilling to assume the duties of the presidency 

 permanently, the trustees, by a special committee, sought a 

 successor to Dr. Chadbourne. After much inquiry and 

 careful deliberation, it was determined to secure the ser- 

 vices of James C. Greenough, a graduate of Williams Col- 

 lege, who, by his early training, was skilled in agriculture, 

 and who, owning to his administrative ability, his acquire- 

 ments, and his success in teaching, had already been urged 

 to accept the presidency of a classical college in another 

 State. Mr. Greenough refused to allow his name to be used 

 as a candidate, but as the trustees, through their committee, 

 persistently urged the need of his services at the college, and 

 the wide field for usefulness which it presented, he at length 

 severed his connection with the State Normal School in 



