



Produced by Cornell University, Joshua Hutchinson, David
Garcia and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.





[Illustration: Alex H. Rice.]






THE BAY STATE MONTHLY.

A Massachusetts Magazine.

VOL. I. FEBRUARY, 1884. NO. II.

       *       *       *       *       *




Hon. ALEXANDER HAMILTON RICE, LL.D.


By Daniel B. Hagar, Ph.D.

[Principal of the State Normal School, Salem.]


Massachusetts merchants have been among the most prominent men in
the nation through all periods of its history. From the days of John
Hancock down to the present time they have often been called by their
fellow-citizens to discharge the duties of the highest public offices.
Hancock was the first governor of the State. In the list of his
successors, the merchants who have distinguished themselves by honorable
and successful administrations occupy prominent places. Conspicuous
among them stands the subject of this sketch.

Alexander Hamilton Rice, a son of Thomas Rice, Esq., a well-known
manufacturer of paper, was born in Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts,
August 30, 1818. He received his early education in the public schools
of his native town and in the academies of the Reverend Daniel Kimball,
of Needham, and Mr. Seth Davis, of Newton, a famous teacher in his
day, who is still living, in vigorous health, at the venerable age of
ninety-seven years. As a boy, young Rice was cheery, affectionate, and
thoughtful, and a favorite among his companions. His earliest ambition
was to become a Boston merchant. After leaving school he entered a
dry-goods store in the city. He there performed his duties with such
laborious zeal and energy that his health gave way, and he was compelled
to return to his home in Newton, where he suffered many months' illness
from a malignant fever, which nearly proved fatal. About two years later
