210 THE ISLAND OF NANTUCKET. 



Beunions. 



There have been three reunions of the alumni of 

 the Nantucket High School. These occurred in lb'65, 

 1866, and 1869, and orations were delivered on the sev- 

 eral occasions, respectively, by Rev. Dr. F. C. Ewer of 

 New York, Wm. B. Drake, Esq., of Meadville, Pa., 

 and Charles H. Glover, Esq., of N'ew York. Of course 

 Father Morse was there, his hair silvered by time, 

 (who ever saw it any other way?) and his eye spark- 

 ling as ever; but his " lazy, lawless, indolent " pupils, 

 who had not been equal in their comprehension to 

 monkeys during their school days, had grown up into 

 noble and intelligent men and women. It is a shame 

 and a disgrace that the Nantucket High School Alumni 

 Association was suffered to expire for want of sufficient 

 financial support. 



Some years since, it was suggested through the col- 

 umns of the Inquirer and Mirror, by one of its corre- 

 spondents,* that each of the great families upon the 

 island who were descendants of the first settlers hold 

 at intervals family reunions, commencing perhaps with 

 the Coffin family. Dr. Ewer's suggestion seems to 

 have met with favor by at least one family, and that 

 the first mentioned. 



In September, 1881, a large gathering of the descend- 

 ants of " Ye e Firste Chiefe Magistrate of y° Island of 

 Nantucket " was held here, and a goodly one it was. 

 Men, women, and children from all parts of the coun- 

 try, bound together by the mystic tie of blood, met and 

 clasped hands on the spot once trod and honored by 



* Kev. Dr. F. C. Ewer of New York. 



