Valley. The Vermont line is but a stone's throw, so to speak, to the north, while the Empire State lies equally near on the west. This is not the oldest college in New England, nor the newest, nor nearly the largest; but it has played a conspicuous part in Berkshire history. Its situation is unique. Here the mountains press closer upon the valley than elsewhere in the county. They stand out in their true character, grand and imposing. One feels the might of Greylock; the fair and rhythmic beauty of the Taghconics; while contrasted over against these, the wild and scraggy Hoosacs remind one that Nature is so cunning, and of such resources, that she never repeats herself. From all this grand array of mountains there is but one escape-southward. Thus physically this institution is Berkshire's own. And by many an affiliation the college belongs to Berkshire, too. It was the soldier-son of one of the four early white settlers of Stockbridge, Col. Ephraim Williams, who founded the college. He came in early days to northern Berkshire merely to plant a "watch fire" to signal the coming of savages; hut in leaving money to found the little "Free School" of West Hoosac he kindled a lasting watch fire destined to be a light unto all coming generations. From Berkshire homes came the first four graduating students of the college, comprising the class of 1795. Many of its builders and later benefactors have been Berkshire boys, who trudged over the hills to get their education, and, having earned success in the world without, have, shared their prosperity with the college. Such was the origin of Jackson Hall, Goodrich Hall, and the Field Observatory.
Bryant passed all his allotted college days at Williams. He entered the Sophomore class in 1810. Even then this youth of sixteen, tall, slender, with a face half hidden in luxuriant brown hair, must have been somewhat known as a poet, for the preceding year he had published his "Embargo" and "Spanish Revolution." He stayed but one year, however, leaving for pecuniary reasons, and to his lifelong regret. Local tradition has long loved to associate "Thanatopsis" with Flora's Glen, a mountain nook familiar to every Williams student and peculiarly akin to
Left: Edwards Hall.
Right: The Edwards Monument, Stockbridge..
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