Of an Honorary Degree: Butt and Rebuttal

The following letter of protest receivedby President Smith immediately afterDartmouth's commencement in 1874,with a copy of his own moderate, matter-of-fact yet unmistakably satiric - reply, is preserved among the archives ofthe College:

Sandwich June 27. 1874.

To the Faculty of Dartmouth College,-

Gentlemen

Herewith enclosed please find the diploma through which the College conferred on me, in 1862, the degree of Master of Arts.

When I received that paper, I felt a little vain of it and had the folly to garnish it with a frame, - think[ing] that it meant something; but, judging from your recent doings, I have concluded that it means nothing and therefore return it.

"The first order of knighthood in France was that of the Star, instituted, in 1351, by King John," xxx "but it soon fell into discredit by its being bestowed without any regard to a proper limitation."

Very respectfully ISAAC ADAMS

Rev. Asa Dodge Smith, President.

ANSWER.

Dartmouth College Hanover, N. H., July 11, 1874.

Isaac Adams, Esq., My Dear Sir,

Your letter of the 27th ult., with the document accompanying it, reached me in due time. It occurs to me that there must be some mistake in the case. The diploma which you sent, and which you will please find enclosed, was not from Dartmouth, but from Bowdoin College. If returned at all, it should be to President Chamberlain of that Institution, who will doubtless be happy to receive any suggestions you may have to offer.

Yours very truly, ASA D. SMITH.

[Note: Isaac Adams (1802-1883) was born at Rochester, N. H., and retired in later life to the town of Sandwich in his native state. Although, because of the poverty of his parents, Adams's opportunities for schooling had in childhood been slight, by his own industry and mechanical genius he attained not only a degree of fame, but a substantial fortune as well. His celebrated Adams Power Press constituted an important development in the world of printing and was for over half a century the preferred machine for use in book production.

The confused, if indignant, Mr. Adams held honorary Master's degrees from both Dartmouth and Bowdoin - neither, as it happened, conferred in 1862, but in 1866 and 1863 respectively.]

E.C.L.