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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 February 2017
In the mid nineteenth century Amherst, Massachusetts, amounted to a cluster of farm houses and a collection of public buildings. Its 3,000 inhabitants remained agricultural by trade and localist in orientation. Overlooking the town stood Amherst College, founded in 1821. Its three humble dormitories and decrepit chapel provided a fitting tribute to the evangelical asceticism of its founders. The clothing of its 200 students betrayed their disparate backgrounds. Freshmen stood out. A cringing, submissive manner distinguished them as they scurried to recitation. In contrast, sophomores exuded a haughty demeanor. Others boasted a genteel look, while Amherst's seven professors imparted an air of gravity to the campus. Bearded and dignified, they nodded warmly to pupils who stood aside in deference. Silence typically prevailed at sundown, but attacks by upperclassmen on the freshmen sometimes shattered the quiet. On select evenings, murmured prayers also broke the silence. Kneeling on the chapel floor, students might be found with their hands clasped and eyes shut in meditation. Some broke into tears under the intensity of the prayer meeting, weeping and holding one another with temporary abandon. Professors often knelt beside them. During such revivals, the walls that stood between teacher and pupil crumbled, if only for a moment, in a cathartic surrender.
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