Student Views on Twilight

Letter from C. F. Remick, Aug. 20, 1888

The academy and its grounds were the pride of my boyhood and they still linger in my memory. Then I thought them the most interesting of anything on earth and as near central as anything could be on this planet.

Letter from Jas. W. Strong, Aug. 23, 1888

Mr. Twilight was an excellent teacher… He secured not only the respect but also the sincere esteem of his pupils… In the old academy many young men were filled with lofty ambitions and stimulated to noble attainments, and in them he still lives a mighty and abiding power for good in the world.

Letter from H. S. Tarbell, Aug. 25, 1888

No student of the old academy, especially in the days when Father Twilight –sometimes irreverently, but usually kindly, called Old Twilight- was at its head, can forget it, or remembering, fail to recall with pleasure and a sense of personal obligation his experience there.

As I look back I can realize, what I did not see then, that Father Twilight was a hero, struggling manfully with ill health, hard labor, small reward, and many discouragements… He did his best intellectually and morally by all his pupils.

Address by E. A. Stewart, Aug. 30, 1888

But who could ever forget him… That pursy, rotund form, the inevitable calico gown, the bronzed b y mirth-provoking face, the jest-loving propensity, the perennial fun, sometimes breaking out in the midst of the school room, the abrupt, contagious but quiet laugh… his success in finding out mischief, his enterprise, his withering rebuke when he saw anything of a low, mean character, and his strong friendships.

Letter from Richard Addison to his sister, Sept. 23, 1888

In spite of my fun and mischief while I was attending his school we were always good friends; he always liked me, and in spite of his old leather strap I liked him.