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Browsing: Diary of Charles Francis Adams, Volume 2
Thursday. April 3rd.
Docno: DCA02d967
Date: 1828-04-03
Morning reading Plato. Rode to Medford. Weather cold and harsh. Fast day by the proclamation of the Governor. Conversation with Abby. In the afternoon walked up the canal until I reached the locks and the new Aqueduct.1 The scenery is exceedingly pretty all the way up and the spots for situations beautiful. I have seldom enjoyed a walk more nor did I return till sometime after the family had returned from Meeting. Edward Brooks and his wife were out here. He is very much excited about the resignation of Dr. Kirkland which has created much noise everywhere. It seems that Mr. Bowditch insulted him grossly at the Corporation board.2 I certainly think it a shameful business. But some men have no delicacy. Evening with Abby.
1. P. C. Brooks built a stone bridge to span the Middlesex Canal, connecting the Merrimac and Mystic rivers, as it ran through Medford (Brooks, Medford
, p. 400).
2. Nathaniel Bowditch (1773–1838), the famous astronomer and mathematician, elected to the Corporation of Harvard College in 1826, forced a financial retrenchment which undermined President Kirkland’s authority, already weakened by the student disorders of 1823. A violent tirade by Bowditch against the President on a point of student discipline caused Kirkland suddenly to submit his resignation on 2 April 1828 (
DAB
, under John Thornton Kirkland).
Cite web page as: Founding Families: Digital Editions of the Papers of the Winthrops and the Adamses, ed.C. James Taylor. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2007.
http://www.masshist.org/ff/
http://www.masshist.org/ff/