THE LAWRENCIAN. 
Vol. I. 
Groton, Mass., April, 1892. 
No. S. 
Issued every month except July and August. 
are receiving the greetings of old school- 
mates and renewing the memories of “L. 
A.,” will no doubt be glad to be reminded 
of the literary efforts of their Academy 
da\rs, and also to become possessors of 
the engraving and biography of one of the 
noblest and most scholarly of men and 
one whom Lawrence Academy and the 
world delight to honor. 
Per year, 75 cents. 
Single copies, 10 cents- 
SUBSCRIPTION RATES. 
ADVERTISEMENT RATES. 
One column, per year #10.00 
One inch, per year, #2.00 
W. II. Hunt, 
EDITORS. 
Edith M. Howe, 
E. V. Stone, 
E. A. Reed. 
Gertrudk M. Cook, 
Dr. Samuel A. Green. 
Communications should he addressed to F. V. Stone, 
Business Manager. 
Kntered at the Post Office, (Jroton, Mass., March si, lH'ri, a» 
Second-Clans Matter. 
Samuel Abbott Green is a son of Dr. 
Joshua and Eliza (Lawrence) Green, and 
was born at Groton, Middlesex County, 
Mass., March 16, 1830. He obtained his 
early education at Lawrence Academy, 
Groton, graduated at Harvard College 
in the class of 1851, and received his med- 
ical degree three years later, after which 
he spent several years in Europe. On his 
return he began practice in Boston and 
became one of the district physicians for 
the city dispensary, where he served from 
1858 to 1861. On May 19, 1858, he was 
appointed by Gov. Banks, surgeon of the 
2d militia regiment. At the beginning of 
the civil war, he was commissioned as- 
sistant surgeon of the 1st Massachusetts 
Regiment of Volunteers, and was the first 
medical officer from the state mustered in 
for three years’ service. He was promoted 
to the surgeoncy of the 24-th Massachu- 
setts Regiment on Sept. 2, 1861, where he 
remained until Nov. 2, 1864-, serving at 
different times during this period on the 
staff of various general officers. He had 
charge of the hospital ship “Recruit” of 
the Burnside Expedition to Roanoke 
Island, organized by him, and which sailed 
EDITORIAL. 
Never has a vacation been more delight- 
ful to our students than the one just 
closed. No doubt all feel very thankful 
to Governor Russell for appointing April 
7 as Fast Day, since it added twenty-four 
hours to our period of rest. The two 
weeks have passed with almost a cloud- 
less sky, and with a temperature more 
characteristic of June than of April. The 
balmy days have afforded opportunity 
for out-door life and to shake hands with 
“gentle spring,” experiences which tend to 
strengthen both mind and body, and put 
them in tune for the labor of the closing 
term of the year. 
The tennis courts are already in good 
condition, and all should join heartily in 
this charming exercise, which seems to be 
the only sport to which our grounds are 
suited. 
We feel like dedicating this number of 
our paper to our alumni, who, while they 2 
THE LAW REN Cl AN. 
from Annapolis in January, 1862. He had 
charge also of the hospital steamer, “ Cos- 
mopolitan ” on the coast of South Caro- 
lina and during the siege of Fort Wagner 
was chief medical officer on Morris Island. 
In October, 1863, he was sent to Florida 
and was post surgeon at St. Augustine 
and Jacksonville; thence he was sent to 
Virginia and was with the army when 
Bermuda Hundred was taken. Having 
been appointed acting staff surgeon, he 
was stationed at Richmond for three 
months after the fall of that city. “For 
gallant and distinguished services in the 
field during the campaign of 1864, ” he 
was brevetted lieutenant-colonel of Vol- 
unteers. In 1862, he planned a 
cemetery on Roanoke Island, which was 
one of the first regular burial places laid 
out for national soldiers during the Re- 
bellion. After the war Dr. Green was su- 
perintendent of the Boston Dispensary 
from 1865 to 1872; a member of the Bos- 
ton School Board, 1860-62 and 1866-72; 
trustee of the Boston Public Library, 
1868-78, and acting librarian from Octo- 
ber, 1877, to October, 1878. For more 
than twenty years he has been an over- 
seer of Harvard College. 
Dr. Green has always taken a deep in- 
terest in Lawrence Academy, Groton. For 
more than twenty-five years he has been 
a member of the Board of Trustees, and 
for a number of years he was president 
of the Board. In December, 1868, he 
was made chairman of the committee 
to solicit aid in rebuilding the Academy, 
and in 1883 he presided at the 90th an- 
niversary of the Academy. 
In 1870, Gov. Claflin appointed him one 
of a commission to care for disabled sol- 
diers. In 1871 he became city physician 
of Boston and held the office till 1882. 
He was chosen a member of the board of 
experts authorized by Congress in 1878 to 
investigate the causes and methods of pre- 
venting the yellow fever. In 1881, as the 
candidate of the Citizens’ party and the 
Republicans, he was elected mayor of the 
city of Boston, serving during the year of 
1882. In 1883 he was chosen a trustee 
of Peabody Education Fund, as well as 
the secretary of the Board, and has con- 
tinued as such until the present time; 
and from 1885 to 1888 he was the act- 
ing general agent in the place of Dr. J. L. 
M. Curry, who had been appointed Min- 
ister to Spain. 
Dr. Green has for twenty-four years been 
librarian of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society, in which position he has rendered 
valuable services. His researches as a his- 
torian have been extensive and his know- 
ledge of New England history, especially, 
is broad and accurate. He occupies a 
leading place among the historians of to- 
day. He has been a member of the State 
Board of Health, Lunacy and Charity, 
and is now one of the Massachusetts 
Commissioners appointed under Chapter 
60 of the Resolves of 1884, “to investi- 
gate the condition of the records, files, pa- 
pers and documents in the State Depart- 
ment. ” From the year 1871 to 1891, he 
was one of the editors of the American 
Journal of Numismatics and he has lately 
been elected president of the Boston Nu- 
mismatic Society. 
He has been for many years chairman 
of the committee to save the Old South 
meeting-house, and was chosen, last year, 
one of a committee to examine the 
“Adams” bust at the State House. He 
delivered the Centennial address on the 
History of Medicine in Massachusetts in 
Sanders Theater, Cambridge, before the 
Massachusetts Medical Society on June 
7, 1881. A collection of Frankliniana, 
together with a fund to increase the same, 
was given by him several years ago to 
the Boston Public Library. 
The town of Groton recognizes in Dr. 
Green its historian. His publications of 
books and pamphlets relating to local TI1E LAWRENCIAN. 
3 
history have been numerous. The services 
which he has rendered to the town in 
collecting and preserving its annals are 
of inestimable value. July 4, 1870, he de- 
li vered at Groton the historical address 
in commemoration of the destruction of 
the town in May, 1070, and of the Dec- 
laration of Independence, July 4, 1770. 
He also delivered the historical address 
at the dedication of three monuments 
erected by the town, Feb. 20, 1880. 
Among his publications may be men- 
tioned “My Campaign in America,” a 
journal kept by Count William de Deux 
Fonts, 1 780-81, translated from the French 
MS. with an introduction and notes (Bos- 
ton, 1808); “The Story of a Famous 
Book,” an account of Dr. Benjamin 
Franklin’s autobiography (Boston, 1871); 
“School Histories and Some Errors in 
Them” (Boston, 1872); “Epitaphs from 
the Old Burying Ground in Groton” (Bos- 
ton, 1878); “Early Records of Groton, 
1062-1678” (Groton, 1879); “ History of 
Medicine in Massachusetts” (Boston, 
1881); “Groton During the Indian Wars” 
(Groton, 1883); “Groton During the 
Witchcraft Times” (1883); “Boundary 
Lines of Groton” (Groton, 1885); “The 
Geography of Groton,” prepared for the 
use of the Appalachian Mountain Club 
(1886); “Groton Historical Series,” 1884- 
1892, three volumes; “An Account of the 
Physicians and Dentists of Groton” 
(1891); also “An Account of the Law- 
yers of Groton” (1892). 
its wording, makes itself appear great, 
and many a noble thought is lost or hid- 
den beneath an outward tangle of ety- 
mological brushwood. But what should 
be sought for is not a voluminous vo- 
cabulary—for a superfluity of words is 
often worse than a lack—but an exact one. 
How rare and how refreshing the faculty 
of correct expression! Even though the 
thoughts are but dull and commonplace, 
it is a pleasure to hear them come forth 
easily and directly. 
A great thought, ill expressed, is like a 
nobleman in beggar’s clothing, and a poor 
thought, well expressed, like a tramp in a 
dress suit. 
I once knew a lady whose vocabulary 
possessed but two adjectives, or if it had 
ever possessed more, they must have died 
long since for want of exercise. To her 
everything in the world was either “beau- 
tiful” or “ horrid. ” Sermons, sunsets and 
apple pies were beautiful; murders, coffee 
without sugar, and caterpillars were hor- 
rid. How laughable, but how pitiable! 
What discrimination could she possibly 
make? Scarcely more than those of her 
dog. When that animal wished to ex- 
press pleasure he wagged his tail and 
barked in a certain tone; and what more 
could this poor lady do than to smile 
and exclaim “Beautiful!” And her scowl 
and “Horrid” were equivalent to her 
dog’s ruffled back and growl. And yet 
this is but an example of a class of which 
there are thousands. 
Theodore Parker said, “A good many 
words in our language have been so mis- 
used that they must be relegated to the 
department of “damaged phraseology. ” 
This is excellent. Some words, indeed, are 
so tossed, banged, jostled, battered about 
and bruised by a merciless humanity that 
they become, as it were, mere pulps—weak, 
useless, empty, and finally dead. And 
truly they had better die than live to be 
used in such a worthless condition. 
Damaged Phraseology. 
Man’s soul is to his body as his thoughts 
are to the words in which he expresses 
them. Thoughts and words are so inti- 
mately connected that the cultivation and 
perfection of the word help to cultivate 
and perfect the thought. Of course there’s 
many an idea which, by the pomposity of