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S. LOTHROP THORNDIKE

Deputy Grand Master, 1895

MEMORIAL

1911.

FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE MASS. HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Vol. 45, October 1911 - June 1912

From Pages 4 and 5, by Charles Francis Adams, President:

"Samuel Lothrop Thorndike, elected a Resident Member at the December meeting of 1901, died at his summer home in Weston on June 18, ten days after the meeting referred to, at which he was present.

"Although elected only ten years ago, at the time of his death Mr. Thorndike stood fiftieth on the roll of membership. Born at Beverly in December, 1829, at the time of his election he was approaching the close of his seventy-second year. Naturally, therefore, becoming a member so late in life, his activities in connection with the Society were limited. Nevertheless, made a member of the Council at the annual meeting of 1903, he served upon it two years. Subsequently a member of the House Committee, he acted as such for a further term of two years. In 1906 he was appointed auditor of the Treasurer's accounts. During the first four years of his membership, and up to December, 1905, he was present at nearly every one of our meetings; but of the remaining fifty-four meetings held before his death he attended only nine. A steadily increasing impairment of hearing in a measure precluded him. In 1902 he paid a tribute to his classmate and life-long friend, James B. Thayer, when the death of the latter was announced; and he was appointed to prepare memoirs both of him and of the late John Fiske. Neither of these has been filed, nor, so far as is known, was the preparation of either begun. They have now been elsewhere assigned.

"A graduate of the Harvard class of 1852, Mr. Thorndike had outlived his immediate associates in the Society, and there is no one here who can speak of him with close personal knowledge. I shall, therefore, not call for the tribute, or characterization, usual on these occasions. Graduated in the very year in which the class of which I was a member entered Harvard, I had no acquaintance whatever, even by reputation, with Mr. Thorndike as a student. I recall him, however, distinctly during the years which succeeded graduation. In accordance with a practice then already not unusual, Mr. Thorndike emphasized graduation by foreign travel. In fact he did not even wait for his commencement-day, but in the January preceding started in company with his intimate college friend and classmate, W. Sturgis Hooper, on a sailing-ship round-the-world voyage. Returning from this experience, one hardly practicable now, he entered the Harvard Law School, and settled down to a study of the profession. Finally, he was a student in the office of Sidney Bartlett. Subsequently devoting himself to his calling, although his and my relations were always friendly and such as are apt to be maintained between men who were, practically, in college at the same period, — that is, in our case, during the administration of President Walker, — I came but little in contact with him; less, indeed, than I would have wished.

"Mr. Thorndike was a man of a very distinct personality, and an engaging personality. He was essentially what Dr. Johnson denned as a "clubable" man, — that is, his welldeveloped natural social instincts were allowed free play. Entertaining and companionable, he had engaging manners, with a keen sense of humor. So, naturally, during college life, he was a deputy marshal of the Porcellian Club. Though a member of the bar, he was not what is known as an active practitioner or jury advocate. In fact, like so many others who take it up, though the law was his calling, to the law Mr. Thorndike had no particular call. He was far from being what is commonly known as a "hustler for business." Refined by nature, his aptitude was for music; and there is little in common between the jury-box and the orchestra. I am told that Mr. Thorndike did, in his earlier professional days, appear as of counsel in cases before the full bench, both in Massachusetts and at Washington; but I doubt if he ever presented a cause to a jury, nor could I possibly imagine him browbeating a recalcitrant witness or bullying an opposing counsel of aggressive manners. He was a man of too fine a fibre for that sort of work; he could not have so coarsened his being. While, therefore, the law was his profession and a source of income to him, music was his calling and delight. Doubtless he felt far more at home and in his element while listening to an orchestra than when arguing in a court, even one of probate. The result naturally to be looked for under such conditions in due time followed. He devoted himself more and more to the promotion of music; and, incidentally as it were, was occupied with the management of properties. Trusteeship became the substance of his office life. On the other hand, deeply interested in societies like the Handel and Haydn, which by a natural educational process led up to the system of Symphony Concerts so identified with the later Boston musical development, he was, I am told, a frequent contributor to Dwight's Journal of Music, standing very close to its founder and editor. Never concerning himself to any marked degree in either politics or productive literature, he yet had a natural taste for historical topics local in character; and, though this trait never assumed any considerable or even definite shape, it was to it his election to our Society was due. An attractive personality, instinctively a gentleman in feeling as well as in bearing, Mr. Thorndike will be borne in fresh recollection by the few yet left who were fortunate enough to be his associates through a long and useful, though in no way eventful, life. A memoir of him, prepared by a member of his family, is herewith submitted and will find its regular place in our Proceedings."

Distinguished Brothers