The Amherst Chirp

In 1857, Massachusetts Governor Joel Hayden of Haydenville donated funds to Amherst College for the building of a state of the goddess Sabrina. The statue was built that very same year, and weighing at a bit over three hundred pounds and standing at a height of four-and-a-half feet, it quietly sat in the flowerbed between North Dormitory and the Octagon.

The statue remained peacefully until 1860, when an Amherst student adorned the statue in clothing, which would later become a trend for students looking for a quick laugh. That same student, after being harshly reprimanded by College authorities for his offense, later struck the statue with an axe, causing that was later repaired.

The abuse of the statue continued. In 1870, after the expulsion of one of their numbers, the class of 1870 had the entire statue whitewashed. By 1884, the statue had found itself dumped on the roof of the octagon, placed on the chapel tower, and thrown into the college well.

By this time, the President Seeyle of the college had already considering seeking an end to the exploits of his students. He assigned the college janitor ‘Professor Charlie’ a task – to destroy the statue. Professor Charlie, however, fell for the beauty of the statue and, instead of destroying it, hid it under a pile of hay in his barn, where it remained for two years.

Then, in an event that is as surprising as it is unlikely, the goddess Sabrina is said to have appeared to two members of the class of 1890. It was then that the goddess announced itself to the two men and effectively began a feud that would last for a long while.

What began as a relatively simple purloin quickly developed into a conflict among classes as the class of 1889 stole the statue from the class of 1890. 1889 soon passed the statue on to the class of 1891, which resisted 1890’s repeated attempts to steal the statue back.

The tradition continued, with Sabrina being hidden in all sorts of places, including coal mines, bank vaults, and the bottom of the Connecticut River. Protected by ‘Sabrina Men’ who were also assigned to present the statue to fellow members of their class each year, the statue has been held primarily by members of even-numbered years

Sabrina made an appearance in 2005 at the class of 1980’s 25th reunion. Not in the best shape due, the statue was once again hidden away by the class.

 Sources:

Shoop, Max. Sabrina: The Goddess of Amherst College. 1910.