Hill

Hill was ambitious to attain the presidency him-
self is beyond question; all his political plans
were made with that end in view. As the result
of the "snap convention" of Feb. 22, 1892, he con-
trolled the New York delegation at the National
Democratic Convention of that year and was
supported by it for the presidential nomination,
though his high-handed efforts to block the can-
didacy of Cleveland [q.vJ] served in the end to
promote it. In 1896 he opposed the free-silver
movement, and after the nomination of Bryan
wrote: "I am a Democrat still — very still"
(Hamilton Ward, Jr., Life and Speeches of
Hamilton Ward, 1902, p. 399). Four years
later, at Kansas City, he seconded the nomi-
nation of Bryan, but declined to countenance his
own candidacy for vice-president. He continued
active in politics until after the election of 1904.

At the expiration of his term as senator in
1897, Hill resumed the practice of law at Al-
bany, N. Y., and enjoyed a lucrative practice up
to the time of his death. A charter member of
the New York State Bar Association, he was its
president from 1885 to 1887, and was recognized
as a man of high legal ability. His effectiveness
as a lawyer was perhaps best displayed in the
noted McGraw-Fiske suit against Cornell Uni-
versity, in which he represented the contestants,
though he did not appear before the courts (Pro-
ceedings of the New York State Bar Association,
191.1; Albany Evening Journal, Oct. 21, 1910).
A decision in their favor was handed down by
the Supreme Court in 1890 (Cornell University
vs. Piske, 136 U. S\, 152).

As a private citizen Hill was of a simple and
retiring disposition. He never married. Nerv-
ous in temperament yet cold, silent, and domi-
neering, he tied other people's interest to his
own by sheer adroitness, intellectual force, and
practical talent. Scholarly in taste, he loved
good literature, particularly biography. A pow-
erful and effective public speaker, he swayed his
audience by appeal to reason rather than to emo-
tion. Though witty, sarcastic, and shrewd, he
was lacking in humor. He died at his beautiful
country home, "Wolfert's Roost," near Albany,
N. Y.

[Proc. AT. Y. State Bar Asso., 1911 ; C. Z. Lincoln,
ed., State of N. Y. Messages from the Governors
1909), vol. VIII; C. E. Fitch, ed., Official AT, Y. from
leveland to Hughes (1911) ; R. B. Smith, ed., Hist, of
the State of N. Y,t Pol. and Governmental, vols. III,
IV (1922) ; D. S. Alexander, Four Famous New York-
ers (1923) ; Forum, Nov. 1894; Rev. of Revs. (N. Y.),
Feb. 1892; Albany Evening Journal, Oct. 20, 1910;
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Oct. 20, 1910 ; N. Y. Times, Oct.
21,1910.] HJ.C.

HILL, FRANK ALPINE (Oct. 12, 1841-
Sept 12, 1903), educator, was born in Bidde-

(1
C

Hill
ford, Me., the son of Joseph Stimson and Nancy
(Hill) Hill He was a lineal descendant of
Peter Hill who in 1633 came from Plymouth,
England, and settled on Cape Elizabeth near
Portland, Me. He entered Bowdoin College at
sixteen and graduated four years later with hon-
ors. He had paid his way through college by
teaching during the long winter vacations, and
on his graduation in 1862 he selected teaching
as his life work. Both his parents had been
teachers before him. After having charge of
Limington Academy, Maine, for one term, he
became principal of the high school in his native
town, from which he had graduated four years
before. In 1865 he left Maine and became head
of the high school in Milford, Mass. On Feb. 28,
1866, he was married to Margaretta Sarah
Brackett of Biddeford. For sixteen years (1870-
86) he was principal at the Chelsea, Mass., high
school; and for seven years (1886-93), was
headmaster of the new English High School at
Cambridge, Mass. He had been one year at the
Mechanic Arts School of Boston, when, in 1894,
he was appointed secretary of the state board of
education of Massachusetts. He was already
recognized as an educational leader, having
served as president of various teachers' asso-
ciations, and he was also in demand as a lec-
turer. He had edited Holmes Fourth Reader
(1888) and Holmes Fifth Reader (1889), and
had cooperated with John Fiske in the prepara-
tion of Civil Government in the United States
(1890) and History of the United States for
Schools (1894). He also wrote for the Congre-
gationalist, Boston, under the heading "For
Young People of All Ages."
As secretary of the state board of education
he proved himself a worthy successor of Horace
Mann. In his annual reports he constantly
pointed out the essential continuity and identity
of his own ideas and policies with those of his
predecessors. His aim was to maintain the lead-
ership which the state had already attained in
public education. To this end he worked early
and late for a system of expert supervision, for
a higher order of qualifications for teachers, and
for a clear-cut and more stringent definition of
the character of the public high school which
the towns should maintain. One of his best-
known addresses is entitled, "How far the Pub-
lic High School is a Just Charge upon the Public
Treasury" (New England Association of Col-
leges and Preparatory Schools, Oct 15, 1898).
He sought to preserve local autonomy in school
matters while insisting that the larger features
of general school policy should be determined by
the state. In this spirit he sponsored a law which