ope, only daughter of Rev. Joseph Pope of Spencer, Mass. Of her he
said, 'She was truly an helpmeet--one who did me good and not evil all
the days of her life.' By her vivacity and cheerfulness she was
eminently fitted to comfort him in his hours of suffering and
depression. But it pleased God to take her from him in March, 1826,
after having enjoyed with her, during sixteen years, a degree of
domestic happiness which rarely falls to the lot of man. He also lost
two children, sons, in 1820, after a brief illness. Respecting the
oldest, he had already begun to indulge very pleasing anticipations,
although he was less than five years old at the time of his decease.
Little did the speaker then know, when helping to carry to the grave
the remains of these children, who, if they had survived, would now
have been men of mature age, what hopes he was assisting to bury! But
who knows the future? It was better they should die, than that they
should live to dishonor him and themselves. The husband and father
mourned incessantly, though not without resignation, for these
bereavements, till the time of his own death.

"In 1825, Professor Shurtleff was in very feeble health, from the
spring till Commencement. The Trustees adjourned at that time to
reassemble in November, supposing it might be necessary then to
appoint another professor of Divinity. But by the blessing of God on
medical advice and careful nursing, he was able to resume instruction
before the meeting of the Trustees.

"In January, 1827, Professor Shurtleff was transferred from the
professorship of Divinity to one newly established, of Moral
Philosophy and Political Economy, which he filled till the year 1838,
when, by his own resignation, his active labors in the college ceased.
It was understood, when this appointment was made, that Professor
Shurtleff should instruct in all the Senior classes, and should also
hear the recitations of other classes in particular branches. During
the last half of this period, he preached in vacant neighboring
parishes. No particular account of the literary labors of these years
can be required. Any one of them may be regarded as a fair sample of
the rest. A member of the class of 1828 can testify that that class
greatly enjoyed his instructions. We never heard the summons to the
recitation-room without pleasure. We were always interested and
excited, always profited. The questions were put by the professor in
the plainest Saxon. They