MORE THAN A LANDMARK

WHEN the "White Church" was burned last spring, there passed from the familiar scene something that was more than a fabric of wood and metal. It was one of the oldest, if not the very oldest, of the buildings in Hanover, dating back to the days of the second Wheelock. Among other things, it was the source of the bickerings which led eventually to the attempt to establish a rival university and to the conflict which eventuated in the Dartmouth College case. Controversy of that nature might have arisen in any event, but in actuality it grew out of a difference of opinion concerning the preaching and pastorate of the local church, between President John Wheelock and those who opposed him. The struggle soon led far afield, but it had its origin in rivalries whereof the ancient church was the centre. A squabble between the domineering president and the local religious society resolved itself by degrees into a conflict between the President and the majority of the twelve College trustees, eight of whom-who came to be known as the "octagon"—going finally to the limit of an open breach, involving a vote to remove the president from his office, with the sequel of an appeal to the State Legislature, the effort to change the charter, and a cause celebre in the highest court of the land, which has affected profoundly the whole law of corporations. With that moving period the old White Church afforded the sole surviving visible link. Within its walls originated the discontent and controversy which ripened apace into such momentous fruit. Though several times remodelled within, and more or less altered without, it was none the less the same edifice which was dedicated in 1795 and which had played so important a part in town and College history. With its burning a year ago one might say there came to a belated close the most vital chapter in Dartmouth's annals.

The old church has disappeared so completely that no one unfamiliar with Hanover as it was for a century and a half would dream that it ever existed. The site of the church and its satellite, the vestry, is a smooth lawn, which seems hardly large enough to have accommodated a building of such extent. Possibly it would be well suitably to mark the spot, for in more than one sense it may be regarded as holy ground.