V"*"
 
 MEMORIES OF 
 
 YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 1845-1899 
 
 BV 
 
 TIMOTHY DWIGHT 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 
 1903
 
 Copyright, 1903, by 
 Dodd, Mead and Company 
 
 Published, May, 1903.
 
 TO THE FRIENDS 
 OF THE PRESENT TIME AND THE PAST 
 
 IN ASSOCIATION WITH WHOM 
 
 IT HAS BEEN MY HAPPY FORTUNE 
 
 TO GIVE MY SERVICE TO 
 
 YALE UNIVERSITY 
 THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED 
 
 2012391
 
 PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 THE story of the years which is presented on the 
 following pages has, like all records of personal 
 memories, its starting-point and, in large meas- 
 ure, its movement in the sphere of individual experi- 
 ence. If, as a consequence of this fact, a certain 
 prominence appears at times to be given to its author 
 which, in a volume of a different order, would not be 
 manifest, and which, had it seemed practicable at the 
 outset, he would have gladly avoided, he can only ask 
 indulgence of his readers, requesting them to turn their 
 thought, as far as may be, from himself and to center 
 it wholly upon the life of the University and the men 
 who are described. 
 
 For the graduates of Yale, whether of the earlier or 
 the later time, the writer hopes that the story may have 
 an interest because it tells somewhat of the growth and 
 progress, during the half-century just ended, of the 
 institution which they love. For others, who as friends 
 of the University are ever ready to rejoice in its well- 
 being, he trusts that the book will carry in itself a pleas- 
 ant record of the past and a happy prophecy of the 
 future; while to all, wherever they may be, who prize 
 the privilege of the higher education, its pages, if they 
 chance to read them, cannot fail, as he thinks, to bring 
 some word of encouragement that the blessings attend- 
 ant upon this privilege will hereafter be yet greater and 
 more widely extended.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I THE HOPKINS GRAMMAR SCHOOL AND ITS RECTOR . . i 
 
 II BEGINNINGS OF COLLEGE LIFE n 
 
 Til OUR EARLIEST COLLEGE TEACHERS, 1845-46 THE IN- 
 STRUCTION AND DISCIPLINE OF THAT PERIOD . . 24 
 IV PRESIDENT DAY'S RETIREMENT His CHARACTER AND 
 
 WORK, AND His ERA 39 
 
 V STUDENT LIFE AT YALE, 1845-1849 55 
 
 VI RELIGIOUS EXERCISES AND PREACHING OF THE PERIOD 
 
 COURSE OF STUDY AND DAILY STUDENT LIFE . . 76 
 VII LIFE AS GRADUATE STUDENT, AND IN THE TUTORSHIP 
 
 1849 to 1855 97 
 
 VIII THE OLD FACULTY PROFESSORS SILLIMAN AND KINGSLEY 114 
 IX THE OLD FACULTY PROFESSORS OLMSTED AND LARNED . 140 
 X THE OLD FACULTY PROFESSORS PORTER, THACHER, 
 
 HADLEY AND STANLEY 157 
 
 XI DR. WOOLSEY His INAUGURATION, AND EARLY WORK . 181 
 XII OTHER INSTRUCTORS, AND TUTORS; AND SOME MATTERS 
 
 OF COLLEGE LIFE, 1851-55 202 
 
 XIII STUDENT YEARS IN GERMANY UNIVERSITIES OF BERLIN 
 
 AND BONN, 1856-58 223 
 
 XIV YALE DIVINITY SCHOOL, AND ITS OLDER FACULTY . 251 
 XV THE DIVINITY SCHOOL ITS REBUILDING AND ITS LATER 
 
 FACULTY . 278 
 
 XVI DR. SAMUEL HARRIS, AND DR. LEONARD BACON . . 294 
 XVII DR. WOOLSEY'S ADMINISTRATION SOME MEN OF His 
 
 TIME, 1846-71 311 
 
 XVIII DR. PORTER'S PRESIDENCY SOME MEN OF His ERA . 342 
 XIX THE UNIVERSITY 1886-99 CHANGES FROM THE EARLIER 
 
 TIME . ... 369
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XX THE FACULTY PROFESSORS LOOMIS, JAMES D. DANA 
 
 AND NEWTON 384 
 
 XXI PROFESSORS WHITNEY, EATON, MARSH AND LYMAN . 401 
 XXII PROFESSORS MCLAUGHLIN, EDWARD J. PHELPS, SALIS- 
 BURY AND OTHERS 418 
 
 XXIII THE CORPORATION OF THIS PERIOD 1886-99 433 
 
 XXIV THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY 1886-99 45 
 XXV QUESTIONS OF THE FUTURE 477
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 THE OLD BRICK ROW IN 1863 . .' Frontispiece 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 HAWLEY OLMSTEAD, LL.D. . . . 8 
 
 YALE COLLEGE, IN 1845 l8 
 
 The Old President's House in the Foreground at the 
 Right of the Picture. 
 
 PRESIDENT TIMOTHY DWIGHT, 1795-1817 . . 40 
 
 PRESIDENT JEREMIAH DAY ... . . .42 
 
 PROFESSOR ELEAZAR T. FITCH .... 76 
 
 PROFESSOR CHAUNCEY A. GOODRICH ... 86 
 PROFESSOR BENJAMIN SILLIMAN . .. .114 
 
 PROFESSOR JAMES L. KINGSLEY . . .126 
 
 PROFESSOR DENISON OLMSTED . . . .140 
 
 PROFESSOR WILLIAM A. LARNED . . .152 
 
 PROFESSOR ANTHONY D. STANLEY . . .178 
 
 PRESIDENT THEODORE D. WOOLSEY . . .192 
 
 From a Portrait Painted in 1844. 
 
 PROFESSOR NATHANIEL W. TAYLOR . . .256 
 
 PROFESSOR JOSIAH W. GIBBS .... 266 
 
 OLD DIVINITY HALL . . . . .280 
 
 Erected 1836, Removed 1870. 
 
 DIVINITY SCHOOL BUILDINGS . . . . 290 
 
 Erected 1870-74. 
 
 PROFESSOR SAMUEL HARRIS .... 294 
 
 REV. DR. LEONARD BACON . . . . 300 
 
 PRESIDENT THEODORE D. WOOLSEY . . . 312 
 
 REV. WYLLYS WARNER . . . . . 314 
 
 EDWARD C. IIERRICK . . ' . . .316 
 
 HENRY C. KINGSLEY . . . . ' , 322
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 REV. DR. JOEL HAWES . * . . . 326 
 
 PRESIDENT NOAH PORTER . . . 342 
 
 PROFESSOR THOMAS A. THACHER ... . 352 
 
 PROFESSOR JAMES HADLEY . . . -354 
 
 PROFESSOR LEWIS R. PACKARD . . . 356 
 
 PROFESSOR WILLIAM A. NORTON . . . 358 
 
 PRESIDENT TIMOTHY DWIGHT . . . . 370 
 
 PROFESSOR ELIAS LOOMIS . . . .384 
 
 PROFESSOR JAMES D. DANA . . . . 392 
 
 PROFESSOR HUBERT A. NEWTON . . . 396 
 
 PROFESSOR WILLIAM D. WHITNEY . . . 402 
 PROFESSOR DANIEL C. EATON .... 408 
 
 PROFESSOR OTHNIEL C. MARSH . . .410 
 
 PROFESSOR CHESTER S. LYMAN . . -414 
 
 PROFESSOR EDWARD J. PHELPS . . . 424 
 
 PROFESSOR EDWARD E. SALISBURY . . .428 
 
 REV. DR. NATHANIEL J. BURTON . . . 434 
 HON. WILLIAM M. EVARTS .... 442 
 
 OSBORN HALL AND UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS . 460 
 
 View from the Corner of Chapel and College Streets. 
 VANDERBILT HALL ..... 462 
 
 Erected 1894. 
 YALE GYMNASIUM 4^4 
 
 Erected 1891-92. 
 WINCHESTER HALL 468 
 
 Erected 1892. 
 CHITTENDEN LIBRARY ..... 474 
 
 Erected 1888. 
 WELCH HALL ....... 480 
 
 Erected 1891. 
 PHELPS HALL . . . . . . 484 
 
 Erected 1896. 
 
 Pictures of a few of the buildings erected between 1887 and 1899 
 are inserted as indicating the changes in the later years.
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE 
 
 AND MEN 
 
 The Hopkins Grammar School and Its Rector 
 
 ON the sixteenth of August, 1845, m company 
 with twelve or fifteen of my associates, who 
 had been for a considerable period in a course 
 of study, I left the Hopkins Grammar School, in New 
 Haven, with the purpose of presenting myself for ex- 
 amination for entrance into the Freshman class of Yale 
 College. The Hopkins School is among the oldest of its 
 order in the country, having been founded in 1660. Its 
 history has been an honorable one, and the list of its 
 teachers and students includes a large number of men 
 who have rendered valuable service in the Church and 
 the State. But perhaps the most interesting fact connect- 
 ed with it is its very close relation to the University. Not 
 only has it always been a preparatory school in which 
 young scholars have received the education fitting them 
 for the college years, but in a certain sense it may be 
 properly regarded as the beginning of the College itself. 
 It is well known that the most prominent leaders in 
 the New Haven Colony, even from the early days after 
 the settlement, had the earnest desire to establish within 
 its limits a collegiate institution. Their definitely 
 formed purpose answered to their desire, and they
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 waited only for the opening of the possibility of accom- 
 plishing that for which they hoped. The time of this 
 possibility seemed to have arrived when it was learned 
 that Gov. Edward Hopkins, the second Governor of the 
 Connecticut Colony, who died in London in 1657, had 
 made by his will a bequest sufficient in amount, as it was 
 thought, for the first foundation of the school which 
 should become a college. Action was taken accord- 
 ingly, and the school began its life. The anticipations 
 of the founders failed, indeed, to be realized, because of 
 special disappointing circumstances, and of difficulties 
 which need not be recounted here. But the movement 
 was then made, which renewed the courage and strength- 
 ened the purpose of the men of the era, and which re- 
 sulted, forty years later, in the establishment of the 
 higher institution. 
 
 It will not be regarded as inappropriate, I trust, if I 
 begin my record of my memories with an allusion to the 
 Hopkins School, and with a few words respecting the 
 teacher who, from 1839 to 1849, carried forward its 
 work of instruction and devoted himself to the interests 
 of its pupils. We who were under his care during some 
 of those years seemed to be in the true line of the Yale 
 inheritance. The old principal of the school to whom 
 I refer, Hawley Olmstead old he then appeared to our 
 boyish thought, though he could not have been more 
 than about fifty years of age had been engaged in the 
 work of instruction ever since his graduation from the 
 college, in 1816. He was a man of the earlier type, 
 wholly given to his professional duty, and full of a quiet 
 yet earnest enthusiasm for it. He believed most thor- 
 oughly in the advanced school education of the time 
 that education the end and aim of which were to fit the 
 youth, who was privileged to enjoy its opportunities, for 
 the collegiate studies as then arranged and prescribed. 
 Possibly he had faith in the usefulness of some other
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 sorts of mental training, in cases where boys were intend- 
 ing to follow another kind of life. But he had little 
 interest in such training. It was of a lower order, and 
 teachers of a different class might care for and direct it. 
 For him the college, together with that to which its 
 course of instruction was designed to lead, was all in all. 
 The truly educated man must be a college graduate. 
 The youth who desired to become such a man must, of 
 necessity, pass through what was known as the classical 
 course, and must take this as opening the way to all the 
 higher spheres of life. To prepare boys for college was, 
 accordingly, in his view, the one, sole, all-sufficient, all- 
 satisfying work for a schoolmaster of the first rank. 
 No more important and no more honorable work could 
 offer itself as a lifelong employment for any man, for 
 it was the laying of the foundation on which everything 
 pertaining to the future must rest. 
 
 With reference to this preparation, the matter of 
 single and supreme moment in the case of any individual 
 youth was, as he felt, that it should be carried forward 
 to completeness, in accordance with the ideal which had 
 been establishing itself in his own mind during the thirty 
 years of his past professional career. This idea was 
 what was ever uppermost in his thought. The product 
 of the school manufactory must reach the perfect stand- 
 ard of the goods to be manufactured. The excellent 
 man had, also, a sentiment of loyalty as related to the 
 institution of which he was the head, and in connection 
 with it he had the desire that every pupil whom he sent 
 forth to the ordeal of the college examination and the 
 college life should prove himself, by a successful meet- 
 ing of the tests, an honor to the school and its teacher. 
 This sentiment, however, and the desire which accom- 
 panied it, were altogether secondary to the ideal that 
 has been mentioned. No unworthy pride was mingled 
 with his feeling. There was nev^er any wish on his
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 part for reputation, or for public confidence or esteem, 
 other than that which should come to him as the result 
 of the genuine work which had been done for and by 
 his students. 
 
 With such ideas and ideals in his mind, it was not 
 strange that the question of time how much of it might 
 be required for the attainment of the true fitness be- 
 came to his thought, even more and more as the years 
 moved onward, one of comparatively little significance. 
 The impatient boy, as he was growing up to youth and 
 manhood, might easily view the matter in quite another 
 light. The impatient parents, over-confident with ref- 
 erence to their son's powers and attainments, might, in 
 many cases, sympathize with the boyish feeling. But 
 all this is the result so the worthy principal said to 
 himself and to them of a want of true understanding. 
 The boy, he said, is at the beginning. He cannot appre- 
 ciate what he will see and feel a few years later, and will 
 see yet more distinctly and impressively when many 
 years have passed. On some occasion long after this 
 time, the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher is said to have re- 
 marked to a friend: "Hindsight is better than fore- 
 sight." The teacher of 1845, w h looked back over 
 his own experience even to 1 8 1 6, certainly had abundant 
 opportunity of "hindsight," which could also contribute 
 its aid to his foresight. The backward look included 
 in its survey a sufficiency of examples within his own 
 experience which might be used effectively to the end 
 of supporting every argument that he could desire to 
 present, or of meeting every possible objection that could 
 be urged, whether by parents or children. 
 
 Thus he was ready for each and every case. How 
 distinctly I recall the difference of opinion between him 
 and myself, near the end of the school year 1844, as 
 to the advisability of my entrance upon the college course 
 at that time. I had had the fixed purpose of offering
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 myself as 3 candidate for such entrance then, and all my 
 desires were to this end, My mother and father had, 
 also, the same desire and purpose on my behalf, and no 
 thought of any other plan had been in our minds. But 
 the good Dominie, as we used to call him about three 
 weeks before the school year was to close without my 
 knowledge presented himself to my father for a conver- 
 sation with reference to his son. "My dear sir," he 
 said in substance, "your boy can undoubtedly pass the 
 college examinations at this time. He can, without 
 question, maintain a good standing as a scholar in the 
 college years. But I want those years to do all for him 
 that is within their possibility, and for this end he is 
 not yet as fully prepared as he ought to be. I shall feel, 
 if he enters the college now, that I have not done my 
 full work for him, and that he has not done his full 
 work for himself. His course will not be what it ought 
 to be. He needs a year more to realize my ideal for 
 him. I beg you, for his own sake, to let him remain 
 with me for the additional year." 
 
 My parents, in this regard, were what all intelligent 
 parents ought to be. They did not decide the question 
 for me, and then force .me by authority to accept their 
 judgment. They laid before me what the good man had 
 said to them, and we considered together his views and 
 his advice. The result was though greatly to the dis- 
 appointment, at the time, of what had been my long- 
 cherished hopes that we all determined to be guided 
 by his counsel. I continued in the school for the addi- 
 tional year in question, and at its close I went forth 
 with the Dominie's most hearty benediction, and, I may 
 add, with a satisfaction in his decision and my own 
 which has never left my mind from that now far-distant 
 day to the present time. 
 
 I give this simple story of my personal experience 
 merely as an illustration of my early teacher's whole-
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 souled devotion to his work, and of his thought of school 
 and college education in their relation to each other. 
 He was an enthusiast in all this matter. He was a 
 schoolmaster, in the highest and best sense of the word, 
 and his vision was wide and large within his own sphere 
 of education. The late Dr. Leonard Bacon, whose apt- 
 ness of phraseology was only equaled by his peculiar 
 and remarkable humor, was wont to say: "Mr. Olm- 
 stead seems to think that a man ought to spend one half 
 of his life in getting ready for college, and the other half 
 in going through college." This extravagant expres- 
 sion was descriptive of the man. But his enthusiasm 
 for his work, the singular character of which made the 
 descriptive remark possible, was a sort of enthusiasm 
 in which teachers everywhere, and in all ages, may most 
 fitly pray with earnestness to have a share. It carried 
 with it a lifetime blessing for every open-minded and 
 open-hearted pupil who had the privilege of sitting 
 under his instruction. 
 
 The good man was an excellent teacher and an excel- 
 lent disciplinarian. Intelligence and wisdom directed 
 his efforts in both lines of his work. The characteristics 
 of the martinet were entirely foreign to his nature. As 
 related to the matter of discipline, he had a full under- 
 standing of the difference between what was essential 
 and what was non-essential. Estimating the two at 
 their proper worth, he insisted on the one and was leni- 
 ent with respect to the other. To tie himself to a mi- 
 nutely arranged system, or to bind his own actions, or 
 those of his pupils, by rules which could not be modified, 
 or, if need were, disregarded, was contradictory to his 
 whole theory of working. Rules should be, he thought, 
 as few as possible, and should be applied or set aside 
 according to the manifest demands of particular cases. 
 The dread of the possible influence of disregarding them 
 for the moment, which so often lays hold of teachers as 
 6
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 well as other men in official positions, and which rests 
 as a heavy burden not only upon themselves, but those 
 who are responsible to them, had no disturbing force 
 for him. It found no entrance for itself into his mind. 
 "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the 
 Sabbath," was a word which, in the widest and most far- 
 reaching application of its fundamental principle beyond 
 its own limits, he understood and followed. He was a 
 lover of boys, and he knew well how to govern boys. 
 
 All his pupils now living who remember the old days 
 will recall to mind how skillfully he guided and man- 
 aged them. He had no law, for example so essential 
 in the view of many teachers that there should be no 
 whispering among the boys in the school-room during 
 the school hours. But, when any circle of boys passed 
 beyond due limits in this matter, his eye would be quickly 
 upon them. After a little, he would quietly request one 
 of them the one whom he saw to be the leader or chief 
 offender to come to his desk, and in an undertone, 
 unheard by others, would say: " I notice, William [or 
 John, or whoever it might be], that there is, and has 
 been of late, an excess of whispering in your corner of 
 the room. You will, no doubt, realize, as I speak of it, 
 that it tends somewhat to disorder and to prevent others 
 from giving their attention to their studies. I wish you 
 would use your influence with those who sit near you to 
 put a stop to this excess." 
 
 All was so kindly, so shrewdly intelligent, so full of 
 evidence to the boy's mind that the teacher knew him to 
 be the most active whisperer, and yet so adapted to put 
 him on his honor, that he became the master's man at 
 once, and the whispering circle was made orderly for the 
 future. There was no conflict, no imperiousness, no 
 show of authority for its own sake, no threatening of 
 dire punishment. The boys were won by wisdom, by 
 supreme tact, by an appeal to their better nature, by the
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 exercise of that rare gift, whose value is inestimable 
 common sense. So it was everywhere, in all his govern- 
 ment and discipline. 
 
 So it was also according to the measure of possi- 
 bility in his methods and work of instruction. The 
 custom, which prevailed in our colleges soon after this 
 period, of requiring students to memorize their Latin 
 grammars, so that they could repeat the pages without 
 questions even to the extent of giving accurately all the 
 minute exceptions in prosody would have been abhor- 
 rent to his thought and feeling; as it ought to have been, 
 but was not, to those who followed him. He was a 
 generous-minded teacher. He knew the necessity of 
 grammar as related to language, but he realized the 
 order of progress and the subordination of the lower to 
 the higher. It was an era, indeed, when the idea was 
 so widespread and all-controlling that the teacher's work 
 was, as some one has expressed it, to bring Cicero into 
 adjustment with Andrews and Stoddard's Grammar, 
 that no man, however free or gifted, could boldly make 
 it his great effort to put Andrews and Stoddard in accord 
 with Cicero. But within the limitations of the time 
 he elevated the mind of his pupil, and prepared him to 
 be a free man in scholarship, and to be fit for the work 
 of educated life. He was no more of a martinet as a 
 teacher than he was as a disciplinarian. 
 
 His personality was somewhat striking, and rather 
 attractive than otherwise. He was of good, though 
 moderate height, and was fleshy even to corpulence, 
 weighing probably from two hundred to two hundred 
 and twenty pounds. He had a large head, which gave 
 the impression of intelligence and thoughtfulness. His 
 face was unusually florid, while his hands were exceed- 
 ingly white and delicate, and the boys were wont to think 
 that his one harmless and pleasant vanity was exhibited 
 in the frequent indeed, it seemed almost constant 
 8
 
 HAWLEY OLMSTEAD
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 gentle movement of his hands across his face, ever bring- 
 ing out the contrast. His hair and whiskers, which were 
 always close-cut, were perfectly white, so that he seemed 
 older, probably, to all who met him than he really was. 
 But, however, this may have been to the boys' minds, 
 in that day even more truly if possible than at present, 
 the gray-haired man of fifty appeared to be advanced 
 beyond any reasonable counting of years. They called 
 him the "Old Dominie," and the former of the two 
 words had for them as much emphasis and truth as the 
 latter. They all loved and honored him, and the title 
 which they gave him was one of sincere affection and 
 regard. 
 
 After a few years more of further service, he retired 
 from his work, passing his office in the school into the 
 hands of his son. In the year 1862, the college con- 
 ferred upon him, in view of his eminent and long-con- 
 tinued service in the cause of education, the degree of 
 Doctor of Laws= an honor which all who knew him 
 may well have felt to be worthily bestowed. When 
 he reached the age of seventy, he said to a friend, who 
 congratulated him with birthday greetings and with best 
 wishes for future years: "I have come now to the 
 limit of threescore and ten. Henceforth I shall regard 
 myself as a minute man, holding myself ready at a 
 moment's warning." Time passed on and health con- 
 tinued until, at seventy-five, the prophetic word, as it 
 almost seemed, was fulfilled. A little circle of gentle- 
 men, of advanced age and retired from active service, 
 who were wont to meet together weekly for conversation 
 and discussion, had assembled, on a December day in 
 1868, at his house, and in his turn he was taking part in 
 the friendly debate, when suddenly the summons came, 
 and in a moment his spirit had entered within the veil. 
 
 He was a member of the last college class which 
 graduated under the administration of the first President
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 Dwight, and was its valedictorian. It is pleasant to 
 me to place these few words in commemoration of him 
 on these pages, and to see in what he did for me a 
 uniting link, as it were, between myself and the life and 
 influence of that honored ancestor.
 
 II 
 
 Beginnings of College Life 
 
 THE college entrance examinations, at that time, 
 were held on the days immediately preceding 
 Commencement, and in the galleries of the 
 Chapel of the period. This building was used for the 
 religious services of the institution from the date of its 
 erection, in 1824, until the Battell Chapel was com- 
 pleted, in 1876. From that time onward until 1896, 
 when it was taken down, it was commonly called, in dis- 
 tinction from the more recent and larger edifice, the Old 
 Chapel. By this name it was known to most of the 
 graduates of the last quarter of the century. To the 
 students of to-day it is, like South College or the Athe- 
 naeum, a thing altogether of the past. What the build- 
 ing was, in its interior, in 1845, ' IS beyond the recollec- 
 tion of the larger portion of the living graduates. The 
 pulpit w r as of the old-fashioned order, raised far above 
 the pews and almost on a level with the galleries. The 
 great pillars, which supported the galleries and the 
 ceiling, were of so formidable a character that each one 
 shut out the preacher from the view of several persons 
 whose seats happened to be in its vicinity. The seats 
 themselves had straight backs, with a projecting molding 
 at the top projecting not only backwards, but forwards 
 so as to strike the occupants between the shoulders; a 
 device which some of the students, no doubt, thought 
 was intended to produce wakefulness, but which was not 
 always successful in effecting its purpose. At the sides 
 of the pulpit, and also near the middle of the side walls 
 of the building, there were elevated seats or boxes
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 those near the pulpit being almost on a level with the 
 pulpit itself which were assigned to the younger offi- 
 cers or tutors, and from which they could take a wide 
 observation of the student audience. The building was 
 uniformly cold in winter and hot in summer, with no 
 provision for ventilation. It would be regarded as for- 
 bidding, not to say dreary, by the more luxurious youth 
 of the present generation. Even to the young men of 
 that era an era which some of the graduates, who think 
 they can recall and describe it, characterize as one of 
 " plain living and high thinking " it was hardly at- 
 tractive or winsome. 
 
 I doubt whether " plain living," in any line in which 
 the plainness is extreme, is ever as fully satisfying even 
 to a " high thinker " in his youth, as it sometimes seems 
 to him to have been when he looks back from the stand- 
 point of his later age, and especially when he is dis- 
 coursing about his own contemporaries in their earlier 
 days, as contrasted with his son's in theirs. My excellent 
 father, as I remember, used to animadvert upon, and in 
 a sort of self-comforting way grieve over, the degeneracy 
 of the times when I was a young man, as compared with 
 those when he was a youth. But I was wont to try to 
 encourage him with the consolatory thought that, how- 
 ever much things had changed for the worse between his 
 early years and his later ones, they were doubtless much 
 better in his later years than they would be in mine. 
 But somehow he was not consoled. As for myself, the 
 result was that I was led to question in my own mind 
 whether there was quite as much high thinking in the 
 old time as there was plain living and whether what 
 there was of the former was so directly the result of the 
 latter as it is sometimes supposed to have been. 
 
 All this, however, is leading us away from the 
 entrance examinations. In company with my associates 
 I found my place in the Old Chapel gallery, and waited
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 anxiously for the tutors and processors. They presented 
 themselves in due season not one or two only, with 
 unmoved countenance, laying before me printed ques- 
 tions to be answered in writing, and to be gathered up 
 silently and fatefully after an hour's work on my part; 
 and this to be repeated for two long days or more 
 but all of them in succession, each having his inquiries 
 in his own department to offer me orally, and each put- 
 ting himself by the living voice into some personal 
 connection with me as an individual. It was an ordeal. 
 It was a serious hour. But, when we separated, we had 
 spoken with each other and knew something about each 
 other. I was not a mere number, and the man whom 
 I had met was not a mere reader of a paper, with the 
 power of marking according to a certain standard his 
 own standard what he read. 
 
 The old system could hardly be re-established now, 
 even if its restoration were desirable. There were by no 
 means so many subjects, in those days, of which the 
 student's knowledge must be tested. There were, also, 
 not more than one-fourth, or one-fifth, as many candi- 
 dates presenting themselves for the examinations. 
 Moreover, neither the teachers nor the pupils had come 
 under the influence of what are now styled " modern 
 methods; " and the science of pedagogy, at present com- 
 ing into so much prominence in the educational sphere, 
 was a thing, as it were, wholly of the future. One could, 
 of course, do many things in such an unsystematic age, 
 which would disturb the sensitive mind in this later era, 
 when conventions of teachers and essays of authorities 
 have discussed philosophically the intellect of the child 
 and the youth, and have reached certain seemingly per- 
 manent conclusions which are, however, to be sub- 
 mitted for final adjustment to the next annual conven- 
 tion. But whether it be possible, or not, to return to 
 the old order of things, there was, at least, the one 
 
 13
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 happy circumstance connected with it to which allusion 
 has been made. The examiners and examined met each 
 other as living persons, and the former were able to get 
 some more adequate impression of the personality and 
 powers of the latter than it is possible to gain from the 
 mere reading of written answers to printed questions. 
 We boys of 1845 na cl this good fortune, if we had no 
 other. I am glad in this view of the matter that I 
 was one of them. 
 
 The College Catalogue for that year had on one of 
 its pages the following statement: " Candidates for ad- 
 mission to the Freshman Class are examined in Cicero's 
 Select Orations, the whole of Virgil, Sallust, Jacobs', 
 Colton's, or Felton's Greek Reader, the first three books 
 of Xenophon's Anabasis, Andrews and Stoddard's Latin 
 Grammar, Goodrich's or Sophocles' Greek Grammar, 
 Andrews' Latin Exercises, Arithmetic, English Gram- 
 mar, and Geography; and hereafter, they will be ex- 
 amined also in the part of Day's Algebra preceding 
 Quadratic Equations." To this paragraph a note was 
 added, as follows: 
 
 " The deficiency of most candidates for admission, 
 in the Latin and Greek Grammars, Latin Prosody and 
 Composition, Geography, and the theoretical part of 
 Arithmetic, makes it necessary to remark, that the ex- 
 amination in these subjects will be strict and compre- 
 hensive." 
 
 This note, as I record it, brings to my mind certain 
 pleasant memories and thoughts; among the thoughts, 
 these: that arithmetic is now remanded wholly to the 
 school years and examinations; and that Latin composi- 
 tion is not so formidable a matter as it once was, and 
 among the memories, this: that, after I became a mem- 
 ber of the Faculty, at a meeting of that body on one 
 occasion the elder Professor Silliman, who always ex- 
 amined the candidates in geography, complained with 
 
 14
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 much emphasis of the deficiency of knowledge on their 
 part, and by way of illustrative example, said: " I was 
 asking one of them, 'Who founded St. Petersburg?' 
 and he answered, ' St. Peter.' " It occurred to me, at 
 the time, that neither the founder of the city nor the 
 saint belonged within the sphere of geography; and the 
 Freshman candidate might have given the professor this 
 answer. 
 
 But, apart from the appended note, an oral examina- 
 tion on the subjects specified in the old catalogue, and 
 on these subjects only the part of Day's Algebra pre- 
 ceding Quadratic Equations being beyond the present 
 requirements, and simply threatened for the future 
 would, no doubt, if proposed to the candidate of to-day, 
 seem a somewhat mild and tame affair. It should be 
 remembered, however, that the curriculum of the schools 
 was not then what it now is, and that the sphere of 
 college studies was much more limited, both with refer- 
 ence to departments of study and to individual studies. 
 We who were then candidates for entrance trembled, as 
 the young applicant now does for himself, lest we might 
 not be able to command at the moment what, in other 
 more favored hours, we had known. The scene, also, 
 was as strange and solemn to us, as it is to the boy of 
 this later time. The professors and tutors were almost, 
 if not quite, as impressive and even appalling; with 
 somewhat, as we thought, of the character of the cloud- 
 compelling Zeus. The possibility and danger of being 
 conditioned heavily, or of meeting the yet more terrible 
 fate of hopeless rejection, were as present and constant 
 in our thoughts throughout the ordeal. The suspense 
 and the nervous strain, which continued until the an- 
 nouncement of the final decision came, were as great. 
 We were more cheerful when the hours were ended 
 than we were when they began that is to say, those 
 of us were so, to whom the announcement of success was 
 
 15
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 made at the end, and in whose minds the pleasing con- 
 sciousness arose that we were actually members of the 
 class of 1 849. I was myself one of these fortunate ones. 
 The good Dominie's work for me had had its appro- 
 priate and promised result. Possibly, the old grand- 
 father's gift to me in the line of inheritance had wrought 
 in harmony with the dominie's efforts. Possibly, I had 
 had some part in the matter myself. It was of little 
 moment to me then, how it had come to pass. The one, 
 great, solid fact was, that I was no longer a candidate, 
 but a Freshman; and I was satisfied. I seemed to my- 
 self older and stronger than ever before with the 
 first great success secured with the future opening 
 brightly in its hope and promise. 
 
 This is a common and familiar story answering to 
 the experience of how many since that earlier time 
 but its significance is unfolded more and more fully as 
 we pass onward through our life. I am still learning 
 what it had within itself for me. 
 
 The summer vacation, at that period, continued for 
 only six weeks Commencement Day being the third 
 Thursday of August, and the autumn term beginning 
 about the twenty-eighth of September. It was not then 
 regarded as necessary for the health of young people 
 that they should finish their yearly studies before the hot 
 weather arrived, or to that of older persons, that they 
 should spend the warm season among the hills or by the 
 seaside. Indeed, for the ordinary citizen, vacations were 
 not looked upon as an essential part of life. They were, 
 in a certain measure, the privilege of boys and of their 
 teachers the teachers having the enjoyment granted 
 them because it was deemed needful that the boys should 
 have it. Why it was universally considered so necessary 
 for the boys, we young fellows never put ourselves to 
 the task of finding out. Possibly, the task might have 
 16
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 been fruitless, if it had been undertaken. We accepted 
 the fact, and, raising no troublesome inquiries, we 
 felicitated ourselves on the good fortune which the world 
 had consented to give us. It is half a century since then 
 and I may say, in passing, that I have in all the years 
 followed the wise course of my boyhood and have ever 
 avoided the question which I then put aside adopting 
 in this regard the comforting theory that " what is, is 
 right, and what is right is best." My opinion is, how- 
 ever, though I would not contend for it in argument, 
 that some gentle saint of wide-reaching influence in a 
 far distant age some saint whose saintliness manifested 
 itself largely (as saintliness always should) in tender- 
 hearted affection for boys and girls impressed upon 
 the rest of the saintly company of his era the force of 
 the Old Testament words, " Much study is a weariness 
 to the flesh; " and so the resting-time was made to fol- 
 low the working-time. If this be the true view of the 
 matter, he was a blessed saint, worthy of an honorable 
 place in the sacred catalogue; and like many of his fel- 
 lows, he wrought better even than he knew, for what 
 he gave to the young scholars proved to be a yet greater 
 gift to the old teachers. The scholar fancies, in his boy- 
 hood years, that he knows to the utmost the blessing of 
 vacation time. But we may pity his ignorance. It is 
 the teacher who has the full understanding, and he is the 
 true and appreciative worshiper of the saint. And now, 
 in the new age, the saint's gift is going out to all, both 
 young and old, and life is growing richer and happier, 
 as work and play move on together after a reasonable 
 manner. 
 
 On a beautiful September day, late in the month, the 
 resting season came to its end, and the college community 
 assembled for the new academic year. To us of the 
 entering class everything was strange and everything 
 
 17
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 was full of interest. We were ourselves strangers to 
 one another, but we discovered ourselves to be objects 
 of special thought on the part of the rest of the student 
 body. It is scarcely necessary, however, to mention this. 
 It will be understood of itself. Our first college exer- 
 cise, which we were called to attend, was morning 
 prayers in the Chapel then followed, at appointed 
 hours, the three regular recitations in Greek, Latin, and 
 Mathematics and the day closed with evening prayers. 
 Our Freshman year fell within the period of the admin- 
 istration of President Day. Until the end of his official 
 term, the hour for morning prayers in the autumn and 
 winter sessions was six o'clock, and in the summer it was 
 five o'clock. Dr. Woolsey, on his accession to the Presi- 
 dency at the beginning of our Sophomore year, made the 
 time half an hour later, and this arrangement continued 
 until 1857 or 1858. The first recitation of the day 
 followed immediately after prayers, and the breakfast 
 hour followed this. I have spoken of the Old Chapel 
 as dreary taking the standpoint of the student of to- 
 day. On a winter's morning, when we had been roused 
 from the sweet slumber of boyhood by the sharp tones 
 of the college bell or the sharper ring of the alarm-clock 
 in our rooms, and had made our way at six o'clock, per- 
 chance through a heavy snowstorm, to the Chapel doors, 
 it seemed dreary even to our less luxurious tastes, and 
 to our eyes less accustomed to the beauty of architecture. 
 The Seniors, indeed, were there; or some of them, 
 for, as they had no early morning recitation in that 
 year, and as the kindly President was lenient in the 
 matter of excuses, they indulged themselves in absences 
 to a considerable extent. The Seniors were there; and 
 I may say on their behalf that, though I have seen more 
 than fifty classes since that time, I have never looked 
 upon so impressive and dignified a body of men as they 
 then seemed to me to be. The tutors were there also, 
 18
 
 1-1 -5 
 
 1-1 13 
 
 to 2 
 9 R 
 3. 1 
 
 SO 
 So 
 
 w 
 >-j
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 all of them, and the venerable President likewise. How 
 venerable he looked almost as if his namesake Jere- 
 miah, the Prophet of the Old Testament, had returned 
 to earth to offer his prayer and give his benediction in 
 paternal love for the young students of the present. But 
 it was more than the Seniors, or the tutors, or the Presi- 
 dent himself could do, to make the building seem cheer- 
 ful, or attractive, or even solemn, unless with the solemn- 
 ity of a winter wilderness. There was no organ in the 
 building, and, at the morning service, no singing. One 
 of the tutors read a passage from the Scriptures, and 
 the President offered prayer. The Freshmen had their 
 seats assigned them in the pews in the rear of the Seniors 
 and Juniors the Seniors occupying the front portion of 
 the middle aisle, and the Juniors one of the side aisles. 
 Immediately upon the close of the service, the Freshmen 
 were expected to leave the building, without waiting for 
 any of the officers. The President slowly descended the 
 pulpit stairs, and passing down the center aisle, with 
 measured step and the dignity characteristic of the 
 earlier generation, he bowed to the Seniors, and they 
 respectfully returned his salutation, according to the 
 custom which had its origin in the previous century, and 
 which still continues with the hearty approval of all Yale 
 men. 
 
 The President had his residence on the college 
 grounds, just southward of the present Battell Chapel. 
 He was methodical and punctual by nature, as well as by 
 long-continued practice. He retired every night at nine 
 o'clock, and rose before six in the morning. Like most 
 New England men who were born as early as 1773, he 
 deemed the habit of early rising essential to the best use 
 of life's powers, and to the complete fulfillment of life's 
 duties. Like most of his contemporaries, also, he 
 thought that the best and, indeed, the only way of 
 establishing this habit for the lifetime was to compel the 
 
 19
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 growing boy, by rules and penalties, to rise at six or five 
 o'clock. He had, moreover, the confidence common to 
 his contemporaries, that, if the boy was forcibly sub- 
 jected to this training in his boyhood, he would continue 
 the habit ever afterwards. 
 
 President Day was regarded by all his older asso- 
 ciates in the Faculty as one of the wisest men that ever 
 lived. So thoroughly established was this opinion re- 
 specting him that it was passed over to the next genera- 
 tion, and with such force and emphasis that the sugges- 
 tion of what he thought came to be considered, often- 
 times, a sufficient settlement of questions in dispute. I 
 remember having a discussion one day in the college 
 treasurer's office, some twenty-five years after my gradu- 
 ation and when the good man had passed away from the 
 world, on the comparative value of corner lots in a city 
 and lots not thus situated. There was an exchange of 
 views for a time. Arguments were presented on both 
 sides, and the conversation became quite animated. But, 
 suddenly, my friend, who was opposing my view, 
 abruptly closed the talk, as if nothing further could be 
 urged by me or any one, with the words: " President 
 Day regarded the corner lot as the less valuable of the 
 two." I shall never forget the impression of that hour. 
 I felt that there was a difference between the President 
 and myself and that a new age was beginning. 
 
 The spirit of the new age was not limited, however, 
 in its manifestation of itself, to the matter of corner 
 lots. It stirred the thought and life within me and I 
 think I may speak of my classmates as being like my- 
 self in this regard with reference to the matter of early 
 rising, and the opinions of the time respecting it. The 
 plan and theory had worked admirably in the case of the 
 President. The rules of earlier life had wrought for 
 him what were regarded as their predestined and natu- 
 ral results. The same thing had been true of many
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 other graduates of the college in the bygone years. But 
 for us boys of the middle of the nineteenth century, how 
 was it? Somehow, we were different from the fathers 
 and grandfathers, whom we saw, or of whom we heard. 
 They lamented the difference those of them who 
 talked with us. We lamented it also, sometimes, at the 
 early morning hour. But the system and discipline, 
 which had been so good in the past, did not exhibit their 
 excellent results in our experience. I fear that in the 
 case of most of our number the habit, forced on us for 
 our well-being in the college years, lost its hold upon the 
 life when we became masters of ourselves. 
 
 Those recitations before breakfast showed, perhaps, 
 more of the influence of the early rising, than the habit- 
 forming tendency in the individual student did. The 
 recitation rooms for the Freshmen were located in the 
 Athenaeum, which stood just south of South Middle 
 College. If the Chapel was dreary before sunrise on a 
 winter day, these rooms were yet more so. They were 
 not cold, however, as the Chapel often was. They were 
 occupied, as study apartments and living rooms, by three 
 or four of the students of limited means, to whom the 
 charges for rent were remitted as a compensation for the 
 care which they gave to them. These students kept the 
 fires in the Olmsted's stoves the common heating ap- 
 paratus of the time vigorously burning; and, as they 
 cooked their food in the rooms, the heat and the odors 
 were equally impressive to the classmates who entered 
 the doors at the recitation hours. An instructor's desk, 
 or tutor's box as it was called, was in one of the corners 
 of each of the rooms, and the seats for the students were 
 oak boards, painted white, extending along the walls 
 which furnished the only back against which one could 
 lean. The center of each room was vacant, except in 
 certain cases, where three or four chairs, or one or two 
 extra benches, were found necessary because the numbers 
 
 21
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 were so large that all could not otherwise be provided 
 for. 
 
 In these rooms we began to translate Livy, and the 
 Odyssey of Homer, and to form the acquaintance of 
 Day's Algebra. We translated the passages assigned us. 
 We answered, according to our ability, the mathematical 
 or other questions that were put to us by the instructors. 
 It was useful work. It was work which had a tendency 
 to strengthen our minds. It had its bearing on the fu- 
 ture. But it was not very stimulating, or calculated 
 greatly to awaken enthusiasm. It limited itself to the 
 means, if I may so say, instead of reaching out towards 
 the end. So it appears to us now, as we look backward. 
 .The memorizing of rules and the solving of problems 
 had the largest place for themselves even, as it were, 
 to the exclusion of everything else. The vocabulary of 
 an ancient language, or the element in mathematics 
 which makes the study interesting and attractive the 
 things that render knowledge abiding for the future 
 years had comparatively little attention. W T hat was 
 called mental discipline was the one end in view the 
 matter of all importance in the minds of educators, as 
 well as in the system which they believed in, and to the 
 full development of which they devoted themselves. 
 
 I would not unduly blame the system or the teachers. 
 The learned world had established the one, and had 
 summoned the others to work in accordance with it. 
 Moreover, the two together did us good. Those among 
 us who yielded themselves to the best influence, and 
 faithfully fulfilled the duties imposed upon them, grew 
 strong and vigorous in their intellectual powers. They 
 gained somewhat of a well-rounded education. They 
 secured the discipline of mind which prepared them for 
 whatever they might be called to do in subsequent years. 
 They fitted themselves to be the men of our generation. 
 It was no weak, second-rate, half-useless education, that
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 was offered us. If pedagogical science and systems or 
 endlessly discussed methods, or the bringing up of the 
 youth from his earliest childhood under the hourly ap- 
 plication of philosophically devised and adjusted rules, 
 reaching into all minuteness, can give better results, the 
 men of the next half century will be fortunate indeed. 
 I would not blame the old system unduly, or reproach 
 the men who wrought under it. But it, and they as in- 
 fluenced by it, had their weaknesses. The work required 
 and performed was not rendered attractive and inspiring 
 in the measure which could have been desired. It was, 
 if the comparison may be allowed, too much like the old 
 recitation rooms or the old buildings in their contrast 
 with those of the more recent time. The system was 
 too exclusively devoted to mind-building. It was pro- 
 portionately careless respecting culture. Of course, in 
 those old Freshman recitation rooms and in all Fresh- 
 man recitation rooms in any era mind-building is the 
 first thing to be thought of and aimed at. It is, in the 
 comprehensive sense of the word, the fundamental and 
 essential, the all-important and final thing, to be kept in 
 view in all the educational years. But the mind can be 
 built out, as well as built up. It can be made rich, as 
 truly as it can be made strong. It can be awakened to 
 enthusiasm, and not merely moved to earnest and heroic 
 effort. And the beginnings of inspiration and enthusi- 
 asm can be cared for in the early beginnings of the 
 work.
 
 Ill 
 
 Our Earliest College Teachers, 1845-46 The Instruc- 
 tion and Discipline of that Period 
 
 THE Faculty of the Academical Department, at 
 that time the Scientific Department was not 
 yet established consisted of the President, six 
 professors, one assistant professor, and seven tutors. 
 The Freshman class was placed under the charge of 
 the younger officers, and, until about the time of our 
 entrance upon the course of study, there were no young 
 officers except the tutors. In the summer of 1845, Mr. 
 Thomas A. Thacher, who had, after four years of ac- 
 ceptable service in a tutorship, been appointed, in 1842, 
 an assistant professor of Latin, returned from a pro- 
 longed course of study in Europe for the purpose of 
 resuming his work of instruction in the college. The 
 privilege of being under his guidance in his own depart- 
 ment of study was granted to my classmates and myself, 
 and we were regarded as peculiarly fortunate on this 
 account. Our other instructors were Mr. Samuel Brace 
 and Mr. Joseph Emerson the former in the Greek 
 department, and the latter in mathematics. Both of them 
 were graduates of the class of 1841, and they had al- 
 ready held the tutorial office for a year. They were, 
 as I suppose, about twenty-five years of age. Mr. 
 Thacher, the assistant professor, was just thirty. I was 
 myself sixteen, and was one of the younger members of 
 the class. I can well remember that Messrs. Brace and 
 Emerson had, to my eye, a look of maturity and serious- 
 ness, not to say dignity, which seemed to be fitly char- 
 acteristic of men quite removed from our period of life 
 24
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 and quite elevated above our position. The fact that 
 there were several members of the class nearly as old 
 as they were, and one who was even older, had no influ- 
 ence upon my mind in its judgment respecting them. 
 They were at a remote distance beyond the Seniors, who 
 were very far removed from ourselves. They had the 
 weight and authority of their official position. They 
 were enrolled in the Faculty. But, when we met Mr. 
 Thacher in the recitation room, the tutors appeared 
 like luminaries of the second magnitude. He was in 
 middle life, or close upon it. Thirty was a great step 
 beyond twenty-five, to our thought. He was, also, an 
 assistant professor. He had lived in a foreign uni- 
 versity. He seemed, indeed, to belong to an older 
 generation, and we stood in awe of him, more than we 
 did of the tutors. 
 
 Mr. Brace was the leading scholar of his class in 
 college rank its valedictorian and, according to the 
 custom of that era, he was the one to whom the tutor- 
 ship was first offered when candidates from the class 
 were sought for. He held the office for four years, and 
 was with us as our Greek teacher during one-half of this 
 period. Subsequently he turned aside from classical 
 studies and the work of teaching, and became engaged in 
 manufacturing enterprises in which he had good success. 
 He lived a life of usefulness, and died at about the age 
 of sixty-three. It was, perhaps, in some measure un- 
 fortunate for him, so far as our remembrance of his 
 work in connection with us as a college class was con- 
 cerned, that his instruction was limited to the earlier 
 part of our course of study. He was, however, accurate 
 and faithful in his scholarship. We were fitted by his 
 teaching for what we were called to do as we passed, 
 at the beginning of our Junior year, to more advanced 
 work under the care of another instructor. In his per- 
 sonal relations to his pupils, he was a kindly gentleman. 
 
 25
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 As a man of genuine character and high moral tone, he 
 exerted an influence for good throughout his entire 
 career. 
 
 Mr. Emerson, unlike his classmate and fellow-tutor, 
 devoted himself to scholarly work in the educational 
 sphere during the whole period of his active life a 
 long period, as he lived until the fourth of August, 1900, 
 fifty-nine years after his graduation. His department 
 of instruction, as he met us in our Freshman year, was 
 mathematics. Whether his work in this line of teach- 
 ing was undertaken voluntarily, or whether, on the 
 other hand, some special and temporary need of the 
 college called for his service, I am unable to say. But, 
 in view of the fact that, in the preceding and following 
 years, he chose for himself the Latin studies, and a 
 little later accepted an appointment to the professorship 
 of Greek in Beloit College, it would seem probable that 
 his preferences were for classical, rather than mathemati- 
 cal scholarship. In his work with us he was conscientious 
 and faithful, but Day's Algebra, though a valuable 
 book, was not a very attractive one to the average mind 
 of the Freshman class. During our Sophomore year, as 
 we read Horace and Cicero under his guidance, we 
 gained for ourselves some true acquaintance with these 
 authors. His own appreciation of their writings was 
 that of an earnest student and scholar. Immediately 
 upon his entrance into his more permanent office at 
 Beloit, he became a most influential and valuable in- 
 structor, and in many ways a power in the institution. 
 Through all his active life there he won for himself, in 
 a very marked degree, the affection and respect of his 
 pupils their respect for him as a teacher and their 
 affection for him as a man. He was eminently worthy 
 of all the honor which he received, for he did much for 
 the building and development of the college which he 
 served. It was a pleasure to me to meet him in his later 
 26
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 years, and to see how kindly he remembered those whom 
 he had known in the days long past. I could not help 
 feeling that he had had a happy fortune as a teacher and 
 a scholar in the sphere of the most beautiful of all 
 languages the ancient Greek. 
 
 Of Professor Thacher it may seem to Yale men who 
 were under his instruction within the last twenty-five 
 or thirty years of his life, unnecessary that I should say 
 anything on these pages. They were so well acquainted 
 with him as a teacher, a man, and a friend, that they may 
 readily feel that no one can add to their knowledge. 
 But, as I have already stated, my classmates and myself 
 came into connection with him in the early days of his 
 assistant professorship and immediately after his stu- 
 dent years in Europe. We saw him, as it were, at the 
 beginning. Moreover for myself personally I may 
 say very early, so early that I cannot definitely remem- 
 ber the date, he seemed to find in me something, I know 
 not what it was, which won his friendly regard; and 
 from that time, though I was a young boy and he a full- 
 grown man, he took me, as it were, to his heart. His 
 kindly friendship for me continued through all the years 
 even to the end of his life, and he was wont often to 
 speak of me to myself and others as his oldest son 
 the son of his affection, to whom he gave a place in his 
 regard near to that which was held by the sons of his 
 household. I feel, therefore, that, in the telling of this 
 story of my teachers, I may indulge myself in words of 
 remembrance of what he was as I knew him in the 
 earlier and the later years. 
 
 When he met us in the old Athenaeum recitation room 
 in the autumn of 1845, m * s peculiar gifts and character- 
 istics as a teacher at once arrested our attention and 
 awakened our interest. He seemed always to under- 
 stand and lay hold of what was central in its importance 
 in the lesson of the day or the subject brought before us. 
 27
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 With the utmost clearness and distinctness he presented 
 it to our minds. He knew just what to say, and just how 
 to say it, to the end of making each one of us compre- 
 hend and appreciate what we were trying to learn. His 
 questions guided and his explanations revealed. We 
 received continually that which satisfied our present need 
 and made us ready for further effort and progress. Be- 
 yond any teacher whom I have ever known, he had the 
 power of impressing what he desired to communicate 
 upon the student's mind and memory so deeply that it 
 could not be forgotten. His gift in this special line was 
 wonderful, and as all will admit, it is one of the very 
 highest and best gifts that a teacher can possess. 
 
 Professor Thacher was of a commanding presence in 
 the recitation room, and in his association with the class. 
 With no apparent exercise of authority, he established 
 and maintained order in every company. The disposi- 
 tion to levity or mischief was immediately restrained 
 when even the most frolicsome or thoughtless pupil en- 
 tered the apartment where he was. Because of this 
 forceful character, and for the reason that he appeared 
 to us to be much older than the tutors, we thought of 
 him as the impersonation of the governing power of the 
 Faculty. There seemed to be a tinge of severity at times 
 in his manner, and also in his words, which added to the 
 awe in which we held him. But he was gifted by nature 
 with qualities that were most helpful in dealing with 
 college students. He had great practical wisdom and 
 energy; unusual tact and intelligence; penetrating in- 
 sight into character; warm-hearted and generous inter- 
 est in those who needed his thoughtful aid and who 
 proved themselves worthy of it. He was a true lover of 
 his fellow-men. The kindness of his heart went outward 
 towards his friends with an unceasing flow of tender, 
 and yet manly feeling. The man of thirty had within 
 himself the beginning of what the man of fifty and sixty
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 had in the later years. He was not all that he became 
 afterwards. No genuine and true man can be so. The 
 years record their history in the inner, as truly as in the 
 outer life. The fruitage is better than the flower, and 
 the autumn richer than the early springtime. Life 
 would not be worthy of itself, were it not so. But if 
 the promise manifests itself in the earlier days, the out- 
 look is full of hopefulness, and may well be full of 
 confidence. 
 
 It was my privilege to watch the growing life of 
 Professor Thacher for forty years; and it was oftentimes 
 most interesting to me to see how the influence of time 
 and its changes wrought within him its best results 
 how the sterner qualities, without losing out of them- 
 selves anything of genuine manliness, gradually took on 
 more of what was gentle and kindly how the love of 
 his children made him more affectionate and helpful 
 towards the sons of others, as they came under his care 
 how the severity of the early period turned into the 
 benignity of advancing age, and the wisdom of age 
 shone forth more brightly than that of youth, because 
 of the maturer love which guided it. No man, in the 
 half century that has just closed, won for himself the 
 warm-hearted and abiding friendship of Yale students 
 in larger measure than he did. No one who has passed 
 beyond the limits of the earthly life is held in more 
 loving memory. The thought which comes to us all 
 as connected with his life and work whether we are of 
 the earlier classes or the later ones is that of the 
 infinite value of manhood in a teacher, and of the worth 
 of what the teacher does through his genuine excellence 
 of character for the minds and souls of his pupils. 
 
 The recitation room with all that the idea of it 
 involved constituted a larger part of the college life in 
 all our colleges in 1845, tnan ^ does to-day. It con- 
 29
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 centrated more attention upon itself, as compared with 
 other things; perhaps, because there were fewer of these 
 other things on which the mind could rest. College- 
 standing, as connected with the work of the recitation 
 room rank in scholarship, as determined by the marks 
 in the instructors' books from day to day was a matter 
 of greater moment to the universal thought. Men had 
 this door of success and distinction open to them. The 
 other doors were not many in number. There were then 
 of course, as there always are and will be, students who 
 cared little for their studies, or indeed for anything else 
 except their own enjoyment from day to day. But those 
 who were moved by ambition, or by higher motives, 
 were constrained to seek their reward either from the 
 records kept by the tutors and professors, or in the 
 sphere of writing or debating. 
 
 In the making of their records with reference to the 
 more studious men, these officials of the institution 
 seemed to me, as I observed the success of my associates 
 or noted my own progress, to have a more indulgent 
 feeling, or to place a more favorable estimate upon the 
 work that was done, than I had anticipated at the outset. 
 The study and mental effort required to secure even the 
 higher positions were proved by the results so I 
 thought when the honors of our college life were an- 
 nounced to be no more than could be properly asked 
 for in the case of men who were possessed of good 
 ability and were willing to be faithful in the discharge 
 of daily duties. I have always, since the experience of 
 my undergraduate years, believed that at least twice the 
 number of students in any college class, as compared 
 with what we see at present, could with no undue over- 
 straining of their powers reach the more honorable 
 scholarly ranks. The hardship of the demands for study 
 made by our colleges, which is sometimes spoken of, is, 
 in the case of the youth who is well fitted when he enters 
 30
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 upon the course and disposed to put forth his energies 
 in a manly way, a figment of the imagination. These 
 demands call only for what may with fitness be expected 
 from university men. 
 
 The indulgent sentiment manifested towards the more 
 studious in the academic circle, to which I have alluded, 
 did not exhibit itself with reference to those who were 
 of the lower order in scholarship in the degree in which 
 it might well have done. There was, on the part of 
 the Faculty of those days, a measure of severity which 
 seemed at times hardly reasonable, and was certainly, 
 from our present point of view, excessive. It appeared 
 often as if the governing thought, especially asserting 
 itself and putting forth its energy at the close of each 
 examination or of each term, were, that the fame of 
 the institution depended on the numbers that should 
 be known to have failed to meet its high standard of 
 excellence. The idea of saving the weaker men and 
 wakening their intellectual powers, that they might be 
 educated, did not apparently find its true abiding-place 
 in the minds of the teachers. This was the case in all 
 the better colleges, in their measure. It was in accord- 
 ance with the theory of the era. With the changes of 
 the years, a new order of things has been realized. Bet- 
 ter notions of what educational institutions should have 
 as their purpose, and of the way in which they may best 
 carry out that purpose, have come to be prevalent, even 
 while, at the same time, education itself and its methods 
 have made great advancement. 
 
 I call to remembrance vividly a word of the vener- 
 able President addressed to my classmates and myself 
 before the ending of the first term of our college life. 
 In accordance with a custom which then prevailed, he 
 met us, on a single, special occasion, for the offering of 
 wise counsel with reference to the life upon which we 
 had so recently entered. He gave us his advice, to 
 
 31
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 which we listened respectfully as to the words of a 
 prophet and then, with utterly unmoved face or feel- 
 ing, as if he were saying the simplest and most natural 
 thing in the world, he added: " Doubtless, not more 
 than one half of your number will graduate." It was 
 not a very encouraging word for a company of boys just 
 beginning their Freshman year and just awaking to the 
 joys and hopes of the new experience. But it was a 
 word of prophetic foresight as was proved afterwards 
 in our own history. The class numbered one hundred 
 and ten, on that day when the President met us. On 
 Commencement Day, four years afterwards, fifty-five of 
 those one hundred and ten young men received their 
 Bachelor's degree. Thirty-seven of the one hundred 
 and ten terminated their college career as members of 
 the class before the end of our Freshman year. Possibly 
 some of the departing ones felicitated themselves with 
 the thought that the President himself left the College, 
 as they did, at the close of that year. But there were 
 differences between the two and differences which were 
 impressive to the thought of those among us who re- 
 mained, as they may well have been to these others also 
 namely, that he left voluntarily at the end of his 
 course, while they went involuntarily, most of them, near 
 the beginning of theirs, and that he left after he had 
 uttered his prophecy, while they, in their leaving, ful- 
 filled it. 
 
 The times have changed, indeed and I presume that 
 the wisest college guides and teachers of to-day would, 
 with substantial unanimity, say that an institution which 
 removed and lost one-third of its entering class in the 
 first year of the course, and one-half before the end, 
 must have in its ideas of education or discipline some- 
 thing that needed correction and new adjustment. The 
 thought which is said to have been once expressed by 
 Ralph Waldo Emerson to a professor in one of our 
 32
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 colleges who had been showing him the buildings, the 
 libraries, etc., and who, in answer to a question asked by 
 Emerson, had said to him that there were about five 
 hundred students in the institution : "Among so many 
 there must be four or five who are worth educating," is 
 hardly the thought of the modern age. The old system 
 tended towards the limit of the four or five not, how- 
 ever, by reason of the idea which Emerson had in mind, 
 but because of what had grown into itself and its 
 methods. It was a system which has happily been modi- 
 fied, and has largely passed away. 
 
 The discipline of those years was administered after 
 a similar manner, and in accordance with the same ideas. 
 As I look backward from this distance of time, I cannot 
 help feeling that of the thirty-seven, and the fifty-five, 
 to whom I have alluded, a considerable number, whose 
 departure was occasioned by disciplinary action on the 
 part of the authorities, might easily and wisely have been 
 saved, and would have been saved if the less abrupt and 
 more reasonable methods of the present era had then 
 been known or followed. But the influences of a hun- 
 dred years earlier were still abiding with much of their 
 original force. The governors of that period, intelli- 
 gent as they were and worthy of all esteem, had no 
 thought of any way of governing other than that which 
 they and the fathers had known just as most of the 
 Faculty, from 1825 to 1840, seemed to regard it as 
 quite impracticable to carry on the institution with suc- 
 cess, unless they maintained the old system and rules 
 which required all the students, with a few very special 
 exceptions, to take their daily meals in the College Com- 
 mons or dining hall. There was a prolonged and ener- 
 getic wrestling with the difficulties and disorders having 
 their origin in the Commons among the most serious 
 disorders ever arising in the College community. Every 
 effort in the way of pains and penalties was put forth to 
 
 33
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 the end of prevention. An immense amount of thought 
 was devoted to the subject. But all proved to be of no 
 avail. At length, and in some extraordinary manner, 
 a new light came to the minds of some of the authori- 
 ties, and a new suggestion was made. How the sugges- 
 tion won its way to favor, I am unable to say. It was 
 before my college days. But somehow, in the year 
 1842, the "powers that then were" were brought to 
 consent to a trial of a new system, which abolished the 
 " required Commons " altogether. The action was 
 taken, and the disorders ceased at once never to return. 
 
 After a similar manner, what were called the Christ- 
 mas disturbances were brought to an end. The old ar- 
 rangement of the college year extended the autumn term 
 until about the 4th of January. The Christmas season 
 was thus within the limits of term-time. By reason of 
 the growth, through a long period, of a so-called " col- 
 lege custom," the evening preceding Christmas was 
 made an occasion for a special annual outbreak of dis- 
 order on the college grounds, which had no equal in its 
 peculiarities at any other season. There was frequent 
 consideration of the matter on the part of the governing 
 body, and also much debate as to possible ways of re- 
 moving the evil. But the disturbances continued un- 
 diminished until 1850, or a little later, when, through 
 some happy inspiration or influence, a simple and abso- 
 lute remedy was devised. The Christmas season was 
 placed in the vacation. 
 
 The method finally adopted in each of these cases 
 seems to my own mind such an easy and natural one 
 that it might have suggested itself at first thought. As 
 I think of it, I am reminded of a story which used to be 
 told of the early childhood of one of the old professors, 
 in my undergraduate days. The child was noticed by a 
 gentleman passing along the street to be under a horse 
 that was feeding on the college grounds. He was in 
 34
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 much distress, and was crying with a loud voice. The 
 gentleman observing that, as the horse now and then 
 took a step forward, the child stepped forward also, 
 but still remained under him said, " My little boy, why 
 are you crying?" The child replied, "Because I am 
 under this horse, and I don't know how to get out." 
 " Why, come right out," said the gentleman. The child 
 followed the advice, the problem was solved, and the 
 distress came to its end. 
 
 It is now more than forty years since I heard this 
 story. During all this period I have been a close ob- 
 server of college life, and I find it very impressive in the 
 retrospect, as it has been in the years of experience, to 
 call to mind the multitude of cases of difficulty and per- 
 plexity of long-continued discussion and even animated 
 controversy, in which the advice of the gentleman to the 
 child offered the one and only sufficient solution, which, 
 if chosen at the beginning, would have saved all debate 
 and anxiety: " Come right out." That is the way. 
 But the men of those days, in the forties, did not see it, 
 in the matter of discipline; and, as the world goes, it is 
 not so very remarkable that they did not. Changes in 
 prevalent ideas come only with a slow progress. They 
 come thus in the case of intelligent, as well as unintelli- 
 gent men. Their coming at all is, perhaps, a greater 
 marvel than their not coming more rapidly. It is not 
 befitting to pass judgment from the standpoint of a later 
 age. And yet I confess that in those days when I was 
 a young man, and now also, when I am old, it seemed, 
 and still seems, in some degree inexplicable that " the 
 child," if I may borrow the words from the story, " re- 
 mained so long under the horse," notwithstanding his 
 distress, and that it did not occur to more minds that 
 there would be an increasingly peaceful world, if the 
 discipline were made less legal and more paternal. 
 Whether the matter, however, was inexplicable or not 
 
 35
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 In the case of those men, or whether it is so in the experi- 
 ence of the considerable numbers of college governors of 
 to-day who seem to be in the same distressful condition, 
 I may say for myself that I am, and have long been, 
 happy in the thought that I " stepped out " very early 
 in life, as the old professor did, and that I have had the 
 freedom in this particular regard of which he may have 
 been conscious in the later years. He never, indeed, 
 fully escaped the besetting of perplexities and difficulties. 
 Few men do escape altogether. I certainly have not 
 found myself able to do so. But I made my escape from 
 this one long, long ago much to my own quiet enjoy- 
 ment of life and, as I think, to that of others also. 
 
 Thus, with these possibilities and privileges, we en- 
 tered upon our college course, and thus we moved on- 
 ward, as related to our teachers and our studies, our ex- 
 ternal surroundings and the orderings and discipline of 
 our life a company of happy and hopeful youth. Of 
 our relations to one another and what pertained to us 
 afterwards in our membership of the academic com- 
 munity, some words may be added on subsequent pages. 
 The Freshman year passed on through the successive 
 weeks. The unfamiliar scenes grew familiar, and the 
 daily round of pleasures and duties became as if we had 
 known it always. We were, as I have just said, happy 
 and hopeful youth boys, most of us; young men, some 
 of us. The oldest member of the class at graduation 
 was thirty-three. The youngest was eighteen. The 
 average age of the graduating members as we left the 
 college walls was twenty-two years and three months 
 but very little less than the average age at graduation of 
 the Yale students of to-day. Probably, at our entrance 
 upon the college life, the proportion of younger mem- 
 bers to older was greater than at the end. Those that 
 fell by the wayside were more largely of the younger 
 36
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 set, who failed in scholarship because they had not been 
 thoroughly prepared, or were cut off in consequence of 
 the thoughtless follies of their boyhood, which led them 
 to transgress. the rules in one way or another. The older 
 men were, as is almost always the case among college 
 students, more serious with a certain kind of serious- 
 ness. They had come to the institution with a more 
 definite and earnest purpose, and had a larger measure of 
 the sober-mindedness which the Apostle exhorted his 
 youthful friend and helper in the ministry to have. 
 Some of these older men had already been school-teach- 
 ers. For this reason they naturally looked at the studies 
 and the general daily life as if from the point of view 
 of the Faculty a thing which was hardly possible in the 
 case of the young boys. But, stating the matter in a 
 general way, it may be said that we graduated at twenty- 
 two and three months, and entered at about eighteen. 
 
 I have just said that the older men were more serious 
 and thoughtful. This was a matter of course. In our 
 company, however, they did not separate themselves 
 from the life and sympathies of their younger brethren. 
 The oldest one among us was as genial and kindly, as 
 full of genuine enthusiasm, and as heartily appreciative 
 of boyish feelings and enjoyments, as any one of the 
 classmates. He was charming in his youth fulness 
 through all the years afterward; ever growing more win- 
 some, for this very reason, even to the end. When, at 
 the age of seventy, he passed into the other life at a 
 moment's call, we who had known him so long felt that 
 he had, indeed, gone to the home of eternal youth. In 
 sentiment and the freshness of the heart he seemed, at 
 the last, to be almost the youngest of us all. 
 
 I was myself one of the younger members of the 
 class, having entered college before I was seventeen and 
 graduated before I was twenty-one. Two-thirds of the 
 
 37
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 classmates were farther on in years, and a very con- 
 siderable number were, at graduation, from five to eight 
 years in advance of me. I have always felt in the review 
 of the past, and I still have the same feeling, that I was 
 greatly privileged in graduating at such a youthful age, 
 and have ever congratulated myself that the five or eight 
 years which separated me from my older classmates were 
 given to me after the college course was ended, instead 
 of being finished, as they were in their case, before that 
 course began. I am a firm believer in the wisdom of an 
 early entrance upon college studies, and it seems to me, 
 after the observation and experience of half a century, 
 that the view of many parents and teachers, that stu- 
 dents should not begin the college life before the age 
 of nineteen, is an altogether mistaken one. The boy 
 who has good advantages and is free from the burden of 
 self-support should be urged forward, rather than re- 
 strained or delayed in his educational course. It should 
 not be forgotten, that the youth who graduates at 
 twenty or twenty-one has years to spare whether he 
 begins at once his work in preparation for his special ca- 
 reer in life, or not which he can use to the end of his 
 best manly development, and with more fully disciplined 
 powers. Whether, however, the entrance, and thus the 
 graduation, be earlier or later, the college discipline and 
 experience may well be desired by all parents for their 
 sons as they are truly fitted to profit by them, and by 
 every young man for himself as he thinks of the best 
 possibilities for his future.
 
 IV 
 
 President Day's Retirement His Character and Work, 
 and His Era 
 
 I HAVE lingered longer than I might have done on 
 my experiences at my entrance within the college 
 walls, and upon those of the earliest year of my 
 course. They were, no doubt, of less significance than 
 my story may have appeared to claim for them. But, 
 as they were the beginning of the new career, I have 
 given them with somewhat of fullness because they 
 seemed fitted to set forth in a kind of picture the life 
 of the old time, in its contrast with that of the more 
 recent eras. Henceforward, in referring to my college 
 years, I shall endeavor to tell of them with less of detail, 
 and to bring the things included within them into a 
 more comprehensive whole. 
 
 The close of our first year of study was contempora- 
 neous with the opening of a new epoch in the history of 
 the institution. As has been already intimated on a pre- 
 vious page, the venerable President, whose term of 
 service had extended through a period of twenty-nine 
 years, resigned his office and passed over its duties to his 
 successor. These twenty-nine years measured the time 
 which had elapsed since the death of the first President 
 Dwight that event having occurred on the eleventh of 
 January, 1817, and the election of President Day having 
 taken place on the twenty-second of the following April. 
 The passing of the Presidency from one incumbent to 
 another is an event of no little importance in any col- 
 legiate institution. In the experience of our College and 
 
 39
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 University during the past century, it has been, in every 
 case, one of peculiar significance. Certainly it was so 
 at the time when Dr. Day entered upon his official du- 
 ties, and in an equal measure at the time when he retired 
 from them. The first President Dwight, as was univer- 
 sally recognized by his contemporaries and as all who 
 are familiar with the records of the past now acknowl- 
 edge, was a man of creative mind; of comprehensive 
 and generous views; of singular appreciativeness with 
 reference to the claims and the value of all learning; of 
 an inspiring thought of the future, and a confident be- 
 lief that it would bring with itself the realization of 
 greater things. He was the man who, at the opening of 
 the century, grasped the idea of the University of the 
 coming time, and by his efforts, his enthusiasm, his 
 executive force, and his wise thoughtfulness in the years 
 that followed, laid the foundations whereon the Univer- 
 sity in its present life and development rests. The period 
 of his administration was one in which the possibilities 
 of results, as compared with our own age, were limited. 
 But it was a period when, for a far-seeing and wide- 
 reaching mind, the possibilities of vision were not thus 
 limited. He had the great vision and he realized, 
 within the limitations of what was possible, the actual 
 results. The institution was constantly putting forth its 
 powers and moving on in its growth. Its plan for the 
 long future was formed, and was large and broad 
 enough for the century's working. The unfolding of 
 the plan into reality was accomplished so far as to make 
 the promise of completeness an inspiration for coura- 
 geous and believing souls. 
 
 The demand of the period which opened at the close 
 of Dr. Dwight's career was for a man of quite a differ- 
 ent type. The growing life was now to be regulated and 
 made enduring. Permanency was to be given to the ani- 
 mating principles and impelling powers pertaining to it. 
 40
 
 PRESIDENT TIMOTHY DWIGHT 
 I795-I8I7
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 The entire order and system of things in which it had 
 had its origin were to be established upon settled founda- 
 tions. Under these conditions, it was fitting that the 
 creative mind and uplifting force should be followed 
 by a force and mind of a conservative character the 
 wisdom of foresight and of execution passing, as it were, 
 into the wisdom of calmness and caution the wisdom 
 of the architect being succeeded by that of the safe and 
 slower builder. President Day was the man for the 
 time. His very personal presence carried with itself 
 the impression, for every one who saw him, of stability, 
 of composure, of deliberate thoughtfulness, of an ever 
 watchful prudence. His inner life was in complete har- 
 mony with his outward bearing; and his whole career 
 made manifest, with constantly increasing distinctness, 
 to his most intimate associates and friends this harmony 
 which had become apparent to their minds even at the 
 beginning of their acquaintance with him. 
 
 As we look back over the years of his Presidency, we 
 cannot doubt that he understood the meaning of the call 
 that came to him. The work to which he gave himself, 
 and which he carried forward even to the end, was that 
 of rendering secure the inheritance from the previous 
 era, together with all that this involved. In full sym- 
 pathy with the plans of his predecessor, he held himself 
 in readiness for the founding of new departments of the 
 institution, when possible, and thus widening the range 
 of its teaching and its influence. He led the way, for 
 his time, in making the ideal of the college education, 
 in every line, reality as contrasted with mere appearance 
 or pretense. With the whole force of his nature he con- 
 tributed to the placing of sound learning and true char- 
 acter as the uppermost things for the thoughts of all in 
 their preparation for their career as educated men. That 
 he accomplished this work so successfully at the critical 
 period when it was most needed, and that he thus passed 
 
 41
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 over to all the coming generations, as a sure and safe 
 possession, the best elements of the Yale life originated 
 in the earlier days, may well be a ground of thankfulness 
 on the part of every one who loves the University. 
 
 In a discourse commemorative of the venerable Presi- 
 dent, which was delivered soon after his death, Dr. 
 Woolsey mentioned an interesting fact giving evidence 
 of the insight and foresight of President Dwight. " I 
 am able," he remarked, " to state on the best authority 
 that Dr. Dwight after the beginning of his fatal malady, 
 one day when the Faculty of the College had been as- 
 sembled and the professors had remained behind, turned 
 abruptly to Professor Day and said, ' Mr. Day, you 
 must be my successor.' " Dr. Day's colleagues and his 
 pupils, from the time of his appointment to the Presi- 
 dency to the very end of his term of service, recognized 
 the wisdom of the choice which his predecessor had had 
 in his thought and which the Corporation had made. 
 
 As my own opportunity for personal knowledge of 
 President's Day's administration was limited to a single 
 year, and that year the earliest of my college course, I 
 must be largely dependent for my estimate of him upon 
 my observation of his life in its later period, and upon 
 the testimony of others. But, recalling my own impres- 
 sions, I may say and I think, with appropriateness 
 that he was a wise disciplinarian, a judicious governor, 
 a thorough and accurate scholar, a valuable teacher, and 
 a man of intelligent and penetrative mind. In his tem- 
 perament he was marked, in an eminent degree, by 
 serenity. He had the characteristic peacefulness of the 
 Christian life, as well as the moderation, long-suffering 
 patience, and gentleness, which are commended in the 
 Scriptures. At the same time there was always manifest 
 in him a quiet, yet strong and earnest purpose, that 
 moved him forward to the ends which he set before him-
 
 PRESIDENT JEREMIAH DAY
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 self. In his relations to the students he was a friend 
 a benignant and paternal friend, indeed venerable, to 
 their thought, by reason of his age and dignified bearing, 
 but at all times gracious and helpful when they presented 
 themselves before him or needed his. aid. In his deal- 
 ings with them individually, or as a body, he exhibited 
 a high degree of intelligence and discretion; never mag- 
 nifying little offenses, so that they became to his thought 
 great ones; never making a show of authority for the 
 mere sake of rendering it or himself conspicuous; never 
 turning hastily or wilfully toward severity, when his 
 calm and clear mind saw that the object to be desired 
 could be secured by persuasion. There was no lack of 
 manly decision and action on his part, if an emergency 
 called for the display of such manliness. But not every 
 occurrence in the college daily life which was indicative 
 of student waywardness or disorder constituted in his 
 judgment such an emergency. 
 
 By reason of some singular chance, or the develop- 
 ment of a peculiar era, the years near the middle point 
 of his Presidency 1827 to 1832 brought disturb- 
 ances, and even rebellions, into the undergraduate com- 
 munity, such as had never been known before and have 
 happily never since been repeated. He proved himself 
 fully adequate to meet the demand which these disorders 
 created. The government was victorious, even though 
 rigorous measures were carried so far that more than 
 half of the membership of one of the classes was re- 
 moved from the institution. Even when he adopted or 
 approved the severest action, however, he had so much 
 wisdom, and was recognized as being of so judicial and 
 kindly a spirit, that the students at no time lost anything 
 of their reverential regard or affection for him. But 
 after the great disorders had passed by and no signs of 
 their renewal were manifest, he took the reasonable view 
 of college life and acted in accordance with it. He did 
 
 43
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 not carry over the strictness of discipline which had, 
 under special circumstances, become necessary, into a fol- 
 lowing time when there was no call for it, and did not 
 so fall into the habit of inflicting penalties that it seemed 
 to him ever afterwards necessary to inflict them when 
 the offenses were insignificant in comparison. He left 
 the use of severity for its own sake to those to whom it 
 was natural to make such use of it and there are always 
 men of this order while, for himself, he measured his 
 action by the measure of the case before him and its 
 demands. He said at the close of his administration, in 
 a public address: "A faithful and discreet college 
 officer has his eye upon the minutest deviations from 
 correct deportment. But he may suffer them to pass 
 without censure, if he sees no danger that they will grow 
 into evils of formidable magnitude. He distinguishes 
 between the harmless light of the glow-worm and the 
 spark which is falling on the magazine of gunpowder." 
 "The best college government," he adds, u is that which 
 occasions the least observation, except by its success. 
 Public punishment may be sometimes necessary. But 
 the benign influence which is continually moulding the 
 character and regulating the deportment of students, is 
 like the silent dew, which manifests itself only by the 
 charm which it spreads over the verdure of the morning. 
 All display of authority, all discipline proceeding from 
 the love of power, is to be scrupulously avoided." 
 
 The excellent President was too cautious, and too 
 slow in his movements. This must be admitted, as I 
 think, even when all allowances are made for the cir- 
 cumstances of the time. But certainly, in reference to 
 this matter of college discipline and government, he was 
 in advance not only of his own generation, but of the 
 generation that immediately followed. Had his ideas, 
 as guided by his wisdom, gained controlling influence 
 when he acted upon them or made them known, the hap- 
 
 44
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 pier age, in which we of the present time rejoice, would 
 have been introduced, with its blessings, much earlier 
 than it was. But the influences of the past were too 
 strong to be overpowered, and even the ablest and 
 wisest members of the Faculty found it difficult to grasp 
 the thought of government apart from the constant dis- 
 play of power, or of authority as exercised without vio- 
 lence of repression. 
 
 In his relations to his colleagues, whether older or 
 younger, President Day acted upon principles kindred 
 to those which guided his course with reference to his 
 pupils. He never used his official position and dignity 
 in the way of interference with their individual duties 
 or prerogatives. On the other hand, as Dr. Woolsey 
 says of him, he always confided in their readiness to do 
 their appropriate work on principle, and without super- 
 vision. This same generous treatment of those asso- 
 ciated with him was characteristic of his predecessor in 
 the chair of administration, and through the influence 
 of the two men the idea of responsibility without inter- 
 ference was established as the Yale idea for the future. 
 That this idea this theory of the relationship of the 
 individual members of the Faculty to the President, and 
 to one another and I may add, of the entire board of 
 instruction, when acting in their own sphere, to the 
 Corporation of the University has contributed largely 
 to the devotedness of Yale teachers to their work and to 
 the interests of the institution, cannot be questioned. To 
 this cause also is due, in no inconsiderable measure, the 
 freedom from petty difficulties and jealousies, as well 
 as from friction of every sort, which has been so marked 
 a feature of the history of the College. It has been in- 
 teresting to me to notice in how large a proportion of 
 the cases of difficulty which have been presented to me 
 by officers of other colleges, with the inquiry as to our 
 ordinary course of action under similar circumstances, 
 
 45
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 I have been enabled to state that we have had no 
 such cases in our experience. We have lived at Yale 
 in undisturbed peace fulness through all the century, and 
 we owe our happy condition in this regard very largely 
 to the wisdom and generous sentiment of those who 
 administered the affairs and directed the life of the in- 
 stitution when the century was moving onward in its 
 earlier years. 
 
 President Day's deliberateness in decision and in 
 action, as I have already intimated, had the effect upon 
 his contemporaries which this characteristic in a man of 
 his serenity and dignity often has. It established in their 
 minds on the firmest foundations the conviction that he 
 was, everywhere and always, not only judicious, but 
 eminently wise. I do not know why it is that slowness 
 in pronouncing judgment, or in adopting new measures, 
 is so generally looked upon as a clear evidence 'of wis- 
 dom. I have no doubt that such slowness is sometimes 
 wise. But it is not always so; and as a permanent and 
 prevailing characteristic of the mind, I cannot think 
 that it is a mark of this gift in its highest order. Prompt- 
 ness of decision is, oftentimes, essential to such wisdom. 
 The man who has a practical question submitted to him 
 and who deliberates on it for a year before coming to a 
 decision, takes we may, in some cases at least, safely 
 say too much time to be accounted more than prudent. 
 The good President had the wisdom of deliberation, 
 rather than that of the other sort, as even his intimate 
 friends confessed. But the gift which he possessed was 
 that which in their view, as they thought and spoke of 
 him, constituted the wise man ; and they never pictured 
 him to themselves in any other light. Their opinion 
 was, beyond doubt, a testimony of weight to what he 
 really was, and it is, perchance, unbecoming in us who 
 were mere boys when he was old and venerable, and 
 had little knowledge of his era and its demands, to 
 4 6
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 question in any measure what they told us. A corner 
 lot may, indeed, be better than one not thus situated, and 
 a year's deliberation may be longer continued than is 
 consistent with the shortness of life or the needs of the 
 special case; but, in an age of conservation, the conser- 
 vative judgment which deliberates and waits must give 
 beneficial results. 
 
 President Day was too reserved and undemonstrative 
 in the expression of feeling. This peculiar characteristic 
 was nearly allied to the conservatism and caution which 
 so strongly marked him. Possibly the one could not 
 have existed without the other. No doubt, both of the 
 two qualities may have been developed in their force 
 by reason of the special circumstances connected with 
 his physical health, which required, throughout his en- 
 tire career, the utmost thoughtfulness and all possible 
 freedom from excitement. So striking, however, was 
 this reserve, that it was very impressive to the mind of 
 every one who saw him even for a little time, while to 
 those who were in more intimate relations of acquaint- 
 anceship or friendship it seemed one of the most conspic- 
 uous elements of his nature. It is said that on a certain 
 evening, when his youngest daughter, then eighteen years 
 of age, was about leaving her home to pass the winter 
 with friends in another city, he came into the parlor 
 where she was and, addressing her by name, said to her : 
 "We shall miss you when you are gone," and that this 
 was so much stronger an expression of his feeling than 
 she had known before, that she was moved by it to tears. 
 Such a story would seem strange in these more modern 
 days. Even at that day, it indicated a personality un- 
 demonstrative on the emotional side. But I can well 
 remember a discourse commemorative of one of the most 
 prominent citizens of Connecticut about forty years ago, 
 in which his friend and pastor, when setting forth the 
 grounds of confidence in his Christian character, said of 
 
 47
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 him: "He was, however, so reticent as to the feelings 
 and experiences of the soul that, in a married life ex- 
 tending over more than a generation, even his wife could 
 not remember that she had ever heard him express him- 
 self respecting them with distinctness or confidence." 
 The New Englanders of the older time certainly lived 
 more in the inside of themselves than they did on the 
 outside so far as their deepest and truest life was con- 
 cerned. This was the fact with reference to men who 
 were born, as President Day was, in 1773, as well as to 
 men who lived at an earlier period. The change which 
 has taken place between the era of those whom the 
 younger generation of fifty years ago called the fathers, 
 and the days in which we are now living, is a marvelous 
 one in this regard. But even to-day, New Englanders 
 are called reticent. They are so, no doubt, as compared 
 with some other peoples. 
 
 The measured and methodical life which the excellent 
 President lived accompanied, as it was, by his prudence 
 and reserve had its origin partly, we may believe, even 
 as already intimated, in the condition of his health in 
 his earlier, as well as his later, years. He was obliged, 
 by reason of his infirmity in this regard, to break off 
 his college course at or near the end of his Sophomore 
 year, and to suspend his studies until the time when the 
 class which he had originally entered was graduated. 
 Although at first a member of the class of 1793, he did 
 not, accordingly, receive his Bachelor's degree until 
 1795. From 1798 to 1801 he held the position of 
 tutor in the College, and in the last-named year he was 
 elected by the Corporation to the Professorship of 
 Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. Before the date 
 of the election, however, he was attacked by a hemor- 
 rhage of the lungs, and the signs of tubercular con- 
 sumption became manifest. He was obliged to take a 
 48
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 sea voyage in the hope of gaining new strength, and t-> 
 pass several months in the islands of Bermuda. 
 
 A letter from a friend of his, the late Mr. Charles 
 Denison, of New Haven, to the elder Professor Silli- 
 man, who was at that time in Europe, indicates the 
 general feeling in the College with regard to Mr. Day's 
 prospects of continued life. On the fifth of December, 
 1802, Mr. Denison writes: "I have lately heard from 
 Mr. Day. He is no better, but rather worse than when 
 he left us. Dr. Dwight told me, a short time since, that 
 he had given over the expectation of ever seeing Mr. 
 Day in the professor's chair. What a loss to the institu- 
 tion !" Every one who knew him anticipated his early 
 death. No doubt, he anticipated it for himself. His 
 winter in the milder climate, however, and his scrupulous 
 and constant attention to his health enabled him to re- 
 turn to his home, in the following spring, with an in- 
 crease of strength and of hope. Nevertheless he was 
 compelled to use the utmost care, and to limit himself 
 strictly in the way of exertion or excitement, in order 
 that he might, if possible, prolong his life. Moderation 
 in all things thus became a necessity for him in the suc- 
 ceeding years; and it grew to be, as it were, a law of 
 his nature, as the time of his living seemed to lengthen 
 itself by slow degrees, yet ever with uncertain promise 
 of the future. After the lapse of a considerable period, 
 his disease entirely disappeared his case being one of 
 the earliest in which it was proved that pulmonary con- 
 sumption could be cured. But before this happy result 
 was realized the law governing his conduct and his emo- 
 tions had been already fixed beyond change. The man 
 knew that he must move prudently and calmly, if he 
 would move forward at all. In the later part of his 
 career also, when he was somewhat more than sixty years 
 of age, he was attacked by a disease of the heart, angina 
 pectoris, to which he was subject at intervals afterwards. 
 
 49
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 This malady, like the earlier one, rendered caution and 
 moderation essential to the continuance of life. The 
 closing period thus answered to the beginning, and the 
 call and demand of both were the same. We may not 
 wonder, therefore, that, when his circumstances and 
 condition united with the tendency of his native char- 
 acter, he became, as he moved onward, a man of pru- 
 dence, rather than of forth-putting energy; a man of 
 reticence, rather than expression; a man of sure move- 
 ment, more than of rapid progress, and of quiet, but not 
 aggressive force. 
 
 President Day's wisdom was displayed at the end of 
 his public career as truly as it was throughout its course. 
 As he approached the age of seventy he made known to 
 the Faculty and, if I am not in error, to the Corporation 
 also, his serious thought of resigning his office. This 
 thought was connected with and inspired by the feeling 
 that he was now at the period of life when the duties 
 of his official position might fitly be laid aside by himself 
 and be passed over to a successor. His colleagues and 
 associates in both bodies that of instruction and that 
 of administration urged him to postpone the time of 
 retirement, and pressed upon him, with earnestness, their 
 feeling that it was for the highest interests of the institu- 
 tion that he should remain yet longer at its head. He 
 was finally persuaded by them to change his purpose, 
 and he continued in his office for three more years. 
 Then, at the age of seventy-three in 1846 he pre- 
 sented his resignation formally to the Corporation, and 
 refused their further solicitations. To one or more of 
 the members of the body, who attempted to influence 
 him, he said, in his calm and wise way: "You had 
 better let me resign now, when I have the intelligence 
 to do so. The time may come when I shall not have it, 
 but shall think I am wiser than you all, and than I ever 
 was myself before," It is related of the Reverend Dr. 
 50
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 James Walker, one of the ablest and most distinguished 
 among the Presidents of Harvard University, that, 
 after his resignation of his office, some member of the 
 Governing Board of the institution begged him to re- 
 consider his action, saying "Nobody in the Corpora- 
 tion wants you to resign," and that the Doctor replied, 
 "Do you wish me to remain in the Presidency until 
 everybody in the Corporation wants me to resign?" 
 The two men, who were alike eminent in wisdom, and 
 were equally respected and beloved by both students and 
 officers, had a grand ending of their administrative 
 career, because they had the intelligence to perceive that 
 the time for the ending had come ; the time when no one 
 else desired it, but when all were full of good wishes 
 and regrets. They have left behind them a lesson and 
 an influence for their successors in every generation. 
 
 Our ideas of age change as we ourselves advance in 
 years, and for this reason we cannot altogether trust 
 the judgments or opinions of youth in this regard. But, 
 so far as I am able to recall the impressions of past life, 
 I think I have never seen a man who appeared so 
 venerable as President Day did when he resigned his 
 office, and afterwards.* The age of seventy-three cer- 
 tainly meant very much to us young men of that time, 
 when, with his slow and measured step and enveloped 
 in his heavy cloak, he passed us on the streets or in the 
 College yard. There were other men in the Faculty 
 Professors Silliman and Kingsley, and Judge Daggett, 
 the Kent Professor of Law who were near his own 
 period of life. Judge Daggett must have been older, 
 as his graduation preceded that of the President by 
 twelve years. But no one even of these seemed so old 
 
 * The picture in this volume is copied from a portrait of Dr. Day 
 painted when he was fifty years of age and twenty-three years be- 
 fore his retirement from his office. This is the only portrait of him 
 in the possession of the University. 
 
 Si
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 to us, or, as I think, to the citizens of the city. That 
 the end of life was not for him far distant in the future, 
 must have been the thought of all who looked upon him. 
 But he lived for twenty-one years after that date, and 
 to a time that was within four years of the close of 
 the Presidency of his successor, which extended over a 
 quarter of a century. He retained his mental powers in 
 their fullness to the last, and was ever a thoughtful and 
 watchful observer of the life and welfare of the College, 
 as well as of the outside world. On his retirement from 
 the Presidential office, he was elected a member of the 
 Corporation, and in this relation to the institution he 
 continued until about two months before his death. 
 With no anticipation of that event as near, but with a 
 feeling that physical infirmity was increasing upon him, 
 he then asked that his resignation might be accepted. 
 His connection with the College as Tutor, Professor, 
 President, and member of the Administrative Board 
 had covered a period of sixty-nine years. The end of 
 life came peacefully on the 22d of August, 1867 as 
 Dr. Woolsey said of it, "With no apparent disease or 
 cause of death, his lamp of life went out." 
 
 Surely the ordering of his career was most remark- 
 able we may even say, most wonderful. In the letter 
 addressed by Mr. Charles Denison to Professor Silliman 
 in 1802, from which a brief quotation has been made on 
 a previous page, the writer, still referring to the pre- 
 carious condition of Mr. Day's health at that time, says, 
 "That such a man should be cut off in the very blossom 
 of life is to the human eye dark and mysterious. We 
 must, however, submit to Him who seeth not as man 
 seeth." Mr. Denison was a college classmate of Pro- 
 fessor Silliman, of the year 1796, and the two were 
 intimate friends of President Day, who graduated in the 
 next preceding class. The words of the letter were the 
 heartfelt expression of affection and grief sent by one, 
 
 52
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 friend to another, with reference to a third who seemed 
 to be about to die in his earliest manhood. The Biog- 
 raphy of Professor Silliman was placed in my hands by 
 its author, Professor Fisher, in 1866, with a request that 
 I would write a review of it for one of the Quarterlies. 
 As I read its pages I found this letter, and when I looked 
 at its words I recalled the fact that, while its writer, 
 whose thoughts were so full of sadness and of the mys- 
 tery of a life cut off in early manhood, had after a worthy 
 and honored career finished his earthly course forty years 
 before, and the one to whom it was written, and who 
 had lived until he was eighty-four, had already been 
 dead for eighteen months, the young man whose condi- 
 tion was so alarming that life was despaired of, was 
 still alive at the age of ninety-two. There is, indeed, 
 " One who seeth not as man seeth ; " but man's idea of 
 what He sees how often it is a strangely mistaken one, 
 by reason of the limitations of our human knowledge and 
 vision. The meeting of those three friends, after the 
 long years had realized for them their lives, and they 
 were all united in the upper kingdom, must have been a 
 thoughtful, as well as a happy one. 
 
 Of the Faculty of the Academical Department, or 
 College, during President Day's administration I shall 
 defer what I may find myself able to say until my nar- 
 rative or record of a later period begins. I feel that 
 I can properly do this, because of the Professors who 
 held office between 1825 and 1852 only one died before 
 the close of the latter year, which was after my entrance 
 upon the duties of the Tutorship, and only two before 
 1855, when I left that position. I knew them all, there- 
 fore, both as a student and as a member of the Board of 
 Instruction, and I can speak of them more fitly as they 
 were in the later of the two periods. It will be appro- 
 priate, however, for me to call attention here to the very 
 
 53
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 fortunate circumstance connected with the history of the 
 institution during all that period, that the President and 
 his two oldest associates, Professors Silliman and Kings- 
 ley, were appointed to their positions as professors in 
 the very early years of President Dwight's administra- 
 tion. They were all selected by him for the chairs which 
 they occupied and, as they were not yet thirty when they 
 received their appointment, they grew up to the full 
 maturity of their manly powers and attainments under 
 his commanding influence, as well as in intimacy of asso- 
 ciation with one another. When Dr. Dwight died, 
 therefore, and the new President was called to succeed 
 him, the counsel and aid of these associates rendered the 
 important work to be undertaken much more easy of 
 accomplishment than it could have been otherwise. The 
 three men, now about forty years of age, were united in 
 their views, and were ready to co-operate with the most 
 hearty sympathy in every movement that seemed to be 
 for the welfare of the College to which they had given 
 their love and their lives. They did thus co-operate for 
 the whole period of twenty-nine years the President 
 relying with the most entire confidence on the helpful- 
 ness of the two professors, while they, in their turn, 
 believed in his wisdom and prudence, and willingly 
 trusted the interests of the College to his keeping. 
 
 54
 
 V. 
 
 Student Life at Yale, 1845-49. 
 
 THE student life at Yale from 1845 to l8 49 
 had, of course, many of the characteristics 
 of the same life to-day. College undergrad- 
 uates are much alike in all generations and in all 
 nations so much alike that the intelligent traveler 
 in foreign lands cannot fail to recognize in the uni- 
 versity communities which he sees in them a kinship 
 to those which he has left behind him in his own 
 country. But among a people developing as rapidly 
 as ours, and in an age of such wonderful changes and 
 progress as the last fifty years have witnessed, it would 
 be strange indeed if all things in the life of college men 
 had remained as they were at the beginning. 
 
 At the time when my classmates and myself entered 
 upon our college course, the country was comparatively 
 undeveloped in the matter of wealth. In regions like 
 Connecticut, for example, where there were no large 
 cities, men possessed of thirty or forty thousand dollars 
 were regarded as having a competence, as it was called, 
 while those who had a hundred thousand and they 
 were few in number were considered rich. At this 
 time also, the people had only recently if indeed they 
 had as yet fully recovered from the great financial 
 reverses and depression of the year 1837. As a con- 
 sequence of these facts, we boys of the class of 1849 
 were, almost without exception, representatives of fam- 
 ilies of quite moderate means. There were no differ- 
 ences to separate us in this regard, and the thought of 
 what are now considered luxuries had little opportunity, 
 
 55
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 or indeed none at all, of entering our minds. The era 
 was certainly characterized by " plain living." The 
 ordinary charges per week at boarding houses and clubs 
 ranged from $1.50 to $2.50 the charge at the one most 
 expensive and fashionable boarding-house in the city 
 being only $3. Room-rent was in proportion. The 
 college bills, so far as tuition was concerned, amounted 
 to the small sum of eleven dollars for each term, or 
 thirty-three dollars for the entire year, and the other 
 items of these bills were quite insignificant. As for the 
 furniture and other provisions for students' rooms, 
 whether in the college buildings or in houses opened for 
 their occupancy in the city, moderation and absence of 
 expense were everywhere noticeable. I remember visit- 
 ing the apartment of two students in Durfee Hall about 
 the year 1878, in company with President Porter, who 
 was showing the University buildings to the late Dean 
 Stanley, and having the thought, as I looked upon its 
 provisions for comfort and its tasteful decoration, that 
 the furnishing of all the rooms occupied by my class- 
 mates in their college days would hardly have equalled in 
 expense what had been laid out by these two young men. 
 A quarter of a century, however, has passed since then, 
 and the evidences of wealth are now even more con- 
 spicuous. Of course, under our circumstances, there 
 was comparatively little difference between the man who 
 had what was then called considerable freedom in ex- 
 penditures and the one who had enough to meet the 
 demands upon him only in case he practised strict 
 economy and, indeed, no very marked distinction be- 
 tween the latter and the one who was obliged to ask 
 for remission of tuition or to seek for other pecuniary 
 aid. 
 
 We were a democratic community, with small tempta- 
 tion on the part of any among our number to indulge 
 in aristocratic feeling, so far as that feeling had relation 
 
 56
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 to the sphere of money. During a brief portion of my 
 Senior year as my family home was closed at the time 
 I took my meals with a club the members of which, 
 about fifteen in number, were classmates of mine. These 
 classmates, I think, were all of them, with the exception 
 of three or four, men who either received financial aid 
 from benevolent funds or were obliged, for want of 
 sufficient means, to support themselves throughout their 
 course of study, partly or wholly, by their own efforts. 
 They were, however, among the leading men in the class 
 in the different lines of college success and prominence 
 much more truly so than most of those who were 
 regarded as the richer members of our class brotherhood. 
 They were most influential in every way and most highly 
 esteemed by every one. This fact, within my own ex- 
 perience, is merely illustrative. The same thing was 
 true, in its measure, of all college classes, and indeed, to 
 a large extent, of the communities from which the mem- 
 bership of these classes was gathered. 
 
 The great change which has made the life of our 
 people in the present period so different, in this matter 
 of wealth and all that is connected with it, from what 
 it ever was in the earlier time, first manifested itself, as 
 is well known, near the close of the War of 1861 to 
 1865. In a wonderful way, and in a measure beyond 
 the previous anticipations of even the most far-sighted 
 among us, the nation, at that time, began suddenly to 
 become rich and prosperous. The growth in prosperity 
 was progressive, and, if we consider the entire period 
 which has elapsed since that beginning, it has been re- 
 markably uninterrupted. We are now in an age of 
 abundance, and even of luxury. The old manner of liv- 
 ing of the fathers and grandfathers, which was, as it 
 were, that of a country village, or of a town of moderate 
 pretensions, has been exchanged for that of a large and 
 wealthy metropolis. The accumulations of property
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 have become great, and in some cases enormous, and the 
 differences and separations between individual men, or 
 classes of men, which are a natural consequence of this 
 fact, have come to be a marked feature of the new age. 
 Our institutions of learning, of course, are participants 
 in this changed order of things. "The rich and the poor 
 meet together" in our college life, in a certain sense, 
 in these now passing years, as they did not in the middle 
 years of the century that has just come to its end. All 
 were at that time more nearly on a common level. There 
 were, as already intimated, so few rich young men in 
 the membership that they were scarcely worthy of reck- 
 oning, as far as the general life of the community was 
 concerned. 
 
 The institution itself has also increased in its resources 
 and property, in a remarkable degree, within the half- 
 century. Its buildings for the accommodation of its 
 students, and the provisions and facilities for comfort- 
 able living which it furnishes, are far beyond the thought 
 of either undergraduates or teachers in 1849. We are 
 living and moving, whether within the university gates 
 or outside of them, in an altogether new world, as 
 related to this whole sphere of our life. For myself, I 
 may say that I think we are living in a happier era that 
 the new times are better than the old. Very few of the 
 men of my own class, or of the classes that were grad- 
 uated in the years nearly contemporaneous with my 
 college life, would as I believe wish, if the possibility 
 were offered, to have their successors in their families 
 limited to the measure of comforts, in their outward 
 surroundings, which they themselves knew when they 
 were young. Certainly they do not thus limit them- 
 selves or their children in their own homes. 
 
 We college men were a democratic community, in 
 those days in one view of the matter because there 
 was nothing to prevent our being so; because there was 
 58
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 nothing in our daily life and experience to suggest the 
 thought of our being anything else. There are persons 
 at the present time strange as it may seem, there are 
 college graduates, and recent college graduates who 
 apparently have the idea that the University community 
 cannot, in the new era, continue to be democratic unless 
 all of the membership are brought to the same level of 
 expenditures, and that there is a danger to the life of the 
 democracy in the provision of buildings of architectural 
 beauty or of the comforts which pertain to the better 
 class of modern homes. That this view is without 
 foundation even as the view, if held by any in the 
 past or with reference to the past, that the old democratic 
 life was wholly dependent for its existence on the limita- 
 tions which pertained to all alike, was utterly baseless, 
 is manifest so soon as we get the true idea of what the 
 democratic spirit is. The men of fifty years ago had 
 this spirit, not because there were no hindrances in the 
 way of its entrance into their lives, but because, as mem- 
 bers of the Yale fraternity, they inherited from the 
 fathers of the earlier days of the College history the 
 great foundation principles of the true Yale life. Had 
 the inspiration had no deeper source than that which 
 was found in accidental or temporary surrounding cir- 
 cumstances, it would have been worthless as a moving 
 force for noble living. 
 
 The same thing is true to-day. It will be so always. 
 If the democratic spirit animating our University is now, 
 or ever becomes in the future, so weak and unmanly that 
 it cannot endure inequalities in resources or expenditures 
 in the means of satisfying the desire for special com- 
 forts or even luxuries, or gratifying the artistic taste it 
 will be unworthy of its origin; it will have contradicted 
 its earlier self. The old spirit was one that estimated 
 men according to their manhood, and not according to 
 their surroundings or possessions. It believed in the 
 
 59
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 superiority of the man to his accidents. But it did not 
 demand that the possessions or accidental things of all 
 in the community should be exactly the same. It was 
 a manly, and not pusillanimous spirit. It did not abide 
 in continual fears lest some new danger might be threat- 
 ening its further existence, or manifest itself by constant 
 appeals for help that all obstacles or hindrances might 
 be put out of the way. I rejoice that we men of 1849 
 had it as truly as we had, and that it still remains with 
 us. I have no apprehensions as to its losing its vital 
 force or passing away, if the men of the present and 
 the coming time will recognize for and in themselves the 
 essence of its life-power, and not mistake it for what it 
 is not. 
 
 As a natural consequence of the condition of the 
 country with reference to wealth and all things bearing 
 upon it, the opportunities opening to young men of 
 college education in the commercial and financial spheres 
 were, in those earlier days, comparatively few and rare. 
 Moreover, the general sentiment of business men did not 
 favor the employment of such young persons in their 
 enterprises. They believed that the training for busi- 
 ness life should be in business houses a training con- 
 nected with practical experience and that the studies 
 and discipline of a college course, whatever value they 
 might have in relation to other callings, had the tendency 
 to render the youth unfit for meeting the special demands 
 of their own department of life's work. A marked 
 change, in this regard, has taken place within the last 
 ten or fifteen years, and new views of the whole subject 
 are rapidly gaining ground among commercial men. 
 But there were few, if indeed any signs of this change 
 until a time considerably later than our college period. 
 The field of science also, as a field for life-work, was 
 scarcely open at that date. The beginnings of the new 
 60
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 age were visible to thoughtful minds, but the realization 
 of what we see to-day was only in the dim and distant 
 future. 
 
 The young men who studied in our colleges in those 
 years were, accordingly, almost altogether of the classes 
 that were directed by the will or judgment of their 
 parents, or were moved by their own impulses, towards 
 professional life in one or another of what were called 
 the three learned professions. Of these three profes- 
 sions, that of the law and that of the ministry drew to 
 themselves by far the larger number the students of 
 medicine being then mainly persons who had not pursued 
 .college studies. Thirty-five of the ninety-four class- 
 mates who graduated in 1849 became lawyers; twenty- 
 five studied theology; seven entered medical schools; 
 while only nine chose for themselves a mercantile or 
 business life. We were in this sense and the same was 
 the case with other classes of our era a homogeneous 
 body in a far higher degree than the students of more 
 recent times, since the occurrence of the changes to which 
 allusion has been made, and the wide-reaching develop- 
 ment of the elective system that has been contempo- 
 raneous with them. We were, as I may say, men of 
 common purpose, satisfied with the studies prescribed 
 for us, which seemed adapted to prepare us for the 
 professional courses that would open afterwards, and 
 happy in the thought of the scholarly and educated life 
 to which we had been called. 
 
 We were not more studious, in the measure of our 
 studying, than our successors in these later years. We 
 were, however perhaps I may say with truth more 
 exclusively studious, or more given to study to the ex- 
 clusion of other things, than they are. We had fewer 
 other things to draw off our attention or interest our 
 minds, and we knew nothing, in our experience, of that 
 student life in presence of the public, if I may so 
 61
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 describe it, which is now so conspicuous in all our institu- 
 tions. I am sure that we thought more of the intellectual 
 in comparison with the physical in education than college 
 men, or even their parents, do to-day. It may be, I 
 think, that we dwelt more in the inner life. We were 
 indolent and careless, many of us; as boys, and men also, 
 often are. We were not praiseworthy beyond those 
 who have followed us. But by reason of the community 
 of thought and purpose, of which I have spoken as 
 connected with the educational ideas of the time, we had 
 a certain oneness or harmony of intellectual life that 
 cannot be so easily realized amid the multitude of studies 
 and of interests now appealing to the tastes of different 
 minds. This oneness or harmony was a good thing in 
 itself. It was helpful in developing that friendly senti- 
 ment, or class feeling, uniting the brotherhood, which 
 has been so marked and admirable a characteristic of 
 our Yale life throughout the century. It had, perchance, 
 an influence in rendering the sentiment a thoughtful one 
 pertaining to the deeper mind and soul. But it was 
 not essential to the existence of the sentiment, which is 
 as manifest now as it ever was. I have called attention 
 to it only because it was one of the things which marked 
 our college years, and in the experience of which we had 
 a privilege; not a privilege greater than others have 
 enjoyed in more recent times, but a peculiar one which 
 had its own gift for our class life and our individual 
 lives. 
 
 Another influence for unity in college sentiment and 
 feeling, at the time when we were students, had its origin 
 in the large societies, which included in their member- 
 ship all the undergraduates. There were, indeed, three 
 of these societies, and there were rivalries between the 
 two larger ones the third was limited almost exclusively 
 to students from the Southern States. But notwith- 
 62
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 standing the divisions connected with them, and their 
 friendly strifes, they had nothing of that exclusiveness 
 or separating tendency which so often pertains to 
 smaller, and especially to secret clubs, consisting of only 
 fifteen or twenty members. Every one could enter these 
 large associations. Their privileges were open to all 
 alike, and all were welcomed heartily to a share in them. 
 The fact that there were two or three societies, and that 
 the student in his earliest college days made his choice 
 between them, and gave himself to the one which he had 
 chosen, affected but in a very slight degree the freedom 
 of the class intercourse and friendship. Where one-half 
 of the entire academic community was found in one 
 society, and one-half in another, it was, of course, impos- 
 sible for either body to confine itself to narrow social 
 limits. The condition of things was as if all the com- 
 munity had been in one association, or as if there had 
 been no society at all, except that which was coincident 
 with the individual classes. 
 
 The purpose of these large societies, also, that of 
 cultivating the power of speaking in public discussions 
 or debates, was quite in accordance with a unity of 
 spirit in the community. The era like those which 
 preceded it, but unlike those that have followed was an 
 era of debating. Great questions bearing upon the 
 development, and even the permanence, of the national 
 life, were assuming immense importance in the public 
 thought, and the universal belief was that they could not 
 be settled except by open and free discussion. The young 
 men of the time, it was held, must be educated to meet 
 these questions, not only in the privacy of their own 
 minds, but in the vigorous and fierce conflicts of opinion 
 which were sure to arise in large assemblies and in the 
 presence of multitudes. An education which did not 
 include debating was, consequently, felt to be incomplete. 
 It was an education which might discipline and 
 
 63
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 strengthen the mental faculties, but which did not give 
 the power to use them effectively in the sphere of public 
 life. The retiring scholar could, indeed, be permitted 
 to keep silent, but the man of the world must know how 
 to speak, and to speak in controversy with an antagonist. 
 The students, accordingly, were moved as by a common 
 impulse an impulse starting from within themselves, 
 and also coming to them from the world outside to 
 give their efforts and enthusiasm to these organizations 
 which seemed to be so useful, and which even supple- 
 mented in a most desirable way the education derived 
 from the college studies. They were strengthened by 
 this impulse in the unity of their life. 
 
 The limitations of numbers in the academic body, 
 and in the several classes, may also be mentioned as 
 having had a unifying influence. The entire member- 
 ship of the undergraduate College in 1849 was but little 
 larger than that of the class of 1900 at the beginning 
 of its course. The individual classes of the period num- 
 bered only about one hundred. The acquaintance of the 
 whole body of students, except for certain hindrances 
 naturally arising from class distinctions, might as a 
 consequence have been formed at that time, by each 
 young man, almost as easily as that of all one's own 
 classmates can be formed now. Certainly, it is a matter 
 of much less difficulty to gain a measure of what may be 
 called intimate knowledge of a company of a hundred 
 members, than of one which consists of three hundred 
 and fifty. We of the earlier era had this advantage, as 
 connected with the fact that we were a comparatively 
 small brotherhood. The stimulating influence which 
 comes from a larger community, however, we could not 
 fully know. 
 
 As a result of all these causes, and of the general 
 influences of the academic life at Yale, we became a 
 64
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 united body soon after the beginning of our course, and 
 we grew stronger in our sentiment and sympathy as a 
 fraternity with each advancing year. There were di- 
 visions among us sometimes between parties, sometimes 
 between individuals. But there were none, I think, that 
 survived the college period; and, in this matter of class 
 spirit and kindly feeling, I doubt whether there has ever 
 been, in the two centuries, a company of students within 
 the gates of the institution more thoroughly one in 
 heart and mind, than the company which met together 
 as strangers in 1845, and bade each other a loving fare- 
 well in 1849. 
 
 Let me now recall some other, and perhaps minor 
 things, connected with the life of our college years. 
 The subjects which we used to discuss in the larger 
 societies how momentous some of them seemed to us; 
 how far away in the distance of the past they seem now ! 
 How remote we then thought any possible decision of 
 them must be; how strange we are prone to think now 
 that the decision could ever have been in doubt ! The 
 great question of slavery was, at that time, uppermost 
 in all minds. The irrepressible conflict was indeed 
 already beginning, though many did not fully appreciate 
 the fact; and the dangers of the future were threatening 
 on every side. What would be the result of the con- 
 troversy in the coming time? What ought to be the 
 result? Would the slave-power ever be overcome? 
 Would the nation ever be, in the true and full sense, a 
 free nation? This was the problem of the century. 
 Few of us dared to hope that it would be solved within 
 the limits of the century. We college boys discussed 
 the question. We contended about it. We exercised 
 and cultivated our oratorical powers. We divided into 
 parties, according to our residences whether in the north 
 or south, and our prejudices whether on the conservative 
 
 65
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 or. progressive side. We did everything that was open 
 to us to do, as we thought. But we could not foresee 
 the early future, or what it had of promise in itself. 
 And now it is all a matter of history of a by-gone 
 generation, as it were and the young college boys of 
 to-day, and of the recent days, cannot comprehend the 
 interest with which we bring back to our remembrance 
 the old uncertainties of the struggle and the blessing of 
 the grand result. 
 
 Or again to mention other questions how strange 
 it seems to us now, to recall our old discussions respecting 
 the gold of California; whether its discovery was likely 
 to be of advantage or disadvantage to the welfare of the 
 country. We thought then that AVC might not live to 
 see the question settled. Or looking abroad how 
 eagerly we discussed the possible results of the revolu- 
 tionary movements of 1848 in Europe; or, again, look- 
 ing backward, how earnestly we argued the matter of 
 England's treatment of the first Napoleon. These were 
 questions of the present or the past, which had a living 
 interest for us then. The events of 1848 occurred in 
 our Junior year. The first great migration following 
 the Gold fever, as it was called, took place when we 
 were Seniors. The battle of Waterloo was, at that 
 time, one of the last great battles of history, and Ameri- 
 can travelers in Europe visited the battle-field with 
 eagerness of desire. The fall of Napoleon and his fate 
 were not things of which we had only read in books 
 relating to the past, but they were matters of which our 
 fathers had told us as belonging within their own life- 
 time. It is hard for us now to persuade ourselves that 
 they were ever nearer to us than they are to the college 
 men of these later years. But they were the old ques- 
 tions and the old events, and we have lived to see the 
 new men and the new times. 
 66
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 As for the smaller societies, there were several of them 
 already existing at the beginning of our college years. 
 There were more when we graduated, for our Class 
 established three new ones for itself; one in the Fresh- 
 man, another in the Sophomore, and a third in the Senior 
 year. We solved in this way a difficult problem which 
 is sometimes presented in the academic community, and 
 which has, even recently, occasioned much perplexity and 
 excitement. We made the natural, and probably the 
 only satisfactory provision for the worthy men who 
 could not, by reason of the limitations of numbers, find 
 a place in the membership of the societies already in 
 existence. These three societies, originating with us, 
 were handed down to the classes which followed our 
 own, and had a vigorous and successful life for a con- 
 siderable period of years. They are now, however, and 
 for a long time have been, altogether of the past. The 
 Freshman Society ceased to exist, through a kind of 
 wasting of its own vital forces. The one belonging to 
 the Sophomore year met its fate, as did the others of 
 its class, through a decree of the College which abolished 
 all alike ; while the one for the Senior Class passed away 
 I scarcely know how it was followed, however, after 
 a time, by another still existing, which though having, 
 so far as I am aware, no connection with it whatever, yet 
 in a certain sense may be said to have taken its place. 
 
 All these smaller societies were of what is called the 
 secret order. Some of them so far as my own class 
 was concerned seemed to me to be of comparatively 
 little value to our intellectual or social life. I would 
 not affirm that this was due to weaknesses inherent in 
 the organization of the different societies. It may have 
 been, and no doubt was in large measure, the result of 
 circumstances peculiar to our membership and our era. 
 They had, in general, very considerable power and 
 influence in the College community especially those 
 67
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 pertaining to the Senior year but not as much, by any 
 means, as they have to-day. They had no conspicuous 
 buildings devoted to their uses. There was no public 
 demonstration of any kind connected with the choice or 
 admission of new members. The entire movement of 
 their life from year to year was recognized by all as 
 fitly and completely limited within its own sphere. The 
 other and larger associations satisfied, in a measure, the 
 desire for fellowship and friendly union. For these 
 reasons there was less of eager curiosity to know what 
 the small societies offered to their membership, and a 
 less universal desire for participation in it. I think 
 that comparatively few of my classmates had any over- 
 burdening anxiety as to their own election even into the 
 Senior fraternities. When the question for each and all 
 was settled, the favored ones were happy and satisfied, 
 but those to whom the new experience was denied were 
 not greatly disappointed or disheartened. 
 
 The existence and the growth in numbers and in 
 influence of the smaller and secret societies have been 
 regarded by many persons, at different times, as among 
 the chief causes of the decline and passing away of the 
 larger associations. From my own long-continued and 
 close observation of college life at Yale, I am convinced 
 that this is not the fact. The larger associations de- 
 pended for their permanent existence and success on the 
 old-time sentiment with respect to debating and the old 
 admiration for the oratory of the earlier part of the 
 century. The two things on which their life rested 
 passed away, especially in New England and its neigh- 
 borhood; and, as if by a necessity, the life passed with 
 them. The old style of oratory of the legal profession 
 is utterly of the by-gone days. That which then char- 
 acterized the pulpit has mainly disappeared. Even that 
 which was displayed in legislative and Congressional 
 assemblies has undergone such changes that the few
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 genuine specimens of the original style, which are occa- 
 sionally exhibited, excite a feeling of amusement rather 
 than of respect. We are in a new era, and college men 
 debate now with a view to prizes, and more after the 
 manner of newspaper discussions than in that of the old 
 debating halls. 
 
 That the smaller societies according to the ordinary 
 rule and condition of their life brought their member- 
 ship into closer relations of personal friendship, than 
 the larger ones could, was, of course, the fact. In this 
 way, their growth may have been injurious to these large 
 associations, but I do not believe that they were so, in 
 any considerable degree, at the critical point of the his- 
 tory for they had existed in numbers and in strength 
 for a quarter of a century or more before the critical 
 time came, and no harmful effect seemed to have become 
 manifest. 
 
 But turning aside from this question there can be 
 no doubt as to the positive influence of the smaller bodies 
 on the development of friendship among their members. 
 This was especially true of the societies pertaining to 
 the Senior year, and naturally so, in view of the fact 
 that in our College, as contrasted with many others, the 
 active membership in the fraternities of the earlier years 
 ceased when those years came to their end. The men 
 who were united in the fraternity fellowship as Seniors 
 came together, accordingly, as a small and selected 
 company, in the latest period of their course, when their 
 minds and characters had developed to the highest point 
 of college life; when the great questions of their future, 
 with the seriousness attendant upon them, were rising 
 before all alike; and when the very approach of the end 
 of the happy period, which they had found so full of 
 blessing, was bringing a sadness of spirit that could not 
 but make the heart open itself with tenderness and sym- 
 pathy. They met at the outset in their new relations, 
 
 69
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 and continued to meet as the days and weeks passed by, 
 with readiness to give and receive the best of influence 
 in their power. They met, and continued to meet, with 
 the utmost freedom in the interchange of their deepest 
 and most helpful thoughts; with an intimacy which car- 
 ried with it the promise of the future; and with a 
 generosity of soul that enriched each one as it grew 
 within himself, while it also enriched all others as it 
 went outward in its gifts from him to them. They 
 entered thus into, and abode for a year of manly youth- 
 ful life in, a thoughtful, helpful, inspiring, elevating, 
 character-building friendship with men whom they could 
 know with a very deep and penetrating knowledge. If 
 the companies selected were only what it was fitting that 
 they should be, one could not wonder that the hearts of 
 all were moved by the happy experiences, and afterwards 
 by the happy memories. 
 
 The company which I thus met for my Senior year, 
 and my association with which made me glad that I 
 had been offered the privilege of membership and had 
 accepted it, was one well fitted to be helpful to me. In 
 some views of the matter at least, I needed for my best 
 and happiest growth the peculiar help that was given. 
 I may not tell of what we did as we met together. I 
 cannot recall much of what we talked about, or thought, 
 in our communion with each other. The details of the 
 old life are gone. But the man, and the men, what 
 they have been, and what they are, in the inmost and 
 noblest manhood, is the outgrowth of the influences of 
 that fellowship, even as it Is of the love and the inspira- 
 tion of the early home and the later home. 
 
 The unity of the larger and broader life was a great 
 
 blessing of my college years. The unity of the narrower 
 
 and more limited life was an equal, or even greater 
 
 blessing. It was my good fortune to enjoy the gifts 
 
 70
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 which came from both, and to make them, in their 
 effective force, a permanent possession. 
 
 There was another influence which had a certain help- 
 fulness, in our Senior year, with reference to the matter 
 of our friendly association. It was not of advantage 
 to us in all lines of our college life, but was so in some 
 measure in this one line. I refer to the arrangements 
 of the studies of the year which gave us less work to 
 do, and therefore afforded more leisure for friendly 
 association, than the system of these later times allows. 
 In the period of Dr. Day's Presidency certainly, in the 
 closing part of it the Senior class had no early morning 
 recitations, before the breakfast hour, and a very moder- 
 ate number at other hours. The same was the case in 
 the first year of Dr. Woolsey's administration. A 
 change was made, introducing the recitation before 
 breakfast for this class, at the beginning of the academic 
 year 1 847-48 that is to say, the Senior year of the class 
 preceding my own. I well remember the disturbance of 
 the equanimity of that class, and the emphasis of their 
 opposition to "the abandonment of immemorial usage" 
 and the imposition of unwonted hardships. The good 
 old times of privilege, and of elegant Senior leisure, 
 were evidently gone by forever; and as for the rights 
 of man of educated man what was there to be said? 
 
 But, as has been oftentimes the case in the college 
 world, when a new year had begun, and a new class, 
 which had adjusted its mind to the change as fully estab- 
 lished, entered upon the work of its closing year, all were 
 reconciled to the inevitable indeed, all thought the in- 
 evitable very reasonable. We Seniors of 1849 went 
 about our daily business as if the arrangements and rules 
 had always been in existence. Strange to say so op- 
 posite was our sentiment to that of the class preceding 
 ours we thought of ourselves as having a satisfactorily 
 
 71
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 easy and pleasant year. At the opening of the autumn 
 term we found that we were called upon for six exercises 
 a week at the early morning hour one of them being a 
 lecture. These exercises were in the departments of 
 Mental Philosophy and History, one half of them in 
 each. We had a lecture every day, at noon, from the 
 elder Professor Silliman on Chemistry, and in the after- 
 noons of four days we had lectures on Oratory, or exer- 
 cises in the study of Demosthenes on the Crown. These 
 last-mentioned exercises were two in number weekly. In 
 the first, the professor translated a brief section of the 
 oration to the students, and in the second, they were 
 expected to translate the same section to him. The 
 translations given by the students were naturally made 
 without special difficulty, and were easily brought into 
 correspondence with those of the professor. The studies 
 of the two remaining terms were arranged much after 
 the same manner, and the demands upon the student's 
 powers and efforts were scarcely more exacting. I re- 
 member saying, one day, to the leading scholar of the 
 class in allusion to the complaints made in the previous 
 year that, if the Seniors had ever had less work re- 
 quired of them than we were called to do, it might have 
 been better to dismiss students from all connection with 
 college duties at the close of the Junior year, only asking 
 them to return for their diplomas at the appointed time. 
 But if I had entered the Class of 1 848, as I have already 
 said that I expected to do, I should no doubt have shared 
 their feeling, and complained of the setting aside of 
 customs and the invasion of ancient freedom. 
 
 A college community is a peculiar one in many lines. 
 It is so in the matters kindred to that of which I am 
 writing. In one sense, college students are thoroughly 
 progressive. In another, they are extremely conserva- 
 tive. An immemorial custom can be established in a 
 shorter time in a college than anywhere else ; and, when 
 72
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 established, the resistance to any change is, at the outset, 
 more urgent and more unanimous than in any other place. 
 The ease with which a custom becomes immemorial is 
 due, no doubt, to the rapidly changing membership of 
 the community. The Freshman of to-day knows sub- 
 stantially nothing of the immediate past. The Senior 
 knows little of what preceded his own college generation. 
 The life of the existing brotherhood is an intensely 
 present life, as if nothing different had gone before, and 
 nothing new or better ought to come afterward. But if 
 the new thing is actually introduced, and thus becomes a 
 fact that cannot be avoided, the same rapidity of change 
 in the community renders the acceptance of the new, 
 after a little time, a matter of less difficulty; and the 
 agitations of one academic year or generation readily 
 pass into the quietness and peacefulness of the next. 
 Illustrative examples might be given in abundance. One 
 of the most memorable in the recent years was that 
 connected with the removal of the old College fence, 
 at the corner of Chapel and College streets. The re- 
 moval was rendered necessary in order that Osborn Hall 
 might be erected. But it was opposed with the utmost 
 vigor. So strong was the feeling, that even graduates 
 whose college life preceded by many years the introduc- 
 tion of what may be called "the fence custom," were led 
 to maintain that the institution might well give up all 
 other uses of that most valuable part of the grounds for 
 all time, in order that the "old things" should not pass 
 away. A short period elapsed, however, and no one 
 remained in the undergraduate community who had ever 
 seen the fence which had been thought so essential. 
 The life of the new men was adjusted to the new condi- 
 tions, and the dangers that were supposed to threaten 
 the continuance of Yale sympathies and friendships were 
 seen to have passed away. 
 
 But to return to the relation of our Senior studies to 
 
 73
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 our friendly association, from which this digression has 
 been made; of course, we had more leisure for such 
 association by reason of the arrangements described, 
 than would have been possible under a different system. 
 As this comparatively greater leisure, also, coincided in 
 time with that more full development of our acquaint- 
 ance with one another which pertained to our last year 
 of college life, it contributed in an appreciable measure 
 to the unity of the class sentiment and feeling. 
 
 In this connection, I may likewise allude to a special 
 time of leisure, or a special privilege in this regard, 
 which we enjoyed in common with those who went 
 before us, but which was continued only for a brief 
 period after our graduation. The arrangement of the 
 year for the Seniors placed the Class or "Presentation" 
 Day, as it was called, six weeks before the public Com- 
 mencement. All studies for the class ceased at Presenta- 
 tion Day, and the six following weeks were a vacation 
 season. With the freedom of communication between 
 various and even distant parts of the country to which 
 we are now accustomed, such a season would, of course, 
 find the students widely scattered during almost its entire 
 continuance. But in those days, the facilities for travel- 
 ing were comparatively limited the railroad from New 
 Haven to New York, for example, was not completed 
 until near the middle point of our Senior year and the 
 return of most of the classmates to their homes for so 
 brief a time was, accordingly, impracticable. As a con- 
 sequence, almost all of the company remained at the 
 College during these weeks which, it will be remembered, 
 were in the midst of the summer, when the city was in 
 its greatest beauty and the words "beneath the elms" 
 had their deepest meaning. 
 
 Under such circumstances and conditions with free- 
 dom from all college responsibilities; with a gratifying 
 sense of realized results; with just enough thought of the 
 
 74
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 approaching end, to add to our mutual affection, and 
 just enough feeling that the end was not yet at hand, to 
 make us cheerful; with a little mingling, I fear I must 
 add, of a too human satisfaction in the knowledge that 
 the under-class men were still called to rise early in the 
 morning, and to study Philosophy and Greek and 
 Mathematics, while we were not we gave ourselves to 
 the enjoyment of each others' society and to the happi- 
 ness of men whose graduation was assured. Years after- 
 ward, the words of a young student of the Class of 
 1862 were reported to me by a friend in that class. 
 He said, "Yale College would be a most interesting and 
 delightful place, if only all the literary and religious ex- 
 ercises were omitted." If there was any truth in this 
 remark, we classmates of 1849 had an experience of it in 
 those lovely summer days, when all of the College life 
 was over, and yet all was not over. 
 
 No such arrangement of the year, as I suppose, would 
 be either practicable or wise, in the present era. Even if 
 it could be made with wisdom as related to the best inter- 
 ests of study, the season of leisure could not realize for 
 those to whom it was given the old rich results, because 
 the men would not linger on the College grounds, nor 
 spend the days in the final cementing of friendships and 
 in strengthening one another for the coming time. But 
 memory goes back to what belonged to the bygone life 
 and recalls with gladness the happy things which it 
 offered to us. So my remembrance rests upon that brief 
 pleasant time; and with a satisfaction which has no in- 
 termingling of selfishness, for I know that the Seniors 
 of to-day would not enjoy the season as we did, if the 
 opportunity were given them. They would hasten to 
 other scenes, and other friendly meetings. 
 
 75
 
 VI. 
 
 Religious Exercises and Preaching of the Period- 
 Course of Study and Daily Student Life. 
 
 THE religious exercises of the College in my stu- 
 dent days, and for a long time afterwards, 
 included two Church services, with preaching, 
 on Sunday, and also morning and evening prayers on 
 that day, as well as on all the other days of the 
 week. The College preacher was Professor Eleazar 
 T. Fitch, who was elected to the Livingston Pro- 
 fessorship, as it was then called, in the year 1817, 
 a few months after the death of the first Presi- 
 dent Dwight. At the time of the entrance of my 
 class into the academic community, he had occupied his 
 position for twenty-eight years and was about fifty-four 
 years of age. In accordance with the usage which had 
 been handed down from previous generations, he de- 
 voted the morning service of each Sunday to the pre- 
 sentation of theological doctrines thus giving, in the 
 course of two or three years, a system of theology in the 
 form of sermons. These "system sermons" were 
 preached, again and again, during successive periods, so 
 that every class heard all of them within the time of 
 its academic career, and some of them even more than 
 once. In the afternoons, the sermons were of a more 
 general and practical character, and were of greater in- 
 terest to many of the hearers because they seemed to be 
 less technically scientific. It was the common custom of 
 the period, to which educated and Christian families 
 almost universally conformed, to attend Church services
 
 PROFESSOR ELEAZAR T. FITCH
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 twice on the days set apart for public worship; and, as 
 the great majority of the students were members of such 
 families, there was comparatively little complaint with 
 reference to the rules of the College in this regard. 
 Morning and evening prayers were, also, so thoroughly 
 in accordance with the habits of religious households in 
 those days, that it was not considered strange that the 
 same daily custom should exist in an institution of learn- 
 ing, or that attendance upon such exercises should be re- 
 quired. It would rather have seemed strange, if it had 
 been otherwise. 
 
 Dr. Fitch was called to his position in the College 
 pulpit when he was only twenty-six years old. and shortly 
 after he had completed his course of study in the An- 
 dover Theological Seminary. He was, however, re- 
 garded as a young man of remarkable ability and 
 promise, and great hopes were entertained for him at the 
 beginning of his public career. These hopes were 
 abundantly justified in the earliest period of his official 
 life. It was, indeed, a severe test for the powers of a 
 youthful minister, to be asked to equal the demands of a 
 cultured audience of professors and students who had 
 either listened with admiration to the discourses of Dr. 
 Dwight, or heard of them from their fathers and friends. 
 But Professor Fitch met the test successfully, and for 
 many years he was held in the greatest esteem as a 
 preacher by the entire academic community his ser- 
 mons being highly appreciated because of the intellectual 
 force manifested in them and the spiritually stimulating 
 influence by which they were characterized. He was 
 certainly, in his mental gifts, one of the most remarkable 
 men whom the College Faculty has ever had in the circle 
 of its membership. He was a theologian, a metaphysi- 
 cian, a preacher, a poet, and a musician. He also pos- 
 sessed rare mechanical skill, and was a lover of nature in 
 no ordinary degree. Considered in the full measure and 
 
 77
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 the variety of his powers, he had no superior among the 
 eminent scholars and teachers who were associated with 
 him. I believe this to be the judgment of those who 
 were most thoroughly acquainted with the whole circle 
 of men. He had, however, a nervous intensity or an in- 
 tense nervousness which greatly interfered with his 
 steady and quiet working power. For this reason, the 
 composition of sermons was often a matter of the great- 
 est mental and even physical strain, and sometimes the 
 delivery of a discourse was an occasion of noticeable 
 embarrassment. For this reason, also, during a large 
 portion, if not indeed the whole of his more public life, 
 he felt himself unable to speak before large audiences 
 extemporaneously, or without a fully prepared manu- 
 script. Probably no able preacher in the course of New 
 England history has ever experienced this impeding in- 
 fluence in the way of his most wide-reaching and com- 
 plete success in larger measure than did he throughout 
 his ministry. 
 
 As a result in part of this peculiar element in his 
 mental constitution, and in part of the custom of the 
 time with reference to the repetition of the sermons on 
 theology, as well as of the rapid succession of classes 
 which rendered the repetition of other sermons more 
 easy and natural, Dr. Fitch became less productive, in 
 the matter of new discourses, as he advanced in years. 
 In consequence of this fact, his power over his student 
 audiences gradually diminished after the middle of his 
 official career. In my own college days it was not as 
 great as it had been at an earlier period. Even in my 
 time, however, his discourses were stimulating and awak- 
 ening to every intellectual and thoughtful man among 
 the undergraduates, and their power for the whole com- 
 pany was clearly manifest as soon as any other preacher 
 occupied the pulpit. The visiting preacher's sermon was 
 immediately subjected by the student mind to a com- 
 78
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 parison with those of the Professor, and to a very strict 
 and severe judgment. The decision was rarely in favor 
 of the stranger. 
 
 I remember a remark of the well-known historical 
 lecturer of the last generation, Dr. John Lord, when 
 speaking of a celebrated French woman of the eighteenth 
 century who lived to a very advanced age. "She retained 
 her powers in their fullness," he said, "as indeed most 
 people do who exercise their powers." If the good Pro- 
 fessor had not been prevented, by the causes mentioned, 
 from exercising his powers continually in writing new 
 sermons, as he was ready to use them in other lines, he 
 might well have been equally effective as a preacher to 
 the end of his career. Occasionally, however, he put 
 forth his energies in this way, and at one time, near the 
 close of my college life or soon afterward, he did so for 
 months together and with an effect upon his hearers 
 which showed that there were still present in him the 
 strength and vigor of the earlier days. 
 
 The preaching of that period in the College pulpit 
 differed in many respects from that to which we have 
 become accustomed in these recent years. Even when it 
 limited itself to the more practical sphere, it was in a far 
 higher degree argumentative than it now is as if the 
 discussion of questions and the defense of positions taken 
 in connection with them were regarded as essential. 
 Theological doctrine, though it might not be pressed 
 directly upon the hearer's attention as the chief end and 
 purpose of a discourse, had always a certain marked 
 prominence given to it in its bearing upon the theme 
 under consideration. The setting forth of the way of 
 salvation for the individual man was never lost sight of, 
 and the necessity of moving forward in that way, if one 
 desired to attain assured hope, rarely failed to be sug- 
 gested by the development of the thought, when it was 
 not distinctly declared or urged. Sermons had, if I may 
 
 79
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 so express it, a more philosophical character. They 
 corresponded more fully, in this regard, to the lectures 
 which were given in other departments of instruction, 
 and assumed on the part of those who listened to them 
 an interest in thoughtful discussion. The preacher had, 
 in general if not indeed always, the feeling that his 
 audience, though mainly ^composed of young men just 
 approaching maturity, could be fitly addressed after the 
 manner in which he, and others of his profession, were 
 wont to speak to those who were farther advanced in 
 age. It was an intelligent audience, open in the same 
 way, if not indeed in the same full measure, to religious 
 ideas and Christian thinking, and therefore did not need 
 to be dealt with as if its life and thought were peculiar 
 to itself or apart from the world outside. For these 
 reasons, whatever may be said of the spiritual effect of 
 the preaching as compared with that of the present era, 
 I think its stimulating influence for the intellectual pow- 
 ers was greater and more constant. It had a force for 
 the education of the man which has, in some degree, 
 been lessened or lost. This loss, as it seems to me at 
 least, when considered in itself alone, and aside from 
 the matter in its other relations is much to be regretted. 
 Dr. Fitch's discourses demanded and excited mental 
 activity on the student's part as truly as did the teachings 
 or lectures of any other instructor whom he was called to 
 meet in his academic career. I think that, in this re- 
 gard, they were helpful in no ordinary measure, and a 
 real blessing, to the men who were my college contempo- 
 raries. They were, no doubt, too argumentative and 
 had more of what I have ventured to call the philosoph- 
 ical character than one could have desired. They were 
 liable at times, perchance, to the charge made against 
 them by a young man in one of the classes that followed 
 my own, when he said it was a hardship, after having 
 had mathematics all the week, to be obliged to have it 
 80
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 again on Sundays. But they had in them thoughts and 
 a course of thought which were not only interesting and 
 suggestive, but in a special sense disciplinary for the 
 mind a good thing, surely, for a college youth who is 
 to live in the sphere of educated life. And as for mathe- 
 matics, I cannot help feeling that it might be even a 
 pleasure to have it introduced occasionally by a preacher 
 on Sundays in this era, as a relief from the constantly 
 repeated allusions to athletics to which we have been 
 obliged to accustom ourselves. The young men of the 
 academic company would be almost ready, I think, to 
 unite with me in this sentiment. 
 
 Sermons were ordinarily much longer then than they 
 are to-day. If the preacher continued his discourse for 
 fifty minutes, the hearer did not become wearied or in- 
 attentive, unless indeed the thoughts presented, or the 
 manner of presenting them, proved to be devoid of 
 interest. Even young persons and college students had 
 much of the same patience in receiving instruction from 
 the pulpit which they had when it came from the teach- 
 er's desk. The custom of the time allowed a similar 
 lengthening of discourse in both cases; and custom, as 
 we know, has great determinative force in all such mat- 
 ters. Within the last few years a complete change has 
 been realized, and the college preachers now appear to 
 regard themselves as limited to one-half of the time 
 which was freely granted to their predecessors. They 
 seem sometimes, indeed, to vie with each other in the 
 brevity of their discourses. As illustrative of the change 
 I may mention the fact, of which Professor Thacher 
 told me not long after my graduation, that Dr. Fitch, 
 as they walked homeward from the Chapel together, 
 was wont to make some remark of an apologetic char- 
 acter in case the service had come to its end before twelve 
 o'clock. Such an apology would hardly be expected 
 now. There were times especially in the winter sea- 
 Si
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 son and in the days of the Old Chapel when some of 
 those who were younger then than they now are would 
 have been quite contented, if the Doctor himself had not 
 felt that it was called for. I shall never forget the 
 impression made upon my own mind, on a very cold 
 Sunday in the period of my tutorship, when the preacher, 
 after the clock had already struck the noon hour, an- 
 nounced that he would close his discourse with a word 
 of admonition. But sermons of a thoughtful character 
 meant more when they were longer, and were, as I have 
 said, more influential to the end of strengthening the 
 mind, if not also to that of developing true character 
 and the soul's life. If they were sometimes too long in 
 the old days, they are often too short in the later time 
 too short, as they were then too long, for the best 
 results. 
 
 As connected with their length, and their argumenta- 
 tive and, oftentimes, doctrinal character, the pulpit dis- 
 courses of my college era were, in general, much more 
 definitely marked in their divisions and progress of 
 thought the divisions were, as we may say, more boldly 
 and openly set forth by the preacher as he moved on- 
 ward. In this more recent period with which we are 
 now familiar, the divisions and subdivisions are intro- 
 duced by some easy turn of thought or expression, so 
 that the hearer is borne forward to the new almost with- 
 out being aware that he is leaving the old. But then 
 everything was made as definite and distinct as possible. 
 The extreme abruptness of the preachers of a previous 
 generation had, indeed, mainly passed away an abrupt- 
 ness which must often have startled their audiences, as 
 it would seem, when at the close of their discussion of 
 a subject they uttered the word "Remarks," or "Im- 
 provement," and thus proceeded to make the practical 
 application of the truth. But it would have been deemed 
 a loss for the plainness of the argument and the lasting 
 82
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 impression of the discourse, if the leading thoughts, in 
 their succession, had not been marked by numbers. The 
 numerical designation was also generally extended to 
 the minor divisions subordinate to the main " heads," as 
 they were called, and in this way the plan of the sermon 
 was given to the hearer, to the end that he might keep it 
 in his mind. 
 
 In Dr. Fitch's sermons, as I remember them, there 
 were commonly, if not always, three leading divisions 
 which seemed, as it were, to be homiletically essential to 
 the true idea or ideal. In the development of the 
 thought pertaining to each of these, there might be three 
 or more secondary suggestions or proofs tending to 
 establish and confirm the main proposition. These be- 
 ing all numbered, like the more prominent sections, as 
 first, second, etc., it sometimes happened that the 
 enumeration became burdensome, or that the hearer, in 
 case of his momentary inattention, lost the immediate 
 bearing of the thought. The very mark that was de- 
 signed to indicate the stages of the progress might thus 
 fail of accomplishing its purpose. Particularly was this 
 the case, where the preacher distinctly mentioned, as 
 the Doctor not infrequently did, that his closing thought 
 under each leading division was the final one. The re- 
 lation of finality to the end of a discourse was thus made 
 obscure to the youthful listener, and, as a consequence, 
 he followed the speaker's words less carefully, if not 
 with less willingness, than he might otherwise have done. 
 A classmate of mine, as I remember, once awakened 
 much sympathy on the part of his associates though 
 they were at the moment passing severe criticism upon 
 the discourse of an officer of another institution which 
 had just been preached in the College Chapel by the 
 single remark: "There was, at any rate, one good point 
 in the preacher's address. When he said, Finally, the 
 sermon was more than half finished." 
 
 83
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 All these things, however, were of minor importance 
 and, as they are referred to, they only serve to indicate 
 the changes in style and manner, or in the presentation of 
 thought, by which the progress of time is marked. Dr. 
 Fitch's discourses, when viewed in relation to the history 
 of preaching in our country, may fitly be regarded as 
 having a prominent position. Though still under the 
 influence of the past in no inconsiderable measure, they 
 moved aside from and beyond the older order, and thus 
 opened the way, as we may say, towards that which is 
 best in our modern era. The theological element per- 
 taining to them, conspicuous as it was, was united with 
 the oratorical and imaginative. The poetic character of 
 the writer's mind often exhibited itself in them as clearly 
 as did its argumentative power. The movement of the 
 emotional nature was, in its appropriate place, no less 
 earnest than that of the intellect as it gave its energy to 
 the defense of doctrine and truth. The persuasive force 
 of the Gospel and its loving call to the souls of men 
 were never lost sight of or forgotten. 
 
 Preachers from outside of the College were, in those 
 days, only occasionally invited to address the students in 
 connection with the Sunday services of the Chapel. The 
 Professor of Divinity fulfilled the duties of his office 
 with almost as much regularity as was characteristic of 
 his colleagues in their several spheres of instruction. His 
 position was, in its demands in this respect, regarded by 
 himself and by others as similar to theirs. It was that 
 of a teacher, as well as that of a minister. From time to 
 time, however, when circumstances seemed to make it 
 desirable, or in case of some special religious interest 
 which was the occasion of unusual efforts, men of greater 
 or less eminence were called to speak in the Professor's 
 place and, in this way, to give their helpful influence in 
 the carrying forward of his work. Some of these men 
 were the more prominent pastors of churches in the 
 84
 
 MEMORIES OF VALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 city or its vicinity. Others were preachers from more 
 remote places who had gained for themselves high honor 
 and widely extended reputation. They belonged, of 
 course, to the older generation, as compared with our- 
 selves, and many of them were considerably advanced in 
 years. Among the more noted ones whom I recall with 
 a pleasant remembrance were Dr. Lyman Beecher; Presi- 
 dent Nott, of Union College; Dr. Francis Wayland, 
 President of Brown University; Dr. William Adams, of 
 New York, and Dr. Horace Bushnell. In the later part 
 of my undergraduate career and in the period of my 
 tutorship, Dr. Bushnell, as I think, awakened greater 
 interest on the part of the student company than any 
 other even of the most distinguished preachers. The 
 originality of his mind; his striking presentation of his 
 thoughts and their peculiar richness; his style and use of 
 language which were so characteristic of the man and 
 were so fitted to excite attention; the very differences of 
 his views from those of most of his contemporaries of 
 his own order, and the new visions of truth which he 
 opened and made beautiful all alike, and in their union 
 with each other, rendered him exceedingly attractive to 
 young men whose intellectual powers were waking to 
 manly activity and to the enjoyment of their personal 
 thinking. The years from 1849 to l %55 were those in 
 which the greatest public excitement was manifested in 
 connection with what were regarded by many as his 
 heretical and dangerous theological opinions. Possibly 
 we college men listened to him with a certain curiosity, 
 and with more strict attention, because of this fact. But 
 his sermons, which he gave to us, had very little, if any- 
 thing, in them that could have been disturbing even to 
 the most sensitive minds. They dealt rather with ques- 
 tions pertaining to the deeper experience of the soul and 
 with the beginning and growth of Christian life in the 
 85
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 individual man. In all this sphere of thought they were 
 eminently suggestive and quickening. 
 
 The difficulty which Professor Fitch experienced in 
 extemporaneous speaking was so manifest and so marked 
 that he felt himself inadequate to much of the pastoral 
 work, which is generally regarded as pertaining to the 
 preacher's office. He hesitated to undertake the services 
 connected with the minor meetings of the Church, and 
 shrank from the duty of addressing such meetings in an 
 informal way. Happily his inability, as he conceived it, 
 in this department of religious effort was abundantly 
 supplemented by Professor Chauncey A. Goodrich, who 
 had eminent gifts qualifying him for these special duties 
 and was always ready to answer to the call which they 
 made. Professor Goodrich, a classmate of Dr. Fitch 
 and appointed at the same time to a permanent office in 
 the College, became in reality the College pastor, while 
 Dr. Fitch was the College preacher. 
 
 Every student of the years between 1840 and 1858 
 whose mind turned with interest towards religious sub- 
 jects will remember the voluntary meetings in what was 
 called the Theological Chamber, in the Lyceum build- 
 ing, which were held on Sunday evenings, immediately 
 after the supper hour, and which were addressed by 
 Professor Goodrich. He was always present at these 
 meetings and always conducted the service. While as a 
 preacher and sermonizer he was marked by no special 
 ability or attractiveness, he had extraordinary power in 
 the line of speaking called for in such assemblies. He 
 was most interesting and quickening in his thought, most 
 impressive in his manner and bearing, and most urgent, 
 as well as eloquent, in his presentation of Christian truth 
 and duty. In his language, as well as his delivery, he 
 was in a high degree rhetorical, but his rhetoric was in 
 harmony with the taste and spirit of the time and was 
 86
 
 PROFESSOR CHAUNCEY A. GOODRICH
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 very effective in its influence upon undergraduate stu- 
 dents. He had indeed, in a harmless way, some of the 
 arts of the orator. These were, however, not manifest 
 enough to affect his audiences unfavorably. They les- 
 sened his power somewhat with those that heard him 
 continuously after their graduation, but the greater part 
 of the young men who listened to his words were still in 
 their college years. He was a great religious force, 
 and, if I may speak of him as compared with any other 
 single individual, he was the great religious force in the 
 student world. 
 
 During the years to which I am now making special 
 reference indeed, during all the years from 1839 to 
 the time of his death, in 1860 Professor Goodrich was 
 connected with the Faculty of the Theological Depart- 
 ment; the chair which he held was that of Pastoral 
 Theology. From 1817 to 1839, on the other hand, he 
 had been a member of the Academical Faculty, as the 
 Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory. The transference 
 from the one chair to the other was a very happy circum- 
 stance as bearing upon his influence with the undergradu- 
 ate students, and the acceptableness of his pastoral work 
 among them. In my college days, and for a very con- 
 siderable period before and after them, his relation to 
 the academic classes was entirely free from any adminis- 
 trative or disciplinary element. He met us, indeed, as a 
 lecturer for a few weeks in our Senior year, but it was 
 only as any gentleman from another department of the 
 institution, or from the outside world, might come to us 
 for a little time with interesting addresses on some special 
 subjects. We were not even reminded of the govern- 
 mental idea by being called upon for an examination 
 on the topics which he discussed. Otherwise and apart 
 from these lectures we knew him simply as a pastor; 
 and, in this relation, not as a man who had been formally 
 appointed to the discharge of the duties of the office, 
 
 87
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 but as one who, out of love for the service and interest 
 in the young men of the College, had voluntarily taken 
 the work upon himself the work of doing them good 
 in the sphere of Christian living. 
 
 It was a remarkable change from the earlier period, 
 when he was an Academical Professor. At that time he 
 had not only the ordinary official connection with the 
 undergraduate community which professors and instruct- 
 ors always have, but also in a certain peculiar sense and 
 measure he was the impersonation, as it were, of the gov- 
 ernment in its relation to the daily life of the students. 
 He had thus the most difficult and trying position which 
 any member of a College Faculty can hold, and one in 
 which a man, unless he has extraordinary wisdom and 
 tact, is almost necessarily exposed to the danger, often- 
 times, of awakening unfavorable feeling. The ideas 
 of the period with respect to strictness of discipline, to 
 which I have alluded on an earlier page, as well as the 
 peculiar character of the Professor's rhetorical nature, 
 rendered the exercise of such tact and wisdom in his 
 case almost impossible; and the result was more or less 
 disaffection on the part of the classes of students that 
 were most ready to infringe upon the College rules or, 
 in any way, come into conflict with the authorities. The 
 new condition of things which was realized in the later 
 years might well have been a source of satisfaction and 
 happiness to him. It was certainly a blessing to the 
 institution in its highest life. So completely had it be- 
 come new, when my classmates and myself entered upon 
 the experiences of the academic world, that we could 
 scarcely appreciate what the older men told us of their 
 times. 
 
 The excellent Professor had the two elements in his 
 constitution the strictly and minutely governmental 
 one, if I may so call it, and the truly large-minded one of 
 earnest and Christian desire for the good of those who
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 were even the most erring. He was in the better and 
 happier sphere of working, both as related to himself 
 and others, in the later period of twenty years when the 
 second of the two elements had its full sway, than in the 
 earlier one when the possibilities or duties of his office 
 gave greater opportunity for the intermingling of the 
 first. The wonderful success and usefulness and Chris- 
 tian power of the later part of his honored career bore 
 emphatic testimony to the wisdom of separating the 
 pastoral office from the one that has within itself the 
 details of government and discipline. 
 
 The two men Professors Fitch and Goodrich if 
 they could have been united in their powers of writing 
 and speaking; of formal and informal address; of fit- 
 ness for the preacher's and pastor's office combined, 
 would have made one man of a very remarkable order. 
 But it was better, perhaps, for the highest interests of 
 the College that they were not thus united, but that each 
 did his own work in his own sphere. It was fortunate, 
 indeed, for the institution that the two lived and labored 
 together for so many years, and that their influence 
 entered into the lives of so many of the graduates of 
 Yale. 
 
 With reference to the studies of the undergraduate 
 college course limitation was manifest everywhere in 
 those days, as contrasted with the wide range and the 
 abundant freedom of the present time. Elective courses 
 were offered only in the third term of the Junior, and 
 the second term of the Senior years. These courses, ex- 
 tending over twelve or fourteen weeks in each year, were 
 merely supplemental to the required studies, to which the 
 main portion of the time was devoted. Two hours a 
 week that is, two recitation hours, with the preparation 
 which these called for were the largest number as- 
 signed to them, and the student, accordingly, could not
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 select for himself more than a single course out of the 
 few that were offered. The studies thus opened to 
 choice, in the last part of my college life, were Modern 
 Languages, Select Latin or Greek, Hebrew, Practical 
 Astronomy, and, in the mathematical department, 
 Analytical Geometry and the Calculus. A special vol- 
 unteer class was formed in 1849 f r tne study of Mill's 
 Logic. 
 
 By far the largest number in each successive class 
 made choice of one of the Modern Languages for their 
 elective course; and most of these selected French as the 
 language to be studied. The College, in the last two 
 years of my undergraduate life, had no teacher of Ger- 
 man in its board of instruction. There was compara- 
 tively little disposition at that time to acquire the knowl- 
 edge of Italian or Spanish. These languages were also 
 regarded as demanding more diligent study than the 
 French. Moreover, the time when the student was first 
 called upon to make his selection was the summer term, 
 and for this reason, if for no other, many were disin- 
 clined to take upon themselves any burdensome work 
 additional to that which was called for in the line of the 
 required studies. 
 
 The range of studies in the prescribed courses was also 
 limited, as compared with what has been known in more 
 recent years. Not only has remarkable progress in de- 
 velopment, and in methods, been made in connection 
 with all branches of learning, but the opening of oppor- 
 tunities for the student has been widened. Studies which 
 were not included in the curriculum have received an 
 appropriate place, and books which were closed even to 
 Seniors have been put into the hands of Freshmen. As 
 a single illustrative instance related to books, Thucydi- 
 des' History had, in 1899, a place among the studies of 
 the earliest terms of the course, while in my own college 
 period it could not be studied at all, except privately in 
 90
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 the undergraduate years or with some college officer after 
 graduation. 
 
 The theory of the education of that time was clearly 
 stated in the catalogue of the College, in a passage which 
 I will venture to quote. "The object of the system of in- 
 struction to the undergraduates is not to give a partial 
 education, consisting of a few branches only; nor on the 
 other hand to give a superficial education, containing a 
 little of almost everything; nor to finish the details of 
 either a professional or a practical education; but to 
 commence a thorough course, and to carry it as far as 
 the time of the student's residence will allow. It is in- 
 tended to maintain such a proportion between the dif- 
 ferent branches of literature and science, as to form a 
 proper symmetry and balance of character. In laying 
 the foundation of a thorough education, it is necessary 
 that all the important faculties be brought into exercise. 
 When certain mental endowments receive a much higher 
 culture than others, there is a distortion in the intellectual 
 character. The powers of the mind are not developed 
 in their fairest proportions by studying languages alone, 
 or mathematics alone, or natural or political science 
 alone. The object, in the proper collegiate department, 
 is not to teach that which is peculiar to any one of the 
 professions; but to lay the foundation which is common 
 to them all. The principles of science and literature are 
 the common foundation of all high intellectual attain- 
 ments. They give that furniture, and discipline, and 
 elevation to the mind, which are the best preparation for 
 the study of a profession, or of the operations which are 
 peculiar to the higher mercantile, manufacturing, or agri- 
 cultural establishments." 
 
 The introduction and very wide extension of the 
 elective system, together with the changes in public senti- 
 ment of which that system is in part, no doubt, the cause 
 and in part the effect, have resulted in a different theory 
 
 91
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 as to education which, at present, is finding much favor. 
 Young men should be educated, it is now said, for their 
 special work in life even from the beginning of their 
 college years, and all studies may be equally disciplinary 
 one, therefore, or a few, may be as useful as a larger 
 number covering a wider range. But the old theory 
 had a certain reasonableness and wisdom in it, whatever 
 may be its final fate, and it worked good results in the 
 lives of the men whose early training was under its 
 influence. 
 
 The college examinations of our time were, like those 
 for admission to the Freshman class, oral, and not 
 written examinations. They occurred at the end of each 
 term. At the close of the Junior year there was one 
 which covered the studies of the entire course up to that 
 point. They were not, by any means, formidable to the 
 students whose success in scholarship was sufficient to 
 assure their continuance as members of the institution. 
 Very few, I think, except the most scholarly men in the 
 classes, made any very special preparation for them, or 
 gave themselves during the days or weeks of their con- 
 tinuance to careful study. It was, for the majority, a 
 period rather of leisure, than of work. 
 
 The system of written examinations, as they are 
 called, was first introduced two or three years after the 
 class of which I was a member graduated. Its introduc- 
 tion was one of the marks of advance in scholarly meth- 
 ods which characterized Dr. Woolsey's Presidency. Ex- 
 periments connected with the new system were tried 
 occasionally afterwards, and sometimes, after trial, were 
 abandoned. But when a number of years had passed, 
 the oral method was given up altogether, and the exam- 
 inations by means of printed /questions and written an- 
 swers became thenceforth the permanent order of things. 
 The development of the new system has continued now 
 92
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 for more than thirty years. It is justly regarded as 
 having been helpful to the success and good results of 
 college education. The numbers of students in our 
 larger institutions would, no doubt, render a return to 
 the older plan impossible, even if its merits were still 
 worthy of serious consideration. Certainly the new 
 which has taken the place of the old, in this matter, has 
 introduced a remarkable change, and the students and 
 Faculties of to-day would smile at the thought of a 
 revival of the former times in this regard. 
 
 For my own part not having entire confidence that 
 the educational world has as yet reached the summit of 
 human wisdom I have the hope, and I may even say, 
 the faith to believe, that the present system of examina- 
 tions will ere long, by evolution or transformation, pass 
 into something higher and better, and that the knowledge 
 of college students will be tested, as well as made sure, by 
 a system of personal, individual research carried on in 
 parallelism with the teacher's instructions, and under 
 responsibility to him. That the examinations of the 
 present time are more strict, and call for more study 
 in immediate preparation for them, than those of my 
 own college era, I have little doubt. But that the 
 students of to-day have, at their graduation, a better 
 knowledge of the things that they have studied than we 
 had of those, fewer in number indeed, which were 
 opened to us for our studying, I do not believe. That 
 the young men of the coming eras in all our colleges may 
 have a much better, and wider, and more permanently 
 abiding knowledge than any of their predecessors, is 
 greatly to be desired. But new changes must come if 
 this result is to be realized. 
 
 A writer whose recollections of his undergraduate 
 days go backward only a quarter of a century would 
 scarcely think of passing over, in his record, the subject 
 
 93
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 of athletic sports. But, half a century ago, there were 
 no sports which would now be deemed worthy of this 
 high-sounding name. Almost all matters in the line 
 of physical exercise were of a more individual character, 
 or were limited to small companies who were of kindred 
 tastes and had friendly fellowship. The one contest in 
 our time that could in a sense be called public, was the 
 annual football game between the Sophomore and 
 Freshman classes, which took place early in the autumn 
 term on the City Green or Square, just opposite the 
 southern portion of the College grounds. This contest 
 attracted considerable attention on the part of the stu- 
 dent community, but comparatively little outside of its 
 limits. It was, in many respects, different from that of 
 the modern era, and it included five games, each one of 
 which usually continued from twenty to thirty minutes. 
 My class had in its membership four or five very excel- 
 lent and prominent players the major part of whom 
 had entered college from the Hopkins Grammar School, 
 though I may say that the good old Dominie, whom I 
 have mentioned, did not give special instruction in such 
 matters. The consequence of this fact namely, that 
 our best men were thus gifted was that we were at the 
 opening of our Freshman year victorious over the class 
 then Sophomores; a very unusual and almost unknown 
 experience, which gave us a certain prominence in the 
 College even from the beginning. A year later, when 
 we had reached the Sophomore year, we gained the vic- 
 tory over the Freshmen in every one of the five games, 
 and finished all the games in thirty minutes. Our posi- 
 tion in the community became thus permanently estab- 
 lished and I think I may say, without undue commen- 
 dation of ourselves, that we held a place of honor in the 
 other lines of college life and work, which was not un- 
 worthy of us as Yale students. 
 
 There was no gymnasium connected with the institu-
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 tion at that period. There was no instruction as related 
 to physical exercise. There was, as I may say, no 
 athletic development, and no enthusiasm with reference 
 to it or demand for it in the public mind. As for the 
 matter of health, however, I believe that the graduates 
 of our colleges then were as sound and vigorous as they 
 are to-day. I am confident that the men of that period 
 who were hard students the men who are often pictured 
 now as having been weak and sickly, and candidates for 
 early decline and death were quite as healthful as the 
 average athletes of the more recent times. I was myself 
 a member of a little company which numbered fifteen, 
 and included several of the leading scholars and intel- 
 lectual men of my class, during our Senior year. Of 
 that number eight were living and in full vigor, and 
 seven were present at our class meeting in New Haven, 
 at the time when we celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of 
 our graduation. 
 
 I would not be understood as recommending a return 
 to the former condition of things, when the institution 
 did little or nothing for its students in the physical 
 sphere. But bodily strength and chances for long-con- 
 tinued life are not characteristic of the later classes only. 
 Earnest students and thinkers are quite as likely to live 
 to old age in the fullness of strength, as the leaders 
 among college athletes are. Such is the testimony of 
 past experience, whether we look back over fifty years, 
 or over twenty-five years. There is no greater error any- 
 where, than that which sometimes takes possession of 
 many minds and finds public expression of itself that 
 students in the college years lose their health because 
 they give themselves devotedly to scholarly work. They 
 lose it, if at all, with very rare exceptions for other 
 reasons than this, and other reasons only. Men are in- 
 tended by nature to exercise their minds, as truly as 
 they are to exercise their bodies, and to do this in the 
 
 95
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 youthful season and the after times alike. Those who 
 do not use and strengthen their intellectual powers at the 
 beginning fail to gain much that life has within itself 
 to offer them. If the two departments of education can 
 be perfectly adjusted to each other, and to the claims 
 upon both alike, our universities and schools will realize 
 their ideal. 
 
 I have thus set forth somewhat of the details of the 
 undergraduate life of my classmates and myself, and 
 somewhat of the contrast between our experiences and 
 possibilities and those of college students now. We had 
 much. They have more. We had some things which 
 were good, but which have passed away. They have 
 many things that are good, of which we knew nothing, 
 because they were not yet existing. But we were college 
 undergraduates in the same sense, and with the same full- 
 ness of meaning, as those who have followed us along 
 the course of the half-century even to its ending. We 
 passed on through the four years half using and half 
 losing, like all our successors, the privileges that were 
 offered us. We found our minds growing stronger, with 
 the movement of time ; our knowledge becoming greater ; 
 our vision of the future enlarging in its clearness and its 
 hopefulness. We entered, with a deeper insight, into the 
 understanding of each other's thoughts, and rejoiced in 
 one another's friendship. We penetrated lovingly within 
 the inmost soul-life of some more limited fellowship 
 each one of us and carried away and onward for our- 
 selves rich thoughts and helpful impulses. We were 
 at the end what all the brotherhood of graduates will 
 appreciate in its full significance, if only they may change 
 the number of the year the Yale Class of 1849, tnen 
 the youngest, now among the oldest in the sonship of the 
 kind Mother who had given us her benediction.
 
 VII. 
 
 Life as Graduate Student and in the Tutorship 1849 
 to 1855. 
 
 IN the annual Catalogue for the academic year 1 848- 
 49, the following statement is made: "The 
 avails of a bequest to the College by Sheldon 
 Clark, Esq., according to the will of the donor, have 
 been applied to the establishment of two Scholarships, 
 to commence in the years 1848 and 1849 respectively, 
 on a foundation of two thousand dollars each. The 
 member of the Senior Class who shall pass the best ex- 
 amination on the studies of the College course, will be 
 admitted to the Clark Scholarship and entitled to receive 
 the income of its fund for two years, provided he remains 
 in New Haven as a graduate during that period, pur- 
 suing a course of study under the direction of the 
 Faculty." 
 
 As it was my desire, and my purpose if possible, to 
 remain in New Haven for a year or two after my 
 graduation, and as the moderate income offered by this 
 scholarship would be, as I knew, helpful in the way of 
 meeting my expenses, I determined to present myself for 
 the required examination. It chanced to be the case 
 that I was successful in passing it, and as the result I 
 became the Clark Scholar for the years 1849-51. I 
 mention this Scholarship and this circumstance connected 
 with my own relation to it, not because of any worthiness 
 of the facts themselves in their union with each other to 
 be thus recorded, but for reasons of quite a different 
 character. 
 
 97
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 The Clark Scholarship fund has a special interest, in 
 that it was the first one established at Yale which may 
 be said to have had a connection with the beginning and 
 development of what is now called the Graduate School. 
 The Berkeley Scholarship reaches backward indeed, in 
 the date of its foundation, to 1733. But, while it was 
 intended to make provision for students who should re- 
 main at the College during the time intervening between 
 their first and second degrees in Arts, it accomplished 
 but little, in the later years, in the way of inducing young 
 graduates to continue their studies. The income avail- 
 able for each scholar only about forty-six dollars was 
 too small, even as measured by the standard of fifty- 
 years ago, to have any special influence upon the student's 
 mind or purpose. The Clark foundation yielded nearly 
 three times this income for each one placed upon it; and 
 it became available, after some twenty years of gradual 
 accumulation, in the year following the first organized 
 movement, as it may be called, for graduate instruction 
 in the institution. This movement resulted in the estab- 
 lishment of what was styled, "The Department of Phil- 
 osophy and the Arts," in August, 1846, the object of 
 which, as stated by the authorities of the College, was 
 "to furnish resident graduates and others with the op- 
 portunity of devoting themselves to special branches of 
 study either not provided for at present, or not pursued 
 as far as individual students may desire." After some 
 years, this department resolved itself into two branches, 
 one of which became the Sheffield Scientific School, and 
 the other the School for Graduate Instruction. It was 
 only a single year after the actual beginning of the de- 
 partment when the first Clark Scholarship was offered, 
 and there was thus a most timely connection of the two 
 events. To-day, such a fellowship foundation seems a 
 small one. It was not large even at that time; but it 
 was large enough to give some impulse and encourage- 
 98
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 ment to the work that was beginning. It is therefore 
 worthy of special recognition as the first of the endow- 
 ments which have accomplished so much, in the progress 
 of the half-century, for the development of the studies 
 reaching beyond the undergraduate course, and for the 
 growth and transformation of the College into the 
 University. 
 
 The fact that this scholarship was assigned to me, as 
 the representative of one of the two classes to whose 
 members it was first offered, placed me, if I may so ex- 
 press it, in a certain recognized and organic connection 
 with the newly formed Department. I was thus one of 
 its very earliest members, and I continued in its member- 
 ship for two years, pursuing non-professional studies. 
 There had, of course, been resident graduates at the Col- 
 lege many times in previous eras of its history, but their 
 relation to the institution was a looser one and less dis- 
 tinctly marked. We were, in our day, the beginnings of 
 a more definite and regular body of students, and we 
 had, in a more true sense of the word, a position of our 
 own. My scholarship and myself, therefore, were near 
 the foundation of this section of the University, and the 
 entire history of its growth and its work falls within the 
 period over which my recollections extend. 
 
 In each of the two years of my scholarship term, there 
 were in the Department of Philosophy and the Arts 
 about twenty students. Three-fourths of these were in 
 the Scientific section, and were not College graduates. 
 Not more than five or six were pursuing courses which 
 naturally followed after those of the College curriculum. 
 The special work which I recall with interest, and in 
 which nearly all of us who were graduates were asso- 
 ciated, was that which we did under the guidance and 
 instruction of President Woolsey. We met him twice 
 a week during the College year 1849-50 for the reading 
 of Thucydides, and in the next year for the study of 
 
 99
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 Pindar. The exercises were stimulating and helpful be- 
 yond any that I had known in my undergraduate career 
 partly, no doubt, because I had entered more fully 
 upon the freedom of manhood, with an escape from the 
 minor rules of the academic life, and partly because the 
 President felt that he -was dealing with graduates, and 
 thus might lay aside somewhat of the official element 
 which pertained to the teacher's relation to younger stu- 
 dents. 
 
 I had the happiness, also, to be associated in the small 
 company of five or six who formed the class with young 
 men of very unusual scholarly ability. William Dwight 
 Whitney, afterwards the eminent linguistic scholar and 
 Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology, who 
 so greatly honored the University by his life and work 
 within its walls, was one of the number. William Allen 
 Macy, a graduate of the class of 1844, was another. He 
 was a scholar of remarkable refinement, and in many, if 
 not all respects, he seemed to me, at the time, to be the 
 equal of Whitney. He gave himself a little later to 
 the work of a foreign missionary, and after twelve years 
 of faithful and efficient service in China, he died there, 
 when he had scarcely reached the age of forty. No one 
 who knew him can forget the charm of his gentle, intelli- 
 gent, cultured, lovable personality. An interesting and 
 fitting memorial of him will ever continue in the Univer- 
 sity, in the Macy Scholarship, the foundation of which, 
 in the interest of graduate studies, was given by a be- 
 quest in his will. Another member of the class was Clin- 
 ton Camp, who graduated in the next year after me and 
 with whom I was united in one of the closest of college 
 friendships. He died of consumption, in Italy, only 
 three years after his graduation. In his death our gen- 
 eration of educated men lost, as I have always thought, 
 one who would have done an honorable work in scholar- 
 ship, and would have had an inspiring influence for every
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND M E Ni 
 
 student who knew him intimately. He had a fresh and 
 joyous delight in all new and beautiful things, and a 
 generous youthful enthusiasm as he studied the old 
 writers and poets, or as he looked out upon the richness 
 of the world about him. The pleasure of our reading of 
 Homer's Iliad together in those long bygone days, and 
 of our Sunday evening talks of the life within us and 
 without us, abides with me still. 
 
 With such men in his class no one of whom ever 
 came to his exercises reluctantly, or as if meeting an ap- 
 pointed task it was not strange that the President was 
 always ready to give us what was best in his teaching. 
 He gave us also of what was best in himself the oppor- 
 tunity of seeing his own scholarship and his own intel- 
 lectual power. It was a good fortune, indeed, to be near 
 enough to such a man to be moved by his example, and 
 to get for oneself some appreciation of his ideal of the 
 genuine scholar. Those years were the most valuable of 
 the educational period of my earlier life. They prepared 
 me for my duties as a college tutor and for my European 
 studies in the subsequent years, and became in this way 
 the foundation of all my maturer life and its work. 
 
 I presume that my holding the Clark Scholarship and 
 my connection as a graduate student with President 
 Woolsey's class in Thucydides had an influence as bear- 
 ing upon my early admission to the teaching force of 
 the College. The immediate cause, however, of my 
 being asked to give instruction to undergraduate students 
 was, as I may say, an accidental one. My older brother, 
 who was at the time one of the tutors for the Freshman 
 class, was called to spend a number of weeks in a distant 
 part of the country. He waited upon the President with 
 a request for a leave of absence, which, in view of the 
 reasons presented, was given him. The question of a 
 supply for the temporary vacancy in the office of instruc- 
 tion was naturally raised in the course of the interview.
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 Much to my brother's surprise and still more, if pos- 
 sible, to my own, when I heard of the fact the Presi- 
 dent suggested that I should take upon myself the work, 
 and authorized me to do so. I was a graduate of only 
 four months' standing, and had had no idea of being 
 thought of as a college instructor, if indeed at all, until 
 three years later. Such an early assignment to duty was 
 almost or quite unknown at that period, and the responsi- 
 bility of undertaking the work, even for a few weeks, 
 seemed somewhat serious. After thinking of the matter, 
 however, I gave an affirmative answer to the request, and 
 in due time found myself in the tutor's box in the recita- 
 tion room, with the members of the new class before me. 
 The result of my action, as it proved afterwards, was, 
 that I was called into the service whenever a vacancy of 
 a similar character, whether for a few days or a few 
 weeks, occurred, until I entered upon my regular official 
 duties on an appointment for three years. In this way, I 
 had the fortune to know the classes of 1851, 1852, 1853 
 and 1854 though the first class with which I became 
 connected as a more permanent tutor was the one which 
 was graduated in 1855. 
 
 The class which I met in December, 1849, was tnat f 
 1853. The members of this class were, at that time, still 
 in the first term of their Freshman year. Their entrance 
 upon the College course coincided in date with my grad- 
 uation, and I was, accordingly, almost as one of them- 
 selves seeming to my own mind, if not to theirs, more 
 like a member of the student body, than one of the board 
 of instruction. There were men in the class older than 
 myself, as indeed in all the classes which I afterwards 
 taught in the years of my tutorship ; and the entire mem- 
 bership appeared to me to be my equals in age. My 
 feeling with respect to this matter, together with my 
 realization of the fact that my connection with the class 
 was to be only of a temporary character, had an influence
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 at least, as I recall the past, I think it may naturally 
 have had an influence upon my subsequent life as a 
 teacher. I was, as it were, a college youth with college 
 youths. I knew just enough more of Latin, and of Lin- 
 coln's Livy, the book which they were studying, than 
 they did, to enable me successfully to hear the recitations 
 and conduct the exercises. But I was only a little way 
 beyond them in my learning, and a very little in my 
 sympathies and hopes. Moreover, how much was it 
 possible for me to teach them, or help them in their 
 mental discipline, within the few weeks to which I was 
 limited? It may well have seemed as if I could do al- 
 most nothing. But I could, in a measure, open myself 
 to their acquaintance. and begin to know them as men. 
 The impulse of my nature moved me to do this; and I 
 found, to my great satisfaction, that they were gener- 
 ously responsive to my advances and were ready for 
 kindly friendship. The foundations of what followed 
 were laid in those weeks. The beginnings of lifelong 
 regard and affection were realized. The Class of 1853 
 has had a very honorable career in the world, and many 
 whose names are enrolled in its membership have held 
 in the past, or are now holding, very prominent positions 
 in Church or State. I esteem it a privilege of my earlier 
 years that I began my work as a college instructor with 
 them as my students. Whether they took away with 
 them anything from my teaching, I do not know. I 
 have many doubts. But if, at that time, as well as after- 
 wards when we knew each other better, they took some- 
 thing from myself and I have a pleasant thought that 
 they did I am satisfied. 
 
 The classes of 1851 and 1852 I met only on a few 
 occasions, when their regular instructors chanced to be 
 absent from the College. But with the Class of 1854 I 
 was brought into close connection for a considerable por- 
 tion of a term, at the beginning of their Sophomore year. 
 103
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 My association with the members of this class was of a 
 character similar to that which I had had with the pre- 
 ceding class, and my pleasant memories of our friendly 
 intercourse still abide with me, refreshed and strength- 
 ened by what I have known of their history since 
 their graduation. The work of instruction to which I 
 was called when I met this class was in the Latin depart- 
 ment, as it had been during the few weeks of my associa- 
 tion with the Class of 1 853. My earliest efforts in teach- 
 ing were, thus, in that branch of study. But with refer- 
 ence to the future the call was to another department. 
 
 The system or rule of the College, in those days, had 
 little or no regard for the wishes of a tutor just entering 
 upon his office, or even to his fitness or unfitness for any 
 particular branch of instruction. On the contrary, the 
 choices of departments of teaching were made in the 
 order of seniority, and the beginner or the youngest in 
 the tutorial office was obliged to take the position that 
 was left for him after the older men had made their 
 selection for themselves. At the time when the call for 
 more permanent service came to me, the arrangements 
 for the year had been already made, and in consequence 
 of this fact, as well as of other special circumstances, I 
 found myself under the necessity of assuming the duty of 
 instructing a class in Greek which had in the preceding 
 term been taught by Professor Hadley. A hard neces- 
 sity, indeed, it seemed to me to be when I first came to 
 the knowledge that I had to meet it. Mr. Hadley had 
 already attained so much success in his work, and had 
 won such high esteem as a scholar both from the students 
 and the Faculty, that I thought it beyond the power of 
 any youthful inexperienced teacher to take up the work 
 which he was laying aside. Certainly I had no confi- 
 dence in my own powers, and I could only feel that the 
 fates were against me at the beginning of my course. I 
 yielded, however, to the inevitable, and afterwards I 
 104
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 found that there was a different meaning in it from what 
 I had thought. It carried within itself a blessing, for it 
 determined my life-work, and gave me my first entrance 
 into the enjoyment and happiness of my career as a stu- 
 dent and a teacher. I think of it now, not as an ordering 
 of destiny which I could not understand, but as a kind 
 interposition of Providence on my behalf. 
 
 I continued in the tutorial office for four years after 
 the time when its full duties were first assigned to me. 
 During this period I acted as an instructor for three 
 classes those of 1855, 1856 and 1857. With the first- 
 mentioned of these I had a little longer connection than 
 with either of the others, but I was brought into more 
 than usually close and intimate relations with them all. 
 I had as thorough and friendly an acquaintance, I think 
 I may say, with the members of the class of 1855, as 
 they had with one another. I knew them so well that 
 they visited me at my college room with frequency, and 
 in the most familiar way; and they counseled with me as 
 to their plans for the future, or the matters of their daily 
 life, with the utmost readiness. Even in the things per- 
 taining to the class and its actions, respecting which they 
 differed from each other, or opposed each others' views, 
 they were oftentimes willing to communicate their 
 thoughts and purposes freely to me both parties alike 
 believing that what they said to me would be kept in ab- 
 solute confidence. They made me, even in as full and 
 complete a measure as this, a friend to their whole com- 
 pany. By reason of this fact as to our pleasant relation- 
 ships, and perhaps also because I had, under the difficult 
 circumstances connected with my new work to which I 
 have, referred, met their approval as a teacher in a 
 higher degree than I had anticipated, they were moved 
 to give me a special testimonial of their regard, at the 
 close of their first academic year. With a kindly earnest- 
 ness they requested the Faculty that I might be continued 
 105
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 with them as their instructor in Greek during the year 
 upon which they were about to enter. The result was 
 that I remained in connection with the class until, at the 
 close of the first term of their Junior studies, Professor 
 Hadley again took up the work, in accordance with an 
 established arrangement of the time. This testimonial 
 was one of an unusual character, at least at that period, 
 and it may fitly have a place among the pleasant memo- 
 ries of my earlier life as a teacher. 
 
 The classes of 1856 and 1857 had much of the same 
 friendly intercourse with me during their undergraduate 
 years, and they have seemed to me ever since that period 
 more like companies of my fellow-students than my 
 pupils. My most recent meeting with the Class of 1856, 
 at the time of the Bicentennial Anniversary in 1901, 
 was one marked by the kindest College sentiment. 
 
 But what I have said on this matter of my relations 
 to the classes that I met while I was in the tutorial office 
 has also another bearing, and I allow myself to make a 
 special reference to it for this reason. Fifty years ago, 
 the relationship between College officers and students in 
 all our institutions, as has been already intimated, was 
 mainly of the governmental order, and the prevailing 
 idea of government was that of repression, of rules and 
 laws, of force and the display of authority. There was 
 correspondingly little of personal relationship of a 
 friendly character, of the influence which goes forth in 
 unrestrained or intimate association, of the openness and 
 freedom of intercourse where all thought of violation of 
 law disappears and the generosity of confidence is awak- 
 ened. I was at the time and I have been ever since a 
 thorough disbeliever in the old system, while almost all 
 the other members of the Faculty were then largely 
 under its influence, and were quite unprepared to aban- 
 don it. On my entrance upon my official duties, I imme- 
 diately formed my decision or I may rather say, so all- 
 106
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 controlling was my natural impulse that no decision 
 needed to be formed to follow in my own dealings 
 with students the new line of action, and not the old, and 
 to begin as far as I was myself concerned, the carrying 
 out of the ideas in which I believed. In the main, I 
 limited myself to what I was called to do in my indi- 
 vidual work. I was content to make a trial of my plan, 
 and let its result bear its own witness. 
 
 The tutors, however, then constituted a much larger 
 part of the entire governing board of instruction than 
 they do at present, and as a consequence they had greater 
 influence and were more ready to press their opinions for 
 acceptance. There were seven in the tutorial body when 
 I entered into the membership of the Faculty, while 
 there were only seven professors in the College depart- 
 ment. The same even division between the permanent 
 and temporary instructors continued until the close of 
 my official term. The younger men, accordingly, when 
 they differed in sentiment from the older ones, did not 
 hesitate to give utterance to their independent thoughts. 
 The individual young member, whether his associates 
 of his own age agreed with him or not, did not shrink 
 from the presentation of his views or, if need were, from 
 the earnest advocacy of them. I recall some memorable 
 controversies in which I took an active, or even a leading 
 part, in opposition to the men of greatest influence in the 
 older section of the board; and I was, as I have said, a 
 constant advocate whether by my course of action or by 
 my spoken words, of a new and, as I believed, a more 
 wise and reasonable, and therefore a more efficient, sys- 
 tem of administration of the daily life of the College 
 community. 
 
 Nearly half a century has passed away since that time, 
 
 and the more desirable system has now been established 
 
 for so long a period that the students of the present 
 
 and the recent years have little idea of any other as hav- 
 
 107
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 ing ever existed. It has, as I may almost say, re-created 
 the academic life, and it has certainly brought with itself 
 very happy results for all within the college community. 
 I would not claim for myself anything more in respect 
 to the change that has been realized, than the history of 
 the times would justify. I would not, in these pages, 
 place myself in comparison with others who wrought for 
 the same end. But I was one of the pioneers in the 
 matter, and I hare had my reward in the happy years 
 of my Presidency. The elder Professor Silliman, in 
 his lectures on chemistry and geology to the Senior 
 classes, used to say, now and then, as he was led to 
 speak in praise of Yale and its work: "The three 
 great books of Yale and New Haven [this, it will be 
 remembered, was in 1850] are Dwight's Theology, 
 Webster's Dictionary, and Silliman's Journal of 
 Science in respect to the last of which I may say, 
 not, indeed, * Quorum magna 'pars fui' but, ' Quorum 
 pars fui. 1 " It is a pleasure to me to know that, in con- 
 nection with the matter to which I am referring, I can 
 use the Professor's words: " Quorum pars fui" I be- 
 lieve that it is a far easier task to govern an academic 
 community of two thousand students to-day, than it was, 
 fifty years ago, to govern three hundred; or a hundred 
 and fifty years ago, to govern one hundred and thirty. 
 The position of a chief administrative officer of a body 
 of two thousand students in the period when the old 
 system had dominion everywhere would have been, in- 
 deed, a trying and unattractive one. 
 
 When I entered upon my official term as tutor, the 
 President's room was in the building called North Col- 
 lege No. 1 17, a room on the second floor of the build- 
 ing, used from 1895 to 1900 as a club-room for the 
 German Club of the University. It was like the other 
 rooms in the building except that the space ordinarily 
 1 08
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 occupied by sleeping rooms was added to the study- 
 apartment. The meetings of the College Faculty were 
 held in this place on every Wednesday afternoon of the 
 academic terms. It was hard for me to believe that this 
 could have been the fact, when by chance I looked into 
 the room three or four years ago ; but as there were only 
 fourteen persons who attended the meetings, the accom- 
 modations were sufficient. At the time to which I refer, 
 Professor Kingsley had just laid aside the duties of his 
 chair of instruction, and had become Professor Emeritus, 
 and Professor Stanley, who was one of the younger 
 professors, had been obliged, by reason of ill health, to 
 withdraw from his work. These gentlemen were still, 
 in a certain sense, in the membership of the Faculty, but 
 they were no longer attendants at the meetings or par- 
 ticipants in the administration of the College community. 
 The President, when the body was assembled, occupied 
 the chair in which he usually sat at his study table, and 
 which was near the center of one of the longer sides 
 of the room. The professors occupied chairs beginning 
 at the left of the President and extending about one-half 
 of the distance around the walls, and then the tutors had 
 their seats, reaching as far as the stove which heated the 
 apartment, and was located just at the President's right 
 hand. The professors arranged themselves in this 
 order: the elder Silliman, Olmsted, Larned, Porter, 
 Hadley, Thacher. The tutors were a more frequently 
 changing body, and their order of arrangement was not 
 so established except that the Senior Tutor, who was 
 also the locating officer, having charge of the assignment 
 and ordering of students' rooms in the College buildings, 
 had his place regularly on the right of the President. 
 
 The meetings of the Faculty were occupied largely 
 with cases of discipline. They were oftentimes weari- 
 some. They were rendered more so than might other- 
 wise have been the case, because it was the custom then 
 109
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 to bring forward before the whole body matters of 
 minor importance, which are settled now by committees 
 or by the officers of particular classes. They had the 
 tendency, incidental to all assemblages of men, to pro- 
 long the time of their continuance the law of humanity 
 seeming always to be, that two intelligent men will 
 spend twice the time in deciding any question, which 
 would be allowed by either of them, if he were acting 
 alone. This appears to be the common understanding of 
 the significance of the Biblical phrase, " In the multitude 
 of counselors there is wisdom." But these meetings 
 were in general, if not always, interesting, and they were 
 so not only because the matters discussed and the opin- 
 ions set forth were of interest, but also because they 
 afforded the opportunity of observing the intellectual 
 and other characteristics of the men in the company 
 especially the older men. The late Dr. John Todd, of 
 Pittsfield, Mass., once told me that, in an interview 
 which he had with President Nott, of Union College, he 
 said to the President, " I suppose you have meetings of 
 the Faculty in your institution." "Faculty meetings; " 
 replied the President, " I remember having one once, 
 some thirty-six years ago, but I never wish to have an- 
 other." President Nott, if we make every allowance for 
 his attitude with regard to the matter, evidently was 
 thinking of the meetings in one aspect only. He did 
 not turn his mind to the other view of the subject. Pos- 
 sibly he was too autocratic to form a just judgment. 
 The study of mind and character must be always inter- 
 esting to an intelligent person, I think, unless there be 
 some special reason which renders the individual case 
 quite exceptional. I can appreciate President Nott's feel- 
 ing, and, if I had ever experienced his difficulties or had 
 had to face the problems which were presented to him, 
 I might have fully sympathized with his view. But, not- 
 withstanding the hours of life which would have been
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 saved for myself, and for my brethren as well, if meet- 
 ings for deliberation and consultation had many times 
 been shortened or made less frequent, I look back upon 
 my earlier experiences, and my later ones, with the feel- 
 ing of satisfaction and pleasure in the thought that I 
 gained in such meetings much knowledge of my asso- 
 ciates and friends. 
 
 It will not be regarded as unfitting, I trust, if I suffer 
 myself to follow the impulse which moves me, as I recall 
 those Faculty meetings of the former days, and give 
 some of my impressions of the older men who attended 
 them. The younger men were my own contemporaries, 
 and, of course, they were not quite so interesting as 
 studies of fully developed manhood. We were tutors, 
 and our minds looked upward to the professors. The 
 professors, at that period as, indeed, in all periods 
 differed widely from one another in many ways. In 
 general, the younger ones, like the tutors, were, as re- 
 lated to individual cases, more strict disciplinarians than 
 their elder brethren at least, more thoughtfully, not to 
 say more intelligently so. Both older and younger were 
 believers in what I have spoken of as the old system 
 in every point of which strictness was the marked char- 
 acteristic. No one, in theory, accepted the new system, 
 or thought it could be successful. But when theories 
 come to be applied practically to the cases of individuals, 
 older men are more likely to let their feelings affect their 
 action, or, as some would say, warp their judgment. 
 Young men are apt to act in the opposite way. They think 
 that the law should take its course, and that there is an 
 alarming danger in bad precedents. Some persons never 
 get over the fear connected with precedents. Compara- 
 tively few escape it, I think, under the age of forty or 
 fifty. President Woolsey used to say that he had no- 
 ticed that young people, before they had children of their
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 own, were generally very severe in their theories of 
 family discipline, but that later, after their children were 
 born, they dealt with them as leniently as their elders 
 did. I have observed the same phenomenon myself, as I 
 have moved onward in life. As I make this allusion to 
 the President's remark, however, perhaps I ought in 
 justice to add by way of a momentary digression 
 that, when in the Faculty meetings he saw that a special 
 case needed to be decided on the side of severity, he was 
 wont, as he asked for the expressions of opinion or the 
 votes, to begin with the younger men, instead of the 
 older. 
 
 But I have qualified my words in an earlier sentence, 
 and have said that the younger men were in individual 
 cases more thoughtfully, or perhaps more intelligently, 
 strict than the older ones. This may naturally have been 
 the fact. The young officer, even in those days, was 
 nearer to the daily academic life and more intimately 
 connected with it. He was much more likely to have a 
 full understanding of the bearing, as well as the facts, of 
 the cases presented for consideration. The older men 
 especially those who met the students mainly as lec- 
 turers, or only in occasional exercises often had no 
 knowledge of the questions arising until they entered 
 the meetings, and as a consequence of this fact they 
 gained only a measure of true apprehension respecting 
 them. They were liable to be affected by their ten- 
 derness of feeling, on one side, or in just the oppo- 
 site way by some strong presentation of the case as 
 given by one who knew more of the matter than they 
 did. Their votes might be for one verdict or another 
 no one could conjecture accurately beforehand because 
 they were, in a sense, thoughtlessly influenced at the 
 moment. This condition of things pertains to all periods, 
 and necessarily so; and herein is to be found one very 
 significant reason why, as our college faculties grow
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 larger in numbers and many of their members have 
 less immediate connection with student life, the matter 
 of discipline and the government of that life should be 
 intrusted to a smaller body of specially qualified and 
 gifted men. 
 
 But these older officers differed not only in their views 
 of discipline and kindred matters; they differed, also, 
 in their personal characteristics and peculiarities. 
 Whether these differences were greater than they are 
 in the membership of a Faculty at the present time, I 
 will not venture to affirm with confidence. But however 
 this may be, their individualities were quite distinct and 
 striking, and the contrasts or divergencies that were 
 manifest in their special mental gifts, as well as in their 
 natural dispositions and qualities, were such as to awaken 
 continual interest in the minds of those who looked upon 
 them in their daily life. I would that I could give an 
 adequate representation of them on these pages that I 
 could so describe them that the reader of to-day might 
 see, as it were, the living personalities, and might, in a 
 true sense, know the men. But the most that I can hope 
 to do is to set forth a few things which may serve, by 
 way of suggestion, to bring them in a very incomplete 
 measure before the mental vision. I write of them lov- 
 ingly, for they did their work for us, who were their 
 pupils in the earlier time, with generosity and with wis- 
 dom, and our remembrance of them, as we move onward 
 in the later time, is mingled with gratitude and rever- 
 ence.
 
 VIII. 
 
 The Old Faculty Professors Silliman and Kingsley. 
 
 THE elder Professor Silliman, when I became 
 a member of the College Faculty, was seventy- 
 two years of age. He was a man of imposing 
 figure and dignified presence six feet in height and 
 well-proportioned. His face was uncommonly intelli- 
 gent and handsome. His whole appearance and person- 
 ality were in a very high degree impressive. He had 
 somewhat of the venerableness of years, but he retained 
 so much of the energy and vigor of earlier life that no 
 one could think of him as really old. In his manner, 
 he was always genial and gracious; benignant, as befitted 
 one in his position and of his established fame, and yet 
 friendly to all who approached him, whatever might be 
 their age or their station in the world. As President 
 Woolsey said of him at the time of his death, I think 
 we may truly say to-day, after an interval of nearly forty 
 years: " He was, among all the men who have lived in 
 the city of New Haven during the century, as I think 
 will be conceded by everybody, the most finished gentle- 
 man. And this was true of him in the highest sense. I 
 mean, that it pertained not to his exterior, but to his 
 character and his soul." 
 
 At the time of which I am writing, he had held his 
 professorship for forty-nine years, his appointment hav- 
 ing been given him at the early age of twenty-three. 
 During twenty or more of these years, he had been not 
 only a teacher honored and admired by his pupils, but 
 also a lecturer of great reputation and of the highest SUL 
 114
 
 PROFESSOR BENJAMIN SILLIMAN
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 cess in the leading cities of the country. As a consequence 
 of this fact, he had become the most conspicuous repre- 
 sentative of the College before the general public, and 
 had rendered the institution an almost inestimable ser- 
 vice at a critical period of its history, contributing, in a 
 large measure, to the establishment and permanency of 
 its national fame. 
 
 To his earlier students those who came under his 
 instruction during the first half or two-thirds of his 
 official career and to the large numbers of cultured 
 people whom he so frequently addressed in his public 
 lectures, the scientific subjects on which he spoke were 
 comparatively new as matters of thought or knowledge. 
 He presented himself to his audiences, accordingly, with 
 what was to their minds a kind of strange revelation of 
 exceeding interest. He had thus a good fortune, which 
 no one could have in these days of such remarkable de- 
 velopment in every branch of science, and he was en- 
 abled, because of it, to awaken greater enthusiasm than 
 those who followed him or, at a later period of his own 
 career, even he himself could possibly excite. His lan- 
 guage and style however, his wonderful facility of ex- 
 pression and clearness of statement, and the grace and 
 force of his presentation of his thought were admirably 
 fitted to arrest and hold the attention of his hearers at 
 all times, as well as to impress upon their memory the 
 facts and truths which he brought before them. With 
 respect to the matter and the manner of his public teach- 
 ing, he was certainly one of the most prominent and 
 successful of the men of his era. 
 
 He has been justly called the father of natural science 
 at Yale. He created his department of investigation 
 and instruction in the College. The story which he used 
 to tell his students of his carrying all the minerals which 
 the institution possessed in a small candle-box to Phila- 
 delphia, when he went there for the purpose of study, 
 us
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 was illustrative of the conditions under which he began 
 his work in every line. He was indeed one of the few 
 men who are to be regarded as the pioneers in the sphere 
 of natural science in our country. He had seen the 
 growth of all things in this department of knowledge 
 from the very beginning, and he enjoyed in later life the 
 satisfaction which comes, in full measure, to those who 
 have been originators of what is new and good and have 
 lived to witness the great results to which they looked 
 forward, at the outset, only with mingled hopes and 
 fears. 
 
 It is not strange that, after fifty years of such interest- 
 ing experience and such wide-reaching thoughts and 
 efforts, a man of established fame and genial nature 
 should not have had the deepest interest in the ordinary 
 meetings of a College Faculty, which were mainly de- 
 voted to minor matters of government, or that at times, 
 while present in body with his brethren as they were 
 thus assembled, he should have been absent in spirit 
 his thoughts dwelling apart, in the inner self, or with 
 the old friends and the old memories. Fifty years make 
 a long period; and I suppose that every kind-hearted 
 man, after the passing of such a time, grows a little 
 weary of discipline, and begins to think some questions 
 of small moment comparatively, which he once deemed 
 great in their significance. At all events, it was so in his 
 case; and I am glad that it was. 
 
 It was delightful to see him come back, as it were, 
 from a far off meditation when, after an hour's discus- 
 sion of some particular case or question, the President 
 suddenly asked him, as the first of the company, to ex- 
 press his opinion. How benignantly and graciously 
 utterly unmoved by the fact, which he knew of course 
 must be apparent to all, that he was ignorant of what 
 had been said he would ask as to the individual or the 
 subject under consideration. And then how calmly, and 
 116
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 with dignity, he would offer the judgment which seemed 
 to him, at the moment, to be best. If the matter related 
 to an individual student, his friendly sentiment disposed 
 him to tenderness and leniency. I well remember one 
 illustrative case, respecting which there had been long- 
 continued deliberation, with the differences of views that 
 were frequently manifest, and the minds of some of the 
 gentlemen were convinced that disciplinary measures 
 were essential. The kindly professor was requested to 
 give the first vote in the decision. He took the College 
 Catalogue which was lying on the table near him, and 
 opening it he said, " What is the student's name, Mr. 
 President? " " Jones," the President replied. " Ah," 
 said he, after turning over the pages somewhat carefully, 
 " Jones of the Junior Class? " " Yes," was the reply. 
 " I notice that he is from Baltimore," the professor an- 
 swered; "when I was lecturing in that city, his father 
 entertained me most hospitably at his house. I think I 
 would treat the young man as leniently as possible." 
 Jones was not the young man's name, though I have al- 
 lowed myself to call him so. I do not recall what fate 
 befel him as the result of the vote on that afternoon. I 
 think it not unlikely that I voted on the unfavorable side. 
 Very possibly, that side of the case was the right and 
 reasonable one to take. But it was not a matter of in- 
 finite importance, and may well be forgotten after so 
 long a time. There was, however, given to us, on that 
 day, a vision for a moment of the kindly sentiment of a 
 gracious gentleman, which remains with me at this hour, 
 and which I think may, if remembered, have done more 
 of good for all those to whom it was given, than any 
 mistaken vote could have done of injury to the well- 
 being of the academic community. Of course, if every 
 one had imitated the professor, all discipline might have 
 been endangered. But there was, in those days, no 
 tendency toward such imitation, and the dangers, what- 
 117
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 ever they may have been, were safely passed. I think 
 that they pass thus more frequently more, if I may so 
 say, as a general rule than many are apt to suppose. 
 
 On another occasion, the remembrance of which has 
 lingered with me, the attention of the Faculty was called 
 by the President to the approaching biennial examina- 
 tions. These examinations were instituted in the year 
 1850-51, and were held at the close of the Sophomore 
 and Senior years, for each college class. They were the 
 first of the written, as contrasted with oral, examinations 
 which were established. As they were attended by, or at 
 least liable to, some of the evils which have been 
 noticed in later days, it was deemed necessary to appoint 
 several supervisors who should be present at each ses- 
 sion, and whose duty it should be to prevent the use of 
 any improper helps on the part of the students, as well 
 as any communication on their part with one another. 
 The supervisors were selected by the Faculty from their 
 own number, and were assigned to their work in connec- 
 tion with such sessions as they might choose to attend. 
 The duty was regarded by the instructors generally as a 
 somewhat burdensome one, but yet as one of serious im- 
 portance. They had a certain want of confidence in a 
 large company of young men, assembled under circum- 
 stances not unaccompanied by a considerable measure of 
 temptation. But the gentle andkindly professor, of whom 
 I am writing, had a trustfulness respecting others, which 
 was founded upon what he knew of himself. An edu- 
 cated student in his Senior year, he said to himself, must 
 be a man of honor. Why distrust him, or make him the 
 object of suspicion? And so, on this occasion to which 
 I have alluded, when the President turned to him and 
 said, " Are you, sir, willing to act as one of the super- 
 visors in the examination session for the Senior Class on 
 Tuesday morning next? " he replied, with much suavity 
 of manner, " Certainly, Mr. President, if the gentlemen
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 of the Faculty desire me to do so, though, so far as my 
 own opinion is concerned, such supervision is entirely 
 unnecessary. Our students, I am sure, are young gen- 
 tlemen of honorable character, and will take no unfair 
 advantage if left to themselves." His idea of the gen- 
 tleman was an exalted one, but not above the true ideal. 
 His thought of the Yale student was, that he was a gen- 
 tleman who should be growing towards the ideal, as he 
 was moving on in the academic years. 
 
 I picture to my mind the thoughts of those who sat 
 around me at that meeting I recall some of my own 
 thoughts. How absurd, and like an old man who had 
 forgotten his youth, his words seemed to us. We said 
 to ourselves, or to one another, " No doubt, if a man 
 with such notions is to be a supervisor, the young fellows 
 might as well be without one, as with one. Happily the 
 other members of the Faculty have more wisdom than 
 this. Otherwise, what would become of discipline and 
 honesty and scholarship among the students? " The 
 professor was certainly in a minority of one. Years have 
 passed since then, and I have been a somewhat close ob- 
 server of college life, in our own institution and else- 
 where. I have no theory or system for which I desire 
 to contend on these pages. But I have noticed, as I have 
 moved onward and it has been very noticeable, in the 
 recent years that college officers everywhere have lost, 
 in good measure, their confidence in the old supervising 
 methods as connected with examinations, and that an 
 increasing emphasis is given to the call for the " honor 
 system." The progress of half a century has turned 
 the thoughts of educators towards new views and a new 
 order of things, and I can easily believe that, if the 
 men who were in that meeting of the bygone time could 
 assemble again in the same place to-day, with the influ- 
 ences of the world's movement working in their minds, 
 the younger ones of the company might listen to the 
 
 119
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 words of the oldest, which he then uttered, with more 
 doubts as to their former opinions, and more respect for 
 his wisdom. 
 
 As I am referring to his kindly sentiment towards 
 students, and the trustfulness which he manifested in his 
 dealings with them, I cannot forbear to mention a little 
 circumstance of my personal college history. It had 
 no significance in itself, but it was one of the every-day 
 minor things which were constantly exhibited in his inter- 
 course with pupils, showing the heart and feeling of the 
 man. I had presented myself before him, on a certain 
 occasion near the end of my academic course, for an 
 examination on studies in his department. He asked me 
 to take a chair near him in his room, and then, in a way 
 peculiar to himself a way which was very helpful, 
 rather than embarrassing to the student he questioned 
 me on various points for half an hour. Then, rising and 
 going to his table, he looked at some papers, and, select- 
 ing one, said: " I suppose you would like to have me 
 give you a certificate that your examination has been 
 satisfactory, which you may hand to the President." I 
 gave him, of course, an affirmative answer. He then 
 handed me the paper, saying, " Not doubting that you 
 would pass, I wrote the certificate before you came in." 
 These last words that he spoke were better, if possible, 
 than my assured success. They have remained in my 
 memory as a part of my mental picture of the man. 
 
 The men who knew him much earlier than I did 
 such men, for example, as Professor Thacher and Dr. 
 Woolsey saw more of him in what may be called the 
 governmental relation. Their testimony shows that he 
 was, in all cases of serious importance or grave emer- 
 gency, a wise disciplinarian, and even, as Dr. Woolsey 
 expressed it, a " tower of strength " to the government. 
 In his personal diary of the year 1830, the professor 
 himself says in referring to a college rebellion in which 
 120
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 nearly one-half of the Sophomore class had participated 
 " We, on our part, have come to the painful but 
 necessary decision that none of these youths shall ever 
 return to the institution." Professor Thacher says of 
 him, " He was willing to take his share of the labor and 
 responsibility of discipline in all serious cases, and was 
 quite ready to administer personal rebuke to students 
 who were improper in their behavior." But even in 
 those earlier days, President Woolsey states that " no 
 especial part of the college discipline fell on him," and 
 that " it was natural, therefore, that he should think less 
 of rules than those whose business it is to enforce them; " 
 .and Professor Thacher adds, " He was somewhat impa- 
 tient of rules against petty offences, and reminded us [of 
 the Faculty] that he had protested against the adoption 
 of a system of rules which culminated in dismissing from 
 college every student who incurred twenty marks for 
 absence from college exercises in a term." He was thus 
 the same person in 1850 that he had been twenty years 
 earlier, only that he had grown more genial with the 
 passing of time. He was no weak man, unable to cope 
 with difficulties or to meet emergencies. On the con- 
 trary, he was a high-toned gentleman, who trusted others 
 because of what he knew to be within himself. As a 
 consequence, he sometimes dealt with them more gently 
 than they deserved. But he left upon all who were 
 capable of receiving it an impression of himself which 
 was stimulating to manliness and was permanent in its 
 character. 
 
 Professor Silliman's instruction was given to the col- 
 lege students wholly in lectures. For this kind of teach- 
 ing he was especially qualified. He had a remarkable 
 command of language, and an unusual facility and fe- 
 licity in the use of it. His utterance was clear and dis- 
 tinct, though very rapid, and there was an alternate 
 raising and lowering of the voice, as he spoke a kind
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 of ocean-swell of tone, if I may so call it which was 
 adapted to his style and rendered what he said even more 
 attractive to his hearers. He had, also, in connection 
 with his rapidity of utterance, a constant quickness of 
 mental movement, by reason of which he easily gathered 
 into his sentences, in the way of subordinate clauses, ex- 
 pressions of side thoughts which added continual fresh- 
 ness to his discourse and gave it a special interest for the 
 hearer. He thus kept the mind delightfully awake 
 through constant surprises, while he set forth his teach- 
 ings with distinctness and emphasis. 
 
 He illustrated his lectures, and roused the attention of 
 his student audiences when it lagged for a moment, by 
 pertinent and oftentimes amusing stories. Some of these 
 were old that is, old for him and many times repeated 
 to successive classes, but not old in the sense that they 
 had long been known everywhere and had become a kind 
 of public property. All things pertaining to his lan- 
 guage and his manner of speaking were his own and 
 peculiar to himself. But, like other professors and 
 teachers who indulge themselves in story-telling, he re- 
 garded each class that came before him as an entirely 
 new audience, and allowed himself a certain freedom 
 of repetition in consequence. If no such freedom were 
 permitted, the college instructor would be, in this regard, 
 at a disadvantage as compared with other men. The 
 pupils, also, would lose many illustrations, not only 
 pleasant but impressive, for the single and certainly in- 
 sufficient reason that they had been given to their pre- 
 decessors at an earlier time. Occasionally, of course, 
 such stories are passed from class to class, and become, 
 by this means, familiar to the new hearers before they 
 are related to them by the teacher. In general, however, 
 they do not fail of their purpose, even if this be the fact. 
 Almost all good things will bear repetition, and the life 
 of good stories is to be found largely in the momentary
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 application of them. The excellent professor of whom I 
 am writing knew when and where to use his material of 
 this character. While the material might, perchance, 
 be old in itself, it might not be so, by any means, in the 
 purpose which he made it serve. He certainly under- 
 stood the art of rendering his lectures in a high degree 
 interesting to all his classes, as they followed one another 
 along the years. 
 
 Not very long after my graduation, I happened, ac- 
 cidentally, to attend a lecture on chemistry given by the 
 professor, in his regular course with the Senior Class, in 
 company with two gentlemen who had graduated twenty- 
 two and thirty-four years before myself. As we came 
 away at the close of the hour, and were walking across 
 the college yard, our conversation naturally turned to 
 what had been said, and to the characteristics of the 
 speaker. After a few moments, while we talked of his 
 peculiar style and the attractiveness of his discourse and 
 manner, I alluded to the stories which he had told, and 
 to my remembrance of some of them as given to my own 
 class when we were Seniors. The younger of the two 
 gentlemen immediately stated that he had heard one or 
 two of them when he was in his Senioryear,and the other 
 added a similar statement with respect to his own col- 
 lege experience. And yet neither of the two gave more 
 than a passing thought to the fact of the repetition. 
 Their thoughts were occupied with their interest in the 
 man, and in their hearing him again as in the older 
 time. 
 
 The testimony to his ability and success as a lec- 
 turer is abundant and comes from the highest sources. 
 Dr. Woolsey remarks of him, in this regard, that he was 
 unsurpassed, and all audiences delighted to hear him. 
 " In his own lecture room," he adds, " the students felt 
 the genial sway of his oratory. No other such instruc- 
 tions were given, uniting at once pleasure and improve- 
 123
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 ment. Hence for many years the study of chemistry 
 was, perhaps, the most popular one in the institution." 
 The late Professor Jeffries Wyman in a letter which we 
 find in the Biography of Mr. Silliman already men- 
 tioned said of his lectures in Boston, in 1840: " His 
 gifts as a teacher were of such marked excellence that it 
 is not easy to do justice to them. There was a charm 
 in his cordial manner and genial temperament which at- 
 tracted all, and a sympathy at once grew up between 
 himself and his audience. As he entered the room, they 
 were assured by the dignity of his presence and the 
 earnestness of his manner that his heart was in the work. 
 The best evidence of his power is to be found in the 
 fact that he was able to hold the attention of so large a 
 number [some fifteen hundred persons, it is said] for 
 two consecutive hours, with only a short recess, not- 
 withstanding it had become the established usage in the 
 community that a lecturer was not expected to exceed 
 a single hour." Testimonies like these, to which many 
 others might be added, had reference to the days of his 
 highest activity and success, and a period which pre- 
 ceded my own college years or my personal knowledge 
 of him. But the power and attractiveness of the earlier 
 time lingered, in its measure, in the later, and his pupils 
 who were my contemporaries have a lively recollection 
 of the winsomeness of his manner as a speaker and of a 
 certain eloquence peculiar to himself. 
 
 In view of what he was as he presented himself before 
 the public on occasions of interest and importance, it 
 was natural that he should have been oftentimes selected 
 as the representative of the College, who should urge 
 upon its friends the generous consideration of its wel- 
 fare or the importance of its enlargement and growth. 
 During the period from 1820 to 1850, he served the 
 institution in this sphere of its more public life, in a 
 degree be^ ond any of his associates in the Faculty. He 
 124
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 drew favorable attention to the College wherever he 
 journeyed throughout the country, and, in this way, con- 
 tributed in no small measure to the increase of its stu- 
 dent-membership. In the matter of its resources, also 
 though that period was an era of limitation and of com- 
 paratively little wealth he was one of those on whose 
 activity and influence in critical seasons especial reliance 
 and confidence were reposed. Even as late as the year 
 1851, when a special effort was made for the purpose of 
 securing an addition of one hundred thousand dollars 
 to the funds of the institution, he was, although in ad- 
 vanced age, called upon to take an active part in the first 
 presentation of the matter to the graduates. His appeals 
 were addressed to them with a characteristic earnestness 
 and impressiveness. 
 
 It is not the object of these brief sketches to give any 
 full description of the men to whom they relate much 
 less to set forth their work in life in its wide range and 
 extent, or in its bearing upon the welfare of the genera- 
 tion to which they belonged. I only desire to picture 
 them as I saw them from my point of outlook in the 
 associations of the Faculty life, and from my youthful 
 age when they were older or even venerable men. I 
 cannot refrain, however, from referring to the high 
 Christian principle which marked Professor Silliman in 
 his daily living and in his intercourse with men; to his 
 genuine respect and kindly consideration for those who 
 were inferior to himself in social rank, or were deprived 
 of the privileges which he had enjoyed; to his gentleness 
 and grace in his meetings with children; to his courtesy 
 towards all such courtesy as was characteristic of the 
 so-called " gentleman of the old school." This courtesy 
 was so natural to him that he never lost it even for a 
 moment or among his most intimate friends. His ex- 
 pressions had somewhat of the formality of the earlier 
 times as when, in one of his letters to his wife which is 
 125
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 given in the Biography, he said of a gentleman whom he 
 had just met in Washington, " He reminded me of your 
 excellent father, the late Governor Trumbull." But 
 they were so characteristic of himself, and so natural to 
 him, that they only made the man more strikingly mani- 
 fest. The lessons which the presence of such a man 
 in the Faculty of a college impresses upon the minds and 
 hearts of its students, in successive years, are such as 
 find silent, yet forceful entrance into many lives, and 
 abide after the memory has lost from itself many of the 
 old experiences and much of the old knowledge. 
 
 The lines of Cowper, which Professor Fisher places 
 at the beginning of his Biography of Professor Silliman, 
 are so true to the man as he was, that I may fitly close my 
 brief description of him, by repeating them: 
 
 Peace to the memory of a man of worth, 
 
 A man of letters, and of manners too ! 
 
 Of manners sweet as virtue always wears, 
 
 When gay good nature dresses her in smiles. 
 
 He graced a college, in which order yet 
 
 Was sacred ; and was honored, loved, and wept, 
 
 By more than one, themselves conspicuous there. 
 
 Professor Kingsley, as I have said on a previous page, 
 had just become a Professor Emeritus when I entered 
 upon my full term of office as a tutor, and had conse- 
 quently ceased to be an active member of the Faculty. 
 He was, however, still so closely connected with his 
 former colleagues, and was, at the same time, so inter- 
 esting and conspicuous a personage in himself, that no 
 record of the Faculty of that period could be complete, 
 which should omit a reference to him and his work. 
 Moreover, he had been an instructor in his own depart- 
 ment of study, the Latin language, during the whole of 
 my undergraduate course, and my class became ac- 
 quainted with him in this relation in the latter part of 
 126
 
 PROFESSOR JAMES L. KINGSLEY
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 our Junior year. I can speak of him, therefore, as one 
 of whom I had a knowledge similar to that which I was 
 enabled to gain of the other gentlemen who were in the 
 membership of the board of teachers. 
 
 Mr. Kingsley was born a year earlier than Mr. Silli- 
 man, but by reason of longer delay in entering upon his 
 collegiate studies, he did not graduate until three years 
 after his friend and associate. They were, however, in 
 the full sense of the word contemporaries. The aca- 
 demic life belonged, in part, for both of them within 
 the limits of the same college generation. Both of them 
 were called to the tutorial office after their graduation, 
 .and for a single year they were united in discharging 
 its duties. Mr. Silliman was appointed to his professor- 
 ship in 1802; Mr. Kingsley received his appointment in 
 1805. For nearly half a century they worked together 
 in harmony and friendship, for the well-being of the 
 institution. 
 
 The two men were unlike each other in many respects. 
 In some points, they were the counterparts of each other. 
 The one was, as I have described him, a man of impres- 
 sive personal presence; of marked gifts as a public 
 teacher and lecturer; of qualities which fitted him to be 
 a pioneer in science and a force for education in the 
 community; and of such grace of manner, dignity of 
 bearing, and winsomeness of speech as to render him 
 both interesting and attractive, even to strangers who had 
 the privilege of meeting him but for a brief season. The 
 other was a retiring scholar; a penetrating critic; pos- 
 sessed of the keenest intelligence and wit; accurate in the 
 extreme; a clear, pungent, and vigorous writer, but not 
 a speaker not even having strength or volume of voice 
 sufficient to make him easily heard in a large assembly; 
 a man to help forward learning, but not having the gift 
 nor the wish to press himself forcibly upon the general 
 public. Their labors in, and on behalf of, the College 
 127
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 were in widely different lines, but they co-operated in the 
 most generous spirit, and were alike of greatest service 
 to its highest interests. 
 
 In the earliest days of Professor Kingsley's official 
 life, his sphere of instruction included not only the Latin 
 but also the Greek and Hebrew languages. The work 
 in the two latter, however, had been laid aside after 
 other specially appointed professors were called into the 
 service of the institution, and from 1835 onwards he 
 confined his teaching to the Latin department. During 
 the period of my own college course he had the valuable 
 assistance of Professor Thacher, whom he looked upon 
 with pleasure as the one who should succeed him in his 
 chair, and he was already passing into his hands a large 
 share of the duties pertaining to it. Our meetings with 
 him, accordingly, were comparatively few in number and 
 were limited to a brief portion of a single year. We 
 had, however, the opportunity to observe his character- 
 istics as an instructor, and to get an impression of what 
 he had been in the prime and vigor of his manhood. 
 
 As Professor Kingsley took up his work with us, we 
 saw at once that he met us with no severity of manner, 
 but with a kindly and benignant spirit yet with an evi- 
 dent feeling in his own mind that we did not know as 
 much about Latin as we might, or as much as, very pos- 
 sibly, we ourselves thought we did. He also made it 
 manifest to us, from the very beginning, that he had 
 what I may call an intense accuracy, or love of accuracy, 
 and that his intention was to let us see that no slightest 
 error could escape his notice. He had, as it were, a pas- 
 sion for correcting the student in his translations, or his 
 pronunciation of Latin words, so that he seemed, in an 
 amusing way, to be grieved or aggrieved, if he was 
 obliged, in any case, to accept what was given as satis- 
 factory. To such an extent, or even excess, did he carry 
 this habit, if I may give it the name, that, in cases where
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 there were two possible, and perchance equally possible, 
 renderings of a word, he would correct the student in 
 opposite ways, on successive days. That is to say, if the 
 word was translated by the young man in a way which I 
 may designate by a b, in a passage that was contained in 
 what was called the advance lesson, on a certain Mon- 
 day, he would direct him to render it by c d. When the 
 same passage came to be read in the review lesson on the 
 next day, the person called upon to recite would naturally 
 give the translation c d. But to his surprise, and to the 
 surprise and entertainment of his fellow-students, he 
 would find himself immediately called upon by the pro- 
 fessor to substitute for it the rendering a b. Evidently, 
 the good man knew that the word had equal claims to 
 both meanings. But with his two long-established habits 
 of accuracy on the one hand, and making corrections on 
 the other, he was unable to resist the impulse to set the 
 pupil right, whatever the pupil might do. 
 
 Such corrections were also rendered more emphatic 
 and striking as were, indeed, all others that he made 
 by the fact that he would, in each case, repeat the 
 changed translation or pronunciation, which he sug- 
 gested, until the student adopted it for himself. They 
 were also emphasized in the impression which they pro- 
 duced by the feebleness of his voice. They would come 
 forth, as it were, through an effort of all the powers of 
 the man, uniting themselves to make the utterance dis- 
 tinct and authoritative. But all was done in the kindliest 
 way. The pleasant smile on his face and the friendly 
 humor indicated in his whole bearing were as far re- 
 moved from the characteristics of the stern pedagogue 
 or exacting professor as possible. We were always 
 ready for his appointed exercises and had a certain 
 peculiar enjoyment in them. 
 
 College professors and teachers differ very widely 
 in their attitude towards students, as well, as in their 
 129
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 methods of dealing with them in the recitation room. 
 Some instructors, even though they may secure discipline 
 and maintain order by a certain authoritative manner or 
 personality, have little appreciation of the student mind 
 or knowledge of the happiest way of meeting it. Com- 
 paratively few perhaps I may say have any full 
 understanding of the power which kindly humor gives 
 the teacher over the company of his pupils in the under- 
 graduate years. I would not affirm of course, I would 
 not that such humor is the best gift which an instructor 
 can have as fitting him for his work. It is certainly not 
 the best gift in every point of view. It may not even 
 be the best for his work as a disciplinarian, though if we 
 consider it in all its relations and influences as bearing 
 upon them and upon himself, I am not sure but it is. 
 Whether it is or is not the best, however, it is, beyond 
 question, one of the best. Many men fail in a most un- 
 fortunate way for the want of it. Many who have 
 partial success find their success attended constantly by 
 friction and ill-feeling because it is not an element in 
 their mental constitution. 
 
 Professor Kingsley had this happy gift in abundant 
 measure. In my college days, certainly, he had no other 
 humor than that which was kindly and I doubt whether 
 in his wit which was often brilliant, or his satire which 
 was most incisive, he was ever impelled by any spirit 
 of genuine unfriendliness or hostility. But his arrows 
 always hit the mark and effected his purpose. In the 
 recitation room he was almost inimitable in his humorous 
 way of meeting difficulties or adapting himself to an 
 emergency. I may refer, as a single instance, to an 
 incident which, though quite insignificant in itself, has 
 by some strange chance remained in my memory from 
 my college days. As we assembled, one day, for our 
 recitation in the Professor's lecture room, a classmate 
 of mine by the name of Campbell, took his dog with 
 130
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 him. The dog moved about the room somewhat, and 
 of course excited the attention and interest of the class 
 considerably, before the Professor appeared; just as he 
 entered the door, however, Campbell carefully placed 
 the creature under his own seat and, as he supposed, 
 quite out of sight. All became quiet, and the beginning 
 of the exercise was awaited, but there was a little longer 
 pause than usual on the Professor's part; and then in an 
 undertone, almost a stage-whisper, he said, " Campbell, 
 either you or the dog will have to go out." These words 
 were followed by the departure of one of the two I 
 need not say which and the unanimous sentiment of the 
 class ever afterward was that, whatever might happen 
 elsewhere, it would be desirable to keep all disorder and 
 impropriety outside of Professor Kingsley's lecture 
 room. The professor won for himself the kindly feeling 
 of all, even of Campbell himself, while he settled satis- 
 factorily the case of the dog, from which the class had 
 eagerly expected some sudden embarrassment for the 
 good man. The boys found the teacher quicker and 
 shrewder than they were, and they laughed at them- 
 selves, not at him. 
 
 The College atmosphere was full, at the time, of the 
 professor's sharp and witty sayings which had been 
 handed down gleefully from class to class for years, and 
 we enjoyed them all as we heard them repeated by our 
 elders. But he had now come into the mildness and gen- 
 tleness of advancing age, and his wit was less pungent, 
 and less frequent in its exhibition of itself, than it had 
 been in his earlier life. 
 
 I shall never forget, however, the pleasure with which 
 I listened, and the satisfaction which he manifested, as 
 he told me, not long after my graduation, the story of 
 his controversy nearly twenty years earlier with his con- 
 temporary and college classmate, the late Professor 
 Moses Stuart of Andover Theological Seminary a con-
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 troversy which was then somewhat celebrated. Pro- 
 fessor Stuart was an enthusiastic and inspiring teacher; 
 ardent and impulsive; full of interest in new ideas, and 
 ready to give them forth with all confidence and em- 
 phasis as soon as he had received them. Mr. Kingsley 
 himself had said to him, just before he went to Andover, 
 " If you go there, in six months you will make the young 
 men there feel that a knowledge of Hebrew is as essen- 
 tial to success in the ministry as air is necessary to animal 
 life." The word was almost literally fulfilled. No in- 
 structor in any branch of study, within the limits of the 
 century, has had a more awakening force for his stu- 
 dents' minds, we may safely say, than Professor Stuart 
 had during a large portion of his long career. He was 
 however, too ardent to be in the highest degree accurate, 
 and too absorbingly interested in the new things which 
 he learned, or thought he learned, to test them with the 
 utmost carefulness before he made them known to his 
 pupils. If he had been slower, very probably he would 
 have been less interesting. In the matter of accuracy he 
 was far removed from Professor Kingsley. 
 
 At one period in his career Professor Stuart became, 
 for some reason, thoroughly dissatisfied with the results 
 of the classical training of the time in the colleges, as 
 manifested in his intercourse with the young graduates 
 who entered the Seminary at Andover for their theolog- 
 ical studies. He even went so far as to devote a part of 
 the first year's theological course to the work of remedy- 
 ing the evil, by going over again with his pupils the pre- 
 paratory studies in the Greek language. Not only this; 
 but, with somewhat vehement emphasis, he made known 
 publicly the reason which, as he declared, rendered it 
 necessary for him to make such provision for supplying 
 the defects of college education. He affirmed that stu- 
 dents from the leading colleges came to his classes with- 
 out the ability to decline an ordinary Greek noun of the 
 132
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 first declension, like /u,ovo-a (which was then uniformly 
 pronounced mowza) . This severe criticism of the col- 
 lege training came, in due course of time, to the ears of 
 Professor Kingsley, and not unnaturally excited his 
 mind in considerable measure. He knew his old class- 
 mate and fellow-tutor, now his critic, with a pretty thor- 
 ough knowledge. He understood his strong points and 
 his weak ones, and he felt sure that the time would come, 
 ere long, when there could be some appropriate criticism 
 on the opposite side of the question. The time, indeed, 
 was not long delayed. Professor Stuart prepared an 
 edition of " Cicero's Tusculan Questions," in connection 
 with the issue of which, if I remember rightly, it was 
 publicly intimated that it would present, in some sense, 
 an example of a properly ordered text-book for college 
 classical instructors, suggestive of the true style of teach- 
 ing. The book, when it appeared, was characterized by 
 some of its author's excellences and by some of his weak- 
 nesses, and it was, through many inaccuracies of a more 
 or less striking sort, a tempting subject for a reviewer. 
 Professor Kingsley, who had waited for the publication, 
 eagerly took upon himself the reviewer's work. Aftei* 
 a few weeks, he gave to the public a paper, which for 
 humor and wit, as well as for scholarly criticism, was 
 of a surpassing character. Nothing which equalled it 
 had for years appeared in the literary journals of the 
 period. 
 
 The Professor told me the story, in answer to my inter- 
 ested and urgent inquiries, with much vividness of de- 
 tail and with a pleasure of a peculiar character, as if he 
 had been relating some successful and felicitous action 
 of another person. Then, as he continued his narrative, 
 he said: " Mr. Stuart, when he published his volume, 
 announced that he was expecting to prepare editions of 
 the writings of other Latin and Greek authors, and that 
 the next volume would be one of Plato's works." A few 
 133
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 weeks after the review appeared, however, a young grad- 
 uate of Yale, who had been a student at Andover, came 
 back to New Haven to enter upon a tutorship, and in 
 conversation, one day, he said to Professor Kingsley that 
 Professor Stuart was thinking of bringing out his volume 
 of Plato soon, but would like to know whether, in case 
 of its publication, Professor Kingsley would review it. 
 The Professor replied and, as he told me of his reply, 
 his face lighted up and his eye sparkled " I do not 
 know whether I shall review the book or not ; but this I 
 will say: Mr. Woolsey and I have abundant means 
 now, in the College Library, for the study of Plato ; and 
 if the book appears, it will be noticed. Yes, I may not 
 review it, but the book will be noticed, and we shall 
 endeavor to have the question settled between the author 
 and ourselves, as to which of us can decline mowza the 
 best." Then he added : " The book never appeared; " 
 and the story was completed. 
 
 I doubt whether the two men had any unkindly feel- 
 ing towards each other. I am sure that they respected 
 each other highly, and justly estimated each other's 
 powers. But the one was a man of eagerness, and was 
 ever forthputting by reason of his rushing enthusiasm; 
 while the other was a quiet scholar, keen-sighted, thor- 
 ough, accurate, earnest for the exactness of knowledge, 
 and a layer of foundations for the soundest learning. 
 
 Professor Thacher once told me a little story of the 
 two men, which he had heard from an earlier time, and 
 which sets forth something of the contrast between them. 
 On a certain occasion, when they were, both of them, 
 still in the tutorial office, they were in attendance at a 
 meeting of the Faculty. The meeting was prolonged 
 much beyond their anticipation, and, as the afternoon 
 recitation hour was drawing very near, Mr. Stuart 
 turned to Mr. Kingsley, and said, " I had no idea of 
 being detained here so long, and I am much disturbed 
 134
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 as I have had no time for my preparation for the lesson 
 which I am to hear recited at five o'clock." " Oh," 
 said Mr. Kingsley, " do not trouble yourself. You can 
 go into your recitation room and give your class a lec- 
 ture; they will all be delighted with what you say to 
 them." Mr. Stuart followed his suggestion. He began 
 his exercise by calling upon one of the students to trans- 
 late a brief passage from the book which they were read- 
 ing. In the first line of the passage, the student came 
 upon the word Zeus. "Who was Zeus?" asked Mr. 
 Stuart. The student, as it happened, did not answer the 
 question in a way which indicated the most complete 
 knowledge, and Mr. Stuart thereupon proceeded to fill 
 the hour with a discourse concerning Zeus, which was 
 received with much enthusiasm. Mr. Kingsley, of 
 course, went to his own exercise with the preparation 
 fully completed beforehand, and gave his teaching as 
 methodically and accurately as was his custom. Which 
 of the two men was the more helpful to his pupils on 
 that afternoon? We may not affirm with absolute con- 
 fidence. Enough it is to say, that accuracy and enthusi- 
 asm are alike important, if the student is to become 
 the true scholar, and that the teachers who lead him to 
 the attainment of each of the two essential things unite 
 in contributing to his highest happiness and success. 
 
 That the feeling between the two eminent professors 
 was not an unkindly one that there was a certain play- 
 fulness in Professor Kingsley's wit I think may be 
 indicated by his reply to Professor Stuart with reference 
 to an honorary degree which the latter had received. 
 Mr. Stuart was one of the first, if not the very first, of 
 the distinguished theological men in our country who 
 declined to accept the honorary degree of Doctor of 
 Divinity, conferred upon him by one of the colleges. 
 After declining it, he wrote to Professor Kingsley, who 
 at that time had charge of the publication of the Yale 
 
 135
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 Triennial Catalogue, asking him to see that the degree 
 was not attached to his name in that document. Mr. 
 Kingsley replied, " Of course, my dear friend, it will be 
 difficult, if not impossible, to fulfill your request, for, as 
 you know, colleges have power to put on those things, 
 but they have no power to take them off." This amiable 
 witticism had no sting of unkindness in it, and must 
 have been equally enjoyed on both sides. But how sug- 
 gestive it is ! There are other things besides honorary 
 degrees which colleges can easily put on, but cannot 
 easily take off. And so it is in other spheres, as well. 
 " If they could only be taken off " do we not sometimes 
 say? 
 
 Professor Kingsley was a genuine scholar in a some- 
 what wide range of learning. He was not only a suc- 
 cessful teacher, for many years, of three different lan- 
 guages, as has been already intimated, but he had, for a 
 considerable period, the instruction in ecclesiastical his- 
 tory under his charge, and for a more limited time, 
 during the absence of the professor of mathematics, he 
 rendered valuable service in carrying forward that de- 
 partment of study. In his private studies, he was 
 earnestly devoted to historical investigation, and with 
 reference to historical facts few men of his time had 
 more accurate knowledge. The retentiveness of his 
 memory was very remarkable. It extended even to 
 minutest details; so that, while he was quick to discover 
 the errors made by others, it was almost an unknown 
 experience for him to be himself found in a mistake. 
 
 His accuracy of knowledge and his richness of anec- 
 dote and story respecting men and things made him 
 unusually interesting in conversation. He was not a 
 talker, nor one who carried on a monologue, expecting 
 others to listen in silence, or perhaps admiration. On 
 the contrary, he was retiring, or even seemingly diffident, 
 and was quite as ready to listen as to speak. But when 
 136
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 he was led to speak, those who heard him were always 
 charmed and instructed by what he said, for his words 
 were full of intelligence and, also, of a peculiar liveliness 
 and humor. In a commemorative paper, Professor 
 Thacher, referring to his conversational power, calls 
 attention to a special characteristic, and says : " He had 
 something of a naturalist's interest in the human species, 
 only his interest was higher and more worthy, by as 
 much as man is higher and more worthy than the 
 lower animals. Every fact, therefore, which came to 
 his knowledge respecting an individual whose existence 
 and character had for any reason impressed itself on his 
 memory, was likely to take its place in its right connec- 
 tion in his mind, and have its effect in making more com- 
 plete his conception of the individual whom it concerned. 
 Thus there were multitudes of men to whose history he 
 had given a completeness and individuality by his almost 
 unconscious habit of grouping in their natural connec- 
 tion the scattered facts of personal history, which were 
 accidentally brought to his knowledge. This tendency 
 gave to the people of his mind a personality which 
 heightened very much his own interest in them, and the 
 effect of his conversation respecting them was, at times, 
 quite similar to that of an introduction to a living per- 
 son." This is a striking testimony from a personal 
 friend, and a testimony to a remarkable gift which must, 
 in its revelation of itself, have awakened an especial in- 
 terest in the minds of all who enjoyed the privilege of 
 witnessing it. 
 
 The service which Mr. Kingsley rendered to the Col- 
 lege was fully equal to that of either of his two col- 
 leagues, Professor Silliman and President Day, who 
 were so long associated with him. It was, however, a 
 different service, at least in a considerable measure, from 
 that which made them so valuable to the institution. 
 Professor Kingsley was more distinctly, and in the strict 
 
 137
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 sense of the word, a scholar more exclusively so than 
 either of them, and his special work and its results were 
 seen within the sphere of scholarship. He did for his 
 time what Dr. Woolsey afterwards did for his, and 
 we may not doubt so closely related in their studies 
 of the classics were the two that the elder professor 
 gave much of his own thought and inspiration to his 
 younger associate. But Mr. Kingsley's era was one of 
 beginnings and of limited possibilities, as compared with 
 Mr. Woolsey's, and of course the measure of results was 
 very different. The advance, however, in the study of 
 the ancient languages and in the methods and means of 
 study, between the time of Mr. Kingsley's entrance upon 
 his professorship and the beginning of my own college 
 days, was quite remarkable. It was such, indeed, as to 
 make classical education a different thing from what it 
 had been at the opening of the century. This advance 
 in our own institution was due, in largest measure, to the 
 influence and efforts of Professor Kingsley. Other in- 
 stitutions also were benefited, and excited to new life, 
 by reason of his example and what he accomplished. 
 
 The vision of him which lingers in my mind is a pleas- 
 ant one. As he walked through the streets on a winter's 
 day, he always gathered his long cloak (the wonted 
 outer garment of the time) tightly about his ankles 
 so tightly that it seemed as if it might be difficult for 
 him to move forward. His closely-shaven face and his 
 eye sparkling with intelligence and humor showed them- 
 selves above his heavy cape and collar, as if he were 
 peering out of a narrow window. In general, he carried 
 an umbrella in his hand, even in fair weather, and 
 he used to say that anybody could take an umbrella 
 with him when it rained, but it needed a wise man to 
 take one when the sun was shining. He walked rapidly, 
 notwithstanding his cloak, and he looked outward and 
 inward happily whithersoever he went. We college 
 138
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 boys, as we spoke of him and Professor Silliman, in our 
 daily conversation with one another, were wont to give 
 them the title of " Uncle " Uncle Jimmy and Uncle 
 Ben and we honored and esteemed them both. They 
 were marked characters in the College history. 
 
 139
 
 IX 
 
 The Old Faculty Professors Olmsted and Lamed 
 
 PROFESSOR Olmsted, who occupied, in the Fac- 
 ulty meetings, the chair next to Professor Silli- 
 man on his left, was only twelve years younger 
 than his colleague. Owing to the less favorable circum- 
 stances of his early life, however, he entered college 
 at a later age, and in the dates of their graduation 
 the two were separated by an interval of seventeen years. 
 In his undergraduate career, accordingly, he was not 
 only a student under the instruction of President Dwight 
 as his elder associate had been, but also of this associate 
 himself and of the other two gentlemen whom Dr. 
 Dwight had selected as his helpers and as permanent 
 professors. He was a pupil while these gentlemen were 
 teachers, and thus seemed, no doubt, to himself as well 
 as to them, according to the college standard of meas- 
 urement, a man of a younger generation. Even more 
 truly with respect to his professorial office he must have 
 regarded himself as pertaining to a later time, for a 
 period of eight years after the date of Dr. Day's acces- 
 sion to the Presidency had elapsed before he received 
 his appointment from the Corporation. Moreover, 
 within this period, the chair of mathematics and natural 
 philosophy, to which he was called, had been filled by 
 two gentlemen in succession a fact which, in itself, was 
 calculated to impress his mind, and the minds of others, 
 with the difference between his college age and that of 
 his older colleagues. The eight years had been spent 
 by him in the University of North Carolina. In that 
 140
 
 PROFESSOR DENISON OLMSTED
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 institution he had held the professorship of chemistry, 
 and in addition to his duties in this department of study 
 he had given instruction in mineralogy and geology. 
 When he returned to Yale he was summoned, according- 
 ly, to an untried work, upon which he was to enter at 
 the age of thirty-four. All things thus combined, as it 
 would appear, to make him feel that he was, indeed, a 
 new man among those who had begun their career in an 
 earlier era and were now in advancing years. 
 
 He gave himself immediately on his arrival in New 
 Haven, in 1825, to the studies which were assigned to 
 him. Although in the sphere of mathematics he was 
 not possessed of natural gifts and genius such as belonged 
 to his college classmate, Alexander Metcalf Fisher, who 
 had preceded him in his official position, and whose early 
 death was justly regarded as a great loss to science, he 
 soon proved by his attainments and success his worthiness 
 to hold a permanent place in the board of teachers. In 
 the year 1836, the department of mathematics was set 
 apart for a special professorship, to which a young grad- 
 uate of six years earlier, Mr. Anthony D. Stanley, was 
 called. From this time onward Mr. Olmsted's chair 
 was that of natural philosophy and astronomy. This 
 change or limitation of his work was, no doubt, most 
 satisfactory to him. 
 
 In accordance with the arrangement of the curriculum 
 at the time, the studies in his department were assigned 
 especially to the Junior year. In that year he came, as 
 I may say, into a twofold connection with each successive 
 class namely, through his books and as a lecturer. 
 His text-book, Olmsted's Natural Philosophy, was made 
 one of the principal studies of the first two terms of 
 the year. That relating to Astronomy held a similar 
 place in the third term. The teaching of the former 
 was placed in the charge of one of the tutors. It was 
 mainly limited to the hearing of recitations. That 
 141
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE .LIFE AND MEN 
 
 which pertained to the latter subject he reserved for 
 himself, and the recitation work was supplemented by 
 lectures. 
 
 It may well be borne in mind, as we recall the studies 
 and instruction of those days, that it was, in special 
 aspects of the matter, a much earlier era than the present 
 an era in educational means and facilities, in our 
 country, much nearer to the beginnings. In the sphere 
 of studies such as those to which Professor Olmsted's 
 attention was devoted, there was, when he entered upon 
 his duties at Yale, an absolute want of suitable text- 
 books. If therefore he would accomplish his purpose, 
 as an instructor, it became a necessity that he should 
 himself prepare such as would be more adequate and 
 satisfactory. This he did, and with benefit to his 
 students. But his works of this order are to be judged 
 by the standard of the time when they were written. 
 The one on Natural Philosophy, in particular, was char- 
 acterized very markedly by the style of the lecturer, even 
 that of the lecturer addressing popular audiences. It 
 seems, indeed, to have been modeled, in some degree, on 
 books containing such lectures which had, not long pre- 
 viously, been published in England. I thought, when 
 as a teacher I used the book, that it was not as fully 
 adapted to recitation purposes as it might have been, 
 and that too large a portion of the year was assigned 
 to the study of it. But in a conversation which I had 
 with the Professor on the subject, I found that his view 
 was diametrically opposite to my own. As I recall and 
 mention this fact, it becomes me to say that he was, if 
 I may use the term, a natural philosopher, while I was 
 not. 
 
 As a lecturer, whether on Experimental Philosophy 
 
 or Astronomy, Professor Olmsted was very successful 
 
 and instructive, though he did not have the peculiar 
 
 attractiveness and inspiring power which were charac- 
 
 142
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 teristic of the elder Professor Silliman. He was careful 
 and thorough in his preparation for his lectures, always 
 ready and desirous to bring before his pupils what was 
 new, and, at the same time, interesting and useful. In 
 his manner he was dignified, and in his personal presence 
 he had the appearance of a man of ability and a scholarly 
 gentleman. With respect to style, he was marked by 
 clearness and force, but with a slightly excessive tendency 
 towards the rhetorical. The students of successive 
 classes with the characteristic impulse of all college 
 boys to amuse themselves by noticing the peculiarities 
 of every individual teacher were wont to make merry 
 in a kindly way, in their talk together, about his some- 
 what ornate and elevated modes of expression. Espe- 
 cially was this the case, as they came, in their study of his 
 text-book on Natural Philosophy, to a passage, quite 
 famous in the undergraduate community of the time, in 
 which a description was given of a stove invented by 
 the author and very widely used. This passage, which 
 was in its style like the rest of the work as already 
 described, was carefully learned, word for word, by 
 pupils who were careless on other occasions, in the hope 
 that they might have the pleasure of reciting it with 
 due emphasis in the presence of their classmates, and 
 thus of putting the solemn dignity of the one who 
 chanced to be their instructor to the severest test. But it 
 may fitly be remembered, on the Professor's behalf, that 
 the young students themselves, in their admiration of 
 the oratory of the era, often sought after a somewhat 
 similar style when they turned their efforts towards 
 writing or speaking. 
 
 In addition to his lectures on Natural Philosophy 
 and Astronomy, which were delivered to the students 
 in their Junior year, he gave a valuable course annually 
 to the Senior class on the subject of Meteorology. This 
 course had a special interest by reason of his peculiar 
 143
 
 MEMORIES OP YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 enthusiasm as connected with that science, and also be- 
 cause of his careful observation of the remarkable 
 meteoric showers of 1833, and of his theory respecting 
 the phenomena of such showers. The classes saw that 
 he was a faithful and earnest investigator and a genuine 
 devotee of science in each department in which it opened 
 itself to him. As a consequence they attended his ex- 
 ercises with readiness, and those among their member- 
 ship whose minds were most adapted to scientific studies 
 derived no little advantage from his instruction. 
 
 According to the best of testimony, Professor Olmsted 
 was active and influential during the period between 
 1825 and 1840 in advancing the scholarship of the 
 College, and especially in raising the standard and im- 
 proving the method of examinations. During my own 
 undergraduate life and in the years which immediately 
 followed, I think he accomplished little in this regard 
 partly, no doubt, because of the greater activity of others 
 with reference to these matters, but partly, perhaps, 
 because of some personal changes in himself. He did 
 not lose his interest in devising ways of making his 
 examinations more successful for the attainment of the 
 desired results. He was ever watchful and thoughtful 
 to this end. But, either because he became more dis- 
 posed to trust the honor of the average student, as he 
 grew older, or because he did not understand all the 
 possibilities or dangers connected with the newly intro- 
 duced system of written examinations or for some 
 other reason his best formed plans, not unfrequently, 
 proved to be failures. In the latter part of my official 
 term as tutor I occupied a college room which was near 
 his own, and I well remember the confidence and satis- 
 faction with which he came to me, again and again, 
 assuring me that he had in mind a new scheme which 
 he thought would be eminently wise and useful. He 
 never informed me what it was. But, within a few 
 144
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 weeks after it had been tested, he was sure to visit me 
 again, and to say that he had found reason to believe 
 that the scheme had not been attended with the success 
 for which he had hoped. Yet he never despaired of the 
 coming time, and he kept his mind always awake for 
 what might seem better things, as well as for what 
 should prove advantageous for his department of study. 
 As a scholarly writer, he was active beyond many of 
 his contemporaries his articles in the Quarterlies of 
 the day, as well as his more extended works, being of 
 goodly number and of wide influence. Many of them 
 exhibited less of the rhetorical style that marked, as has 
 been already stated, his book on Natural Philosophy, 
 and was characteristic of his lectures and public ad- 
 dresses. Indeed, the rhetorical element never interfered 
 with his clearness of statement, and he certainly did not 
 have the redundancy or exuberance of language which 
 was so often noticeable in the elder Silliman's discourse. 
 I think he was even impatient, at times, when more was 
 said than seemed necessary for the satisfactory pre- 
 sentation of the subject in discussion. I recall a little 
 instance of such impatience, which will serve as an illus- 
 tration. In one of the later years of my tutorship, a 
 movement was made by the Faculty to change "the sys- 
 tem of excuses," as it was called so that in place of the 
 old arrangement, according to which the students pre- 
 sented their excuses for absences from college exercises, 
 or for other delinquencies, to their instructors orally, all 
 such communications were thereafter to be made in writ- 
 ing. This appeared from the standpoint of the time to 
 be a much greater and more serious change than would 
 now, after so many years of experience with the new 
 order of things, seem possible. The matter was, after 
 discussion, placed in charge of a committee for further 
 careful consideration, and for the perfecting of a plan. 
 When the chairman of this committee, who was perhaps 
 
 MS
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 the most influential of the younger professors and the 
 one most familiar with the disciplinary matters of the 
 College, presented their report, he submitted a form of 
 excuse-paper which should be put into the hands of the 
 students a paper having a statement of the character 
 and manner of the excuse to be offered. This intro- 
 ductory statement, to be printed on each paper, was quite 
 elaborate and extended, and was read to the Faculty by 
 the Professor. When the reading was finished, Profes- 
 sor Olmsted commented upon it, and said, "It seems to 
 me to be altogether too long." The chairman of the 
 committee replied: "We gave special attention to the 
 matter of brevity and conciseness, and I do not see how 
 it would be possible to make it any shorter than it is." 
 "Will you be so kind as to read it again?" said Mr. 
 Olmsted. The chairman of the committee proceeded to 
 do so. He read the first sentence, which was somewhat 
 as follows: "In writing his excuse, the student should 
 make his statement as to the time and cause of his ab- 
 sence, or as to his other delinquency, with exactness, 
 clearness, and brevity." Professor Olmsted immediately 
 interrupted the reading, with the remark: "If you had 
 stopped there, you would have said all that was neces- 
 sary." The Professor's rhetorical style was a matter 
 of words of an ornate character and stately progress, 
 rather than of long-extended sentences or excess of ex- 
 pression. It was said of him by a critic of higher 
 quality and attainments than I can claim to be, that he 
 had no poetry in his nature. For myself, I should be 
 disposed rather to say, that there was a certain poetic 
 element, or an element kindred to the poetry of the more 
 ponderous and weighty order of the later part of the 
 eighteenth century, which affected his words rather than 
 his thoughts, and that thus his style, in its two charac- 
 teristics taken together, had its explanation. 
 
 There was somewhat of a similar element of an 
 146
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 ornate or elevated character, if I may so describe it in 
 the worthy Professor's bearing and general appearance. 
 He was more nicely careful in his dress, and more 
 punctilious in his manner, than most of his colleagues, 
 and always had in consequence, to the student mind, a 
 certain conscious professorial aspect. He had also an 
 apparently upward look in the eyes towards the fore- 
 head, from which the hair was always brushed upward, 
 or naturally grew thus, a look that added to the im- 
 pression mentioned. There was, so far, a measure of 
 the dignity of the older generation which attracted atten- 
 tion and, oftentimes, excited comment among the young 
 men of the later period, when the former things were 
 already passing away. As I recall how his sense of pro- 
 priety was shocked, when some of us who were tutors 
 at the time followed the passing fashion of those years 
 in the wearing of shawls, instead of cloaks or overcoats, 
 I can easily picture to myself the astonishment and hor- 
 ror which would have filled his mind, if he could have 
 foreseen the day when even elderly professors and men 
 eminent in the State should ride on bicycles, or array 
 themselves in a manner adapted to the playing of golf. 
 But, though I have to acknowledge that I was myself, 
 for a season, a voluntary victim to the shawl fashion, 
 and that the Professor indulged himself, in consequence, 
 in unfavorable comments, I confess that I have a yet 
 lingering respect for the good man's views and example, 
 and a feeling from which I am unable to free myself, 
 that men of venerable years and official position may 
 fitly have a dignity of bearing and a style of dress in 
 accordance therewith. The gentleman of the old school 
 is altogether of the past now, and of the increasingly 
 distant past. But it will do us of the present no harm 
 to remember his excellences and to let the influence of 
 his example work upon us as far as it may. There is 
 147
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 little danger that we shall carry our imitation of him too 
 far. 
 
 For a considerable period in his boyhood Professor 
 Olmsted stood in close relations to the family of the 
 Hon. John Treadwell, of Farmington, Connecticut, and 
 during a part of this time he lived in their home. Mr. 
 Treadwell held a very prominent position in the com- 
 munity, and for a term of years in the early part of the 
 century he filled the office of Lieutenant Governor, and 
 that of Governor of the State. His characteristics both 
 of mind and manner were those of what we may call the 
 old re'gime. Dignity and formality marked all his in- 
 tercourse with others, even with his familiar friends and 
 the members of his family. I remember hearing Mr. 
 Olmsted, when speaking of him, mention more than once 
 the fact, that in accordance with the order of the house- 
 hold whenever he entered the room where his children 
 were, they all rose respectfully and remained standing 
 until he had taken his seat. The influence of such a 
 man and of rules like these must have had a formative 
 force for a boy who was at the most impressible age, and 
 I have the thought that the Professor's demeanor in this 
 regard may have been in no small measure due to this 
 experience of his early life. There was, however, in 
 his nature an element which rendered him especially 
 susceptible to such influence, and which would, no doubt, 
 have made itself manifest in his bearing, as well as in 
 his thoughts, whatever might have been the surroundings 
 of his youth. 
 
 The allusion thus made to Governor Treadwell re- 
 minds me of the partisan spirit of the early days of the 
 century and recalls a word of Mr. Olmsted in connection 
 with it. The Governor was a stanch Federalist, and to 
 the Federalists of New England the Democrats of the 
 time were offensive in a far higher degree than we of 
 the modern era find it easy to realize. The oppositions 
 148
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 among us are of a milder order than they, were in the 
 days of the Fathers. Mr. Olmsted said that, when he 
 was a young boy in the Governor's house, he received 
 such an impression from the conversation of the men 
 of the period which he there overheard, that he some- 
 times found himself afraid to go out into the fields after 
 dark, if by chance he was called to do so, because of the 
 thought that he might meet a Democrat. Happily we 
 New Englanders have freed ourselves from the old-time 
 apprehensions, and men of the party opposed to our own, 
 whichever it may be, have no terrors for the youngest 
 of us, even in the darker hours of the day. 
 
 But to turn again to the Professor himself the cor- 
 diality of his gentlemanly nature, uniting itself with his 
 affectionate interest in the students, led him to offer them 
 in a generous way the privilege of his friendly acquaint- 
 anceship. He received them in his college room with 
 readiness, whether for conversation or for counsel and 
 helpful advice. He also offered them the hospitality 
 of his home, and as they accepted it, he gave them a 
 sincere welcome. The welcome, indeed, was that of 
 dignified age in its meeting with cultured youth, but it 
 had in it the kindliness of the older towards the younger 
 in the scholarly brotherhood. There was no formality 
 in the outward manner which bore testimony of the 
 absence of feeling in the spirit within. There was only 
 what seemed to his thought the appropriate mingling of 
 the paternal with the fraternal. 
 
 He was, moreover, ever thoughtful and earnest in 
 his work for the upbuilding of personal character in the 
 student community. This work he regarded as a most 
 important part of the service which he was called to 
 render to the institution and its membership. He had 
 a deep-seated conviction that it was the duty of the 
 College to make men, as well as scholars to educate 
 its pupils not only intellectually, but also morally and 
 149
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 spiritually. As the result of this conviction, he gave 
 himself, according to the measure of his opportunities, 
 to the fulfillment of the duty; and by his example and 
 his friendly suggestions and teachings, he commended 
 the true life to all who came under his influence. 
 
 In the later part of his career, he was called to the 
 endurance of unusual sorrows and afflictions through 
 the loss of four sons, young men of much ability and 
 promise, who died in their early manhood not long after 
 their college graduation. But notwithstanding his 
 burden of grief he moved on in his course in the manliest 
 and most courageous way, being even to the end un- 
 wearied in his labors and conscientiously devoted to the 
 well-being of those who were about him. In the sum- 
 mer of 1859 he died, at the age of sixty-eight. His 
 elder colleagues, Silliman and Day, survived him the 
 former for more than five, and the latter for eight 
 years. 
 
 Toward myself personally Mr. Olmsted had a 
 friendly feeling which I remember with pleasure and 
 gratitude. He visited me not unfrequently at my room, 
 when" our apartments were near each other in North 
 College, and talked with me freely, or even confiden- 
 tially, notwithstanding our separation in age. He had, 
 I think, a kind of family regard for me, which came 
 from the associations of former years, when he knew and 
 honored my grandfather as his instructor, and was united 
 in the bonds of a college friendship with one of my 
 uncles, who was his classmate. He was, certainly, al- 
 ways most gracious and considerate in all his intercourse 
 and dealings with me. Almost on the very day of my 
 return from my studies in Europe, he called upon me, 
 and said that he had received a letter requesting him 
 to suggest the name of a desirable candidate for a 
 professorship in one of the prominent universities of 
 the Northwest. This letter, he said, he had kept in his
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 hands for a time, awaiting my arrival, in order that he 
 might, if I were willing to accept the position, give me 
 his best commendation for it. My desires in the line 
 of college life were limited to New England, and the 
 department offered in the Western institution was not 
 in accordance with my preference. I therefore declined 
 the Professor's proposal, but I have always carried in 
 my thought the recollection of his friendly offer at a 
 critical time in my career, and I am glad to record in 
 these pages my respect for him as a man, and my appre- 
 ciation of his kind regard. 
 
 To many students of the earlier years, as I cannot 
 doubt, he was a more efficient and helpful friend than it 
 was possible for him to be to me. Most of these, like 
 himself, have now passed beyond the limits of their 
 earthly career. But while they lived, they must have 
 kept in pleasant memory what he did for them, and the 
 results of what he did in the happy experience of their 
 subsequent history. Doubtless, also, there are some still 
 living by whom his personality, like that of his associates 
 in the old Faculty, is held in fresh recollection, and in 
 whose minds the vision of the former days has much of 
 its distinctness yet remaining. 
 
 The place next to that of Professor Olmsted in the 
 order of arrangement was held by Professor Larned, 
 who succeeded Dr. Goodrich in the chair of Rhetoric. 
 He received his appointment in 1839 the year in which 
 Dr. Goodrich left the College Department to take up 
 his work in the Divinity School. He was, at that time, 
 a graduate of thirteen years' standing and a man of 
 thirty-three years of age. His original purpose, when 
 an undergraduate student, had been to enter the legal 
 profession, but near the end of his tutorship in the 
 College the influence upon his mind of the remarkable 
 religious revival which occurred in 1831 led him to
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 change his plan of life and to enter upon a course of 
 study in preparation for the work of the Christian 
 ministry. Owing to an enfeebled condition of his 
 health, however, he was obliged, after a brief term of 
 service, to give up his pastoral duties to which he had 
 been successively called in two different places, and near 
 the beginning of the year 1839 he returned to New 
 Haven, for what he supposed would be a temporary 
 residence, in order that he might regain his strength and 
 vigor. It was during the period of this sojourn that 
 the chair of Rhetoric became vacant, and a new occupant 
 was sought for by the College Corporation. That body 
 made choice of Dr. Leonard Bacon, but, on his declining 
 the appointment, the attention of its members, as well 
 as of the members of the Faculty according to the 
 statements which I heard, a few years afterwards, from 
 those who were familiar with the facts was specially 
 called to Mr. Larned as a desirable candidate for the 
 position by the elder Professor Silliman, who had known 
 him with more than usual intimacy and had a high esti- 
 mate of his ability and worth. The offer of the position 
 was made and, on Mr. Larned's acceptance of it, the 
 title of the professorship was changed from that of 
 "Rhetoric and Oratory" to that of "Rhetoric and Eng- 
 lish Literature." The formal recognition of English 
 Literature as descriptive of the chair of instruction was 
 thus given at this time, though of course Dr. Goodrich 
 had, in his teaching, turned his attention, in a measure, 
 to this subject in connection with Rhetoric. 
 
 The classes of my undergraduate period met Profes- 
 sor Larned, for the first time, at the opening of their 
 Senior year. All that was then offered in the line of 
 instruction in English during the earlier part of the 
 College course was under the charge of the tutors, and 
 was limited to more or less regular exercises in English 
 composition, and occasional private criticisms on the 
 
 152
 
 PROFESSOR WILLIAM A. LARNED
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 part of these younger officers. The criticisms dealt, in 
 general, with minor points only, and were of no signifi- 
 cant value or importance. Even with reference to the 
 matter of oratory, the student was largely left to himself, 
 and he gained whatever power resulted from his college 
 education mainly from his personal efforts as a par- 
 ticipator in the discussions of the larger debating societies 
 of that day. The modern system of coaching for special 
 debates was unknown in connection with those societies 
 and I think, happily so, as the students in such an age 
 of debating as that was could be safely left to them- 
 selves; and they derived certain advantages, in my 
 judgment, from the fact that the responsibility of their 
 progress and success rested upon themselves alone. It 
 may be remembered that it was not an era of inter- 
 collegiate contests and recorded victories. 
 
 There was much reading of English literature on the 
 part of many in the undergraduate classes in those days 
 quite as much as, I think, and probably more than 
 there is, at present, apart from the requirements of the 
 regular college exercises. But such reading was under- 
 taken and carried forward according to the individual 
 student's impulses and, in the main, without any guidance 
 or suggestion from any of his teachers. The institution 
 through its officers or its organized system made, as I 
 may say, almost no provision for this department of 
 instruction, except within the sphere of rhetoric, and 
 even within that sphere the teaching was scarcely ade- 
 quate to the demands of the case. 
 
 Professor Larned entered upon his duties at the be- 
 ginning, and continued in the discharge of them during 
 all the earlier portion, not to say, the whole, of his 
 official career, under the power of influences which were 
 thus almost exclusively rhetorical. He found it difficult 
 also, as we may believe, to free, himself from the au- 
 thoritative force of Professor Goodrich's methods and 
 
 153
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 personality especially, as the latter continued, until the 
 closing years of his life, to deliver to each successive 
 Senior class his courses of lectures on the British Orators, 
 which were regarded as very instructive and interesting. 
 When we met Mr. Larned as Seniors, accordingly, we 
 found no very marked change from what we had known 
 in the previous years. We hnd a new instructor, indeed, 
 and one whose assigned duty was altogether within the 
 English department. But the exercises to which we 
 were called in the first term had relation, as already 
 stated on an earlier page, to the Oration of Demosthenes 
 on the Crown, and in the remaining part of the year 
 the lectures that he gave us on literary matters were few 
 in number. I have reason to believe that, in the period 
 which followed our graduation, he accomplished more 
 for his classes thnn he did for us, because of his more 
 frequent meeti'ngs with individual students for confer- 
 ence as to their personal work in his department. He was 
 thus easily enabled to give them, in much larger measure, 
 such suggestions and criticisms as would have a helpful 
 influence in relation to their own writing or to their 
 study of the best authors. But while he was a faithful 
 worker in the studies pertaining to his chair, his effort 
 and thought in connection with his teaching were always, 
 as it seemed to me, directed towards the matter of style 
 and expression, rather than to the survey of literature 
 or the unfolding of its richness before the student's 
 mind. 
 
 His associates in the Faculty who knew him best, and 
 his most mature and thoughtful pupils who were able, in 
 some measure, to form a true judgment respecting his 
 mental gifts, were united in the oninion that he was by 
 nature better fitted for philosophical, than for literary 
 studies, that the logical element was strongest in him, 
 and that his special tastes and impulses moved easily in 
 the direction of metaphysics. When the call came to 
 
 - 154
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 him to turn toward literature, therefore, it was natural 
 that he should be most deeply interested in the logical 
 and the constructive parts of it. He guided his pupils 
 safely as far as he led them or went forward with them. 
 But in comparison with the best and most inspiring 
 teachers of the present day, he was a man of the earlier 
 generation in his department. The age to which he 
 belonged and in which the duties of his office were ful- 
 filled was, certainly, far behind that in which we are now 
 living. 
 
 As a man of ability and character, Professor Larned 
 was of the old New England type. He was charac- 
 terized in his mental gifts by soundness and solidity, 
 rather than by the brilliancy of genius. With earnest- 
 ness of purpose and unyielding energy he devoted his 
 time and his powers to his work in the intellectual sphere. 
 He was a clear and intelligent writer, and his many 
 articles, as a contributor to the pages of the New Eng- 
 lander, or as the editor of that Review for a term of 
 years, show that his mind was interested in the most 
 important questions of the day, as well as in matters of 
 literary significance. He had somewhat of the distrust- 
 fulness of himself which was often noticed in New Eng- 
 land people in those days, and to this element in his 
 nature was due, perchance, a certain hesitation in press- 
 ing forward to the accomplishment of new plans or the 
 carrying out of new ideas, which otherwise he would 
 have been ready to bring to their realization. In his 
 relations to the students he was open-minded and con- 
 siderate, but like the other officers whose work was 
 mainly limited to the instruction of the Senior class, he 
 had comparatively little to do with the minor and gen- 
 eral discipline of the academic community. To his 
 colleagues he proved himself throughout his official 
 career to be a true friend. Generous in his sentiment 
 and feeling, free from undue self-assertion or jealousy, 
 
 155
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 indisposed to entertain suspicions of others' motives, 
 sincere in his thoughts and honorable in his actions, he 
 was recognized by them all as a genuine man, worthy 
 in this regard of membership in their fraternity. He 
 enjoyed greatly the privileges of the academic life. The 
 studies, the associations, the influences of the College 
 were prized, both because of what they gave to himself 
 and of what they enabled him to give to those who 
 were connected with him. He was happier, I think, 
 than he would have been in the more public duties of a 
 professional career. 
 
 156
 
 X. 
 
 The Old Faculty Professors Porter, Thacher, Hadley 
 and Stanley. 
 
 PROFESSORS Porter, Thacher, and Hadley, who 
 were the other members of the permanent Fac- 
 ulty of the time, seemed to me, as I entered 
 upon my tutorship and passed through the years of its 
 continuance, to be nearer my own age than their col- 
 leagues already mentioned. Professor Thacher, of 
 whom I have written somewhat on previous pages of 
 this volume, was only fourteen years, and Professor 
 Hadley only seven years, in advance of me ; and though 
 Professor Porter was but five years younger than Pro- 
 fessor Larned, he appeared perhaps because his official 
 term began so much later, and even within the time of 
 my undergraduate life, or possibly by reason of a certain 
 geniality which rendered him more easily accessible to 
 younger men to be much less removed from the ex- 
 periences and sympathies of my associates and myself. 
 I may have occasion to advert hereafter to my recollec- 
 tions of these gentlemen in their subsequent career. 
 What I say at this point of my story will have reference 
 to what they were, or what I thought them to be, as I 
 knew them in the early days or sat with them in the 
 meetings of the College Faculty. 
 
 Professor Porter was elected to his professorship in 
 the summer of 1846, but he did not enter upon the dis- 
 charge of his duties until January, 1 847. He had grad- 
 uated in 1831; had filled the office of Tutor in the 
 
 iS7
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 College from 1833 to 1835; had studied Theology in 
 the Yale Divinity School ; and had subsequently held the 
 pastorates of two churches in succession one in New 
 Milford, Connecticut, and the other in Springfield, Mas- 
 sachusetts. During the years of these pastorates, and 
 even in the period of his preparatory theological studies, 
 he had been greatly interested in the discussions and 
 investigations of the time in the department of Mental 
 and Moral Philosophy. His attainments and learning 
 in this department were recognized by all who knew him, 
 and I have the impression that the thought of the Faculty 
 and the Corporation had, for some years, been turned 
 towards him as a desirable occupant of the chair of 
 Philosophy, whenever the resources of the institution 
 should render the establishment of such a chair prac- 
 ticable. The time of the realization of the possibility 
 drew near in the early forties, while Mr. Porter was 
 settled in Springfield, and it arrived just as Dr. Day 
 was leaving the Presidential office, and Dr. Woolsey was 
 assuming its duties. The bequest of Mr. Sheldon 
 Clark, already alluded to on an earlier page in connec- 
 tion with the two scholarships bearing his name, made 
 provision for this professorship. The amount given to 
 the College had, in accordance with the wishes of the 
 donor, been allowed to accumulate for a period of years 
 until, in 1846, it reached the sum of twenty thousand 
 dollars as the foundation of the professorship. On the 
 scale of salaries paid to the professors at that time, this 
 sum was an ample endowment for the new chair. The 
 Corporation and Dr. Woolsey availed themselves I 
 have no doubt, with much satisfaction of the oppor- 
 tunity thus afforded them for securing Mr. Porter's 
 services. 
 
 There was, indeed, an especial timeliness in the matur- 
 ing of this bequest at this particular moment, for, with 
 the change of the Presidency, a new arrangement of 
 158
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 studies became a matter of importance, and almost, as 
 it would seem, of necessity. The instruction of the 
 Senior classes in Mental and Moral Philosophy under 
 the administration of Drs. Dwight and Day, and in the 
 time preceding theirs, had heen included within the 
 duties of the President of the College. But the depart- 
 ments of History and Political Science were now begin- 
 ning to make greater demands upon educators and to 
 claim for themselves a place of prominence in our higher 
 institutions of learning. The taste and inclination of 
 Dr. Woolsey's mind turned towards these branches of 
 study, rather than Philosophy, and the general desire 
 of his associates in the Faculty and Corporation was 
 in harmony with his own, that he should devote himself 
 to them. With the two men, the President and the new 
 Professor, engaged in the work of teaching the Seniors, 
 it was felt that the closing year of the undergraduate 
 course would be made much more valuable in its results, 
 and that there would be a healthful broadening of the 
 education that was offered. 
 
 Professor Porter's entrance upon his official duties 
 was fortunate both in respect to its date and with refer- 
 ence to all the circumstances connected with it. He was 
 at that time, as he was in all the years that followed, a 
 man of active and alert mind; reaching out with ever 
 fresh interest towards new thought and knowledge, and 
 moving eagerly and happily through a wide sphere of 
 truth. The field pertaining to his own science opened 
 itself for his efforts under the most favorable conditions. 
 He had entire charge of his department of instruction. 
 The College authorities were glad to give him all schol- 
 arly freedom in his investigations, and complete inde- 
 pendence in his plans and methods of teaching. From 
 the very beginning he enjoyed the warm friendship of 
 Dr. Woolsey, who co-operated with him heartily in the 
 carrying out of his desires and purposes. The kindly 
 
 T5Q
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 feeling of the students, also, was immediately won by 
 the cordiality of his manner and disposition, as well as 
 by the geniality, if I may so express it, of his intellectual 
 nature. His first work was coincident with the opening 
 of a new era in the history of the institution an era 
 which promised then to be one of marked scholarly 
 progress, and which afterwards, as the years moved on, 
 realized the fulfillment of the promise. In every re- 
 spect, the future offered him a happy outlook. 
 
 The class of which I was a member was the third 
 which came under his instruction. He had just become 
 settled in his plan of working, having had two years 
 of experience, and he no doubt felt himself more com- 
 pletely than before the master of the situation. He 
 was of course, however, in the early days of his service, 
 and had not yet gained what the subsequent years were 
 to bring with themselves. He met us three times in 
 each week, alternating with Dr. Woolsey in the ex- 
 ercises of the early morning hour. These exercises were 
 mainly given to recitations from a text-book, in connec- 
 tion with which he would offer suggestions or make 
 such comments as appeared to him likely to be helpful. 
 But from time to time, a lecture was substituted for the 
 recitation work and was made to serve the purpose of 
 giving to us more immediately and directly his own 
 thoughts. He was a wide-awake teacher, and was ready 
 to adapt himself in private conferences with individual 
 pupils to their special needs and desires. He was ever 
 very attractive, and even stimulating, in conversation 
 with those who visited him in his College room, or at 
 his house. To us of the earlier days there seemed, 
 sometimes, to be a certain indefiniteness, or perhaps I 
 may more properly call it indistinctness, in his teaching 
 in the class-room, which left the mind of the pupil in a 
 greater or less degree of uncertainty, or a state of in- 
 decision. He was quite at a remove in this regard from
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 such teachers as Dr. Woolsey and Professor Thacher. 
 Doubtless, this may have been owing, in part, to the 
 nature of the subject which he had to teach, but it was 
 due, also, to his desire to place before our minds the 
 considerations and arguments favoring the opposite sides 
 of questions under discussion. There is a certain fair- 
 ness or fitness in such a method of instruction, but it is 
 less adapted to students who are in the early stages of 
 their investigations, than to those who have moved 
 farther onward and are consequently better able to form 
 a judgment for themselves. The Professor's own mind, 
 however, was of the order which finds an interest in all 
 views of science and truth. For such minds the dog- 
 matic method is distasteful, and the adoption or follow- 
 ing of it is difficult, and sometimes well-nigh impossible. 
 In the period of my college life and for a few years 
 afterwards, he was accustomed to offer instruction in 
 John Stuart Mill's work on Logic to members of the 
 Senior class, who might be disposed to take this study 
 as an optional course. In company with ten or twelve 
 of my classmates, I availed myself of the offer, and thus 
 had the privilege of meeting him in connection with a 
 small and select body of pupils. He was at his best in 
 his association with such a body. The choice of the 
 study indicated the interest of each and all in it; and, 
 in the case of such studies as Logic and Metaphysics, the 
 fact of the choice rendered it probable, or almost certain, 
 that the members of the class were men of serious pur- 
 pose in their working. The teacher, in general, 
 especially the teacher of alert mind, most of all, the 
 teacher who is at his best in what may be described as 
 conversational teaching, finds his largest freedom, and 
 the widest opportunities for his enthusiasm in connection 
 with such a company of pupils. An inspiration from 
 without unites itself with the inspiration of his own 
 mind as he sees the responsive ardor of his students 
 161
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 awakened by his thoughts and words. His work is thus 
 rendered an easy and delightful one. The ideal posi- 
 tion for a college professor, so far as his highest enjoy- 
 ment, and also the best results of his instruction for 
 each and every individual pupil are concerned as I have 
 often pictured it to myself is that where he can be 
 seated with ten or fifteen students, all of the best order, 
 about a table, and can have the utmost freedom of 
 scholarly conversation with them, listening to their in- 
 quiries and imparting to them of his own thoughts and 
 knowledge. Certainly, this was the ideal position for a 
 man like Dr. Porter. 
 
 I would not say that the small optional class in Logic, 
 to which I have alluded, was of this ideal character. It 
 was not so, but it approached somewhat more nearly 
 to the ideal than would have been possible, if all the 
 classmates who had no interest in the study, or at least 
 no special interest in it, had been within the membership. 
 It was happier for the membership and for the Professor 
 that the number was limited. The student of my college 
 days when Cousin's Psychology was the text-book in 
 that department of whom it was said that, on being 
 inquired of by a friend as to his success in one of the 
 examinations of the course, he replied that he had been 
 conditioned in Cousin, and in Psychology supposing, 
 until his friend relieved his mind, that they were two 
 studies, instead of one could hardly have been a help- 
 ful or stimulating member of a class in Metaphysics. 
 The Professor gave us more than he could otherwise 
 have done, because we were a selected body selected 
 by reason of our own impulses and interests. The ex- 
 ercises which we thus attended I remember, and I 
 presume that my associates who may recall with vivid- 
 ness their college days also remember, with a special 
 satisfaction. They were more awakening to mental 
 activity and more effective for mental development than 
 162
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 those which pertained strictly to the daily routine of the 
 department of study. 
 
 'Instructors in Metaphysics are quite often supposed 
 to be what college students call dry men, and their 
 science is widely regarded as peculiarly characterized by 
 dryness. I do not know why it should be so. The 
 science which deals with the human mind would seem, 
 antecedently, to be as interesting, as stimulating, and 
 as soul-stirring, as that which investigates animal life, 
 or the forces of nature. Possibly the supposed dryness 
 is kindred to that which is frequently said to pertain to 
 mathematics a science which, it is claimed by those 
 who know most about it, has its true life and abiding- 
 place in the sphere of the imagination. Perhaps the 
 idea of dryness comes to the mind of the student, or 
 even of the average man of education, as it does in the 
 case of mathematics at the outset, because it requires, 
 even in its beginnings, vigorous and strenuous intellectual 
 effort. In the case of scholars in some other depart- 
 ments, I have sometimes thought it might be due to the 
 difficulty of reaching, within its domain, absolutely 
 definite and immovable conclusions. But, after half a 
 century of observation, one does not find conclusions alto- 
 gether immovable in sciences apart from metaphysics. 
 
 Whatever may be said of any other teachers of 
 Metaphysical science, however, Professor Porter was 
 not dry. The dryness of the study, in case it was felt 
 by pupils to exist, pertained to the subject as they looked 
 upon it, and not to the man. We left our exercises 
 under his instruction with the conviction that a knowl- 
 edge of the science need not make the possessor of it un- 
 interesting, either within himself or in his relation to 
 those about him, and that he might be, as truly as men in 
 other lines of work or study, a man full of life, and 
 of interest in the world's life. Those of our number 
 who formed his optional class in Logic, and I think also
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 the larger part of the classmates who followed only the 
 prescribed courses, had the feeling, as we moved forward 
 in and reached the end of our Senior year, that the study 
 was for us one which, in a very special sense and measure, 
 developed and quickened the intellectual powers. Speak- 
 ing for myself, I have always had, and still have, this 
 feeling; and my conviction is, that a college education 
 should include mental science in its required curriculum, 
 and that without it the best results are not likely to be 
 realized. While saying this, however, I would admit 
 that there are exceptional cases of individual students 
 as there are in relation to Mathematics, another science 
 the study of which has a peculiar strengthening force 
 for the mind where a release from the requirement 
 may, for particular and sufficient reasons, be granted. 
 The young man whom I have mentioned, who failed to 
 understand the exact connection between Psychology 
 and M. Cousin, may have been one of these exceptional 
 persons. But there are not many like him if indeed 
 we are to believe that the difficulty and failure in his 
 case pertained wholly to the original constitution of his 
 mind. Most young men who turn away from the study 
 of Mental Philosophy, or of Mathematics, do so simply 
 because these studies seem dry or hard. But the man 
 who is never ready to do what appears to him unat- 
 tractive or difficult, has not developed the manliness of 
 his manhood intellectually, or in any other line. The 
 theory of doing only what is pleasant, or what requires 
 no forcing of the will against its first inclinations, has 
 no better foundation to rest upon in the educational 
 sphere, than it has elsewhere in human life. 
 
 I am disposed to think, however, that the required 
 course in mental science in the period of my undergrad- 
 uate career included about as much as is desirable. It 
 was a general course, or a course which gave every 
 man an introduction to and survey of the science, and 
 164
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 also such knowledge of it as was strengthening to the 
 intellectual powers and helpful to all educated persons. 
 In the progress and development of this science during 
 the last half-century, a wonderful advance has been 
 made, as in the case of other sciences, and discussions 
 and investigations have moved into all minuteness, as 
 well as into the widest possible range of thought. I 
 doubt whether it is wise, or in the interest of the best 
 education for the average student, to carry him forward 
 along the pathway of all these investigations or discus- 
 sions. Beyond a certain limit, the work belongs, as in 
 the case of natural or physical science, rather to the man 
 who, in some sense, intends to make it a specialty, than 
 to one who turns to the study as a part of a general 
 educational course. It may fairly be questioned, also, 
 whether the time required, if the study is carried beyond 
 certain limits, is not too great, as considered in relation 
 to the length of the undergraduate period, and with 
 reference to the demands of other branches of knowl- 
 edge. A reasonable share of one year's studies, as 
 already intimated, was allowed to this department in my 
 college era. I think this arrangement a just and satis- 
 factory one, so far as required exercises are concerned. 
 If the study is carried farther forward, it may be more 
 wisely provided for in the plan of the elective courses 
 and there can be no doubt that abundant provision should 
 be made for it among these courses. 
 
 As a disciplinarian, Professor Porter was, in the early 
 days though abiding, as his colleagues did, within the 
 older system more like President Day than he was like 
 Professor Goodrich; that is, more disposed to leniency 
 in individual cases which appealed to his kindly feeling, 
 than to strictness in following the line of established 
 rules and published law. Some thought him too lenient, 
 and probably he was so oftentimes. But it is well for 
 a College Faculty or perhaps it is to have all the 
 
 165
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 better qualities of human nature represented in its mem- 
 bership, even as a man may fitly have them mingled in 
 due proportion in his individual constitution. However 
 this may be, we of the older age may felicitate ourselves 
 in the thought that President Day was regarded by all 
 his associates as the wisest and best of men, and that 
 both he and Professor Porter won the hearts of the 
 students, and thus gained a peculiar power and influence 
 over them. I doubt whether a man like Mr. Porter 
 could have been otherwise than lenient in his disposition 
 whether he could have been as strict as is a rule with 
 no exceptions. As a personality in the College com- 
 munity he was a stimulative force, for he was always 
 sympathetic with those who were seeking after light; 
 always hopeful with reference to the promise of the 
 future; always giving evidence as Dr. Bacon said of 
 the Yale scholars in general to a German professor, who 
 was comparing our College in this respect with another 
 that he had just visited that "his eyes were in the front, 
 and not in the back of his head." 
 
 With reference to Professor Thacher, I have said so 
 much in a former chapter, describing him as he was in 
 my undergraduate years, that I will only add a few 
 words in this place. In the period of which I am now 
 writing, he was perhaps the most influential person in the 
 professorial body as related to all things pertaining to 
 the government and discipline of the student community. 
 Dr. Woolsey and his older colleagues depended on him, 
 as they did ever afterwards, in such matters, and relied 
 with great confidence upon his judgment. Their con- 
 fidence was well founded, for he had unusual qualifica- 
 tions for this sphere of duties. In cases of disorder or 
 impropriety of conduct his intelligent understanding of 
 college men enabled him to make the investigation which 
 was necessary in the wisest way. He did not suffer 
 166
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 himself to be led into mistakes through any excess of 
 suspicion. No more, on the other hand, did he take 
 advantage of his official position to overbear the student 
 with his authority. He dealt with him in a manly man- 
 ner and in all sincerity. That he never failed in his 
 methods, or never passed in his actions beyond the limits 
 of the charity that believes and hopes all things, I would 
 not affirm. It would be too much to say this of any 
 man of the authoritative order to which he belonged. 
 But the instances of such fault or failure were few and 
 far between, and are in the memory of the smallest 
 number of his pupils, if indeed they still linger in the 
 minds of any among them. On the contrary, by his 
 kind and judicious action in his personal conferences 
 with those who were charged with offences or supposed 
 to have committed them, he often opened the way for 
 their relief from all suspicion on the part of the au- 
 thorities. His helpfulness, which was manifested in 
 many ways in his more private relations to students and 
 his familiar meetings with them, was widely recognized. 
 Throughout his entire professorial career he acted as a 
 friendly guardian for individual pupils, on behalf of 
 whose interests and welfare he never ceased to be watch- 
 ful. The service which he thus rendered was as generous 
 as it was wise. 
 
 In those years there were not as many questions 
 respecting the general development of the educational 
 system of the College, which pressed themselves upon 
 the attention of the Faculty, as there have been in the 
 periods that have followed. With reference to this 
 whole subject, however, so far as it was brought under 
 discussion, he had definite and decided opinions which he 
 was always ready to make known. They were founded 
 upon what he deemed satisfactory and sufficient reasons, 
 and his expression of them was accompanied by an 
 earnest setting forth of the arguments in their support. 
 167
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 A genuine and strong faith in the Yale ideas of college 
 training and of manhood, which suffered no intermin- 
 gling of doubts as to their fundamental truth, dwelt 
 always in his mind. To realize these ideas in their 
 richest results, both for himself and for all within the 
 walls of the institution, was his most ardent desire. To 
 this end he consecrated himself as one who had been 
 summoned to an honorable work in a sphere of highest 
 usefulness. This self-devotion was manifest in the 
 earlier and the later years alike. 
 
 In his personal appearance, he seemed at that time 
 at the age of thirty-six to forty even as he did after- 
 wards, to be a man of vigorous health and manly force. 
 His deeply set, yet clear and keen eyes, his high and 
 projecting forehead, and his large head gave one the 
 impression of intellectual strength. His general bearing 
 was characteristic of a man of executive power and of 
 business ability and energy. We all felt that he would 
 have a constantly increasing prominence in the institu- 
 tion as he should move forward in his career. 
 
 Professor Hadley entered upon his work as an in- 
 structor in the College at the beginning of my under- 
 graduate course. He became an assistant professor 
 at the opening of my Senior year, and was appointed a 
 professor in the summer of 1851. When my term of 
 service as a tutor began, accordingly, he was not far 
 beyond the starting-point of his more permanent official 
 life. My first acquaintance with him was formed at 
 the time of my coming under his instruction as our tutor 
 in Greek, in the academic year 1847-48. From the 
 very outset he seemed to me to be more accessible than 
 most of our other instructors had been. By reason of 
 this fact, I was encouraged in approaching him with 
 greater readiness and confidence, and, as the result, I 
 soon found myself on friendly terms with him as a pupil 
 168
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 may be with his teacher. He was, as already stated, but 
 a few years older than myself. Consequently, the bar- 
 rier to freedom of intercourse, which is oftentimes occa- 
 sioned by differences in age, did not prevent us from 
 coming together, as it were, on common ground in 
 thought and sympathy. Moreover, there was on his 
 part no assumption of official dignity, which set him 
 apart by himself, or interfered in any measure with a 
 student's friendly talk concerning things pertaining to 
 the scholarly life. I think he greatly enjoyed conversa- 
 tion. He was, certainly, always willing to give expres- 
 sion to his thoughts. Such association with a teacher 
 I felt to be an unusual gift of good fortune, and I was 
 very glad to avail myself of the advantage of it, from 
 time to time, during my Junior and Senior years. 
 
 In the second year after my graduation I had the 
 privilege, together with my friend, Clinton Camp, whose 
 name I have already mentioned, of taking my daily 
 meals at the same table with him, for a period of several 
 months, at the hotel which was then the principal one 
 in the city. We thus entered into somewhat more of 
 the intimacy of friendship, and I came to know him in 
 a new relation, wherein the distinction between pupil 
 and instructor altogether disappeared. After two 
 years more, I became the senior official among the tutors, 
 while he was still the junior among the professors, and 
 we seemed to each other to stand yet more nearly on the 
 same level. There was indeed a separating space be- 
 tween the temporary teacher, who had no assurance of 
 the future, and the permanent one, whose plan of life 
 was already determined and for whom all anxious ques- 
 tionings concerning it were laid aside. But as bearing 
 upon the intercourse of one young man with another, 
 the separation appeared but a small matter. We dis- 
 cussed subjects of general, or personal interest, without 
 any disturbing thought as to a difference in age between 
 169
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 us. We even opposed each other in the debates of the 
 Faculty occasionally, with entire forgetfulness on both 
 sides of the remove of the professor's position from that 
 of the tutor. 
 
 I will try at this point of my story to give the 
 impression which I had of him in those days of our 
 earlier acquaintance, reserving some further words re- 
 specting his life and work for a later page. Mr. Hadley 
 in the years between 1845 an d 1855 that is, from the 
 twenty-fourth to the thirty-fourth year of his age was 
 a young man of somewhat peculiar and striking appear- 
 ance. His features individually were not impressive, 
 except that his eyes were exceptionally bright and full 
 of the manifestation of mental life. As the result of 
 an unfortunate accident in his childhood, he was afflicted 
 with a permanent lameness in one of his lower limbs, and 
 was obliged to walk with the aid of a crutch and cane. 
 During the time to which I am referring he always wore 
 a cap, like those of the younger students, which he 
 placed, as if of set purpose, far back upon his head. 
 He was of only medium height not more than five 
 feet and six or seven inches. In his walking and other 
 movements he was active and seemed to make no special 
 effort. He moved, indeed, oftentimes, with rapidity, 
 and in the ease and quickness with which he descended 
 a flight of stairs he equalled, or even surpassed, his 
 associates who had no physical infirmity. I think he 
 could, in case of necessity, have pursued a retreating 
 student, who desired to escape him, with a considerable 
 measure of success though, of course, there was not 
 often occasion to make the attempt. His pursuit of 
 students was prevailingly in the mental sphere; and there 
 when the race began no chance of escape was of- 
 fered. The undergraduate community respected him 
 and had an admiration for his intellectual gifts. They 
 were proud of him as a representative of Yale scholar-
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 ship. They felt that he honored them and the institu- 
 tion by his presence within its walls. 
 
 Professor Hadley, as a scholar, was characterized in 
 a remarkable degree, by accuracy, wideness of range, 
 penetrative research, ever wakeful enthusiasm, and a 
 power of retaining in his mind everything that he ac- 
 quired. His accuracy was unaccompanied by the 
 pettiness which is sometimes attendant upon it in other 
 men. The wideness in his range of learning did not 
 have as its result any measure of superficiality, or any 
 want of depth or thoroughness. His spirit of research 
 could never be satisfied until it had reached the farthest 
 limits of possibility. His enthusiasm was quiet and 
 undemonstrative, but was equally ready for the entrance 
 upon new studies or the further prosecution of old ones. 
 His memory was phenomenal, beyond that of almost any 
 man whom I have ever known. He not only had the gift 
 of remembering with definiteness and in detail all that 
 he had learned or read, but a very uncommon power of 
 stating and presenting what was in his recollection, which 
 rendered the possession of the knowledge doubly useful 
 to him. I recall the fact that, on one occasion, I myself 
 communicated to him, with some minuteness of par- 
 ticulars, certain facts, not very important in themselves, 
 of which he evidently had not been previously informed. 
 Two days afterwards, having forgotten, by some ex- 
 traordinary lapse, the source of his information, he called 
 at my room, and in the course of the interview he told 
 me of the matter as if it were unknown to me. As he 
 gave the details, he set them forth so accurately, so 
 distinctly, so impressively as if he were himself the only 
 person who had ever been cognizant of them, that it was 
 almost impossible for me to realize that he had learned 
 the whole matter from myself. He had, indeed, lost 
 for the moment the recollection of the person who had 
 related to him the facts a matter of minor consequence,
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 but, as for the facts themselves, they had been at once 
 imprinted indelibly on his mind; so that he could have 
 them in readiness for future use, whenever such use 
 might become desirable. And yet I remember a con- 
 versation with him in which he maintained, with all 
 seriousness, that his memory was not excellent that it 
 was even imperfect. I have known other men of re- 
 markable powers in this line who have affirmed the same 
 thing with reference to themselves. I suppose it may 
 be because their standard of excellence is as much higher 
 than that of their less gifted associates, as the measure 
 of the power in them is greater. But if I could have 
 been the possessor of a memory like that of James 
 Hadley, I know that I should have been satisfied and 
 nobody in the Yale circle would, in this regard, have 
 surpassed me, or even have equalled me except himself. 
 His memory was one which was retentive of all things 
 that were worthy of retention, alike in the sphere of 
 scholarship and in that of ordinary life. 
 
 His faculty of precise statement, and of expressing 
 his ideas in the most appropriate forms of speech, not 
 only contributed to the value of his instruction, but added 
 much to its interest for the minds of his students. In 
 the Greek studies, which were his special department, he 
 led us forward in the way of linguistic accuracy, and of 
 an intelligent understanding of the thoughts of the 
 authors whose works we were reading. He set before 
 us, also, a standard of scholarship which we should strive 
 to attain, and by his method of teaching, as well as his 
 personal habits as a student, he gave us an impulse for 
 our efforts. Had the emotional element been as strong 
 within him as was the intellectual, he would have been 
 a more remarkable teacher even than we all thought 
 him to be and we certainly had a very high estimate 
 of his powers. The intellectual element, however, as 
 I think, was predominant, if not indeed in his native 
 172
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 endowments, at least in its ability and readiness to mani- 
 fest itself. As a consequence, though he was a stimulat- 
 ing instructor for scholarly men, he did not as it 
 seemed to me possess what I may call the magnetic 
 gift, or that peculiar power which inspires the pupil with 
 an almost resistless desire to press forward at once, and 
 to the farthest limit, in the study which is opened Before 
 him. In my personal relations with my early instructors 
 I met, indeed, only three or four who had this special 
 gift in any large or remarkable degree. One of these 
 was the late Dr. Nathaniel W. Taylor, the eminent 
 theologian, and professor in our Yale Divinity School, 
 and the others were professors in the universities of 
 Germany. With the many excellences and talents by 
 which the ablest and best of my college teachers were 
 characterized, this power was not united, as indeed it 
 is not in the case of most of the able men in any profes- 
 sion or department of life. I remember once hearing 
 Dr. Woolsey say that he thought that he himself did 
 not possess it. Possibly in his case and in Mr. Hadley's 
 the gift, if possessed, might have limited in some meas- 
 ure the full exercise of other extraordinary powers 
 through which they rendered their pupils especial ser- 
 vice. If so, the loss might have seemed greater than 
 the gain. It would have been a loss which all would 
 have appreciated and deeply regretted. 
 
 The required studies of the curriculum in the Greek 
 department were completed, in those days, at the close 
 of the second term of the Junior year. In the third 
 or summer session, History took the place of Greek, and 
 Mr. Hadley had charge of the instruction in this sub- 
 ject. He fulfilled the task assigned to him with fidelity 
 and by his teaching added to the students' knowledge 
 according to the possibilities of the case. But within 
 the limits of the few weeks which made the term there 
 was not much opportunity to awaken enthusiasm for the 
 
 173
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 study in their minds especially, as the exercises were 
 confined to recitations from a text-book, and the text- 
 book used was Taylor's Manual of History. Such 
 Manuals are now mainly or wholly things of the past, 
 so far as college instruction is concerned. At that 
 period, however, they were extensively used, and were 
 regarded as very helpful, if not indeed essential, to the 
 student's best historical education. The Manual which 
 my class used was as good as any that had then been 
 published, but it was, like books of its character in 
 general, far from inspiriting. We certainly found it a 
 difficult task to possess ourselves of its contents so 
 accurately, and so far in detail, as to enable us to recite 
 in any satisfactory measure after the memoriter method, 
 which was then more approved and insisted upon by 
 teachers than it is at present. As an evidence of Mr. 
 Hadley's extraordinary gift in the sphere of memory, 
 and an evidence which never ceased to astonish us, I 
 may mention that, at every successive exercise, though 
 he brought the book with him to the recitation-room, he 
 closed it as soon as he called upon the first member of 
 the class to recite, and did not open it again until the 
 hour came to its end and we were dismissed. Mean- 
 while, he noticed and corrected every error which the 
 students made in facts or statements, and showed that he 
 was everywhere more familiar with the lesson than they 
 were. As I recall my old conversation with him about 
 his memory, now fifty years ago, I cannot help thinking 
 that, notwithstanding his affirmation respecting himself, 
 my view of his gift rested on a truer basis than his 
 own. 
 
 No description of him as a man or as a teacher, even 
 at that early period, would be complete without an allu- 
 sion to his wit and humor. All who knew him will 
 remember with distinctness and with pleasure this char- 
 acteristic of his mind, which rendered him especially 
 
 174
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 attractive in social intercourse. His wit was of the 
 higher order. It pertained to, and was the outcome of, 
 the remarkable brightness of his intellectual powers. It 
 seemed to be always present when it might happily reveal 
 the thought which was expressed, or might give moment- 
 ary delight to the speaker or the listener as they con- 
 ferred together. Yet it was rarely, if ever, suffered to 
 display itself as if merely for its own sake, or to make 
 any show which tended to lower the thoughtful char- 
 acter of the conversation or discourse. 
 
 His voice and mode of utterance were somewhat 
 peculiar. There was a kind of drawl, which attracted 
 attention, in a special degree, when one met him for the 
 first time, and which was not altogether pleasing. But 
 as one became accustomed to it, one lost thought of it 
 in large measure; and as for myself, I found it difficult 
 in the later years to realize the fullness of the impression 
 which it had made upon me at the beginning. I have to 
 confess, however, that in my younger days I used to try 
 sometimes to imitate him, for my own entertainment and 
 that of my youthful friends. As I did so, I discovered 
 for myself more fully what was manifest indeed to all, 
 without any such effort on their part that the pecu- 
 liarity of his utterance gave a certain additional humor- 
 ous force to his witty sayings. College students always 
 enjoy humor which has a certain intellectual element in 
 it. They enjoyed his humor greatly, and the sayings 
 of "Old Hadley" as they began, almost from the first 
 to call him, in distinction from his younger brother who 
 was of the Class of 1847 were often passed gladly 
 from one to another, and were cherished in the memory 
 with much satisfaction and delight. I wish I could 
 recall many of them which were long familiar to me, 
 even as household words. But the pleasurable things 
 that lose their hold upon the remembrance in the passing 
 of half a century are almost numberless. They remain
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 in the dim retrospect as a kind of half-living presence, 
 but the vividness of the reality is gone. So it is in 
 every part of the mind, and throughout the whole sphere 
 of memory and of knowledge. Our human lives on 
 every side are the growth of forces, once seen and after- 
 ward unseen ; and the wonder of them for us all is in the 
 joyous delight of the growing. 
 
 The rules of the College, in the period to which I 
 am now referring, provided that in the Junior year the 
 students should, from time to time, discuss before their 
 instructors in written argumentative essays questions of 
 special or public interest. The exercises were called 
 Disputes, and at the close of each of them the instructor 
 was expected to give his "decision," which was a some- 
 what extended familiar talk expressing his own personal 
 views. Mr. Hadley gave many of these talks, on a 
 large variety of subjects, to members of successive Junior 
 classes. They were thus in a very happy way brought 
 into connection with him in his thoughts and were en- 
 abled to observe most pleasantly the working of his in- 
 tellectual powers. None of his old pupils can forget 
 the stimulating influence of those decisions, as it united 
 itself with that of his instruction and his scholarship. 
 
 Professors Hadley and Thacher, as teachers, belonged 
 to a transition period, or did their work at a particular 
 stage in the progress of instruction in our colleges, as 
 related to the department of the ancient languages. 
 Their term of service was quite in advance of the era 
 preceding it, and they gave themselves with intelligence 
 and earnestness to that which seemed to open for them 
 to do. It was the time when grammatical and linguistic 
 study was beginning its great advance movement, the 
 time when philology was, as we may say, first mani- 
 festing itself in our scholarly world as a science. The 
 earlier days had been, at the most, only preparatory in 
 176
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 their work. At Yale, Professors Kingsley and Woolsey 
 had filled those days with their appropriate service. 
 They had seen the promise of the future, and had been 
 impelled, by reason of the vision, to make all things 
 ready for its realization. Their more youthful col- 
 leagues and successors entered into their labors, but the 
 opening of the new epoch was coincident with the begin- 
 ning of the younger men's career. Dr. Woolsey, indeed, 
 lived even to the close of that special period, and beyond 
 it, and he did much in the way of co-operation, and 
 somewhat even in that of leadership, during the years 
 of his Presidency. His duties in this administrative 
 office, however, which necessarily turned his energies in 
 large measure in other directions, as also the work con- 
 nected with his new department of instruction, obliged 
 him to leave to his associates the chief responsibility per- 
 taining to this sphere of scholarly development. 
 
 The two younger men were admirably adapted to the 
 work which the epoch called for. They moved forward, 
 from the very outset, with a truly progressive spirit, with 
 a genuine enthusiasm, and with a scholarship which ever 
 kept in mind the possibilities of the future. Professor 
 Thacher, as a gifted teacher and an accurate student; 
 Professor Hadley, as a scholar of large attainments, and 
 with capacities and impulses of a remarkable character 
 fitting him for philological investigation and research ; 
 the two men appeared to all who knew them in the Yale 
 fraternity to have been assigned by some happy destiny 
 or favoring fortune to the office which they were to fill. 
 
 The work of these two instructors each eminent in 
 his own way was, however, in its turn, like that of their 
 predecessors who have been mentioned, and indeed like 
 that of all University men, preparatory for what was to 
 come in a later period. There can be no doubt, from 
 the standpoint of the present time and of a time beyond 
 the present, that the grammatical and philological ele- 
 177
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 ments in the matter of classical scholarship were made 
 too prominent and had too exclusive attention given to 
 them in the years from 1850 to 1885. According to the 
 general laws of progress in the world, it may have been 
 legitimate or, as we may say, in a manner necessary 
 for the movement to be just what it was. The transition 
 from the imperfect and comparatively unscholarly condi- 
 tion of the earlier part of the century may have required 
 such an exclusively linguistic development. But if so, 
 this development was not the full growth and perfection 
 which many of the men of the era seemed to think it 
 was. It was happily but a preparatory stage of the 
 progress. The scholarship of the present and the future 
 has and will have in it the best results of that era, but it 
 will be broader and more inspiring, and more full of 
 vitalizing force for the student of the classical languages 
 and literature. The men of whom I am now writing 
 were, certainly, among the number of the ablest and 
 most useful of those who, in the history of our Univer- 
 sity, have been called to its chairs of instruction. They 
 did their work admirably for their time, and passed it 
 over at the end in full readiness for what was to come 
 afterward. But the afterward was to be better and 
 greater than they knew, even as it is and must be always. 
 
 Of Professor Stanley I am able to say only a few 
 words. He had been obliged, by reason of the disease 
 which not long afterwards caused his death, to leave his 
 college work in the autumn following my graduation, 
 and to go to Europe, where he spent two years partly 
 in seeking recovery of strength, and partly in study. At 
 the opening of the academic year 1851-52, he resumed 
 his collegiate duties, with the hope that he might soon 
 find his health fully re-established. But the disease 
 which was upon him pulmonary tuberculosis was de- 
 ceptive in its promises, as it so often is, and at the close 
 178
 
 PROFESSOR ANTHONY D. STANLEY
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 of the first term of the year he was again compelled to 
 abandon his work, and to return to his early home. It 
 proved to be a final return, for, after about fifteen 
 months of gradually wasting strength and declining life- 
 force, the end came, and he passed away peacefully to 
 the world beyond. My only knowledge of him, accord- 
 ingly, was that which I gained while under his instruction 
 in my Sophomore year and in occasional interviews in the 
 years that immediately followed. 
 
 His mathematical gifts and his inclination toward 
 that class of studies had already in his undergraduate 
 years become manifest to his instructors, and their minds 
 .were early inspired with the hope that he might, in due 
 time, be prepared to take a permanent position in the 
 College. This hope was strengthened by reason of his 
 marked success as a scholar and teacher while he held 
 for a time the office of tutor. It was accordingly with 
 great satisfaction that the Corporation offered him, in 
 1836, a Professorship, and found him ready to accept it. 
 He entered upon his work after an interval of two years 
 of study in Europe which, at his request, had been 
 allowed him by the College authorities. In the period 
 which preceded my undergraduate life, he had made 
 large attainments and had already gained for himself 
 recognition and esteem. His first published work ap- 
 peared just as my class came under his instruction. This 
 was a large volume consisting of Tables of Logarithms 
 which, as it was placed in our hands, seemed to our 
 minds a marvel of scholarly labor and accuracy. The 
 same judgment respecting it was found everywhere 
 among teachers and the men who were qualified to esti- 
 mate its value. The burden of the mere proof-reading 
 of such a book, which must have been of necessity re- 
 peated several times, impressed me as I first opened the 
 volume, and I well remember how the Professor him " 1 
 afterwards spoke to me of the exhaustive effect upon ti. 
 
 179
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 nerve force which he had experienced as the result of it. 
 He was ready, however, for any measure of effort that 
 was demanded of him, and within two years another 
 book gave testimony to his industry as well as his ability. 
 His working was too continuous, no doubt, and in conse- 
 quence was harmful, but the impulse of his nature moved 
 him with an almost irresistible power. 
 
 As I recall him to mind, he appeared, whether one 
 met him on the street or in his room, to be what he really 
 was a man of retiring disposition and unobtrusive man- 
 ners; one who, though evidently a scholar, had no desire 
 to impress others with the extent of his knowledge or the 
 wideness of its range. He seemed, indeed, as we came 
 to know him to be more truly himself in his room, than 
 on the street, for the atmosphere of study was the 
 genuine atmosphere of his life. When he presented him- 
 self before his classes at the appointed hours, the schol- 
 arly influence of the man was felt as attendant upon his 
 work of instruction. There was no doubt in any mind 
 that he had the mastery of his science and that, if the 
 student followed his leading, the best discipline, as well 
 as the most accurate knowledge, would be secured. But 
 beyond this the thought of the satisfaction for the 
 lover of learning which could be found, apart from the 
 outer world, in the studies of his choice, suggested itself 
 to every one who looked upon him. If he had lived to 
 advanced age, it is believed that he would have held a 
 most prominent position among the mathematicians of 
 the country, but his more direct service to the College 
 would have been always rendered in the sphere of its 
 quiet daily life and through his faithful working in the 
 retirement of his own room.
 
 XI. 
 
 Dr. Woolsey His Inauguration, and Early Work. 
 
 IN this company of Professors the presiding officer 
 was Dr. Woolsey. At the time when I entered 
 the board of instruction as one of its younger 
 members, he had held the executive position for a period 
 of five years his induction into his office having taken 
 place on the 2ist of October, 1846. With a very dis- 
 tinct remembrance I recall the service and ceremony of 
 that occasion. A young student just entering my Sopho- 
 more year, I was deeply impressed by all that I saw and 
 heard. I listened intelligently and with close attention, 
 as young students are wont to do when they are inter- 
 ested, to the addresses which were made by the outgoing 
 and the incoming Presidents, as well as to the sermon 
 which was preached by Dr. Leonard Bacon in the earlier 
 part of the day, when Dr. Woolsey was formally 
 ordained as a minister of the Gospel. Dr. Woolsey had, 
 indeed, studied theology soon after his graduation and 
 had preached occasionally, but he had not previously de- 
 voted himself to the work of the clerical profession or 
 received ordination. 
 
 The whole scene the large assembly of distinguished 
 personages invited to be present, as well as of graduates 
 and friends of the College ; the venerable man who was 
 laying aside the responsibilities and duties of his official 
 position, and his successor, now in the prime of life, 
 upon whom they were to rest in the new era ; the reverend 
 and honorable members of the Corporation who seemed 
 to me, especially the former, to be the dignitaries of an 
 181
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 older generation, solemn with the seriousness of age and 
 of conscious power; the students, a happy, hopeful com- 
 pany, all having a sweet satisfaction in the present and a 
 joyous outlook towards the future the whole scene had 
 an imposing character which was fitted to make a deep 
 and permanent impression upon those who witnessed it, 
 and especially upon a youthful undergraduate like my- 
 self. How far remote from my age and position the old 
 President and the new one seemed to me to be, as I 
 looked upon them from my seat in the gallery of the 
 church so remote, both of them, that the one appeared 
 almost like the other in the dim region beyond my 
 present life. How far distant from my mind was the 
 thought that, on a future day when the years had passed 
 onward, there would be a ceremonial of a similar nature, 
 and that I should myself stand in the place where I 
 now saw Dr. Woolsey ready to assume the duties of 
 the office which he was taking upon himself and seeming, 
 no doubt, to the young student company as old, and 
 perchance as grave and serious as himself. It would 
 have been a strange vision for me, indeed, if it could 
 have been revealed at that hour. 
 
 Dr. Woolsey, when he became President of the Col- 
 lege, had held the Greek professorship for fifteen years, 
 during which period he had served the institution most 
 efficiently as an instructor, and had attained to a very 
 prominent position, if not indeed even to the first place, 
 among the Greek scholars of the country at the time. 
 When President Day made known his intention of re- 
 signing his office, a considerable section of the Yale 
 fraternity turned their thoughts at once towards the 
 Professor as a person well fitted to succeed him. The 
 movement of the public mind at first, however, as I 
 think, was towards the elder Professor Silliman, or Dr. 
 Leonard Bacon, as the most desirable and available can- 
 didate for the position. These two gentlemen had both
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 of them, though in different ways, become conspicuous 
 before the people as men of striking ability and men who 
 seemed to have special adaptation for leadership. It 
 was felt that a man of such an order would be needed in 
 the opening era, while retired scholars like Dr. Woolsey, 
 however able or successful in their own sphere, could 
 hardly be expected to meet its demands. But Professor 
 Silliman was sixty-seven years old, and some of the 
 members of the Faculty, as well as other friends of the 
 College, deemed it best for the interests of the institution 
 that a younger man should be placed in the office. With 
 reference to Dr. Bacon on the other hand, though he 
 was a college classmate of Dr. Woolsey and of the same 
 age, the feeling of these gentlemen in the Faculty and 
 of a considerable number of the graduates was, that he 
 had been too much engaged in the controversies of the 
 time, and that it was somewhat doubtful whether he had 
 the particular administrative faculty that was required 
 in the College. As the months passed on, the sentiment 
 in favor of Dr. Woolsey became more established and 
 more general, and at length, some time before the matter 
 was finally decided by the votes of the Corporation, it 
 was commonly regarded as certain that the result of the 
 election would be favorable to him. The college world 
 was abundantly satisfied when the result was made 
 known. It was so, if possible, in increasing measure as 
 the years of the new President's official term revealed 
 yet more and more clearly his eminent qualifications for 
 the position. 
 
 So far as Dr. Woolsey himself was concerned, vc is 
 evident that he not only had no special desire for the 
 new office, but that it was with much hesitation, and even 
 reluctance, that he consented to allow his name to be 
 formally considered by the Corporation. A few years 
 ago I saw a letter addressed by him to Professor Kings- 
 ley, in which he expressed himself very clearly cm the 
 
 $3
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 subject. He was in Europe during the year preceding 
 Dr. Day's withdrawal from the Presidency, and this 
 letter was written from England in reply to one in which 
 Mr. Kingsley had urged him, on behalf of his many 
 friends and for the interests of the College, not to de- 
 cline to be a candidate for the position soon to be 
 vacated. Without refusing to yield to his elder col- 
 league's request, he set forth his own feeling with much 
 earnestness and emphasis. Very possibly he may have 
 had somewhat of the sensitive shrinking of a retiring 
 scholar, as he looked towards the public and administra- 
 tive responsibilities of the executive office. Not im- 
 probably he had a regretful indisposition to give up, in 
 considerable measure, the studies of the past years, which 
 had so pleasantly occupied his thoughts and so greatly 
 awakened his enthusiasm. Strange as it must seem to 
 all who knew him, then or afterwards, there was another 
 ground of his hesitation a feeling of doubt as to his 
 fitness for ordination to the ministry which, in his judg- 
 ment, was essential to his entrance upon the Presidential 
 office. He had the self-distrust which was characteristic 
 of the Christian development of the time, and which 
 seemed sometimes to be excessive in persons who had the 
 least occasion for its presence in their souls. Happily, 
 however, his friends were able so far to satisfy his ques- 
 tionings and influence his views, that he was led to yield 
 to their persuasions. Most happily as all who gradu- 
 ated during his administration will unite in saying he 
 consented to be ordained, and thus became a preacher 
 whose thoughtful Christian teaching will be remembered 
 by them to the end of their lives. 
 
 Dr. Woolsey brought with him to his new office the 
 high ideal of scholarship which he had formed in earlier 
 years, as the result of his studies in Europe before enter- 
 ing upon his professorship, and of his intimate associa- 
 tion with Professor Kingsley. His mind, indeed, was of 
 184
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 such a character that his ideals, in this regard, must have 
 been high, had there been less propitious influences in 
 his experience. He had, however, a favoring fortune, 
 which not only removed hindrances, but also added an 
 ever stimulating force. The entire College community 
 began almost immediately to appreciate the power of a 
 freshly awakening life. The Faculty and the students 
 alike were conscious of a new impulse, and were filled 
 with large hopes for the future. There was, however, 
 no action of a radical character, and no great overturn- 
 ing, as if the past should be neglected or forgotten. 
 Neither was there undue haste in the movement for 
 changes. It was evident to every intelligent observer 
 that the advance was not to be revolutionary that there 
 was to be a legitimate growth from the development of 
 former times, and that the new was only to be more 
 than the old. I have already referred, in another con- 
 nection, to the increase of work and enlargement of the 
 field of study, in the Senior year, and the consequent 
 addition to the value of that year in the education of the 
 students. But the infusion of the spirit of true learning, 
 in larger measure, into the entire community was more 
 than any single or special arrangement of the curriculum, 
 in the present benefits which it secured, as well as in its 
 promise of yet greater ones that should follow. 
 
 In his work of instruction, Dr. Woolsey gave himself, 
 at once, to the departments of History and Political 
 Science, in which comparatively little had been previously 
 done in any part of the College course. These studies 
 were, in a more special manner, introduced into the 
 Senior year, and were placed on an equal footing with 
 those pertaining to the sphere of Mental and Moral 
 Philosophy. The exercises were mainly of the order of 
 recitations from text-books. The President, however, 
 added remarks and suggestions of his" own in connection 
 with, or at times in opposition to, the views and state- 
 
 185
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 ments of the authors of the books. He gave us also 
 occasional lectures in which, of course, we had the re- 
 sults of his own studies and thinking. He was somewhat 
 impatient of the memoriter style of reciting, which, as I 
 have intimated, was characteristic of the time and was 
 encouraged in the earlier years of the course. I think he 
 was, for this reason, inclined to give his approval to the 
 older and more mature men in his classes since they 
 were likely to grasp the thoughts rather than the words 
 of the books recited, and thus to make more clearly mani- 
 fest their understanding of what they had learned. How- 
 ever this may have been, he taught us a valuable lesson 
 in this matter, for which I may fitly record my grateful 
 acknowledgment on these pages, as it was for me, at 
 least, an awakening force for my subsequent career as a 
 teacher. 
 
 In his lectures he was instructive. He could not be 
 otherwise, for his mind was very rich in ideas and in 
 learning, and his knowledge was as accurate as it was 
 extensive. We admired him for what he knew and for 
 what he thought. In my time, however, which was, 
 of course, near the beginning of his Presidency he 
 crowded too much into each lecture, and thereby dimin- 
 ished in some degree the value of what he gave us. He 
 gave more than we were able fully to make our own. 
 Had he divided the matter of each lecture into two 
 parts, enlarging in the way of detail and explanation 
 or illustration on the one part, and reserving the other 
 for another occasion, the advantage gained by the pupils 
 would have been greater even if the necessary conse- 
 quence had been an increase in the number of lectures 
 and a lessening of the hours devoted to recitations. 
 Whether this characteristic of his lectures was equally 
 noticeable at a later period, I do not know. Very prob- 
 ably it was not so; especially after he had laid aside the 
 teaching of History, and given himself wholly to the 
 186
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 sphere of Political Science and International Law. Yet 
 such was the character of his mind and his knowledge, 
 that I presume this feature of his instruction may have 
 been manifest, in greater or less degree, in the later, as 
 well as in the earlier period. 
 
 The most powerful impulse which he gave us was that 
 which came from his personality as a man of intellectual 
 power and as a genuine and truly erudite scholar. If I 
 may look at myself as a representative of my fellow- 
 students, in this regard and I have confidence that I 
 may do so I may say that we all felt, as we met him, 
 that we were in the presence of true greatness, and this 
 impression of him has not, as I think, passed away from 
 any of us in the years that have carried us far beyond 
 the limits of our college life. He was a man who never 
 seemed to me to grow less in the impressiveness of his 
 intellectual power, however near I came to him or how- 
 ever often I heard him give forth his thoughts. 
 
 In the matter of social and friendly intercourse with 
 students, Dr. Woolsey was not in my time, and I think 
 that he never was, accessible in the degree in which Dr. 
 Porter showed himself to be, both before and after he 
 entered the chief executive office. There was a kind of 
 separating wall or fence, if I may so express it, which set 
 Dr. Woolsey, in this regard, within himself, and made 
 him appear to others to be a man whom it was some- 
 what difficult to approach. He felt himself unable to 
 pass through or over the barrier, and others, in turn, had 
 a similar feeling with reference to themselves. It seemed 
 to me, as I came to know him better in the later years, 
 that he did not appreciate the cause of the difficulty, so 
 far as others were concerned that, while he clearly saw 
 the barrier as related to his own outgoing, he did not 
 understand that there was anything manifest to them. 
 It was thus, as I thought, a mysterieus and inexplicable 
 thing to his mind, that there was not the freedom of 
 
 187
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 intercourse between himself and those about him, which 
 he would have desired. The question why they did not 
 approach him easily was, accordingly, one which he 
 could not answer. 
 
 It was my privilege to be associated with him in the 
 work connected with the Revision of the English Version 
 of the Bible during the ten years that immediately fol- 
 lowed the close of his Presidential term. I often thought, 
 while those years were passing, that they were the hap- 
 piest years of his life. They were so in part if my 
 thought of him was right because, in laying aside his 
 official character, he had unconsciously removed in a 
 measure the barrier to which I have alluded, and thus 
 had opened the way for the freedom desired. Certainly, 
 the kindly affection of all moved readily, at that period, 
 through the more widely open door, and I could see that 
 he rejoiced in the rich and happy experience. Those ten 
 years from seventy to eighty, when the infirmity of old 
 age had not yet come upon him, were indeed a grand 
 period of a scholar's life, filled with intelligent activity 
 on his own part, and with the assurance of the reverence 
 and regard of all who knew him or knew of him. It 
 was a pleasure to witness the satisfying reward of his 
 life's work which he had in those years. 
 
 As the presiding officer in the meetings of the Faculty 
 during this period of which I am writing, 1851 to 
 1855, Dr. Woolsey was considerate of the opinions of 
 his associates, and listened respectfully to the expression 
 of their views. His own strong convictions, however, 
 which generally made themselves manifest, carried with 
 them great weight of authority. He had a clear insight 
 into the intricacies and difficulties of special cases as they 
 arose. He had, also, a wise judgment as to what each 
 case demanded, which commonly, if not always, guided 
 him to a right or reasonable decision. In the matter of 
 discipline he was disposed to be strict and authoritative, 
 r88
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 though not so much so at that time as, according to re- 
 port, he had been fifteen or twenty years earlier. There 
 was a certain quickness of temper, characteristic of him, 
 which occasionally made him appear more rigorous and 
 severe than he really was at heart. He had, also, a 
 peculiar and if I may use the term without being mis- 
 understood, excessive truthfulness, which led him not 
 to measure his words, or conceal his feeling, when he 
 dealt with students who were violating the laws or the 
 proprieties of the College life. He had, like all the 
 men of the time, too much of the idea that the true 
 course to be adopted with offenders was to remove them 
 at once from the community. But he was, beyond doubt, 
 a wise administrator of the government, in general, and 
 there were very few, I think, in the student body who 
 ever had the feeling that he was intentionally unjust or 
 unkind in his dealings with them, even where he had 
 occasion to inflict penalties for wrongdoing. The abso- 
 lute honesty and sincerity of his character secured for 
 him the highest respect. No one ever had a suspicion that 
 he was influenced, at any time, by partiality or self- 
 interest. The whole company of his pupils reposed con- 
 fidence in the man, and they were always ready, rather 
 than otherwise, to give him their approval in his method 
 of administration. 
 
 By reason of his official position, he had the veto 
 power with reference to all questions which arose for dis- 
 cussion in the Faculty meetings. This power was, how- 
 ever, rarely exercised, although the existence of it may, 
 doubtless, have often had an influence which proved 
 decisive, and thus made its actual use unnecessary. The 
 possession of this prerogative on the part of the Presi- 
 dent is common to all our older institutions of learning, 
 if not indeed also to those of more recent origin. I have 
 supposed that it was so ordered at -first, because in the 
 earliest days the President was the only permanent officer 
 189
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 of instruction. He was surrounded or assisted by a 
 small body of teachers who held, and were expected to 
 hold, their positions for a very brief period. Our col- 
 leges were, as Yale was called at the beginning, Collegi- 
 ate Schools ; and the President was the Headmaster, with 
 the entire responsibility of administration and govern- 
 ment resting at least, in the last resort upon himself. 
 Certainly, it was reasonable, not to say essential, that, 
 under such circumstances, he should have this power 
 placed in his hands. Whether the power should be con- 
 tinued, as one of the official prerogatives of the Presi- 
 dent, when our colleges have become so great in their de- 
 velopment, and when they have, or may have, a hundred 
 or more professors whose relation to them is as per- 
 manent as his own, is a question which possibly may 
 hereafter present itself for discussion. I remember that 
 Dr. Woolsey himself, in his Historical Address pro- 
 nounced in October, 1850, on the one hundred and 
 fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the College, 
 went even so far as to suggest the thought that, after a 
 time, the general sentiment might favor the setting aside 
 of the permanent Presidential office, and the substitution 
 for it of Rectorships limited to a brief period of years, 
 which should be held, perchance, by different members 
 of the professorial board in succession. 
 
 This latter suggestion seems to have met but little 
 favor in any of our institutions during the half-century 
 which has passed since it was offered. So far as I am 
 able to look out with anything like clearness upon the 
 future, I have grave doubts whether it will ever be gen- 
 erally adopted as a feature of college organization in 
 our country. Indeed, with the great enlargement in the 
 number of professors that we already see in many col- 
 leges, there is a manifestly increasing tendency on the 
 part of individual officers to limit their thoughts and 
 energies to their own special spheres. The need of a 
 190
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 central official, who has a wider and an all-embracing 
 survey, thus becomes even more emphatic than in the 
 days of smaller things and less diversified interests. Such 
 an officer can be of the greatest service at times, of al- 
 most incalculable value to the best and largest life of 
 the institution. The observation of years has, also, mainly 
 or wholly changed the feeling which I once entertained, 
 that the veto power should, under modern conditions, 
 be discontinued as a prerogative of the Presidential 
 office. It is a power of great importance, especially in 
 serious emergencies, and I am disposed to believe that, 
 as our Faculties increase in numbers, the fact that it is 
 .held by the President will be most helpful in its influence 
 to the end of wise and reasonable administration. In the 
 history of our own institution during the past fifty 
 years, this power has been exercised only on very rare 
 occasions; and wherever the tendency of official life in a 
 college or university is prevailingly, as it has always 
 been at Yale, towards peace and good-will, there is little 
 danger that it will be pressed in its exercise beyond the 
 proper limits. Certainly, it was not thus pressed during 
 the period of President Woolsey's administration, to 
 which I am now referring. 
 
 To return to the description of Dr. Woolsey as a 
 man : in his general appearance and physical form, he 
 is successfully represented, I think, in the statue by Pro- 
 fessor Weir which was placed, in the year 1896, in front 
 of the Old Library building on the College grounds. 
 His face, as it is doubtless remembered by most of the 
 graduates who met him in the later years of his Presi- 
 dency, is given with reasonable faithfulness in the por- 
 trait by Baker, painted in 1871, which hangs on the 
 walls of Alumni Hall. There is, however, a portrait 
 by Jocelyn, of the year 1844, that has been for a long 
 period in the official room of the President of the insti- 
 tution, from the study of which one may gain a much 
 191
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 more accurate idea of him as he was at the age of forty- 
 five or fifty. The picture adjoining this page is copied 
 from it. It may be hoped that this portrait, as well as 
 the one previously mentioned, will find a permanent 
 place hereafter in the Memorial building of 1901. Dr. 
 Woolsey was a man of about five feet, ten or eleven 
 inches, in height; of slender build and wiry frame; hav- 
 ing a high and slightly receding forehead, and an eye 
 of wonderful clearness, penetration, and intelligence. 
 He impressed every one who saw him even those who 
 met him for the first time as a man of gentlemanly 
 birth and culture. He had the stooping shoulders which 
 suggested the idea of the scholar, and the general bear- 
 ing of one who had lived in the sphere of thought and 
 the higher learning. His step was quick, as he walked 
 through the streets his movements always indicating 
 energy and alertness. Even until he was nearly seventy 
 years old, he often ascended the stairs of the College 
 building, in which he had his office, after the manner of 
 young students mounting two steps at a single stride. 
 As he sat in his chair in the meetings of the Faculty, he 
 was a striking figure, especially because of the intellectual 
 force which was manifested in his face and eyes. We all 
 felt that he was the leader of the company. 
 
 Of his intellectual gifts, those which impressed me 
 most strongly were his penetrative insight into truth; his 
 thought-power, reaching out very widely and having in 
 itself a creative force; his memory which, though not 
 phenomenal like that of Professor Hadley, was extraor- 
 dinary, and extraordinarily retentive; his wit which, 
 while not obtrusive or even frequently manifesting itself, 
 was of a very high order; his clearness of understanding, 
 which rendered everything that he read or learned com- 
 pletely and permanently his own; and his mental 
 honesty, which made him a true scholar. . 
 
 A similar honesty and sincerity were characteristic of 
 192
 
 PRESIDENT THEODORE D. WOOLSEY 
 
 From a portrait painted in 1844
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 his moral and spiritual nature. No one could doubt that 
 the outer life answered fully, and in the most genuine 
 manner, to the life within the man. The lesson of true 
 manhood was, accordingly, one of the most constant and 
 impressive lessons which he taught a lesson given forth 
 with as much emphasis by his personality, in its exhibi- 
 tion of itself, as by his spoken words in his most earnest 
 teaching. In his spoken words, indeed, there was mani- 
 fested at times what I have called, in another connection, 
 an excess of truthfulness his sense of justice in the ex- 
 pression of his thought seeming, for the moment, to 
 overpass the fitting limitations. Such overpassing was, 
 no doubt, partly due to a certain satisfaction which he 
 felt in the courage and boldness of his utterances, and 
 to a certain passionateness of judgment, as I may call it, 
 which occasionally displayed itself as pertaining to his 
 mind. But in the inner life he was true to himself, con- 
 demning and excluding all that was false, or seemed to 
 be more than it was in reality, and few men have ever, 
 in their daily living, borne witness to the truth more 
 fully than he did. 
 
 The sense of the evil the exceeding sinfulness of 
 sin, and the sense of justice in relation to it, were so 
 strongly developed in his mind, that he was led even by 
 his religious thinking toward the governmental side of 
 life and thought. And yet his heart moved easily, and 
 with great tenderness, when he saw the evidences in 
 others, who had offended in any way, of a regret for the 
 past and a desire for better things. The tender element 
 of the religious life was deeply fixed in his soul, though 
 the severer element was oftentimes more manifest to the 
 outward observer. He dealt with himself more strictly 
 and sternly than he did with any one else as the most 
 seriously thoughtful and honest men are wont to do, and 
 I recall his expressing in my hearing -his conviction of the 
 power of Christianity to renew all souls, even the most 
 
 193
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 sinful, because he felt that it had had renewing force in 
 his own. To such a man the moral and spiritual educa- 
 tion of young men must have seemed the thing of high- 
 est importance, and when he saw them wilfully or per- 
 sistently turning from the right and toward the wrong, 
 it could not be strange that justice and the governmental 
 element should first appear in him the justice with 
 which he condemned all wrong-doing that he had seen 
 or thought of in himself. 
 
 Dr. Woolsey was a man of authoritative character. 
 He had what seemed to the student body an imperious 
 element in his nature, which made them stand in awe of 
 him, and which gave to his official utterances, and even 
 to his personal presence as a college officer, a special 
 weight and force. A few words from him were often 
 more effective than the formally pronounced or estab- 
 lished rules of the Faculty. Many instances in the way 
 of illustration will, doubtless, be easily recalled by men 
 who were students during his administration. One which 
 comes to my mind was mentioned to me by a member of 
 a class that graduated about forty years ago. The class, 
 or a large number of its members, had been planning 
 and arranging for a public entertainment of some sort 
 accompanied with dancing, in the success of which much 
 interest was excited. As not unfrequently happens in 
 such cases, however, during the progress of the prepara- 
 tions, the interest developed into considerable partisan 
 excitement and a consequent greater or less measure of 
 unfriendly feeling between different sections of men. 
 The excitement increased as the days passed on, until the 
 final issue of it became a matter of conversation and of 
 questioning. Without the knowledge of the class, the 
 President, at a late stage of the controversy, was made 
 aware of the condition of things. He met the emergency 
 at once in his own mind, and on the morning of the day 
 before the entertainment was intended to be given 
 194
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 when all thoughts were eager with expectation and 
 doubtful as to a peaceful result he rose in presence of 
 the assembled company of students, and said : "I under- 
 stand that a plan has been formed by the Senior Class 
 for a ball to-morrow evening, and that much contention 
 has arisen in the class respecting certain matters con- 
 nected with it. There will be no ball." 
 
 The question was immediately settled for every mem- 
 ber of the class, and the excitement died away because its 
 cause was removed. Of course, the effective power in 
 the case, and in all cases of a kindred sort, however 
 great seriousness and importance they might have, had 
 its source and foundation in the personality of the man. 
 Many men, by taking such a course, would only have 
 aroused opposition, or even a renewed and yet stronger 
 determination in some way to carry out the original plan 
 and purpose. They would, through the lack of the per- 
 sonal element which was in him, have manifested to the 
 quick and penetrative minds of the youth before them 
 their inability to make good their word of prohibition. 
 But in him every young man saw clearly the masterful 
 spirit, and there was little disposition to trifle with it, or 
 resist it. It commanded obedience, and not only obedi- 
 ence but respect and esteem. In connection with the 
 genuine excellence and strength of character and the high 
 order of intellectual ability, which were universally rec- 
 ognized as belonging to him, it awakened in the minds 
 of all a sincere reverence. This reverence grew in its 
 measure as he advanced in years and the separation be- 
 tween his age and that of his pupils became wider and 
 more impressively manifest, until at length, in the later 
 period, it turned into true veneration. It existed, how- 
 ever, in the earliest time, to which I am now especially 
 alluding, because the man was what he was a growing 
 man, and yet the same from the beginning to the end. 
 
 I may be pardoned, I trust, if I close what I would 
 
 J9S
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 say of him as connected with this period of his career, by 
 recalling an incident having a personal relation to my- 
 self. I have referred more than once, on these pages, to 
 the old ideas of college discipline, and to my own con- 
 viction, even from the outset of my career, that they 
 were radically wrong. I have also said that, in common 
 with his associates in the Faculty of that era, Dr. 
 Woolsey was largely under the influence of those ideas. 
 Not long after I had resigned my tutorial office, and had 
 begun a residence for purposes of study in Germany, I 
 had occasion to address him a letter on a matter of pass- 
 ing interest. In the course of this letter I alluded, in a 
 side paragraph or two, to my years of instruction just 
 closed at Yale, and said, that I had sometimes thought 
 that my views of college government might not have 
 met his approval, or might even have seemed to him to 
 be of a subversive order; but that, if so, he might be 
 assured that I had advanced them, or advocated them, 
 with no wish to make any undue opposition to him or his 
 opinions, but simply because I felt that the system then 
 established might be changed with advantage to the 
 highest interests of the institution. In his reply to my 
 letter after giving an answer relating to its main sub- 
 ject he referred to what I had written on this second- 
 ary matter, and said, "While I cannot deny that I have 
 sometimes felt that what you contended for would, if 
 adopted, be injurious to discipline, and would tend to 
 destroy our long-established system which I regard as a 
 wise one, I am free to confess that I have been greatly 
 impressed with the influence which you have gained over 
 students in the carrying out of your views an influence 
 which I wish that all college officers might have. I may 
 add that so far is my feeling from that which you sug- 
 gest as having possibly been in my mind I would be 
 glad to have you permanently connected with the Col- 
 lege what can I say more?" Whether my views were 
 196
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 right or not, he was certainly not immovably fixed and 
 fettered in his own. He was a large-minded man, and 
 was worthy of the office which he held, not only by rea- 
 son of his other powers and characteristics, but because 
 he looked toward the future and was hopeful with refer- 
 ence to it because, with firm and strong convictions, 
 and vigorous and commanding will, he was, at the same 
 time, generously responsive to what others thought and 
 kindly in his estimate of their purpose and their efforts. 
 
 Such, in some imperfect and half-satisfactory descrip- 
 tion of them as they appeared to me in those bygone 
 days, were the more permanent members of the Academ- 
 ical Faculty, who met together as a body from week to 
 week in the years 1851 to 1855, and administered the 
 affairs of the institution. The older ones among them, 
 together with Dr. Fitch, the College preacher until 
 1852, and the Professors in the Theological School, were 
 a little company of friends and neighbors whose lives 
 had been in very close union for many years. They were 
 almost like brothers of a common household, who had 
 established themselves with their families around their 
 ancestral home. They knew one another with perfect 
 intimacy. The one great interest which they had in 
 common united them not only in their work, but in their 
 hearts. There were no ambitions, or jealousies, or 
 divisive influences, to part them asunder, or in any way 
 to prevent complete harmony in their plans or their 
 efforts. Each one of their number was conscious that 
 he had given himself from the outset to the service of the 
 institution with a spirit of consecration kindred to that 
 which inspired him in relation to those within the circle 
 of his own home. Each one had, if I may use the word, 
 a similar consciousness with reference to all the rest. 
 They visited each other after the old New England 
 197
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 fashion, and knew each other's children almost as famil- 
 iarly as they knew their own. In their studies they dif- 
 fered, indeed, but this difference, inasmuch as they were 
 all contributing to the common end and purpose of the 
 College life, seemed in itself to have a tendency to render 
 them more truly and entirely one. 
 
 Everything also in the special detail of their relation 
 to the College and its condition had the same tendency. 
 The arrangement of the curriculum was such that each 
 one of the Academical Professors was brought into per- 
 sonal connection with every student, as his instructor, 
 during some portion of his undergraduate course. The 
 Professors therefore had, all of them, a certain measure 
 of acquaintance with the entire student body. They 
 were able to get some understanding of the character, 
 the gifts and capacities, the present needs, and the prom- 
 ise for the future, of the individual men who were under 
 their care. The comparatively limited numbers in the 
 classes rendered such acquaintance and understanding 
 possible, in a degree which could not have been realized 
 under other circumstances. The classes were not too 
 large for so small a number of teachers. 
 
 I would not be understood as affirming that every Pro- 
 fessor knew every student well or, in any sense, inti- 
 mately. I would not say that, in the case of some of the 
 professors, there was even a general acquaintance with 
 the classes, of such a nature that they had an abiding or 
 satisfactory impression as to the characteristics of many 
 of the individual members. The professors, for ex- 
 ample, who met the students only or mainly as lecturers, 
 were afforded comparatively little opportunity to gain 
 such impressions. But, notwithstanding these limita- 
 tions, the order of the College life and instruction was 
 fitted to give the entire Faculty an appreciation of the 
 young men their intellectual standing, their attain- 
 ments, their worthiness, and their needs. The members 
 
 198
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 of the Faculty could thus easily co-operate with one an- 
 other, and the influences which came upon them from the 
 fact that they were each and all working for the same 
 pupils, and doing their part to make them educated men, 
 were of much force in binding them together in friendly 
 harmony. 
 
 There was another uniting force which contributed 
 greatly to the same end. The College, though small in 
 comparison with what it became in subsequent years, and 
 especially with what it has grown to be at the present 
 time, was large, and even very large, as viewed from the 
 standpoint of its financial resources. To one who, like 
 myself, is able to look back over the half-century which 
 has come to its end, and whose boyhood could gather 
 within itself some knowledge of even earlier years, it 
 seems marvelous indeed that the men of that former time 
 could have accomplished what they did, or that they 
 could have had the heart and courage to press forward, 
 with their very limited and inadequate means, in the great 
 and ever-enlarging work to which they were called. But 
 as they had the self-devotion and the faith which inspired 
 them to move on, notwithstanding all difficulties and 
 hindrances, we may readily see how the very limitation 
 of their resources, and the consequent hardness of the 
 struggle for each and every one of them, became for 
 them all alike a power in the inmost life, ever binding 
 them closely together and ever impelling them to put 
 forth their energies as one man of sevenfold force for 
 the upbuilding of the institution which they loved. They 
 were no hired servants, ready to labor for a time, if all 
 should go well, but open to a call for easier, or more 
 agreeable or remunerative service elsewhere, whenever 
 it might come to their hearing. They were sons of the 
 old and honored household, who gave themselves in 
 gratitude and love to the grand duty of making the 
 home larger and better, more fitted to bestow blessing 
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 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 upon all who should come to it and more noble and 
 beautiful in all its life. Their service, as they felt in 
 their deepest souls, was a life-long service. Whether it 
 should be rewarded according to the measure of its 
 merits, or not, was a question of secondary importance 
 even of insignificant moment. The one all-controlling 
 thought in their minds was that of the upbuilding of 
 Yale. If pecuniary reward could come to them as the 
 greater work was going forward, they would be grateful 
 and rejoice. If it should not be granted them, they 
 would be patient and satisfied, provided only that the 
 College which they loved was growing towards the full- 
 ness that filled the bright vision of their hope. 
 
 When I bring before my mind the fact that the total 
 income of the Academical Department, at the time of 
 my graduation in 1849, was less than thirty-four thou- 
 sand dollars and, apart from the term bills paid by stu- 
 dents, was not more than sixteen thousand and when I 
 find, by the records, that in 1831, the year in which Dr. 
 Woolsey entered upon the duties of his Professorship, 
 the sum of the permanent funds of the Department, after 
 deducting debts that were owed, was scarcely equal to 
 the second of the two amounts just mentioned I can 
 only wonder at the unfailing courage and self-devotion 
 of this brotherhood of men. I can only render them 
 honor, and express my admiration for them. We of the 
 later period have witnessed much greater things, and 
 have accomplished perchance what, as measured by its 
 mere magnitude, is far beyond anything that was real- 
 ized, or even supposed possible, by them. But may it 
 not fitly seem to us, when we think of their era and their 
 heroism, that theirs was a grander work, and may we 
 not rightly feel that the history of our University, as it 
 moves onward through the future, can have no brighter 
 page than that which faithfully recounts the service and
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 efforts of those who were builders of its walls and guard- 
 ians of its life in the earlier half of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury? As one of the men who followed them in the 
 later portion of the century, and one who entered in 
 some measure into their labors, I would give expression 
 most gladly to my recognition of the inspiring influence 
 which they passed on to their successors. If we, of the 
 fifty years just now ended, have had within us, or have 
 manifested to others, anything of the spirit of unselfish 
 and undying consecration to the interests and welfare of 
 Yale, we may, as we think of ourselves or of the work 
 which we have brought to its accomplishment, grate- 
 fully acknowledge the inheritance which came to us from 
 these older men.
 
 XII. 
 
 Other Instructors, and Tutors; and Some Matters of 
 College Life, 1851-55. 
 
 AMONG the old College teachers of my under- 
 graduate days, and of the years to which I am 
 now referring, there were three who had more 
 or less connection with the students, but were not mem- 
 bers of the Faculty. One of these was Mr. Robert 
 Bakewell, the Instructor in Drawing and Perspective 
 an English gentleman who came to this country about 
 the year 1830, and established his residence soon after- 
 wards in New Haven. When I became acquainted with 
 him, after my college graduation, he must have been 
 between fifty and sixty years of age, and he had held his 
 office as instructor for nearly twenty years. He was a 
 man of cultured manners, of very sweet and kindly dis- 
 position, of gentle and charming nature, of transparent 
 purity of character, of the most sincere and simple Chris- 
 tian faith. His genuine artistic taste influenced and af- 
 fected his mind and manhood in every part. 
 
 At that time there was comparatively little interest 
 among the students in the subject of Art. Indeed, there 
 were few persons in the country who appreciated the 
 value of art, in any true measure, as a branch or de- 
 partment of education. The expediency or wisdom of 
 connecting an Art School with the University was ques- 
 tioned by very many of the friends, and even of the 
 officers of the institution, as late as the year 1865, when 
 Mr. and Mrs. Augustus R. Street proposed to erect the 
 Art Building and establish the school. Mr. Bakewell,
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 whose work of instruction had ended some years before 
 that date, had of course only a small number of pupils 
 at any period of his career. For those who sought his 
 aid and guidance, however, he was a faithful, as well as 
 useful teacher, while to all who knew him he manifested 
 the spirit of a true gentleman, having in himself the 
 refining influences of his art studies. He was an intimate 
 acquaintance and friend of Mr. and Mrs. Street, who 
 were in all their life greatly devoted to art, and I think 
 that his association and conferences with them may have 
 been a force, co-operating with many other forces, in in- 
 ducing them to make their great and most valuable gift 
 to the University. Be this as it may, he was the first 
 of the teachers in the field of Art at Yale; and though 
 he did not move in the highest sphere of the artist, he 
 may be fitly remembered because of his true and earnest 
 working in the early days, even as he will be held in 
 memory, by those who knew his pure and simple life, as 
 a man of Christ-like spirit. 
 
 The second of the three men referred to was Dr. 
 Erasmus D. North, the Instructor in Elocution in the 
 College from 1837 to 1854. Dr. North was a graduate 
 in Arts of the University of North Carolina, of the year 
 1826, and in Medicine of the Yale Medical School, of 
 the year 1833. ^ e was a gd elocutionist. As a 
 teacher he had sound ideas and theories, and devoted 
 himself honestly to his work. By reason of a certain 
 weakness in the power of discipline, however, he failed 
 to gain full control over his students. Consequently, he 
 was not able to do for them what he might otherwise 
 have done. It was unfortunate for his success, also, 
 that he was not a member of the Faculty. The students 
 recognized the distinction between his position and that 
 of their other teachers, and they took advantage of him, 
 if the expression may be permitted, as young boys are 
 apt to do of their instructors when circumstances allow 
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 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 it. It was a rhetorical age, indeed, as compared with the 
 present that period in which he served the institution. 
 But college boys were, nevertheless, not very much dis- 
 posed to give themselves to the regularly appointed elo- 
 cutionary exercises. Especially when a large company 
 or nearly a whole class came together for these exercises, 
 as was often the case, the tendency to inattention, or to 
 disorderly conduct of a minor sort, was likely to manifest 
 itself; and the teacher who could not restrain it by his 
 masterful force, found himself many times in a more or 
 less unhappy condition. The students had no unkindly 
 feeling towards the worthy Doctor, I think. They were 
 only mischievous youths, who entertained themselves 
 with a little, or with considerable, by-play while he was 
 listening to the oratorical efforts of their fellows, or 
 offering his criticisms. 
 
 This state of things occasionally disturbed the equa- 
 nimity of Professor Larned, who had the general charge 
 of the rhetorical department, and at rare intervals he 
 made known his feeling to his associates in the Faculty. 
 But Dr. North was very sensitive as most instructors 
 are with reference to any outside interference with his 
 exercises. He felt himself quite as adequate to arrange 
 and manage them properly as the Professor was or could 
 be, and, as I recall those days, I cannot but think that he 
 was more nearly correct in his judgment than some of the 
 Faculty may have been disposed to admit. On one occa- 
 sion, when the Professor addressed him a formal note, 
 proposing himself to attend the exercises for the purpose 
 of maintaining perfect order, the Doctor appealed 
 to the President. After intimating that no one of the 
 professors, as he believed, was more successful in man- 
 aging students than himself, he suddenly rose into the 
 rhetorical style, and said that "all that he wished was 
 to be treated by the Faculty with respect as a man, a 
 citizen, and the father of a family." It was difficult to 
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 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 resist this appeal, and he remained in his position undis- 
 turbed until the year 1854, when he offered his resigna- 
 tion. He died four years later, in 1858. 
 
 Dr. North was a man of wide reading and of much 
 interest in science. He was a somewhat intimate friend 
 of the poet Percival, who had his residence in New 
 Haven during the years of my undergraduate course 
 and of my official life as a tutor. Percival was a person 
 of very peculiar character, having idiosyncracies of a 
 most eccentric order. But as a poet and a scientist he 
 had much prominence and wide reputation. I can recall 
 his appearance very distinctly, as he now and then pre- 
 sented himself on the College grounds, arrayed in his 
 long brown cloak brown by reason of age, but possibly 
 of another color originally and having an outlandish 
 looking cap on his head, and a weather-beaten umbrella 
 in his hand. He seemed anything but a scholar and a 
 poet. The most eccentric and careless German professor 
 could hardly be placed in comparison with him. He was 
 self-withdrawing, and moody also, with much of the 
 disposition of a hermit. When he erected a house for 
 himself at some distance from the center of the city, he 
 placed the only door of entrance on the rear of the 
 building, as an indication that he did not desire to receive 
 visitors. Seclusion and privacy seemed to be the satis- 
 faction of life for him. And yet there was a small circle 
 of friends to whom he opened himself; and when he was 
 with any of those who were within its limits, he talked 
 with the utmost freedom and at interminable length. Dr. 
 North was one of this circle of friends, and it is related 
 that, on a certain evening, the two men met each other 
 on the street, by chance, and fell into a conversation on 
 some topic which was interesting to both of them. They 
 moved on and on in their talk together, wholly oblivious 
 of the lapse of time, until their attention was arrested 
 by what seemed a strange light in the eastern sky. At 
 205
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 once, they began to speculate as to what it could be, yet 
 with no satisfactory result. But while their questioning 
 and uncertainty continued, the sun lifted his light upon 
 them ; and lo, the night had passed, and the new day had 
 come. 
 
 There was something evidently in the good Doctor 
 which the poet saw, but which was hidden from the eyes 
 and minds of the young fellows who spoke their pieces 
 before him, or played while others were speaking theirs. 
 There was something which, as I cannot doubt, seemed 
 more edifying to his own mind and soul, during the four 
 years of life that followed his withdrawal from his 
 teaching work, than any of his efforts to create orators 
 out of college students, or to keep them in order while 
 he was trying to make them what he, and perchance 
 they also, desired that they might become. 
 
 Luigi Roberti, the third of the three gentlemen, was 
 the Instructor in French and Italian. His connection 
 with the College, however, was a rather loose one, as 
 he only gave instruction to optional classes during a sin- 
 gle term in the Junior and Senior years. He was a very 
 worthy and intelligent man, and became in later years a 
 successful teacher of a young ladies' school, which gained 
 for itself considerable reputation. But he had little op- 
 portunity to accomplish satisfactory results within the 
 brief period allowed for his studies in the arrangement 
 of the curriculum. The students, moreover, did not re- 
 gard the exercises in French and Italian with any con- 
 siderable measure of serious interest. The larger part of 
 those who made choice of these studies, particularly of 
 French, did so because they felt that they could meet the 
 demands of the exercises with comparatively little effort. 
 Sometimes they found themselves able to obtain excuses 
 for absence from the recitations without much difficulty, 
 and they gave themselves, in consequence, large in- 
 dulgence in this regard. The instructors, who were of 
 206
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 foreign birth and education, did not in those days easily 
 understand and appreciate American college pupils, and 
 occasionally as in the case of one such teacher near the 
 period of my tutorship in a kind of despair, or possibly 
 in an excess of amiability, they even co-operated with 
 students in their attempts to pass very easily through 
 the course of study assigned for them. This particular 
 teacher is said to have excused several members of one 
 of his classes from nearly all the exercises of a term 
 giving them permission to be absent until the time of 
 the final examination, when he promised to treat them 
 as leniently as possible. Not improbably, he may have 
 been disquieted or harassed by their presence in the early 
 days of the session, and, realizing his inability to meet 
 the emergencies of the case if their continued attendance 
 were required, may have felt that a formal release from 
 all such obligation would be the lesser evil of the two. 
 
 However this may have been, and whatever may be 
 said by way of comment, it is evident that the era of 
 modern languages in our American colleges had not as 
 yet arrived. As Dr. Andrew P. Peabody said of one of 
 the estimable French instructors at Harvard College 
 twenty years earlier: "It was probably never known how 
 good a teacher he could have been, if he had had teach- 
 able pupils. His French classes were large, but were 
 composed mainly of students who sought amusement 
 rather than instruction, and whose chief aim was to im- 
 pose on his long-suffering good nature." The fathers 
 of that period, and their young sons, had comparatively 
 little apprehension of the value of these languages as 
 bearing upon the education of college men even as 
 they had little understanding of the value of art. But 
 happily, as the sons grew in their turn to the age of the 
 fathers, the thought of the new era came to them, and 
 they began to appreciate the worth, for those who were 
 following after them, of what they had not realized to 
 207
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 be valuable for themselves. It is an interesting fact in 
 our college history, that Mr. and Mrs. Street, whose 
 generosity established our School of the Fine Arts, were 
 the founders also of the first endowed professorship in 
 the department of Modern Languages. 
 
 Of the company of tutors whose terms of office were 
 partly coincident with my own eighteen in all thirteen 
 have died, and five are still living. Among those that 
 have died, the two who attained the highest prominence 
 were Hubert A. Newton, of the class of 1850, and 
 Franklin W. Fisk, of my own class. With reference to 
 Mr. Newton, who afterwards filled the professorship of 
 mathematics in the College, I shall write more fully on a 
 later page. Mr. Fisk was one of the oldest of my class- 
 mates, and nearly nine years older than myself. He had 
 prepared himself for entrance into the College in 1837, 
 but had subsequently given himself for a series of years 
 to the work of teaching in the schools. He stood, there- 
 fore on a different level as compared with most of our 
 number, when we came together in the membership of 
 the Freshman class. Indeed, as I recently learned, he 
 was a fellow-student, and of the same rank in the school 
 calendar, at Phillips Andover Academy, with our Tutor 
 Emerson, of whom I have already made mention. The 
 two had separated on leaving Andover, and now, after 
 an interval of eight years, they met again the one as a 
 just-entering Freshman, and the other, as we boys 
 thought, a dignified and self-conscious tutor. Moreover, 
 as chance or fate would have it, my friend Fisk was 
 placed in the section of the class of which Mr. Emerson 
 had particular charge. The latter was, therefore, in 
 relation to the former, the special representative of the 
 idea of the time that the College government stood 
 in loco parentis for each and every student during his 
 undergraduate career. It must have been a strange
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 experience for my good friend. He must, as it would 
 seem, have had a feeling, now and then, half-way rebel- 
 lious and half-way diverting a sort of mingled frown 
 and smile, as it were, upon his face as he thought of 
 the old days and the new. But he never whispered his 
 thought or feeling to me, or to any one. Possibly the 
 lesson of the schoolmaster's life in those years had im- 
 pressed upon him not only the duty but, for good order, 
 the necessity of respect for " the powers that be," and 
 so he was content to place himself on the same footing 
 with his young associates and to set them an example of 
 propriety. But the question comes to my mind, and I 
 record it here for the reader to answer as he may did 
 not the two gentlemen, when they were united as pro- 
 fessors in the same institution in the Northwest a few 
 years afterwards, occasionally refer in their talks with 
 each other to the strange relation of the old college 
 days? And if so, did not the frowns of authority on the 
 one side, and a half-way insubordination on the other, 
 become changed for both into smiles which gradually 
 grew into a genuine boyish laughter? 
 
 But all this pertains in reality to our undergraduate 
 life, and I am now writing of my fellow-tutors. After 
 holding his office for one or two years, Mr. Fisk left 
 Yale, and completed a course of study in preparation for 
 the work of the ministry. In 1854, however, he received 
 a call to the professorship of Rhetoric and English Litera- 
 ture in Beloit College, Wisconsin. This call he accepted. 
 He held the professorship for five years, and during this 
 peiod he rendered valuable service to the institution. In 
 1859 he began what may be regarded as his life-work, as 
 Professor of Sacred Rhetoric in the Chicago Theological 
 Seminary. For thirty-one years he consecrated himself 
 to the upbuilding and enlarging of that school of the- 
 ology. His thoughts and his efforts were constantly de- 
 voted to the promotion of its interests, and I am sure 
 209
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 that no one of the honored men who labored for its 
 welfare throughout those years was more faithful to the 
 cause or more helpful towards the realization of results. 
 He was most highly esteemed by his fellow-citizens and 
 by all who knew him. A welcome was given him in the 
 churches, wherever he preached. He won the regard 
 and friendly sentiment of his students. The appoint- 
 ment to the Presidency of the Seminary, which he re- 
 ceived, carried with itself the highest testimonial that 
 could be given by the trustees, as manifesting their con- 
 fidence and respect. The influence exerted by him in 
 the whole region of the country where his life was passed 
 will be permanent and wide-reaching, as it is continued 
 through others to whom he gave inspiration for their 
 work. 
 
 At the close of the seminary year in April, 1900, he 
 retired from the duties of his office, but in accordance 
 with the request of the Board of Trustees he retained 
 his connection with the institution as President Emeritus. 
 He had, at that time, just passed beyond his eightieth 
 birthday. Not many months later his health, which had 
 been vigorous in a remarkable degree throughout his 
 mature life, became impaired. Recovery proved to be 
 hopeless, and on the 4th of July, 1901, he died. He 
 was a warm-hearted friend of mine from the college 
 days to the end, as he was of all his classmates. They 
 all looked upon him as one of the chief men of the 
 company. 
 
 Henry Hamilton Hadley, who was commonly known 
 among us as the younger Hadley, was called after he had 
 left the tutorial office to an instructorship, and a few 
 years later to a professorship of Hebrew, in Union 
 Theological Seminary, in the city of New York. For a 
 single year he discharged the duties of a professor in our 
 Divinity School, but he did not at that time sever his 
 connection with the New York institution altogether,
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 nnd his whole scholarly work may therefore be properly 
 said to have been accomplished in that seminary. It was 
 a work which was highly appreciated by the students 
 in the membership of his classes. He was a scholar of a 
 high order and of great promise, and much was antici- 
 pated from him and for him, but to the regret and grief 
 of his many friends the hopes which had been cherished 
 failed of their realization by reason of his early death. 
 His life came to its end, as the result of a disease con- 
 tracted while he was on a temporary service with the 
 army on behalf of the Christian Commission, in the 
 summer of 1864, when he was only thirty-eight years 
 of age. 
 
 James B. Miles, a classmate of mine, who died in 
 1875, filled, for a period of nearly seventeen years, the 
 pastoral office of the First Congregational Church in 
 Charlestown, Mass. During the last four years of his 
 life he was the Secretary of the American Peace Society. 
 He held this position at a time when the Society was 
 especially active in connection with organizations in 
 European countries which had the same object in view, 
 and as a consequence he spent a large portion of his 
 time in those countries. Very few graduates of Yale 
 within the century, as I think, have been brought into 
 connection with a larger number of eminent Europeans 
 men distinguished whether by ability or by official 
 position than was Dr. Miles in those years. 
 
 Fisk P. Brewer and Evan W. Evans, the latter of the 
 Class of 1851, and the former of that of 1852, became 
 professors in different collegiate institutions. Mr. 
 Brewer occupied chairs of instruction successively in the 
 universities of North Carolina and of South Carolina, 
 and in Iowa College. Mr. Evans held a professorship 
 in Marietta College, and subsequently a similar position 
 at Cornell University. They were genuine scholars; the 
 former especially in the line of classical studies, and the
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 latter in the departments of Mathematics and of Natural 
 Philosophy and Astronomy. Professor Evans attained a 
 higher than ordinary reputation. 
 
 Of the others, Joseph Hurlbut, of my own class, and 
 Francis L. Hodges, of the Class of 1847, died so early 
 in life that the work for which they were preparing in 
 their thoughts or hopes could not open to them, even in 
 its beginnings. William Kinne, of the Class of 1848, 
 was a successful school teacher for a long period until, 
 in advanced life, he retired to a quiet residence in his 
 native village. Dr. Lebbeus C. Chapin (1852), after 
 leaving the College, devoted himself to the work of the 
 medical profession in Michigan. Rev. William Pope 
 Aiken (1853), was an honored and useful minister in 
 Rutland, Vt. Rev. Thomas S. Potwin (1851) gave 
 himself to the clerical profession for a long period, but 
 in the latter years of his life, his health having failed 
 him, he withdrew from active service, and devoted his 
 energies to literary pursuits and authorship. Only one 
 other remains to be mentioned my elder brother, Mr. 
 James M. B. Dwight, who was a graduate of the Class 
 of 1846. He was a cultivated and scholarly gentleman, 
 but of his life and influence it is befitting that others 
 should give an estimate, rather than myself. 
 
 Five of the company, as I have already stated, are 
 still living. Rev. Dr. Henry Blodget (of the Class of 
 1848) returned, not long since, to his native land for 
 the resting-period of life, after a long-continued and very 
 honorable missionary service in China. Rev. Willis S. 
 Colton and Rev. Moses C. W T elch (both of the Class of 
 1850) are retired ministers, who can look back, with 
 much satisfaction, upon useful and faithful work ac- 
 complished in the pastoral office on behalf of the Chris- 
 tian cause. Professor Daniel Bonbright, a classmate of 
 the two gentleman just mentioned, has had the chair of 
 Latin in the Northwestern University, at Evanston, UK,
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 for more than forty years, and has recently held the posi- 
 tion of Acting President of that institution. Mr. Rob- 
 bins Little gave himself to the legal profession after 
 leaving the College. For nearly twenty years he held 
 the office of Superintendent of the Astor Library in the 
 city of New York, where he now resides. 
 
 It will be noticed, as these brief statements are passed 
 under review, that almost all of the gentlemen who were 
 my fellow-tutors became either teachers or preachers 
 after the ending of their temporary service at Yale. 
 That so many should have entered upon the work of 
 teaching as the business of life will not seem strange, 
 if the fact is borne in mind that the acceptance of the 
 tutorial office on the part of any individual is, in itself, 
 suggestive of a tendency of the mind in this direction. 
 With reference to the ministry, on the other hand, the 
 reader may properly be reminded that, in those days, it 
 was much more customary than it is at present for young 
 men, after their college graduation, to teach for a time 
 in schools, or higher institutions of learning, in order 
 that they might thereby secure for themselves the means 
 of meeting the expenses connected with their professional 
 studies. It may fitly be remembered also, that the men 
 who most needed such provision for the future just be- 
 fore them were, ordinarily, those who were intending to 
 enter the clerical profession. This profession, moreover, 
 had then, if indeed it has not now, a nearer kinship to 
 that of teaching, than any other which opened itself to 
 educated young men. 
 
 The progress and changes of the last quarter of a 
 century, in connection with which teaching has become 
 a more fully established and independent profession, 
 after the manner of the law, medicine, and theology, 
 have had as an incidental result the. exclusion of the 
 second class of persons mentioned above from our 
 Tutorial Board. Within the fifteen years from 1885 to 
 
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 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 1900, only one person having had membership in the 
 board has entered upon any life-work other than teach- 
 ing. This more strict limitation is in some respects, and 
 perhaps in all, helpful to the best interests of college 
 education. There was a loss of force and efficiency on 
 the part of the instructor, and of his best intellectual in- 
 fluence upon his pupils, which resulted from his want of 
 entire and permanent consecration of himself to the busi- 
 ness in which he was engaged. But the condition of 
 things in this regard was incidental to the age and its 
 place in the educational development of the country. If 
 the young men of the present era have greater advan- 
 tages by reason of the change which has taken place, it 
 is only an additional instance of the advance in their 
 good fortune beyond that of the men who went before 
 them. 
 
 Whatever may be said upon this point, the tutors at 
 that time had as large opportunity to receive benefit 
 from one another as their successors now have. The 
 man who remained in his office as long as I did enjoyed 
 the privilege of familiar and friendly association with a 
 very considerable number of young graduates of scholar- 
 ly tastes, and of free and helpful conference with them 
 on the great questions of life, as well as on the most 
 deeply interesting subjects of thought. The younger 
 instructors then, as now, constituted a distinct company 
 or fraternity by reason of their age. They were drawn 
 together and united in a special manner, as must always 
 be the case, because of the common fears and hopes, 
 resolves and purposes, which pertained to all alike. 
 
 It was my good fortune to have associated with me 
 in the board, for one or two years, three of my college 
 classmates, all of whom had been somewhat intimate 
 friends of mine in our undergraduate career. They 
 were, of course, the men with whom I was most thor- 
 oughly acquainted, and from whom it is natural that I 
 
 214
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 should have gained the most helpfulness and stimulating 
 force. But the others, who came from the classes im- 
 mediately preceding and following my own, were men 
 of intellectual ability and activity, of earnest purpose, 
 of high character, of kindly spirit, who lived together 
 harmoniously and wrought together for the ends which 
 all alike had in view. 
 
 There are many influences and very precious ones, as 
 we all know, which the college man receives from his 
 classmates. But the college man and his classmates 
 grow in maturity as the years begin to move on after the 
 day of graduation, and if he and some of them can meet 
 again in a common life for a happy season, when a few 
 of the years have fled, he may get a new blessing, and in 
 even richer measure perchance, from the new and yet 
 more joyful association. 
 
 The two marked events of the years between 1851 
 and 1855 as connected with the more external life of the 
 institution were the securing of what has since been called 
 the fund of 1854, and the erection of the first building 
 of the latter half of the century. The commemoration, 
 in October, 1850, of the one hundred and fiftieth anni- 
 versary of the foundation of the College was the occa- 
 sion of an assemblage of a large number of its graduates 
 and friends at New Haven, and an awakening cause of 
 renewed interest in its welfare and development. At 
 about the same time, the members of the Faculty espe- 
 cially the most thoughtful and energetic among them 
 became convinced that the hour had arrived for an earn- 
 est movement for the increase of the permanent endow- 
 ment. As a result of this conviction, and of the inspiring 
 influence of the new era which was just opening, a vigor- 
 ous and systematic effort was entered upon with a view 
 to the addition of one hundred thousand dollars to the 
 already existing funds. The raising of such a sum at 
 
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 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 that period was a matter of much more difficulty, and one 
 which required for its accomplishment a much longer 
 time, than any of those who are unable to recall the past 
 with fullness of recollection can easily realize. The 
 work moved forward encouragingly indeed, but with 
 only moderate progress, and one or two years elapsed 
 before any very considerable amount was received by the 
 College Treasury. The entire sum, however, was finally 
 made sure, to the great satisfaction of all Yale men. 
 The realization of success in this most important under- 
 taking was only second in its influence to that which at- 
 tended the similar effort made in the years 1 830 to 1833. 
 The two movements were alike in that, at a most critical 
 epoch in the history of the institution, they were essen- 
 tial to its future growth to its growth towards the 
 realization of the university idea. The later movement 
 was secondary to the earlier only in so far as the earlier 
 was an effort on the results of which the continued 
 existence of the College seemed to be almost absolutely 
 dependent, while the later was necessary for its larger 
 and more complete development. The period of finan- 
 cial limitation, even as measured by the standard of 
 those days, did not then, indeed, reach its end. But the 
 successful issue of the undertaking was attended by a 
 more assured hope of the coming time. 
 
 The building to which I have referred was the one 
 at the corner of Elm and High Streets, called Alumni 
 Hall. This building was designed for the purpose of 
 furnishing a hall for meetings of the graduates on the 
 annual Commencement occasions as well as other large 
 assemblages on the College grounds, and also rooms for 
 the uses of the three principal debating societies the 
 Linonian, Brothers in Unity, and Calliopean. The first- 
 mentioned hall occupied the whole of the first floor of 
 the building, while the other three filled the space on 
 the second floor. The total expense of this building was 
 216
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 a little more than twenty-seven thousand dollars. About 
 eleven thousand dollars of this sum was secured through 
 special efforts on behalf of the Linonian and Brothers 
 Societies, made by committees of those societies that 
 solicited contributions from graduates connected with 
 their membership. 
 
 I was myself one of the committee of the Linonian 
 fraternity, and was quite active in the work which was 
 assigned to it. It was my first experience in the matter 
 of soliciting gifts for purposes of public interest, and I 
 learned some of the lessons which such experience, alike 
 in its beginning and in its progress, is apt to teach. How- 
 ever, in connection with my colleagues of the committee, 
 I was in a very considerable measure successful in the 
 good work as I would gratefully acknowledge that I 
 have been in later years, when I have been called to 
 similar service. In due time, we had the satisfaction 
 of entering our new hall, and of joining with our fellow- 
 members, older and younger, in celebrating within its 
 walls, at the Commencement season of the year 1853, 
 the one hundredth anniversary of the foundation of 
 our society. How far from our minds, at that interest- 
 ing and happy time, was the thought or even the pos- 
 sibility of the thought that twenty years later, all the 
 debating societies would have ceased to exist, and that 
 the halls which had been solemnly dedicated to their 
 forensic contests would thereafter become college recita- 
 tion rooms, or apartments for musical or other exercises. 
 
 There were two experiences, which I had while in the 
 membership of the committee just now mentioned, that 
 have remained in my memory as instructive or sugges- 
 tive, and that may perhaps, for this reason, be worthy 
 of a moment's reference here. The first was connected 
 with the fact that, though one of the youngest of the 
 committee, I came at one time, for a "few weeks, to be 
 regarded as the member upon whom the financial respon- 
 217
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 sibility rested. Within these weeks a note, which had 
 been given by the committee, matured some time before 
 the amount necessary to pay it had been secured. The 
 excellent officers of the bank where the note was placed, 
 called my attention to the fact that payment had not 
 been made, and that the note might be protested. By 
 urging upon their notice, with fitting emphasis, the names 
 and financial standing of my elder associates in the 
 committee who were well known to them, I mitigated the 
 sternness of their demeanor, and secured a delay of a 
 few days. Quite unexpectedly, within this brief limit 
 of time, contributions for our funds were received 
 which were sufficient to meet the demand of the case; 
 the amount of the note was paid; and the threatened 
 danger which had disturbed my mind was escaped. The 
 danger of the moment passed; but there was for me a 
 suggestion connected with it, as bearing upon the rela- 
 tion of personal income to expenditures, and the order of 
 arrangement fitting for the two, which has continued 
 with me in its influence and, as a consequence, has given 
 me much comfort in the subsequent years. 
 
 The other experience or incident, to which I allude, 
 was of quite a different character. Among the many 
 graduates to whom I addressed letters of appeal for 
 gifts for Linonia, was one of the Class of 1 8 1 8, an entire 
 stranger to me, who resided in Baltimore. A few days 
 after my letter reached him he sent me a reply, in which 
 he declined to make any contribution whatever for the 
 purpose indicated and, by reason of strong feeling, he 
 fell into the oratorical style and said: "A debating 
 society! I will never give a penny for such an object. 
 The curse of the world that which the world is perish- 
 ing of, is Gab ! If any one will ask me to contribute for 
 the building of a deaf and dumb asylum, I will gladly 
 respond with a liberal gift." The good old gentleman's 
 answer, I confess, was not very encouraging to me at 
 218
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 the moment, though there was an amusing element in it 
 which was, in a measure, comforting to my spirit. But 
 as the years have passed on a long way since the letter 
 came to me, and I have had many suggestive experiences 
 as I doubt not is the case with all men who are in more 
 or less public positions I have often meditated on the 
 old graduate's views, and have realized, far more than 
 I did at the beginning, how much there is to be said 
 for deaf and dumb asylums. 
 
 We accomplished our purpose, however, without the 
 venerable gentleman's aid, and he lived long enough to 
 see the end of the existence of the debating societies; and 
 so both parties may well have been satisfied. The prog- 
 ress and process of time have brought the halls to new 
 uses, in which both alike, as sons of Yale, might now 
 fitly see much good for the institution, as related to its 
 most direct and largest work. 
 
 The life of the student community in those four years 
 differed but little in its general features and character- 
 istics from what it had been while I was an undergradu- 
 ate. As the interval between the two periods was so 
 brief, it can hardly be supposed that many changes could 
 have taken place. My own thought of the life, however, 
 was in some measure a new one, because it was taken 
 from a different point of view. The boys seemed 
 younger than they did in 1849, or I myself seemed a 
 little older. They were subjects of college government, 
 while I was a college officer. They were under the in- 
 fluence of all the customs and rules (immemorial in their 
 origin, as they thought), which have such well-known 
 power in all institutions of learning. I, on the other 
 hand, was beginning to feel that manly life might rise 
 above the all-controlling force of these law-giving cus- 
 toms, and might even go so far as- to establish for it- 
 self new and better ones. It is strange how largely 
 219
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 men are affected, oftentimes, by a mere change in the 
 place of their outlook. I remember a conversation 
 which I had, on one occasion within my tutorial career, 
 when a miniature rebellion was threatening a disturbance 
 of the College peace, with a young Senior who had just 
 finished, only a week earlier, his final examination and 
 been listed for his degree a conversation illustrative in 
 its character. He was a man whom I had known 
 familiarly through all his course, and between whom 
 and myself there was then, as there still is, a kindly 
 friendship. Feeling sure that he would have been in 
 hearty sympathy with the irate students, if they had been 
 his own classmates, and would very possibly have par- 
 ticipated in their action, I asked him, out of curiosity 
 and scarcely able to conceal a smile, his judgment as 
 to what the Faculty ought to do in the case. In the most 
 sober and authoritative manner, as if he were the Presi- 
 dent himself, he replied: " There is but one course for 
 the Faculty to pursue, as I view the matter; and that is, 
 to quell the disturbance, whatever it may cost." The day 
 which passed him on toward the company of graduates 
 had made a new man of him in relation to the subject 
 of college government. So it is with us all. The times, 
 in our personal living, change, and we change with them. 
 I may say for myself, however, that I had not then 
 outgrown the sympathies of the student life and, 
 though I am older now by many years than I was then, 
 I have not even yet passed beyond their influence alto- 
 gether. But as I say this, I am sure that the younger 
 men and the older men of the present age will all agree, 
 in their thoughtful hours, that the student life like the 
 life of the world realizes its ideal only as it rids itself 
 of what is unworthy of genuine manliness. It cannot 
 claim the fullness of our sympathy except as it reaches 
 out after the ideal. There was, I think, a silent move- 
 ment in those years which had promise in it. It was
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 the beginning of what has been witnessed in the later 
 time, and of that which, as we may believe, will be yet 
 more clearly seen in its completeness in the future. 
 
 With reference to the friendly relations between the 
 younger members of the Faculty and the students, I 
 think that in these years the smaller and secret societies 
 began to exert an influence of a special character. These 
 societies, during the larger portion of my tutorial career, 
 drew into their fraternal fellowship, more fully and fre- 
 quently than they had done before, their members who 
 were already graduates, and, among them, those who 
 had been appointed to offices of instruction in the Col- 
 lege. An opportunity was thus opened for a very free 
 and unrestrained intercourse, from time to time, between 
 the teachers and their pupils. The two parties were 
 easily rendered able to understand each other's thoughts 
 and feelings, and to gain, each from the other, opinions 
 or suggestions which might have the best and happiest 
 influence. For myself, I am sure that such opportuni- 
 ties, in my younger days, were of very great service and 
 benefit. They gave me the knowledge of the student 
 mind, as well as a familiar and friendly acquaintance 
 with the ideas and sentiments of individual students. 
 
 It was my privilege, for which I have been ever grate- 
 ful, to know by this means, and even to know with much 
 of intimacy and affectionate feeling, many members of 
 the successive classes which came under my instruction 
 while I was in the tutorial office. It is a pleasure to me, 
 as I review the past history, to feel that they and I 
 worked together not only, as I believe, for our mutual 
 upbuilding in knowledge and character, but also for the 
 introduction of better life in the student community and 
 more truly kindly relations between the younger and the 
 older portions of the College world; in a word, that we 
 took part as friends our part, whatever it may have 
 been as to its measure in making the University a
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 brotherhood of educated men, bound together in a com- 
 mon earnestness of purpose and having, each and all, 
 the generous feeling which pertains to liberal scholar- 
 ship. 
 
 In December, 1855, I resigned my office with happy 
 memories of its service, and happy thoughts of what 
 was before me ; and, a month later, I sailed for Europe 
 for a course of study which extended over two and a half 
 years.
 
 XIII. 
 
 Student Years in Germany Universities of Berlin and 
 Bonn, 1856-58. 
 
 THE period of my residence abroad extended 
 from the beginning of February, 1856, to the 
 end of June, 1858. During this period, I had 
 no official connection with the College, and no definite 
 prospect or expectation of any such connection in the 
 future. These two and a half years, accordingly, do 
 not, in the strictest sense of the words, belong to my 
 Yalensian life. In view of the fact, however, that, in 
 consequence of advice offered by President Woolsey soon 
 after my arrival in Germany, I devoted myself largely 
 to New Testament studies while there, and of the ad- 
 ditional fact, that, almost immediately upon my return 
 homeward, the appointment to the professorship in the 
 line of these studies in the Divinity School was given me, 
 I have always regarded these years as having a prepara- 
 tory character, and as, in reality, forming no break or 
 interruption in my university career. It may not be un- 
 fitting, therefore, if I place within my record a very 
 few words respecting some of the professors whom I 
 knew as my teachers at the universities of Berlin and 
 Bonn, and recall a few of the old memories and experi- 
 ences of my student life in those schools of learning. 
 
 It was, I think, a greater privilege for a young scholar 
 to spend two or three educational years in Germany 
 forty-five years ago, than it is now. Certainly, it was 
 a privilege less often enjoyed, and for this reason, if 
 there had been no other, it was one worthy of being 
 223
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 very highly prized. There were, however, other reasons 
 of much more significance and weight. The opportuni- 
 ties for advanced study in our American institutions, at 
 that time, were quite limited. The progress which these 
 institutions had made in the earlier part of the century 
 which was, indeed, very marked was in the sphere 
 of the means and facilities for undergraduate instruc- 
 tion. Even in this sphere, the opening future was mak- 
 ing manifest still greater demands, the supplying of 
 which, it was already seen, would render necessary a 
 more complete equipment of professors and teachers for 
 their work. But in the region of graduate studies, as 
 that term is now understood, very little had as yet been 
 accomplished. Yale was the first, or one of the first of 
 our institutions to take action in this matter, but what 
 it had done amounted to but little more, as viewed from 
 the present stage of progress, than the very earliest 
 beginning. 
 
 It was indeed an era of limitations in this regard. 
 The means of development were not in the possession 
 of those who had begun to appreciate the needs, while 
 the mind of the general educated public, and even of 
 generous givers, had not yet awakened to the importance 
 of such development. A resort to the larger and longer 
 established universities of the Old World was in the 
 highest degree helpful, not to say essential, if the stu- 
 dent would educate himself according to his truest ideals. 
 Those universities had very much to give him in the way 
 of learning and knowledge. They had much also to 
 offer in connection with their methods of instruction and 
 their provisions of every sort, while in the very atmos- 
 phere of their scholarly life there was an inspiration un- 
 known elsewhere. 
 
 With the movement of the years since that time, a 
 great change has come a change, not in the Old World, 
 but in the New. Our universities have advanced towards 
 224
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 the standard of those beyond the ocean, and to-day the 
 young student may gain for himself here, in very large 
 measure or even in its fullness, what he might hope to 
 gain there ; so that his going abroad for studies finds its 
 happiest results, not so much in new knowledges, or 
 methods, or inspirations in the scholarly sphere, as in 
 the gift that comes from a sojourn for a season in a dif- 
 ferent country from his own, and from a consequent 
 change in his point of view and his outlook. 
 
 But, whether the privilege was greater then than now, 
 or not, it was one the blessing of which, in my own case, 
 I have realized more fully as the subsequent years have 
 passed on in their course. 
 
 The German professors, at the time when I was a 
 young student, were, in their thinking and living, much 
 more apart from the common life of the world than were 
 those of our own country. They dwelt more exclusively 
 in the region of their special studies, and were, in a far 
 higher degree, disposed to allow the men about them, 
 who were engaged in other duties and other spheres, to 
 manage the affairs pertaining to the general interests of 
 society or the State. It seemed to them, indeed, to be in 
 no manner or measure to their discredit to be wholly 
 neglectful, or even wholly ignorant, of very simple 
 things that were outside of their own particular lines of 
 work or thought. The story which was occasionally told 
 of the professor who, at the close of his career, ex- 
 pressed his regret that he had not confined his studies 
 entirely to the dative case, was descriptive, though, of 
 course, in an exaggerated way not only of the tendency 
 characteristic of them all, to limit themselves in the 
 range of their investigations as scholars to the end that 
 they might be exhaustive in their researches within the 
 self-imposed boundaries but also df the kindred tend- 
 ency to move, in their own field, along some narrow 
 225
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 pathway without turning or looking towards the other 
 paths which opened on either side. 
 
 As a natural, and almost necessary consequence, they 
 often became enthusiasts in their teaching, with an en- 
 thusiasm which imparted itself in greater or less measure 
 to their pupils; and even .more frequently became in 
 themselves men of such marked singularities in manner 
 and appearance, or in their ways of thinking and speak- 
 ing, as to excite a special interest in the minds of all 
 who saw them or entered their lecture rooms. 
 
 Of all the professors on whose exercises it was my 
 privilege to attend, the most peculiar was Leopold von 
 Ranke, the celebrated historian. His distinguished abil- 
 ity and well-known learning attracted comparatively 
 large numbers of students, who listened to him with 
 profound respect, as well as with closest attention. They 
 were impatient, like all German students of those days, 
 whenever any noise or interruption occurred which, in 
 the least, arrested the continuity of the discourse, or 
 hindered them in following the thought of the speaker. 
 In this regard, and indeed in every view of the matter, 
 they were model hearers, affording an example worthy 
 to be imitated by students everywhere. 
 
 The lecturer, however, on his part, seemed to be alto- 
 gether oblivious of his audience. It was so it impressed 
 me as if he had by reason of habit, or the force of 
 some law which had established itself in his mind and 
 memory, taken his way to a certain room in the uni- 
 versity building at a particular hour, and, when there, 
 had begun as it were to meditate aloud on his favorite 
 theme. He was a man of small stature, of a round and 
 closely shaven, smooth face, and with bright, piercing 
 eyes which had a tendency to look upwards. As he en- 
 tered the lecture room, he seated himself in the chair 
 behind his desk, and immediately began his discourse 
 his words being uttered with very great rapidity; his 
 226
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 eyes turning away from the hearers and toward a point 
 in the ceiling near the side windows of the apartment. 
 He reminded me, whenever I looked upon him after the 
 excitement of the lecture had taken full possession of 
 his mind, of one of the cherubs in the Sistine Madonna 
 of Raphael. He seemed as joyous in the vision which 
 opened itself before him, and as far away in his thoughts 
 from all things else. Occasionally, indeed, he wakened 
 to a consciousness which is inseparable from the German 
 professorial mind, and recognized the existence of his 
 hearers as he uttered the inevitable words: " Meine 
 Herren." But it was for a moment only, and again he 
 passed into what appeared like a delightful revery. 
 
 His emphasis was, oftentimes, as remarkable as the 
 rapidity of his utterance. As he moved on through his 
 sentences and paragraphs, he would lower his tone of 
 voice and, peradventure, moderate his excitement of 
 manner, seeming to his audience, perchance, to be just 
 establishing a conclusion. But suddenly as if a new 
 objection or difficulty, or a new thought tending to 
 greater clearness, had occurred to him he would break 
 forth into an almost startling loudness of tone with the 
 utterance of the word, " Aber." Then, with a greater 
 velocity than at any earlier moment, and with a voice 
 rapidly sinking into a whisper his eye, meanwhile, still 
 more rapt in its own vision, and his hearers passing still 
 farther away from his thought he would move on to 
 the end of his discourse and to a kind of victorious 
 silence. 
 
 It was delightful to see the man, and to witness his 
 scholarly joy in his work and his learning, as he sat in 
 the presence of his pupils. But I wondered sometimes 
 whether, in these not infrequent outbreaks or outbursts 
 of his thought, even those who were most familiar with 
 his language and style were able to understand, with 
 
 227
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 absolute clearness, what he said. It seemed like the 
 whizz of a bullet as it passes by the ear, and then passes 
 beyond the hearing. I was a stranger, however, of an- 
 other land and another tongue, while they were his 
 fellow-countrymen, and if I may be permitted thus to 
 use the term were " to the manner born." At all 
 events, the lecture room was filled from day to day; and 
 well it may have been, for he was the leading scholar in 
 his sphere of learning, and one of the most prominent 
 scholars of his time. He lived for long years after my 
 student days, and even beyond the age of ninety. 
 
 Professor Karl Ludwig Michelet was, beyond all the 
 other men whom I met in Germany, an inspiring lecturer. 
 He belonged indeed, in this particular regard, to the 
 very highest class, and had what I have called magnetic 
 inspiration the gift which moves the pupil almost 
 irresistibly to press forward at once and with earnest- 
 ness in the study which the teacher opens to him. He 
 lectured, in successive university terms, on a variety of 
 subjects generally, of course, related to his more special 
 department of philosophy, but sometimes quite outside 
 of its limits. But whatever his theme might be, the 
 inspiration, for me at least, was ever the same. I was 
 moved by so strong an impulse that it was with diffi- 
 culty that I could restrain myself, while under his influ- 
 ence, from following after him in the way which he 
 pointed out, to the neglect of other and, for me, primary 
 subjects. 
 
 He had not been promoted to the highest grade of 
 professional rank, but was still, though fifty years of 
 age, a Professor Extraordinarius. As I recall the con- 
 dition of that era, the thought suggests itself to my mind, 
 that the reason for his continuance in the lower position 
 may have been of a political character that his senti- 
 ments in this regard were not satisfactory to the chief 
 authorities. Whether it was so, or not, I would not at-
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 tempt to say; but he certainly had a favorable disposi- 
 tion towards republican institutions, which was not 
 manifested by his colleagues and associates in general, 
 and he sometimes exercised considerable freedom in his 
 expression of opinions concerning them. I remember 
 one occasion on which, after discoursing for a consider- 
 able time, in a lecture, on the United States and our 
 system of government, he said evidently with great 
 personal satisfaction : " The monarchical powers in 
 Europe are ever ready to call attention to what they 
 style the instability and want of permanence manifest in 
 the history of republics; but the United States Govern- 
 ment has now existed, without disturbance, for seventy 
 years. How many overturnings, ' meine Herren,' have 
 there been within these seventy years in European coun- 
 tries?" This was, indeed, only four years before the 
 outbreaking of our Civil War, which the professor, like 
 all other men, was not able to foresee. But that great 
 struggle did not shake the foundations of republican 
 government, or republican ideas; and I have no doubt 
 that, when it came to its end, his faith in our institutions 
 had new strength and his satisfaction in his long-cher- 
 ished beliefs took to itself a still greater measure of joy. 
 
 The general movement of my studies being in other 
 lines than those which he followed, it was impossible for 
 me to be more than an occasional attendant upon his 
 lectures. I have always remembered him, however, with 
 a feeling akin to gratitude, because of the inspiration 
 which he gave me and the almost limitless enthusiasm 
 which he manifested. 
 
 The most distinguished teacher of theology, in the 
 doctrinal sphere, in the University of Berlin at that time 
 was Karl Immanuel Nitzsch, and there was none at Bonn 
 who had equal prominence. He was, however, some- 
 what advanced in years, and his lectures were valuable, 
 rather for the matter which was in them, than for any 
 229
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 additional life or interest which they gained by reason 
 of his personal presence. One felt, in listening to him, 
 that the same words read in a book would be equally 
 useful. In his earlier years he may, not improbably, 
 have been more full of life-giving vigor. But now the 
 feeling of his students was that of esteem and reverence 
 for the man, rather than that of interest in his forth- 
 putting of his thoughts. 
 
 Dr. August Twesten was younger than Nitzsch by 
 two years and of a less wide-extended reputation, but he 
 held perhaps the next highest place in the theological 
 faculty. He had the great advantage, so far as his 
 relations to students were concerned, of being a stimu- 
 lating lecturer one of the most stimulating, indeed, in 
 the entire professorial body. He lectured on Exegesis 
 also, as well as on doctrinal theology, and thus was 
 especially helpful to me in my own particular department 
 of study. 
 
 He was a man of moderate height; broad and well- 
 developed in frame; corpulent enough to be happy and 
 good-natured, yet not enough to make him overweight- 
 ed; with a kindly face, an intelligent eye, and a pleasant 
 voice. He seemed to me, as I saw him in his lecture 
 room, to be not more than fifty-eight years of age, 
 though I find, by the records, that he was ten years 
 older than I supposed. His enthusiasm was of the char- 
 acter and measure which men of thirty or forty exhibit 
 more frequently than men already nearly seventy. But 
 when enthusiasm pertains to the nature, it does not pass 
 away with the years. Sometimes it starts into new life 
 and energy in the later season, when ordinary men who 
 have never had its genuine vitalizing force, within them- 
 selves are becoming dull in their minds and motionless. 
 
 In my own special studies, I derived more, perhaps, 
 from him than from any other teacher whom I met, for 
 as a lecturer he was an excellent example of the true 
 230
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 exegete and admirably adapted to give the best influences 
 of the German methods of the period. Withal he was 
 friendly to all his pupils, and through his kindliness he 
 gave to many of them a very pleasant impression of the 
 home life of the Fatherland and of the peculiar Gemuth- 
 lichkeit of the best of his countrymen. The successive 
 classes of young men who came under his instruction 
 carried with them as they left the University the im- 
 press and stimulus of his scholarship. They also cher- 
 ished a most pleasant memory of the personality of their 
 teacher. 
 
 Hengstenberg was still in the full vigor of his man- 
 hood, being only fifty-five years old. He lectured mainly 
 on the Old Testament, but at times also on the New 
 Testament, especially on topics pertaining to the Intro- 
 duction. As a lecturer he was so scholarly that he com- 
 manded respect for his learning, but he awakened no 
 very special interest, as I should judge, except in minds 
 having more or less resemblance to his own. His views, 
 which were ultra-conservative, were expressed in the 
 most pronounced and positive manner. Even the intona- 
 tion of voice with which they were uttered was pecu- 
 liarly dogmatic. It seemed to me, whenever I heard 
 him, indicative of the animosity of an obstinate theo- 
 logical combatant. He was possibly more stimulating 
 than Rodiger of Halle, but much less of an impulsive 
 and independent scholar, I think, than Ewald, who was 
 then at Gdttingen. 
 
 The Philosophical Faculty at Berlin included in its 
 circle Karl Ritter, the eminent geographer, in whose lec- 
 ture room I had my first introduction into German 
 student life; Bekker and Haupt, in the department of 
 classical philology the former having very few hearers 
 and seeming to be little interested in what he was saying 
 to them; the latter giving the indications of scholarship 
 which are found in his books; Trendelenburg, who was 
 231
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 in the foremost rank among the scholars devoted to 
 mental science; Lepsius, who held the first position in 
 Egyptology whom it was a privilege to hear, and even 
 to see, for in his face and person he was as prominent 
 in the University citizenship as he was in his fame and 
 learning; and others in other lines, who were of similar 
 distinction in their own special spheres of work. For 
 the student of wide-reaching tastes and desires, having a 
 mind ever opening with fresh ardor towards new knowl- 
 edge, there was enough to meet every wish or want 
 there was more, indeed, than he could take to himself 
 and make his own. Such a student could not fail to 
 find new impulses and new enthusiasms continually stir- 
 ring within him. Even the ordinary student, of slower 
 movement and less wakefulness, might well feel inspir- 
 ited by what was so richly offered to him on every side. 
 The true university, as I have always thought, has a 
 special inspiration for every man of generous mind and 
 heart in its membership an inspiration additional to all 
 others which has its source in the fact that it is a place 
 of universal learning, a place where those about him are 
 men who, in their union as a company of scholars, know 
 somewhat, at least, of the wide range of knowledge. 
 
 At the university in Bonn, where I spent the summer 
 semester of my first year in Germany, I gave myself 
 wholly to classical studies. I had not yet determined to 
 take up New Testament work. In the Greek depart- 
 ment Welcker, who was seventy-two years of age at that 
 time, was the senior professor, and Friedrich Ritschl was 
 the next in reputation and influence. I had letters of 
 introduction to both of these gentlemen, but for some 
 reason I happened to make my first call upon Welcker, 
 a few days after I had settled myself in my rooms and 
 just as the university term was about to open. My letter 
 to him was from Dr. Woolsey, who had been one of his 
 232
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 students twenty-five or thirty years earlier. He received 
 me kindly ; but he had evidently passed beyond his inter- 
 est in younger life, though apparently his love for his 
 favorite studies yet lingered in its strength. When I 
 said to him, that I hoped to see Professor Ritschl, and 
 added that I supposed him to be of the highest standing 
 in Greek scholarship, he replied: " Yes, he is a rising 
 scholar of promise." To my surprise, when I saw 
 Ritschl a little later, I found him to be a man of fifty, 
 giving every indication in his appearance of being al- 
 ready " risen," if indeed it was in his appointed destiny 
 ever to become so. In Welcker's view, however, I sup- 
 pose that no man of the following scholarly generation 
 could be considered, even at the highest estimate, as other 
 than in the process of " rising." This process was, possi- 
 bly, a somewhat slower one for German scholars in those 
 days, than it is at present. As for Welcker himself, 
 there could be no doubt that he had passed out of and 
 beyond the " rising " class. He was interesting to me 
 by reason of his fame, and of his representative character 
 as a man of the era which was just closing. But his day 
 was manifestly drawing towards its end, and he was less 
 effective and awakening than he had been in Dr. Wool- 
 sey's student years. 
 
 Professor Franz Ritter, then about forty-five years 
 old, was one of my teachers at Bonn whom I can never 
 forget. He lectured on one or two of the tragedies of 
 Sophocles, and his characteristics as a lecturer, as well 
 as his personality, were calculated to impress themselves 
 on the memory of those who heard him. He had but 
 thirteen in his class, during that semester. Of these, 
 there were never more than seven present at any one 
 lecture; generally not more than five; and occasionally 
 only three these three being two friends, with whom 
 I occupied a suite of rooms, and myself. It seemed, 
 however, to make no difference to the professor whether 
 
 23.3
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 his class was large or small, or whether the major part 
 of those who belonged to it were in attendance or not. 
 
 It was the subject, not the number of listeners not 
 these or those students, three or thirty-three which in- 
 terested him. The old Greek characters and the old 
 Greek poetry and life were all-absorbing to his mind. 
 The excitement of his ardor knew no bounds. He would 
 be in a rapture of delight as he moved on in his dis- 
 course a delight which manifested itself in the intona- 
 tions of his voice, and in the swaying of his body and his 
 earnest and vigorous gesticulation. He did not forget 
 the hearers, as Ranke seemed often to do, but, if he 
 had but a single one, he gladly poured forth his thoughts 
 and his ideas of the poet's thought with the most intense 
 pleasure and satisfaction. The poet himself would 
 surely have been glad to hear him. 
 
 Ritter opened his house with kindly hospitality to 
 his students. His wife was cordial and affable, like him- 
 self. His children were either in their early youth or 
 just coming to their maturity. Together they consti- 
 tuted a typical pleasant German household, simple and 
 unpretentious, but friendly and intelligent. One of the 
 sons holds at present a professorship in the University 
 of Bonn, not in his father's line of studies, but in the 
 department of History. 
 
 When I was in the University, Ritter was a Professor 
 Extraordinarius. Though he was the author of some 
 valuable and scholarly books, I think he was not very 
 widely known. He lived only about fifteen years after 
 the time of my residence in Bonn, and when I visited 
 that interesting and beautiful city in 1891, his life and 
 work seemed to have passed out of the remembrance of 
 the persons whom I chanced to meet. But he had not 
 passed from my memory, and I went to the place of 
 his burial with the affectionate feeling of an old pupil 
 234
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 who had gained from him both instruction and inspira- 
 tion. 
 
 Otto Jahn, though at that time comparatively near 
 the middle point of life, had already attained high repu- 
 tation in Latin scholarship and had received an appoint- 
 ment as Professor Ordinarius. He did not have the 
 peculiar enthusiasm which was characteristic of Ritter. 
 He gave his lectures, if I remember aright, while sitting 
 in his chair behind his desk, which Ritter could not have 
 done. He had, however, a measure of this gift beyond 
 that of ordinary men, and by his clear voice, his distinct 
 and earnest utterance, his sparkling eyes, and his abun- 
 dant growth of hair which added to the striking expres- 
 sion of his face, he impressed himself upon the minds of 
 his hearers as a man of eminent ability. He was much 
 devoted to archaeological studies, and his lectures in con- 
 nection with them were regarded as especially valuable. 
 His contemporaries in his department of learning had 
 large hopes with reference to his future work. But 
 these were only partially realized, as he lived but thir- 
 teen years after the time of which I am writing, and died 
 at the age of fifty-six. 
 
 The University preacher at Bonn, in 1856, was Pro- 
 fessor Steinmeyer, one of the Faculty of Theology. He 
 held the position which was afterwards filled by Christ- 
 lieb, who was at that time a young graduate and school 
 teacher and two years later became pastor of a Ger- 
 man church in London. Steinmeyer was an attractive 
 preacher. Large audiences were always in attendance 
 upon his ministrations. He awakened much interest, 
 also, among the students. He did not, however, attain 
 to the eminence as a scholar or a public speaker which 
 was gained by his successor in subsequent years. Lange 
 the author of the voluminous and burdensome Com- 
 mentary on the 'Bible, which was translated and pub- 
 lished in our country under the editorship of the late 
 
 235
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 Professor Philip Schaff was lecturing, in that semester, 
 on Biblical Theology and the History of Doctrines; and 
 Albrecht Ritschl, then a young man of thirty-four years, 
 on Doctrinal Theology. Ritschl's later prominence in 
 the German theological world was, in these earlier days, 
 only a matter of anticipation on the part of his more 
 intimate acquaintance and friends. 
 
 Several of the most distinguished theological scholars 
 and professors at that period were holding positions in 
 other universities than the two which I have mentioned. 
 Tholuck and Julius Muller were in Halle; Ewald and 
 Dorner, at Gottingen; and others elsewhere. Students 
 from our country who were devoting themselves to the- 
 ology only, or even to the exegetical department of it, 
 were wont to spend the whole, or at least a part, of the 
 time at their command under such teachers. But, in 
 my own case, the uncertainties of the future and the orig- 
 inal purpose with which I visited Europe occasioned less 
 unity of plan, and made the work in Bonn and Berlin 
 seem more desirable and the opportunities afforded in 
 those cities more advantageous. I came in contact, ac- 
 cordingly, with the men whose names I have just men- 
 tioned, only as I was a listener to their lectures on brief 
 visits to their universities. They were all of them, with 
 the exception of Dorner, men of fifty-five to sixty years 
 of age. I can scarcely realize that they were no older, 
 as I try to recall them. But they lived for twenty years 
 after that time, and rendered much service to the cause 
 of learning. 
 
 Of the three most eminent New Testament exegetes 
 of the era De Wette, Bleek, and Meyer the first had 
 already, seven years earlier, finished his career, and the 
 last had no university position. Bleek was still lecturing 
 at Bonn, but he was drawing near to the end of his life. 
 He died, three years afterwards, at the age of sixty-six. 
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 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 Meyer was seven years younger than Bleek. He was 
 then in the midst of theworkof preparing and publishing 
 one of the editions of his Commentaries. It is a matter 
 of regret to me that I did not hear Bleek, for, as a com- 
 mentator and writer on the New Testament, he has 
 always, in my subsequent years, appeared to me to be 
 exceedingly able, and also very satisfactory to an open- 
 minded and earnest student of the Bible. But I was 
 then limiting myself to another line of studies, and the 
 opportunity passed by. The three men, however, had 
 all the influence and helpful power for me, after the be- 
 ginning of my career as an exegetical scholar, which 
 either I or they could reasonably have desired, and I 
 bear them in mind as among the teachers of both my 
 earlier and my later manhood. 
 
 In the field of Biblical scholarship during the years 
 of my European life and the period that followed it, 
 there was, comparatively speaking, a freedom from 
 conflicts relating to what may be regarded as the most 
 fundamental questions. The earlier controversies 
 even those of most recent date had, in the main, passed 
 by, or had at least lost, for the time, much of their 
 energy. The renewal of the old warfare, or the begin- 
 ning of a new one, was a matter pertaining to the future. 
 The forces of the scholarly life were, accordingly, given 
 in largest measure to the work of interpretation. Bibli- 
 cal scholarship was exegetical scholarship, and the effort 
 of the New Testament teacher, as well as that of the 
 student, was to discover fully and precisely what Christ 
 and the apostles meant by the words recorded in the 
 sacred writings, and not so much to determine whether 
 they had used these words, or whether the books which 
 profess to record them were written by the authors 
 whose names they bear. I remember hearing Dr. 
 Woolsey, who was himself a very able New Testament 
 237
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 scholar, remark, in the later sixties, that the assault of 
 the hostile critics on the Johannean authorship of the 
 Fourth Gospel was, as he thought, already so success- 
 fully overcome, that that question in the controversy 
 might be regarded as finally settled. His view of the 
 matter in the light of the opening years of the new 
 century seems not to have been correct. But the fact 
 that it was the opinion of so intelligent, calm, and judi- 
 cious a scholar as he ever showed himself to be, is indica- 
 tive of the condition of things at the time. 
 
 The exegetical scholar thus had, in a special sense, 
 the field for himself, and also had a large measure of 
 peace within it. There was a kind of completeness in 
 his peculiar and distinctive work. He was able to devote 
 himself to it, and to enjoy it, with a certain freedom 
 from weighty responsibilities outside of its limits. 
 Moreover, exegesis had already assumed in Germany 
 what it was soon to begin to assume in our own country 
 its fitting position among the departments of theology. 
 It was no longer to be merely preparatory, and hence 
 subordinate, to the doctrinal department, but was to be 
 recognized as having an independence of its own, and 
 as dealing with that which is fundamental and all im- 
 portant. It had, for these reasons, an attractiveness as 
 a sphere for a young scholar's life-work, which was of 
 a peculiar character. It had also elements pertaining to 
 it, as such a sphere, which rendered the knowledge of 
 the German methods in the highest degree valuable, and 
 the influences derived from them most beneficial. The 
 period was certainly a fortunate one for any student who 
 possessed capacities and tastes for this order of studies. 
 It was a period in which a sojourn in the "fatherland" 
 could give him the gifts which he most needed and 
 which would be for him a continuous life-impulse in 
 his personal working, as well as a life-imparting power 
 in his work for others. 
 
 238
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE L I F AND MEN 
 
 The theological world changes with the movement of 
 time even as does the world of medicine, or science, 
 or philosophy. The era of exegetical scholarship as I 
 have described it has, in the more recent years, passed, 
 as we may say, into the era of the so-called higher 
 criticism, or of the old questions rising with a new 
 energy or in a new form. Whether the "fatherland" 
 has as much for the young Biblical students of the pres- 
 ent, or will have for those of the early future, may be 
 a question for the men of the new time to determine. 
 We whose youth belonged to the earlier days have no 
 doubts, I am sure, as to what it gave to us. 
 
 The student life in the University at Berlin, so far as 
 I had the opportunity to observe it, was more like that 
 of the professional schools of law, medicine, and 
 theology in our country, than that of our undergraduate 
 colleges. It had somewhat more of this higher char- 
 acter, as viewed from the standpoint of manhood in its 
 contrast with boyhood, even than that which was found 
 in the smaller German universities. That this should 
 have been the fact is not unnatural, since the institution 
 was located in a great city where the membership was 
 widely separated both in residence and in the matter of 
 personal work. The young men who attended its 
 courses of lectures were, for this reason, more likely to 
 be affected by the influences of maturer years, while they 
 had less opportunity for intimate acquaintance or fre- 
 quent association with one another. 
 
 As for the foreign students in attendance at that 
 period, I think they were in large measure outside of 
 this peculiar life, whatever there may have been of it; 
 and, in general, they had comparatively little desire to 
 participate to any considerable degree in the privileges 
 or pleasures which it offered. It may fitly be borne in 
 mind that the number of foreign students certainly, of 
 
 239
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 those speaking our own language was much smaller 
 then than it is now. They were, for the most part, men 
 who had connected themselves with the University with 
 a serious purpose and for a limited period. They de- 
 voted their time and energies, accordingly, to the end 
 which they had in view a more complete preparation 
 for their chosen life-work, upon which they were expect- 
 ing soon to enter. Even in Bonn, which was a city of 
 only twenty thousand inhabitants, and where the Uni- 
 versity had not more than one-third or one-half of the 
 number enrolled in its membership as compared with 
 that in Berlin, the same fact with reference to the foreign 
 students was quite noticeable. 
 
 The period of my residence in Bonn was the summer. 
 At that season a considerable number of students re- 
 sorted thither because of the attractiveness of the place 
 leaving other universities for the second semester of 
 the year. Of this number, a certain portion had little 
 desire to prosecute their studies, or to devote themselves 
 to anything beyond the pleasures incident to youthful 
 life and companionship. Attendance at lectures being 
 entirely voluntary, this class of young men became con- 
 spicuous for their uniform absence from the exercises, 
 rather than for their, even occasional, presence. Others 
 also, whose plans and purposes in regard to their 
 studies were more serious than were those of the persons 
 just mentioned, yielded themselves from time to time to 
 the attractiveness of the life outside, or to the temptation 
 which was attendant upon the University freedom, and 
 as a consequence failed of regularity in devotion to the 
 daily lectures. What has been said of those who were 
 on Professor Ritter's list of hearers was proportionately 
 true of the young men on other lists. But the working 
 men were in large numbers. They were the men who 
 gave tone to the university life and determined, as we 
 may say, its atmosphere. The hold of the University, 
 240
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 moreover, upon such as were thoughtless, or neglectful, 
 was greater than it might have been under other condi- 
 tions, or would have been, even under similar circum- 
 stances, in some other countries. This secure hold upon 
 all was due to the laws and customs of the state, which 
 made the satisfactory passing of the examinations at 
 the close of the university years or courses essential to 
 the most successful entrance of the student upon his 
 life-work. At some period, accordingly, in the student's 
 academic career whether in term-time or, as the case 
 might be and often was, in the vacation seasons study, 
 which had meaning and earnestness in it assumed, even 
 for the idler, the place of play or of devotion to his 
 own sweet will. The teachers and authorities were able 
 to overlook, or regard with a kind of indulgence, 
 irregularities in attendance, or neglect of special duties 
 which continued for a time, since they knew that such 
 continuance must cease when the nearer approach of the 
 fateful period should give full emphasis to its own 
 imperative demands. 
 
 I must acknowledge, however, that it was a matter of 
 some surprise to me as a stranger to the customs in this 
 regard when I first found that men on the lists who 
 had rarely, if ever, during the semester presented them- 
 selves in the lecture-room, received at its end the same 
 testimonial of faithful and punctual attendance, which 
 was given to myself and others, in whose case the virtue 
 of regularity in fulfilling this duty had been more mani- 
 fest. And yet, as I recall the old days, after so long 
 a time, I feel that I could have signed a most kindly 
 statement, if not that particular testimonial, on behalf 
 of the younger portion of those who were then, in name 
 at least, my fellow-students, even though the outer 
 world, in that delightful summer, seemed more winsome 
 to their thoughts and desires, than diH the world within. 
 
 The city, with its green park and shaded walks, and 
 241
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 the country near it on either side, offered, at that season, 
 almost every attraction in the way of outdoor life which 
 could be desired. The city itself was situated just at 
 the opening of the beauties of the Rhine-land. The 
 hills and valleys which were close upon its boundaries 
 were so charming that one could never weary of them. 
 The so-called Seven Mountains Drachenfels and the 
 rest at a distance of only a few miles southward 
 bordered the landscape on the opposite bank of the 
 river, and filled the mind of the beholder with joy as 
 they reflected the sunlight in the peaceful hours of the 
 later afternoon. The river itself was ever tempting 
 youthful energy and enthusiasm to spend the hours in 
 sailing on its surface towards the hills, or wandering 
 along its shores to find new beauties or new scenes of 
 interest. It seemed to be the ideal region fitted for the 
 enjoyment of the ideal summer. We older men 
 whether strangers, or of the home-country could resist 
 the temptation, because of our years and of the demands 
 of life which were so near to us; or we could yield to it 
 when the hours were less full of duty. But the younger 
 men were in the spring and joyousness of their youth, 
 and if the world's beauty was for the time more to them 
 than the world's philosophy, they might be forgiven. 
 The serious days and the sterner duties would come 
 later, when they had, like us, moved farther on in their 
 life's progress. 
 
 The city of Berlin had, in 1856, a population of not 
 more than four hundred and fifty thousand. When I 
 revisited it forty years afterwards, in 1896, its popula- 
 tion had increased to seventeen hundred thousand, and 
 wonderful changes had taken place which had made the 
 city, in a new and higher sense, one of the great capitals 
 of Europe. As I wandered about the streets, I recalled 
 many of the old scenes and old places, but growth was 
 242
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 manifest everywhere, and the rush of business and of 
 cosmopolitan life appeared to have banished forever the 
 greater simplicity of the earlier time. The city seemed 
 less fitted to be the home of a university than it had 
 been when I first knew it as a young student. Certainly 
 the University had become a smaller part of the city's 
 wide-extended life. The professors of my student days 
 had, all of them, finished their life-work. Their places 
 had been filled by scholars of a second, or even a third 
 generation scholars, some of whom had received in- 
 struction, or incentive to effort in the sphere of learning, 
 from their lectures and their published writings. The 
 University building, however, remained as it was forty 
 years before, and as I entered one or two of the lecture- 
 rooms, it seemed as if the very same young men who 
 had been my contemporaries might enter at any moment 
 and arrange themselves as listeners on the same seats, 
 with the same attire and appearance. But no those 
 companions in study whom I met in other days had 
 moved onward in life's work as I had done, and some of 
 them were perchance thinking, as I was, of the changes 
 which time had wrought in the world and in themselves. 
 If such was indeed their thought, how many pleasant 
 memories of the earlier years, and of the years that 
 followed, it may have gathered about itself for each 
 and all! 
 
 The changes which time had wrought my European 
 student-years began while Frederick William IV was 
 the King of Prussia, and while he was in the full exercise 
 of his regal power. They ended in the very early part 
 of the regency of his brother then the Crown-Prince 
 who afterwards became the Emperor of Germany, 
 William I. The regency, which was established because 
 of infirmity that had come upon the King, continued 
 until his death, in 1861. The marriage of the young 
 Crown Prince, subsequently the Emperor Frederick III, 
 
 243
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 and the Princess Victoria of England took place in 
 1858, and 1 well remember the enthusiastic reception 
 which was given to their youthful Highnesses during 
 the last winter of my residence in Berlin. 
 
 All this seems indeed a long way back in the past 
 a past era of history, as we look upon it from the 
 point of view of to-day. It was a time when the estab- 
 lishment of the German Empire was a thought 
 utterly foreign to the minds of most men, and a thought 
 of the far distance in the future even for those to whom 
 it sometimes presented itself; a time when a united Italy 
 was only a dream of a few patriots, and a heroic pur- 
 pose of Victor Emmanuel and Cavour which gave as yet 
 only the faintest promise of its fulfillment; a time when 
 the imperial power of Louis Napoleon was rising to 
 greater heights of absolutism and of imagined glory 
 with every succeeding year; a time when Russia had but 
 lately passed from the reign of the Emperor Nicholas I 
 to that of his son Alexander, and had not as yet realized 
 the change which came through the emancipation of the 
 serfs; a time when Lord Palmerston, Lord Derby, and 
 Lord John Russell were the men of greatest influence or 
 authority in English public affairs; a time when, in our 
 own country, the great conflict between slavery and free- 
 dom had reached the extreme limits of earnest and even 
 angry discussion, and was already threatening, though 
 men did not yet fully realize it, to become a conflict of 
 arms. It was the time of the opening years of the 
 half-century which has now just come to its end the 
 most interesting half-century, perhaps, of the world's 
 history. I cannot repress the thought that the men who 
 have witnessed the closing of this eventful period, and 
 who also saw, when they were in the maturity of their 
 early manhood, its beginning, have had a peculiar hap- 
 piness in the allotment of their life-time. The ordering 
 of my own life, and of that of others, who like myself 
 244
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 had the privilege of seeing the European world in those 
 earlier days, held in itself, and as its gift, a special meas- 
 ure of this happiness. 
 
 It was my good fortune, during the last autumn and 
 winter of my residence in Berlin, to be closely associated 
 with three friends whom I had known in their college 
 years. They were members, respectively, of the classe r 
 of 1855, I ^56, and 1857 the three classes with which 
 I had been brought into most intimate connection while 
 I was holding my office as tutor in the College. Our 
 relations were now those of friendship only, but by 
 mutual consent we formed a plan of spending our even- 
 ings together and, as I was the oldest of the company, 
 of making my apartment the place for our meeting. 
 
 The three young men were William Wheeler, Lewis 
 R. Packard, and Storrs O. Seymour. Wheeler gave 
 himself to the legal profession on his return to his home, 
 but, after the breaking out of the Civil War in 1861, 
 he enlisted as a soldier in behalf of the Union. He 
 became a Lieutenant and, subsequently, a Captain of 
 Artillery, and was actively engaged in some of the more 
 important battles of the war, particularly that at Gettys- 
 burg, which was a decisive turning-point in the great 
 conflict. On the twenty-second of June, 1864, in the 
 battle at Gulp's Farm, near Marietta, in Georgia, he 
 met his death. Packard was offered a tutorship at Yale 
 in the year 1859 and, as the result of his successful work 
 in this office, he was promoted to the position of Assist- 
 ant Professor in 1863, and four years later to that of 
 Professor in the Greek department, so that his subse- 
 quent life was entirely passed at Yale. Seymour, now 
 the Rev. Dr. Seymour, of Litchfield, Conn., has had an 
 honorable career as a clergyman of the Episcopal 
 Church. He is active as an official in the Diocese of 
 Connecticut, and is very highly esteemed both in his own 
 
 245
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 parish and throughout the State. They were wont in 
 those pleasant days of our foreign life to give me, in an 
 affectionate way, the title of "venerable." I suppose 
 that, in reality, I seemed old to their youthful minds. 
 I had just reached the age of twenty-nine, while they 
 were twenty-one or twenty-two. Twenty-nine has in it, 
 for one who has just passed his majority, more of the 
 element of venerable years so it appears to me now 
 than threescore and ten has for the one who, having 
 reached it, looks at or upon himself. But life, in the 
 varying estimate we put upon it as we move onward, is 
 a strange thing indeed. The men who are ten years 
 older than ourselves seem so far beyond us. We never 
 get any nearer to them than we were at the beginning. 
 Those who are ten years younger than we are seem ever 
 young too young, sometimes, to carry the burdens and 
 responsibilities of our own age. 
 
 William Wheeler was one of the most brilliant and 
 charming young men whom I have ever known. His 
 mind was eager for all knowledge, joyous in all elevated 
 thought, sparkling in its intelligence and enthusiasm, 
 awake to everything beautiful, full of self-propelling 
 impulse, and as clear in its apprehension as it was wide- 
 reaching in its happy movement. He had a most de- 
 lightful humor, peculiar to and characteristic of himself 
 a humor which always manifested the intellectual ele- 
 ment pertaining to it, and which was consequently most 
 pleasingly stimulative to other minds. He possessed 
 much of the scholarship which should characterize 
 the cultured gentleman a scholarship which is far more 
 rare in our age and country than it well might be. He 
 was a generous minded, generous hearted youth one 
 the fountain of whose youthfulness would never have 
 lost the freshness of its upspringing and its outflowing, 
 had he lived to the latest age. His face had unusual 
 manly beauty a beauty which increased as he moved 
 246
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 onward in the manly years. It mirrored forth the mental 
 life behind it most attractively, and was winsome by 
 reason of its thoughtful and happy outlook. His eye 
 indicated the quickness of his intelligence and the ardor 
 of his intellectual enthusiasm. His command of lan- 
 guage was quite uncommon, as was also his command 
 of the knowledge which he had gained by reading. He 
 had, in consequence, an ease and richness in conversation 
 which rendered him a most agreeable companion. 
 Withal there was in his nature a spirituelle element that 
 adapted him to meet the demands of the higher order 
 of friendship the friendship that exists between cul- 
 tivated and magnanimous men. 
 
 It was with the inspiration of enthusiastic and gen- 
 erous youth that he gave himself to the service of his 
 country, when its call came to him, as it did to so many 
 of his generation in their early manhood. The senti- 
 ment which moved him had in it as much of noble 
 generosity as it had of high enthusiasm. It was the 
 sentiment of truest patriotism, involving the readiness 
 for whatever of self-sacrifice the cause might demand, 
 even to the offering up of life itself. The future proved 
 that for him the sacrifice was to reach the utmost limit. 
 But as he had entered upon the soldier's work with 
 serious thoughtfulness, he did not ever, as he went for- 
 ward, put away from his mind's vision the possibility 
 of the ending, and when the possibility was changed 
 into a reality, he met the fate appointed for him with 
 the courage of a heroic soul. He whom the gods love 
 dies young, is the ancient saying. This saying seems 
 often in human experience to find its fulfillment. The 
 word of a Christian believer, which I heard years ago 
 and have oftentimes recalled to mind, is no doubt more 
 full of truth, as well as of comfort. God who is our 
 Father has, as we may believe, worlc for His younger 
 children to do, in the greater world beyond us, as well 
 
 247
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 as for His older ones; and His call comes to each and 
 all in the best time for themselves and for the well-being 
 of His Kingdom. The mind of a youth like William 
 Wheeler must have opened with almost infinite delight 
 upon the thoughts and life of the unseen world. 
 
 Mr. Packard was very well known in the College, as 
 a tutor or professor, for a quarter of a century. From 
 1863 to 1872 he was the younger colleague of Professor 
 James Hadley in the Greek department. Though not 
 possessed of all the remarkable gifts of that eminent 
 scholar, he was his worthy companion in classical studies, 
 and, as all within the academic community felt, he was 
 fully adequate to the carrying forward of the depart- 
 ment with honor to himself and the institution when, at 
 Mr. Hadley's death, the chief responsibility was laid 
 upon him. As a scholar, he was accurate and exact, 
 intelligent and appreciative, awake to the richness and 
 beauty of Greek thought and the Greek language, and 
 ever active, within this sphere, in extending his knowl- 
 edge and widening his field of vision. His face was so 
 strikingly of the Greek type, that it seemed as if nature 
 had fitted him for the position in life which he was 
 called to fill. The inward man, as the years moved on, 
 answered more and more completely to the outward. 
 He taught the language as one who loved it as one 
 to whom it was the best of all tongues. In his work of 
 teaching he was faithful; being strict in his requirements, 
 but ready to guide those who, on their part, responded 
 to his efforts and instructions. This strictness was, as he 
 thought, necessary for the furtherance of scholarship. 
 In accordance with the tendency and custom of the 
 period, he devoted himself in larger measure to the 
 linguistic side of teaching than his successors of the 
 present day are wont to do. He was not forgetful of 
 the literary side, however, as if he considered the gram- 
 matical scholar to the exclusion of the cultured one 
 248
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 the only proper result and product of college education. 
 The best students appreciated what he accomplished 
 for them on both sides, and carried away from their 
 undergraduate years a very high esteem for him as a 
 man of ability and learning, from whom they had gained 
 much for themselves. 
 
 Professor Packard was not as ardent and emotional as 
 his friend Wheeler was the two were most intimate in 
 their companionship. It would have been better for 
 him, perhaps, if he had been. But he was of a different 
 constitution and nature. He had not the Greek char- 
 acter in this respect. He was, however, winsome in his 
 association with other men, and had many attached and 
 devoted friends. All who knew him were assured of 
 his uprightness, his sincerity, his unselfish affection, and 
 his truly manly spirit. His long and courageous struggle 
 with an hereditary disease was but the manifestation of 
 the strength and vigor of his native endowments. His 
 conscientious devotion to truth and duty indicated the 
 same strength, only in another line of the soul's move- 
 ment, and it established in all minds the conviction that 
 he was, in the best sense, a genuine Christian man one 
 who would ever stand firm, and could ever be trusted. 
 
 In the earlier years of his work as an instructor, 
 Professor Packard pursued a course of study in theology, 
 and in the later years he preached occasionally, both in 
 the College Chapel and elsewhere. His sermons were 
 full of thought which was fresh and peculiar to himself. 
 They were original and suggestive in their character, 
 and were written in the clearest and purest English style. 
 The student audiences, as well as the Faculty and the 
 other members of the congregation in the Chapel, 
 listened always with much interest when he addressed 
 them, and gladly welcomed him to the pulpit whenever 
 he was able to occupy it. 
 
 In two different years, with a considerable interval 
 249
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 between them, he was the chief officer of the American 
 Classical School at Athens. No one in the country, at 
 the time, was better fitted for such a position. In the 
 former of these years, he enjoyed greatly the work 
 connected with the office, as well as the opportunities for 
 scholarly and archaeological research which it afforded 
 him. He was, also, exceedingly helpful to the students 
 who were in attendance at the school. In the latter 
 year, though much enfeebled when he left home, he 
 entered upon his duties with earnestness and with hope. 
 But disappointment followed after a brief season, as his 
 malady made progress and the prospects for the future 
 were overshadowed. Still, with his wonted strength of 
 purpose, he rendered his service, according to the pos- 
 sibilities that were open for him, to the students who 
 were under his care and guidance, until the end of his 
 official term was reached. He was able to return to 
 his native land and to his home in New Haven, but his 
 life continued only for a few weeks after his arrival. 
 He died on the 26th of October, 1884. To the grad- 
 uates of the years since that time he is known only 
 as one of the honored teachers of an earlier period, but 
 to the minds of many of their predecessors the thought 
 of him brings pleasant memories of a faithful and true 
 man. 
 
 250
 
 XIV 
 
 Yale Divinity School, and Its Older Faculty 
 
 TWO months after my return from Europe on 
 the 1 6th of September, 1858 I received an 
 appointment from the Corporation of the 
 College as Assistant Professor of Biblical Literature. 
 At that time the election to an Assistant Professorship 
 carried with it the assurance of permanency, and all the 
 other prerogatives and privileges which pertained to the 
 full professorships. The term "Assistant" was simplv 
 indicative of the fact that there was an older officer in 
 the department who had not as yet resigned his position, 
 and with whom, in a more or less limited measure, 
 the younger appointee was to be associated. In my own 
 case, which was quite unique in this respect, this con- 
 nection or association was from the outset, in accordance 
 with the understanding and purpose of the Governing 
 Board, merely nominal. In reality, the Professorship 
 of Sacred Literature, which had previously included in 
 its sphere of study and instruction both the Hebrew and 
 Greek Scriptures, was divided at this time into two 
 chairs the one being devoted, in the duties pertaining 
 to it, to the Old Testament, and the other to the New 
 Testament. My venerable elder colleague, Professor 
 Gibbs, took thereafter the work in the former section 
 of the department, while that belonging to the latter 
 was assigned to me. 
 
 The appointment to an Assistant, Professorship in 
 these later days, when our institutions have developed 
 so greatly in every way, has much less significance than 
 
 251
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 it had then. It gives no absolute assurance that the one 
 who receives it will be continued in his office beyond a 
 certain very limited number of years. Even less does it 
 give a promise of promotion to a higher grade when 
 the limited term expires. The young scholar is afforded 
 opportunities and chances, indeed chances and oppor- 
 tunities which are generally favorable, rather than un- 
 c avorable but he is still on probation, and his future is 
 uncertain. Moreover, in these days, when the oldest 
 Professor in a particular branch of learning is, at least 
 in the larger universities, commonly constituted the 
 Head of the department, the younger scholar is con- 
 tinued in a subordinate condition during his term of 
 trial, and thus cannot enjoy the independence which was 
 the privilege of the earlier era. In that sphere of inde- 
 pendence was found, in a very large measure, the happi- 
 ness of the position. In it also, in my own case at least, 
 and I think in the case of others, was found no small 
 share of the forces for the making of the man. At all 
 events, the condition was a happy one to be in from the 
 very beginning. I was my own master in my own 
 department, and I knew that my office was a permanent 
 office. I could work out my individual plans as freely, 
 and as much without interference on the part of others, 
 as could any of my elder associates, and I could look 
 forward with hope to a long future. 
 
 I would not enter upon a discussion here as to the 
 comparative merits of the new system and the old. The 
 advantages of the new order of things for the Univer- 
 sity may be greater; and if so, they may more than 
 counterbalance any losses or disadvantages for the in- 
 dividual. Even for the individual, in many or most 
 cases, the sum of the benefits in the way of incentive 
 to diligence and faithfulness, and in other lines may 
 tie greater at present. But this is a volume of personal 
 memories and, as I remember the condition and heeds 
 252
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 of our Divinity School forty years ago and recall my 
 own history in connection with it, I am sure, beyond 
 a doubt, that if it was well for the University for me 
 to be in its work at all, it was for the best that I should 
 have the independence and the assurance of permanency 
 which were given me at that time. My share, whatever 
 it was, in the re-creation of the school and in its work 
 of instruction in the subsequent years, was of far more 
 significance than it could have been under the more 
 modern system. 
 
 The Theological Department of our University in 
 September, 1858, was in a very depressed condition, 
 and the outlook for its future was quite discouraging. 
 It had been for many years in a flourishing state its 
 reputation being wide-extended, and the number of its 
 students being large for that period. Tliere were, how- 
 ever, two elements of weakness in its life, the seriousness 
 of which was not appreciated, at the time, either by its 
 officers or by the central authorities of the College. The 
 first of these was connected with the fact that its existing 
 reputation on which the size of its student membership 
 almost wholly depended was founded altogether on 
 the fame of its professors, and especially on that of Dr. 
 Nathaniel W. Taylor, the Professor of Doctrinal 
 Theology. He was one of the greatest and most inspir- 
 ing of the teachers of the earlier half of the century. 
 He was thus, in the highest degree, attractive to young 
 men. Moreover, he was the leader in a great movement 
 of theological and religious thought, which revolted 
 against the narrower orthodoxy of the time, and turned 
 towards a true Christian freedom. The leaders in such 
 movements are wont to become winsome to the new 
 generation, and to seem satisfactory to their eager minds 
 and deepest desires. So long as he' and his system of 
 theology held their full sway, the institution where he 
 
 253
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 lectured gathered to itself pupils, and was strong in 
 its present realizations and its future hopes. His col- 
 leagues co-operated most heartily with him, acknowledg- 
 ing him as the chief among brethren. The school was 
 thus full of intellectual activity and power. All was 
 well, so long as the teachers continued in the strength 
 of their life and their influence. But there was no 
 institutional vitality which was so far independent of 
 these instructors that it could remain undiminished in 
 case the forces which came from them should pass 
 away. 
 
 The second of the two elements of weakness was 
 connected with the fact of the inadequacy of the existing 
 funds of the school to meet the demands which the 
 coming time must, of necessity, make in many lines. 
 Indeed, the limitation of its funds throughout the 
 earlier period of its history was so extreme that one 
 can scarcely understand, as one looks backward, how the 
 school was able to continue its existence and fulfill its 
 work. 
 
 For several years before the date which I have men- 
 tioned, the number of students in attendance, as the 
 result of a variety of causes, had been steadily decreas- 
 ing. There had also been comparatively little effort, if 
 indeed any effort at all, put forth in the way of securing 
 a larger endowment, which was so greatly needed. The 
 attention of the College government, at that period, was 
 almost exclusively given to what is known as the Aca- 
 demical Department. All other departments were out- 
 side of the main institution additions to it. They 
 might live, if they could. Well, indeed, if they did sur- 
 vive and grow strong. But they were not the "Old 
 College;" and their fate must be left to their own in- 
 structors, without the independent, or even actively 
 co-operative forces of the central officials. As a natural 
 result of all this, the school in 1858 had reached a point 
 
 254
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 of alarming, and as it seemed to many, if not most, even 
 of its friends, almost hopeless decline. In the spring 
 of that year came what appeared, as it were, the final 
 calamity, in the death of Dr. Taylor. He who had 
 been, in the highest sense, its pillar of strength had now 
 fallen, and it was not strange if men thought that the 
 very foundations were destroyed. 
 
 It was just six months after Dr. Taylor's death when 
 I was called into the service of the school, through my 
 appointment to the New Testament chair. Professor, 
 afterwards President, Porter was invited, at the same 
 time, to take the chair of Systematic Theology, as Dr. 
 Taylor's successor, but a little later he declined the in- 
 vitation, though he consented to assume, in addition to 
 the work of his professorship in the College, the re- 
 sponsibility of giving the lectures on Theology to the 
 Seminary students. He continued for several years to 
 perform the twofold duties which he thus took upon 
 himself. 
 
 The three members of the Theological Faculty who 
 had been associated with Dr. Taylor since the beginning 
 of his work were Professors Goodrich, Fitch, and Gibbs. 
 Professors Goodrich and Fitch were the most active and 
 efficient persons among those whose influence moved 
 the Corporation, in 1822, to establish the Divinity 
 School as a distinct and separate department of the Col- 
 lege. From that time onward they had rendered valu- 
 able service within the school, as well as on its behalf, 
 though the former held a professorship in the Academ- 
 ical Department, as already stated, until 1839, and 
 the latter until 1852. Professor Gibbs was called to be 
 the Instructor in Sacred Literature in 1824. All of 
 them had had a more or less intimate connection with 
 the school for a period of about thirty-five years when 
 I was asked to take part in their work, and they were 
 
 255
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 all men of nearly seventy years of age. They had 
 given the efforts of a life-time, in large measure, to the 
 institution, with gratifying results in the way of success, 
 yet amid many limitations and, in the later years, with 
 much anxiety and discouragement. They were now 
 drawing near the end of their career, when the energies 
 and inspirations for the coming time were already pass- 
 ing away. The only member of the Faculty whose life, 
 in the deepest sense, took hold upon the future of the 
 institution and was, in reality, dependent on the success 
 or failure of that future, was myself. This fact I began 
 to appreciate very soon after I entered upon the duties 
 of my office. I saw that I must find the forces for the 
 new era within my own mind and heart, for the old 
 forces which my revered colleagues had put forth so 
 effectively in the former period were no longer available. 
 The institution had indeed come to a critical turning- 
 point in its history, and its work must hereafter belong 
 to the younger generation. 
 
 Dr. Taylor and his three associates were remarkable 
 men. They were as remarkable in their differences from 
 one another as they were in their individual mental 
 gifts. Dr. Taylor himself was an original thinker of 
 a high order. He had a creative mind and was fitted 
 to be the founder of a new system, whether of theology 
 or philosophy. His intellectual powers were self- 
 impelling, rendering him ever alive for the investigation 
 of truth, and ever ardent in the desire to lay hold upon 
 the deepest and the highest things. He was possessed 
 of that peculiar mental enthusiasm which, by reason of 
 its inspiring force within the man himself, imparts itself 
 as by a necessity to other men. He had a commanding 
 personality as he sat in his professorial chair in his 
 lecture-room his head and face being indicative of 
 greatness and his eyes suggesting to all who looked upon 
 256
 
 PROFESSOR NATHANIEL W. TAYLOR
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 him clearness of insight and penetrating intelligence. 
 With the characteristic decisiveness of men of his order, 
 his confidence in the conclusions which he reached was 
 very strong and his announcement of them was, in an 
 equal degree, emphatic. He was dogmatic, not in a bad 
 sense, but in a good sense. He was ever ready to go 
 through a process of reasoning or argumentation with 
 those who found objections to his views or were moved 
 to oppose them. But he made it manifest, in every 
 discussion, that in his own mind he had passed through 
 the entire domain of the subject, and that the difficulties 
 which might be troublesome to those who presented 
 them had been already met and set aside in his personal 
 thinking. Of the Pauline type in many respects, he had 
 much of the heroism of the Apostle; much of his large- 
 mindedness; much of his true Christian freedom; and 
 much of his readiness to meet any and every adversary 
 on the field of doctrine or of argument. I have already, 
 in another connection and on an earlier page, alluded 
 to his magnetic power as a teacher. This power, in 
 addition to its other manifestations of itself, exhibited 
 its remarkable character in the fact that his students, 
 after the close of his lectures which, on each occasion, 
 continued for an hour, were accustomed to remain, of 
 their own choice, for half an hour, or even an hour, 
 longer in the lecture-room for the more personal and 
 extemporaneous discussion with him of the themes which 
 had been presented. No better evidence than this could 
 be given of any teacher's awakening and stimulating 
 influence. As a preacher he had the same magnetic 
 power for very many of his hearers, and he was con- 
 fessedly among the most forceful and prominent pulpit 
 orators of his time. It was not strange that, when the 
 establishment of the Theological School became a mat- 
 ter of special interest and importance, the thoughts of 
 those who were foremost in the new undertaking should 
 
 257
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 have turned, as if by a common impulse, towards him 
 as the one who should hold the central place in its 
 Faculty. 
 
 This volume, which is one of personal memories, is 
 not an appropriate place for a presentation or discussion 
 of the theological views and system to which Dr. Tay- 
 lor's name was attached. Such a discussion indeed 
 would fail to awaken the old interest, even if it should 
 be entered upon at the present time. The questions 
 which stirred and agitated the minds of Christian men 
 in our part of the world fifty and sixty years ago have 
 passed into forgetfulness, or have long since reached a 
 state where there is a willingness to look upon them as 
 settled; and the thoughts, and controversies if there be 
 such, move in new spheres of questioning as these 
 modern days have come to us. But as one who knew 
 something of the earlier era, and wrestled much with 
 the old ideas, I cannot fail to record briefly on these 
 pages my appreciation of the service which that great 
 theologian rendered, in his day, on behalf of a true and 
 genuine Christian freedom of thought and of faith. He 
 knew the Gospel as Paul knew it in its largeness and 
 fullness in the freeness of its offers and the richness 
 of its promises. The truth which he felt himself to have 
 learned, and received as the gift of Christ, was for him 
 the most precious of all treasures. With the ardor of 
 the apostle he would carry it to all. With the earnest- 
 ness and valor of the Christian soldier he would contend 
 for it against all enemies and all errors. Such was 
 the sentiment of his heart, and such the purpose of his 
 life. It was a faithful ministry that in which he 
 served. It was a long conflict that in which he enlisted. 
 But at the end the blessing was secured, and we of the 
 later years know more of the liberty of the children of 
 God because of its possession. The heroes of the Chris- 
 tian faith deserve our honor. 
 258
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 Dr. Goodrich was a man of another order, as com- 
 pared with his friend and coadjutor. I have written of 
 him at some length in an earlier part of this volume. 
 The fact of his selection at the beginning, in 1817, as 
 the Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory in the College 
 was quite in harmony with the characteristic qualities of 
 his mind. On his transference to the Theological School 
 twenty-two years afterwards, his activity was largely 
 given to the department of Sacred Rhetoric, though his 
 professorship, by its title, was that of the Pastoral 
 Charge. He was, as has been already stated, a rhetori- 
 cian and a rhetorician also of the type of his own time 
 and of the earlier half of the century. He was a striking 
 example of that type. As such, he had much influence 
 with his theological pupils. They saw in him what they 
 desired to become in themselves and, as a consequence, 
 they were ready to give heed to his instruction, as well 
 as to imitate what was manifested in his own personality. 
 
 He was, also, a forceful and executive man, with the 
 disposition and impulses which pertain to such men. 
 In the line of executive management and the forth- 
 putting efforts attendant upon it, he surpassed any and 
 all of his colleagues. The propelling power of the 
 institution that which, apart from the personal at- 
 tractiveness of its teachers, carried forward its life was 
 found mainly in him. Withal he was one of its most 
 generous friends and benefactors in its earlier history. 
 He filled a place, accordingly, of great significance and 
 importance as related to its highest interests. 
 
 In the theological sphere, he was in cordial sympathy 
 with his friend, Dr. Taylor, but he did not, so far as I 
 remember him, share in equal measure his friend's in- 
 trepid boldness in the expression of his views. His 
 rhetorical nature was, perchance, inconsistent with such 
 a degree of boldness. Yet in his opinions he was de- 
 cided and firm, and as a man of administrative capacity 
 259
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 and strength he was free from all wavering when the 
 hour for action arrived. As little as Dr. Taylor, I think, 
 was he tolerant of the hesitation sometimes characteristic 
 of a genuine scholar. The minds of the two men, though 
 different from each other, were alike impatient of con- 
 tinued questioning. They demanded, by reason of their 
 native constitution, absolute definiteness of conviction 
 and of statement. Through the force of his rhetorical 
 character and manner he was, perhaps, even more repres- 
 sive to an associate or friend of evenly-balanced mind, 
 than was his doctrinal colleague with his soldier-like 
 freedom of utterance. 
 
 Of Professor Goodrich's peculiar gifts exhibited in the 
 pastoral work in the College I have spoken elsewhere. 
 These gifts rendered him, also, a very useful and stimu- 
 lating guide and helper to his students in the Divinity 
 School, who were themselves expecting to enter upon 
 the interesting and often difficult duties of pastoral life. 
 He was never weary of the work of conferring with 
 them privately, or of giving to them the results of his 
 experience and his wide observation of men. He was 
 a kindly friend to each and all alike a friend who made 
 a deep impression upon their minds, and oftentimes a 
 very deep one upon their spiritual life. 
 
 Professor Goodrich was an indefatigable worker. He 
 was a worker after the manner and measure characteris- 
 tic of men having the peculiar executive capacity which 
 pertained to his nature. Not content with the discharge 
 of the duties of his professorial office which, especially in 
 the earlier years, were sufficiently burdensome, he gave 
 himself to other tasks involving continuous labor and 
 much responsibility. For a considerable period, he had 
 the entire charge of the department of Rhetoric his 
 sphere of instruction extending even to the criticism of 
 students' compositions and declamations, as well as the 
 careful preparation of the speakers chosen for the more 
 260
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 public exercises of the annual Commencements. Such 
 work of individual criticism, as is well known by all 
 teachers of experience, is exhaustive both of time and 
 force. It is wearisome enough to render one indisposed 
 to add other labors, when it has been satisfactorily com- 
 pleted. But Dr. Goodrich was always ready to push 
 outward and onward. He was the incarnation of energy. 
 His very appearance, as he walked abroad or met his 
 classes, indicated ceaseless, and almost restless activity. 
 In the years of his tutorship from 1812 to 1814, when 
 he was not yet twenty-five, he prepared a Greek Gram- 
 mar for the use of students the first of real value pub- 
 lished in our country and subsequently issued new and 
 improved editions of it which were widely used for a 
 long period. At a later time, when the theological con- 
 troversies of the earlier period of Dr. Taylor's career in 
 the Theological School were most active, he purchased 
 and for several years edited the Quarterly Christian 
 Spectator, which he made, as it were, the organ of the 
 so-called New Haven doctrines and views. But his 
 greatest work, outside of the limits of his college teach- 
 ing, was that which he performed in connection with 
 Webster's Dictionary. Dr. Webster was his father-in- 
 law, and almost from the date of the first publication of 
 the work he was a helper in the labors which it de- 
 manded. At the death of Dr. Webster in 1843, ne ^ e ' 
 came its chief editor, and from that time onward he was 
 largely responsible for it. This service was very exact- 
 ing in respect both of time and effort, but in his case 
 there seemed never to be a lack of either. He had 
 energy enough for any and all demands, enough to 
 keep his own powers in constant movement and, at the 
 same time, to give a continual impulse to those who were 
 associated with him, or aided him. The work on the 
 British Orators, which he published .-eight years before 
 his death, was founded upon the lectures which he was 
 261
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 accustomed, for a long period, to give to the successive 
 Senior classes in the College. From this volume one can 
 get a correct impression at least, within certain limits 
 of his character and style as a rhetorician. The re- 
 sults which he accomplished in such different lines, as a 
 teacher, a scholar and a pastor, may fitly be regarded as 
 extraordinary, and as exhibiting a very high order of 
 effective, as well as executive force. 
 
 Professor Fitch was less closely connected with the 
 daily life and work of the Divinity School than the 
 other members of its Faculty. In consequence of the 
 demands of his position as preacher in the College pulpit, 
 and instructor of the academical students in Natural 
 Theology and the Evidences of Christianity, his opportu- 
 nities for meeting the members of the Theological Sem- 
 inary were quite limited. He came into immediate con- 
 tact with them, however, during a brief portion of each 
 year, as a Lecturer on Homiletics a subject which he 
 was eminently fitted to present and discuss. After his 
 retirement from his professorship in 1852, he continued 
 to give his lectures on this subject, but he did not assume 
 any additional duties as an instructor in the school. Yet, 
 notwithstanding the limitations which have been indi- 
 cated, the other professors always regarded him as truly 
 one of the theological circle. They recognized in its 
 full measure the service which he had rendered the insti- 
 tution not only in its earliest days, but throughout the 
 course of its history, and they rejoiced in his presence 
 with them. 
 
 He was not the equal of Dr. Taylor as a man of crea- 
 tive mind and commanding force, but in the qualities of 
 genius and the variety of his mental gifts, he may be said 
 to have surpassed him. He did not possess the executive 
 ability or gift of leadership which belonged to Dr. 
 Goodrich, but as a thinker and theologian he was his 
 262
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 superior. In regard to the matter of public discourse he 
 stood apart from both. He was almost the exact oppo- 
 site of the latter, in whose addresses, generally of an 
 extemporaneous character, the rhetorical element was 
 pre-eminently conspicuous, and at a very wide remove 
 from the former who, though he used a manuscript in his 
 preaching, had in largest measure the boldness and con- 
 fidence of the fearless advocate. As a writer, however, 
 he had a felicity of style and clearness of statement which 
 made his carefully prepared sermons, in connection with 
 the rich thought that they contained, very impressive, as 
 well as very attractive, to intelligent hearers. The im- 
 pressiveness was increased by reason of "the tremulous 
 music of his voice, which was so full of tenderness and 
 yet so full of power" I quote the words of Dr. Leonard 
 Bacon with reference to him; a tenderness and power, I 
 may add, that were strikingly manifested in his reading 
 of hymns and other poetry. He was the most impres- 
 sive reader of hymns to whom I have ever listened. 
 Their words, as he read them, seemed to have an added 
 sweetness and force which came from the poetic sense 
 and feeling of his own nature. 
 
 The nervous sensitiveness pertaining to his physical 
 constitution, to which reference has been made in an 
 earlier part of this volume, had its effect upon his teach- 
 ing, as well as upon his preaching. It often proved bur- 
 densome even in the utterance of brief sentences, which 
 seemed desirable as an addition to the written lecture or 
 to the words of the text-book. Sometimes also it occa- 
 sioned a certain embarrassment in the very presence of 
 his classes, assembled before him for their college exer- 
 cises, which manifested itself in his appearance and 
 bearing. All this was less in its measure when he met 
 the students of the professional school, than when he 
 was called to give instruction to undergraduates in the 
 College. The former were a smaller number than the 
 263
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 latter, and, as he well knew, had more universally the 
 interest in their studies which comes with maturer years. 
 The responsibility resting upon him, therefore, he felt 
 to be diminished because he could confidently depend 
 upon them for earnestness in work and willing receptivity 
 of mind. 
 
 The College boys, as truly as the members of the 
 Divinity School, had a kindly and, as it were, a filial 
 feeling towards the Professor. But they were boys, or 
 called themselves so, and so they indulged themselves 
 in pleasantries which, as they thought, belonged to their 
 age. When they should become graduates and members 
 of the higher departments of the institution, it would 
 be the fitting time for the uniform seriousness of man- 
 hood. They could, for the present, tell one another of 
 their teachers' idiosyncracies, or smile at their peculiari- 
 ties in a friendly way, even while they had for them a 
 most affectionate regard. Life would lose something of 
 its brightness and joyfulness, I think, if there were no 
 college boys. 
 
 A story of the undergraduate order which was sug- 
 gestive of the impression made by the Professor's hesi- 
 tancy in extemporaneous address, but which nobody was 
 expected to believe, was put in circulation for a brief 
 time within the period of my tutorship. It was, in sub- 
 stance, as follows: that on a certain evening, when the 
 good Doctor's windows were broken by a small body of 
 noisy and disorderly youths, he presented himself and 
 began to address them on the impropriety of their con- 
 duct. Very soon, however, he became embarrassed and, 
 finding himself unable to proceed farther in his discourse, 
 he paused for a moment, and then said, "I regret that my 
 notes are in my room upstairs, but if you will come here 
 to-morrow morning at eleven o'clock, I will read to you 
 what I intended to say." 
 
 264
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 I suffer myself to mention this story which is char- 
 acteristic of the humorous side of student life, but which 
 had in it, on the part of its authors, no intentional dis- 
 respect, and no element of unkindly feeling towards the 
 Professor that I may make it, in its contrast, prepara- 
 tory to the statement of a singular fact; namely, that on 
 two or three occasions in the later years of the Pro- 
 fessor's life, I heard addresses from him in the presence 
 of assemblies of ministers which were evidently extempo- 
 raneous and yet were, in an eminent degree, able and 
 successful. Old age had given him a new power, or the 
 inspiration of the hour and the scene, in each case, had 
 caused him to forget himself and his nervous apprehen- 
 sions altogether, and to dwell for the time only in the 
 charming region of the thoughts to which he was giving 
 utterance. Possibly it was not so strange as it seemed 
 for he was a musician and a poet; and poetry and music 
 are spheres wherein the mental visions fill the soul and 
 all one's fears are charmed away. 
 
 Professor Gibbs was, in the strict sense of the word, 
 the scholar of the Faculty. He was a retiring scholar; 
 a scholar most evenly-balanced in his judgment, and 
 hesitant in the utterance of his opinions; a scholar so dis- 
 posed to give full weight to both sides of the question 
 in every case, and so indisposed to pronounce categoric- 
 ally for either side, that dogmatic men might even be 
 ready, at times, to call him timid. His colleagues, Drs. 
 Taylor and Goodrich, though in the highest degree 
 friendly to him, were never quite able to appreciate his 
 position the condition of mind which pertained to his 
 very nature, and was established in strength and perma- 
 nency by his studies. They felt, by reason of their 
 mental constitution and habits, that definite conviction in 
 all cases of questioning was to be reached, or nothing 
 would be accomplished. Indecision was a state of which 
 265
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 they were intolerant. The man must have settled opin- 
 ions in every instance, or he is at sea drifting any 
 whither. He must find and declare that upon which he 
 can rest for himself and take his firm stand against 
 others. Even-balancing between two views of a subject 
 means nothing, has no results. I remember hearing Dr. 
 Taylor say, on one occasion half jocosely, of course 
 "I would rather have ten settled opinions, and nine of 
 them wrong, than to be like my brother Gibbs with none 
 of the ten settled." 
 
 The fact of the case was or so, at least, it seems to 
 me that Professor Gibbs was a scholar of the German 
 order, while his two colleagues were not. He was, as it 
 were, a German scholar who had landed on American 
 soil a little too early to be understood by more dogmatic 
 men, such as they were. Possibly he was rendered 
 somewhat less bold in expression than he might other- 
 wise have been, because of the boldness of these col- 
 leagues. They may occasionally by their attitude have 
 turned his courage into a caution which seemed to them 
 like fear. His questionings were not sceptical in their 
 character, and his hesitation was by no means the result 
 of apprehensions or unworthy doubts. He was, on the 
 contrary, an exegetical scholar, who gave the work of 
 his lifetime to studies in which absolute fairness, as well 
 as honesty, is the governing law, and within the sphere 
 of which the student is led by a sense of duty, if he is 
 true to his calling, to look calmly and faithfully at all 
 the possibilities of interpretation. That he carried his 
 evenness of balance in judgment too far at times may, 
 no doubt, have been the fact. But his example had much 
 in it of beneficial and, at the same time, restraining in- 
 fluence. It impressed upon his students the duty of 
 careful investigation before firmly establishing their con- 
 victions, and urged upon each one of them, with a living 
 force, the exhortation, "audi alterant partem"
 
 PROFESSOR JOSIAH W. GIBBS
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 I cannot help thinking, however, that if he had had 
 greater readiness to pronounce decided opinions when 
 he held them, and had thus taken the lead for his pupils 
 himself, instead of referring them so exclusively to the 
 views of other, and perchance discordant, scholars of 
 eminence, he would have been a more helpful and stimu- 
 lating instructor. The majority of young students, if 
 not all, need a leader for their highest success a leader 
 who is fair-minded, judicious, ready to consider all rea- 
 sonable views indeed, but who can bring them, after all 
 the course of inquiry, to definitely pronounced results 
 definitely pronounced by himself. But the presence of 
 such a scholar as Mr. Gibbs was, in such a company of 
 four as then constituted the Theological Faculty, gave 
 a completeness to the body which could not well have 
 been spared. 
 
 In his work as an instructor, Professor Gibbs was 
 quiet and not self-assertive, yet faithful and painstaking; 
 accurate in communicating knowledge, as he had been 
 in acquiring it for himself; patient with the slow progress 
 of some of his pupils, but pleased with the more rapid 
 movement of others; fitted rather to guide earnest work- 
 ers in his spheres of study, than to stimulate, and lead 
 onward in spite of themselves, those who were listless or 
 careless. He was a man of comparatively few words, 
 but these were well chosen for his purpose. So few were 
 his words, indeed, that they often seemed not quite suffi- 
 cient for the needs of beginners in a strange and difficult 
 language, and in a professional course which had in 
 itself so much that was as yet unknown. I remember 
 that it sometimes appeared to me that he had, as it were, 
 made a careful selection of all the words which he re- 
 garded as, in any way, necessary for the full explanation 
 of every point in the lesson assigned for the day that 
 he had made this selection in his own room before the 
 recitation hour, and that, when the hour arrived, he 
 267
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 had taken these words with him in his mind, even as he 
 had taken the books which he needed under his arm, and 
 had carried them for his use to the lecture room. These 
 words were, indeed, sufficient for all ordinary cases. But 
 occasionally some unexpected question would arise, or a 
 difficulty would be presented by some student, which, 
 perchance, had not seemed to him worthy of considera- 
 tion by any one and the word supply proved to be ex- 
 hausted. It was as if he must, in order to meet the 
 emergency, return to his study room and procure what 
 was needed. But in fact he could not do this. After 
 this manner, as I have said, it appeared to me. 
 
 In such cases, he would suddenly raise his right hand 
 in front of his eyes pause, and look steadily at it and 
 then, with equal suddenness exclaim, "Oh, there is a 
 difficulty!" which difficulty would be sometimes ex- 
 plained by him, but at other times would be left without 
 further notice, or would be turned unexpectedly into 
 what was quite different from itself. He was not pre- 
 cisely absent-minded on such occasions, in the common 
 sense of that phrase, but there was apparently a singular 
 mingling of what was far removed with what was 
 present, which made him seem apart from us while he 
 was indeed with us. Such little idiosyncracies awakened 
 in us a peculiar interest, and we had the kindliest feeling 
 toward him as he guided us on our path. 
 
 Professor Gibbs was one of the class of scholars not 
 very numerous, but in their own way very interesting 
 for whom words seem to have the same sort of vitality 
 and independent life that human beings have. They 
 dwell among words after the manner in which other men 
 live in relation to their friends and associates. They 
 enjoy in the same way the study of their peculiarities; of 
 the uses which they serve or may serve; of their origin 
 and individual growth; of the varied possibilities that 
 are within them. They are pleased when others treat 
 268
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 them well by giving them the exactness of their appro- 
 priate meaning and placing them in their most fitting 
 position. They have a kind of real grief like that 
 which one feels if a friend is dealt with unfairly when- 
 ever they are misunderstood, or bereft of their true sig- 
 nificance, or made to render a service which should not 
 be demanded of them, or brought into wrong associa- 
 tions. Such scholars are philologues in the most precise 
 meaning of the term. They are, in reality, lovers of 
 words, as the artist is a lover of nature, or the philan- 
 thropist is a lover of men. They form a separate group 
 apart by themselves in the company of students of 
 language, and even of those who are exclusively given to 
 the science of philology. All such students have a 
 special interest in words, of course, and a love of and 
 devotion to their science. But these men are the inner 
 circle within the outer one, for whom the external world 
 seems to withdraw itself, and what are its mere signs of 
 thought, or means of expression, assume a reality like 
 its own. 
 
 Among the scholars more nearly contemporary with 
 myself in age, the late Professor Ezra Abbot, of Har- 
 vard University, seemed to me the most striking example 
 of this class of men. He was perhaps the ablest New 
 Testament scholar of his generation in our country, and 
 he had the highest esteem of all his fellow-workers in 
 that field of study. But his attainments were no more 
 remarkable, to my thought, and the honesty, sincerity 
 and wonderful ability manifested in his working were 
 no more interesting, than was this peculiar characteristic 
 to which I refer. I well remember when the American 
 Company were engaged, between 1871 and 1881, in the 
 work preparatory to the publication of the Revised 
 Version of the New Testament in 1881 how sensitive 
 he was with reference to the selection of words, as if he 
 269
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 were judging of his friends or choosing them for him- 
 self; how pleased he was, as with a child's innocent 
 pleasure, when his associates seemed to appreciate as 
 fully as himself the word which he suggested; and how 
 a child-like impatience took possession of him for the 
 moment, if any one gave to a word a wider or narrower 
 significance than that which, in exactest justice, belonged 
 to it. There was a certain charm in observing him, and 
 in thinking how he had peopled for himself a kind of 
 ideal world, in which he dwelt with the same sense of 
 reality which the men about him saw in what they could 
 touch with their hands. There is an imaginative element 
 in such men. They are not mere dry linguistic scholars, 
 or scholars to whom words, as lifeless things, are all- 
 absorbing for thought and interest. They are scholars 
 who, for and in their own minds, give independent life to 
 words, and love them as men love living things. 
 
 As in the case of all such men, kindly but amusing 
 stories used to be told in connection with Professor 
 Gibbs,' and repeated among the students of successive 
 classes. They were intended to be illustrative of his 
 minute verbal scholarship and his absorbing interest in 
 it; but they were, in fact, rather illustrative of their 
 authors' own want of appreciation of scholarship of that 
 order. One of them has survived the passing of the 
 years, and is occasionally heard in these later days. It 
 tells of a long-continued controversy, extending over a 
 period of several months, between Professor Gibbs and 
 Professor Stuart, of Andover, concerning a vowel-point 
 in a certain Hebrew word a controversy which grew 
 even more animated as it was prolonged; the question 
 in dispute being whether there was such a point or not. 
 After the protracted correspondence had become weari- 
 some, and even seemed likely to result in no definite 
 decision, one of the two professors, on a certain morning, 
 by chance drew his handkerchief across the page of his 
 270
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 Hebrew Bible where the word occurred; and lo, the 
 point disappeared. It was a fly-speck on the paper. 
 
 The impossibility of the truth of such a story as con- 
 nected with two such eminent Hebrew scholars is mani- 
 fest, at the first moment, to any one who has any ac- 
 quaintance with the Hebrew language and the matter of 
 vowel-points, as the original fabricator of the story may, 
 very possibly, not have had. But it served its purpose 
 for the young students, to whose minds vowel-points and 
 fly-specks were alike suggestive of extreme minuteness; 
 and so they heard it with pleasure from their predeces- 
 sors, and told it gladly, in their turn, to those who suc- 
 ceeded them. 
 
 A second anecdote no doubt, equally without foun- 
 dation in reality is one which has always, since I first 
 heard it, been quite suggestive to my own mind. It was 
 to the effect that, on a certain day, the professor was 
 found by a student, who called upon him at his college 
 room, in a state of profound and serious meditation, 
 which seemed to remove him far from the common 
 studies and thoughts of the theological sphere. So 
 marked was his appearance, and so evident were the in- 
 dications of serious thoughtfulness and anxious doubt, 
 that the student was moved to put to him an inquiry as 
 to the subject which occasioned his agitation of mind. 
 The Professor's reply was, that he had been thinking of 
 the strangeness of the fact that, while the words patri- 
 mony and matrimony were formed in the same way from 
 kindred roots, they had such entirely different meanings. 
 
 Time certainly works wonderful changes. If there 
 had been any truth in this story as, of course, there 
 was not we of to-day might well say, that the Professor 
 found his question insoluble, only because he entered 
 upon the consideration of it at too early a date. Much 
 of the wonder of the problem has n'ow ceased, and the 
 kinship of the two words shows itself, at present, even to 
 271
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 ordinary thoughtful minds, to be almost as close as that 
 of the two from which they are derived. The relation 
 of patrimony to matrimony is now well understood, and 
 if the patrimony comes through the matrimony there is 
 no longer any difficulty as to the meaning or likeness of 
 the words. 
 
 But is there not a charm in the story, after all? Does 
 it not give a charming picture of a meditative scholar, 
 who moved among words as if they had life and breath, 
 and who could muse and ponder upon them with unceas- 
 ing interest in the retirement of his University home? 
 
 In his external personality, Professor Gibbs was 
 somewhat unique, and for this reason, he attracted the 
 notice even of strangers who chanced to meet him. An 
 excellent portrait of him, painted in 1856, by Carpenter, 
 is placed in the Library of the Divinity School, and from 
 it one may gain a satisfactory idea of his face, which 
 was intelligent, thoughtful, and indicative of the schol- 
 arly mind that lay behind it.* As compared with the 
 portraits of his three colleagues, in the same building, it 
 gives the beholder the impression that in intellectual 
 ability he was their equal, though his special gifts and 
 theirs might be, as in reality they were, of different kinds. 
 He was not what would be called a tall man, but was of 
 good height, and as his figure was spare and thin, he 
 seemed perhaps somewhat taller than he was. As he 
 walked in the streets he inclined his head forward, and a 
 little to one side, the sideways inclination extending 
 through his body, so that his gait was in some degree 
 peculiar, and he sometimes became aware of the ap- 
 proach of a friend who was walking behind him, when 
 he would not have seen the same friend in case he had 
 been drawing near in such a way as to meet him face to 
 face. His whole appearance was suggestive of a quiet, 
 thoughtful, meditative man of learning, who lived 
 
 * The picture in this volume is copied from this portrait. 
 272
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 among books in larger measure than among men whose 
 thoughts afforded him sufficient companionship, whether 
 at home or abroad. 
 
 When the Theological School was first organized, in 
 1822, the College Corporation did not feel able to ap- 
 point a Professor of Hebrew and New Testament Greek, 
 on account of the insufficiency of the funds at their com- 
 mand. During the two years immediately following that 
 date, Professor Kingsley of the Academical Department 
 had charge of the instruction in the former of the two 
 studies, and Professor Fitch rendered the necessary ser- 
 vice in the latter. This provision for the work, it was 
 realized from the outset, was quite inadequate to the de- 
 mands of the school and could in its nature be only tem- 
 porary. In 1824, accordingly, though there had been 
 but a comparatively insignificant increase in the funds, it 
 was deemed advisable to employ an instructor who 
 should give himself to Biblical teaching, and should, if 
 successful, receive a permanent appointment to a profes- 
 sorship as soon as it should be possible to secure a 
 foundation for it. 
 
 Mr. Gibbs was, at that time, resident at Andover, 
 Mass., where he had for a considerable period been 
 carrying forward valuable work, especially in the line of 
 Hebrew Grammar and Lexicography. The minds of 
 Drs. Taylor, Fitch and Goodrich had, from the begin- 
 ning, turned towards him as the scholar best fitted for 
 the new sphere opening at Yale. Not improbably, the 
 Corporation also had in their own consideration of the 
 matter, as well as under the influence of these gentlemen, 
 been already led to regard him with favor. At the 
 meeting of the governing body held in September, 1824, 
 the subject was discussed and the final decision was 
 reached. The vote which was passed is a very suggestive 
 one, when considered in its relation to the limited state 
 of the financial resources of the College in those early 
 273
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 days, and also in connection with the changes which time 
 has brought in the life of Yale and of the country. It 
 was voted that an invitation should be extended to Mr. 
 Gibbs to take the office of Librarian of the College, and 
 that, in connection with this office, permission should be 
 given him to instruct graduates and theological students 
 in Hebrew and Greek. He was invited, as it might 
 seem at first thought, to a position other than that which 
 he was really desired to fill. But the suggestion of the 
 other words of the vote explains the seeming strange- 
 ness. There was a salary, though a limited one, attached 
 to the Librarian's office, but there was none attached to 
 the "permission" the instruction was to be given to 
 such graduates and theological students as might desire 
 to receive it at their own expense, or on the foundation of 
 such provision as might be made for it through a further 
 increase of the funds. 
 
 I have sometimes tried to picture to myself this young 
 scholar, as he received this invitation from the Yale 
 authorities, and as he took his journey from Andover to 
 New Haven in answer to the summons. What must 
 have been his thoughts as to the probabilities respecting 
 an addition to his salary by reason of what might be re- 
 ceived from students who should show themselves eager 
 for the study of Hebrew, in case special charges for in- 
 struction were to be made? The elder President Ed- 
 wards says, somewhere in his letters or diary, that he 
 made a journey from Northampton to Boston on horse- 
 back in which he spent a fortnight, and that he "enjoyed 
 much sweet meditation on the way." The young scholar, 
 it would seem to us of to-day, may have had opportunity 
 for considerable meditation as he made his way slowly 
 through the country; but its sweetness, however much of 
 it there was, must have been connected with other than 
 financial subjects. Was it not, indeed, that which came 
 easily and naturally into the mind of one who looked 
 
 274
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 forward with cheerful hope to a life consecrated to learn- 
 ing and who had the self-sacrificing spirit of a true son of 
 Yale? 
 
 In September, 1826, two years after his arrival in 
 New Haven at his entrance upon his work as Librarian 
 and instructor a moderate sum was secured as a partial 
 endowment of the chair of Sacred Literature, and Mr. 
 Gibbs was asked to take it. He became thus a full pro- 
 fessor in the Theological Department, and was a mem- 
 ber of its Faculty from that time until his death. He 
 continued, however, to act as the College Librarian until 
 1843. He had held his professorship for nearly a 
 quarter of a century when I met him as an instructor. 
 My acquaintance with him in this relation was mainly in 
 connection with the Hebrew language, since his New 
 Testament Greek exercises occurring, as they did at the 
 same hours with college recitations which my tutorial 
 office obliged me to attend were practically closed to 
 me. The opportunity for enjoying his teaching or observ- 
 ing his methods in the special department which was 
 afterwards assigned to me as his colleague was, accord- 
 ingly, of the most limited character. Of course, how- 
 ever, I could gain a reasonably satisfactory impression in 
 both regards as I pursued my Hebrew studies with him. 
 This impression I have already, in some measure, given. 
 At the time when I was in the membership of his 
 classes, he was, as I think, somewhat more interested 
 in the general study of language, than in the particular 
 languages which he was teaching. He was a philolo- 
 gist by nature one of the first in our country of the 
 more modern type. He had been awakened to great 
 interest, and much quiet enthusiasm, through his ac- 
 quaintance with the work of German scholars of the 
 period in this branch of linguistic science, and had begun, 
 with renewed energy, to make researches and investiga- 
 tions for himself. He was thus, perhaps more than he 
 
 275
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 had been, a verbal scholar. Yet he must always have 
 had this characteristic in large measure. As an exegete, 
 we who were then his pupils felt an absolute confidence in 
 his honesty and sincerity, and also in his clearness of 
 insight and understanding. We often wished, indeed, 
 that he would give us the result of his investigations in a 
 pronounced and definite judgment of his own, when he 
 failed to do so. But we were assured that he had always, 
 when the discussion was closed, presented the strength 
 of the argument on either side, and had submitted the 
 question fairly and fully for our own most enlightened 
 decision. In this respect, the influence of his teaching and 
 method was to make us patient, thorough, and genuine 
 scholars. 
 
 In reply to a question of one of his pupils, who was 
 quite within the circle of his friendly acquaintance when 
 I was a student under his instruction, as to why he had 
 dated many of the brief articles which he published on 
 philological points, he said, "Because I did not wish to 
 be responsible after that date for an opinion which I 
 might see just reason subsequently to change." This 
 was but an expression of the hesitancy which belonged 
 to the even balance of his mind. I have thought many 
 times, as I have moved onward in life since those days, 
 that it would be well if considerable numbers of other 
 men, who do not seem inclined to do so, would follow his 
 example, and date their published opinions. Possibly it 
 would also be well if bodies of men, political or ecclesi- 
 astical, or even medical, were more frequently disposed 
 to do the same thing. Dates have sometimes a soothing 
 and quieting influence both for the individual mind and 
 the public mind. 
 
 It is with great pleasure that I record on these pages 
 my grateful acknowledgment of the kindly and generous 
 manner in which Professor Gibbs received me as his 
 276
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 younger colleague and gave into my charge the portion 
 of the work pertaining to the department of Sacred Lit- 
 erature which had been assigned to me by the Corpora- 
 tion. The peaceful enjoyment of my earliest years as a 
 teacher in the Divinity School was assured by reason of 
 his friendly attitude towards me. My remembrance of 
 him will always be closely united with my thought of 
 those years, as it will be also with the recollections of my 
 life as a graduate student. 
 
 277
 
 XV 
 
 The Divinity School Its Rebuilding and Its Later 
 Faculty 
 
 IT was a happy fortune, as I have always thought 
 when looking backward over the past, that I was 
 placed for a season in association with the col- 
 leagues of Dr. Taylor who survived him. By reason of 
 this fact, my professorial life had, at its beginning, some 
 small share in the earlier history of the Divinity School, 
 and I thus became the connecting link between the 
 Faculty of the old era and that of the new. 
 
 The final closing of the old era came in the summer 
 of 1 86 1. At that time, Drs. Goodrich and Gibbs had, 
 both of them, passed away the death of the former 
 having occurred on the 25th of February, 1 860, and that 
 of the latter on the 25th of March, 1861. The two im- 
 portant professorships which they had held were thus 
 made vacant. The chair of Systematic Theology had 
 not as yet been permanently filled, and the work of Dr. 
 Fitch, the only remaining member of the original 
 Faculty, was limited to a single course of lectures which 
 extended over a very few weeks of the seminary year. 
 It was evident that, if the institution was to have a con- 
 tinuance of life, provision must be made at once for its 
 successful entrance upon another era of its history. A 
 new Faculty must be created, and new forces must be set 
 in operation. 
 
 During the year following the death of Dr. Goodrich, 
 
 I had rendered such service in carrying on his work, in 
 
 addition to that pertaining to my own department, as 
 
 proved to be practicable. In the four months of the 
 
 278
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 academic year 1 860-61 which intervened between the 
 death of Professor Gibbs and the annual Commence- 
 ment, the whole charge of the school was in the hands of 
 Professor Porter and myself. The thought of such a 
 condition of things seems strange at the present time, but 
 it was then a thought of very serious reality. One cannot 
 be surprised to learn that it was exceedingly impressive in 
 its suggestiveness and force to the minds of those within 
 the College circle, and also of many outside of that 
 circle, who turned towards the Divinity School with an 
 especially friendly interest. As for myself, I felt that 
 the critical hour of the institution had arrived the hour 
 when a decision with reference to the future must be 
 made by the central authorities of the College. What- 
 ever that decision might be, it would involve conse- 
 quences of deepest significance. If it should terminate 
 the existence of the school, a department of the institu- 
 tion would be sacrificed and lost. If, on the other hand, 
 it should be for the continuance and upbuilding of what 
 the men of the earlier generation had founded and 
 labored for, there would be an imperative demand upon 
 the energies and courage of the workers of the new 
 period, which could not cease for long years to come. 
 It was well, I believed, that the hour had arrived. I was 
 glad that the decisive step must now be taken. I could 
 not persuade myself, however, that the Yale Corporation 
 would do anything other than that which the event 
 proved that they did. They were Yale men, who had the 
 spirit of the institution and of its fathers. 
 
 How vividly I recall the meeting at the house of 
 President Woolsey, when two or three of the younger 
 men of the College conferred with him, at his request, 
 as to the possible arrangements for the future. A plan 
 had just been proposed, in accordance with which Pro- 
 fessor Fisher, who for the seven preceding years had 
 279
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 filled the office of College Preacher, was to be transferred 
 from the Livingston Professorship in the Academical 
 Department to the chair of Ecclesiastical History in the 
 Divinity School, and Professor Hoppin was to be ap- 
 pointed the successor of Dr. Goodrich in the professor- 
 ship of the Pastoral Charge. It had been suggested, 
 also, that Mr. Henry H. Hadley, then an instructor in 
 Hebrew in Union Theological Seminary, in New York, 
 should be invited to take the Hebrew chair, as the suc- 
 cessor of Dr. Gibbs. The question which occupied, and 
 even oppressed the minds of those who were present at 
 the meeting, was a financial one. Was the school in 
 such a condition as to justify the attempt to reorganize it 
 in this way? Could the responsibility for such an outlay 
 of money as would be necessary for the successful carry- 
 ing out of the plan be properly or safely assumed? 
 
 The question was a grave one, indeed. But we who 
 were in conference with the President were young men, 
 with much of the hope and energy belonging to our age. 
 We determined to make the venture to commit our- 
 selves to what seemed to be essential to the growth of the 
 school in the future as a department worthy of the 
 University, although, when viewed in the light of the 
 present, it could scarcely be regarded as within the limits 
 of possibility. We put in exercise the faith which is if 
 I may use the Scriptural words the substance of things 
 hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. The 
 friendly President, whatever doubts or fears may have 
 mingled with his generous feeling, sustained us in our 
 resolution ; and with all boldness we presented, through 
 him, to the Corporation the requests which our plan in- 
 volved. These requests were granted, and in the autumn 
 of 1 86 1 the new life began. 
 
 It was, indeed, only a beginning. The number of 
 students was small. The single building which belonged
 
 at 
 
 3
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 to the school was wholly inadequate to the demands that 
 would become imperative in case of any considerable in- 
 crease in attendance. There was no lecture-room for the 
 use of the professors, except one which had been pro- 
 vided by a slight enlargement of one of the ordinary 
 study-rooms designed for students. There was no apart- 
 ment in the building adapted to the purposes of a library; 
 no meeting-place for the student body; and nothing 
 which could, in any measure, give a home-like character 
 to the daily life of the young men. Moreover, the build- 
 ing itself was not a permanent possession of the school. 
 It had been originally erected, in 1835-36, and allowed 
 its place in the line of the dormitories on the College 
 grounds, under the condition that, in case the growth of 
 the Academical Department should render such action 
 necessary, the Corporation might purchase it, at a valua- 
 tion to be determined by appraisal, for the uses of that 
 department. The time was now drawing near when the 
 necessity indicated would be likely to make itself mani- 
 fest, and the school would accordingly, so far as its old 
 abiding-place was concerned, become homeless home- 
 less, also, with quite uncertain prospects for the future. 
 The appraised value of the building, as determined after- 
 wards, was but thirteen thousand dollars, while it was 
 certain that the expense connected with the erection of a 
 new one would be from seven to ten times that amount. 
 The sum of the productive funds in possession of the 
 school including twenty thousand dollars which had 
 recently been offered for the more full endowment of 
 the chair of Pastoral Theology and was received a short 
 time afterwards was only about one hundred thousand 
 dollars. There were no scholarships, or endowments of 
 any kind, for the aid of students whose circumstances 
 were such as to render financial assistance necessary to 
 their prosecution of their work. There was, also, no 
 281
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 provision for instruction in elocution or music so im- 
 portant for young men who are about to enter the min- 
 istry; none for special lectureships on the subject of for- 
 eign missions, or kindred subjects of interest that are 
 closely related to theological education, though not im- 
 mediately in the line of the regular course of study; and 
 none for the other matters which are only secondary in 
 their value, in such an institution, to those which may be 
 called primary because they are absolutely essential to its 
 life. 
 
 It was certainly, in all respects, a situation which de- 
 manded the hopefulness and courage of men in the 
 earlier years of their vigorous manhood a situation 
 which my older colleagues, the men of the former period 
 who had just passed away, could not in their later days 
 have had the heart to meet in all its necessities and all its 
 responsibilities. Everything was to be newly created and 
 established funds, buildings, the vigorous life of the 
 student community, the methods and courses of instruc- 
 tion as related to the requirements of the opening era, 
 the reputation of the school as a seminary of learning, 
 even its position of honor in equality with all other de- 
 partments of the College. The work of long years was 
 upon us, the fullness of the results of which might well 
 seem to our minds to be in the far distance, or perchance, 
 at times, to be even beyond the possibility of our attain- 
 ment. 
 
 Moreover, within a month after the death of Pro- 
 fessor Gibbs, the outbreak of the Civil War in our coun- 
 try had taken place, and already, before the opening of 
 our new Seminary year and the beginning of our new 
 arrangements for the school, it was becoming evident 
 that the avenues for the ingathering of funds were rap- 
 idly closing, and that the call of the nation to educated 
 young men was summoning them away from professional 
 studies to active service in the military sphere. As the
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 war prolonged its course beyond the first expectations 
 respecting it, and continued into the next following years, 
 the difficulties in both of the lines mentioned perpetuated 
 themselves, and even increased. In the progress of those 
 early years of the conflict, the minds of many of the 
 friends of our institution, as they found that there was 
 only a small growth in our membership and but little 
 enlargement of our financial means, became discouraged. 
 Some of them began to doubt the possibility of our suc- 
 cess. Others distinctly prophesied failure. A few even 
 openly advised that the school should make no further 
 effort, and that its existence as a Theological Seminary 
 should be terminated, or, at least, suspended until a day 
 of better fortunes and better hopes. 
 
 It was not a cheerful outlook for us who had under- 
 taken the work of renewal, and upon whom the responsi- 
 bility rested. One of our number, Mr. Hadley, who 
 had joined us with very grave doubts as to the success of 
 our plans, and even as to the practicability of continuing 
 a theological school at Yale, in such near proximity to 
 other eminently prosperous schools, became rapidly 
 more disheartened, and, at the end of his first year of 
 service, resigned his position in order that he might 
 accept a professorship in Union Seminary where, as al- 
 ready stated, he had been an instructor. We who re- 
 mained in the institution could not blame him for his 
 questionings and disheartenment. He had our very high 
 esteem for his scholarly ability and acquirements and 
 our friendly regard for him as a man, which continued 
 unchanged until his early and lamented death. But 
 after the years had moved on and the work was accom- 
 plished, we were happily able to say to ourselves that, 
 like many others, he had not foreseen the future which 
 held, though we then knew it not, a bright promise in 
 itself, that was to bring in due time a very rich reward. 
 
 Fortunately we who remained irf the school, though
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 often discouraged, were never thoroughly or hopelessly 
 disheartened. We pressed onward, and waited for the 
 coming time. As for myself the one who had, as it 
 were, come out from the old Faculty into the new I 
 never allowed myself, for a moment, to think of aban- 
 doning the largest and widest plan which had been 
 formed for the new era, or of being moved, in the least, 
 by the suggestions of friends who, as onlookers, were 
 disturbed by doubts or advised us to yield to adverse fate. 
 
 The Faculty of the Divinity School, in September, 
 1 86 1, consisted of the five gentlemen already mentioned, 
 Professors Hoppin, Fisher, Henry Hadley and myself, 
 who held professorships in the school itself, and Pro- 
 fessor Porter, who was associated with us in the work of 
 teaching though his official position was in the Academ- 
 ical Department. Some important changes occurred 
 between this date and the opening of the college year in 
 September, 1866. When Professor Hadley offered his 
 resignation after his service of a single year, the work 
 which had been placed under his charge was given to 
 Mr. Van Name, now the University Librarian, as In- 
 structor in Hebrew. Mr. Van Name was appointed to 
 his office in the library in 1865, but he kindly continued 
 his teaching in the school until the close of the following 
 academic year, when Professor George E. Day, then of 
 Lane Theological Seminary, was called to become the 
 Professor of the Hebrew Language and Literature. At 
 the same time with the appointment of Professor Day, 
 Dr. Leonard Bacon was asked to take upon himself the 
 duties connected with the Department of Systematic 
 Theology Professor Porter, after eight years of valued 
 service, being released from this sphere of instruction. 
 Dr. Bacon remained a member of the Faculty until the 
 end of his life, but he resigned the chair of Theology
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 to Dr. Samuel Harris when the latter was elected to the 
 professorship, in 1871. 
 
 The period from 1866 to 1871 was that in which most 
 of the efficient work was done for the establishment of 
 the school on a firm foundation. In the five years pre- 
 ceding 1866, because of the continuance of the war and 
 for other reasons, comparatively little could be effected, 
 either in the matter of securing funds or of enlarging the 
 numbers or opportunities of the institution. Much that 
 was of a preparatory character, however, was accom- 
 plished. A good measure also of new impulse was given 
 to the students and new inspiration imparted to the life 
 of all. A not inconsiderable addition to the funds was 
 likewise secured. But after the year 1866 the war 
 being ended and prosperity having become more general 
 throughout the country the work was undertaken with 
 new energy and new hope. The members of the Faculty 
 gave their best efforts to the instruction and help of the 
 students never suspending or abandoning their exer- 
 cises with them but, in addition to what they endeav- 
 ored to do on their behalf, they took upon themselves the 
 burden of securing the funds which were essential to the 
 growth of the school and, primarily, the amount requisite 
 for the new building which, by reason of the removal of 
 the old Divinity Hall, was becoming a matter of vital 
 importance. 
 
 In view of all the circumstances and special difficulties 
 of the case, the accomplishment of the work connected 
 with this building has, ever since that time, seemed to me 
 a greater success than any other financial undertaking of 
 the kind within the past half-century of the College his- 
 tory. But the accomplishment was, in due season, real- 
 ized; ancl in the autumn of 1870 we found ourselves in a 
 position which enabled us to lay the corner-stone of the 
 building, with very strong confidence that it could be 
 completed and the expense of its erection could be met. 
 285
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND M E N" 
 
 The detailed story of the Divinity School, in these 
 ten years to which I have referred, is so intimately con- 
 nected with my inward and outward personal life, and 
 so full of experiences which touch the soul's deepest 
 feeling, that I cannot record it on these pages. It will 
 be enough to say that the seed-time was followed by the 
 harvest. The period of preparation a preparation 
 which involved in itself the laying of foundations anew, 
 and an upbuilding in every line extended over all these 
 years. But in what seemed, as we looked back upon the 
 work afterwards, a wonderful way, all the preparatory 
 things were completed, as it were, at the same moment. 
 The result was accomplished, to the surprise of all who 
 were friendly to us and even of ourselves; and from that 
 moment the school became a vigorous institution, having 
 an institutional life, if I may use the expression, which 
 was independent of any individual teacher's power or 
 reputation, and which had in itself the promise of per- 
 manence. It was stronger in this regard than it had 
 ever been in its earlier history. Every room in the new 
 building then just completed, with a single exception, was 
 filled, and we found ourselves at once forced to consider 
 the question of providing additional accommodations for 
 increasing numbers. The student body, which in the 
 old days had been mainly limited in its membership to 
 the graduates of our own College, began now to gather 
 into itself young men from other institutions in different 
 parts of the country. The sphere of the school's influ- 
 ence was thus widened and the forces for its life and 
 growth were strengthened. Students of different re- 
 ligious denominations, also, were soon attracted to the 
 school a fact which added much to its power for good, 
 while at the same time it gave occasion for the develop- 
 ment of the happiest and truest Christian fellowship and 
 unity. The Faculty had, in these years, received impor- 
 tant additions to its circle. It was now complete in its
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 number, every chair being filled. All the professors were 
 in the vigor of life. They were enthusiastic for the work 
 of their own departments of study. They were as har- 
 monious in sentiment and as friendly in feeling as any 
 body of men could be each having a generous sympathy 
 for his associates in their individual spheres of thought 
 and effort, and all alike being, with whole-souled devo- 
 tion, consecrated to the common interests and welfare. 
 With reference to myself everything was changed most 
 satisfactorily. In contrast to my position in 1858 when 
 I was a beginner in my work, in association with vener- 
 able men who were drawing very near to the end of 
 their career, and in 1861 when, for a little time, I was the 
 only teacher whose home was in the school and whose 
 life was committed to it, I found myself, in 1871, with 
 a strong and earnest company of students ready to re- 
 , ceive instruction, and in union with a Faculty which was 
 equal in numbers and in reputation to that of any Theo- 
 logical school in the country. The days of uncertainty 
 and discouragement had indeed passed away, and the 
 new day of light and success had come. 
 
 It was, in fact, a day of light and success, as I thought 
 at the time and have thought ever since, a day of great 
 significance and promise, for the entire College in its 
 growth towards the University. The ordering of events 
 was such, that the possibility or opportunity of renewing 
 the life was opened for the Divinity School at an earlier 
 date than it was in the case of the Law and Medical De- 
 partments. For this reason we were the first who had the 
 privilege of undertaking the work of renewal, and of ac- 
 complishing the result which was of such vital importance 
 for the future. Our happy fortune in those years, there- 
 fore, carried in itself hope and inspiration for the other 
 schools when their time should come. Even more than 
 this, it carried in itself for the workers who had faith, 
 287
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 and the energy which faith gives, the assurance that they 
 also would reach the end to which they should direct 
 their efforts. We rejoiced, accordingly, as the blessing 
 came to us, not alone because of what it was to our- 
 selves, but for what it would prove to be, through the 
 influences connected with it, for the greater and more 
 perfect institution of which we had a happy vision. 
 
 It is an interesting fact in connection with the renewed 
 life and development of the Law and Medical Schools, 
 and the successful growth of the Scientific School and the 
 School of the Fine Arts a fact having in itself, as I 
 think, much suggestiveness and inspiration for the future 
 that in the case of some of them a very large share, 
 and of others almost, if not quite, the whole of the 
 needed work was accomplished by the young men who 
 were called into the service of the institution at the criti- 
 cal period of the history. Their presence and their 
 faithfulness united with efficiency constituted a most 
 important and even essential factor in the realization of 
 the desired end. 
 
 As I recall the earlier days, I count it among the spe- 
 cial privileges of my career that I was brought into asso- 
 ciation with some of these young men who were my con- 
 temporaries in age or a few years younger than myself 
 and who were, in their separate spheres, endeavoring to 
 advance the life of the University towards the ideal 
 which they had in mind. By reason of our union in the 
 common cause I was enabled to gain for myself the help- 
 ful influence of their energy and wisdom, as well as their 
 whole-souled devotion, and also somewhat, as I trust, of 
 the generosity of sentiment which was naturally awak- 
 ened by the fact that our working was in different depart- 
 ments of the institution. Especially was this true, even 
 from the outset, in my relations to Professor Brush, 
 whose long-continued service to the School of Science has 
 always been so conspicuous and is now so universally and
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 gratefully acknowledged by its graduates everywhere. 
 The kindness of fortune brought us together when our 
 work was just opening. The movement of the years led 
 us both to lay it aside, almost at the same moment, as the 
 half-century was drawing to its close. We were thus 
 united in our purpose and our hopes from the beginning 
 to the end. 
 
 Our University has also been peculiarly happy in its 
 history, in the fact of the harmonious working of its 
 older and younger officers, who have ever trusted each 
 other, and have alike been ready for the discharge of all 
 duties to which they were summoned in furtherance of 
 the common cause. Such sympathy and co-operation as 
 .we have witnessed here at Yale may fitly strengthen our 
 faith as we look forward to the development of the 
 University life in the coming time. They give encour- 
 agement that the progress of the years may be marked 
 hereafter, as it has been in the past, by a large-minded 
 conservatism accompanied by a generous hopefulness 
 by the wisdom of age and that of youth in their union 
 with each other. 
 
 The funds required for the other three buildings now 
 belonging to the Divinity School the Marquand 
 Chapel erected in 1871; West Divinity Hall in 1874; 
 and the Bacon Memorial Library in 1881 were se- 
 cured under more favorable circumstances. The school 
 had now proved itself to have a new and vigorous life, 
 which gave promise of continuance. Its appeal to its 
 friends, accordingly, had a more manifest foundation 
 than it had had in the preceding years. There was a 
 greater measure of hope, both for those who asked for 
 gifts and for those who made them. An imperative de- 
 mand for enlargement in the home of the institution be- 
 came so evident, as the numbers "of students greatly
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 increased beyond its present possibilities of accommoda- 
 tion, that the necessity of the case was apparent to all. 
 We had reached the time when we had the inspiration 
 which comes from actual and assured growth. More- 
 over and this was an all-important element in the case 
 we had the good fortune, at this time, to awaken the 
 interest in our cause of a great benefactor, whose gener- 
 ous and munificent gifts contributed, in the highest de- 
 gree, to our success. In our first building enterprise, we 
 had found no such helper. The individual subscriptions 
 for that enterprise were, for the most part, compara- 
 tively small in amount. No one of them was larger than 
 ten thousand dollars. In 1871, however, Mr. Frederick 
 Marquand, of Southport, Conn., became deeply inter- 
 ested in the school, and, after learning of its needs, he 
 generously offered to bear the expense of erecting a 
 chapel for its uses. Subsequently, when the necessity of a 
 new dormitory building became so pressing as to call for 
 immediate action, he promised to give one-half of the 
 sum that should be required. His gift for this purpose 
 amounted to eighty thousand dollars, and to it we owed 
 our success in securing the building. A few years later, 
 with the same generous spirit, he took upon himself the 
 expense of the building which was desired for the Li- 
 brary of the school a library the fund for which had 
 been previously given by the late Mr. Henry Trow- 
 bridge, of New Haven, as a memorial of two of his 
 children who had died in their early childhood. The Li- 
 brary building was named, at Mr. Marquand's request, 
 in honor of Dr. Leonard Bacon, whose death occurred at 
 the close of the year in which it was completed. The 
 Chapel, built ten years earlier, had already at the date of 
 its erection received, by vote of the Corporation, the 
 name Marquand. It was erected in memory of Mr. 
 Marquand's wife, Mrs. Hetty Perry Marquand, who 
 died in 1859. 
 
 290
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 An interesting fact connected with Mr. Marquand's 
 gifts, and one of much significance as related to the his- 
 tory of the Divinity School, may fitly be mentioned as I 
 close this brief account of what he did in its behalf. In 
 a conversation with one of the members of our Faculty, 
 two or three years after the date of his first benefaction, 
 he said, that his mind was led to think favorably of 
 giving to the school, when the subject was presented for 
 his consideration, by his remembrance of the first Presi- 
 dent Dwight and the reverent esteem in which he had 
 always held him. The influence of that eminent man 
 had survived the half-century which had passed since his 
 death, and had wrought results of blessing for those 
 who followed him in the later generation. It is well 
 known that Dr. Dwight was deeply interested in the idea 
 of establishing a Theological School as an essential part 
 of his plan of developing the College into a University. 
 It was not possible to realize this idea within his life- 
 time. He, however, suggested to his eldest son that 
 he should, when he found himself able to do so, make 
 a gift for the foundation of the school. The son's 
 gift was offered in 1822. Though a small one as meas- 
 ured by the standard of to-day, it was the largest that 
 was received at the time, and the one which assured the 
 success of the undertaking. The two gifts were sep- 
 arated by fifty years, but the same influence was the 
 moving force which prompted both of the givers. How 
 true it is of large-minded and generous-hearted men, con- 
 secrated to noble ends, that as in the words of the 
 Book of Revelation "their works do follow them." 
 
 The name of Frederick Marquand will surely be al- 
 ways held in highest honor in the Divinity School of 
 Yale University, and with it will be joined the names of 
 Mr. and Mrs. Elbert B. Monroe, who were heirs to a 
 large part of his estate and who continued his benefac- 
 tions for years after his death. We who began our work 
 
 291
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 in the school in the days of its temporary but serious de- 
 cline, had the deepest gratitude to these and the other 
 generous friends who aided us in the great undertaking. 
 Prominent among these friends was the late William E. 
 Dodge, whose gift of ten thousand dollars, offered at 
 the beginning of our first building enterprise, gave us 
 the courage and inspiration to go forward with our effort 
 for the securing of the necessary fund. Of equal prom- 
 inence, and as great usefulness to the school, by reason 
 of their benefactions, were Mr. Augustus R. Street who 
 by his will provided an endowment of nearly fifty thou- 
 sand dollars for the chair of Church History, and the 
 late Governor William A. Buckingham, a timely gift 
 from whom, amounting to twenty-five thousand dollars, 
 did much to assure success in our entire plan and under- 
 taking. The late Daniel Hand also, whose bequests to 
 the American Missionary Association have proved of 
 so great service in our Southern States, was a most help- 
 ful contributor to our work on two different occasions 
 his gifts being offered at an hour when they had the 
 greatest influence for the accomplishment of the end 
 which we had in view. Mr. Henry W. Sage generously 
 founded the Lyman Beecher Lectureship on Preaching, 
 and thus rendered us a great and lasting service. The 
 late Aaron Benedict, of Waterbury, Conn., and his 
 son, Mr. Charles Benedict, came to our assistance at a 
 critical moment in the history of our first building, and 
 the late Samuel Holmes, for many years an honored resi- 
 dent of the same city, was from the beginning of our 
 work even to the close of his life a liberal and magnani- 
 mous friend, on whose sympathy we were able ever to 
 rely. I wish I could name them all on these pages, with 
 a fitting word of praise and gratitude for each and every 
 one. But this would be impossible, because of their 
 numbers. They were a noble body of men, among the 
 best of our state and country a company of benefactors 
 292
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 whose very presence with us seemed to be a manifestation 
 of the Divine favor as resting upon our cause. We were 
 glad to feel that they and ourselves were co-laborers in 
 the sphere of the highest Christian education. The 
 teachers in a University are not alone its makers and 
 builders. Its benefactors, who strengthen it in its life 
 and enlarge its power for good and its opportunities for 
 usefulness, are a true part of itself, ever working within 
 it and upon it through that which, out of their wealth 
 or perchance of their poverty, they have placed in its 
 possession. 
 
 The aim and the hope of all workers in an institution 
 of learning must naturally and always be directed to- 
 wards the time when its resources shall be equal, or 
 more than equal, to all the demands which come upon it. 
 But, notwithstanding the trials and limitations attendant 
 upon the weakness of the earlier stages in the develop- 
 ment, there is a satisfaction, which every large-minded 
 and large-hearted man can appreciate, in the efforts and 
 labors that are nearer to the beginning and that lead in 
 their results to the final realization. This satisfaction my 
 colleagues and myself had in relation to our work for the 
 Divinity School in the years from 1861 to 1875; an d it 
 remains with us who survive, I am sure, as a happy 
 memory of the past. By the Divine favor, we had also, 
 during the subsequent years, the satisfaction in some 
 measure which comes with the accomplishment of the re- 
 sults and the attainment of the desired end. The fullness 
 of the attainment yet waits to be realized in the future, 
 when new benefactors, having the same large-minded 
 generosity which characterized their predecessors, shall 
 have co-operated with teachers who follow us in placing 
 the school on financial foundations, which are strong 
 enough to remove all anxieties or fears. 
 
 2Q?
 
 XVI. 
 
 Dr. Samuel Harris, and Dr. Leonard Bacon. 
 
 OF the members of the Faculty of the Divinity 
 School which was made complete in 1871 
 the Faculty of the new era only two have 
 died, Dr. Leonard Bacon and Dr. Samuel Harris. With 
 reference to those who survive it is not fitting that I 
 should write at length, pleasant as the work would be 
 and full of happy recollections gathering about the by- 
 gone years. But of these two who have passed on into 
 the other life I will endeavor to give a few descriptive 
 words, which may serve, in some measure at least, to 
 picture them to others as they presented themselves to 
 my thought and vision. The full, large manhood of a 
 man of greatness and goodness is, probably, never seen 
 by any single one of the circle of his friends. The sum 
 of the revelations which he makes of himself to the 
 whole company is needed, in order that he may be 
 known as he truly is. But the thought of each one con- 
 cerning him has its value, and may be helpful in its own 
 way and measure. 
 
 When Professor Harris came to us, he was fifty-seven 
 years of age. He was a native of the state of Maine, 
 and was a graduate of Bowdoin College. His pastoral 
 life, from 1841 to 1855, was spent in Massachusetts, 
 but for sixteen years previous to 1871 he had been, at 
 first a Professor of Theology in the Divinity School at 
 Bangor, Maine, and subsequently the President of the 
 college which had given him his early education. He 
 was, as a consequence, comparatively a stranger to us 
 294
 
 r 
 
 PROFESSOR SAMUEL HARRIS
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 when we presented to him our invitation to the Dwight 
 Professorship and, greatly to our satisfaction, received 
 his acceptance of our offer. We knew him, however, by 
 reputation, and through acquaintance with his writings 
 and his work as a theologian. Some of us had enjoyed 
 opportunities of meeting him occasionally, while all of 
 our number were persuaded of the general, as well as 
 thorough harmony of his views with our own. His 
 entrance upon his duties was coincident in time with the 
 completion and the opening of the first of our new 
 buildings, and with the beginning of the marked increase 
 in the number of our students. At the very outset, he 
 commanded the respect and excited the interest of the 
 young men in his classes. His lectures were highly ap- 
 preciated. They were full of thought coming from his 
 own mind, and were stimulative to thought in other 
 minds. His style was admirably adapted to the wants 
 and desires of his hearers. It was, in a remarkable de- 
 gree, perspicuous, while at the same time it was literary 
 and had also an imaginative element. His power of 
 helpful and lucid illustration surpassed that of most 
 of the lecturers and public speakers to whom it has been 
 my fortune to listen. In a word, his ability to present 
 truth to others fully equalled his clearness of insight 
 respecting it. We were at once convinced that we had 
 acted wisely in calling him to official service in the 
 school, and this conviction remained ever afterwards. 
 
 As our preparatory work preparatory to the com- 
 plete reorganization of the school had already been 
 accomplished before his coming to New Haven, Dr. 
 Harris was happily freed from some of the heavier 
 burdens which had rested upon his colleagues. He felt 
 himself also, at that time, to be a stranger to the region, 
 as indeed he was, while he recognized the fact that all 
 the rest of the professors had been long-continued resi- 
 dents of the city and the state, or were, at least, familiar 
 
 295
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 with the life and history of the institution. For these 
 reasons, he did not find it practicable to do as much of 
 certain kinds of work particulaly, in the line of effort 
 for the increase of endowments as some of his asso- 
 ciates were called to do. For these reasons likewise as 
 I have been always disposed to believe he never as- 
 sumed for himself the prominent position with reference 
 to public affairs in Connecticut, which he had easily taken 
 in Maine. He lived a more retired life during his years 
 at Yale a life more characteristic of a scholarly theolo- 
 gian and a writer of books, than of one who was a 
 leader in the discussions and contentions pertaining to 
 the commonwealth. The period of his residence in 
 Maine included the era of the Civil War. At that 
 critical time, he was one of the most active and influ- 
 ential citizens in his devotion to the national interests. 
 He was incessant and urgent in his efforts and appeals. 
 He was a speaker even a political orator of very 
 unusual, and very universally acknowledged, force and 
 eminence. Many seriously thought of him as a candi- 
 date for membership in the United States Senate, and he 
 might not improbably, had he been willing to accept it, 
 have received the office. 
 
 All this was changed in the subsequent years and 
 in his new abode. He was an able preacher, but rarely if 
 ever an impassioned one. He had an ability in extempo- 
 raneous preaching which was of a very high order, and 
 which in its peculiar character I have never seen sur- 
 passed, if indeed equalled, in any other man. But he 
 did not exhibit the eloquence of the political orator, nor 
 indeed that eloquence which arouses to excited feeling, 
 and sways with emotion large audiences. He was every- 
 where, in the street, in his lecture-room, in the pulpit, in 
 his friendly associations, the calm, thoughtful, medita- 
 tive man of intellect and learning; able to set forth 
 296
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 the truth with distinctness and emphasis with imagina- 
 tive force also, and rich abundance of illustration to 
 intelligent hearers, but not after the manner of the 
 orators of the anti-slavery conflict and the struggle be- 
 tween the South and the North. 
 
 Dr. Harris was a highly valuable officer of the 
 Divinity School one whose contributions of service in 
 its cause his associates appreciated most fully. He held 
 himself ready for any effort which he could wisely 
 undertake, and was heartily willing to co-operate, both 
 in the way of sympathy and of action, with each and all 
 of the company. Even in the matter of the financial 
 interests of the school, he was, in special instances, in- 
 strumental in securing important gifts. As a colleague 
 he had the kindliest sentiment, the most liberal-minded 
 charity, the largeness of heart which cherishes no sus- 
 picion and opens itself only to confidence and to the 
 purest and noblest feeling. He seemed to dwell, with 
 great pleasure and satisfaction, in the sphere of his own 
 thoughts. His mind, however, was open everywhere to 
 nature and the natural world. He was a lover of trees 
 and flowers, and had much knowledge of them. It was 
 a delight to him to take long solitary walks in the coun- 
 try to commune with nature and his own mind, and 
 bring the two together lovingly. From those happy 
 walks, he brought with him many pictures illustrative of 
 truth and of his meditations, which he placed in most 
 fitting language before his hearers in his public dis- 
 courses. In conversation with others, he was disposed 
 to reticence. He waited for his friends to offer sugges- 
 tions or to lead the way, seeming thus to hesitate in the 
 forthputting of himself. And yet, at times, when roused 
 by some special exciting cause, he would express himself 
 with greater freedom, and as if under the impulse of 
 strong emotion. The fire of the orator within him was 
 297
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 perchance, at such moments, manifesting itself with a 
 measure of its old ardor. 
 
 As a theologian, Professor Harris was thoroughly 
 Christian; holding fast to the fundamental truths, and 
 looking for ever-increasing light. Having a belief in 
 the future as resting upon and growing out of the past, 
 he had many hopes and no fears, and thus was always 
 calm as a philosopher should be. His theological system 
 had been carefully thought out by himself. He was an 
 independent thinker; not independent in that he 
 counted the thoughts of others who had gone before him 
 as of no account, but in that he subjected every question 
 to his own personal consideration, and so determined it 
 for himself, with the use of all possible light at his 
 command, yet at the same time with a full recognition of 
 his responsibility to the truth and to God. He had no 
 inclination or desire to be a leader in theological contro- 
 versy, and perhaps did not possess the special gifts which 
 qualify a man to become one. On the other hand, he 
 was fitted both in mind and soul to render service as a 
 guide to thoughtful and earnest students in their search 
 for the highest truth. As such a guide he gave his pupils 
 the results of his studies and his thinking of the latter 
 as taking up into itself, and making its own by its inde- 
 pendent work, all that the former could give. By this 
 means he led them to a true and genuine Christian free- 
 dom. 
 
 No theologian of the last forty years, whether in New 
 England or in any other part of the country, has sur- 
 passed him in ability. None has rendered a greater 
 service in furtherance of his science, than he did. His 
 published works have had a wide circulation, especially 
 his "Philosophical Basis of Theism," which contains the 
 substance of his lectures to the successive Junior classes 
 in the Divinity School. This book was everyhere re- 
 ceive/;) by scholars in our own country and in England
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 with marked favor. It was also translated into the 
 Japanese language and published in Japan. A portion 
 only of his Doctrinal System two volumes entitled, 
 "God the Father and Lord of All" was given to the 
 press during the closing years of his life. He was busily 
 engaged, almost to the very end, in the preparation and 
 revision of later volumes, which, if they could have been 
 published by him before his death, would have been re- 
 ceived with gratitude by his pupils and by theological 
 scholars of a wider circle. 
 
 Dr. Harris continued in his professorship during a 
 period of twenty-four years, from 1871 to 1895. In 
 the latter year, he offered his resignation and received the 
 title of Professor Emeritus. At the request of his suc- 
 cessor, Professor George B. Stevens, and of the other 
 members of the Faculty, he gave, for one or two years 
 afterwards, a single course of lectures, but then, in ac- 
 cordance with his own desire, he withdrew entirely from 
 active service in the school. On the 25th of June, 1899, 
 after a brief illness, he died at his summer residence in 
 Litchfield, Conn. He had just passed his eighty-fifth 
 birthday. His career as a preacher, a theological teacher 
 and a college president extended over more than half a 
 century, his first settlement in the pastorate of a church 
 having taken place in the year 1841. His service as 
 President of Bowdoin College was given at a critical 
 time in the history of the institution, and was most 
 valuable in accomplishing the results which were spe- 
 cially desired by its wisest friends. His tastes and pref- 
 erences, however, it is believed, turned toward the pro- 
 fessorial, rather than the presidential duties. It was 
 partly for this reason, no doubt, that he found himself 
 disposed to accept the position that was offered him at 
 Yale. I cannot question knowing him, as I did, in the 
 last twenty-eight years of his career- that his life was 
 299
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 happier because of the decision that he made. He would 
 have been an able president, if he had continued in that 
 position. But it seemed to me that much of the work 
 necessarily connected with the presidential office in al- 
 most all our colleges would have become more and more 
 burdensome to him with the progress of time. He was, 
 by his very nature, a thinker and teacher. His sphere 
 was his study and his lecture-room at least, it was so in 
 case he turned, as he did, to university life rather than 
 the public life of the state and he found, I am sure, 
 the largest happiness when he came to our institution, 
 even as he gave great happiness to us who were co-labor- 
 ers with him. 
 
 Dr. Bacon, though he was born in Detroit, Mich., 
 where his father was then in missionary service, was of 
 Connecticut parentage. He graduated at Yale College 
 in the Class of 1820. Five years later, in 1825, he re- 
 ceived ordination as pastor of the First Church in New 
 Haven. When he began his work in the Theological 
 School he had held this position continuously for forty- 
 one years. He had long been a conspicuous figure, also, 
 in the life of the city. If he was not actually the most 
 prominent citizen, there were very few who equalled him 
 in influence and in the public esteem. Soon after his 
 resignation of his pastorate, it became evident that some 
 new arrangement with reference to the chair of Doctrinal 
 Theology was necessary for the highest interests of the 
 Divinity School. The Faculty, indeed, had had the 
 subject under serious consideration for one or two years 
 previous to this time. Professor Porter had been called 
 upon to carry forward for too long a period the work of 
 this professorship, as an additional burden to that which 
 pertained to his office in the Academical Department. 
 It was only right and fitting, that he should be no longer 
 asked to render a twofold service. The release of Dr. 
 300
 
 REV. DR. LEONARD BACON
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 Bacon from his parish duties seemed to open a new pos- 
 sibility in the case; and after deliberation upon the mat- 
 ter, the Faculty and the Corporation united in the 
 opinion that he would fill the position with much success 
 and usefulness, at least for a number of years and until 
 a younger man, having all the desired qualifications for 
 the office, could be secured. Dr. Bacon was, accord- 
 ingly, requested to become the acting professor. He 
 began his work in the autumn of 1866, and continued 
 in it until 1871, when President Harris was invited to 
 take the professorship. The authorities of the school 
 then requested Dr. Bacon to accept the office of Lecturer 
 on Church Polity and American Church History sub- 
 jects in respect to which he was eminently fitted to give 
 instruction. This office he held from 1871 to 1881. 
 On the 24th of December, 1881, he died. 
 
 His work in the Theological School was, in every 
 line, very helpful and successful. It was as agreeable 
 and stimulating to his own mind as it was serviceable to 
 his associates and his pupils. For himself, there was 
 opened, at the moment of his withdrawal from his long 
 and busy pastorate, a new sphere of effort, in which he 
 could find ever-fresh impulse and inspiration. For the 
 institution, the advantage of his wide influence, as well 
 as of his intelligent counsel and his hearty sympathy and 
 co-operation in all labors for its well-being, was secured. 
 He was with us from the beginning to the end of the 
 years when we were most successfully pressing forward 
 the great work of renewing the life and establishing on a 
 satisfactory basis the endowment of the school. His 
 efforts constituted an important factor in the accom- 
 plished results, the significance of which was recognized 
 by his colleagues. He rejoiced as sincerely as any of 
 our number in the final realization of our hopes. 
 
 In the relations of the Faculty circle, Dr. Bacon was 
 all that could have been desired. He was the oldest 
 301
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 among Ub, and had long since attained eminence both in 
 his own profession and as a participant and leader in 
 great movements. His position and life had accord- 
 ingly been such as would, in the case of most men, have 
 tended to self-assertion, or even to somewhat of the 
 domineering spirit. So far from this, however, in his 
 case there was no placing of himself, in any way or 
 measure, above the youngest of his associates. He held 
 his mind always open to conviction, as he listened to the 
 arguments of others or discussed serious questions with 
 them. When he differed from the majority of his col- 
 leagues, he yielded his opinions as gracefully as any man 
 could have done opinions too, which had been ex- 
 pressed with a force and emphasis characteristic of him- 
 self. There seemed to be a readiness ever, as he met 
 with us in our deliberations, to lead, or to be led, as the 
 occasion might seem to require, to the end of realizing the 
 best results. He was, indeed, a whole-hearted, whole- 
 souled man, with whom it was an unceasing pleasure to 
 be connected in the intimate relationships of the Faculty. 
 In his intellectual gifts Dr. Bacon was a man of re- 
 markable character. He had a very clear and distinct 
 perception of truth, and laid hold upon it with a firm 
 grasp. His logical power was conspicuous and was of 
 the order pertaining to the ablest advocates in the con- 
 flicts of thought. He had an extraordinary memory, 
 which seized upon everything of importance and interest 
 that he learned or read, and made it his own for use 
 whenever it was needed. His mind was exceedingly 
 rich in its thinking. It was awake on every side,- never 
 inactive or at rest, effervescent and scintillating with wit 
 and brightness. His rhetorical skill, and felicity, as 
 well as facility of expression, were equal to those of the 
 best English writers. He had powers* of oratory that 
 placed him on a level with the ablest orators of his time. 
 His humor was so exquisite that it was a continual charm 
 302
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 to listen to him when he was engaged in conversation 
 with friends. His poetic sense was ever clearly mani- 
 fest in his written discourses, in his public prayers, in 
 the services of the Church, in his impressive reading of 
 hymns, and in the tender and the grand hymns of which 
 he was himself the author. 
 
 It was not strange that he held a very prominent place 
 in the city, the State, and the Church. He was designed 
 by nature for public life. His powers qualified him 
 for the part which he took in the great struggles and 
 controversies of his generation. These struggles kin- 
 dled his ardor and excited his enthusiasm. He had the 
 spirit of a true soldier in a conflict. His whole heart 
 and soul were stirred to the very depths by the long 
 anti-slavery contest, alike in its era of discussion, and 
 in that of actual warfare which followed. He lived 
 through the whole of a period in which, whatever may 
 be said of other times, there was a call, full of emphasis, 
 upon the clergy to preach on themes connected with the 
 political, as well as the moral, well-being of the country. 
 His voice was heard in all these years, and it gave forth 
 its utterances with no uncertain sound. 
 
 As a citizen of Connecticut, he was in the truest and 
 deepest sense loyal to the commonwealth to its his- 
 tory, its traditions, and the ideas which it had always 
 represented. As a citizen of New Haven, he took a 
 foremost place in its life, even from his early manhood, 
 and in his later years he had a position in the esteem 
 of his fellow townsmen which was quite unique and 
 quite his own. A somewhat amusing illustration of this 
 peculiar influence in the city was given, about the year 
 1875, m a story which an able, and rather eccentric, 
 pastor of one of the Methodist churches related concern- 
 ing himself and his own experience. He said, one day, 
 to a friend of mine, " I never knew any place, in which 
 I have lived before my coming hither, that was like 
 
 303
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 New Haven." " What do you think ? " he added. "A 
 few evenings ago, we had a meeting in our church to 
 consider the question of building a small chapel to be 
 used for the purposes of the church. Now in all the 
 towns where I have lived, when the Methodists have had 
 any question relating solely to their own interests, they 
 have felt entirely adequate to make their decision for 
 themselves. But here, after the discussion had gone 
 on for some little time, one of the brethren rose, and 
 said, ' Has any one learned what is Dr. Bacon's opinion 
 on the subject? ' So it is always in New Haven. Even 
 Methodists must wait to know Dr. Bacon's judgment 
 before they take action." 
 
 This power of his in the community was the more re- 
 markable, because of his active and fearless participa- 
 tion in the controversies of the time. He was, as we 
 may truly say, a controversialist by nature and tempera- 
 ment. Persons of this character are wont to excite hos- 
 tility, and to retain their influence only with those of 
 their own party. But men who knew Dr. Bacon, as his 
 fellow-citizens did, recognized him as he truly was, in 
 this regard. They saw or they gradually came to see, 
 as he moved on towards later life that he was a con- 
 troversialist, if we may so say, in the region of the mind 
 rather than the heart. Even as he uttered his impas- 
 sioned denunciatory words, he had no unworthy bitter- 
 ness of feeling towards his adversaries. It was the sin 
 that he denounced; not the sinner apart from it. He 
 would drive away the evil, and would reform the evil 
 man. As the last years came, he was honored and 
 esteemed by every one. When he walked through the 
 city streets, all who met him looked upon him with a 
 reverential, and even an affectionate feeling. They felt 
 that he had honored the town by his presence in it, and 
 they wished for him long-continued life and happiness. 
 
 His mind was very rich in its wit and humor. His 
 304
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 memory held in its possession a multitude of stories, 
 which he narrated with great effect upon those who 
 heard them. But he differed from ordinary story- 
 tellers, and even from many of the best, in two important 
 and interesting points. In the first place, he rarely, if 
 ever, told a story simply for its own sake ; it was always 
 used to enforce or illustrate some remark or statement 
 that he was making. It was, in the second place, a very 
 uncommon thing for him to repeat a story in the hearing 
 of a person to whom he had, on any previous occasion, 
 related it. He stood thus at as wide a remove as pos- 
 sible from the class of men who tell stories in succession, 
 by the hour as it were, and likewise from those whose 
 humor and wit are limited to story-telling. His humor 
 was in his thoughts and the expression of them. He 
 was, therefore, never wearisome, as some humorists, 
 even of high repute, occasionally are. 
 
 The witticisms which made his conversation with his 
 friends attractive seemed always to be instantaneous 
 flashes of thought, coming into his mind as suddenly as 
 they came forth from it. In the most full and complete 
 sense, they were his own and characteristic of himself. A 
 record of many of them, if it could have been preserved, 
 would have a peculiar interest. But they belonged 
 mainly, of course, to the passing moment of their utter- 
 ance. I may mention an instance of his wonderful quick- 
 ness which comes to my mind as I am writing. In a 
 little company of gentlemen who had assembled one 
 evening, in accordance with their custom of meeting 
 together from time to time, a question arose as to a paper 
 to be written or public address to be delivered, in regard 
 to which it was desired that some one of very special 
 ability should be assigned to the work of preparing it. 
 Dr. Woolsey and Dr. Bacon were the two oldest and the 
 two most prominent men who were present at the 
 meeting. They were college classma'tes, and had been 
 
 305
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 intimate friends ever since their graduation. As it hap- 
 pened, Dr. Bacon's name was the first in the alphabet- 
 ically arranged list of the class, and Dr. Woolsey's the 
 last. When the discussion of the question had been car- 
 ried on for a little time, Dr.Woolsey said that Dr. Bacon 
 was the man among them all to do the work he had 
 the gifts and the learning he had the eloquence and 
 rhetorical power he was the one whom his class, the 
 Class of 1820, always selected for such an emergency 
 because he was in this regard, even as he was in the cata- 
 logue, the head of the class. After he had finished his 
 urgent remarks, and had become silent, Dr. Bacon very 
 quietly, but immediately, said: "There are some animals, 
 and the Class of 1820 is one of them, whose strength is 
 in their tails." The subject was exhausted, and the de- 
 cision made. 
 
 I remember that, on another occasion, when a discus- 
 sion on the subject of additional instruction in English 
 Literature was under consideration at a similar meeting, 
 I had myself spoken with some earnestness, and at some 
 length, upon the manner of teaching the classics which 
 was at that time (thirty-five years ago) prevalent in all 
 our colleges. I had called attention to the excess of 
 grammar, in all the instruction, as compared with the 
 vocabulary and the literary elements of the language, 
 and to the consequent fact, that young men gave up read- 
 ing the ancient classics after their graduation. I had 
 said also, what I have thought and said since then, that 
 college graduates would read as little English, as they 
 then read the classical languages, if they knew the vocab- 
 ulary as little, and were as absolutely dependent on the 
 constant use of a dictionary. Soon afterward, when it 
 came to be the Doctor's turn to speak, he said: "If 
 English is to be taught after the style which Professor 
 Dwight sets forth in speaking of the classics, in my judg- 
 ment there should be no additional instruction; for, 
 306
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 when the new additions have been made, our graduates 
 will not know how to read." We teach the classics in 
 a better way now, and the danger which the Doctor 
 pointed out so keenly is diminished, if it has not disap- 
 peared. 
 
 I may give another illustration of the fitness and 
 idiosyncrasy, if I may use the word, of the terms or 
 phrases which he used in the expression of his humor. 
 One of the older professors in the institution at that time 
 was very learned as a scholar, but was somewhat slow 
 and undemonstrative as some thought, dry as a 
 teacher. A friend was speaking of him to Dr. Bacon, 
 and saying that it seemed very unfortunate, and much 
 to be regretted, that one who had so much knowledge 
 as the Professor evidently possessed, did not in a higher 
 degree stimulate his classes. " Yes," said Dr. Bacon, 
 " he is an excellent man, and an admirable scholar, but 
 he needs a dose of bumble-bees." The possible useful- 
 ness of bumble-bees in the sphere of the materia medica 
 has often impressed itself upon my mind, since I heard of 
 Dr. Bacon's proposed remedy. There are cases among 
 teachers, where this is the only medicine which can effect 
 a cure. But it is very difficult to apply the remedy where 
 it is especially needed. 
 
 In the case of this old professor, however, there was 
 an occasion when he evidently took the medicine for 
 himself. He was a man who conscientiously and relig- 
 iously condemned negro slavery, and was intolerant of it 
 and of sympathy with or acquiescence in the system. On 
 a certain summer afternoon, about the year 1855, he met 
 a gentleman of his acquaintance on the street a gentle- 
 man who commonly lived in one of the most southern 
 states during the winter, but was accustomed to spend 
 the milder season of the year in New Haven. As this 
 meeting of the two happened to be the first in that ye* 
 they naturally greeted each other, and had a brief con- 
 
 307
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 versation before they separated. In the course of the 
 conversation, the Professor said: "I have sometimes 
 wondered how you are able to live comfortably in a slave 
 State." " Why so?" said the gentleman. "You believe 
 slavery is wrong, do you not?" said the Professor. 
 " Yes," was the reply. " And you are an anti-slavery 
 man?" " Yes." "And are ready to express your senti- 
 ments here?" " Yes." " But if this be true, how can 
 you get on comfortably at the South?" " Oh," said the 
 gentleman, "I get on well, because I do not say any- 
 thing on the subject when I am there." After a few 
 words more, the two men parted, and each went his 
 way. The next morning, they chanced to meet again 
 on the street. The Professor said, " Good morning, 
 Mr. B." The gentleman replied with a similar greet- 
 ing. The Professor then went through the questions 
 and answers of the preceding day, and asked if his 
 statement of each was correct, and received from the 
 gentleman an affirmative response. " Well," said the 
 Professor, "I have been thinking over your course of 
 action since we met yesterday; and I consider it a mean 
 one. I bid you good morning." Then he turned, and 
 passed on his way. The medicine had evidently been 
 taken, at least on this one occasion, and had had its 
 effect. The quiet scholar and unemotional teacher had, 
 for the moment, surpassed even what Dr. Bacon himself 
 could have done. 
 
 The quickness of Dr. Bacon's mental action and his 
 fertility in thought were manifest to every one who came 
 within the circle of his acquaintance. I have said of 
 him oftentimes in the past, and others have said the same 
 thing, that he seemed to have more fresh thoughts in a 
 day than most men, even men of ability and culture, have 
 in a week. Herein, indeed, was one of the marked 
 peculiarities of the man, and one which rendered him 
 exceedingly interesting. As a consequence of it, he was
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 able, with quickness of vision, to see both sides of a 
 question under discussion, and often to state the argu- 
 ments on both sides as fully, and even more clearly than 
 any one else. Sometimes, when the topic was not one 
 of serious importance, or was one to which he happened 
 to be giving no very careful consideration, he might 
 easily be led, by reason of this rapid thinking, to advo- 
 cate, within an hour or two, two opposite opinions. I 
 remember myself to have led him, quite to my surprise, 
 to do this on one or more occasions. But these were, if 
 I may so express it, only playful movements of his mind. 
 With reference to great questions, and matters of real 
 significance, he was thorough in his investigations; well- 
 grounded and well-established in his judgment; firm 
 and strong in his convictions; a man adapted to press 
 forward as an earnest advocate in every good cause. 
 The playful movement, however, was in itself delightful, 
 and withal it showed how generous and tolerant and 
 large-hearted he was. It proved helpful also to those 
 who were engaged with him in a common effort for the 
 accomplishment of some desirable end. It opened the 
 way for persuasion, since he had a listening ear for every 
 reasonable suggestion, and was thus altogether free from 
 the obstinacy of one-sided and prejudiced men. He had 
 much of what the Apostle James calls the wisdom that 
 is from above, which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, 
 easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, 
 without partiality, and without hypocrisy. His quickness 
 of thought, I may add, both enabled and disposed him 
 to be an active intellectual worker. He was always read- 
 ing, studying, writing, speaking, putting forth his mental 
 energies in every way. The mind, in his case, never went 
 to sleep. It knew no dead line of fifty, of which many 
 talk; or even of sixty, or of seventy. He was ever the 
 same to the very last full of new ideas, full of 
 energy, full of hope, full of life. .-It was a beautiful 
 309
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 picture of the scholarly and thoughtful man, which he 
 presented to the people of his Church when, at the end 
 of forty years of service, he asked to be released from 
 the duties of the pastoral office, and said to them of 
 himself and his outlook toward the future, "I know more 
 now than I knew a year ago. I hope to know more next 
 year than I know now." And again, ten years later, as 
 a true Christian scholar, he said, "I know more to-day 
 more adequately and exactly what God reveals to 
 us by the Bible, than I knew fifty years ago more than 
 I knew ten years ago ; and I am still a learner, and hope 
 to be a learner to the end." 
 
 It was, indeed, a happy thing for one's experience, 
 and for one's remembrance afterwards, to be for fifteen 
 years associated with such a man in the close relations of 
 the Theological Faculty. It was an inspiration to be in 
 daily intercourse with an older colleague who was ever 
 wakeful, ever learning, ever reaching out for greater 
 things, and ever abounding in hope of the larger and 
 better life of the coming time. So he was with us even 
 to the end. He met his classes on the last day of the 
 autumn term, just before the vacation for the Christmas 
 season. He then gave himself to the discussion of one 
 of the great questions that were at the time awakening 
 national interest, and on the evening of December 23d 
 he was engaged in writing a paper on the subject for 
 publication. When the hour for retirement for the 
 night arrived, he left the paper unfinished on his table, 
 intending to add what might be needful on the day that 
 should follow. But at an early morning hour, soon after 
 the dawn of the winter day, his spirit passed beyond our 
 earthly sight. There seemed, indeed, to be no ending of 
 a life, as he left us, but only an entrance, in answer to a 
 loving call, into a new sphere of mental and spiritual 
 activity a sphere larger and more full of beauty than 
 that which had opened itself for the efforts, and realized 
 in its measure the possibilities, of the earlier years, 
 310
 
 XVII. 
 
 Dr. Woolsey's Administration Some Men of His 
 Time, 1846-71. 
 
 IN the year 1871, which was so memorable in the 
 history of the Divinity School, the administration 
 of President Woolsey came to its end. The quar- 
 ter of a century which was included within his official 
 term, as is evident from what has been already said 
 respecting it, was a period of great interest and im- 
 portance in the history of the entire institution. Before 
 writing further, however, of its work and its results, 1 
 may allow myself, not unsuitably as I think, to say a. 
 few words respecting some of the other central officialt 
 of the College in the years between 1858 and 1871. 
 The Secretary of the Corporation during the greatei- 
 part of this period was Wyllys Warner. The office oi 
 Treasurer was held successively by Edward C. Herriclj 
 and Henry C. Kingsley. 
 
 Mr. Warner was a graduate of the College, of tin 
 Class of 1826. He studied theology in the years fol- 
 lowing his graduation, and was ordained to the ministry. 
 In 1833, he became Treasurer of the institution. Thife 
 office he held for nineteen years until 1852, when, on 
 account of somewhat enfeebled health, he offered his 
 resignation. Six years later he was asked to take the 
 position of Secretary, which he accepted and retained 
 until his death in 1869. From the days of his student 
 life as a member of the Theological Department, he 
 seems to have been deeply interested in its welfare and 
 earnest in his desire that its means of usefulness might 
 
 3"
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 be enlarged. His earliest efforts in the financial sphere, 
 even while he was still pursuing his studies, were put 
 forth in its behalf. Subsequently, in 1830, he became, 
 by request of the College authorities, an active agent 
 in the work of securing the fund of one hundred thou- 
 sand dollars for the further endowment of the institu- 
 tion which, as already stated, was the first great move- 
 ment of the kind in the earlier part of the century. His 
 success in this important enterprise, it is believed, was 
 the determining cause of his call, three years afterwards, 
 to take charge of the entire business of the treasury. 
 The duties of this office he discharged with fidelity and 
 efficiency. He was one of the most energetic solicitors 
 of funds, and one of the most successful of those whom 
 the institution has had in its service, if the matter of 
 success and energy be measured by the possibilities of 
 that era. He deserves to be held in kindliest memory 
 by all who are interested in the progress and develop- 
 ment of Yale. 
 
 As for myself, I place his name upon these pages with 
 grateful recognition, for it was, in no inconsiderable 
 measure, due to him that my appointment to the chair 
 in the Divinity School was made when it was. He had 
 just been elected Secretary of the Corporation when I 
 returned from Europe, and was consequently present 
 at the meeting of that body in September, 1858, which 
 was held for <"he purpose of appointing a successor to 
 Dr. Taylor in the Doctrinal Professorship. After the 
 vote upon this important matter had been taken, the 
 question of adding a new instructor in the Biblical 
 department was presented for consideration. The 
 limited condition of the funds, however, made the 
 members of the body hesitant, and disposed to defer any 
 definite action until a later time. Mr. Warner had been 
 for a long period the Treasurer of the institution, but 
 he had also been active in increasing its resources. 
 
 312
 
 PRESIDENT THEODORE D. WOOLSEY
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 He had thus realized in himself not only the caution 
 which treasurers sometimes have, but also the impelling 
 force which is essential for the men who would seek 
 additions to the treasury. He had the outlook towards 
 the future, and not simply the thought of the present. 
 With this outlook, he felt that the time for a forward 
 movement had now come, and he said, with courage and 
 emphasis, that the school needed, at that critical mo- 
 ment, a young man in its Faculty, who should have 
 already made some progress in his work, and have be- 
 come, in some measure, master of the situation, before 
 the older men passed off the stage. His words were 
 effective, and the result was a happy one for me deter- 
 mining my future at that early moment. The financial 
 venture, on the part of the Corporation, was not a very 
 serious one, at least, it would not appear so, as viewed 
 from the standpoint of to-day for there had fallen into 
 the possession of the school, within a few weeks, a 
 small legacy, and the salary of the young professor, 
 though more than the income of the new fund and quite 
 beyond that of my predecessor when he was first called 
 to his office, was not large enough to frighten any one 
 except the person who received it. 
 
 It is interesting to look back over the old records of 
 Mr. Warner's work from 1830 to 1835, and to see what 
 the contributions to the funds were at that time, as com- 
 pared with what we look for in these days. When an ef- 
 fort was made in 1834 and 1835 to secure the sum neces- 
 sary for the erection of the old Divinity Hall, which 
 stood at a little remove from North College and in a line 
 with what we now speak of as the Old Brick Row, it 
 was ascertained that thirteen thousand dollars would 
 be required. There were nearly two hundred and fifty 
 donors to this fund two of whom gave fifteen hundred 
 dollars each, and three others five hundred each. The 
 contributions of two hundred and " forty-five persons 
 
 313
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 were, accordingly, needed to make up the remainder of 
 the amount desired that is to say, eighty-five hundred 
 dollars. When we think of the labor which was involved 
 in seeing and persuading such a number of persons, we 
 may fitly give an honorable place in our records to the 
 names of the men who heroically performed it. We 
 may congratulate ourselves also, that we live in an era 
 of larger gifts. 
 
 In this connection I recall the story of an experience 
 of Mr. Warner, which he related to me in the first years 
 of my professorial career. At the time of his efforts 
 on behalf of the Divinity School, in the early thirties, 
 the theological controversies between what were called 
 the Old and New School parties in Connecticut were 
 at their height. Dr. Taylor was the leader of the New 
 School party and, as a consequence, the Theological 
 Seminary of which he was, in a sense, the head was 
 exposed to the violent opposition of the Old School 
 men. These men were pastors of many of the churches 
 in the State and, among them, of some which were 
 located in towns not far from New Haven. To one of 
 these neighboring towns Mr. Warner first took his 
 way, making his journey with his own horse and chaise, 
 as there were no railroads in Connecticut at the time. 
 Having reached his destination he established himself 
 at a house of entertainment, and proceeded to make a 
 beginning of his work. He called upon a certain gentle- 
 man in the village who, after hearing his presentation 
 of the case, made him a gift of five dollars. As the 
 evening was drawing near, he returned to his place of 
 temporary abode, intending on the next day to continue 
 his solicitations. When the morning came, however, he 
 learned that the pastor of the church had already been 
 informed of the gift which he had received for the 
 Divinity School, and had become so excited and incensed 
 by the fact, that he had done his utmost to rouse his 
 
 314
 
 REV. WYLLYS WARNER
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 parishioners to hostility to the intruder upon his domain, 
 and to a refusal to listen to his requests. The result 
 was that Mr. Warner was obliged to leave the town. 
 
 A suggestive story indeed this is suggestive, not 
 only in the sphere of theology, but likewise in that of 
 money. The sum of five dollars was helpful and en- 
 couraging to the college worker of that period. It 
 was the cause of alarm and indignation to his theological 
 opponent. My colleagues and myself, in our efforts to 
 secure endowments for the school a generation later, 
 had a happier lot, in that we labored in an era when 
 party strifes had diminished, and when the possibilities 
 of gifts had increased. Mr. Warner, however, was not 
 discouraged by his experience, but, in accordance with 
 the bidding given to the apostles, when rejected in one 
 place he moved onward to another; and finally his work 
 was completed. The matter of securing the fund of one 
 hundred thousand dollars for the College was, of course, 
 a much larger undertaking, but it was equally successful. 
 It was free from some of the special difficulties which 
 attended the other enterprise, yet the limitations in the 
 amounts of individual gifts were conspicuous in com- 
 parison with what we have become accustomed to in 
 more recent times. 
 
 Mr. Herrick was called into the service of the College 
 at the time when the fund for the erection of a building 
 for the College and Society Libraries was secured. This 
 building, which is now commonly called the Old Li- 
 brary, was first occupied in the year 1843. The College 
 Library had, for twenty years previously, been located 
 in the fourth story of the Chapel of that period. It 
 consisted of not more than about fifteen thousand vol- 
 umes. The use made of it was quite limited. It was 
 opened only once or twice a week, and there was little, 
 if any, provision for persons desiring to pursue investiga-
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 tions. Undergraduate students of the two lower classes 
 had no access to it, while those of the two upper classes 
 availed themselves only occasionally of the privileges 
 which were allowed them. The completion of the new 
 building was the beginning of a new life for the institu- 
 tion in this regard. 
 
 No more satisfactory appointment to the office of 
 Librarian could have been made, at that critical moment, 
 than that which was determined upon by the Corpora- 
 tion, when they turned, with unanimous sentiment, 
 towards Mr. Herrick as the man for the position. He 
 was then thirty-two years of age. He was not, indeed, 
 a graduate of the College having been prevented by 
 special circumstances from pursuing his studies in 
 preparation for the academic course. But he had had 
 peculiar and very favorable opportunities for gaining 
 that intimate knowledge of books which is of essential 
 importance to one who is to have charge of a college 
 library. His mind was most alert and active on every 
 side. It was so alert and active that he must have 
 become a thoroughly educated man, as it would seem, 
 however unfavorable might have been the condition in 
 which he was placed. But, by good fortune, he was 
 placed where he had the possibility of acquaintance with 
 the best literature, and also with educated and learned 
 men. His self-cultivation, therefore, was rendered com- 
 paratively easy and, as the result, he made himself the 
 peer of his associates of the Faculty. His acquirements 
 in different languages were of no ordinary character. 
 In the domain of science, especially in entomology and 
 astronomy, he was not only an investigator, but a dis- 
 coverer as well. His interest in these studies continued 
 undiminished throughout his life. In historical research, 
 especially with reference to the history of New England 
 and Connecticut, he was remarkable both for his en- 
 thusiasm and his accuracy. In his later years his mind 
 316
 
 EDWARD C. HERRICK
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 had become, as it were, a storehouse of knowledge and 
 information respecting the graduates of the College. 
 As a student of words all regarded him as an authority, 
 and for this reason his services were called for, in 
 large measure, in connection with the edition of Web- 
 ster's Dictionary which was published in 1847, an d 
 with other editions issued before his death. 
 
 In conversation, he had great attractiveness, being full 
 of intelligence, rich in his command of language, 
 felicitous by reason of a peculiar humor, and winsome 
 because of his kindly spirit. He seemed to know some- 
 thing of everything that was worth knowing a happy 
 result of a broad education in the best order of men; 
 in his case, the result of the brightness and ardor of a 
 mind which was ever ready to put forth its energies on 
 all sides. He watched the stars, and communed with 
 them, by night. He rose with the dawn or the sun-rising 
 in the morning, and, before the beginning of the day 
 for other men, he had already accomplished a large 
 portion of his daily task. Whenever a friend called 
 upon him, therefore, he appeared to be at leisure not 
 fretted or troubled because of interruptions; perfectly 
 free to converse on any subject of interest; in full posses- 
 sion of all the time and strength which the friend might 
 ask him to place at his disposal. The generosity with 
 which he offered his personal service to others whom he 
 found to be in need manifested itself at all times, and 
 was as conspicuous in his relations to the poor of the 
 city as it was with reference to those who enjoyed the 
 privilege of intimate acquaintance with him. He 
 abounded in sympathy for college men when they were 
 in financial difficulties, or in any way distressed, and 
 made known to him their trials or their wants. The 
 wisdom of the wise was united in his character with the 
 simplicity of the child. In mind and heart he was 
 helpful to all. With this spirit of helpfulness, he made 
 
 317
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 the library of the institution a center of intellectual life 
 for the college community a source of light and knowl- 
 edge for those who were eager learners, and a working- 
 place for the men who were willing to search into the 
 deeper things. 
 
 For nine years he rendered his valuable and faithful 
 service in his office as Librarian, giving himself wholly, 
 and with increasing satisfaction, to the discharge of the 
 duties which it involved. At the end of those years, in 
 1852, when Mr. Warner's impaired health constrained 
 him to give up his position as Treasurer of the College, 
 Mr. Herrick was selected by the Corporation as the 
 person best qualified to fill the place. With considerable 
 reluctance, he accepted the appointment, but for the six 
 following years he held the two offices. In 1858, he 
 was released altogether from his duties in the Library, 
 and, from that time until the end of his life, he devoted 
 himself exclusively to the work of the Treasury. In 
 this work he proved to be as successful as he had been 
 in his former position. He was open-minded, energetic, 
 possessed of much financial skill and wisdom. In the 
 organization of the office and its business, he made 
 improvements upon the earlier time, which were at once 
 recognized as advantageous, and which, in some respects, 
 have retained their influence even to the present day. 
 
 An instance or two of Mr. Herrick's humor, of no 
 significance except by way of example, I give from my 
 memory of him. Hundreds of others more worthy of 
 record may, doubtless, be recalled by other friends who 
 knew him intimately. He was, as I have already said, 
 a lover of the stars, and, like all astronomers as I sup- 
 pose, he loved them more than he loved the moon. He 
 watched them on the clear starry nights with infinite 
 delight. To the common mind, on the other hand, how- 
 ever beautiful the stars may seem, the moonlight has 
 even a more wonderful charm. One evening, a friend 
 318
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 of mine was talking with him and, in the course of the 
 conversation, expressed the pleasure felt in the bright 
 moonlight of the preceding night. "Oh," said he, "it was 
 beautiful enough; but did you not notice that it ob- 
 scured the brilliancy of the stars?" "Yes," was the 
 reply, "but I like to see the moon better than I do to see 
 the stars." "Impossible," he answered; "it cannot be so, 
 for what intelligent person has ever thought the charms 
 of Diana equal to those of Venus?" 
 
 On another occasion, in a talk with the same friend, 
 a lecture by a scientific gentleman which had just been 
 given on the subject of earthquakes was spoken of. Mr. 
 Herrick lived directly opposite this friend on one of the 
 city streets, and in a house rented of a gentleman who, 
 in the sphere of money, had the reputation of being 
 very anxious and watchful. In the course of the con- 
 versation, my friend expressed a sense of apprehension 
 connected with earthquakes, and their destructiveness as 
 portrayed in the lecturer's discourse, and asked Mr. 
 Herrick if he did not have some of the same disquieting 
 fears. "Oh, no," he replied, "I have no anxious thoughts 
 about earthquakes. I rent my house from my neighbor, 
 whose character you well know, and I leave all the fears, 
 and the reckoning as to losses, to him." Even on the 
 last day but two of his life when the final illness, 
 though he knew it not, was just coming upon him the 
 same humor of his nature was manifested. On the 
 afternoon of that day he had a long and evidently 
 wearisome talk one of many such with a worthy gen- 
 tleman, a benefactor of the College withal, who was 
 noted for the continuousness of his discourse. On his 
 way from his office to his house, at the close of the after- 
 noon, he called on his physician, and said to him, "I am 
 unwell, and wish a remedy which will cure me imme- 
 diately, as I have no time now to be sick." The physi- 
 cian asked him what he had been doing that should have 
 
 319
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 brought on such an attack of weakness. He replied, "I 
 know of nothing except that I have had a conversation 
 of two and a half hours with Mr. X." It was always 
 thus some unexpected turn of thought or peculiar form 
 of expression would give new life to all that was said, 
 and the hearer, however often he had met him before, 
 would be charmed with a new vision of the brightness 
 of his mind. 
 
 The oak tree near the Battell Chapel on the College 
 grounds, which is now so beautiful in the autumn season, 
 was planted by him, and is a pleasant memorial of him 
 for those who remember his interest in its early growth. 
 I wish that it might bring him, in a vision of his generous, 
 manly life, to all the sons of Yale. But as the older 
 generations pass away and the new ones come forward 
 in our college world, the men of the by-gone days are 
 soon forgotten. 
 
 It was a touching request which Mr. Herrick 
 made of his friends just before the ending of his life 
 that the inscription on his monument should be as 
 simple as possible, and that there should be no eulogy. 
 He had done his work well; with noble impulse; with 
 ceaseless energy; with loving helpfulness; with wise 
 intelligence; with happy success; a work for others, 
 rather than himself, and for a good and worthy cause. 
 But he had now come to the hour when the soul looks 
 inward upon itself and onward to the great future, and 
 words of praise seem far beyond its thoughts and outside 
 of its real life. His request was characteristic of his 
 manhood. His principle of action was to leave every- 
 thing to which he gave his efforts better than he found 
 it. But he looked for his reward in the accomplishment 
 of the work, and he asked for nothing more. 
 
 Mr. Herrick's successor in the Treasurership, as 
 already intimated, was Henry C. Kingsley. His official 
 
 320
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 career extended over a period of nearly a quarter of a 
 century, from 1862 to 1886. The College, within this 
 period, was rapidly developing toward the University. 
 It was a time when larger life was continually opening 
 the time, indeed, when the change from the limitations 
 of the earlier part of the century to what is now realized 
 was beginning to make itself clearly manifest. This 
 change was as marked in the sphere of the treasury, as 
 it was elsewhere ; and though progress here was slow in 
 comparison with that which has characterized the more 
 recent years, the Treasurer's office required a wider 
 vision than before, and a greater executive power in 
 the financial line. Mr. Kingsley had been connected 
 with the business affairs of a railroad company for some 
 years, and previously had been an active worker in the 
 legal profession. His experience, accordingly, fitted 
 him, in a very considerable measure, for the new duties 
 which he was called to take upon himself. His mental 
 gifts also qualified him for the office assigned him. The 
 history of his administration of the office is an interesting 
 part of the College history, and gives abundant proof 
 of his wisdom and success and, at the same time, of his 
 generous and self-sacrificing devotion to the welfare of 
 the institution. 
 
 Mr. Kingsley was a son of Professor Kingsley, and 
 he had many of the characteristics of his father. He 
 was a man of unusual ability, but disposed by nature to 
 self-withdrawal and retirement. He resembled his 
 father in his fondness for historical investigation, being 
 much given to reading. He had somewhat of his father's 
 clearness and facility in the expression of his thoughts 
 in writing. A measure of his father's wit was, likewise, 
 an inheritance of his, though it was, in his case, far less 
 frequent in its display of itself. He was, by no means, 
 a mere business man, but, at the same time, a man of 
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 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 scholarly culture at home, by reason of his sympathies 
 and acquirements, in the academic circle. 
 
 The first nine years of Mr. Kingsley's official career 
 belonged to the period of which I have been writing in 
 the preceding chapters the period from 1858 to 1871. 
 He was a kindly friend to us who were of the Theologi- 
 cal Department, in those critical years, aiding us with 
 generosity according to the special need of the time, 
 whether in the way of wise counsel, or of efficient man- 
 agement of funds received, or of personal gifts. I was 
 myself brought into somewhat close relations to him in 
 connection with our financial efforts, and was an observer 
 of his methods, as well as of his tendencies, in the matter 
 of investments. He seemed to me, as I believe he did 
 to all who were acquainted with him in this department 
 of his life, to be characterized by much wisdom. He 
 carried in his mind and memory, not only all the details 
 of importance pertaining to the funds, but also the his- 
 tory of the office and everything connected with it. As 
 a consequence, he was always ready to act with prompt- 
 ness and efficiency. He was prepared for all emergencies, 
 and was so skillful in his management of the resources 
 of the institution that he succeeded in keeping its income 
 very nearly, if not quite undiminished, notwithstanding 
 the lessening of the rates of interest which began to 
 be realized in the later years of his official term. 
 
 The three successive Treasurers were men widely 
 different from one another, but, happily for the College, 
 each one of them had the special qualifications which 
 the period of his service seemed to require. They were 
 all equally consecrated to the interests of the institution 
 putting forth their energies continually under the 
 guidance of their financial wisdom, and never losing 
 heart or courage in their work. The office of the 
 Treasurer in a university is very near the center of its 
 322
 
 HENRY C. KINGSLEY
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 life's forces. The man who fills the office with large 
 intelligence and success cannot be too highly esteemed. 
 
 The Corporation of the College in 1858 consisted, 
 as had been the case since 1792, of the Governor and 
 Lieutenant Governor of the State and six members of 
 the State Senate, together with the President and ten 
 Clerical Fellows who were the successors of the original 
 trustees. The senators were quite irregular in their 
 attendance at the meetings of the body and, as their 
 term of political service was usually very short, they 
 took but little interest in college matters. The ten 
 ministers and the President were the real power in the 
 institution. They constituted the majority of the Board, 
 and exercised authority as their predecessors of the early 
 days had done. 
 
 These ten ministers of the year 1858, who elected me 
 to my professorship, were remarkable for the long con- 
 tinuance of their official service. One of them remained 
 in the membership of the body for forty years, from 
 1821 to 1861 ; two others for thirty-nine years; a fourth 
 for thirty- four years; a fifth for twenty-eight; a sixth 
 for twenty-five ; and a seventh and eighth for twenty-one 
 years. They were all pastors of churches, with the 
 exception of ex-President Day. Their pastorates in the 
 churches where they were then preaching had extended 
 over a long period; in the case of three or four of them, 
 over a period of more than forty years. They were in 
 this respect representatives of the earlier age, when 
 changes of settlement were comparatively infrequent, 
 and when the young minister, as he was called to his 
 first parish, might naturally think of it as the field of his 
 life-long labor. All except two were residents of the 
 smaller towns of the State, but they were men of recog- 
 nized ability and of more than ordinary influence not 
 only in their own neighborhood, but- also among the 
 
 323
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 ministry throughout the commonwealth. No wonder 
 that they seemed old to me when they called me into 
 their service. Several of them had been settled in the 
 ministry before I was born. One of them was of the 
 same class with my father, and another of the next 
 preceding class, while a third was, like President Day, 
 a member of the first company of students on whom my 
 grandfather, as President, had conferred the Bachelor's 
 degree. They were indeed, as Daniel Webster said 
 in addressing the surviving soldiers of the Revolutionary 
 War, venerable men who had come down to us from a 
 former generation. But old as they were or, rather, 
 as they seemed they turned a kindly eye and thought 
 towards me, and I am grateful to them for it. 
 
 The ministers of the earlier half of the century, 
 especially if they continued for a long period in the same 
 place, acquired, in many instances, a certain Pope-like 
 character and power, which rendered them, as it were, 
 an essential element in the life of the community. The 
 towns or cities were influenced and moulded by the per- 
 sonality of these ministers in a way and measure which, 
 in this age of changes, can scarcely be appreciated. They 
 were not merely leading men, but the leading men, in 
 the town or city commonwealth. Three or four, at least, 
 of this body of ten clergymen, of whom I am writing, 
 had this remarkable and wide-reaching influence and 
 power. They were men of authoritative nature, and 
 they had the impulse ever abiding within them to ex- 
 ercise and strengthen their natural gifts in this regard. 
 Some of them, indeed, exerted their powers in a more 
 quiet and gentle way; others after a manner more de- 
 monstrative and forceful. But none left the powers 
 unused. Such cities as Hartford and New London, and 
 such smaller towns as Farmington and Norfolk, have 
 not yet lost out of their characteristic public life what 
 was wrought for them by the long-continued presence 
 324
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 within their borders of Drs. Joel Hawes and Abel Mc- 
 Ewen, Drs. Noah Porter and Joseph Eldridge. These 
 towns will make manifest the results of their work and 
 their personality in the coming time, though years 
 and generations may remove the living citizenship from 
 all remembrance even of their names. The places that 
 knew them may know them, as the Scripture says, no 
 more forever. But life in those places will have within 
 itself a vigor and a richness which came from them. 
 
 The most striking personality in the company was Dr. 
 Joel Hawes, of Hartford. He had been, for more than 
 the life-time of a generation, the pastor of the First 
 Church of that city and was known as a man of influence 
 by every citizen. His personal appearance was impres- 
 sive. Nature had not, indeed, been generous to him in 
 the elements of manly beauty or grace. Quite the 
 opposite. There was force, as well as intelligence, in 
 his face, but his features were rugged and even homely. 
 His figure was gaunt, and his gait and bodily movement 
 were awkward. In stature, however, he was tall and, 
 in a sense, commanding. I do not know why it was so, 
 but he appeared to be taller than any one else taller 
 even than men who were of equal height with himself. 
 Though differing almost as widely as possible from that 
 distinguished preacher of recent years, he resembled in 
 this respect the late Dr. John Hall, of New York. Each 
 of the two men produced on the minds of those who met 
 them the impression of bodily stature which was beyond 
 all ordinary limits, and which was so remarkable as to 
 justify and render appropriate a certain benignity of 
 manner, as if they were looking down upon others with 
 a kind of paternal interest. No inconsiderable measure 
 of Dr. Hall's power was connected, as it seemed to me, 
 with this fact, and the same was true in the case of Dr. 
 Hawes. Their physical presence, even in and of itself, 
 
 325
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 added to their effectiveness in the pastoral relation, and 
 enabled them to make their genuine and tender interest 
 in the soul's well-being of their parishioners more mani- 
 fest, and also more fruitful in results. No two ministers 
 within the last half-century, in our country, have had 
 a larger measure of such genuine interest of the sincere 
 desire to help the inner life of others than had they. 
 
 As a preacher Dr. Hawes was of the older type. He 
 presented the truths of the Gospel which he had received 
 from the fathers s and to which he had accorded his 
 unhesitating belief. He did this with a directness and 
 force that gave his discourses a peculiar power for the 
 minds of his hearers. He was often called upon for 
 service in other cities than his own, in cases of special 
 religious awakenings or revivals. His preaching, at 
 such times, exhibited a seriousness and earnestness of 
 tone and manner which were characteristic of but few 
 even in that revivalistic period. As an intimate and 
 highly esteemed friend of Professor Fitch, he was invited 
 to the College pulpit, during my undergraduate career, 
 whenever the thoughts of the student community turned 
 with more than ordinary interest to the questions of per- 
 sonal Christian life and duty. No preacher from the 
 sphere outside of the College, at such times, made a 
 deeper impression on the students, or was more heartily 
 welcomed by them. The appeal which he made was 
 directed to the central personality of the individual man, 
 and it reached the inmost soul. The call to repentance 
 and renewed character, as it came from him, had in it 
 the solemnity of the great issues of the future, while his 
 persuasive exhortations were full of the force of his own 
 experience. I cannot doubt that many of the students 
 of those days remember him, in these later years of 
 their life, as the Christian preacher who first awakened 
 them to religious thoughtfulness or stirred them to a 
 new and more complete consecration of themselves to 
 326
 
 REV. DR. JOEL HAWES
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 the service of Christ. They all felt that he was himself, 
 in the deepest sense, under the influence of the powers 
 of the world to come, and that his one object in his 
 preaching was to bring his hearers under the same influ- 
 ence. 
 
 Dr. Hawes was not, indeed, a great preacher, nor a 
 great man, as his neighbor in the ministry, Dr. Horace 
 Bushnell, was. He had, in no sense, the characteristics 
 of Dr. Bushnell as an independent, ever restless, ever 
 advancing thinker. On the contrary, he moved in the 
 sphere of already established thought, and was satisfied 
 with what he had received the faith, as he would have 
 said, once for all delivered to the saints. The two men, 
 if I may so express it, were built up from the very 
 foundation after a different plan. So widely apart did 
 they stand in their mental constitution and nature, that 
 they were unable to appreciate or, in any considerable 
 measure, understand each other. But, however great or 
 forceful Dr. Bushnell was and the world has its own 
 high estimate of him Dr. Hawes also had a power 
 peculiar to himself such as any man might desire to 
 possess for the good of his fellow-men. 
 
 He was a man of very noticeable idiosyncrasies. 
 Much as we respected and honored him, we of the Col- 
 lege community were wont to tell of these and often to 
 be diverted by them. The same thing was true with 
 reference to his friends and neighbors in Hartford. 
 Their regard and even veneration for him continued ever 
 undiminished, but they were ready always to repeat to 
 one another, or to those whom they knew elsewhere, 
 pleasing anecdotes illustrating the peculiarities of the 
 honored pastor and preacher. Some of these set forth 
 his imperious tendencies; others, the singularities of his 
 manner and address; others still, his attitude towards 
 younger and older men. He was what very many men 
 are not a person of whom anecdotes could be freely 
 
 327
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 told which afforded amusement to those who heard them, 
 while they added to the hearers' interest in the man, 
 without in the least lowering him in their esteem. 
 
 In comparison with his parishioners and fellow-towns- 
 men, I saw, of course, but little of him in his daily life. 
 Yet even to us, who were farther removed from the 
 center of his living, there were occasional revelations 
 which made it clear that he was no ordinary personage. 
 When I was ordained to the ministry, in 1861, he was 
 invited by the College authorities to be the preacher of 
 the occasion. Very characteristically of himself for he 
 was, in unusual measure, a laudator temporis acti, and 
 had much distrustfulness of the present and its imme- 
 diate issues in the future he selected as his topic of 
 discourse, "The decline of power in the pulpit." The 
 theme was not a very encouraging one for a young 
 preacher just beginning his work. He could hardly 
 regard it as a happy "send off" in his new career, or as 
 a word of very good omen for his success in his profes- 
 sion. But the young preacher, in this particular instance, 
 had some knowledge of his elder brother or father in 
 the ministry; and so he took courage from his own 
 hopes, instead of yielding to another's fears, and thus 
 strengthened his heart in spite of the gloomy vision set 
 before him. 
 
 I confess that, in the passing of the years, I have 
 forgotten almost everything that the venerable Doctor 
 said in his sermon. But one or two matters connected 
 with it have remained in my memory even until now. 
 The good man remarked, as he opened his discourse 
 and stated his subject, that he should devote himself to 
 the consideration of two leading questions: first, What 
 are the causes of the decline of power in the pulpit, and 
 secondly, What are the remedies? Having dwelt with 
 considerable minuteness, and at reasonable length, upon 
 the several points involved in the first of the two ques- 
 328
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 tions, he turned to the second, saying, I now ask, What 
 are the remedies ? and I answer, Remove the causes ! 
 
 Strange to say, I did not, at the time, regard this as 
 a very happy way of answering the inquiry or developing 
 the subject. It seemed to me even somewhat amusing. 
 But I was young then, and inexperienced. The long 
 years since that hour have made me realize that there are 
 many cases in human life where the only effective remedy 
 is to be found in the worthy Doctor's suggestion : Re- 
 move the causes. In college history, as well as in the 
 history of the world outside, how true it is, that we 
 discuss and try to wrestle with difficulties or evils, and 
 waste thought and effort while we wait as patiently as 
 we can, perhaps for years, only to learn, by a slow and 
 sorrowful teaching, that the one remedy has alone in 
 itself the healing power that when, and only when, 
 the cause is removed, can the happy result be realized. 
 How often I have thought of this sufficient remedy, 
 when, alas, it could not be applied. And yet I must 
 admit that, however penetrating and incisive this lead- 
 ing thought of the preacher was, his discourse as he 
 developed it by a new consideration of each individual 
 cause, in connection with the proposed remedy seemed 
 to my mind, at the time, to be less characterized by a 
 continuous advance of ideas than it might have been; ' 
 that it had less than one could have wished of what 
 Dr. Blair, the old Scotch writer on Rhetoric, declares 
 to be essential to an Epic poem ; namely, a beginning, a 
 middle, and an end. So I failed, at the time, to lay 
 the teaching to heart for my opening life as a preacher, 
 and quieted myself with a smile at the Doctor's lugu- 
 brious view of the younger generation. 
 
 I recall an anecdote illustrative of this general order 
 of thought, on the Doctor's part, respecting young men 
 as compared with those who were, like himself, in the 
 329
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 older years, which was told me once by a young parish- 
 ioner of his, now a man of advanced life and very widely 
 known. On a certain occasion, in the later period of 
 the Doctor's pastorate, this gentleman and a number of 
 his youthful associates who were in their early manhood, 
 interested themselves greatly in preparations for a Sun- 
 day evening meeting in the old First Church of Hart- 
 ford, which was to be conducted entirely by the young 
 men of the congregation. The program for the occasion 
 was most carefully arranged, the speakers selected, and 
 everything provided for in the most definite and satis- 
 factory way. A committee of the young gentlemen then 
 waited on the pastor, and asked him to preside at the 
 meeting. At the same time, however, they explained to 
 him what they had in mind, and urged upon him to 
 make no change in the program, as all the speakers 
 were to be the young men whose names were given on 
 the printed order of exercises. He assented to their 
 request, and they went forward with much satisfaction. 
 In due time, the meeting was held. The venerable pastor 
 took the chair as the presiding officer, and began the 
 order of proceedings as appointed. He called succes- 
 sively upon the youthful speakers, until four or five of 
 them had given their brief addresses. But, after a little 
 while, it was noticed by persons who were near him 
 that he was becoming more and more restive and ap- 
 parently dissatisfied. Finally, as one of the speakers 
 finished what he had to say, and another was, according 
 to the program, to be called forward, the Doctor was 
 overheard saying, in a suppressed tone, to himself, 
 "This thing has been going on long enough." Then, 
 immediately in a loud voice, he said, "Chief Justice 
 Ellsworth, will you make a few remarks?" 
 
 I was myself present at what the Doctor called a 
 social religious meeting of his church, at which all, he 
 said, were to speak freely as they felt, when something 
 330
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 similarly illustrative of his characteristics occurred. It 
 was in the time of the Civil War. After the Doctor 
 had spoken at considerable length on the demoralizing 
 influences of the war and the dangers which threatened 
 the spiritual life of the people, and one or two others 
 had followed with other and more general thoughts, a 
 very prominent member of the church rose and, in a 
 brief address, expressed the opinion that the pastor had 
 taken too gloomy a view of the matter, and stated that, 
 in his own mind, the outlook for the future with refer- 
 ence to religion was bright. As this gentleman resumed 
 his seat, the Doctor immediately said, "Nobody doubts 
 that the kingdom of God will finally come, but I was 
 speaking of the manifest evils which threaten us in the 
 present and the near future. Mr. Jones, will you close 
 the meeting with prayer?" 
 
 These little incidents show the man in the aspects of 
 his character to which reference has been made. He 
 had a happy outlook towards the past. The golden 
 vision was there. The virtue and the good which be- 
 longed to it were in remembrance. The evil was. lost 
 out of it. But as for the present and its movement into 
 the early future he was conscious of the imperfection 
 and the dangers. Too often he noted with inward grief 
 and apprehension the decline everywhere, even as he 
 thought he clearly saw the decline of power in the pulpit. 
 
 All this was, in part, the result of his distrust the 
 distrust which older men oftentimes have, in greater or 
 less degree, of the ability and power of the younger 
 generation. It was also due, in part, to the imperious 
 nature of the man. This imperiousness was not allied 
 to tyranny. It was the strongly developed governmental 
 disposition which pertains to the executive order of men, 
 many of whom are most reasonable, and even ready to 
 yield to wise and just views which, at first, were not their 
 own, but were pressed by others, yet almost all of whom 
 331
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 have confidence in their individual personal powers as 
 qualifying them to take the position of leaders. In a 
 conversation which I held with Dr. Hawes soon after- 
 he had, in his advanced life, asked his people to give 
 him a colleague in his ministerial labors, an allusion was 
 made, by chance, to Dr. Noah Porter, of Farmington, 
 who had just then presented a similar request to his own 
 church. I said to Dr. Hawes that Dr. Porter, as I 
 understood, had declared his purpose to pass over his 
 work entirely into the hands of his younger associate, and 
 to be himself simply the pastor emeritus. The Doctor 
 quickly and energetically replied, "I shall not do this." 
 He was not able voluntarily to withdraw from the com- 
 mander's position. He did not have the gift of resign- 
 ing, which is, indeed, one of the rarest gifts possessed 
 by men. 
 
 And yet I well remember his coming to my college 
 room one morning, at a later date, and saying to me, 
 "I have just now been writing a sermon; and what do 
 you suppose was the subject?" I replied that I could 
 not conjecture. He answered, "It was on the duty of 
 being happy; and what do you suppose was the first 
 head?" On my giving a similar reply to that which I 
 had previously made, he said, "It was this: If you 
 want to be happy, don't try to govern the world." It 
 was a charming picture. The good old gentleman's 
 thought might well have been the result of a life-time's 
 meditation on the part of a ruler, who had come to see 
 the vanity of the attempt always to govern. But his 
 tone and bearing, as he uttered all the words, were those 
 of a man who had no more idea of resigning his au- 
 thority, than he had of losing his personal identity. If 
 he could only have followed for himself the doctrine of 
 that new sermon and its first head, he would, I think, 
 have been happier in his latest years. But it was not 
 in his nature to do so. 
 
 332
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 The excellent Doctor had, like many of the preachers 
 of his era, a more constant sense of the uncertainty of 
 life and the nearness of its ending or, at least, greater 
 readiness to give expression to his thought than the 
 majority of his more recent successors in the ministerial 
 profession seem to have. Even beyond his own con- 
 temporaries, he was disposed to make allusion to these 
 solemn subjects in his public discourses. Indeed, when- 
 ever he preached in the College Chapel, he spoke with 
 serious earnestness on this matter. He was wont to 
 say, on each occasion, that not improbably it might be 
 the last on which he would have the opportunity of 
 urging upon his hearers the message of the Gospel. So 
 impressive were these utterances to me in my student 
 days, that I could scarcely credit the statement which I 
 heard ten or twelve years after my graduation, that 
 he was only at that later time just about to celebrate his 
 seventieth birthday. But he had a sweet and tender 
 thought of the entrance into the other life, when the 
 ending here should in reality have come. He said to 
 me one day, when speaking of the great future, "The 
 crawling worm changes into the winged butterfly. So 
 of ourselves. I think of the life beyond. I know not 
 what it will be, or what I shall be. But I know and 
 that is enough that it will be something very beauti- 
 ful." However long I may live, I shall never forget the 
 words which he said to me on that day, or the man as 
 he said them. 
 
 My acquaintance with the other members of the Board 
 was more limited in its character. I will, however, add 
 a few words respecting some of them. Dr. McEwen 
 was a man somewhat after the order of Dr. Hawes, and 
 he exercised, in his own sphere in New London, a ruling 
 power similar to that of his colleague. In intellectual 
 ability he was quite equal to any of his associates. In 
 
 333
 
 MEMORIES OF VALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 moral force he was recognized at all times as a leader. 
 His earliest desire and purpose, as he thought of becom- 
 ing an educated man, were to enter the legal profession. 
 Some of his friends, in his later life, questioned whether 
 his natural gifts would not have found in the work of 
 that profession larger and more fitting opportunities for 
 their exercise. But the call to the ministry came to him 
 so clearly and with so much emphasis, as he thought, 
 that there was no doubt in his own mind as to what he 
 ought to do. His efficiency in his parish, his great and 
 long-continued influence over his associates in pastoral 
 life, and the universal esteem in which he was held in 
 the city where he lived for more than fifty years, gave 
 satisfying testimony to his wisdom, as well as his Chris- 
 tian spirit of consecration, in his yielding obedience to 
 the call as he believed himself to have heard it. He 
 was, as we may judge in view of the record of his life, 
 one of the men, not many in number, who have fitness 
 for either of two professions, and to whom, perchance, 
 equal success will open whether they move forward in 
 the one or in the other. 
 
 His friend and colleague in the Corporation, Dr. 
 Porter, said of him, soon after his death which occurred 
 in 1860, "Domestic life was his greatest earthly delight. 
 At the table, at the fireside, in the parlor and on the 
 way, his desire and his power to please made him pre- 
 eminently the light and joy of his house. In the morn- 
 ing, he of all the family arose first. It was part of his 
 early farmer education he was a farmer's son to make 
 the morning fire. It was at the fireplace that the older 
 children used to meet him, morning by morning, as 
 they left their beds. There they first learned grammar, 
 the English and the Latin, at his lips, and there he 
 dramatized for their entertainment the stories of the Old 
 and New Testaments. And there, too, before the chil- 
 dren were up, as he once remarked to a friend (rare 
 
 334
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 instance of self-revelation for him) 'he had musings in 
 his own heart before God, which were his strength and 
 joy for the day.' " The statement of this last sentence 
 that the joy of his morning prayer, as he sat alone 
 before the early morning fire which he had made, was 
 the gladsome experience of his Christian life I remem- 
 ber to have heard in his latest years, and I have carried 
 the thought of it in my mind ever since. It was the 
 filial communion, intimate and loving, of a son with the 
 Divine Father. 
 
 There is something very interesting in the thought 
 of the old pastorates which continued for half a century 
 so different from the brief and rapidly changing ones 
 of to-day. But there was in general a loss of effective- 
 ness in the later years, I think, which was the result 
 of the length of time. The same voice had been too 
 often heard; the monotone of thought had become a 
 little wearisome; the authority of the governing power 
 had begun to be, in some measure, a burden. "Forty 
 years would have been the better limit," I am sure, was 
 the thought of many at the end. But, after all, there 
 was a power in those lives of the former time, and 
 the men who lived them were often as fully qualified 
 to rule as they were disposed to do so. This was true 
 of Dr. McEwen. He had a humor withal which made 
 him a reasonable and tactful ruler, as he showed when 
 the ending of his service came. At this time though 
 his resignation was offered the prominent men of his 
 congregation had the feeling that, in view of his char- 
 acter and history, he could hardly be expected willingly 
 and completely to give up his power. Some of them, 
 accordingly so I was told years ago waited upon him, 
 and frankly stated their apprehensions. They then pro- 
 ceeded to request him to promise that he would not 
 interfere with the management of church affairs and 
 the church life; and in doing this, th'ey presented the 
 
 335
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 matter with much detail asking him to say definitely 
 that he would refrain from all action in each particular 
 case specified. He assented to their urgent and per- 
 sistent requests. A short time after the interview, and 
 while the pastor's office was yet unfilled, a church meet- 
 ing was held, and he was asked to open it with prayer. 
 To the surprise of all present, he declined. The next 
 day one of the church members met him on the street, 
 and questioned him as to the reason why he did not 
 offer the prayer at the meeting. "Oh," said he, "I 
 agreed that I wouldn't." He was evidently adequate 
 to the emergency. His answer showed such evenness 
 of temper on his own part, and at the same time carried 
 with it such a felicitous suggestion respecting the pres- 
 sure which had been put upon him, that every one who 
 heard the story had a more kindly feeling toward him 
 because of it. To the end he remained the most honored 
 and revered citizen of the city. 
 
 Drs. Porter and Eldridge were men of a different 
 type from the two whom I have mentioned. They were 
 far more content to influence others without exercising, 
 or trying to exercise, positive control. They were, both 
 of them, men who were satisfied with a life and work 
 in the quietness of a small country town. Dr. Porter 
 had the very rare fortune of holding for a period of 
 more than fifty years the office of pastor in the church 
 of the town in which he was born and grew to manhood. 
 As his life moved onward he seemed, as it were, to 
 center the town in himself. He became, more and more 
 truly, the vital force and inspiring power in the com- 
 munity as related to all things pertaining to the higher 
 sphere of living. Young and old alike looked upon him 
 with reverence and love. Children and grandchildren 
 recognized the saintly element in his character and 
 yielded themselves to its influence, as the parents and 
 336
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 grandparents had done in the earlier time. As Drs. 
 Woolsey and Bushnell said of him, he was a marked 
 exception to the universality of the proverb : A prophet 
 is without honor in his own country. "And yet," Dr. 
 Bushnell adds, "it was not honor exactly that his towns- 
 men learned to pay him, but something deeper and 
 closer to necessity. We do not so much honor our 
 heads as accept them, and let them go through our body ; 
 giving dear welcome to what they think, contrive, and 
 impel in our motions all the benefits they propose, all 
 the configurations of body, and feeling, and life in 
 which their sway is exerted. So he grew up with his 
 people as they grew, went with them week by week 
 and year by year in his teachings, and they took him 
 pervasively." He was, indeed, we may truly say, a 
 beautiful example of the best New England pastor of 
 the olden time. 
 
 But while he was retiring- in his disposition, and 
 content with his home surroundings as related to his 
 work and his enjoyment, he had, by reason of his wisdom 
 and his high character, his unusual intelligence and 
 equally uncommon soundness of judgment, a wide in- 
 fluence among the clergy of the State. His counsel, 
 therefore, was often sought for and greatly valued. 
 These qualities and powers made him a very useful and 
 highly honored member of the Governing Board of the 
 College. 
 
 Dr. Eldridge was a man of much intellectual power 
 and activity among the ablest ministers of the common- 
 wealth. But he, like Dr. Porter, was one of those 
 who live happily in a limited sphere. His own thoughts 
 and studies were more to him than anything that per- 
 tained to the Wider and more public life of the world. 
 At the same time, he held himself in readiness for the 
 call of duty, whether at home or abroad. When moved 
 
 337
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 to action, he exhibited the natural force of his character. 
 In public discussions of questions of importance in their 
 bearings upon the welfare of the community or the 
 Church, he was often roused to eloquence in the ad- 
 vocacy of what he believed to be right. On such occa- 
 sions he displayed true oratorical power. 
 
 Dr. Eldridge and his college classmate, Rev. Edwin 
 R. Gilbert, a gentleman of sterling character and judi- 
 cious in his opinions and actions, were the youngest 
 members of the Board at the time. They were grad- 
 uates of twenty-nine years' standing, and had already 
 passed beyond the age of fifty. Most of the other 
 Clerical Fellows who elected me to my professorship 
 were at that time approaching the end of their official 
 career. One of them, however, the Rev. George J. 
 Tillotson, continued in the membership of the Corpora- 
 tion for thirty years after that date, and was among 
 those who, in 1886, gave me the appointment to the 
 Presidency of the institution. His term of service ex- 
 tended over a longer period than that of any other 
 Fellow of the College since its foundation, with the 
 exception of his colleagues, Dr. Porter, whose term was 
 of equal length, and Dr. David Smith, the duration of 
 whose official life exceeded his by a single year. Of 
 the membership then representing the State all have 
 passed beyond this life some of them, long since. They 
 were men of usefulness in their time, and, as indicated by 
 the official position given them by their fellow-citizens, of 
 prominence in the communities to which they belonged. 
 
 It is a pleasure to me to remember, as I look back 
 over the years, that among this company of gentlemen, 
 whose kindly judgment determined my life-work for 
 me, was the venerable man who, in the earliest part of 
 my undergraduate course, had filled the chief office of 
 administration in the College. That the benediction of 
 338
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 President Day rested upon me at the beginning of my 
 career as a teacher at Yale was a cause for gratitude. 
 
 The administration of President Woolsey, with refer- 
 ence to its main features, has been already characterized 
 in the description which I have given of the man. It 
 was certainly as is fully recognized by all who are 
 familiar with its record one of the great administra- 
 tions of the College history. That which especially 
 distinguished it in relation to the growth and develop- 
 ment of the institution, was the higher ideal of scholar- 
 ship which it introduced. It was this that gave it its 
 prominence in the order of progress from the earlier 
 days towards the later ones. Following, as it did, after 
 what I have called the creative period, coincident with 
 the first Presidency of the century, and also after the 
 next era, when the principles and laws of the permanent 
 Yale life were established, it seemed to have its place, as 
 if by a Providential arrangement, just where and when 
 it was needed with reference to the true growth of the 
 institution. Its work, as we may now see in reviewing 
 the past history, would have been unfitted for the earlier 
 days. There was, for the best interests, a necessity that 
 it should rest upon, and have its beginning in, what those 
 days had accomplished in preparation for it. Had the 
 work, on the other hand, been longer delayed, the in- 
 spiring force in the subsequent development of the Uni- 
 versity would have been lost. 
 
 The growth of the institution, however, manifested 
 itself during the years of his Presidency, not only 
 through the advance in scholarship, but in other spheres 
 and departments of its life. The increase in the number 
 of students from five hundred and eighty-seven to seven 
 hundred and fifty-five; the more complete organization 
 of the Scientific School; the establishment of the School 
 of the Fine Arts; the earlier work "of rebuilding the 
 
 339
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 Theological School; the first movement toward the be- 
 ginning of new life for the Law Department; the pro- 
 vision for more systematic Graduate studies; all these 
 things indicated progress which was worthy of the new 
 age. 
 
 In addition to Alumni Hall which, as mentioned on 
 an earlier page, was completed in 1853, seven other Col- 
 lege buildings were erected within the period of his 
 administration : three of them, namely, the Old Gym- 
 nasium, afterwards used as a Dining Hall, Farnam Hall 
 and Durfee Hall, for the Academical Department; two 
 for the Divinity School, East Divinity Hall and the 
 Marquand Chapel; one for the Medical Department; 
 and one for the School of the Fine Arts. The decision 
 which was made by the College authorities to place 
 Farnam and Durfee Halls where they now stand de- 
 termined the plan of the quadrangular arrangement for 
 the future, and also the final removal of the older build- 
 ings of the so-called Brick Row. The permanent loca- 
 tion of the Scientific School was also settled by the 
 assignment to it of the Medical College building facing 
 College Street at its north end, which was vacated when 
 the Medical Department took possession of its new quar- 
 ters on York Street. 
 
 The first marked event of his era in relation to the 
 enlargement of the resources of the institution was the 
 movement for the securing of one hundred thousand 
 dollars, to which allusion has been made on an earlier 
 page. The addition of this fund to the limited endow- 
 ment of the College was most serviceable at the time, 
 and had much significance as bearing upon the future. 
 Other and very valuable gifts were received, within the 
 period of his administration for purposes immediately 
 connected with the work of instruction, as well as for the 
 erection of needed buildings, among which those of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Street for the School of the Fine Arts, that of 
 340
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 Mr. George Peabody for the Museum of Natural His- 
 tory, and the earliest donations of Mr. Sheffield for the 
 Scientific School, are deserving of special mention. The 
 available funds of the College were increased in these 
 twenty-five years by nearly or quite a million dollars. 
 The President and his associates in the Faculties cer- 
 tainly wrought well and accomplished a good work in 
 this sphere of effort, where successful results are so 
 essential to the institution's life. 
 
 At the close of his Presidency, Dr. Woolsey was elected 
 to membership in the Corporation, as one of the Clerical 
 Fellows, as his predecessor, Dr. Day, had been under 
 like circumstances. The election in each of the two cases 
 was a gratification to the ex-President and in accord- 
 ance with his wishes, I am sure, even as the acceptance 
 of the offered position on the part of each was gratifying 
 to the Board. Each of the two was also, in his turn, an 
 able and valuable member of the body during the years 
 of his continuance in it. The wisdom and counsel of 
 each were highly appreciated. It has been for a long 
 period, however, my personal feeling that it is better for 
 the President to retire altogether from the College gov- 
 ernment when he withdraws from his administrative of- 
 fice to the end that his successor may have the least 
 possible hindrance in carrying out his own views. The 
 judgment of these two venerable gentlemen may have 
 been wiser than my own, but mine, as I think, is worthy 
 of consideration, and it has governed my personal action. 
 
 Dr. Day continued to hold his position in the Corpor- 
 ation, as already intimated on an earlier page, for twen- 
 ty-one years after he left the Presidential office. Dr. 
 Woolsey remained in his membership for fourteen years. 
 Each of them was, accordingly, in the Board until very 
 near the end of his successor's official term.
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Dr. Porter's Presidency Some Men of His Era. 
 
 DR. WOOLSEY made announcement, in the au- 
 tumn of 1870, of his intention to resign his 
 office at the next following Commencement. 
 Abundant time was, therefore, given for the considera- 
 tion and decision of the matter of the new appointment 
 that was to be made. The discussion of the subject, as is 
 always the fact under such circumstances, was carried 
 on for some months, both in the Governing Board of 
 the College and outside of the membership of that 
 body. Three or four gentlemen were more or less 
 earnestly advocated as well qualified to fill the posi- 
 tion which would soon be vacated. But, after a time, 
 the Corporation became settled in their conviction that 
 Professor Noah Porter was the most desirable person 
 for the place. When the end of the College year had 
 nearly arrived, and the members of the Board were 
 called together for the purpose of electing a new Presi- 
 dent, Dr. Porter received the appointment. He began 
 the discharge of the Presidential duties at the opening 
 of the autumn term of 1871, but the inauguration serv- 
 ices were not held until the i ith of October. 
 
 Dr. Porter was just approaching his sixtieth birthday 
 when he was installed in his new position. He was thus 
 considerably older than any of his predecessors, since 
 1795, when they entered upon their work. As a natural 
 consequence, the period of his Presidency was much 
 shorter than theirs. Dr. Dwight, at his accession to the 
 office, in the year just named, was only forty-three years 
 of age. Dr. Day, when he assumed its responsibilities, 
 
 342
 
 PRESIDENT NOAH PORTER
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 was but forty- four; and Dr. Woolsey, in his turn, was 
 forty-five. 
 
 Dr. Porter was different in his mental gifts and in his 
 characteristics from Dr. Woolsey. He was, however, 
 an intimate friend of the latter, and he had during the 
 entire course of the latter's administration co-operated 
 with him as a college officer, and had stood in the closest 
 relations to him as an instructor of the Senior class. His 
 executive ability, as I think, did not equal that of Dr. 
 Woolsey, whose gifts in this respect were, indeed, quite 
 remarkable. On account of this fact, he did not, at all 
 times, hold himself in readiness, as completely as his 
 predecessor had done, to assume the authority of a gov- 
 erning official. He was accordingly not so strong as a 
 leader, and not so efficient a helper in matters which re- 
 quired instant energy and a general's activity. There 
 was, if I may so express it, somewhat less of the fortiter 
 in re element in his manhood, and somewhat more of the 
 suaviter in modo element. The mingling of these ele- 
 ments in different measures may have been the cause of 
 this distinction between the two men. Dr. Woolsey, as 
 we may say, was a ruler by his very nature, while Dr. 
 Porter was not. 
 
 Dr. Porter had, however, some of the characteristics 
 which eminently qualify a man to guide and influence a 
 company of educated youth, such as we find assembled 
 in a college. Not only was he in his bearing and manner 
 winsome and attractive to all, but he possessed in an 
 unusual degree that peculiar kind of intelligence which 
 belongs to New England and which appreciates and has 
 a readiness to adapt itself to the conditions and circum- 
 stances of life as they present themselves. He was free 
 from the fears which beset and disturb many college 
 officers in their governmental or disciplinary dealings with 
 students. Though he had a keen insight into character, 
 and thus was gifted with the power of" forming accurate 
 
 343
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 judgments respecting men, whether young or old, his 
 disposition led him to believe in the possibilities of good 
 that were open for all, and thus to treat them in a hope- 
 ful way. 
 
 The two men were unlike each other, also, in what 
 I may call the natural outgoing of their minds. Dr. 
 Woolsey was a man of extraordinary powers, and his 
 intellectual range was wide and large. But Dr. Porter 
 had an ever fresh enthusiasm, and constantly forth- 
 putting interest, as related to all subjects of elevated 
 thought .and knowledge, which reminded one of the 
 eagerness of a child for what is new or beautiful. Dr. 
 Porter was less under the influence of the earlier religious 
 education of the century and, as the result of this fact, 
 he had a happier freedom in the spiritual sphere. He 
 had in his nature also a larger measure of the optimistic 
 character, which has confidence that results will prove 
 better than the present circumstances may seem to indi- 
 cate, and will prove thus even if we do not ourselves 
 intervene to direct the progress of events towards them. 
 These differences and others which might be mentioned 
 were such as may, no doubt, have tended to establish and 
 strengthen the friendship that existed between them. 
 They may possibly have contributed, in their influence 
 upon Dr. Woolsey's mind, toward the feeling which he 
 had that Dr. Porter was the man who possessed peculiar 
 fitness to be his successor in the office which he was him- 
 self about to lay aside. It is well known that Dr. Wool- 
 sey heartily favored the election of Dr. Porter. 
 
 The fifteen years of Dr. Porter's Presidency were, in 
 many respects, prosperous years. The forward move- 
 ment of the College towards the larger life of the later 
 period was more conspicuous during his official term than 
 it had been m the time of Dr. Woolsey's administration. 
 Dr. Woolsey was nearer the beginning, in this regard, 
 344
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 and the early development in all cases, though as real, 
 is less manifest than that which follows afterwards. 
 
 At the Commencement season which was the dividing- 
 point between the two Presidencies, a proposal was made 
 and adopted with much enthusiasm, to undertake the 
 work of securing a large fund for the benefit of the in- 
 stitution as a whole, which should be commemorative of 
 President Woolsey and should bear his name. The work 
 was at once entered upon with energy, and the results 
 were at the outset encouraging. Notwithstanding the 
 period of financial depression, which began not long 
 afterwards and proved more continuous and serious than 
 had been at first anticipated, a sum of nearly one hun- 
 dred and seventy thousand dollars was realized from 
 the effort. This movement and the success which at- 
 tended it seemed to awaken new interest and a new im- 
 pulse in the minds of the graduates and friends of the 
 College. At the same time, the growing wealth of the 
 people and the broadening ideas of the age quickened 
 the spirit of generosity throughout the country in a man- 
 ner and measure unknown in earlier days. When the 
 temporary difficulties and fears of the years of depres- 
 sion had passed away, the era of greater benefactions 
 opened. The College, accordingly, began to realize 
 what had been almost beyond the thought of the most 
 hopeful of those who were nearest the center of its life 
 the possibility of an enlargement of its resources which 
 should, in some true meaning of the words, meet the 
 increasing demands of the future. The increase in 
 the funds of all the departments within this period of 
 fifteen years was nearly a million dollars. The first 
 establishment of what are called University Funds, as 
 separate and distinct from those of the several depart- 
 ments, was rendered possible by reason of this increase. 
 If to the sum mentioned the amounts received for the 
 erection of buildings be added about eight hundred 
 
 345
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 thousand dollars the institution, in its endowments and 
 its means of providing for its students, may be said to 
 have been placed in quite an advanced position. 
 
 In these years ten new buildings were erected name- 
 ly, the Battell Chapel, Durfee and Lawrance Halls, and 
 the Sloane Laboratory, for the Academical Department ; 
 North Sheffield Hall, for the Scientific School; West 
 Divinity Hall and the Bacon Memorial Library, for the 
 Theological Department; Dwight Hall, for the Young 
 Men's Christian Association and the general religious 
 interests of the institution; the Astronomical Observa- 
 tory, and the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 
 These buildings were a most important and valuable ad- 
 dition to the possessions of the University, and the ad- 
 vantages resulting from them have been very highly 
 appreciated. 
 
 The quadrangular arrangement of buildings on the 
 College Square was planned, and a beginning was made 
 in the work of carrying the plan into effect, as has been 
 already stated, within the official term of Dr. Woolsey. 
 As a consequence of locating four of the buildings named 
 above in accordance with the proposed arrangement, the 
 northern half of the quadrangle was made complete, be- 
 fore Dr. Porter's retirement, and thus, so much was ac- 
 complished that the prospect of the final realization of 
 what was desired seemed in the highest degree encour- 
 aging. 
 
 As I thus refer to the earlier stages of this great work, 
 I may without impropriety, I trust, express my regret, as 
 a son of Yale greatly interested in its architectural fu- 
 ture, that the first of these buildings of the northern half 
 of the quadrangle, Farnam Hall, erected in 1870, and 
 the last, Lawrance Hall, completed in the summer of 
 1886, were built of brick. That the new edifices should 
 have been all alike of stone seems to me beyond the 
 possibility of question. If the buildings on the original 
 346
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 campus had all been stone buildings, and the use of brick 
 had been reserved for certain others placed elsewhere, 
 I am sure that the men of the coming time would have 
 had a deeper satisfaction. 
 
 Comparatively little advance was made in the move- 
 ment towards elective studies in the Academical Depart- 
 ment within the years previous to 1871, when Dr. Wool- 
 sey retired. The first five years after that date also wit- 
 nessed few changes in this regard. Both Dr. Porter and 
 his predecessor, though they had openness of mind with 
 reference to all true learning, were believers in the older 
 system of required studies, and were strongly attached 
 to it. Hence they were not only indisposed to favor rad- 
 ical innovations, but also disinclined to go forward at all 
 in this matter, unless it were by slow and well-considered 
 steps. There were, however, two occasions in the period 
 of Dr. Porter's administration, when the curriculum was, 
 in this regard, to a considerable extent rearranged and 
 newly adjusted. One of these occasions was in 1876, 
 when nearly one-half of the studies of the last two years 
 of the course were made elective. The other was near 
 the close of his term, in 1884. At this time all studies 
 of the Senior year, except those pertaining to the sphere 
 of Mental Science, were opened to the choice of each 
 individual student. The urgency of his associates in the 
 Faculty, on these occasions, overcame his hesitancy or 
 induced him to yield to their wishes. 
 
 The introduction of the elective system in the degree 
 thus indicated into the working arrangements of this de- 
 partment, and the continuous growth in the number of 
 students in the whole institution occasioned a demand 
 for a larger body of instructors. Fortunately the in- 
 crease in the resources of the College rendered it possible 
 to meet this demand in considerable measure. The mem- 
 bership of the Faculty received valuable additions in 
 
 347
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 both of its sections that of permanent and that of tem- 
 porary teachers. 
 
 As indicative of the progress and growth of the insti- 
 tution during these years, several interesting facts addi- 
 tional to those already mentioned may be briefly noticed. 
 The number of students increased from seven hundred 
 and fifty-five, in 1871, to one thousand and seventy-six, 
 in 1886. This increase was almost wholly in the de- 
 partments outside of the Academical, the growth in the 
 membership of the latter department being only forty- 
 one. Evidently the development in the matter of num- 
 bers was towards the University, rather than the College 
 a fact of interest, and suggestive as to the near future. 
 It was the special development which was greatly to be 
 desired at that particular critical time. With reference 
 to the Professional Schools, it may be stated, that the 
 School of Theology came to the more full realization of 
 the results of long preparatory years of work; that of 
 Law was brought to new life by the energy of its new 
 and, at that time, young body of instructors; that 
 of Medicine was greatly advanced, in the value of the 
 education which it offered, through the adoption of a 
 new system of study and teaching. The School of the 
 Fine Arts, at the same time, passed through its earliest 
 stages with success and made itself ready for its larger 
 and more useful work. Through the erection of the 
 Peabody Museum, the exceedingly rich and valuable pa- 
 leontological and zoological collections made by Profes- 
 sors Marsh and Verrill were opened to the public as well 
 as to the students, and by reason of the gifts of Lieuten- 
 ant-Governor Winchester and the Hillhouse family, the 
 work connected with the Astronomical Observatory was 
 made possible. The Scientific School developed largely 
 and most satisfactorily along the lines which had been 
 determined by its officers in the later part of Dr. Wool- 
 sey's administration. The Academical Department took 
 348
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 to itself new and more vigorous life as the years moved 
 onward. The young men in the several Faculties, who 
 were in very considerable numbers, gave themselves with 
 much energy to the work of preparation for the coming 
 time, as well as to that of the immediate present. The 
 older men were, in their measure, sympathetic and help- 
 ful in the forward movement. All looked earnestly to a 
 new era, and hoped for its coming. 
 
 At the close of the first year of Dr. Porter's official 
 term, the great change in the constitution of the Board 
 of Trustees, which had been suggested by President 
 Woolsey and rendered possible through his efforts and 
 the efforts of others who co-operated with him, was con- 
 summated in the election of six members of the body by 
 the graduates. These members took the places of the 
 six members selected from the State Senate. The nat- 
 ural result of this change was the awakening of what 
 may perhaps be called a more organized interest in the 
 institution on the part of its alumni than had been known 
 in earlier times. Individual attachment to the College 
 had always been conspicuous. But now the graduates 
 as a body were called to choose their own representa- 
 tives in the Governing Board, and the attention of all 
 alike was thus more definitely turned to the subject of 
 the College growth and welfare. It was, doubtless, for- 
 tunate for the new President, rather than otherwise, that 
 this important change was so nearly contemporaneous 
 with his entrance upon the duties of his office. Many 
 questions arose afterwards which occasioned much dis- 
 cussion and even divided parties. But in the midst of 
 all differences this select body of graduates at the center 
 of the institution's life held a position given them by 
 their fellow alumni and shared the responsibility of all 
 movements of whatever character. 
 
 Dr. Porter, like Drs. Woolsey and Day, was through- 
 out his Presidential term, a teacher, as well as the execu- 
 
 349
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 tive of the institution. The Presidency, though nomin- 
 ally a University office, was in reality until 1886 so far 
 as its sphere of constant service was concerned more 
 like the chief position in the Academical Department 
 with certain additional duties of general oversight at- 
 tached to it. The relations of the office to the other 
 departments were comparatively indirect and informal. 
 These departments, except in cases of special importance 
 and when the attention of the executive was particularly 
 requested, were left entirely in the charge of their own 
 officials. I remember that I once addressed a brief letter 
 to Dr. Woolsey, near the end of his Presidential term, 
 in which I expressed to him, for myself and on behalf of 
 my colleagues of the Theological Faculty, my thanks for 
 his kindness and helpfulness in connection with our work 
 for the Divinity School and its upbuilding. In his re- 
 ply, after some gracious words in acknowledgment of 
 my letter, he said, "With respect to helpfulness, I do 
 not know that I have done anything for the Theological 
 professors, except to allow them to raise their own sal- 
 aries." This remark, which was quite characteristic of 
 the man, was suggestive of the condition of things to 
 which I allude. 
 
 Under such circumstances, it was altogether practica- 
 ble for the President to add to his own more special and 
 appropriate duties those which pertain to a professor's 
 chair, or to continue in the work of the professorship 
 which he had previously held. The instruction in Men- 
 tal and Moral Philosophy was under Dr. Porter's sole 
 charge during the first ten years of his Presidency. In 
 the five remaining years, he had the aid and co-operation 
 of Dr. Ladd, who was called to a professorship in this 
 department in 1881. Still later, as the sphere of the 
 studies was constantly enlarging, the assistance of addi- 
 tional instructors was secured; but this was after he had 
 retired from the executive office and near the end of his 
 350
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 life. By means of this teaching he kept himself in famil- 
 iar relations with the students during the final year of 
 their academic course, in a measure and degree scarcely 
 possible when there is no frequency of meeting between 
 a college officer and the young men under his care in the 
 recitation or lecture room. But he was, of course, pre- 
 vented by it from giving his exclusive attention to the 
 work of his higher and more special office. The alert- 
 ness of his mind, however, and the wide range of his 
 intellectual interests, rendered the hindrances thus occa- 
 sioned less significant than might otherwise have been 
 the case. 
 
 As I look backward over the years of President Por- 
 ter's official term, and bring before my mind the results 
 which were accomplished within them, my impression 
 of what they realized for the College is deepened. They 
 were certainly years of marked progress in the growth 
 of the institution. On his retirement from his executive 
 office, though he was somewhat older than Dr. Woolsey 
 and Dr. Day were at the time when they resigned, he 
 did not sever his connection with the College or with- 
 draw from the work of instruction. On the contrary, 
 he retained his professorship, and he continued to dis- 
 charge the duties pertaining to it until his death, which 
 occurred on the fourth of March, 1892. With all his 
 mental activity, which moved outward in many lines, 
 there was united a desire and fondness for communicat- 
 ing his thoughts and imparting instruction to others. He 
 had been for so many years a teacher, that he felt the 
 continuance of his work with his classes to be essential 
 to his happiness. Beyond the limits of his lecture-room, 
 however, he took no part in the College life. The priv- 
 ilege of withdrawing from all ordinary duties and re- 
 sponsibilities, other than those connected with teaching, 
 was granted him by the Corporation, at his request, 
 when he resigned the Presidency. He was thus relieved 
 
 35i
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 from everything that might have proved burdensome, 
 while the work which was especially congenial to his 
 feeling was left in his charge. 
 
 My own personal associations with President Porter 
 were most friendly, from the days when I first met him 
 in the membership of the Faculty to the close of his 
 career. He was, as I have already indicated, united 
 with me in the work of theological instruction for sev- 
 eral years, beginning with the time when I was called 
 to my professorship in the Divinity School and continu- 
 ing until 1866. I saw much of him during that period, 
 and on important occasions sought his counsel and ad- 
 vice. He was appreciative of the thoughts and question- 
 ings of those who were much younger than himself. I 
 can well remember the help and encouragement which 
 he gave me at some critical moments in our work for the 
 rebuilding of the School. Had it not been for his 
 kindly words and those of Professor Thacher, I might 
 not have pressed forward in my part of that work to 
 its completion. 
 
 Professor Thacher was a source of strength to the ad- 
 ministration of Dr. Porter, as he had been to that of 
 President Woolsey and not only in its relation to the 
 students, but also in its larger and more widely extended 
 sphere of duty. By the very force of his nature and the 
 tendencies of his mind, he was almost compelled to take 
 a leading part in the organization and direction of any 
 work or enterprise in which he was called to have a 
 share. He had certain powers which the President did 
 not possess in equal measure, and for this reason he was 
 helpful to him in carrying out efficiently some of his 
 wisest plans. His influence with the Faculty and the 
 Corporation equalled or even surpassed that of any other 
 College officer. This influence he had acquired, in large 
 measure, by his long-continued and highly useful service 
 in the institution. But it had its foundation in the prac- 
 352
 
 PROFESSOR THOMAS A. THACHER
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 tical wisdom and forceful character of the man. For a 
 number of years between 1874 and 1884, the work of 
 securing much-needed additions to the resources of the 
 College was in large measure assigned to him. This 
 work he carried forward with great energy and marked 
 success; but by reason of the demands which it made 
 upon him, and of the serious impairment of his health at 
 this time, he was obliged to lay aside mainly or wholly 
 the duties connected with his office of instruction. The 
 service which he rendered in this special line of effort 
 was of so much value that the Corporation presented to 
 him their most grateful acknowledgment of his gen- 
 erous devotion to the welfare of the institution. He 
 . lived until within three months of the close of the ad- 
 ministration. He was thus a power in connection with 
 it throughout its course. 
 
 Professor Thacher, at the time of his death, had al- 
 ready entered upon his seventy-second year. His very 
 intimate and highly valued associate in the department 
 of the Ancient Classics, Professor Hadley, when he 
 died, was not yet fifty-two. The twenty years which 
 were given to the one, and denied to the other, separated 
 the two men in the measure of the opportunities that 
 life offered. But each filled out to its fullness the meas- 
 ure that was granted him, through faithful service and 
 with rich results. 
 
 Every son of Yale, as he heard of the ending of Pro- 
 fessor Hadley's career, wished most sincerely that the 
 score of years might have been added for him also, yet 
 with this wish was united the feeling of deepest gratitude 
 that his work in the College had extended over a quarter 
 of a century, and that so many classes had enjoyed the 
 happy fortune of being under his influence. The sadness 
 which came to all with the tidings of his death was that 
 which accompanied the thought of what the future, had 
 life continued, might have realized. He had, as it 
 
 353
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 seemed to us, just reached the beginning of the harvest 
 time the time when the fruits of his varied learning and 
 his intellectual resources of every sort would be given 
 abundantly to the world, and when he might by his 
 writings become for scholars everywhere what he had 
 already been for his pupils through his teaching, a highly 
 esteemed helper and guide. 
 
 Within the period of his professorship Professor 
 Hadley pressed forward his studies in many lines. While 
 he devoted himself with the most conscientious fidelity 
 to the special department of learning in which he was 
 called to give instruction and became, as a consequence, 
 the equal of any Greek scholar in the country, his active 
 mind was constantly putting forth its energies in new 
 spheres, and to the end of yet larger attainments. His 
 knowledge of the Hebrew language was such that earn- 
 est and intelligent friends of the College, after the death 
 of Professor Gibbs in 1861, urged his appointment to 
 the chair of Hebrew in the Divinity School. At a little 
 later time he was most favorably thought of in connec- 
 tion with the professorship of History, then recently 
 established in the Academical Department. The Law 
 professors were glad to secure his services as a lecturer 
 on the subject of Roman Law. The acquisitions which 
 he had made, not only in Hebrew, but also in Sanscrit, 
 were evidenced by his membership in the American 
 Oriental Society, and by the fact of his election to the 
 presidency of that organization. By reason of his high 
 standing as a Biblical scholar, he was chosen as one of 
 the members of the New Testament section of the com- 
 mittee who were asked to prepare the Revised English 
 Version of the Bible. He was among the earlier lead- 
 ers in the development of the science of Comparative 
 Philology during the latter half of the century which has 
 just closed. The knowledge which he possessed of the 
 languages of modern Europe, including German, 
 354
 
 
 PROFESSOR JAMES HADLEY
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 French, Italian, Spanish, and Swedish, was thorough 
 and accurate, while his acquaintance with his own lan- 
 guage, both in its literature and in the matter of its 
 sources and early forms, rendered him worthy of a place 
 among English scholars. He had such gifts and acquisi- 
 tions as related to mathematical science that, if he had 
 made the study of it his life-work, he would undoubtedly 
 have attained eminence. There was, indeed, no one in 
 the whole company of Yale teachers, in those days, who 
 equalled him in the range of his learning, or in the ease 
 with which his mind worked in accordance with the out- 
 going of its impulses. 
 
 For a man like him, however so eager, yet so patient 
 in his studies ; so thorough and conscientious in his daily 
 work; so high in his ideals, and so hopeful that he 
 might reach them if he moved still farther onward and 
 upward the years beyond fifty are the years of author- 
 ship. They are the years which, in a peculiar sense, 
 form for such a man the fruitage season. If they could 
 have been granted him, we may believe that the results 
 would have greatly enriched American scholarship, while 
 they would also have given additional honor to his name. 
 The place which he held among the scholarly men of 
 his time will be fully recognized by all who acquaint 
 themselves with the past history. 
 
 Professors Thacher and Hadley, as intimated on ear- 
 lier pages of this volume, differed from each other in 
 many points, but through their personal influence, as 
 well as their teaching, they contributed largely, and we 
 may perhaps say in equal measure, to the development 
 of the true life of the academic community. The power 
 of Mr. Hadley as related to his students was more strik- 
 ingly and predominantly manifested on the intellectual 
 side. He appeared before them as a genuine and almost 
 ideal scholar, and his every presentation of himself had 
 a certain stimulative force for the awakening of their 
 
 355
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 mental energies and the exciting of their best desires for 
 knowledge and culture. Mr. Thacher's influence, on 
 the other hand, came more evidently from the active 
 working of his entire manhood. There was in his nature 
 a forth-putting tendency which impelled him, at all 
 times, to move outward, and to use every gift of mind 
 or character in positive effort for those who were under 
 his educating care. The two men left the impress of 
 thought and inward life upon their pupils. But in the 
 one case it was the result more exclusively of the per- 
 sonality in itself, while in the other it was due also to 
 the outgoing of the personality in action. We all, who 
 knew them, gladly remember their long and happy union 
 in the service of the College, as we see within ourselves 
 the helpful influence of their lives and of their work. 
 
 Professor Hadley lived only a single year after Dr. 
 Porter's accession to the Presidency. Twelve years 
 afterwards, his younger associate and successor in the 
 Greek Department, Professor Packard, of whom I have 
 elsewhere written briefly, reached the end of his career. 
 The College thus lost, within the period of this adminis- 
 tration, two prominent Greek scholars who, by reason 
 of their ability and learning, had acquired for themselves 
 most honorable fame. The loss was the occasion of 
 very sincere regret and grief on the part of the entire 
 company of instructors who had been intimately con- 
 nected with them in their work and life. It was fully 
 appreciated also by other collegiate institutions, and by 
 all educated men who felt a deep interest in the progress 
 of classical education in the country. 
 
 Two professors of prominence in connection with 
 the Scientific School one of them in its early beginnings, 
 and the other during many years of its history whose 
 life-work came to its close not long before Dr. Porter's 
 retirement from his office, will be remembered by the 
 356
 
 
 PROFESSOR LEWIS R. PACKARD
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 older graduates. These two gentlemen were Professor 
 Benjamin Silliman, Jr., and Professor William A. Nor- 
 ton. The former died in 1885, and the latter in 1883. 
 Professor Norton was not a son of Yale by reason of 
 his early education, but through his long-continued serv- 
 ice in our board of instruction he became, in the most 
 complete sense, one of our fraternity, even as if he had 
 known no other home from the beginning. He was 
 possessed of the true Yale spirit, and was recognized by 
 all as in heart and soul a Yale man. In his student years 
 he entered the Military Academy at West Point. Soon 
 after finishing his course there he was called to an office 
 of instruction in that institution, which he accepted and 
 filled with credit to himself for two years. At the end 
 of this period he received an invitation to a professor- 
 ship in the University of the City of New York. Here 
 he continued for five years, and then for eleven years he 
 had connection with Delaware College, as one of its 
 professors, or its President. Subsequently the trustees 
 of Brown University secured his services as a member of 
 its Faculty. The term of his service in this institution 
 was quite brief, but it was long enough to secure for him 
 very high esteem and warm affection from his pupils, a 
 considerable company of whom followed him to New 
 Haven when he entered upon his work at Yale. 
 
 He came to us when he was forty-two years of age, 
 and after an experience of twenty-one years as a teacher. 
 Immediately upon his entrance into his ,new sphere of 
 duty, his ability, thoroughness, enthusiasm, and excel- 
 lence as an instructor commended him to his pupils, 
 while these same gifts and others equally conspicuous 
 gave his colleagues in the Faculty the assurance that his 
 presence among them would be of continual benefit to 
 the School. For thirty-one years the life-time of a 
 generation he discharged the duties attendant upon his 
 position, ever devoting himself alike to the interests of 
 
 357
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 his department of science and to the well-being of those 
 who came to him for instruction. Those years were, all 
 of them, rich in scholarly endeavor and attainment. 
 They were also marked by the growth of most genuine 
 character in himself, as well as by most helpful influence 
 for others, young and old. 
 
 With reference to Professor Norton's relations to his 
 students, Professor Du Bois said of him soon after his 
 death: "As with the best teachers, the advantages un- 
 consciously imbibed by his pupils from personal contact ; 
 the unconscious influence of high ideals; of love of truth 
 and honor; of personal integrity, of scrupulous exact- 
 ness; these were lessons daily enforced and more val- 
 uable than any of those he so well knew how to extract 
 from the text-book, or illustrate on the black-board. His 
 patience and courtesy were unfailing. No student, how- 
 ever trying or dull, ever heard from him an impatient or 
 sarcastic word. With perfect gentleness, a thoroughness 
 which spared no pains, and a clearness of exposition 
 which, in the writer's experience, is very rare, he took 
 every student with him in the prescribed course, and 
 sent him away at graduation not only a wiser but a bet- 
 ter man, and a personal and enthusiastic friend." Pro- 
 fessor Du Bois adds, "A teacher's best testimonial is the 
 esteem and respect of his pupils; his best reward their 
 love and confidence." 
 
 These most fitting words were written by one who had 
 familiar relations with Professor Norton, both as a pupil 
 and in the membership of the Faculty. I give myself 
 the privilege of quoting them, not only as descriptive of 
 the man, but as suggestive also in their wider applica- 
 tion. The professor was characterized in his teachings, 
 his colleague says, by a thoroughness which spared no 
 pains and a rare clearness of exposition and so his 
 pupils became wiser men, because of their meeting him 
 in their undergraduate years. But he had also, 'it is 
 358
 
 PROFESSOR WILLIAM A. NORTON
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 added, an unfailing courtesy and gentleness. This it 
 was that made them his enthusiastic friends. Not court- 
 esy only, but unfailing courtesy. How different the 
 one is from the other. How much less frequently 
 we see the latter than the former in the relations be- 
 tween teachers and their pupils, or even between gen- 
 tlemen and their associates. What an emphasis the word 
 unfailing carries in itself, rendering the virtue almost a 
 new and loftier one, and giving in the sphere of friend- 
 ship a creative and inspiring force. The college in- 
 structor who has this gift of courtesy that never fails 
 as the outflow of the soul's life within him, is sure of 
 the loving remembrance of his students, and thus of his 
 best reward. But the source of the outflow, we may well 
 remember, is ever to be found in "the patience and gen- 
 tleness" of the inner life. 
 
 Professor Norton was, as I think, one of the class of 
 college teachers to whose minds the duty of instruction 
 which they owe to their pupils appears to be the first and 
 highest of all obligations resting upon them. Such men, 
 and this was true in his case, make research subordinate 
 to this duty, and engage in it, primarily, that they may 
 give the results to their classes. As a consequence, 
 though they may be scholars of a superior order, they 
 do not publish as much in the form of treatises or vol- 
 umes, as do those for whom their personal investigations 
 and acquirements are the matter of chief importance. 
 Everything, however, which Professor Norton gave to 
 the public bore the marks of much ability and learning, 
 and was received with great respect by those who were 
 devoted to his department of science. It was fortunate 
 for our University that he came to it at so early a time 
 in the history of the new School, which was destined to 
 accomplish a work far beyond the largest expectations 
 of its friends at the beginning. It was fortunate, also, 
 that his years of work within it, and on behalf of its 
 359
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 students, were prolonged until he had reached the age 
 of seventy-three. 
 
 Professor Benjamin Silliman, Jr. the younger Silli- 
 man, as he was often called, in distinction from his 
 father was a member of the Yale Class of 1837. The 
 inheritance of scientific aptitudes and tastes came to him 
 in such full measure that as soon as, by reason of his 
 age, the opportunity for the choice of the work for his 
 mature life presented itself, he had only to make his 
 decision in accordance with the impulses of his nature. 
 We may not doubt that his daily observation of his 
 father's enthusiasm also, and of the success and satis- 
 faction which were so conspicuous in his working, ren- 
 dered him yet more earnest in the desire to follow in the 
 same pathway. Accordingly, he began his professional 
 career almost immediately after his graduation, becom- 
 ing an assistant in the Laboratory of the period, and 
 thus giving himself the best advantages for the prosecu- 
 tion of his studies and investigations. At the date of 
 my entrance upon the College course he had already 
 undertaken the work of instruction, if not in the way of 
 aiding his father to some extent in his regular exercises 
 with his pupils, yet at least as a teacher of special stu- 
 dents who resorted to New Haven for the purpose of 
 acquiring knowledge in his department of science. We 
 may believe that the presence of these students quickened 
 and strengthened in his mind, and in his father's also, 
 the desire which their favorite studies and the opening 
 possibilities that seemed to await them in the early future, 
 had already awakened to establish a new school within 
 the College sphere, in which Natural and Physical 
 Science should have the pre-eminent place. However this 
 may be, it is a fact of our College history, that in 1846, 
 in co-operation with Mr. John P. Norton, who had re- 
 cently been one of his studentSj he took a most active 
 360
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 part in pressing the matter of founding the school, upon 
 the attention of the President and Fellows, and that a 
 year later, when decisive action was taken by the author- 
 ities, the two gentlemen assumed the responsibility of its 
 organization and of the work of instruction which was 
 to be carried forward in it. They certainly deserve to 
 be held in most kindly remembrance, as well as in honor, 
 for this great service which they thus rendered, in their 
 early manhood, both to science and to Yale. 
 
 As indicative of the limitations of the period in re- 
 spect to the financial resources of the College, and of the 
 caution which, as a consequence, was wont to be exhib- 
 ited by the central authorities, a fact of interest as re- 
 lated to this matter may be mentioned. The withdrawal 
 of President Day from his office, which was contempora- 
 neous with the action establishing the school, left the 
 Presidential house then standing on the College Square 
 vacant; and, as Dr. Woolsey did not wish to occupy it, 
 it was placed at the disposal of the Corporation. That 
 body appointed the two young men to professorships 
 which, so far as salary was concerned, were almost en- 
 tirely dependent on the fees that should be received from 
 the small number of students who might be expected to 
 take their instruction; and then no doubt, at their re- 
 quest assigned this house to the new School for its uses. 
 It was regarded as impracticable, however, to grant the 
 professors the occupancy of it free of rent, or to make 
 provision for the expense of fitting and furnishing it as 
 a laboratory. The burden of meeting all such expenses 
 was laid upon the professors, as if the entire work had 
 been personal to themselves. The governing authorities 
 of that era were certainly gifted with the virtue so 
 often claimed and commended by political leaders of 
 making "an economical use of the public money." But 
 it was a virtue which the limitations of the period ren- 
 dered not only more essential to the continuance of the 
 361
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 life of the institution, but more easy of attainment, than 
 it sometimes is in these later and more prosperous days. 
 The old Corporation must have had daily lessons respect- 
 ing this virtue which made a deep impression on their minds. 
 
 Mr. Silliman's work in the Scientific School was, I 
 think, less in its measure than that of Professor John P. 
 Norton, even from the first; certainly it was so after 
 the year 1849, when he was elected to a professorship 
 in the Medical College at Louisville, Kentucky. From 
 that time until 1854, though he still retained his con- 
 nection with Yale, his official position in the other insti- 
 tution rendered his presence with us, except for brief 
 periods, quite impracticable. In those early years the 
 daily duties in connection with teaching the young men 
 who were students, rested mainly upon Mr. Norton, and 
 he was the inspiring force which impelled them to their 
 efforts and investigations. Mr. Norton had only a very 
 brief career. He died in 1852, at the age of thirty-one; 
 but those who knew his work and what he accomplished 
 are united in the feeling that he was the one who laid 
 the foundations of the greater life and the very remarka- 
 ble success which the school has had in the half-century 
 that has followed his time. 
 
 In the summer of 1852, just before Professor Nor- 
 ton's death and while Mr. Silliman's work in Louisville 
 was not yet ended, Professors John A. Porter and Wil- 
 liam A. Norton were appointed to official positions in 
 the school, and, as a consequence, they took charge 
 of its instruction and general management during the 
 period of the next four years, until the membership of 
 the Faculty was enlarged by the election of Professors 
 Brush and Johnson to the chairs of Metallurgy, and 
 Analytical and Agricultural Chemistry. Mr. Silliman 
 thus filled a place rather in the sphere of sympathy or 
 friendly aid, than in that of constant service. Indeed, 
 from the year 1854, when he withdrew from his office in 
 362
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 Louisville, he devoted his energies to the work of in- 
 struction in the Academical and Medical Departments. 
 The Professorship which the father had filled for half a 
 century was thus passed to the son. He continued to 
 hold this chair, so far as it had relation to the undergrad- 
 uate college, until 1870; and in its connection with the 
 Medical School until the end of his life. He was, there- 
 fore, in the membership of the professorial board for 
 thirty-nine years. 
 
 Of Professor Silliman's attainments in science and the 
 results of his work in his chosen field of study, I can 
 hardly regard myself as competent to express an opinion. 
 That he was a man of very active mind, and of promi- 
 nent ability and much learning, is evidenced by his scien- 
 tific publications; by his articles in the American Journal 
 of Science, and the editorial care of that periodical which 
 he shared with his father for some years, and for more 
 than a generation with his brother-in-law, Professor 
 James D. Dana; and also by his special work in the 
 sphere of applied science. 
 
 He was a graduate of ten or eleven years' standing 
 when my classmates first came to know him. With the 
 freedom in which undergraduates indulge themeselves, 
 we were wont to speak of him as " Young Ben." But 
 college names and titles, as given to men by their pupils, 
 are, at the most, only half-way disrespectful. Indeed, 
 they are, oftentimes, simply affectionate representing 
 the kindly feeling of those who give them. The man, 
 whether young or old, who is aggrieved or distressed by 
 the discovery that he has what we call a nickname in the 
 academic community, may well be recommended to trans- 
 fer himself to some other sphere of life. His condition 
 in a college will certainly be hopeless, in this regard. 
 But I doubt whether Professor Silliman was ever dis- 
 turbed in mind because he was thus distinguished from 
 his more venerable father who, as I have already stated, 
 
 363
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 was generally called by us " Uncle Ben." The elder and 
 the younger were, both of them, too youthful in senti- 
 ment and genial in character to misunderstand the feel- 
 ing of their pupils. And after all, "young" is not a 
 title to be rejected; while, as for "uncle," I remember 
 a man of the by-gone years, whom I was privileged to 
 call by this name, every thought of whose life and love 
 fills my soul with pleasure even to this day. 
 
 Professor Silliman, the younger, of whom I am here 
 writing, had much of his father's geniality. He was 
 kindly to all. The hospitality of his house was appre- 
 ciated by every one who knew him. The winsomeness 
 of his manners rendered him attractive. His readiness 
 for conversation fitted him for social intercourse and 
 made his companionship pleasant to his friends. The 
 knowledge and information which he had gained in dif- 
 ferent lines, through his studies and his travels, he was 
 ever willing to communicate to others and he was thus 
 disposed to be helpful to them. In his temperament he 
 was cheerful and sanguine. A certain roseate view of 
 life seemed to place him apart in his thoughts and hopes 
 from many around him who had, in their own opinion 
 at least, a more just and sound estimate of things. There 
 was something inspiring for him, no doubt, in this mental 
 attitude, but it was attended at times by a possibility of 
 disappointment. His courage and ardor, however, were 
 unfailing, and he moved forward under their influence 
 toward the end which he had in view. 
 
 One of the very interesting men of the University be- 
 longing to the period of which I am now writing a man 
 whose service within its walls began and ended while 
 Dr. Porter was in the Presidency was Professor S. 
 Wells Williams. After a long and eminent career in 
 China, he was called, in 1877, to the Professorship of 
 the Chinese Language and Literature in our University. 
 
 364
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 He accepted the invitation, and discharged the duties of 
 the office until his death, in 1884. 
 
 Dr. Williams went to China, when he was a young man 
 of only twenty-one years, and in response to a proposal 
 that he should take charge of the missionary printing 
 press which had just been established at Canton. He 
 devoted himself assiduously to the acquisition of the lan- 
 guage and speedily became adequate to the duties to 
 which he was called. In connection with his work he 
 edited and published a monthly journal, the purpose of 
 which was to make known to the people of Europe and 
 the United States the life of the Chinese Empire its 
 government, literature, religion, etc. with a view to 
 the Christianizing of the inhabitants of that part of the 
 world. After residing in China for four or five years, 
 he acquired a knowledge of the language of the Japa- 
 nese, and became so far familiar with it that he was 
 able to act as the interpreter for Commodore Perry and 
 those who accompanied him on the expedition to their 
 country in 1853. Not long after this, he was appointed 
 Secretary of the American Legation at Peking, where in 
 1858 he rendered valuable assistance in negotiating the 
 important treaty made at that time between China and 
 our country. His entire residence among the Chinese 
 covered a period of nearly forty years. During this 
 period he made himself one of the most eminent scholars 
 in his sphere of studies. He was respected everywhere 
 for his ability, his attainments, and his truly unselfish 
 and Christian labors. 
 
 His final return to America, in 1876, closed his long 
 career of useful and honorable service in the Eastern 
 world, but a new sphere was happily opened for him in 
 the home land. When he came to Yale in answer to the 
 call of the Corporation, he had reached the age of sixty- 
 five. He was thus in the full ripeness of his learning 
 and his manhood. Seven years he lived in our Academic 
 
 365
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 circle, impressing all his associates within its limits as a 
 man of the highest ideals and of the most undoubting 
 Christian faith. Abounding in knowledge and rejoicing 
 in the possession of it for himself, he held himself ever 
 in readiness to impart it to others. His large attain- 
 ments which were of an uncommon order, together with 
 the suggestiveness of his thoughts connected with them, 
 rendered his teaching and his conversation as attractive 
 as it was helpful. The hope of the coming time was 
 very strong in his soul. He had a bright vision of the fu- 
 ture of the people among whom his life had been so 
 largely spent, and was wont to prophesy that his younger 
 contemporaries would witness great and happy results for 
 China before the ending of their life-time. What would 
 have been his feeling, if he had survived until now, and 
 had known of the movements and events of the recent 
 years, we may not say. But that he would have been 
 most deeply interested, and that his confidence in the 
 overruling Divine power would have continued undi- 
 minished, no one who knew him can for a moment ques- 
 tion. His outlook toward the hereafter beyond our 
 present life was peaceful and delightful. Not only were 
 there no doubts nor fears in his mind, but there was ever 
 abiding within him the assurance of hope the hope 
 that was truly an anchor to the soul. Two years before 
 his death, he said to a friend that he sometimes had an 
 almost irrepressible desire to move on into the coming 
 scenes a feeling that he could not wait for the months 
 or years to bring the happiness within his experience. 
 It was a benediction to us all to have him with us in his 
 advancing age, and to see him pass out from among us 
 so calmly and so joyfully at the end. 
 
 The presence in the University of men like Dr. Will- 
 iams, who are scholars in regions quite outside of the 
 ordinary curriculum of study and who, if they give 
 instruction at all, must give it to but few, is a gain and 
 366
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 blessing to the university life. Such men may not, and 
 indeed cannot, do the ordinary work of the institution. 
 But they are representatives of learning; and the more 
 truly the University is the home of scholars, the more 
 completely is it worthy of its name. There is an edu- 
 cating power in an institution like ours additional to 
 that of the lecture-room a power in the atmosphere of 
 its scholarly life. 
 
 During the last few years of President Porter's con- 
 tinuance in the executive office, there was much discussion 
 of questions relating to the general policy of the College. 
 Some of these questions had reference to matters of very 
 considerable importance. The discussion was carried 
 beyond the limits of the academic fraternity and, 
 through the press, to the knowledge and attention of 
 the general public. As a consequence of it, there arose 
 unfortunate divisions between the graduates of the more 
 progressive and those of the more conservative order, 
 which threatened injury to the well-being of the institu- 
 tion. It was perhaps we may say a time when the 
 future and the past met together, and could not thus 
 meet without awakening more or less of conflict. This 
 discussion and division were most noticeable in the period 
 between 1883 and 1885. The classes entering the Col- 
 lege department in this period were somewhat smaller 
 than the average of previous years. This diminution 
 of numbers may have been due, in some degree, to the 
 controversies. Many had the opinion that they were the 
 sole cause of it. But it is more probable that the main 
 occasion of the fact was altogether outside of the 
 academic sphere, in certain temporary financial limita- 
 tions and other unfavorable conditions of the country 
 during those years. The fact itself, however, tended in 
 its influence to accentuate the controversies. 
 
 By a happy favoring of fortune, the divisions ceased 
 367
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 when the new administration began, and a unanimity of 
 sentiment among the entire company of graduates was 
 again realized. It was as happy a fortune for the Col- 
 lege as it was for the new President. Indeed, it was 
 happier, in proportion as the life of the institution is 
 greater and of more importance than that of any indi- 
 vidual man. Fortunately also, no interruption nor les- 
 sening of the harmony occurred in the years that fol- 
 lowed, and none seems likely to occur in the future. 
 
 368
 
 XIX. 
 
 The University 1886 to 1899 Changes from the 
 Earlier Time. 
 
 PRESIDENT PORTER closed his official term 
 on the 30th -of June, 1886. His purpose of 
 laying aside his duties at that time had been 
 made known to the Corporation several months earlier, 
 and that body, in view of this fact, elected me as his suc- 
 cessor on the 2Oth of May in that year. The cere- 
 monies of inauguration took place on the ist of July. 
 The kindly approval of my appointment which was mani- 
 fested by the members of the several Faculties, and by 
 the whole body of the Alumni, was most gratifying to 
 me, as well as most encouraging, as I entered upon the 
 duties of the new position. Indeed, without such ap- 
 proval, I could not have brought myself to accept the 
 offer which the Corporation extended to me. 
 
 The central idea of my administration, as I looked 
 out upon it from its beginning, was determined in my 
 own mind to be that of the University, as distinguished 
 from the College. This idea had come to me as an 
 inheritance. It had been also, in no small measure, that 
 which gave me an inspiration for all the upbuilding work 
 of the Divinity School, so far as I had the privilege of 
 sharing in this work. As early as the years 1870 and 
 1871 I had taken my part in urging this idea upon the 
 thoughtful attention of the authorities of the institution, 
 and of Yale men elsewhere. As I was now called to the 
 executive office, in which I might have a special influence, 
 I could not help regarding the appointed work of the 
 
 369
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 new era as that of bringing the thought of my predeces- 
 sor in the earliest years of the century, if this should be 
 possible, to its full realization in the closing years. As 
 so much had been accomplished, also, during the prog- 
 ress of the century, in preparation for the completeness 
 of the result, there seemed to be no possibility of mis- 
 taking the emphasis of the call. 
 
 The idea of the University, as it was understood at 
 the time and as it had found its place at Yale, was not 
 such as to involve the substitution of something else for 
 the College. It was, on the contrary, that of an institu- 
 tion including in itself all the Faculties of the College, 
 of Natural and Physical Science, of Art, of Law, of 
 Medicine, of Theology and having the several depart- 
 ments, together with such as might be added to them at 
 later periods, co-equal and co-ordinate. The old era of 
 an undergraduate College, with schools for professional 
 or other education attached to it indeed, but holding in 
 relation to it as a center, only a secondary position in 
 importance, or in the interest of the governing powers, 
 was to pass away, and to pass into a new one, in which 
 all alike should stand united in the full privileges and 
 rights of the common citizenship in which all, as thus 
 bound together, should constitute the Yale of the greater 
 future. To the establishment of this idea as, if I may 
 so express it, the central principle of the institution's life, 
 I felt it my duty, and my good fortune also, to consecrate 
 myself; and this to the end that the second century of 
 our history might give to the third the University as a 
 realized and completed fact. The development toward 
 the fullness of a yet larger life beyond the limits of the 
 powers, or even the vision, of the present, would then be 
 the appropriate and the inspiring work of the century 
 which was soon to open. 
 
 With these thoughts in mind and these hopes reaching 
 forward, I felt that the time had already arrived when 
 370
 
 PRESIDENT TIMOTHY DWIGHT
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 the true idea should be formally recognized. Accord- 
 ingly, at an early meeting of the Corporation, I urged 
 a change of the name of the institution, by which it 
 should thereafter be called, not Yale College, but Yale 
 University. There had been hitherto especially on 
 the part of some leading Yale men, both within and out- 
 side of the College a very considerable hesitation with 
 respect to adopting such a change. Some even felt a 
 satisfaction in retaining the old name, on the ground 
 that it manifestly claimed less for the institution than 
 justly belonged it. This feeling, however, had now 
 passed away almost altogether the movement from 
 one Presidential term to another naturally turning the 
 general thought forward toward the future, rather than 
 backward to the past. The consequence was, that the 
 Corporation, by a unanimous vote, requested the Legis- 
 lature of the State to authorize the use of the new name. 
 Within a few weeks, the Legislature took favorable 
 action, which was accepted and approved by the Presi- 
 dent and Fellows. In May, 1887, the title " Yale Uni- 
 versity " was formally adopted. The universal senti- 
 ment, when the change was made known to the gradu- 
 ates, was, as I am sure, one of satisfaction and 
 gratification. All felt that the new name was a recogni- 
 tion of what had been accomplished and an assurance 
 of what was to come. 
 
 A necessary result of this change which has been 
 alluded to was an enlargement of the sphere and scope 
 of the executive duties pertaining to the Presidential 
 office. The office, if these duties were to be rightly dis- 
 charged, must thereafter, of necessity, have much closer 
 relations to all the Departments outside of the Academi- 
 cal College, than it had ever sustained before. The 
 one who was placed in it, and who attempted to fulfill 
 its work, must keep his mind constantly open with a 
 wider outlook, and awake to all the separate and varied 
 
 371
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 interests on every side. He could no longer unite the 
 two functions of Professor and President in himself. 
 The marked growth of the institution, as well as the new 
 position which it assumed, rendered such a union not 
 only inappropriate, but even impracticable. Foreseeing 
 the necessity of the case, I requested the Corporation, at 
 the time of my election to the new office, to release me 
 from all obligation to carry on any personal work of 
 teaching. I also requested that I might be freed from 
 the burden of the minor details of discipline in the Col- 
 lege, which had previously rested in considerable meas- 
 ure though not by any means wholly, as in some 
 smaller colleges upon the President. We had reached 
 a critical turning-point in our history, and the time 
 seemed to me and happily for myself and, as I think, 
 for my successors, to the Corporation also to have 
 come, when there should be a modification of the earlier 
 arrangements with reference to these matters. My two- 
 fold request was granted, and the Presidency was thus 
 put on a new basis the basis, as I may say, of the Uni- 
 versity, rather than the College. 
 
 It was not appointed for me, however, in the order- 
 ing of events, that I should long continue to discharge 
 the duties of only one office. On the igth of December, 
 1886, as the first college term which followed my elec- 
 tion to the Presidency was closing, the University Treas- 
 urer, Mr. Henry C. Kingsley, died. His death was the 
 result of an accident, and was sudden and unexpected. 
 Owing to special circumstances and conditions at the 
 time, the vacancy in the Treasury administration was 
 a matter of even more than ordinary significance. That 
 it should be filled, when a new appointment was made, 
 by a person of eminent fitness, and one giving satisfac- 
 tion to all, was greatly to be desired. The gentleman 
 who was subsequently called to the position was then 
 absent from the country, and the Corporation found 
 372
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 much difficulty in selecting any one who could be secured 
 for the place and was also, in their view, entirely ade- 
 quate to its demands. Moreover, the condition of the 
 Treasury though the funds were much larger than they 
 had been ten years earlier was such, in relation to in- 
 come and expenses, as to render careful economy, at 
 least for a time, very desirable. The result was that the 
 charge of the Treasury was given to me for a limited 
 period, until some satisfactory appointment of a per- 
 manent character could be made. Contrary to my 
 expectations at the outset, I continued to discharge the 
 duties of the office for two years, until the time when 
 we were so fortunate as to induce Mr. William W. 
 Farnam to became the Treasurer. 
 
 I may state in this connection also as indicating that 
 it was allotted to me that I should not be limited to the 
 duties of a single office that, at the end of the first year 
 of my administration, Dr. William M. Barbour who, as 
 the Chittenden Professor of Divinity, had been the Col- 
 lege Preacher since 1877, retired from his position, that 
 he might accept a prominent office in connection with 
 McGill University, in Canada. As the result of his 
 withdrawal, the responsibility connected with the supply 
 of the pulpit was laid upon me. This responsibility 
 which involved much preaching on my part, both in the 
 College Chapel and, by exchanges with others, in vari- 
 ous places, continued for six and a half years. Impor- 
 tant work, connected with two positions, was thus for a 
 time added to that which pertained to my own special 
 sphere. My request addressed to the Corporation at the 
 beginning realized its purpose through their kindness, 
 but, as the event proved, it only gave me freedom from 
 one kind of services, while it opened the way for those 
 of other orders. 
 
 By good fortune, within the two years when I was the 
 Acting Treasurer, the resources of the institution were 
 
 373
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 so far increased that all the special limitations and 
 causes of anxiety which had existed passed away. The 
 new Treasurer entered upon his duties with nothing 
 of this particular burden resting upon him, and the 
 difficulties were overcome without occasioning even any 
 temporary inconvenience to the members of the Faculty. 
 It has been, from that time onward, a pleasant remem- 
 brance, that I was able to accomplish this result during 
 the period of my service in this office which opened to 
 me so unexpectedly and at so critical a moment. But I 
 resigned my duties, at the end, to the charge of my suc- 
 cessor with a sense of relief in laying aside its special 
 responsibilities. 
 
 The demands of the Treasurer's position in the years 
 that followed became so great, and the range of the 
 cares and duties connected with it was so much widened, 
 that it would have been scarcely possible for one man, in 
 any adequate measure to assume even a general respon- 
 sibility for it and at the same time fulfill the duties of 
 the Presidency. That the President of the University, 
 however, should have as thorough an acquaintance as 
 possible with its financial condition, can hardly be ques- 
 tioned; and, in my own case, the knowledge which I 
 gained by reason of the experience mentioned proved to 
 be of much benefit to myself and, I think I may also say, 
 of advantage to the institution. The perfect sympathy 
 and harmony which existed always between Mr. Farnam 
 and myself, in the years of his official term as the Uni- 
 versity Treasurer, was due in part to this knowledge. 
 
 It may easily be realized from what has been already 
 said of the two men, that the death of Professor Thach- 
 er, occurring just before, and that of Mr. Kingsley, 
 occurring soon after my entrance upon my administra- 
 tive office, removed from me efficient counselors and 
 helpers on whom, in my thought of the coming years, I 
 
 374
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 might naturally have rested many hopes. They had, 
 both of them, cordially favored my election to the Presi- 
 dency, and were ready to give me their confidence and 
 support. Professor Thacher had been, as I have else- 
 where stated, a kindly friend from the days of my youth. 
 I felt that in him I should find much wisdom, gained 
 from long experience in the sphere both of instruction 
 and government and through intimate acquaintaince 
 with the academic community and life. Mr. Kingsley, 
 on the other hand, had had charge of the Treasury for 
 twenty-four years, and his ability and success in connec- 
 tion with his office had been so marked that I could 
 leave with him the entire responsibility of all its exacting 
 and important duties. The two men were, also, in close 
 sympathy with each other in their views respecting Col- 
 lege needs and interests. So far, accordingly, as their 
 spheres of action bordered on each other, they acted har- 
 moniously, and with a union in efficiency which was most 
 serviceable to the institution. It would have seemed 
 strange to me, indeed, if I had foreseen at the outset 
 that my new work was to go forward wholly without 
 them, and that I was even to take upon myself, for a 
 time, the office which one of the two had held. 
 
 But while I was thus deprived of the aid which these 
 valued officials of the University would have given me, 
 I had a pleasant experience at the beginning of my 
 Presidency, which none of my predecessors had enjoyed. 
 Two of those who had previously held the executive 
 position Dr. Woolsey and Dr. Porter were still liv- 
 ing in New Haven, the former having the closest rela- 
 tions of friendship to the institution and the latter con- 
 tinuing in its work of instruction. Both of them took 
 part in the services connected with my inauguration and 
 both gave me their kindly approval as I entered upon 
 the duties of the office which they had filled. I may add, 
 in this connection, a single word of happy remembrance, 
 
 375
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 that the exercises of that day of so much interest to 
 myself were closed with a benediction which seemed 
 to come from the days of old pronounced by the Rev. 
 Dr. Joseph D. Wickham, at that time the oldest living 
 graduate of the College, and in his early manhood the 
 amanuensis of the first President Dwight. 
 
 The three Presidential terms of Drs. Dwight, Day, 
 and Woolsey covered a period of three-quarters of a 
 century. The fourth quarter was divided between Dr. 
 Porter and myself. At the opening of Dr. Porter's 
 term, I had nearly reached the age of the three earlier 
 gentlemen at their accession to the office, but at the close 
 of his administration, I was within three years of his own 
 age when he entered upon its duties. In general, I think 
 it is desirable that a person who is to occupy the position 
 of the Presidency of a University should, at the time of 
 his election, be not more than forty-five. If he is not 
 older than this, he has the possibility of a long period 
 of service, and also the advantage, both for himself and 
 for others, of moving forward as, in the full sense, 'a 
 contemporary of the men who are to be co-workers with 
 him. He is a man of the new era, in association with 
 men of the new era. This advantage is, in greater or 
 less measure, lost if the man be much farther advanced 
 in age at the beginning of his official term unless, in- 
 deed, he is of youthful spirit and progressive thought 
 and energy. But, as related to my own individual case 
 and my personal happiness, it was, as I think, a kindly 
 ordering of life, that I was not called to the executive 
 position earlier than I was that a longer period was 
 allowed me in my Professorial career. Those additional 
 years were, if I may so express it, the harvest time of my 
 student life, and I look back upon them, and upon the 
 work and associations pertaining to them, with most de- 
 lightful recollections. They were the years when the 
 enjoyment of our completed effort to re-establish the 
 376
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 Divinity School, and of our connection as teachers with 
 an earnest and enthusiastic company of young theological 
 scholars, came to us in abounding richness. I was called 
 to my new office when the blessing of the old one had 
 thus been fully realized, and that which was now opened 
 to me was an addition to the happiness of the life-time 
 accompanied by no loss. 
 
 The fact that, in my earlier years, I had been a mem- 
 ber of the Academical Faculty, was of much advantage 
 to me in the Presidency. By reason of this fact I knew 
 well the life and movement of the College in all its 
 range; and, as my memory reached backward farther 
 than that of almost any of my colleagues in that De- 
 partment, I was quite as familiar as they could be with 
 the precedents and history of the former time. On the 
 other hand, it was, I am sure, a benefit to the institution 
 as well as to myself, that I had been connected, during 
 the period of its renewed growth, with one of its Schools 
 which was farther removed from the older center of 
 thought and interest. 
 
 There were two members of the Academical Faculty, 
 when I became associated with it as President of the Uni- 
 versity, who were much older than myself Professor 
 Elias Loomis, who graduated as Bachelor of Arts nine- 
 teen years before me, and Professor James D. Dana, 
 whose graduation preceded my own by sixteen years. 
 Neither of these gentlemen was an active member of 
 the body during the period of my Tutorship. Professor 
 Loomis had held the Tutorial office from 1833 to 1836, 
 but from the latter year until 1860, when he was elected 
 to the Professorship of Natural Philosophy and Astron- 
 omy, he had been connected with other institutions. Pro- 
 fessor Dana, on the other hand, though elected to his 
 office in 1850, did not enter upon his duties as one of 
 the governing board until two months after I had given 
 
 377
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 up my position. In a certain sense, indeed, and an im- 
 portant one, Dr. Porter also still had a relation to the 
 Faculty, by reason of his retention of his professorship. 
 But, as he requested, on his retirement from the Presi- 
 dency, that he might not be called upon to attend Faculty 
 meetings, and as he never afterwards attended but one 
 such meeting one, moreover, which had no reference to 
 any matter of discipline or government I have not in- 
 cluded him with the two whom I have just mentioned. 
 
 Of the other gentlemen who composed the body in 
 July, 1886, all with a single exception were members 
 of classes of which I had been a teacher during a por- 
 tion of their undergraduate career, or as was true of 
 the very large majority of classes at Yale, or else- 
 where, the date of whose graduation was not earlier 
 than that of my entrance upon the duties of my office in 
 the Divinity School. The single exception alluded to 
 was Professor Hubert A. Newton, who was nearly of 
 my own age. As he had received his appointment to 
 the office of Tutor in 1853 and to his professorship in 
 1855, ne nac ^ been already engaged in teaching for more 
 than thirty years. His associates in the Faculty at 
 that time had, at least the larger proportion of them, 
 been his pupils in their college days. 
 
 By reason of the comparative smallness of the num- 
 ber of older men in the membership of the body at that 
 date at present, there are nine or ten who are farther 
 on in years than I was then and because of the facts 
 alluded to in connection with this limited number, the 
 Academical Faculty which I met in 1886 was an entirely 
 new one, as compared with that which I had left thirty- 
 one years before. As individuals, however, they were, 
 most of them, by no means, new men. In the University 
 circle I had known them with more or less intimacy of 
 acquaintance and, as a consequence, I entered upon my 
 office,-not as a stranger, but quite as if I had been placed, 
 378
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 though in a somewhat different position, yet still within 
 the limits of the former relationships and the old life. 
 I had, accordingly, every advantage which this fact could 
 give. 
 
 My three predecessors, Drs. Day, Woolsey and 
 Porter, were, like myself, called to the executive office 
 after a prolonged period of service as Professors in the 
 institution. In the first century of the College history, 
 there was no Faculty having in any measure a per- 
 manent character. Even at the date of Dr. Dwight's 
 election to the Presidency, there was but a single Pro- 
 fessor in the institution, and he was holding his position 
 only by an annual appointment. It may be said, there- 
 fore, that the custom in regard to this matter has been 
 uniform at Yale, ever since such a custom could, by the 
 possibilities of the case, be established. The same course 
 has also been followed with reference to the opening of 
 the new century, in connection with the choice of Presi- 
 dent Hadley, towards whom personally Yale men have 
 the friendliest sentiment and in the success of whose ad- 
 ministration they feel a very deep interest. 
 
 Whether a constant and unvarying adherence to the 
 custom in the future will be of advantage to the Uni- 
 versity, it may not be wise for us, who are of to-day, 
 to try to determine. The coming time may prove to 
 have peculiar conditions or special demands, which can- 
 not now be foreseen. But we may safely say that, other 
 things being equal, there are, and are likely to be, mani- 
 fest benefits resulting from elections to the chief office 
 of persons within the membership of the Faculties, which 
 may not otherwise be realized. But if the custom is to 
 have continuance in the new century especially in view 
 of the fact that the Presidency is becoming, of necessity, 
 in larger measure an executive office, it would seem essen- 
 tial that the authorities of the University should, in their 
 selection of Professors, consider sometimes at least those 
 
 379
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 gifts and qualities which especially fit one for the impor- 
 tant duties of administration. The executive faculty be- 
 longs to some scholars, but not to all. 
 
 The thirteen years from 1886 to 1899 are so recent 
 that the record of their progress and results is written in 
 the living memory of the graduates of the University, 
 The time for presenting it from the historian's point of 
 view has not yet arrived; and, as I have already inti- 
 mated, such a presentation with any fullness of detail 
 would not be in accordance with the plan and design of 
 this volume. I shall only allow myself to call attention 
 to some of the changes and growths as compared with 
 the earlier periods, and to give a few descriptive words 
 respecting the men whose service to the institution and 
 whose life-work ended within these years. 
 
 As I returned, by reason of my entrance upon the 
 Presidential office, to the more immediate and close con- 
 nection with the Faculty of the Academical Department 
 and its student community, such as I had known in the 
 beginning of my career as a teacher, I was deeply im- 
 pressed with two great changes which time had brought. 
 The first of these had relation to the Faculty, and the 
 second to the students. The Faculty had grown in num- 
 bers so far that it seemed to be a body of an altogether 
 different character from that of the former days. It 
 was no longer a little company of seven or eight per- 
 manent officers and as many more temporary ones, who 
 could meet together in a small study-room and talk with 
 each other freely of matters of which all, or nearly all, 
 had a common knowledge, and in which all, without ex- 
 ception, had a common interest. It had become a body 
 of a more legislative character; its membership being 
 more than twice as large, and being separated by the 
 elective system into sections of men, harmonious indeed 
 in feeling and sentiment, but limited in their relations 
 380
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 to students, and familiar acquaintance with them, to 
 such as were pursuing their own special courses. As a 
 consequence of this changed condition, new questions of 
 government and discipline, as well as of the general life 
 of the community, began to suggest themselves for con- 
 sideration questions well worthy of thought, and ap- 
 pealing for their decision to the highest wisdom. These 
 questions, as bearing on the future, were emphasized by 
 the rapid increase, in the following years, of the mem- 
 bership of the board of professors and instructors. To 
 some of these questions I may find occasion to refer on a 
 later page. 
 
 A marked change had, also, taken place in the under- 
 graduate student community, which had its bearing, and 
 an important one, on matters of discipline and govern- 
 ment. The advance of the years from 1855 to 1886 
 had been attended by what I may call a civilizing proc- 
 ess in our colleges. As the result of this, students were 
 now, in a measure quite beyond the earlier period, young 
 men rather than schoolboys, in respect to many individ- 
 ual things pertaining to their daily life and manners, and 
 also as related to the prevailing tone and spirit of the 
 community. Disorderly tendencies and practices which 
 were characteristic of the former time had, many of 
 them, so entirely passed away that they were not only 
 beyond the remembrance of the present generation, but 
 even beyond the limits of its desires or of its thoughts. 
 The social atmosphere was now that of a large Uni- 
 versity of the new age, as contrasted with that of a 
 small college of the older era. Not that all evils had 
 ceased, nor that there were no longer things existing 
 which were unworthy of educated youthjustapproaching 
 manhood. But there was very manifest growth in and 
 towards the life that may become the ideal. It was a 
 pleasure to observe and know the student body as 
 looking upon it from the office of central administra-
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 tion, a pleasure which could not have been so fully 
 realized thirty or fifty years before. 
 
 Partly as a consequence of the new condition of the 
 student community in the aspect referred to, and partly, 
 no doubt, as a cause of it, the relations between instruc- 
 tors and their pupils had become, within the period men- 
 tioned, less formal and less fully, if I may so say, in the 
 governmental sphere. The two parties were now more 
 friendly with the friendship of older and younger men 
 the sense of authority on the one side, and the feeling of 
 opposition to it or desire to be free from it on the other, 
 giving way to scholarly sympathy and mutual helpful- 
 ness. This change or growth of sentiment by which the 
 later years of the century have been marked in the Uni- 
 versity life awakens large hope for the future. 
 
 With reference to my own personal feeling as related 
 to these changes, I may allow myself to say that, as indi- 
 cating the progress of the institution and its history, they 
 were peculiarly interesting and gratifying. They could 
 not be otherwise, for they were in the line of my faith 
 and hope from the beginning of my career as a college 
 teacher. There was one thing, however, incidental to 
 the great increase in the membership of the student com- 
 munity and to the enlargement of the sphere and re- 
 lations of the Presidential office, which I could not but 
 regret. The familiar personal acquaintance with stu- 
 dents individually, which I had found possible in the 
 early days, was no longer open to me. They were too 
 many in number I was burdened with too many im- 
 perative official duties. One source of enjoyment and of 
 special influence, at least in the measure which I had 
 desired, was thus closed to me. I was obliged to stand 
 only in a more public relation to the young men collec- 
 tively, and to have such power for good in their personal 
 lives as might result from it alone. I trust that this 
 power was not altogether wanting; and if I may judge 
 382
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 from the universal kindly feeling which the young men 
 manifested during the college years, and have exhibited 
 also in the years that have followed, I may believe that 
 my trust has some true foundation. It may be well for 
 us all to remember when such regrets come to us that 
 intimacies of friendly acquaintance have their limita- 
 tions, almost of necessity, to equalities in age, and that 
 the sons cannot know the men of the older generation, 
 or open themselves to their knowledge, as fully and 
 freely as their fathers did. If we can be in any measure, 
 though in another way, to the sons what perchance we 
 may have been to the fathers, we may have a happy re- 
 membrance, after we have bidden them farewell, that 
 they knew us and we knew them. So life has much of 
 the richness of its reward even to the end. For me, cer- 
 tainly, the pleasures of memory go back not only to the 
 earlier years, but to the later ones.
 
 XX. 
 
 The Faculty Professors Loomis, James D. Dana, and 
 Newton. 
 
 THE life-work of twelve members of the several 
 Faculties of the University came to its close 
 within the thirteen years of which I am now 
 writing. My personal relations to them all were of the 
 most friendly character, and they honored me by their 
 confidence and kind regard. Of two of the number, 
 Drs. Porter and Harris, I have already given some com- 
 memorative and descriptive words. I will now en- 
 deavor, as best I may, and with true appreciation of their 
 eminent worth and service to the institution, to present 
 the thought of the others which I have in mind. 
 
 Professor Loomis was a man of such marked indi- 
 viduality and striking idiosyncrasies, that he would have 
 been a noticeable figure in any company in which he 
 might have found a membership for himself. I re- 
 member the impression that he made upon me when I 
 met him for the first time, and was introduced to him as 
 a young graduate of Yale. It was while I was still in 
 Germany as a student, and soon after he had arrived in 
 the city where I was spending a winter. On my name 
 being announced to him, he immediately began to ask me 
 for information respecting myself putting questions 
 concisely, and in rapid succession, as to my year of 
 graduation, my purpose in visiting Europe, my studies, 
 the probable length of my absence from home, etc., etc., 
 until I had the feeling that he was desirous of making an 
 exhaustive search throughout my outer and inner life 
 
 384
 
 PROFESSOR ELIAS LOOMIS
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 for all that I had or was. It seemed strange, indeed, for 
 a first interview; and yet not altogether, perhaps, like 
 ordinary curiosity. He was apparently taking into his 
 mind all the items of knowledge respecting a new speci- 
 men of human nature which he had chanced to discover, 
 and was doing so with the intention of placing them 
 in some catalogue or collection belonging to himself. I 
 almost wondered whether, after he had completed his 
 investigation, there would be anything in my past his- 
 tory, or my purposes or hopes for the future, which 
 would remain, in any full measure, my own. I said to 
 myself, as I parted from him : " I ne'er shall see his like 
 again." 
 
 .Nothing could have been more remote from my mind 
 at the time of that interview than the thought that my 
 new acquaintance and myself would, after an interval of 
 three years, both of us be professors at Yale, and that 
 our connection in the membership of the Faculties would 
 continue for nearly a generation. Such, however, was 
 the fact, as yet hidden from our knowledge, which the 
 future was to realize. The death of Professor Olmsted, 
 of the older Faculty, occurred in 1859, and a year after- 
 wards, Professor Loomis was called to fill his place in 
 the Chair of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy. As 
 I came to know him more fully in the subsequent years, I 
 formed a more distinct impression of the man as he was, 
 and saw clearly that his questionings and his manner 
 of presenting them were simply the result of what I may 
 call the quite peculiar mathematical characteristics of 
 his mind. He measured, and labeled, and put aside in 
 some compartment as it were, everything which excited 
 his attention or interest. Persons and subjects of thought 
 were alike submitted to this definiteness of inquiry and 
 accuracy of investigation. The brevity of his questions, 
 and indeed of his expressions in general, as well as the 
 consequent seeming rapidity with which they followed 
 385
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 each other had a close relation to the same mathemati- 
 cal characteristics. With great clearness of intellect to 
 grasp an idea, and an insight which enabled him to set it 
 forth in the fewest words, he was disposed by his very 
 nature to limit whatever he had to say within such nar- 
 row bounds that he seemed to others to be oftentimes not 
 only inquisitive, but also abrupt. His utterances were, 
 as I once heard a clergyman of the Anglican Church say 
 concerning John the Baptist's answer to the Pharisees, 
 " short, concise, and appropriate " appropriate, cer- 
 tainly, to the end which he had in view. But the inquisi- 
 tiveness was not of the common sort. It was that of the 
 scientific investigator. And the abruptness was such as 
 characterizes a man of mathematical mind who desires 
 to say no more than is necessary for the setting forth of 
 his idea. 
 
 Of course, this peculiarity of his afforded amusement 
 to his friends at times. I suppose we all amuse those 
 who know us, occasionally and when, perchance, we are 
 ourselves quite unconscious of the fact. But we may 
 find comfort in the thought of our happy fortune in that 
 we are not all alike our world would be a prosaic world 
 indeed, if we were and also in the other thought, nearly 
 akin to it, that our unlikeness to a friend, and this only, 
 is oftentimes that which excites his criticism. 
 
 A little story, illustrative, as my first interview with 
 him was, of the professor's method of questioning, found 
 easy circulation and credence in the undergraduate com- 
 munity twenty-five years ago. A young graduate of a 
 few years' standing, so the story said on returning 
 to New Haven, met the professor on the public green, 
 and greeted him in a respectful and friendly way. The 
 professor, not being quite fresh and sure in his remem- 
 brance of him as professors cannot always be, when 
 years have passed proceeded to make inquiries after 
 the following manner: Name? The answer came as 
 386
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 was fitting. Given name? Again the appropriate re- 
 ply. Residence? This was mentioned. Class? The 
 subject was exhaustively treated so the young man 
 thought. But after all, the information was gained 
 as quickly, and with as little detail or effort in the process, 
 as once, within my own experience, an answer was se- 
 cured from a very eminent mathematician to a question 
 involving only the addition of sixteen to nine. At all 
 events, if the story was true, it must be admitted that the 
 inquiries could not have been shorter, each one of them, 
 or more to the point which was in the inquirer's mind and 
 purpose. Why should one use more words than are 
 necessary ? he would have been disposed to say. 
 . A similar brevity was oftentimes exhibited in his 
 answers to questions presented to him by others. On a 
 certain day within his later years, when he had been for 
 some time in impaired health, a friend of his, who was a 
 member of one of the Faculties, called upon him in a 
 social and friendly way. This friend, having seen a 
 statement in one of the morning papers of the day to the 
 effect that the professor's health had recently been im- 
 proving, opened the interview by saying, " I am glad 
 to see that the papers this morning report that you are 
 better." " False," was the quick and brief reply and 
 the professor moved on, at once, to a quite different topic. 
 I remember that I was myself once walking with him for 
 a little distance on one of the city streets, on a day near 
 the end of the month of January, and that I said to him, 
 as I thought I was justified by the facts in saying, " We 
 have had an unusually cold January this year; is it not 
 so, Professor Loomis?" " Exactly the average of the 
 last forty years," was his response. Short, concise, and, 
 as the worthy clergyman might have added with refer- 
 ence to the prophet's answer, exhaustive I said to my- 
 self. But, in a moment, I changed my thought, and was 
 disposed to be forgetful of the professor's brevity, and 
 
 387
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 to felicitate myself on the happy fortune which I had, in 
 that I was not a statistician nor a recorder of averages. 
 
 Professor Loomis, however, was not merely a man of 
 few words, nor abrupt in his questions and answers. 
 When the first barrier was passed if I may so express 
 it he opened himself freely, and with pleasure, to con- 
 versation. He was interested in subjects of varied char- 
 acter; was possessed of much information; had readiness 
 for discussion and for communicating what he knew; and 
 withal had a certain humor which was of a quiet order, 
 indeed, but yet was quite attractive and pleasing. He 
 lived, for many years, much of the time alone, and was 
 more disposed to solitude than to social life, yet not as 
 much more so as to many he seemed to be. His wife 
 had died before his coming to New Haven to enter upon 
 his professorship, and his sons, after their graduation, 
 were removed from him in their residence and occupa- 
 tions for a considerable portion of his later life. His 
 solitude was largely, therefore, due to the ordering of 
 his life's experience. But it was also largely the result of 
 his natural tastes and inclination. Scholars and men of 
 thought generally have a stronger tendency to retire- 
 ment within themselves, than those whom we call men 
 of affairs. They live more apart from the world, be- 
 cause the sphere of their mental working is farther 
 removed. This is eminently true of scholars in certain 
 special departments, among which mathematical science 
 may surely be reckoned as having its place. The man 
 whose natural gifts fit him for the pursuit of this science, 
 and such sciences as have affiliation with it, finds himself 
 in large measure independent of other men. He can be 
 alone, without any oppressive feeling of loneliness. He 
 can, if need be, talk to himself, and find in himself a 
 most intelligent and satisfactory listener one most re- 
 sponsive to his inmost and deepest thoughts. But it does 
 not necessarily follow, that such a man must always
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 separate himself from companionship with others, be- 
 cause he is able to find enjoyment in solitude. The 
 hermit element is seen in its full power and absolute 
 control in but few, whether of the scholarly class or of 
 other classes. Professor Loomis was, by no means, 
 one of these few. He was content to be alone, and 
 yet also not to be alone. He was more content to be 
 alone than most of those who surrounded him were. 
 But social life was not without attractiveness to him, 
 and he could leave his studies and meditations for a 
 season, with no regret, in order that he might have con- 
 verse and conference with other minds and on other 
 themes. 
 
 . In his early manhood, soon after he left the office 
 of Tutor at Yale, in 1836, Mr. Loomis was invited 
 to take a position in Western Reserve College, then 
 recently founded. His professorship in that institution 
 included Mathematics, as well as Natural Philosophy 
 and Astronomy. In the chairs which he afterwards 
 filled, in the University of the City of New York, at 
 Princeton, and in our own College, his work as an in- 
 structor was devoted to the two last named studies. If 
 we look at his career, as a whole, we may say that it 
 was consecrated and with a truly remarkable per- 
 sistency of endeavor and a wonderful concentration 
 of purpose and desire to the science of Astronomy. 
 There have been few instances, indeed, in our country's 
 history of such constancy in the earnest pursuit of one 
 great end, in spite of all difficulties and delays, as that 
 which he manifested during the long years of his stu- 
 dent life, and even to its end. He lived to see and 
 realize, in part, the consummation of his hopes. But he 
 looked forward beyond his own time and, with the same 
 love of his science and devotion to it still continuing, 
 he provided by his will for the carrying on of the work. 
 He gave his entire estate of somewhat more than three 
 
 389
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 hundred thousand dollars to our University one-third 
 of it at his death, and the remainder after the death of 
 his sons for the uses of the Astronomical Observatory, 
 in the way of making observations for the promotion of 
 the science, and of publishing such observations and the 
 investigations founded upon them. He was himself a 
 scientific investigator, and he desired the income of his 
 bequest, in all the future, to be thus devoted to science. 
 It is pleasant to think that his name will always be con- 
 nected with the University as that of a friend who, in 
 what seemed to men about him the silent progress of 
 his life, ever kept in mind one work in its behalf which, 
 by his generosity at the end, was made perpetual for its 
 future history. 
 
 As an instructor, he was, as might naturally be in- 
 ferred from what has been already said of him, char- 
 acterized by great clearness of statement and equally 
 marked conciseness in his expression of his ideas. The 
 student who was attentive could not fail to understand 
 his meaning and to gain from him the light which he 
 wished for or needed. I have rarely, if ever, seen a 
 man who, having distinctly grasped an idea, could set 
 it forth in such aptly chosen words, or in so few of them. 
 He had mathematical precision in its exactest measure. 
 As an astronomer he must, it would seem, have also had 
 an imaginative element in his nature. But he did not 
 display it in his teaching, in any considerable degree. 
 He was inexpressive, also, on the emotional side. This 
 part of the inner life was kept within himself, and he 
 appeared before his classes in the lecture or recitation 
 room as a man of intellect only, dealing with purely in- 
 tellectual matters. There was, as a consequence, a cer- 
 tain strangeness or marvel about him in the thought of 
 his students, as if science were personified, and its utter- 
 ances were only of itself and were brief with the brevity 
 of a definition. Yet his pupils who cared for their 
 390
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 studies in his department of learning respected him high- 
 ly for his attainments and scientific ability, and they all 
 recognized the fact that there could be no misappre- 
 hension of the meaning of what he said, even as there 
 was no indefiniteness in his own ideas, or in the words 
 by means of which he gave expression to them. 
 
 The very great success which attended and followed 
 the publication of his mathematical works, and of his 
 books on astronomy and meteorology, in which last-men- 
 tioned sciences he was one of the most prominent Ameri- 
 can scholars of his generation, is a testimony to the un- 
 usual ability which he had both as a man of science and 
 as a man of clearness and distinctness in the presentation 
 of truth. The estate left by him at his death was largely 
 founded upon the extensive and continuous sale of these 
 books. In addition to his mental gifts which fitted him 
 for scientific investigation, he possessed a greater than 
 ordinary business capacity, and in the business sphere he 
 was characterized by the same exactness, incisiveness, 
 and clear insight, that he manifested as a man of learn- 
 ing and research. 
 
 Professor Loomis continued his work of instruction in 
 the College until the end of the first year of my Presi- 
 dency. But his health, in his advancing life, had already 
 begun to fail before this time, and at length he was con- 
 strained to withdraw altogether from public duties. He 
 continued his private studies, however, as one who was 
 limited, indeed, in physical strength, but was still in full 
 vigor of mind. With the utmost care he prepared and 
 arranged the results of his investigations, in order that 
 they might be given to the world. In fulfillment of his 
 earnest desire, he was enabled to complete the last work 
 to which he had given his thought and effort and then, 
 with a feeling of satisfaction that all had been accom- 
 plished, he looked forward, in quietness of spirit, to 
 the closing of his life. His name is recorded in a place 
 391
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 of honor among the scholars and teachers, and among 
 the devoted sons and generous benefactors of Yale. 
 
 Professor Dana was a man who stood in the academic 
 community in quite marked contrast to Professor 
 Loomis. He had none of the peculiarities of his col- 
 league which have been alluded to, and nothing of that 
 strangeness of the inner and outer life, as it seemed to 
 many of the latter's pupils, which made them regard 
 him as an almost unknowable personality. In this re- 
 spect, he was less of a historic character in the life of the 
 institution, recalled by graduates, in all their memories 
 of the past, as a striking and peculiar figure in the old 
 scenes that could not cease to be interesting. There is a 
 certain pleasure in the remembrance of such men be- 
 cause they give a kind of picturesqueness to the former 
 days. 
 
 Professor Dana was, also, by reason of the arrange- 
 ments of the course of study, brought into less frequent 
 or continuous intercourse with the students than Profes- 
 sor Loomis and the majority of his other associates of 
 the Faculty. The subjects which he taught were mainly 
 or wholly confined to the Senior year, and were limited, 
 in the time allowed for them, to a comparatively brief 
 period. During the larger portion of his active pro- 
 fessorial career the elective system was either not yet, 
 in any true sense, introduced, or was only developed in a 
 moderate degree. There was, accordingly, but little 
 opportunity afforded for any full study of the subjects, 
 or any extended research. Instruction was given, in 
 large measure, by lectures, and these were not accom- 
 panied by strict requirements of personal investigation 
 on the students' part. The changes in the methods of 
 teaching, in this regard, even within the past twenty- 
 five years can hardly be appreciated by any except 
 those whose familiar acquaintance with the College 
 392
 
 PROFESSOR JAMES D. DANA
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 world has extended over the whole period in which they 
 have gradually been realized. 
 
 As a lecturer, however, and as a teacher through lec- 
 tures, Professor Dana was regarded with the highest 
 favor, as well as the highest esteem, by the students, 
 even from the very beginning of his career. They saw 
 that he was a master of his subject, and they recognized 
 at once the fact of his power to make it interesting. His 
 language was admirably fitted to his thought and was 
 felicitously chosen for the accomplishment of his pur- 
 pose. He had marked simplicity of style, and yet his 
 style was always elevated and dignified. There was a 
 certain element manifest in his writings and discourses, 
 which rendered him specially attractive to his student 
 audiences, and particularly when he rose in his lectur- 
 ing, as he not infrequently did, into the region of true 
 eloquence. In his later years when the arrangements 
 of the College system, by reason of their greater free- 
 dom, allowed it he accompanied his lectures and pub- 
 lic instruction by a more private and familiar teaching. 
 He invited his classes, or such members of them as 
 were disposed to do so, to join him in pedestrian excur- 
 sions into the region about New Haven. In these ex- 
 cursions, which were always made for a scientific pur- 
 pose, he pointed out everything of interest, and gave his 
 pupils most helpful talks and explanations ever 
 awakening their enthusiasm, and ever reaching beyond 
 them in the joy of his own. 
 
 In the disciplinary and minor administrative functions 
 of the Faculty, I think he never took any very active 
 part. Certainly he did not, in his later years. I doubt 
 whether his tastes and the interest of his mind ever 
 turned in this direction. The sphere of his professor- 
 ship, as already indicated, was in considerable measure 
 outside of the daily college life. He was, accordingly, 
 not brought into contact with that life as some of his 
 
 393
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 colleagues were. In the larger matters pertaining to 
 the institution, on the other hand, he kept his thoughts 
 wakeful and held his energies always ready for emergen- 
 cies as they arose. The Scientific School, in relation to 
 its organization and early development, owed much to 
 his counsel and his efforts. The sympathy and aid which 
 he gave to the first professors in the school were a con- 
 stant encouragement to them as they undertook their 
 work, which then had small promise for the immediate 
 future and demanded heroic faith with reference to the 
 future in the far distance. He was also helpful to the 
 School as it moved onward in its history. Though con- 
 nected in the sphere of his special duties with the Aca- 
 demical Department, his influence as a man of science, 
 and his advocacy of science as a force in liberal educa- 
 tion, became a factor in the successful life of the new 
 department, which none of its friends or teachers failed 
 to recognize. In the general advance of study and the 
 enlargement of the provisions for study, in both of the 
 two departments, he had in like manner his share, as he 
 was always interested in the true university life. 
 
 The limitations of health, during a considerable part 
 of the later half of his professorial career, rendered it 
 difficult, and at times impracticable for Professor Dana 
 to open himself freely to social intercourse with his 
 pupils, or even with his friends. His physical condition 
 often caused the excitement of conversation to be quite 
 harmful to him, and he denied himself, in consequence, 
 that which he might otherwise have enjoyed. His 
 working force, however, did not seem to fail. By a 
 judicious arrangement of his time and measuring of 
 his strength, he enabled himself to do what few men 
 in the full vigor of their bodily powers accomplish. 
 The results of his labors will ever be a testimony in 
 proof of the greatness of the man to the minds of those 
 who have acquaintance with his history. 
 
 394
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 The personal appearance of Professor Dana sug* 
 gested and answered to his character. His movement, 
 as he walked in the streets, was quick and energetic, as 
 if he had the spirit and strength of youth even when ill 
 health or advancing years had laid a heavy burden upon 
 him. The mind overpowered all the infirmities of the 
 body, and it often seemed to a chance observer impos- 
 sible that he could be otherwise than in the complete 
 possession of manly vigor. His eyes exhibited the bright- 
 ness and eagerness of his intellect. They were always 
 open, in the sphere of science, and always penetrative 
 into its mysteries and, as it were, alert with respect to its 
 revelations. There was a quiet kindliness in his look, 
 and yet every one who saw him appreciated the fact, that 
 it was the kindliness of a man of strong character. The 
 force of his nature was manifest in his whole bearing, 
 while at the same time his friendly disposition and kind 
 feeling were equally evident. In his ordinary intercourse 
 with others he was characterized by a graciousness of 
 manner which was very pleasing, and which was in itself 
 indicative of the scholarly gentleman. In the circle of 
 his more intimate associates he awakened a sentiment 
 of esteem and regard to which added strength was given 
 as they moved onward with him in the duties and ex- 
 periences of their common life. 
 
 My memories of Professor Newton go back even to 
 our undergraduate days. He was a student in the class 
 which was graduated in the year next following my own, 
 and thus we were fellow-members of the academic 
 community during three-quarters of the period of my 
 college course. We were associates in the Tutorship 
 from 1853 to l8 55- We had somewhat of the same 
 society connections in a part of our student life and, after 
 closing our Tutorial career, we were for a short time 
 traveling companions in Europe. But when two persons 
 
 395
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 live in such close relations of fellowship as pertain to 
 a College Faculty for nearly forty years, the distinctness 
 of the old impressions is apt to fade away. We forget 
 the man of the early time, as our thought is filled with 
 the man of to-day. As with ourselves, so it is with him. 
 The growth of the years is so gradual it is, as it were, 
 so silent and imperceptible in the process of its move- 
 ment that there seem, at the end, to have been no 
 changes. The years, indeed, have gone, but the man 
 remains. It is a happy fact of our life, no doubt, that 
 this is so. The fading of older memories into later 
 ones is not to be regretted ; and yet we cannot help some- 
 times wishing that the old ones could retain their own 
 freshness. If the company of my associates in the 
 Tutorial office could come before my mental vision just 
 as they were in the early fifties, and I could once more 
 see them in the life of those days, it would be a pleasant 
 remembrance, for it would recall the beginning of the 
 manhood of each and all. 
 
 I would pass, however, from this brief digression to 
 Professor Newton, and say a few words of him. He 
 was taken out of our Tutorial board, because of his 
 already recognized mathematical ability, and of the 
 feeling of the College authorities that the professor- 
 ship then recently made vacant by the death of Professor 
 Stanley should be filled as soon as possible. In the sum- 
 mer of 1855 the appointment was given him to a per- 
 manent position as the occupant of that chair. At that 
 time he was only twenty-four years of age, yet notwith- 
 standing his youth his friends had strong confidence that 
 the years, as they passed, would show his fitness for the 
 work assigned to him and would witness his success. 
 His intellectual gifts, as they thought, were such as 
 qualified him in no ordinary degree for the studies to 
 which he was called to devote himself. He had the in- 
 sight of the true mathematician and easily comprehended 
 396
 
 PROFESSOR HUBERT A. NEWTON
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 the problems, whatever they might be, which his science 
 offered. His thought reached out with readiness to- 
 wards the things as yet unknown, and he moved forward 
 to the understanding of them by means of the most care- 
 ful and accurate reasoning. 
 
 The broadness of his mind as related to science was 
 shown, in later years, by his attainments in astronomy 
 and meteorology. He was perhaps the most efficient 
 agent in the establishment of the Astronomical Observa- 
 tory at Yale. His devotion to its interests manifested 
 itself at all times. For a considerable number of years 
 he held the office of its director, and until his death he 
 was continuously a member of its Board of Managers, 
 and the Secretary of the Board. The University lost, 
 when he died, an astronomer of high reputation, as well 
 as a mathematician of the first rank. 
 
 Like many men of mathematical powers though 
 not indeed all he had a certain hesitation of speech and 
 slowness in utterance. Whether this interfered in any 
 measure with his success in teaching, I do not know, but 
 it affected him somewhat in social intercourse. It was 
 mainly, no doubt, natural to his physical constitution, 
 yet it may have been in part also the result of that ex- 
 treme desire for accuracy which is characteristic of men 
 devoted to his science. Mathematicians must be sure 
 of every step which they take. Inaccuracy is ever before 
 their minds as fatal to all proper investigation and the 
 successful search for all true results. It is no wonder, 
 therefore, if they speak slowly, or pronounce decisions 
 with much deliberateness, in cases where others might 
 affirm with immediate confidence or even with emphasis. 
 Nor can we be surprised, if the habit of hesitation in 
 utterance grows upon such a man, so that it gains a 
 mastery over him when there would seem to be little or 
 no occasion for his yielding to its control. In Professor 
 Newton's case, the habit was the same in youth, as it was 
 
 397
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 in later years. We who knew him well were accustomed 
 to it, and his pupils thought little of the matter when 
 they came to have familiar acquaintance with him as an 
 instructor. It was merely one of his peculiarities which 
 they noticed after the manner in which other things, not 
 common to all alike, were noted by them as specially 
 characteristic of individual teachers. It was outside of 
 the ordinary thought, and quite amusing to the hearers, 
 when a young student, who had recently entered one of 
 his later classes, expressed to several of his associates 
 his fear that the professor, because of the slow and hesi- 
 tating way in which he talked, might be finding the prob- 
 lems presented to him troublesome or might be doubtful 
 as to their solution. That the professor should be thus 
 disturbed by questions arising in the class-room had not 
 entered the minds of the young man's companions, as 
 they all knew that he had the true mathematician's pene- 
 trative power. 
 
 Another reason for hesitancy such as that which has 
 been mentioned may, as I think, be found in the fact that 
 the mathematical mind, by reason of its instincts and its 
 education alike, is wont to discover difficulties and ob- 
 jections, as connected with any question which arises, 
 more easily, and in greater numbers, than other minds 
 having different or opposite gifts. All possible difficul- 
 ties must be removed, as well as all inaccuracy guarded 
 against, or the result may not prove to be sure. Profes- 
 sor Newton was characterized by this peculiarity, as he 
 was by the one already alluded to. He saw many things 
 of this character when men about him did not, or 
 when, if they saw them, they did not think it necessary, 
 or possibly did not wish, to give them attentive consid- 
 eration. He was not an unreasonable combatant, be- 
 cause of the objections which presented themselves to 
 his mind. He thought that they should be fairly stated 
 and duly weighed in any intelligent discussion. But he 
 398
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 could be reasoned out of them, so far as their force for 
 his own thought was concerned, or could yield to the 
 opinions of others, or of a majority, when these were not 
 in accordance with his own. Yet he felt that he must 
 take notice of them for himself, and must be honest in 
 his treatment of them. So honest was he, that on one 
 illustrative occasion, which is well remembered by those 
 who were present (when he had vigorously advocated 
 in a meeting of the Faculty a measure which divided the 
 members in sentiment, and when, after answering all 
 objections brought forward by others, he found the de- 
 cision of the question to be still very doubtful) he said, 
 before giving his vote, that there was a further objec- 
 tion to his own view and proposal which had' not been 
 mentioned by any one. He then proceeded to set it forth 
 in its full force. The measure which he advocated was 
 carried; but the characteristic of the man, as he saw 
 and stated, in its bearing against himself, what none of 
 his opponents had thought of, produced its own impres- 
 sion. I well remember, also, his word of objection when, 
 in 1888, it was proposed that the old one-story labora- 
 tory building, which stood in the rear of South Middle 
 College, should be removed. The building had not 
 been used for years, and no one disapproved of its re- 
 moval. But there was a reason for retaining it which 
 he felt should have consideration, before the final de- 
 cision should be made. 
 
 During the first twenty-five years of his professorial 
 career, he carried on the regular instruction of entire 
 classes in his department and was, as we may say, one 
 of the routine workers of the Faculty. In the later 
 period, he limited himself to the teaching of smaller 
 bodies of students, who made choice of courses which 
 he offered as electives. Finally, in the last two or three 
 years of his life, he was able to offer only one or two 
 courses his health being much weakened at this time. 
 
 399
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 To his optional classes he was able to give more freely 
 and fully than he could do to the larger and less care- 
 fully selected bodies of students, the results of his studies 
 and investigations. In meeting these classes he had 
 peculiar pleasure and satisfaction. His duties as a mem- 
 ber of the Faculty he continued to fulfill even to the 
 last, though of course, as one of the older men, he 
 had, in the latter years, only a small share in the daily 
 administration of the life of the institution. 
 
 Professor Newton was a man of very kindly nature. 
 He had a warm affection for his friends, and a genuine 
 desire to make friends. Students who went to him for 
 help of any sort found him always ready to give them 
 a welcome and to do for them whatever was in his 
 power. His kind-heartedness was manifested to me in 
 the early days and the later days alike. To some of 
 the younger scholars in his own department of study, 
 who were called to assist him or become his associates 
 in the work of College instruction, his generous aid and 
 friendly attitude were such as to render them ever after- 
 wards grateful to him as their teacher and older col- 
 league. 
 
 He was of a family which seemed destined to long- 
 continued life, his parents and grandparents having 
 survived to a very advanced age. His expectation 
 throughout almost the whole of his career, I think, was 
 that his own experience would prove to be like theirs. 
 But when he had reached the age of sixty-three he be- 
 came enfeebled by a disease of a dangerous and threat- 
 ening character, and after a gradual decline of about two 
 years, during which he kept on working up to the limit 
 of his powers, he died in August, 1896. He was, at 
 that time, the oldest Professor in the Academical De- 
 partment. 
 
 400
 
 XXI. 
 
 Professors Whitney, Eaton, Marsh, and Lyman. 
 
 ON one of the early pages of this volume I have 
 mentioned the name of William D. Whitney 
 in connection with his membership and my 
 own, in 1850, in a "small class of graduates who read 
 some of the Greek classics with President Woolsey. He 
 had graduated with the highest honors at Williams 
 College four years before the graduation of my class 
 at Yale, and was already, as I think, turning in his mind 
 and purpose towards the life of a linguistic scholar. He 
 had, indeed, come to New Haven with the desire, 
 especially, of studying Sanscrit with Professor Salisbury, 
 then almost the only teacher of this language in the 
 country. He may have thought of becoming a teacher 
 of Sanscrit himself, though this might seem almost 
 incredible as we look backward to the condition and 
 circumstances of that period. But even if this thought 
 had entered his mind, a position at Yale could scarcely 
 have suggested itself to him, for the reason that there 
 was already a professor here, who was only thirty-six 
 years of age, and surely there could not be an opening 
 for two professorships of that language in one institu- 
 tion. 
 
 There are cases where the Divine guidance with 
 respect to human lives seems to make itself peculiarly 
 manifest a guidance which leads, through all seeming 
 uncertainties and improbabilities, or even impossibilities, 
 to the fulfillment of a Divine purpose. I cannot help 
 thinking of Mr. Whitney's case as one of these. It was 
 401
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 for the advancement of linguistic science, and for the 
 good of our University as a seat of sound learning, that 
 he was brought hither with his scholarly zeal and ardor, 
 and that the way was opened for him, when he was in 
 readiness, that he might have a permanent life within 
 the University walls. 
 
 It needed but to see and meet him, to appreciate the 
 fact that he had the scholar's gifts and nature. We 
 who were his associates in Dr. Woolsey's class per- 
 ceived his ability and understood his character, in this 
 regard, even from the beginning of his connection with 
 us. What we saw in him was, of course, more evident 
 to his instructors, Professor Salisbury and the President, 
 for they had a clearer vision than it was possible for 
 his young fellow-students to have. They doubtless soon 
 began to wish that he might be secured for Yale in the 
 future, though the hindrances and difficulties were con- 
 spicuous and the outlook was full of discouragement. 
 He remained with us as a student but a single year, and 
 then following his own strong impulse, and aided and 
 strengthened by the advice of his two teachers he 
 entered upon a course of study under the leading scholars 
 in his department in Germany. This course of study 
 was continued for three years. Near the close of these 
 years, a generous gift from Professor Salisbury rendered 
 it possible for the authorities of the College to offer 
 him a professorship; and with the hearty approval of 
 the Faculty and the President, the offer was made. The 
 professorship which Professor Salisbury had held for 
 the twelve preceding years was, according to his own 
 proposal, divided into two chairs Professor Whitney 
 taking that of Sanscrit, and Professor Salisbury retain- 
 ing that of Arabic. But for this generous gift and 
 proposal, the call to Mr. Whitney, which made him 
 one of the Yale fraternity, could not have been given, 
 and his life-work with us would have failed of its 
 402
 
 PROFESSOR WILLIAM D. WHITNEY
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 realization. A similar generosity, I may add, and a 
 yet larger gift on the part of Professor Salisbury, sev- 
 eral years afterwards, so fully established the founda- 
 tion of the professorship, that Mr. Whitney was able 
 to decline tempting offers from other institutions. 
 
 In the earliest period of my own professorship, which 
 began four years later than his, my study room in the 
 old Divinity Hall was near, and during a part of the 
 time directly under, the one which he occupied. Our 
 duties were quite different, even as our studies were. 
 He was a University professor. My position was in 
 the Theological School. He had, in his special depart- 
 ment of instruction, no pupils, or only an occasional 
 one. His time was, consequently, at his own disposal, 
 for the furtherance of his attainments and learning. 
 On the other hand, as I have already stated, I was 
 called to the work of daily instruction and, in addition 
 to this, the burden of the beginning of the re-establish- 
 ment of the Divinity School was, in large measure, laid 
 upon me. I often thought of him in those days in 
 contrast with myself, and said to myself, Is not he, 
 engaged as he is almost exclusively in his studies, render- 
 ing a greater service to the institution, to its fame and 
 its truest life, than any of us, his associates, who are 
 full of active duties and may seem to those who lodk 
 upon us to be the real workers ? I have never doubted, 
 since I saw him in those years, the value to a university 
 of the presence within its walls of scholars given wholly 
 to scholarship and research. 
 
 In the after years, however, he became not only a 
 scholar, but a highly esteemed and gifted teacher. 
 When the waiting period, as I may call it, was ended 
 the period during which our best colleges were develop- 
 ing towards higher ideals and a wider reach of learning 
 the demand for instruction in Sanscrit and Philology 
 began to be more manifest. Students of the best order 
 
 403
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 came to him, not in large numbers indeed, but with 
 much scholarly enthusiasm and a full appreciation of 
 the bearing of what he taught them upon their own 
 linguistic attainments. In the year 1861 when the 
 curriculum of the Scientific School was considerably 
 broadened, he became an instructor in Modern Lan- 
 guages in that department of the College. He had, 
 indeed, before this date met optional classes in German 
 and French, but now he assumed more regular and 
 continuous duties in this sphere of teaching, and united 
 himself, though still holding his University chair, with 
 the Faculty of that school as one of the members of its 
 Governing Board. For a third of a century he remained 
 in this membership. As this was a time of marked 
 development and constantly advancing growth in the 
 school, he had the opportunity, which he most wisely 
 and faithfully used, of influencing it for its highest good. 
 His career seems thus to have been happily ordered for 
 him and likewise for the University not only in the 
 earlier, but also in the later years. He had at the 
 beginning a period of scholarship, mainly apart from 
 teaching, while afterwards, during the long continuance 
 of his official term, scholarship and teaching were united 
 in the most fortunate and most useful way in a way, 
 also, most satisfying to himself. 
 
 I knew Professor Whitney as a pupil knows his 
 teacher for a short period in the earliest days of his 
 professorship. With three or four friends of about my 
 own age, I studied the German language under his 
 guidance. We had formed a volunteer class and, at our 
 request, he gave us his aid. The impression which I 
 then received respecting him was, that as an instructor 
 he possessed unusual gifts and singular ability. The 
 same impression, I am sure, was made upon the minds 
 of all his students in the years that followed. He had, 
 in an uncommon degree, the power of setting before the 
 404
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 learner what he needed and enabling him to make it 
 his own. As a consequence, he led him onward, without 
 ever suffering him to lose what he had once gained. 
 The old things were held firmly and the movement was 
 constantly towards the new. The pupil thus felt an 
 abiding confidence in his teacher that no mistakes 
 would be made by him ; that the limits of his knowledge 
 would not be overpassed; that difficulties would be ex- 
 plained; that the force and beauty of the language would 
 be made known; that there would be nothing to undo, 
 and that all would be done well. Those who were 
 faithful to his instruction left his classes, at the end of 
 their course of study, with a firm grasp of the knowledge 
 which he had communicated to them. They had become, 
 under his care and training, scholars adequate to meet 
 the demands of the future, and to move yet farther 
 onward if the call should come. 
 
 Mr. Whitney was, I think I may say, the truest and 
 purest linguistic scholar that we had in the Yale Faculty 
 in his time not only beyond the elder Professor Gibbs, 
 who really belonged to the earlier period and was thus 
 nearer the beginnings of philological learning in our 
 country, but even beyond his teacher, Professor Salis- 
 bury, or his fellow-student and colleague, Professor 
 James Hadley. The four men, in their succession and 
 their union, did a great work in this department of 
 scholarship, in preparation for the era which has already 
 begun, and the promise of which is very rich as we look 
 forward into the new century. They were not, however, 
 linguistic scholars of the narrower order, but scholars 
 of wider vision and broader interests. The inheritance 
 which they have left to the University has, therefore, a 
 special richness of blessing in itself. If their best influ- 
 ence shall remain in its full force in the minds of the 
 linguistic scholars who follow them, it will be fortunate 
 for our University education. 
 
 405
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 In his association with his -friends Mr. Whitney was 
 affectionate and kindly. He had an open mind and 
 heart towards them. Like many, if not most scholars 
 of his order, however, he was somewhat undemonstra- 
 tive. His emotional nature, however strong in character, 
 did not ordinarily overcome his self-restraint, and in 
 conversation with those who met him in social life there 
 was, in general, no overflowing of feeling in words 
 through irrepressible excitement, as in the talk of some 
 very interesting men. He had firmly established con- 
 victions indeed, and at times he gave expression to them 
 with emphasis, and even a sort of apparent impatience. 
 But the ordinary movement of his thought was calm and 
 quiet, sympathetic and intelligent, yet not aggressive or 
 impulsive. Some men enjoy their thoughts and feelings 
 so greatly that they cannot help making them known 
 in friendly conference with those whom they chance to 
 meet. Others have their enjoyment so fully within them- 
 selves, that they have much less impulse towards an 
 outward expression of it. The two orders of men may 
 have an equal richness of mind or spirit, and may give 
 to their associates an equal measure of satisfaction, but 
 they are not alike. What we gain from them comes to 
 us by different pathways, if not from different sources. 
 Professor Whitney belonged to the latter class, yet he 
 had the affection and the admiration of his friends, and 
 the more as they knew him more intimately. 
 
 The amount of scholarly work which he accomplished 
 was very remarkable never more so than in the last 
 eight years of his life, after the disease which at the 
 end proved fatal had seized upon him. Like Professor 
 Dana in this regard, he contended manfully and with 
 heroism against his infirmity. Guarding and restraining 
 himself most carefully, that he might lose no measure 
 of his remaining strength, he went forward in his studies, 
 his teaching, his preparation of papers for the press, his 
 406
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 editorial duties in connection with the Century Dic- 
 tionary, and his yet larger efforts in his own departments 
 of learning, with a continuous devotion and energy. It 
 was a most interesting sight to see him in those years. 
 He had ever the consciousness that the end might come 
 at any hour. So there was a calmness and serenity in 
 his appearance as he was working at home or walking 
 abroad. Yet there was no weakening of endeavor as if 
 life's duties were over, and no loss of manly courage 
 or purpose. The inspiration which comes from the 
 things that are beyond all present attainments was still 
 the impelling force within him, and the movement of 
 the mind under its influence could not cease. 
 
 Professor Whitney, as has been intimated, was by 
 reason of the chair which he held a University Professor, 
 but during the main part of the time of his official service 
 he had a place, as an instructor in that department, in 
 the membership of the Governing Board of the Scientific 
 School. The position of Professor Daniel C. Eaton was 
 similar, in this regard, to that of Mr. Whitney. He 
 also held a University Professorship the provisions of 
 its endowment being such as to open his instructions 
 freely to students of different departments of the insti- 
 tution. The close relations, however, of the science 
 of Botany the science which he taught to the other 
 sciences pursued in the Sheffield School naturally occa- 
 sioned a special connection between him and its Faculty, 
 and he acted for many years as one of the Board. These 
 two professorships were happily suggestive of the Uni- 
 versity idea. 
 
 Professor Eaton was a faithful and energetic student 
 in his branch of science. In certain lines of investigation 
 pertaining to it, he \vas an enthusiast, and he had a 
 knowledge which was not surpassed, if indeed it was 
 equalled, by any other scholar in the country. From his 
 407
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 early youth his tastes and impulses moved him to the 
 study of plants and flowers. As he reached the deter- 
 mining point of his career, therefore, there could have 
 been little doubt, either in his own mind or in the minds 
 of those who knew him, as to what might fitly be his 
 life-work, if only a favoring fortune should open the 
 way before him. Seven years after his graduation, the 
 way was thus opened. A professorship was established 
 through the generosity of friends of the institution in 
 1864, and he was called to fill it. During these seven 
 years he had prepared himself thoroughly for the duties 
 which the position demanded. It was a position which 
 offered many opportunities and much happiness for such 
 a man, and we cannot doubt that he accepted it with 
 great satisfaction, as well as with abundant hopes. 
 These hopes were pleasantly and largely realized during 
 the thirty-one years of his subsequent life. 
 
 Soon after his death, his herbarium and the botanical 
 library which he had collected both of much interest 
 and value were generously given by his family to the 
 Scientific School. This gift was made in accordance 
 with a thought and wish on his own part which, it is 
 believed, he had long had in mind. It will have a 
 special interest as a memorial of his affection for the 
 University and of his life-work in it and on its behalf. 
 
 Professor Eaton was, in his undergraduate years, a 
 member of the last College class with which I had 
 immediate connection while in the Tutorial office. He 
 was at that time a faithful student in the various lines 
 of the course as then prescribed, but his special interest 
 was doubtless where it was from the earlier time and in 
 the later time. He fitted himself for educated life and 
 strengthened his powers and tastes in preparation for 
 the future. Of a kindly disposition and with pleasant 
 manners, he drew his friends closely to himself. He 
 gave them his affection in a manly way and they heartily 
 408
 
 PROFESSOR DANIEL C. EATON
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 reciprocated his feeling. The gentlemanly character 
 was always manifest. The same was true of his later 
 years. He moved on from his youth as he had been 
 in his youth, only with the development of mind and 
 heart which belongs to maturer life. His career in the 
 University was an honorable and a useful one. 
 
 Professor Marsh consecrated his powers and his life 
 to science in his own department with even more re- 
 markable devotion and persistency, if possible, and with 
 a yet more unbounded enthusiasm, than were manifested 
 in other lines of study and investigation by Professor 
 JLoomis and Professor Whitney. His love for science 
 and scientific research was deeply implanted in his nature. 
 It exhibited itself very distinctly and in a most uncom- 
 mon way in his youth, and became an impelling force 
 for all his maturer years. I know of no more interesting 
 spectacle in human life than that which is afforded by 
 men like him and the others, his colleagues, whom I 
 have just mentioned, in this regard. They pursued the 
 one object which they had in view with all the energy 
 of their nature, subordinating everything else to its 
 attainment, and finding their reward only as they ad- 
 vanced farther and yet farther towards it. Our Uni- 
 versity has had a happy fortune indeed, in that it has 
 numbered so many men of this high order in the circle 
 of its scholars and teachers. 
 
 Professor Marsh's interest in his life at Yale, and in 
 the University as the place where the results of his 
 studies and researches might be permanently treasured, 
 was equalled only by that which he had in the work 
 itself. His affection for the institution was awakened 
 in his undergraduate years. It was constant and abiding 
 throughout all the time that followed. The munificent 
 gift of his most extensive and valuable collections, which 
 he made to the University in 1898, was a unique and 
 409
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 remarkable testimonial of the sentiment which had char- 
 acterized him from the beginning of his professorial 
 career. By this gift he became one of the great benefac- 
 tors to whom the highest places of honor must always 
 be given in the history of Yale. It is worthy of notice, 
 and of remembrance also, that he was one of a small 
 number among the University officers within the past 
 century, who have rendered their service to the institu- 
 tion freely, without salary. 
 
 In his personality, Professor Marsh was, as we may 
 say, a man quite by himself. He was intelligent, with 
 a manly intelligence, and a careful student, patient in 
 his researches. But at the same time, as a collector 
 and discoverer, he had the irrepressible zeal which is 
 characteristic of an enthusiast. Every new thing in his 
 own sphere of investigation which revealed itself 
 everything which had in it the promise of a revelation 
 gave him happiness and stirred him to fresh activity. 
 He would press forward with all energy, and any needed 
 outlay of effort or means, to secure what it might have 
 to give him. When he had made it his own, and found 
 it of true value, he hastened with joyful ardor to relate 
 his good fortune to his friends, as if he had possessed 
 himself of a hidden treasure. His manner of speaking 
 rendered what he told more impressive. It was a part 
 of the man, which united itself with his inward satisfac- 
 tion and the intensity of his feeling, and thus brought 
 the listener, for the time at least, into sympathy with 
 his delight. 
 
 In conversation with friends or intelligent visitors 
 especially when his visitors were prominent men in 
 scientific lines his mind was often wakened to its high- 
 est activity and interest. He showed himself, at such 
 times, to be full of information, gained alike through 
 his own researches and as the result of his intercourse 
 with scholars in different parts of the world. He had 
 410
 
 , 
 
 PROFESSOR OTHNIEL C. MARSH
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 travelled extensively and, wherever he went, had formed 
 the acquaintance of those whom it was most desirable 
 to know. He thus had abundance of anecdote, as well 
 as of learning, and could make use of whatever he pos- 
 sessed for the entertainment or instruction of his guests. 
 No undue prominence, however, was assumed for him- 
 self in such friendly interviews; he was as ready to 
 listen, as to speak, and was ever with open mind towards 
 new knowledge, from whomsoever it might come. 
 
 In his attitude and in his manner of expressing him- 
 self, a certain formality was characteristic of him. 
 Especially was this manifest in cases where he sought 
 an interview with others on matters of business, or on 
 subjects of interest with respect to his own particular 
 work. The slight and somewhat peculiar hesitation in 
 his utterance rendered this formality more conspicuous. 
 I was always struck with this singularity of manner 
 when he called upon me, as he occasionally did, for the 
 purpose of securing some minor appropriation of money 
 for his department of the Museum, or for the introduc- 
 tion of a new teacher into its service, or of some change 
 of arrangements which would aid in enlarging its work. 
 Whatever the object might be, the manner of the man 
 was the same. It was as if we had been two ministers 
 of state having little acquaintance with each other, who 
 had met for the settlement of some great question of 
 public concern. All was serious with a dignified 
 solemnity, and measured with a diplomatic deliberate- 
 ness. My own bearing was, as of necessity, determined 
 by his. One could not talk after the ordinary method, 
 and with the freedom of a common conversation, when 
 the other party in the interview seemed to place the 
 subject and the discussion on a plane so much higher. 
 I was not able fully to equal him, but my approaches 
 to his standard were, for the time and by reason of 
 effort, so near to it that I think he was satisfied. I could, 
 411
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 indeed, be as immovably serious in my look, as he could 
 himself be. This is a gift for which I have sometimes 
 felt that I ought to be grateful. My look, also, in a 
 measure, solemnized my speech; and so, with the 
 friendly spirit which we always had, we moved on with 
 a reasonable success. But I used often to think, just 
 after such an interview had closed, of the possibilities of 
 the thoughts on the two sides respecting it. Did either 
 0f the two parties quite understand the impression pro- 
 duced on the mind of the other? Was the look of either 
 quite the same that it had been a few moments before? 
 It is enough, no doubt, to know that all is well that 
 ends well. The Professor usually gained, as the result 
 of the interview, what he desired always, if I remem- 
 ber aright, when it was within the power of the Uni- 
 versity to grant it. Such idiosyncrasies made the man 
 more interesting. They certainly gave him an indi- 
 viduality which distinguished him from others. 
 
 In his inmost thinking the deepest life of his man- 
 hood my belief is that he always lived apart from those 
 about him. He thought after his own manner, and in 
 an independent way, and I doubt whether even his most 
 intimate friends penetrated the recesses, or really in 
 any measure understood him in that central region of 
 the soul where it turns towards the unseen things. I 
 question, indeed, whether he had intimate friends, in 
 the fullness of intimacy which is known by men whose 
 inner life opens itself with greater readiness. When we 
 pass onward to what may be hereafter the clearer revela- 
 tions of the soul's deepest self, we may find that the 
 things which we did not see before in others were unseen 
 only because of the limitations of our vision, or because 
 of the veil which the very differences of nature placed 
 between ourselves and them. There was a solitariness 
 of this character in Professor Marsh's life, notwith- 
 standing the abundant outwardness in its activities and 
 412
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 its intercourse with men, which, as I observed or thought 
 of him, was very suggestive to me. The words "we 
 know in part" true of all spheres of knowledge as they 
 may be are equally true, or even more so, of the knowl- 
 edge of the soul. For himself, I think, this character- 
 istic of his nature lessened in some degree the happiness 
 of his life, and gave him sometimes the feeling that he 
 was a lonely man ; a feeling respecting him which those 
 of his friends who visited his house so rich in its in- 
 terior and so beautiful in its location after his final 
 departure from it, must have found arising within them- 
 selves. 
 
 He made the University the heir of his entire estate, 
 with the exception of a moderate sum connected with 
 a single bequest, and thus completed, as it were, the 
 gift to science at Yale which he had offered previously 
 in his long-continued service and his rich and great col- 
 lections. Surely, as has been already said, it is not the 
 teachers only who make the University, or advance its 
 life and usefulness. All the men who work in it, and 
 for it, are helpers in the upbuilding of what all alike 
 desire, and the history of the century includes in its 
 record a company of scholars and workers having a 
 variety of gifts, but the same spirit. 
 
 Professor Lyman was connected with the Scientific 
 School as its instructor in Physics or Astronomy for 
 thirty years. His career presents another instance, 
 kindred to those of Whitney, Marsh, and others whom 
 I have mentioned, of a life which realized in its later 
 period the aptitudes and desires that were manifest even 
 in boyhood. I venture to borrow a few words, as in- 
 dicating this, from a brief record in the biographical 
 story of the Yale Class of 1837, which was prepared in 
 connection with the fiftieth anniversary of their gradua- 
 tion. 
 
 413
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 "Before he was nine years old," this record says of 
 him, "he evinced considerable mechanical ingenuity, 
 making small wind-mills, water-wheels, and other toys of 
 the kind. He also began to show a great interest in 
 Astronomy and the kindred sciences, which was first 
 awakened by an intense curiosity to know how a common 
 almanac is made, and how the stars look through a 
 telescope. This latter desire was first gratified when he 
 saw the Pleiades through a rough telescope, which he 
 extemporized from his mother's spectacles, a small burn- 
 ing glass, and a yardstick, of which he said in later life: 
 'I never can forget the delight with which I saw, for the 
 first time, this cluster expand into a large number of 
 brighter stars.' 
 
 "When he was about thirteen years of age, a copy of 
 Ferguson's Astronomy fell into his hands, and was 
 studied with great interest. From that time until he 
 was sixteen, he spent most of his spare time either study- 
 ing, without assistance, or in a little tool shop of his 
 father's constructing astronomical and other instruments, 
 which he had never seen except in the diagrams of 
 books. Among these instruments, which were of course 
 mainly of wood, were a quadrant, a sextant, a terrestrial 
 and a celestial globe, an orrery, an eclipsareon, a solar 
 microscope, and many others. He also constructed a 
 reflecting Herschelian telescope, four feet long, which 
 enabled him to show Jupiter's satellites and belts, 
 Saturn's rings, the moon, and other celestial objects, to 
 the country folks, who came from miles around to look 
 through it. 
 
 "He computed all the eclipses for fifteen years to 
 come, and made almanacs for 1830 and 1831. In order 
 to give the places of the planets in these almanacs (never 
 having seen a nautical almanac or tables of the planets), 
 he computed tables for himself from the elements of 
 414
 
 PROFESSOR CHESTER S. LYMAN
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 the planets' orbits, as given in a small book by Blair 
 on Natural Philosophy." 
 
 When we consider that all this was the work of a 
 boy born in the country, and having only the oppor- 
 tunities of a common country school of those days, who 
 was not yet sixteen years of age, we can hardly question 
 the meaning of his gifts as bearing upon his life-work. 
 
 His choice of a profession, however, was made in 
 early youth and was determined, not by the natural 
 tastes and inclinations of his mind, but as the result of 
 his religious convictions. In accordance with this choice 
 he studied theology after his graduation and, in due 
 time, became the pastor of a church in New Britain, 
 Connecticut. Not improbably he might have continued 
 in the pastoral work throughout his life, had he not 
 been constrained to withdraw from it by reason of a 
 failure of his health when he had been settled in the 
 ministry only two years. His career was a varied one 
 for fourteen years after this time his residence having 
 been, during a considerable part of the geriod, in the 
 Sandwich Islands and in California, and his occupations 
 having been largely in the sphere of teaching, or of 
 scientific studies and pursuits. In 1859 he was called to 
 his professorship in our School of Science. That he 
 would have been a useful and devoted minister, if he 
 could have carried out his original purpose, may not 
 be questioned. The early beginnings gave promise of 
 the future. But it was not the Divine appointment for 
 life for him, and we may see why it was not. Happily 
 the sphere for which he was peculiarly fitted, and in 
 which he at length found his appropriate duties, was 
 one where all his powers could find their best exercise, 
 while, at the same time, there was large opportunity 
 for moral and Christian influence. By his character, as 
 well as by direct instruction and personal helpfulness, he 
 was able to do much good to the young men whom he 
 
 415
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 met in their educational years. In some very appreciable 
 degree, therefore, he was enabled to accomplish the ends 
 for which he gave himself to the ministry at the outset, 
 and many of his pupils acknowledge their obligation to 
 him for this reason, as well as for the value of his 
 instruction in his special department of study. 
 
 Professor Lyman's call to his chair at Yale was given 
 him one year later than my own to my professorship 
 came to me. My personal knowledge of him began 
 after we were thus united in the Faculty of the institu- 
 tion. As our special work, however, was in different 
 schools of instruction, we did not have the opportunities 
 for familiar acquaintance which were open to others, 
 whose daily duties brought them more closely together. 
 Our meetings were only occasional, and yet an associa- 
 tion of thirty years could not but give me some true 
 understanding of his mind and character. His intel- 
 lectual powers were of a high order. Their manifesta- 
 tion of themselves was especially conspicuous in the lines 
 of scientific inquiry and research. Along these lines 
 he moved most readily and naturally. But he did not 
 limit himself to a single sphere. He was interested in 
 a wide range of subjects. He gave his attentive con- 
 sideration and study to questions of political life and 
 national well-being, and had his own well-matured views 
 with reference to them, which guided him in his personal 
 action. In discussions respecting educational matters 
 he was ready to participate and, whenever he did so, he 
 exhibited the results of careful and independent thought. 
 As a thinker on theological topics he was characterized 
 by a Christian conservatism, and yet, at the same time, 
 by a large-minded and healthful liberality. His special 
 interest in theology had its origin, no doubt, in his early 
 studies in preparation for the ministry, but his mind and 
 character alike were of such an order that, whatever 
 416
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 his work in his daily life, he must have been always 
 moved to thoughtfulness on this great subject. 
 
 There was in him a certain openness to investigation 
 and a readiness for a measure of faith in new spheres of 
 thought, which were possibly akin to, if not more closely 
 connected with, the inventive element in his mental 
 nature. He was hospitable in his thinking in relation 
 to the phenomena of mesmerism and, afterwards, those 
 of spiritualism, though he never put himself prominently 
 forward in connection with these matters. He held his 
 mind in readiness for whatever revelations of truth 
 might be given; not rejecting, as many about him did, 
 all evidences or proofs which made a claim for them- 
 selves, but accepting them according to what he esteemed 
 to be their real value, and comforting himself with the 
 thought and hope of new and yet clearer truth. Thus 
 he found much pleasure in his meditations, while he was 
 occupied with his scientific researches and his work of 
 instruction. 
 
 In conversation and discussion with others, he had a 
 deliberateness which seemed as if, perchance, the result 
 of the careful working out of his convictions under the 
 influence of the thoughts of the hour. He was, however, 
 always willing to contribute whatever of wisdom or 
 knowledge he had at command, to the end that the sub- 
 ject in question might be brought into the clearest light. 
 His kindly spirit, also, rendered his daily intercourse 
 with friends, and the chance talk with others whom he 
 met less frequently, attractive; and all were glad to 
 know him. 
 
 417
 
 XXII. 
 
 Professors McLaughlin, Edward J. Phelps, Salisbury, 
 and Others. 
 
 IN contrast to these seven scholars whom I have 
 thus mentioned men whose life-work in the in- 
 stitution was long continued and to whom its end- 
 ing came only in advanced years Professor McLaugh- 
 lin, who died in 1893, was at that time a graduate of 
 but ten years' standing. His brief history was an un- 
 common one, in that he was called to enter upon the 
 work of instruction in the College when he had been 
 graduated only twelve months. The demands of the 
 department of English Literature seemed then to render 
 an addition to the teaching force necessary, and the 
 question as to meeting these demands was pressed upon 
 the authorities for decision. Mr. McLaughlin had so 
 greatly commended himself to his instructors during his 
 course as a student, that they were led to urge his ap- 
 pointment to the new position. In view of their favor- 
 able judgment, the Corporation took action, and the ap- 
 pointment was made. The success of the young in- 
 structor was very noticeable, even from the outset. It 
 became increasingly manifest as the years moved onward. 
 He showed himself to be a true and cultured scholar 
 in the field of literary studies. At the same time, he 
 exhibited a very special power of awakening and stim- 
 ulating the minds of his best pupils. He led them by 
 his influence to an appreciation of literature. He in- 
 spired them with a genuine love for it. His private 
 work with such pupils was as helpful as was that of the 
 418
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 lecture-room, and many of those whom he thus aided 
 were greatly quickened. 
 
 After a few years of service, he received, in recogni- 
 tion of his ability and of his usefulness as a teacher, an 
 election to an Assistant Professorship in his department. 
 This position he held until 1893, when he was appointed 
 Professor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres. His sphere 
 of work and duty for a long life-time seemed to be 
 determined. It was the sphere most congenial to his 
 feeling and most adapted to his mental powers. Every- 
 thing appeared to be opening before him in the happiest 
 way, with a promise of rich results in the future for 
 himself and also for the College. But just at the coming 
 of what all who knew him thought to be the hour of 
 youthful fruition and abundant hope, a disease which 
 proved fatal seized upon him, and he died only a few 
 weeks after the announcement of his election to the new 
 Professorship had been made. 
 
 Two other members of the professorial body in the 
 University were removed by death within the period 
 of which I am now writing Professor Johnson T. Platt 
 of the Law School, and Professor James K. Thacher of 
 the Medical Department. The former died in 1890, 
 and the latter in 1891. Professor Platt was one of the 
 three young lawyers the others being Judge Baldwin 
 and Professor Robinson, now of Washington, D. C. 
 who, in 1869, undertook the work of the renewed up- 
 building of the Department of Law, which had, in the 
 preceding ten years or more, lost much of its earlier 
 success and diminished largely in its numbers. To these 
 young men the first beginnings of all that followed were 
 due, since they, in a time of much discouragement and 
 many apprehensions on the part of the central au- 
 thorities of the institution, voluntarily and of their 
 own impulse took upon themselves the task and the 
 419
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 responsibilities that it involved. In the year 1872, they 
 were appointed professors, and Professor Wayland, the 
 present Dean of the school, was called into association 
 with them. From that time onward, the new life was 
 developed gradually at first, but more rapidly and fully 
 afterwards and confidence in the future increasingly 
 took the place of doubts. Professor Platt lived long 
 enough to see the fulfillment of his hopes in large 
 measure, but not long enough to enjoy all that has now 
 been realized. He was an earnest worker in connection 
 with his colleagues, and a faithful instructor of the 
 students whom he met in his classes. 
 
 Professor Thacher was the eldest son of Professor 
 Thomas A. Thacher. He was a graduate of the College 
 Class of 1868. His studies in the earlier years following 
 his graduation were carried forward in other lines than 
 those of Medical Science, but he subsequently devoted 
 his energies with so much intelligence and earnestness 
 to his special work, that he won for himself very high 
 esteem, and was regarded as a scholar and instructor of 
 great value to the school. His life in his professorship 
 that of Physiology was limited to the period when 
 the school was at its lowest point in the number of its 
 students, but it covered the eleven and a half years, 
 from 1879 to the early part of 1891, during which much 
 was effected in the way of advancement in medical 
 education, as well as of preparation for the success which 
 began to make itself manifest not long afterwards. 
 
 My story of the years at Yale is intended to reach its 
 close in June, 1899, when I retired from my official 
 connection with the University. I have therefore limited 
 myself in what I have said on these immediately preced- 
 ing pages to commemorative words respecting the pro- 
 fessors whose career ended before that date. There 
 were, however, four others, in remembrance of whom 
 420
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 I feel that I may, in accordance with my earnest desire, 
 add a few brief sentences, in view of the fact that a 
 large part of their work in the case of two of them, the 
 whole of it was fulfilled within the years of my Presi- 
 dency, and because the closing of that work was so nearly 
 coincident with the ending of those years. 
 
 These four gentlemen were Professor Jules Luquiens, 
 of the Academical Department, Professors Moses C. 
 White and James Campbell, of the Medical School, and 
 Professor Edward J. Phelps, who was connected with 
 two departments the Academical College and the Law 
 School. 
 
 Professor Luquiens was a native of Switzerland, and 
 was graduated as Bachelor of Divinity at the University 
 of Lausanne in 1866. Not long after his graduation 
 he came to America. In 1 873, at the close of a course of 
 study at Yale, he received the degree of Doctor of 
 Philosophy. During his residence here he won for him- 
 self the regard of the professors under whose guidance 
 he carried forward his work, and when he left the in- 
 stitution he bore with him not only their best wishes, 
 but their confident hopes for his success and usefulness 
 in his subsequent career. He accepted an invitation to 
 an Associate Professorship of Modern Languages in 
 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In this 
 office he remained for several years, but after the resig- 
 nation of the Street Professorship by Professor Knapp 
 he was called back to Yale in 1892. From that time 
 until his death in 1899 he filled most acceptably the 
 chair of the Romance Languages and Literature in our 
 University. 
 
 Professor Luquiens was a thoroughly equipped and 
 able teacher. The successive classes of his pupils were 
 united in their testimony respecting the faithfulness with 
 which he discharged all his duties, as well as the interest 
 which he excited in their minds as he led them forward 
 421
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 in their studies. As a man he was of the highest char- 
 acter and was possessed of vigorous intellectual powers. 
 He had, however, a modest estimate of himself, in 
 consequence of which he was indisposed to press his 
 views with demonstrative energy upon those who were 
 in conference with him, or to manifest any ungracious 
 feeling, as some men do, in yielding to the opinions of 
 others. In his relations to his colleagues the gentleness 
 and friendliness of his nature were at all times con- 
 spicuous. As he united with them in the work of the 
 University, he gave himself with unselfish devotion to 
 the common interests and thus showed the generosity 
 of spirit which characterized him. By his manly excel- 
 lence he won the esteem and affection of all who were 
 associated with him in the company of scholars. The 
 period of his service with us was a brief one, extending 
 over only seven years, but his influence in his own de- 
 partment of instruction we may hope will remain. It 
 was a happy fortune for the institution that it had, even 
 for a time, his presence in one of its Faculties, and it is 
 a pleasant thought for myself personally that the years 
 of his service were included within my own official term. 
 
 Professors White and Campbell were esteemed mem- 
 bers of the Medical Faculty the former having held 
 a professorship for thirty-three years and the latter for 
 thirteen years. Dr. White graduated as Bachelor of 
 Arts at Wesleyan University, in 1845. He pursued 
 medical studies in our own institution, and received his 
 degree in Medicine here in 1854. For a few years he 
 was engaged in the foreign missionary work in China, 
 but soon after his return to his home, in the year 1867 
 he was offered the chair of Pathology and Microscopy 
 at Yale, which he accepted. During his entire career 
 in New Haven he was ardently devoted to his profession 
 on its scientific side. By reason of this fact he took a 
 422
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 prominent position even from the early days of his 
 professorial life, and he soon became an authority in 
 his more special sphere. In his outward appearance, 
 he seemed always to retain the characteristic marks of 
 a serious-minded minister or missionary, but those who 
 came into nearer association with him saw at once the 
 enthusiasm of his mind for scientific investigation and 
 his ability which fitted him for his chosen work. In 
 an unusual measure he kept alive his interest in his 
 studies during his far-advanced years. He held his 
 professorship until he had already passed the age of 
 eighty, but when he laid aside its duties, and even until 
 after the beginning of the illness which proved fatal, he 
 looked forward earnestly and hopefully to new efforts. 
 He had no thought of an ending of his personal work- 
 ing, except as life itself should end. The term of his 
 service in the school was of longer continuance than 
 that of any other of its professors since its establishment 
 in 1813, with the exception of three two of whom, Dr. 
 Jonathan Knight and Dr. Eli Ives, were members of its 
 earliest Faculty and occupied their chairs of instruction 
 for forty and fifty years, and the third is Dr. Charles 
 A. Lindsley, now Professor Emeritus, who has been 
 connected with the school since 1860. 
 
 Dr. Campbell's official term, on the other hand, 
 was much more limited in its duration. He held his 
 professorship from 1886 to 1899. In the latter year 
 he resigned the office, and very soon afterwards he died. 
 He was a generous friend and kindly benefactor of the 
 School, earnest and efficient in his efforts for its develop- 
 ment and growth, and in full sympathy with the best 
 ideas of the time in respect to the higher standard of 
 medical education. By reason of his professional work 
 in another city, it was not possible for him to have quite 
 as close and constant connection with the ordinary life of 
 the School as his associates in its Faculty had. These 
 
 423
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 associates, however, and also the friends of the School 
 who were deeply interested in its welfare and most 
 watchful of its progress, were appreciative of the service 
 which he rendered to it, as well as of his ability as a 
 man. His life came to its end while he was yet in his 
 prime, but he was faithful to his profession and suc- 
 cessful in it through all his working years. 
 
 Hon. Edward J. Phelps was appointed Kent Profes- 
 sor of Law in the Academical Department in 1881. 
 From the beginning of his official term he not only ful- 
 filled the more immediate duties of this professorship 
 by giving instruction to undergraduate students in their 
 Senior year, but also stood in close relations of sympathy 
 to the Faculty of the Law School. After two or three 
 years he became, at the request of that Faculty, a lec- 
 turer in their courses, and in this way his presence in the 
 University was rendered most helpful to students who 
 were more immediately and directly preparing themselves 
 for the work of the legal profession. For both classes of 
 pupils he had a special attractiveness as a teacher. His 
 clearness of statement, the felicity of expression which 
 was characteristic of him, the enthusiasm for the study 
 of the law that was always evident, his gracious and gen- 
 tlemanly manner, and the friendliness and dignity of his 
 whole bearing, awakened the interest of his hearers and 
 made them most attentive listeners to his lectures. He 
 was himself a true lawyer of the best type. His personal 
 example, as well as his instruction, moved his pupils to 
 set before themselves the highest ideals. 
 
 During the first Presidential term of President Cleve- 
 land, from 1885 to 1889, Professor Phelps represented 
 our Government as Minister to the Court of Great 
 Britain. By reason of this official position, he was neces- 
 sarily separated from the University throughout the 
 whole of the period, but on his return to America he re- 
 424
 
 PROFESSOR EDWARD J. PHELPS
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 sumed his professorial duties. From 1889 until his 
 death, which occurred near the beginning of 1900, 
 though the special work connected with his chair was 
 still in the College, his relations to the Law Department 
 were much closer than those which he had previously 
 sustained, and he gave to that department a large share 
 of his time and effort. It was with the greatest pleasure 
 and satisfaction that we welcomed him again to our 
 Yale fellowship. He was such a cultured gentleman, 
 and so friendly in his attitude, that all who enjoyed in 
 any measure the privilege of association with him es- 
 teemed themselves most fortunate. In conversation his 
 large knowledge and experience rendered him very help- 
 ful, as well as agreeable, to those who met him, and es- 
 pecially to such as were in the intimacy of his friendship. 
 As a member of our University Faculty he manifested 
 always the true spirit of the institution. He believed in 
 the ideas of education which it represents and gave his 
 heartiest support to it in all its life. Though not a grad- 
 uate of the College, he had pursued his studies in prepa- 
 ration for his profession for a considerable time in our 
 Law School. In this way he had become familiar with 
 its system of instruction at that period. He had also 
 gained inspiration from its teachers and had formed 
 friendly relations with its students. Moreover, the Yale 
 spirit had come to him by inheritance, as his father grad- 
 uated here under the administration of the first President 
 Dwight, and the early family associations were such as 
 to awaken interest in this College. He was thus no 
 stranger to us as he came to our Faculty, though he had 
 lived in Vermont and had received his college education 
 at Middlebury College in that State. 
 
 The date of his college graduation was 1840. At 
 that time, and for ten years or more afterwards, his 
 father represented his State in Washington as a member 
 of the United States Senate. Within these years the 
 
 425
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 younger Mr. Phelps had, accordingly, the opportunity 
 of becoming acquainted with the eminent men then at 
 the seat of Government among the most eminent who 
 have ever been in that interesting center of our national 
 life. From Mr. Webster and other leaders associated 
 with him, he received much inspiring influence, and he 
 was never weary of talking of them to his friends of the 
 younger generation. In his own personality he had a 
 happy union of the past and the present. The past min- 
 gled with the present by its inspiration, but did not over- 
 power it. It imparted a richness and grace to the life of 
 the man, yet the man himself was a living, earnest per- 
 sonality of the present. He was a manly citizen of the 
 republic of to-day, honoring it by his life and devoted 
 to its highest interests. As a citizen in the common- 
 wealth of learning, he had the ideal of culture ever in his 
 mind and he realized it in himself in wonderful measure. 
 Any university might well have been proud to enroll his 
 name in its list of scholars and of educated Christian 
 gentlemen. The Yale brotherhood had a blessing of no 
 ordinary character in his life at our University for so 
 many years. To me his presence here and my friendly 
 acquaintance with him are delightful memories. 
 
 I give myself, at this point, the privilege of adding to 
 my brief commemorative words respecting these asso- 
 ciates in the Board of Instruction a few sentences with 
 reference to two gentlemen who were very near to us, 
 though not of our number. 
 
 Professor Edward E. Salisbury had not been con- 
 nected with the Faculty of the University since the year 
 1856, but his relation to it as a constant benefactor, and 
 as a member of the chief committee of the Library 
 and of the Council of the Art School, was so close that 
 we all looked upon him as one of the inner circle of the 
 Yale fraternity. The appeal which the institution made 
 426
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 to his filial affection or to his generosity always met a 
 kindly response. 
 
 As a scholar he rendered it a great service through 
 his deep interest and large attainments in the sphere of 
 philology. He was the first to introduce and provide 
 for Oriental studies in the College. As a result of this 
 fact, as well as by reason of his large-minded apprecia- 
 tion of learning and scholarship, he sympathized and 
 heartily co-operated with Dr. Woolsey and others in the 
 matter of the organization of courses for graduate stu- 
 dents. We may indeed regard the establishment of his 
 professorship and the opening of instruction in his de- 
 partment as, in a sense, the earliest beginning of this 
 more definite organization. What he did at a later time 
 in relation to the chair of Sanscrit I have already men- 
 tioned when writing of Professor Whitney. His action 
 in this regard was certainly as praiseworthy as it was 
 unique. Not content with a voluntary acceptance at the 
 outset of a professorship for himself without salary, he 
 held himself ready, when he had found a pupil of whose 
 fitness to be his associate he was assured, to offer the 
 Corporation an endowment which would secure his serv- 
 ices, and to assign him a portion of his work. And when 
 years had passed and the younger scholar had attained 
 the eminence which in his own mind he had prophesied 
 for him, he willingly added to his gifts according to the 
 demands and possibilities of the new era. The institu- 
 tion of learning which has within its gates or in close 
 connection with its life men who are animated by such a 
 spirit may well congratulate itself, for it enjoys what 
 may fitly be regarded as a rare good fortune. 
 
 To the University Library Professor Salisbury gave 
 most kindly thought through all his long career. His 
 interest in it as having in itself one of the central forces 
 of the life of the institution was very early awakened. 
 In the year 1843, when the building now called the Old 
 
 427
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 Library was erected, the donation received from him 
 was one of the largest, if not indeed the largest of all 
 that were made by the friends of the College. In 1870 
 he presented to the Corporation the exceedingly valuable 
 collection of Oriental books which he had gathered in 
 many previous years, and soon afterward he provided a 
 fund the income of which should be devoted to securing 
 the additions to it that might be desired. In later years, 
 still further gifts for this collection were made by him, 
 which increased its value and usefulness, and in his final 
 disposition of his property he manifested his continued 
 interest in the department of studies and literature to 
 which he had specially devoted his life. These, how- 
 ever, were only prominent instances of his generosity. 
 The donations of a less marked character, which were 
 so often repeated that they were looked for with confi- 
 dence, had a value appreciated most fully by those who 
 were in immediate charge of the interests of the Library 
 or were intimately acquainted with its history and needs. 
 
 The interest which he had in Art was also very con- 
 spicuous. He was among the first to welcome the idea 
 of the establishment of a School of the Fine Arts in 
 connection with the University. The originators of the 
 school found in him a friend who heartily sympathized 
 with their views and purpose and one to whom they 
 could look as having a spirit kindred to their own. In 
 the subsequent years also, the officers and teachers of the 
 school were aided in their work by the generous and 
 friendly help which he was ready to afford them. I 
 think he had even from an early time the desire and 
 purpose of making the University in the future the pos- 
 sessor of the artistic works which he had collected in 
 his own home. 
 
 Through the generous gift made to the fund for the 
 foundation of the Professorship of Natural History, in 
 1850, he contributed in no inconsiderable measure to 
 428
 
 PROFESSOR EDWARD E. SALISBURY
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 the end of securing for the College the services of Pro- 
 fessor James D. Dana. This gift exhibited the wide- 
 ness of the range of his liberal sentiment. The needs 
 of the institution were in his thought, and he was ready 
 for helpfulness in the sphere of science or art or litera- 
 ture, believing in the worth of all alike for educated 
 men. By reason of his testamentary bequests the Uni- 
 versity will ultimately come into possession of a very 
 considerable share of his estate. 
 
 In his own special department of scholarship Profes- 
 sor Salisbury held an honorable position and one which 
 was peculiar to himself. Among the earliest of our 
 countrymen to choose Oriental studies for the work of 
 life, he found himself, in a sense, in the position of a 
 pioneer and leader. The way for others was to be 
 opened and interest in a new sphere of study awakened. 
 He certainly did the work of the early years with ear- 
 nestness and the true scholarly spirit. By his efficient 
 agency in establishing, and for a considerable period 
 largely sustaining through his own efforts and contribu- 
 tions, the American Oriental Society, the cause of learn- 
 ing in this interesting sphere was greatly advanced. The 
 younger men who followed in his pathway as Oriental 
 scholars found encouragement when meeting him, as 
 they saw in him one who had worked before them and 
 for them. 
 
 In his personality he impressed every one with the 
 thought of a cultivated and refined gentleman of the 
 highest social rank, yet of one who was self-withdrawing 
 and perhaps self-distrustful. He had, indeed, much 
 strength of character and force of will. But he was 
 willing to let his influence go forth from himself quietly 
 and work with a silent power for the good of others. 
 The lessons of such a life have their own peculiar worth. 
 
 Dr. William L. Kingsley, who died five years before 
 429
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 Professor Salisbury, in April, 1896, was a graduate of 
 the College of the year 1843, but he did not hold any 
 official position within it. He had, however, from his 
 earliest years, lived in the very midst of its inmost life, 
 inasmuch as he was a son of Professor James L. Kings- 
 ley, and was, even as a child, acquainted with his father's 
 associates and friends. The history of the institution 
 in the first half of the century came to his knowledge 
 easily, as he listened to the familiar conversation of the 
 different households. That of the previous century, 
 also, was readily opened to him by reason of his father's 
 careful and thorough researches. 
 
 Like his elder brother, the College Treasurer, of 
 whom I have already written somewhat, he had from 
 his father the inheritance of the historian's mind and im- 
 pulses, and thus, as he grew up to early manhood and 
 beyond it, the studies of the historical order became to 
 him increasingly attractive. These studies, as they were 
 directed from time to time toward the past life of the 
 College, strengthened his affection for the institution 
 and awakened ever more and more interest in its well- 
 being and earnestness in its behalf. The enthusiasm of 
 his nature, which was remarkable, exhibited itself more 
 conspicuously, if possible, in his thoughts and efforts in 
 relation to the College than in any other sphere of his 
 working. I have never known a more ardent, whole- 
 souled, devoted son of Yale than he was in all the years 
 of my acquaintance with him. 
 
 His service was given freely to the institution in dif- 
 ferent ways and on many occasions. The most contin- 
 uous and helpful work which he did in its behalf was, 
 no doubt, that connected with the New Englander 
 the periodical, or Quarterly, which was for a long time 
 under his control as its owner and editor and was, by 
 reason of his judicious and generous management, a 
 representative in large measure of the thoughts and 
 430
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 opinions of Yale professors. For the editorship of such 
 a Quarterly he had gifts of an unusual order, which he 
 was always willing to put in exercise for the best interests 
 of the University. His editorial care also, and his par- 
 tial authorship of the large Yale Book, as it is often 
 called, which was published in 1879, and in which much 
 of the history of the institution in various departments 
 of its life is given, ought never to be forgotten. This 
 very valuable book, as we may believe, would not have 
 been prepared and published, had it not been for his 
 energy. 
 
 The fact that he was such a disinterested and devoted 
 friend of the University one who, though not engaged 
 in its immediate work, could be relied upon for enthusi- 
 astic effort whenever there was a call for his activity 
 was of much advantage to its officers and those who were 
 nearest to its central life. He had at times a special in- 
 fluence by reason of his position, which could be made 
 available for the best results. His helpfulness in one or 
 two important crises, though it was known to but few, 
 contributed in no small degree to the highest welfare of 
 the institution. He was indeed one of its genuine bene- 
 factors. 
 
 In recognition of his literary attainments and ability 
 the University conferred upon him, in the year 1892, 
 the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters a well-de- 
 served mark of distinction, which may fitly have been 
 especially gratifying to his feeling because it was the first 
 degree of this order given at Yale. 
 
 As a friend and associate Mr. Kingsley was of the 
 number of those whom we are wont to call the kindest- 
 hearted men in the world full of generous feeling, 
 sympathy, affection, and readiness to make life happier 
 and better for all about him. He had a nervous 
 energy which was very uncommon. United with a pecu- 
 liar and extraordinary ardor and moved by his wide- 
 
 43i
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 reaching interest in matters of thought and of effort, it 
 seemed to give him more vitality than most men possess 
 and to render his mind alive to all that was new and 
 good. His every movement indicated the eagerness of 
 his spirit, and the outgoing of his sentiment was charm- 
 ing to all his friends. Their thought of him, as the 
 years pass on, is always a pleasant thought. 
 
 432
 
 XXIII. 
 The Corporation of This Period 1886-99. 
 
 THE Corporation of the University within the 
 period from 1886 to 1899 differed very wide- 
 ly, in respect to the official tenure of its indi- 
 vidual members, from the same body as it was consti- 
 tuted at the time when I was elected to my professorship, 
 in 1858. Six of the ten ministers who were in the 
 Board at that earlier date held their membership in it, as 
 we have already seen, for terms extending from twenty- 
 five to forty years. In 1886, on the other hand, only 
 three of the members, whether of the clerical order or of 
 the class chosen by the alumni, had occupied their posi- 
 tions more than twelve years, and in 1899 only one had 
 reached the limit of a quarter of a century of official life. 
 Of the sixteen members of the Board exclusive of the 
 President of the College and the Governor and Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor of the State who were in office at the 
 time of my election to the Presidency, May 20, 1886, 
 six had been removed by death before 1899, and two 
 had withdrawn from service one of them because of 
 the expiration of the term for which he had been elected, 
 and the other by reason of a call to a different position 
 in the University. Two others passed out of connection 
 with the Board at the close of my administration. As a 
 consequence, only six of those who appointed me to my 
 office, and to whom I looked for counsel and support, 
 remained as advisers or helpers of my successor. So 
 rapidly do we move from one generation and one era to 
 another. 
 
 433
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 All the members of the Corporation as it was in 1886, 
 who have died since then, were interesting and valuable 
 men. Some of them were men of extraordinary gifts, 
 as well as great attractiveness because of their peculiar 
 and even charming characteristics. Pre-eminent among 
 them were the Hon. William M. Evarts, whose life 
 continued until the year 1901, but whose membership in 
 the Board ceased in 1892, and the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel 
 J. Burton, who died in 1889. 
 
 Dr. Burton was a man of rich and royal nature; one 
 who, by reason of his personal appearance, his intel- 
 lectual ability and even genius, his wide-reaching and 
 all-embracing humanity, his joyous and inimitable 
 humor, and the affluence of his imagination, would have 
 been conspicuous in any company of men, however able 
 or gifted. He was lovable in a high degree, yet one's 
 affection for him seemed, as it were, to have a different 
 starting-point and a different order of movement, as 
 compared with that which one felt for other friends. 
 The charm of his personality was all his own. It ap- 
 peared, as I thought of it, to have its place in the very 
 center of the manhood at the source alike of all emo- 
 tional and intellectual activities. These were the means 
 by which it manifested itself, indeed, but it used them in 
 a most unique and singular way making the two activ- 
 ities intermingle and unite their forces, so that each 
 wrought harmoniously with the other, and the result 
 was the combination of both. The intellectual did not 
 and could not move by itself. No more could the emo- 
 tional. But each entered, as it were, into the other, and 
 contributed its helpful and valuable influence. In no 
 man whom I have known has this peculiarity of nature 
 been so marked. There were no thoughts in his mind, 
 we might almost say, which were not quickened and in- 
 spired by genuine and generous feeling. There was no 
 434
 
 REV. DR. NATHANIEL J. BURTON
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 exhibition of emotion through which the brightness of 
 the intellect did not shine forth with a beautiful light. 
 As a consequence of this, every new idea which came to 
 him seemed to be taken up into his whole nature, and 
 when it came forth from him to others, it had a new 
 richness that rendered it doubly interesting. The inter- 
 change of ideas with him was, for this reason also, very 
 stimulating and very suggestive. One carried away from 
 such friendly talks thoughts which had not come to one's 
 mind before thoughts also, which though already well- 
 known, presented themselves with a freshness of living 
 force. 
 
 A mind and spirit like his, ever moving in unison, 
 could not be limited by any narrowness of sentiment or 
 of faith. Yet the stability of his nature kept him firmly 
 fixed upon the foundations of belief and thought, while 
 it also prevented feeling from usurping the place of rea- 
 son or breaking away from its control. For this reason, 
 while he was liberal and progressive in his thinking, he 
 was never destructive. There was growth always, and 
 a readiness for it. It was, however, a growth which had 
 its origin and movement within the sphere of the truth. 
 He had the hospitality of a generous mind with refer- 
 ence to new ideas, yet did not lose his confidence in the 
 old ones which had borne witness in his own experience 
 of their life-giving force, and thus had become very 
 precious to him. 
 
 He once said, in my hearing, that he could in a sense 
 accept any Christian creed, whatever minor faults there 
 might be in it, because he liked to look at it on the good 
 side and in the large way. The littleness of the divisive 
 spirit he knew nothing of. He was too large-hearted 
 for quarrels and too broad-minded for controversy. The 
 outgoing of his sympathy made him wide-reaching in his 
 Christian fellowship. The influence of it in its bearing 
 upon others, who were brought into association with him, 
 
 435
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 tended towards the same happy result in their minds. 
 Eager and even angry combatants could scarcely fail, in 
 his presence, to find their bitterness passing away and a 
 kindlier and more tolerant feeling taking its place. He 
 was a Christian in the truest sense one whose life grew 
 more like that of the Divine Master, as he advanced 
 in years. But he was one who, like the Divine Master 
 Himself, recognized the fact that "there are other sheep 
 that are not of this fold." What a happy thing it is, 
 to see a man whose largeness of heart gives broadness 
 to his thought, and whose richness of thought renders 
 the emotional nature yet more far-reaching in its affec- 
 tion. We who knew Dr. Burton had the happiness of 
 seeing such a man. 
 
 His imaginative power made its contribution, as I 
 think, to his manhood in the aspect of it which I have 
 tried to present. This faculty of his mind was so rich 
 and exuberant in its varied manifestations that it made 
 itself conspicuous in all his thinking and speaking. The 
 thoughts which came to him refused to be confined with- 
 in narrow bounds, or to limit themselves in their utter- 
 ance to old or wonted forms of expression. If I may 
 use again words which I wrote of him years ago, I 
 would say: The moment the truth revealed itself to 
 him it was taken up and transfigured by a mysterious 
 working of mental power, so that it gained a freshness 
 and beauty which made it a thing of life and joy. It 
 continued, also, a living thing. It did not remain to-day 
 what it was yesterday, but with each new morning it 
 presented itself in some new aspect, and thus awakened 
 the mind to see within it a fresh charm and an added 
 blessing. Thoughts came to him respecting it as sweetly 
 as flowers come in the summer and with the exhaustless 
 fullness of a fountain. The outlook seemed to reach 
 ever farther into the distance and, beyond what could be 
 seen by the utmost stretch of present vision, there was 
 436
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 a greater glory to inspire and allure the seeking mind 
 in the future. 
 
 Dr. Burton's humanity was another significant char- 
 acteristic, as bearing upon his thought and expression. 
 He was remarkably appreciative of men and his estimate 
 of them was generous. He recognized the common na- 
 ture of all men, seeing in himself its limitations, its 
 hopes, and its possibilities. The tendency and the im- 
 pulse of his manhood moved him always to look for 
 and upon the better side of those with whom he came 
 in contact. His native disposition was to make kindly 
 allowance for their weaknesses and to take them at their 
 best. In the same way he opened his mind, with a true 
 liberality, towards the half-truths which others were 
 ready to advocate, to the end that he might, in his own 
 thinking, fill them out to their completeness, or, again, 
 towards the narrow views of those who could see but 
 little, that he might broaden them by his own wider 
 vision. 
 
 But not only this. His humanity also rendered him 
 hopeful in all his Christian work. There was in him a 
 deep-seated confidence in the nobility and real grandeur 
 of the human soul, which made him a believer in the 
 final triumph of good over evil, and gave him a never- 
 failing enthusiasm in his work for this end. The pessi- 
 mistic element had no place in his nature. Not that he 
 had no seasons of depression, nor never saw the darker 
 side of things. All thoughtful, loving souls, that have 
 an inward look, have such seasons. But the generous 
 thought of the world was victorious, and no dark hour 
 cast a long-continuing shadow over the many brighter 
 ones that followed. I believe that the sweetest charac- 
 ters those in which sweetness and richness are united 
 have, in almost all cases, a tinge of melancholy. This 
 is, in reality, a part of the rich inner life, which gives 
 beauty to it and makes it full of helpfulness and comfort 
 
 437
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 to other lives. The shadows, however, must not per- 
 manently obscure the sunlight. If they do, the richness 
 and the sweetness vanish together. No man of the 
 broad and magnanimous human feeling which Dr. Bur- 
 ton had could abide in the dark regions of the soul's ex- 
 perience. The windows of his mind and heart were ever 
 open to the light, and the clouds soon passed away. His 
 preaching and his thinking, consequently, were hopeful, 
 stimulative toward the better things, inspiring to nobler 
 life, encouraging for the attainment of the highest possi- 
 bilities. 
 
 Dr. Burton's humor was but the outflow of his whole 
 manhood. The manhood would not have been com- 
 plete without it. It was not so much a succession of 
 sparkling witticisms, or bright sayings standing apart by 
 themselves, or quick responses to others' thoughts, giv- 
 ing to them a new and unexpected turn. Many brilliant 
 men, as we all know, have wit or humor of this order, 
 in greater or less degree. In his case, it was as if a bub- 
 bling spring of joyous thought, the outflowing of which 
 in expression gave pleasure to himself, and to those who 
 talked with him, by the amusing strangeness of the 
 words or analogies, even as, in another way, delight was 
 afforded by his imagination. An essential element in 
 humor so it is said is found in its surprises. The 
 surprises were everywhere, as it seemed, in his case. At 
 any and every moment, the mind of the listener was 
 charmed by the unexpected comparison or the peculiar 
 turn of expression, which gave a bright flash of light to 
 the thought and rendered it more clear and fascinating. 
 His humor, as it uttered itself in words, appeared to me 
 to have a likeness to the gift of illustration which was so 
 remarkable in Henry Ward Beecher. The expression 
 came naturally, as I have already intimated, out of the 
 richness of the mind and soul out of the fullness of the 
 fountain. It was not the result of careful searching, or 
 438
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 something made ready for use at a future time when 
 there might be a call for it. It was, on the contrary, the 
 outcome of an enthusiastic and joyous nature. 
 
 When I had reached this point, in my writing of Dr. 
 Burton, I opened at random the volume containing his 
 Yale Lectures on Preaching, which were given in our 
 Divinity School, in the year 1882. My eye, as it 
 chanced, fell upon the following passage, which reveals 
 so much of the man not more, indeed, than many 
 others, nor half so much as many, yet enough to show in 
 some measure what he was that I venture to quote it, 
 and with it to complete my imperfect description of him. 
 
 "While I am on this matter of language, with its 
 coinage all effaced by centuries of use" a subject of 
 which he had just been speaking at some length "per- 
 mit me to refer you to old creeds and old liturgies as 
 frequently examples of that thing. The creeds and the 
 liturgies, in themselves, are well enough; but reiteration 
 tends to dull a man's sense of words. If he does not 
 watch, and incessantly energize upon them, he loses not 
 only their genetic meaning and vigor, but also their 
 present meanings; and, in this loss of all meanings, the 
 recitation of the forms is as useless as an inarticulate 
 monotone. Even that monotone might have some good 
 influence in it, provided it was solemn, and I should 
 advise people to congregate on the Lord's day and go 
 through that, if nothing better could be had. The sound 
 of the wind in the pine forest is moral. All grave 
 tones steadily prolonged are moral; and liturgies will 
 live and creeds will keep on, for the sake of the sound 
 of them, if for no other reason. But it must hurt their 
 feelings dreadfully to be reduced to that, when they are 
 conscious that they are live things; that they had a 
 parentage, and a powerful parentage, and have had a 
 career, too; that they did mean something on the lips of 
 
 4-39
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 those who made them, and were intended to describe 
 forever certain august realities. 
 
 "I should like to spend about twenty-four hours of 
 continuous speech here in your presence, running the 
 terms of the Nicene Creed back to their radicals (as far 
 as possible), reproducing the history too of that great 
 symbol, and especially its origination; and then, when 
 you and I had come into a full possession of the dear 
 old things, standing up all together and reciting it. We 
 should hardly be able to contain ourselves. The famil- 
 iar drone of utterance would be changed to a play of 
 thunderclaps, comparatively. We should have a Mount 
 Sinai here, and an awfulness as of God made visible and 
 audible." 
 
 Then he adds: "For me, I have ceased fearing that 
 time-honored forms in the Church, creedal and liturgic, 
 will suffer permanent damage in the vehemency and 
 crash of debate. The Catholic symbols are the common- 
 sense of the Christian ages, crystallized and solidified; 
 and they will bear a good deal of knocking about. They 
 are the survivals of the fittest, and are therefore likely 
 to survive. I do not know what verbal modifications 
 may be forced upon them ; but I certainly do not look to 
 see any breach in their substance. And as to forms less 
 hallowed, whatever they may be, forms provincial, 
 forms denominational, forms philosophical, I am glad 
 to see them put through the threshing-mills of debate, 
 at intervals, so that the immortal in them may redemon- 
 strate its indestructibility, and the partial and ephemeral 
 in them may be compelled to show its insufficiency. Not 
 all insufficient things are worthless. The butterfly needs 
 a worm-form by which to climb to its winged state; and 
 Truth seems to be willing to put up with imperfect state- 
 ments by way of transition to something higher. She is 
 a veritable butterfly, though, in heart and fact, whether 
 440
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 detained as yet in her worm-life, or all emerged and 
 fair." 
 
 How much of the man's mental processes and work- 
 ings, so individual and delightful; how much of his im- 
 aginative power, of his generous confidence in mankind, 
 of his immovable hopefulness, even of his genial and 
 outflowing humor, may be seen in these words upon 
 which we come, as it were, by accident. .The man, in 
 the riches of his nature, was before us whenever we 
 heard him giving expression to his thoughts. His very 
 countenance, as we looked upon it, showed his master- 
 ful power. 
 
 Mr. Evarts was so well and widely known throughout 
 the country, and' his career and character have been set 
 forth before the public by others so fully and faithfully 
 since his death in 1901, that I feel much hesitation in 
 attempting to add any descriptive words of my own on 
 the pages of this volume. I am sure, however, that I 
 am justified in saying that of the sons of Yale who have 
 graduated within the last seventy years, he was one of 
 the very foremost and most illustrious. His keenness of 
 intellect, his mental grasp, his comprehensiveness of un- 
 derstanding, the depth and clearness of his thought, his 
 force in argument, and his forensic ability in the best and 
 largest sense were so conspicuous, that he was every- 
 where regarded as one of the most eminent leaders in 
 his profession. 
 
 His connection with the Yale Corporation extended 
 over a period of nineteen years, from 1872 to 1891. 
 His official 'term included the whole of Dr. Porter's 
 Presidency, with the exception of a single year, together 
 with the first five years of my own. During the larger 
 part of this time, his duties at Washington, as was the 
 case also with his College classmate and associate in the 
 Board, Chief Justice Waite, were so exacting that there 
 441
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 was comparatively little opportunity allowed him for 
 very special attention to the affairs of the University. 
 He and his associate, however, were thoughtful of its 
 interests. They were also of much value to it by reason 
 of the public positions which they held and the honor 
 which they brought to it as it was represented by them 
 before the world. 
 
 The prominent offices which were given to Mr. Evarts 
 at Washington in the Cabinet, as Attorney General 
 and afterwards Secretary of State, and in Congress, as a 
 Senator from New York carried in and with them- 
 selves an emphatic testimony to the high esteem in which 
 he was held by the people and by the Government. They 
 were the well-merited reward of his life-work. They 
 gave him, however, no greater distinction than he gave 
 them. His service in each one of them was rendered 
 conscientiously and in a manner characteristic of him- 
 self, even as it always was in his more private profes- 
 sional career. Among the many noted cases in which 
 he was engaged as an advocate, no two, perhaps, were 
 more conspicuous than that of the proposed impeach- 
 ment of President Johnson, and that connected with 
 Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. His valuable service in 
 these two cases in the former of which he contributed 
 effectively to the right result in a very serious and impor- 
 tant crisis of our later history, while in the latter he did 
 much to the end of freeing one of the largest-minded and 
 great-souled men of the country from the hostile attacks 
 made upon his character and fame may well be remem- 
 bered by all who can recall the years gone by and the 
 events that belonged to them. 
 
 Much has been said of late of Mr. Evarts' wit, which 
 was indeed of a very remarkable order. I may almost 
 say that it was of every kind within the sphere of a re- 
 fined and cultured scholar and gentleman. It was as 
 bright and keen as was his intellect -itself. It was as 
 442
 
 HON. WILLIAM M. EVARTS
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 quick in its movement as it was brilliant in its display. 
 It was inexhaustible, always ready for the demand of 
 the moment, and always exquisitely adapted to the 
 emergency that presented itself. I shall not try to give 
 examples of it which are unknown to others, or to dwell 
 upon or characterize it at any length. I may say, how- 
 ever, that among his witticisms the one pertaining to his 
 interview with Lord Coleridge seems especially worthy 
 of mention. When we consider the peculiarities of the 
 English mind as compared with the American pecu- 
 liarities in the matter of appreciation and recall to 
 mind the financial circumstances of the time, I cannot 
 help regarding it as quite inimitable. The English 
 Chief Justice, when visiting Mount Vernon in company 
 with Mr. Evarts it will be remembered spoke to him 
 of the story, which he had heard, that Washington had 
 thrown a dollar across the Potomac River, and expressed 
 a doubt, as he saw the width of the river, whether it 
 could be true. He asked Mr. Evarts' opinion on the 
 matter. I will not affirm it with confidence, Mr. Evarts 
 replied, but a dollar, you know, went farther in those 
 days, than it does now. I can picture to myself the Chief 
 Justice, or some of his friends at home, to whom he 
 may have repeated the remark, as questioning with 
 themselves what bearing this fact about the value of a 
 dollar had upon the point. 
 
 One of the best examples of his quickness and felicity 
 in the line of repartee was given, as I think, in response 
 to a word spoken by myself. On occasion of one of our 
 Yale Commencement dinners I had the duty, as the pre- 
 siding officer, of introducing the speakers. In perform- 
 ing this duty with reference to Mr. Evarts I said, in 
 allusion to the well-known length of his sentences in 
 public address, "Mr. Evarts will now give us a single 
 sentence." He rose, and instantaneously replied, "It 
 
 443
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 will be a life-sentence." Nothing, surely, could have 
 been more apt and delightful, or more like himself. 
 
 I will only add one further instance of a different 
 order, in which his humor displayed itself very charac- 
 teristically, and in a manner peculiarly charming to my 
 own mind. He was calling upon me not long after his 
 recovery from a very serious accident which had befallen 
 him at his country home in Vermont and, in the course 
 of the conversation, he was speaking of some of the ex- 
 periences which he had had in his illness. "One day," 
 he said, "just as I was beginning to recover my strength, 
 the physicians, who were in attendance upon me visited 
 me at the usual hour and, when they had finished their 
 consultation and advice, one of them remarked, It must 
 be rather trying to you to have three doctors come in 
 together to see you every day. Yes, I replied, but there 
 is one mitigation of the trial I notice that they all go 
 out together." That word of his found a happy lodg- 
 ing-place in my mind a place in the region of my sym- 
 pathetic nature, and there it has remained until now. 
 
 Mr. Evarts' wit, however, was only the play of his 
 powers. It was not his power itself as it is not in the 
 highest order of men. His intellectual forces moved in 
 many directions. By reason of his clearness of appre- 
 hension and insight, their movement was always most 
 effective for the desired result. They were, also, fully 
 under his control at all times, so that his work was car- 
 ried forward with ease and precision. He perceived, at 
 the first thought of a subject presented for his consid- 
 eration, the central point which was of all importance, 
 and thus wasted no time or energy. A mind like his is 
 interesting in every aspect of it. 
 
 Of the other members of the Corporation who held 
 their official positions partly or wholly within the period 
 of my administration, but whose life has not continued 
 
 444
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 to the date of the writing of these pages, I can allow 
 myself space only to say a few words. Rev. Samuel G. 
 Willard was the oldest but one among them all in his 
 term of service. His election to his membership in the 
 Board took place in June, 1867. He had, accordingly, 
 been in his office for nineteen years at the time of my 
 appointment to the Presidency. In all these years his 
 efforts had been given without reserve to the interests 
 of the institution, so far as the opportunities and possi- 
 bilities pertaining to his office demanded them. During 
 several of the later years he had served as one of those 
 who formed the principal Committee of the Board, and 
 in the discharge of the duties connected with this posi- 
 tion he had proved himself efficient and had won the 
 regard of his associates. His health, however, became 
 seriously impaired in the summer of 1886, so that he 
 was unable to attend any of the meetings of the Board, 
 or to take any active part in administering the affairs of 
 the College, after that time. It was not permitted me, 
 therefore, to have conference with him on the questions 
 of interest which presented themselves, or to enjoy the 
 benefit of his wisdom and counsel. I had long had the 
 pleasure of his acquaintance, however, and had thus 
 learned to esteem him for the excellence of his character. 
 He was a man of sound New England mind, of kindly 
 temper and amiable disposition, of calm judgment, and 
 of earnest piety. For more than thirty years he filled 
 the pastorate of a quiet village Church, in which his 
 Christian work was rich in its fruits, and abundant in its 
 blessing for all who knew him. He died in the early 
 summer of 1887. 
 
 Dr. Lavalette Perrin, the father of Professor Perrin, 
 was a member of the Board for only seven years, from 
 1882 to 1889. He was a man of wider activity in the 
 Church life of the State than Mr. Willard, and thus of 
 more extended influence, but the services rendered by 
 
 445
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 the two to the University were inspired by a similar gen- 
 erous interest in its well-being. Dr. Perrin held the 
 pastoral office in two or three different places during 
 the larger part of his career, in each one of which his 
 ministry was very successful. In the latest years, how- 
 ever, he entered into the more general and public work 
 of the Congregational Churches of the State, and had 
 his residence in Hartford. In that city, on the night 
 of the 1 8th of February, 1889, both he and his wife lost 
 their lives through the burning of the hotel in which 
 they had their apartments. They are both held in af- 
 fectionate remembrance by a large company of friends 
 who honored and revered them while they lived. 
 
 Dr. Perrin graduated with the Class of 1840, and 
 Mr. Willard with that of 1846. Rev. Edward A. 
 Smith, who was selected to fill the place of Dr. Perrin, 
 received his Bachelor's degree in 1856. He was ac- 
 cordingly from ten to fifteen years younger than these 
 gentlemen. His official term, however, continued only 
 for a brief period, as his life came to its end in the 
 autumn of 1895, when he had not yet passed beyond 
 the prime of his manhood. A cultured and refined gen- 
 tleman, he manifested always great interest in scholar- 
 ship and intellectual life. Though modest and retiring 
 in his disposition, he had such abundant mental re- 
 sources and such suggestiveness in his thoughts, that 
 his conversation was stimulating to meditative and earn- 
 est minds. The people of his parish in Farmington, 
 Conn., to whom he ministered for thirteen years as a 
 successor to Dr. Noah Porter, the father of President 
 Porter, were very strongly attached to him. His friends 
 in the ministry, also, fully appreciated his powers. He 
 was a generous and magnanimous son of Yale. 
 
 Dr. George Bushnell's membership in the Corpora- 
 tion extended over a period of ten years, from 1888 to 
 1898. He was the younger brother of Dr. Horace 
 446
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 Bushnell and, though not possessed of his remarkable 
 genius, had some of the characteristics of his mind. 
 He had much originality of thought. His style of writ- 
 ing and preaching bore the marks of this originality. 
 He was independent in his thinking and a man of lib- 
 eral mind. The disposition to move hastily after what 
 was new, however, simply because of its newness, was 
 not in him, and he had no desire to become a combatant 
 for the mere pleasure of a contest. He sincerely loved 
 the truth, believed in the wideness of its reach beyond 
 any present application of it, and entertained no doubts 
 of its final triumph, or of the blessing of the emancipa- 
 tion which that triumph would bring. Like all intel- 
 lectual men in whom there is such hope and confidence, 
 he had much enjoyment in his inner life, as well as in 
 his studies and his work for others. 
 
 The sphere of Dr. Bushnell's ministerial labors was 
 mainly outside of Connecticut. Though he held for 
 some years a pastorate in one of our cities, he served 
 during the larger part of his career churches located in 
 Worcester, Mass., and Beloit, Wis. In the latter city, 
 he was closely associated in sympathy with the gentle- 
 men connected with the College established there. After 
 his retirement from his work in his Western home, his 
 place of residence was transferred to New Haven. He 
 did not again take upon himself the duties of the pas- 
 toral office, but he was actively engaged in preaching 
 until within two or three years of the ending of his life. 
 His service to the University in his advanced age an- 
 swered, in its faithfulness and devotion, to the warm 
 affection which he bore towards it from his early youth. 
 
 Dr. Bushnell entered our Corporation as the suc- 
 cessor of the Rev. George J. Tillotson, whose member- 
 ship in the body, as already stated on an earlier page, 
 continued for thirty-nine years from the end of the 
 third year of Dr. Woolsey's Presidency to the beginning 
 
 447
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 of the third year of my own. Mr. Tillotson had a deep 
 and generous interest in the higher education; an in- 
 terest which was manifested by his constancy in attend- 
 ance upon the duties of his office in our institution, as 
 well as especially by a liberal bequest made in his will 
 for a collegiate school in the state of Texas. 
 
 Rev. Dr. George Leon Walker succeeded Dr. Burton 
 as a member of the Board. He was disabled by reason 
 of physical infirmity as early as the autumn of 1896, so 
 that his period of active service was not a long one, 
 but his final withdrawal was, at the desire of his col- 
 leagues, deferred until the close of the academic year in 
 June, 1899. The prominence of Dr. Walker as a 
 preacher, and as a leader in the Congregational minis- 
 try, was everywhere recognized for many years before 
 his death. The pastorates of two of the leading Churches 
 in New England, the First Church in New Haven and 
 the First Church in Hartford, were held by him. In the 
 former position he continued for five years, from 1868 
 to 1873; an d in the latter for twenty-one years as 
 pastor from 1879 to 1892, and as pastor emeritus from 
 1892 to 1900. At an earlier period he had for several 
 years filled the pastoral office in one of the Churches of 
 Portland, Maine. In the public life, also, of the Con- 
 gregational denomination he was quite prominent, being 
 deeply interested in the most exciting questions which 
 came under discussion in the later period of his more 
 active career. 
 
 As a preacher, Dr. Walker had an impressive style 
 and manner. His sermons were full of interesting 
 thought, which was presented in forcible language, and 
 oftentimes with true eloquence. W T hen he first came to 
 New Haven I was greatly attracted by his preaching, 
 and the same influence was manifest in the case of all 
 who heard him. His service in the Church to which 
 Dr. Leonard Bacon had so long ministered proved to be 
 448
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 in the highest degree acceptable and useful, so that his 
 withdrawal from it by reason of infirmity of health oc- 
 casioned deep regret. In his personal characteristics, 
 he was a man of force and energy, together with strong 
 will-power and clear perception, which fitted him for 
 vigorous action and, if need were, for leading others. 
 At the same time, there was ever a readiness to co-operate 
 with those about him in their efforts for the accom- 
 plishment of good results. The affectionate regard of 
 his parishioners and the respect of his ministerial breth- 
 ren were won by his strong character and his kind feel- 
 ing which moved in unison to helpful ends. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Joseph W. Backus was a graduate of the 
 Class of 1846. Three years after he finished his college 
 studies, and just as the class to which I belonged was 
 leaving the institution, he received an appointment as 
 Tutor, which he accepted. In this office, however, he 
 continued for only two years, and then he entered upon 
 the work of the ministry to which he had already con- 
 secrated his life. Six pastorates were successively 
 opened to him. In these he rendered most faithful and 
 acceptable service for more than a generation. Three 
 of them were connected with churches located in thriving 
 and active manufacturing towns in Connecticut, where 
 there was among the people much intelligence, as well 
 as business enterprise. In all these places, whether he 
 was in his youth or his age, he was regarded by every 
 one as a Christian minister of the true order one who 
 manifested in his daily life the reality of the faith which 
 he professed and the doctrine that he taught, and one 
 who, in his efforts and labors, was sincerely desirous of 
 doing good to those about him. His parishioners and 
 his fellow-townsmen, in each place where he was called 
 to make his home, learned to esteem him very highly 
 for his works' sake. He left behind him, as he parted 
 from them, a memory full of sweetness and of blessing. 
 
 449
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 None knew him without loving him, or named him 
 without a kindly word of praise. 
 
 He was possessed of a sound and safely acting mind, 
 of a wise judgment, and of a thorough knowledge of 
 human nature. A certain quietness and modesty char- 
 acterized him, which prevented his pressing his views and 
 thoughts, in discussion with others, after the vigorous 
 manner that marks many men of the more self-assertive 
 class. But when he expressed his opinions, however 
 unobtrusively, they were recognized as worthy of con- 
 sideration and respect. He had, as it seemed to me, a 
 certain poetic element in his nature, which was the re- 
 sult of the intermingling of thought and affection. It 
 was the poetry of a loving, thoughtful soul. In friend- 
 ship he was warm-hearted and generous. In all his as- 
 sociation with others he exhibited the virtues of the 
 Christian gentleman. I had the good fortune to enjoy 
 his friendly regard from the College years until his 
 death, and I can give my thought of him no more fitly 
 than by using the Scripture words : Of such is the 
 kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 After twenty-four years of service, he resigned his 
 membership in the Corporation in 1899, because of the 
 enfeebled condition of his health, which rendered the 
 further discharge of its duties, as he thought, no longer 
 possible. It was, indeed, only at my urgent solicitation 
 that he consented to remain in his office until the time 
 of my withdrawal from my own. He lived until the 
 4th of July, 1901, and then the end came for him as 
 peacefully and quietly as he could have wished. 
 
 Hon. William Walter Phelps and Mr. Evarts were 
 the only members of the Board elected by the graduates 
 in the year 1872 the year in which the change in its 
 constitution took effect who continued in office later 
 than 1886. Mr. Phelps was, perhaps, the most ener- 
 getic and effective person among the Alumni in advo- 
 450
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 eating and accomplishing this change. For this reason, 
 I think, there was a very general sentiment in his favor, 
 when the question respecting candidates presented itself 
 for decision. By the allotment made after the first elec- 
 tion, his official term was limited to two years, but he 
 was subsequently chosen for three full terms in suc- 
 cession, so that his membership continued until 1892, 
 when he declined a re-election. During three or four 
 years previous to this date, he was the Ambassador of 
 our Government in Germany. Because of this fact he 
 was prevented, in these years, from attending with regu- 
 larity the meetings of the Board. His interest in the 
 University, however, did not in any degree diminish 
 while he was thus removed from it. On the contrary, 
 he held himself ready to render to it his service and 
 help, whenever an opportunity offered. Through a be- 
 quest of fifty thousand dollars from his father, the late 
 John J. Phelps, and one of the same amount from him- 
 self to which generous gifts from his family were after- 
 wards added, the very imposing and highly useful build- 
 ing which includes the main entrance to the College 
 quadrangle and bears the name of Phelps Hall, was 
 erected in 1896. Mr. Phelps was a man of unusual 
 ability, and as a member of the National House of Rep- 
 resentatives, a Judge of the Court of Errors in his 
 own State, New Jersey, and the Minister of our Gov- 
 ernment at two of the principal Courts in Europe, Au- 
 stria and Germany, he had a career of distinction by 
 which he honored the University. The University in its 
 turn, recognized him as one of its prominent graduates 
 by conferring upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws. 
 Mr. Edward G. Mason, as related to the College 
 years, was of the same class with Mr. Phelps the class 
 of 1860. In his membership of the Corporation, he 
 was the successor of Mr. Evarts. Much interest was 
 felt in his election, on account of the fact that he was the 
 
 45i
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 first candidate who was presented as a representative 
 of the graduates residing in the Northwestern States. 
 This interest was deepened for his many friends by rea- 
 son of the winsome qualities of his character and the 
 freshness of an almost youthful enthusiasm which was 
 ever manifest in him. Few men have gained a warmer 
 affection from others than he did. He seemed to all, 
 even at their first meeting with him, to have the genuine 
 manliness of a true man. By profession he was a lawyer, 
 but by his natural gifts and tastes he was a scholar. 
 He devoted himself with great assiduity, and with equal 
 enjoyment, to historical investigation, especially in ref- 
 erence to the early history of the region of country in 
 which he had made his home. As one of the Govern- 
 ing Board of the University he was progressive and in- 
 dependent in his views, yet there was no disregard for 
 the past on his part much less any obstinate or con- 
 tentious opposition to the opinions of others, who might 
 perchance, at the time, find themselves not ready to be 
 convinced. He was a man whom no friend could meet 
 without being moved by the kindliest feeling, and from 
 whom none could part without saying to himself: 
 "Ned Mason (his friends always called him so) is a 
 manly fellow." The name which we all gave him, even 
 to his latest years, showed how the ever-abiding youth- 
 fulness of his nature stirred the old youthful feeling in 
 ourselves. 
 
 Mr. Thomas C. Sloane entered the Board in June, 
 1889, when Mr. William W. Farnam had just been 
 elected the University Treasurer and, as a consequence, 
 had withdrawn from the membership which he had held 
 during the four preceding years. Mr. Sloane's election 
 seemed to me at the time and, as I think, to the officers 
 of the institution generally, a very happy event and one 
 full of promise for the future. The promise, as related 
 to continued service, was not realized, since he lived 
 
 452
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 only a single year after this, but the fitness of the 
 fact that he was chosen to the membership impresses 
 my mind in the remembrance, as it did at the beginning. 
 He belonged to the class of men who are eminently 
 fitted for an office of this order in a great institution of 
 learning. He had the intelligence and practical wisdom 
 which are so greatly to be desired. Broad-mindedness 
 towards all scholarship was characteristic of him, as well 
 as readiness to make the largest possible provision for 
 every department of learning. Unselfish in his disposi- 
 tion and generous in his impulses, he strengthened and 
 encouraged those who were associated with him in all 
 their best efforts. His mind turned naturally toward the 
 positive side of things, rather than the negative. For 
 this reason, and also because of his kindly sentiment, he 
 was free from all petty and hurtful criticism. In the 
 moral and religious well-being of the members of the 
 student community he had a very strong interest. His 
 desire for their true culture as educated men was equally 
 manifest. Such a man was needed at that time. Such 
 men, indeed, are needed at all times. It is a happy 
 fortune when they are secured. 
 
 Among the benefactors of the University Mr. Sloane 
 and his brothers hold an honorable place. The bequest 
 of two hundred thousand dollars, which he made by his 
 will to the Corporation, to be determined in its uses by 
 their wisdom, and which was afterwards assigned to 
 the University Library as a part of its endowment, is 
 one the value of which will be most highly appre- 
 ciated in all coming time. His other bequest of seventy- 
 five thousand dollars for purposes connected with the de- 
 partment of Physics has already been of much service 
 and will be also in the future as a large addition to the 
 gift made by him in connection with his brother, Mr. 
 Henry T. Sloane, in 1882, for the erection of the Physi- 
 cal Laboratory which bears their family name. He was 
 
 453
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 also during his lifetime a liberal giver to the University, 
 as his brothers likewise have been on different occasions, 
 for other objects of much interest and importance. In 
 every time of forward movement in the University, 
 when additions to its means were needed for the carry- 
 ing out of plans which had been formed, it was pleasant 
 to think of him as one of those of whose sympathy we 
 could be assured. 
 
 The place in the Board which was made vacant 
 through the death of Mr. Sloane was filled by the elec- 
 tion of Mr. Buchanan Winthrop, of the Class of 1862, 
 as his successor. Mr. Winthrop was in the fullness of 
 health and vigor at the time when I withdrew from the 
 Presidential office; but as he, like Dr. Walker, has 
 passed to the other life before the date of my writing 
 these pages, I would give expression here to my kindly 
 remembrance of him. He had, I think, as deep and 
 constant an interest in the duties of his position and their 
 relation to the welfare of the University as any one 
 among his colleagues. For some years he rendered ser- 
 vice as a member of the Prudential Committee of the 
 Corporation. This service involved a very considerable 
 acquaintance with the details of the affairs, financial and 
 otherwise, of the entire institution. It also called for the 
 exercise of sound judgment and discretion. In connec- 
 tion with the plans originated in 1898 for the commem- 
 oration of the Bicentennial Anniversary of the granting 
 of the Charter of the College, he manifested much zeal 
 and activity. He was ardent in his hopes that the new 
 century -might open in a manner worthy of the Uni- 
 versity and this in its outward, as well as in its inward 
 life. His desire was very strong that the buildings 
 which were proposed to be erected especially the Com- 
 memorative Hall should have architectural fitness and 
 beauty. They should be, as he thought, impressive as 
 academic edifices and suggestive of academic life. With 
 
 454
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 this thought and desire in his mind, he gladly consented 
 to give his best wisdom and efforts for the realization of 
 what seemed of so much importance. There was no one 
 among the graduates who looked forward with more 
 pleasurable anticipations, than he did, to the coming of 
 the Memorial Days. There was no one who could have 
 taken a greater satisfaction in what those days brought 
 with them, when they came, than would he, if his life 
 had continued as all who knew him wished that it might. 
 
 In his personality Mr. Winthrop had, in a very pe- 
 culiar measure and degree, the appearance of a refined 
 gentleman. In social intercourse his gentlemanly bear- 
 ing was attractive to strangers as well as friends. The 
 prizes which he established in the College for the en- 
 couragement of the study of the Greek and Latin poets 
 were an evidence of his appreciation of Classical scholar- 
 ship and his interest in it as bearing upon the best cul- 
 ture. He believed that College graduates should be 
 truly cultured men. 
 
 I have already made a passing allusion to Chief Jus- 
 tice Waite in connection with what was said of Mr. 
 Evarts. He was elected to his membership in the 
 Board in June, 1882, and held the position until his 
 death, which occurred on the 23d of March, 1888. As 
 the date of his election preceded that of my entrance 
 into the Presidential office by four years, my association 
 with him in administrative duties was limited to a com- 
 paratively brief period. The knowledge of his ability 
 and wisdom, however, which was easily gained through 
 meeting him from time to time, assured me that all 
 who, like myself, had urged or advocated his candidacy 
 at the beginning, had done a good work for the institu- 
 tion. He would undoubtedly, had he lived, have been 
 re-elected by a substantially unanimous vote of the grad- 
 uates. 
 
 On one occasion, as I well remember, he was most 
 
 455
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 kindly, as well as efficiently helpful to me, and also 
 to the University. It was at a time when, in consequence 
 of the death of Mr. Kingsley, the Treasurer, certain 
 bonds of the United States belonging to the University 
 needed to be newly registered. The facts of the case, 
 the importance of the new registry, and the request of 
 the institution were made known to the authorities at 
 Washington in the most distinct and most respectful 
 manner, and the question as to what steps should be 
 taken to accomplish the end in view was asked. A 
 protracted correspondence ensued. The requirements 
 deemed necessary were communicated to me in reply to 
 my inquiries, and were complied with. Thereupon new 
 requirements were added, and these were met in detail. 
 Officials of another order then wrote of further de- 
 mands; and so on, until the delays connected with 
 bureaucratic red-tape became such as to make one doubt 
 whether the difficulties could ever be removed and the 
 bonds recorded as our own. Finally with some hesita- 
 tion as to pressing the matter upon his kind attention 
 I wrote to the Chief Justice. Giving him a full account 
 of the case and telling him that the labyrinthine involve- 
 ment seemed well-nigh inextricable, I requested him to 
 go to the Treasury Department, and see if he could not 
 induce the officials to take some final action in the mat- 
 ter. Three days afterwards, I received a letter from the 
 Department, informing me that, if I would forward the 
 bonds, they would be returned to me with the new regis- 
 try immediately. Had the Chief Justice not been, 
 through his membership in the Corporation, a connect- 
 ing link between the University and the Government, I 
 fear that my correspondence with the Treasury Depart- 
 ment might have continued until now. 
 
 But the man himself, by reason of his presence in the 
 Governing Board, was more to the University than he 
 could be through any special services which he might 
 456
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 render. In character, in mind, in honorable and noble 
 personality, he was fitted to impress every member of 
 the academic community, and to move all towards the 
 highest life. 
 
 My personal association with all these gentlemen and 
 with their colleagues who still survive whether in the 
 discharge of our public duties, or in the conferences 
 of friendly acquaintance was a part of the happi- 
 ness of my executive official life. The Corporation 
 of Yale University, as I knew it in those years, was 
 a body in whose membership it was a pleasure to have 
 a place. 
 
 457
 
 XXIV. 
 
 The Development of the University 1886-99. 
 
 THE development of the institution in the lines 
 of its more outward and its more inward 
 growth, during the thirteen years 1886 to 
 1899 of which I am now writing, was quite beyond 
 the thought of its officers or its graduates at the begin- 
 ning of the period. I desire to refer to it briefly not 
 at all by way of measurement with that of other universi- 
 ties, whether the advances made by them have been 
 greater or less than those which we have known but 
 only in its connection with the progress of the half-cen- 
 tury of our own history over which my memories ex- 
 tend. The review, and the comparisons attendant upon 
 it must, I am sure, bring encouragement to every friend 
 of the University when he turns his mind towards the 
 possibilities awaiting it in the future. 
 
 For the purpose of such a brief review, as in other 
 relations of the subject already noticed, the half-century 
 may be fitly regarded as having its opening in 1846 and 
 its close in 1899, since the three presidential terms 
 which belonged to it covered the period included be- 
 tween these two dates. The three terms of twenty-five, 
 fifteen, and thirteen years respectively may also, for our 
 comparison, be taken as the sections of the entire era 
 which mark its progress ; and we may bring the matter 
 before us in the best way, perhaps, by considering it with 
 reference to the number of students in attendance, and 
 of officers connected with the work of instruction; the 
 buildings provided for its own uses; the funds and 
 458
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 resources at its command; the education afforded by it; 
 and the character of its intellectual and religious life. 
 
 In August, 1846, when President Day offered his 
 resignation of his executive office that is, at the begin- 
 ning of the history of the half-century that has recently 
 come to its end, and the point of time from which we 
 make our measurement of progress there were in the 
 entire institution five hundred and eighty-seven students. 
 Twenty-five years later, at the close of President Wool- 
 sey's administration in 1871, the total membership, as 
 already stated on an earlier page, had reached the num- 
 ber of seven hundred and fifty-five. The increase dur- 
 ing this period was, accordingly, one hundred and sixty- 
 eight, or very nearly twenty-nine per cent. When Presi- 
 dent Porter retired, in 1886, the whole student com- 
 munity included in itself one thousand and seventy-six 
 members. An addition of three hundred and twenty- 
 one was thus realized within his official term, beyond 
 the number that had been previously enrolled, and the 
 measure of the growth of its fifteen years was close upon 
 forty-three per cent. 
 
 If we turn now to the thirteen years from 1886 to 
 1899, and bring them into comparison with the preced- 
 ing periods, we find that the increase in the membership 
 of the University was one hundred and thirty-three per 
 cent. the number of students in the academic year 
 1885-6 being one thousand and seventy-six, and that of 
 the academic year 1898-9 being two thousand five hun- 
 dred and eleven. It is an interesting fact also, that the 
 growth thus indicated was manifest in the several De- 
 partments of the University within these years. The 
 membership of the College or Academical Department 
 increased from five hundred and sixty-three to twelve 
 hundred and twenty- four; that of the Scientific School, 
 in its undergraduate classes together with its small class 
 
 459
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 of special students, from two hundred and twenty-eight 
 to five hundred and eight, or including those pursuing 
 graduate studies, from two hundred and fifty-one to 
 five hundred and sixty-seven; that of the three profes- 
 sional schools from two hundred to three hundred and 
 ninety-nine; that of the Graduate School from forty- 
 two to two hundred and eighty-three. The develop- 
 ment in each of the first three cases was thus twofold or 
 somewhat more, while in the last-mentioned school it 
 was nearly sevenfold. The Art School also had an in- 
 crease of about one-fourth in the number of its profes- 
 sional pupils, and its privileges were more freely offered 
 to students in the College. The School of Music was 
 not established until 1892. It had in attendance upon 
 its courses in 1899 sixty students who were not connected 
 with other branches of the University. 
 
 These brief statements, which in themselves are quite 
 suggestive, may gain a certain additional emphasis, as I 
 think, if we call to mind the fact that of the entire 
 number of graduates of the institution, in all its de- 
 partments, from the beginning of its history to the close 
 of the academic year 1899, nearly one-third received 
 their degrees within these thirteen years, while of the 
 alumni who were living at the date of the Bicentennial 
 Anniversary in 1901 one-half were graduates during 
 the same period. 
 
 Passing now from our consideration of the student 
 community in order to observe the increase in the mem- 
 bership of the Faculty, we may notice that, in 1846, 
 there were in all the departments of the institution twen- 
 ty-one professors and permanent officials, including the 
 President, together with fifteen tutors or other tempo- 
 rary teachers, connected with the Board of Instruction. 
 At the close of the academic year 1870-71, the total 
 number in the Board was sixty- four; forty-five being 
 460
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 professors or gentlem n having permanent positions, 
 while nineteen were tutors or instructors appointed only 
 for a limited period. The body of permanent officials, 
 as well as of those of a more temporary order, was so far 
 enlarged by successive additions during the fifteen years 
 following 1871, that in June, 1886, there were one 
 hundred and fourteen persons enrolled in the member- 
 ship of the Board. Of these persons seventy-six held 
 professorships, assistant professorships, or positions of a 
 somewhat similar character, and thirty-eight had been 
 called to render service as instructors for a more or less 
 definite term. Between 1886 and 1899 the enlargement 
 was still further manifest, and in the last-named year 
 there were in the Faculty of the University one hundred 
 and twenty officers of the former class and one hundred 
 and forty of the latter. The total number at the end 
 of these thirteen years, accordingly, was two hundred 
 and sixty as compared with one hundred and fourteen 
 at the beginning. The increase in the membership of 
 the Board of Instruction within this period was thus 
 very nearly the same with that of the student body the 
 numbers in each case being about two and one-third 
 times as large in 1899 as they were in 1886. 
 
 By reason of this very marked enlargement of the 
 teaching force, new opportunities for study and investi- 
 gation were opened, and in some cases the number of 
 professors in a particular department of instruction was 
 doubled or more than doubled. The advantages af- 
 forded to students were in this way greatly increased, 
 and a very helpful division of labors among the teachers 
 was rendered possible. 
 
 The buildings belonging to and occupied by the insti- 
 tution in August, 1846, were, including the President's 
 house, fourteen in number. Of these, four were erected 
 in the time of Dr. Dwight's administration; four at an 
 461
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 earlier period, between 1752 and 1793; and six within 
 the official term of President Day. To these buildings, 
 as indicated in the brief review which has been given of 
 the service rendered to the College by Drs. Woolsey and 
 Porter, eight were added while the former held the 
 Presidential office, and nine in the years when the latter 
 had the same position. The only two of the entire 
 number which were not standing in July, 1886, were 
 the President's house and the old Divinity Hall. In 
 connection with the carrying out of the plan of the 
 quadrangle, however, six of the older buildings were 
 removed between 1886 and 1899; and thus twenty- 
 three were still standing at the close of this period. 
 
 Within these thirteen years, seventeen buildings were 
 added to those already possessed by the University. Of 
 this number, five were erected on the College square, and 
 by this means the quadrangular arrangement was com- 
 pleted, preparatory to the removal of what remained of 
 the older Brick Row. These five buildings bear the 
 names of the donors The Chittenden University Li- 
 brary building; Phelps Hall and Osborn Hall, devoted 
 to purposes connected with undergraduate college in- 
 struction; Welch Hall and Vanderbilt Hall, which are 
 dormitories for students of the College department. 
 Berkeley Hall, Pierson Hall, and White Hall, which 
 are College dormitories, and the Kent Chemical Labor- 
 atory, are buildings outside of the quadrangle, but 
 are designed for the uses of the Academical Col- 
 lege. The first two of these were erected by the Cor- 
 poration and were named in commemoration of Bishop 
 Berkeley, and of Rector Pierson, the first Presi 
 dent. The third and fourth have the names of the 
 gentlemen who gave them to the institution. Winchester 
 Hall, the gift of Mrs. Winchester, in memory of her 
 husband, Lieutenant-Governor Winchester; Sheffield 
 Chemical Laboratory; and the Biological Laboratory
 
 M 
 
 o m 
 
 I
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LiFE AND MEN 
 
 belong to the Scientific School. The first section of 
 the building now called Hendrie Hall was built for the 
 Law Department, and the Medical School Laboratory 
 for the purposes of that School. The Gymnasium and 
 the Infirmary, the means for the erection of which were 
 provided by graduates and friends of the institution, and 
 the College Street Hall, purchased by the Corporation, 
 are University buildings. The Battell Chapel was also 
 much enlarged within this period, the expense being 
 met by a gift from the late Robbins Battell. The seven- 
 teen buildings mentioned as newly added constitute one- 
 half of the entire number secured for the institution in 
 the half-century the history and progress of which we 
 are now briefly considering. 
 
 As I thus refer to these buildings which are so essen- 
 tial to the University in its enlarging life, and which so 
 greatly contribute toward making its home worthy of 
 itself, I would express my most sincere and grateful 
 appreciation of the special gifts which, in the case of 
 most of them, rendered their erection possible. The 
 munificence of the honored friends whose benefactions 
 made the closing years of the century conspicuous in 
 Yale's history, in this regard, can never be forgotten. 
 
 With equal gratitude, I would on these pages com- 
 memorate the abundant generosity of each and all of 
 those large-hearted men and women who, by their gifts 
 or bequests in these years, increased the resources of the 
 institution thus widening the sphere of its teaching 
 and aiding it, in different lines, in its work for education 
 and scholarship. What they have done, all of them with 
 the same kindly sentiment will bear rich fruit for our 
 University and for its sons in the coming generations. 
 
 The permanent funds of the University in July, 1886, 
 amounted to two million one hundred and eleven thou- 
 sand dollars. In July, 1899, they had increased to four 
 
 463
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 million five hundred and fifty-four thousand dollars, or 
 in other words, two million four hundred and forty- 
 three thousand dollars had been added in the interven- 
 ing period. The sum of the endowments was thus en- 
 larged, within these thirteen years, by a more than two- 
 fold increment. The gifts received for the erection of 
 new buildings in the same years were very nearly two 
 millions of dollars, and if to these sums already men- 
 tioned the donations and subscriptions for the Bicenten- 
 nial Funds which were secured before the middle of the 
 year 1899, together with the gifts for the income of the 
 University in the period and for special objects of 
 interest of a minor character, be added, the total amount 
 obtained will be found to be somewhat more than five 
 millions. The income derived from investments and 
 from fees paid by students, which in 1886 was two hun- 
 dred and sixty-three thousand dollars, amounted in 1899 
 to seven hundred and twenty thousand dollars. The 
 increase in the endowment and the income of the insti- 
 tution, and in the number of buildings occupied by it, 
 was substantially equal, in proportion, to that which 
 has been already noticed with respect to the community 
 of students and the membership of the boards of instruc- 
 tion. 
 
 For myself personally, I may say that there was one 
 special cause of satisfaction as related to the marked 
 enlargement of the University resources during these 
 thirteen years. The increase in the permanent funds, 
 like that of the student company, was confined to no 
 single department, but was happily shared by each and 
 all. Not only this; but more adequate provision was 
 made for almost every branch of study, as well as for 
 meeting the demands of the age in the other and various 
 lines of the institution's life. As my controlling thought 
 on behalf of Yale was that of the University and its 
 upbuilding, and as the consequent outgoing of my de- 
 464

 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 sires was for its well-being in all its parts and success in 
 all its work, I could only be grateful that so much was 
 accomplished for the realization of this thought and 
 these desires. 
 
 With reference to the education afforded by the Uni- 
 versity it is scarcely possible, within the limits of this 
 volume, to present a detailed record of progress during 
 the half-century which has just closed. Certain great 
 advances have been made, however, and marked changes 
 introduced, the mention of which will render the char- 
 acter of the development manifest. 
 
 The most striking change wrought within the period, 
 so far as the undergraduate college curriculum is con- 
 cerned, is that connected with the elective system. No 
 thought of systematizing optional studies in courses pre- 
 paratory for graduation seems to have entered the minds 
 of the authorities and teachers of the institution fifty or 
 even forty years ago. The beginning of the movement 
 in this direction, indeed, as related to definite and per- 
 manent results, may be placed near the opening of the 
 last quarter of the century. In the widening of the 
 opportunities of study in special lines, the extension of 
 the system was very noteworthy between the years 1886 
 and 1899. A comparison of the schedules of studies in 
 these two years, as presented in the University Cata- 
 logues of the time, will make this evident to any one 
 who will give his attention to the subject. 
 
 It is not my purpose or wish to discuss here the relative 
 merits of the old and new systems, viewed as a whole 
 and in contrast with each other. But that the change 
 from the former time has been a radical one cannot be 
 denied. A graduate of 1850 or 1860, or even of 1870, 
 who if that were possible should, without any previ- 
 ous knowledge of what had happened, return to the 
 institution in the present year for the first time after his 
 
 465
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 graduation, would certainly find himself in a new world 
 in this regard. The Yale of the former days would seem 
 to have passed away, and a strange college of another 
 order to have taken its place. If, however, he were a 
 thoughtful man, with a mind open to large and wide 
 observation, he would, as I cannot doubt though pos- 
 sibly after a regretful hour or two of looking backward 
 appreciate the significance of one great fact connected 
 with the change, to which I have elsewhere briefly al- 
 luded. The very remarkable enlargement of the pos- 
 sibilities of acquisition would be so impressive as to lead 
 him to count the student of the later years fortunate in 
 his era. 
 
 Contemporaneous with, and in part at least attendant 
 upon, the growth of the elective system, another impor- 
 tant change has made its appearance in our College edu- 
 cational scheme and methods. The old custom, which 
 simply demanded of the student that he should le^rn 
 an assigned lesson from a text-book, and be prepared to 
 answer such questions connected with it as might be pre- 
 sented to him by his instructor in the recitation-room, 
 has given place, in large measure, to a new order of 
 things. We learned from a book in the older time. 
 Our successors of to-day learn much more, in compari- 
 son, from the living teacher. No one, as I think, can 
 question the beneficial influence of this change. The in- 
 struction of the lecture or recitation room takes easily, 
 in consequence, a wider range and becomes more inspir- 
 ing. The teacher places more successfully before his 
 pupil and within his reach whatever may be most helpful 
 to him. In every way the student is brought more fully 
 within the genuine scholarly life. 
 
 The elective system, in its development, has also, as 
 
 a matter of course, had a tendency to bring together in 
 
 particular studies those who have an interest in them or, 
 
 at least, a willingness to pursue them, and to exclude 
 
 466
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 others for whom they have no attraction. The dead 
 weight resting upon the instructors, and likewise upon 
 the interested students, which is occasioned by the pres- 
 ence of such as have no heart in the matter, is conse- 
 quently lightened or removed. What Dr. Woolsey used 
 sometimes, with impressive emphasis, to call the tail of 
 the class the tail which has not even happiness or 
 energy enough connected with its life to put itself in 
 motion is the most dreadful attendant upon the teacher 
 in his work. How often he wishes, for his own comfort, 
 that it might be cut off, or given to some one else in 
 whose keeping it might learn to move, or might move 
 in its way to learning. 
 
 The elective system is the remedy, or at least the 
 partial remedy, for this evil. Its tendency is, after the 
 method of good old Dr. Hawes, to remove the cause. 
 The memory of my early days as a college teacher brings 
 up before my mind some of my own trials and wrestlings 
 with this matter. How could the earnest and the careless, 
 the willing and the unwilling men in my classes be put 
 apart from one another? But there was no solution of 
 the difficulty. It seems strange enough, to-day yet, as 
 I am writing, I recall the fact that, as late as somewhere 
 in the early sixties, I ventured to suggest to three or 
 four of the leading gentlemen in the Academical Faculty 
 the question, whether the classes could not be divided for 
 their studies according to their rank as scholars, instead 
 of being arranged, as they then were, by an alphabetical 
 division. But they all agreed in the opinion that such 
 a change would be quite impracticable. It was made, 
 however, and safely and happily made, before the sixties 
 were ended. There are frequent evidences in human 
 experience that men do not always nor easily foresee the 
 future. But the elective system has, in its measure, 
 realized for us a more complete solution of the difficulty. 
 It is a solution also which, while it relieves the teacher 
 
 467
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 of his trial, may be of benefit rather than injury to the 
 pupil, for there are cases, perhaps many in number, 
 where the pupil who cannot be moved in one study may 
 be awakened to interest in another. 
 
 But quite apart from this system or any question re- 
 specting its merits, the young man, by reason of the 
 requirements of the entrance examinations, begins his 
 college course at an advanced stage of preparatory 
 studies as compared with his predecessors. He finds, 
 also, throughout his course, a wider outlook offered him 
 in all the spheres of knowledge that are opened; he has 
 facilities for prosecuting his work which were unknown 
 in the earlier time; he is brought under the influence of 
 impelling forces by reason of which his w'orking energy 
 may be continually quickened. If he consecrates himself 
 to the duties and fitly uses the privileges which belong 
 within the college period, he cannot fail to be, in his 
 knowledge and acquirements at the end of his course, in 
 advance of those who have gone before him in their 
 undergraduate career. The familiar acquaintance with 
 the more scholarly members of the student company 
 which my associates in the Faculty had in the recent 
 years will lead them, I am sure, to confirm the truth of 
 this statement. 
 
 As I turned my thoughts and inquiries in every direc- 
 tion during the period now especially under review 
 looking out from the central point of the University I 
 could not help feeling that the institution was growing 
 in its provisions and opportunities in this regard as 
 truly as it was in the things pertaining to the outward 
 sphere. The growth awakened my own scholarly en- 
 thusiasm, as with a new impulse, and I often wished that 
 I could place myself as a listener in every lecture-room, 
 and open my mind on every side to the incoming of the 
 new knowledge of the new era. I would that every 
 student in the University might have somewhat of the
 
 l
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 same awakening that he might be moved, as its conse- 
 quence, to take to himself, in his early life, of the 
 abundance which is offered, and thus might know, in and 
 for himself, the riches of that wide-extended education 
 which will bring him fullness of power, as well as the 
 never-failing presence of happy thoughts. 
 
 In the Scientific School the elective system has, from 
 its first introduction, been limited in its scope to a selec- 
 tion among courses of study definitely grouped and clas- 
 sified for the Junior and Senior years. This arrange- 
 ment, as contrasted with that which extends the oppor- 
 tunities of choice for the individual pupil to a wide 
 circle of particular studies which may not be closely 
 related to one another, is rendered necessary by the gen- 
 eral purpose of the education which the school offers. 
 The development of the later years has, accordingly, 
 been along the lines of the original plan, but it has been 
 marked by noticeable advances in connection with the 
 progress of the era. The growth of the school in re- 
 spect to all the excellent work which pertains to its 
 sphere is one of the most interesting facts of our recent 
 history. The number of students enrolled in its mem- 
 bership in 1899 was equal to that enrolled in 1886 in 
 the Academical Department. 
 
 The relations of the School of the Fine Arts to the 
 Undergraduate College became during this period much 
 closer than at any earlier time, and its helpful influence 
 for the entire University as well as for the education of 
 its students was more fully -realized. We may hope 
 that, in the future, the elevating power of art will be 
 witnessed in connection with all the other studies of the 
 higher order, and that thus the educated men of the 
 coming generations will be broadened and uplifted in 
 their intellectual life. The development of our Art 
 School and the foundation of our School of Music 
 within these years are certainly evidences of progress, 
 469
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 in this view of education, which must be appreciated by 
 every true friend of the University and of the best cul- 
 ture. I am glad to have seen, during my own term of 
 service, the beginning of what has so large promise of 
 good in itself. 
 
 The courses in the Schools of Medicine and Law 
 were lengthened, during this period, by the addition of 
 a year in each case, so that four years of study were re- 
 quired for the attainment of a degree in the former, and 
 three in the latter. The introduction of the modern sys- 
 tem of medical training in our University reaches back 
 in its date to 1879, but the more complete provision for 
 carrying forward the work connected with it was most 
 successfully made only after the year 1895-96. In the 
 Law Department the plan of studies was adjusted to the 
 new arrangement in 1896. In both of these schools the 
 Board of Instructors was considerably increased and the 
 standard of admission was raised. In the Department 
 of Theology a number of optional courses were added 
 to the required curriculum, in which what is called " the 
 seminary method " of original research was adopted. 
 With the advance of learning in all branches of profes- 
 sional study, the opportunities for the best and most 
 valuable education have been enlarged, and in no re- 
 spect, perhaps, more than in the line of individual and 
 independent investigation to which the student is en- 
 couraged to devote a portion of his time and for which 
 he is held responsible. This is true in the undergraduate 
 departments also, in their measure, though the possibili- 
 ties here may, perchance, not be as great as in the 
 schools which receive the students at a later stage of 
 their progress. 
 
 The development of the entire plan of the Graduate 
 
 School has certainly been very remarkable. It has kept 
 
 pace with the great increase in the membership of the 
 
 school, as well as with the rapid progress in all lines of 
 
 470
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 investigation. Whatever may be said as to the com- 
 parative advantages for young men in their undergradu- 
 ate career of the elective and required systems, there 
 can be no doubt that the former is the one demanded 
 for those who have already received the Bachelor's de- 
 gree, and who desire to pursue non-professional courses 
 for a time. As wide-extended opportunities as possible 
 should be opened to such advanced students, so that the 
 wishes and best impulses of each and all may be satis- 
 fied. How much was accomplished for the realization 
 of this most desirable end, during the years specially 
 referred to, may be seen by any one who will examine 
 the courses offered in those years, and will be more im- 
 pressively manifest as one considers the service for edu- 
 cation which has been already rendered by men who 
 have enjoyed the privilege of pursuing these studies. 
 
 Within these years also, the influence of the Graduate 
 School upon the general scholarly life of the University 
 has been largely increased, and has become exceedingly 
 helpful, through the formation of clubs established for 
 special investigation and study in various departments 
 of science and learning, and provided with depart- 
 mental libraries and rooms for the membership in which 
 they can meet for discussion or carry on individual work. 
 
 As we turn finally, in our brief review of the half- 
 century, to a comparison, or an estimate of progress, in 
 respect to the intellectual and religious life of the insti- 
 tution, we may well bear in mind certain changes that 
 have marked the advance of the age. The entire move- 
 ment of men in both spheres of their living, as I think 
 we may fairly say, is more external now, whereas it was 
 more internal fifty years ago. Certainly, this is true of 
 the religious life. It is true in this sphere, and emphati- 
 cally so, even if we limit our comparison to the years 
 from 1875 to the end of the century. The thought of 
 
 47 1
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 the personal soul of the individual man how it is de- 
 veloping is less prominent than it was in the earlier 
 days. What are its outgoings in efforts for other men ? 
 is the question that is now asked with all interest, and 
 with constant repetition. The evidence of love to God is 
 sought for and discovered through its manifestation of 
 itself in love to mankind. To many, if not most minds 
 this change seems, in and of itself, to be an indication of 
 progress towards the highest Christian ideal. Whether 
 this be the fact or not, however, our judgment with 
 reference to present and past conditions must take ac- 
 count of the change. 
 
 In close relation to what has just been mentioned, 
 and in some measure at least as a consequence of it, a 
 much more complete system of organized religious work 
 has been instituted in the more recent years. There was 
 indeed no organization half a century ago none, that 
 is to say, beyond what is necessarily involved in the fra- 
 ternal union of classmates and the fellowship of the 
 College Church. Earnest Christian effort was often 
 put forth by individuals on behalf of their associates and 
 friends. Not unfrequently such effort was made more 
 effective and this was always the case in seasons of re- 
 vivals or special awakening through a voluntary com- 
 bination of a small number of religious men continuing 
 for a time. But the organized Christian Associations 
 of the present era were entirely unknown. These origi- 
 nated in our University twenty years afterwards, and 
 their most vigorous life here has pertained to the last 
 fifteen years. Dwight Hall, the existence of which has 
 contributed very greatly to all that has since been ac- 
 complished, was opened and dedicated to its uses in 
 September, 1886. The extension of religious effort on 
 the part of the students among the working classes of 
 the city is largely the result of influences connected with 
 Dwight Hall. 
 
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 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 Another change which may be noticed has relation 
 to the approach toward and development in the religious 
 life in the case of the individual man. Such approach 
 and development are attended by much less difficulty, 
 and by no means so many hindrances of a certain char- 
 acter, as compared with what was true of the earlier 
 period. I refer to the hindrances which were occa- 
 sioned by the theological and Christian thought of the 
 former time. The legal side of Divine truth, rather 
 than the loving side, was then presented, and the gate- 
 way of the new life was oftentimes made so narrow 
 that even the most serious souls were fearful as to their 
 entrance. Religion became, in undue measure, intro- 
 vertive in its character, and self-examination was at- 
 tendant upon every stage of growth. The change in 
 this regard was beginning to make itself manifest in my 
 undergraduate years; but it was only beginning. The 
 Christian life of to-day is happier for thoughtful men 
 than it was. The winsomeness of the Church for those 
 who are turning towards that life is greater. 
 
 Bearing these changes and others which might be 
 mentioned in mind, I think we may say that, while our 
 University has always been an institution in which Chris- 
 tianity has had a living and powerful influence, no period 
 in its history has witnessed a more pervasive and con- 
 trolling force as pertaining to it, nor a more continuous 
 and earnest forthputting of its energy, than has this of 
 which I am now writing. If the religious ideas of the 
 age, as I have referred to them, are founded in truth, 
 the Christian life of the University, as of the larger 
 world outside of it, is moving forward towards the ideal 
 of the future. 
 
 It is very difficult if indeed it be possible for a 
 graduate of fifty years standing to give an accurate 
 judgment as to the intellectual life of college students 
 
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 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 of to-day in comparison with that of his own contempo- 
 raries in their youth. Such a graduate is apt to forget 
 precisely what he and his companions were, and just 
 how far advanced was his and their development within 
 the undergraduate period. Life moves onward with a 
 growth as silent as it is gradual, and we fail to keep our 
 early selves in vivid remembrance. The young man 
 of the present hour stands out very clearly before our 
 vision, but the young man of the past is afar off; and 
 through the dim light of the years he often seems to 
 have been almost the same that he is now in mature and 
 advanced age. This is one of life's deceptions, coming 
 to us all. It is kindred to that which cheats us as to 
 our years, so that though the fathers seemed to us to 
 be fifty or seventy, when they were so, we have no 
 thought that these figures tell the same story for our- 
 selves. 
 
 On the other hand, I think that the kindly feeling 
 which is characteristic of genuine and generous advanc- 
 ing age tends to make us overestimate the mental work 
 and attainments of the youth of the later generation. 
 We become thus liable to fall into an opposite error, or 
 an opposite sort of forgetfulness ; and while we were, 
 at first, losing our memory of the past and, as a conse- 
 quence, thinking more highly of ourselves as college 
 youths than we ought to think, we are now putting too 
 low an estimate upon our powers by reason of the same 
 loss of distinct remembrance. 
 
 In some hours of reasonable and calm reflection, 
 however, the older man may so balance his mind and 
 thought that the two opposite tendencies shall counteract 
 each other, and that his judgment shall be of value as 
 in accordance with the truth. If I may venture to 
 believe that, as I write these words, I am passing 
 through such an hour, I would say that the best intel- 
 lectual efforts and productions of our Yale undergrad- 
 
 474
 
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 '
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 uates of to-day appear to me to be in advance of those 
 of the earlier period. This is the impression left upon 
 my mind as I have, in successive years, listened to the 
 essays or addresses of students prepared for public occa- 
 sions. The result which we may naturally expect in 
 view of the wider range of knowledge opened to the 
 college man in these days, and of the larger opportunities 
 for instruction and influence in the sphere of literature 
 afforded by the provisions of our present courses of 
 study, is thus seen to be in a true measure realized. The 
 fitness f.or higher studies, and the activity and earnest- 
 ness, which are exhibited by those who enter our Grad- 
 uate School must also be regarded as indicating truly 
 awakened mental life in the students of the College 
 years. In this school, certainly, and in the departments 
 of the University which fit men for the professions and 
 for the scientific sphere, there is an intellectual interest 
 characteristic of our graduates which gives rich promise 
 for their future career; and we may find satisfaction in 
 the progress of the University in this regard, even as 
 we find it in other lines of its life. 
 
 There is, however, in the intellectual, as well as in 
 the religious, life of the present era an external move- 
 ment beyond what was known in the former time, and 
 this outward tendency has become increasingly manifest 
 in the latest years. The mental effort which looks 
 towards results in the external world in public, or 
 social, or business life has taken in larger measure, 
 even for educated men, the place of that which turns 
 to the inward sphere and satisfies itself there. This is 
 in accordance with the spirit of the age, and it must not 
 be forgotten when we try to answer our question. This 
 question is, whether the intellectual life of the academic 
 community and, as a consequence, of those who go forth 
 from it as graduates, is better developed, stronger, more 
 active to-day, than it was years ago; not whether its 
 
 475
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 movement is in one direction or another. We are in 
 the outward age now. The fathers were more within 
 the limits of the inward one. The movements in both 
 are good. We may hope that the coming time will 
 unite the two, and bring them more fully into harmony. 
 In view of all the results, in different spheres, which 
 have thus been set forth, I think we may fitly say that 
 the academic life of the century was happily completed 
 in these its closing years, and that the University was 
 made ready for the new age. 
 
 476
 
 XXV. 
 
 Questions of the Future. 
 
 AS we whose career belongs mainly to the half- 
 century which is past look forward to the one 
 which is to come, it is befitting, I think, that 
 we have as much trustfulness with reference to those 
 who follow us as we asked for ourselves when we 
 assumed the responsibilities of our own life-work. Men 
 are adapted to the particular era in which they live. 
 Through the influences that it carries in itself and all 
 its educating forces, it renders them fit to be the workers 
 or, perchance, the guides that it needs and demands. 
 So it has proved to be in our own case, so far as we have 
 been adequate to the positions which we have filled and 
 the duties that they involved. But as time moves for- 
 ward and changes come, there is a call for service of a 
 different character. The new has its beginning from 
 the old, indeed, and rests upon what has been already 
 accomplished, but it does not and cannot abide in the 
 old. Ideas of another order, development of pos- 
 sibilities altogether unexpected, progress which the 
 earlier generation had no power to foresee, openings 
 of knowledge beyond the attainments of the past, even 
 of the recent past, make themselves manifest; and those 
 who grow up as the years advance and are moulded 
 in their thoughts and powers by all these things which 
 the years bring with them, are the men prepared, as 
 their predecessors could not be, for the deciding of ques- 
 tions or the direction of life in their own age. If they 
 are selected with wisdom for the positions which they 
 
 477
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 are to occupy, we may look forward without doubts or 
 fears as to the interests intrusted to their charge. We 
 may have confidence respecting the future, that it is as 
 full of promise as the past has been of realization. 
 
 The thought thus presented may naturally and fitly 
 make us, each and all, hesitant in attempting to deter- 
 mine for our successors, what they should do in their 
 work for the development of the coming time. They 
 ought to be and, if equal to the demands upon them, 
 will be more capable than we are of ordering their 
 course of action in view of the opportunities or emer- 
 gencies which may arise. There are, however, as we all 
 know and must admit, lessons of moment which come 
 from the past, and to which the intelligent man of the 
 future may properly give his attention, if he desires to 
 guide his actions aright. The errors and successes of 
 the by-gone days have in like measure, and often in 
 their union with each other, a teaching even for all 
 time, which cannot be wisely disregarded. And this 
 is as true in the sphere of university life as it is else- 
 where. To a few suggestions which seem to me to be 
 connected with such lessons from our past history I 
 will allow myself briefly to call the thought of my read- 
 ers who may chance to be of the Yale fraternity. 
 
 The first of these suggestions has reference to the 
 matter of undergraduate college government. If I 
 have any understanding of the teaching of the century 
 behind us, there is no sphere in which the truth of the 
 proverb, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of 
 cure," has become more manifest than that of the 
 administration of the daily life of our College. The 
 evils of the undergraduate body were largely misunder- 
 stood by the fathers of the olden time, in that they were 
 supposed to be, or at least were dealt with as if they 
 were, of precisely the same order with those of the 
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 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 community or the State. The youthful age of the 
 student company, its momentary thoughtlessness, its 
 love of temporary enjoyment unaccompanied by any 
 desire to do serious harm or wrong; and on the other 
 hand, its better aspirations, its generous sentiment, its 
 susceptibility to persuasive influence, its openness to 
 friendly feeling all these things were, in far too large 
 measure, lost sight of and disregarded. As a conse- 
 quence, the authorities took the attitude of a governing 
 body waiting until offences had been committed and then 
 inflicting penalties, rather than that of an educating 
 force intervening beforehand to check wrong desires or 
 lead by kindly influence away from the evil act. It is 
 certainly not too much to say, that the very gratifying 
 and very marked change which has been realized, within 
 the past thirty years, in the general quietness and pro- 
 priety of our college life is in no inconsiderable degree 
 if, indeed, it be not mainly due to the introduction of 
 better notions of administration or, in a word, to the 
 following out of the idea of the proverb. The oppor- 
 tunity for prevention in a college community is almost 
 unlimited. Prevention is the one cause that effectually 
 puts an end to the evil. 
 
 But if this be true, it follows of necessity that the 
 men in a Faculty who are specially endowed with the 
 gift of prevention if I may so describe it, that is to 
 say, who have the genuine appreciation of the mind and 
 feeling of those with whom they have to deal, and the 
 peculiar intelligence and sentiment that fit them for suc- 
 cess in this particular work, should be placed in charge 
 of the matter of discipline. They should be allowed 
 to take the initiative; and their judgment may properly 
 have the largest, if not indeed the all-controlling influ- 
 ence in every case. The college officer who does not 
 possess this gift, ought to be assigned to other spheres 
 of duty, for which he is fitted it may be, by reason of 
 
 479
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 more than ordinary powers, even as the classical 
 scholar, whose studies and learning give him eminent 
 qualification for his own department, should be called 
 to teach the Classics, and not be asked to offer instruction 
 in Metaphysics or Chemistry of which, perchance, he 
 knows little or nothing. The lesson of the past in this 
 matter is surely one which has a bearing upon all time. 
 
 Another suggestion which comes to us as closely con- 
 nected with the one just mentioned is, as I think, this: 
 that in the large growth in the membership of our 
 Faculties which must take place in the future, even as 
 it has begun already to be realized, men of various 
 talents and capabilities should be selected for official 
 appointment. By this, of course, I do not mean men 
 devoted to different branches of learning. That such 
 men should be chosen as instructors is self-evident. I 
 refer rather to differences as bearing upon the general 
 educational work of the institution on behalf of its 
 students. Scholars given wholly to scholarship may 
 indeed, in one aspect of the matter, make in and of 
 themselves a college or university. But an institution 
 of this order which undertakes to educate young men 
 for mature life and its duties, and for manhood in its 
 best and widest sense, needs something more. It de- 
 mands for the accomplishment of its purpose not only 
 men who are simply and purely scholars there may 
 well be such, and for its highest well-being there should 
 be such, in every university, and they are worthy of all 
 honor. But it requires also men who can teach, as well 
 as learn or know; who can teach forcefully and help- 
 fully, even if their special gift be attended by some 
 lessening of power for greater acquisitions. The teacher 
 who deals with pupils, as well as the scholar who devotes 
 himself wholly to books and learning, is a necessity of 
 its very life for a university like ours. 
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 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 No less true is it, that such an institution, if it is to 
 fulfill its proper work, must have within its official circle 
 men of what I may call effective character. All college 
 officers should be persons of high character. There is 
 a universal agreement on this point. One who has not 
 this possession for himself has no proper place in such 
 a sphere. He is an alien from the commonwealth of 
 university teachers. But there is a marked distinction 
 between character and what I here refer to by the 
 words effective character. I have in mind character 
 which has not only a silent force by reason of its very 
 existence in the man, but also an outgoing energy per- 
 taining to his nature and manhood. The influence of 
 such a man is of inestimable value for the entire student 
 community. Who can measure the results for the 
 highest education for the development of mental and 
 spiritual life which have been realized by the Yale 
 graduates of the years from 1846 to 1886 because of 
 the presence with them and among them of Professor 
 Thomas A. Thacher? What would have been the loss 
 to the institution, if he had not been called into its 
 service ? Such men are needed in every generation. 
 
 How evidently also the past has made manifest the 
 demand for men having the gift of administration in 
 the larger and wider sense. I refer to such as have open 
 minds to perceive the needs of the present and the 
 future, the wide outlook which reaches to all interests 
 alike and brings with it the appreciation of every part 
 of the common life, and the ability and energy which 
 are essential to the realization of the desired ends. Yale 
 University could never have been made what it is to-day 
 had it not been for such men in its board of instruction, 
 as well as that of government. The future, in this 
 regard also, will answer to the past. If what we hope 
 for is to be made the possession of those who follow us, 
 there must be able teachers, as well as eminent scholars, 
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 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 in the official body. There must be men gifted in 
 guiding and elevating and bringing to still better ideals 
 the student life in the institution. There must be also 
 men not only of genuine and noble character in them- 
 selves, but of forceful personality moving others to at- 
 tain the same. Yet, in addition to all these, men will 
 be imperatively needed who can appreciate the demands 
 of the coming era and foresee, with some measure of 
 prophetic vision, its possibilities, while at the same time 
 they have the power to lay hold upon what these involve. 
 Such men are the creators of the new and greater things. 
 
 The experience of the past, whether in the way of 
 failures or successes, seems to me also to impress upon 
 the mind the thought that, in the coming time, every 
 instructor in the University should endeavor, by all the 
 means at his command, to awaken and keep alive in his 
 pupils enthusiasm for the study which they pursue under 
 his guidance. To this end, it will be essential for him 
 to preserve in its freshness his own enthusiasm as he 
 moves along the pathway of his personal learning. The 
 way to stir intellectual life in others is, first of all, to 
 have such life in oneself. This, however, will not be 
 enough he will need also to throw into his teaching 
 all the energy of his own awakened and inspired in- 
 dividuality. The man within him must be moved by 
 an all-controlling impulse to give forth its vital and 
 vitalizing force, so that his instruction will carry in 
 itself for those who receive it intellectual stimulus, as 
 well as an increase of knowledge. His lecture-room 
 must become a place of life-imparting power, and not 
 only a place for teaching, or for testing the student's 
 acquisitions. 
 
 But apart from his public meetings with his pupils, 
 and his more formal work of instruction, there are 
 possibilities open to him for accomplishing results in
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 the matter to which I now have reference which should 
 by no means be lost sight of by the college teacher, or 
 disregarded. As the field of knowledge in every depart- 
 ment widens and the numbers of those who present 
 themselves for instruction become greater, the professor 
 or teacher is often led to limit himself to what he con- 
 siders his appointed duties the duties assigned him 
 in the regular order of daily or weekly exercises and 
 to feel satisfied when these have been discharged. The 
 hours remaining to him are too few to suffer any of 
 them to be taken from his private studies. The pupils 
 are too numerous to give them more individual and 
 personal attention. Is it not fitting or even an obliga- 
 tion laid upon him by his science to leave his students 
 to themselves at the close of the stated hours, as truly 
 as it is to meet them when the hours begin? So he is 
 prone to question with himself; and the answer which 
 he gives leads him homeward to his own employments 
 and investigations. The tendency of the recent years, 
 I think, has been somewhat in this direction. But the 
 lesson of the past century as a whole, as it seems to 
 me and here again I would say, the lesson of its suc- 
 cess and failures alike has in it a different teaching. 
 It tells of the almost inestimable value of the personal 
 relation of the instructor to his pupil in the sphere of 
 enthusiasm. In such a relation it is more truly, we 
 may almost say, than anywhere else that the fire of the 
 mind and soul of the former can be enkindled in the 
 latter. The teacher who cares nothing for it loses one 
 of the greatest powers for good, both for himself and 
 for the institution which has called him to its service. 
 He may have larger learning at the end of his career, 
 but he will not have done so large a work for the 
 inmost lives of those who have come to him for help. 
 
 The call of duty, thus, for the coming years, as I 
 think we must admit, is that every college officer, who
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 is an instructor coming in contact with students, should 
 give a portion of his time to personal conferences with 
 those who are in his classes, and should consecrate such 
 time to. awakening in them enthusiastic devotion to 
 study and thus making them, in the intellectual sphere, 
 joyfully self-propelling men. 
 
 It is, in part, because we find herein a means to this 
 end, that every teacher should unite with his own per- 
 sonal and public instruction what I have incidentally 
 alluded to on an earlier page namely, the call for 
 private work and investigation, under his own guidance 
 and with responsibility to himself, on the part of each 
 and all of his pupils. There are few better ways, if 
 indeed any, of stirring or keeping alive enthusiasm 
 than this, which gives opportunity both for the student 
 himself and his instructor in their union with each other. 
 The learner becomes, by this means, both receptive and 
 active, and he makes what he gains in the most complete 
 sense his own, while he is moved by a continual impulse 
 to acquire yet more. 
 
 All this which has been said respecting enthusiasm 
 has its application to graduate students, as well as 
 undergraduates. In the departments of the University 
 whose membership is composed of young men who have 
 finished their college course, and are preparing them- 
 selves for their life-work as professional and educated 
 men, the teacher may, however, presume upon more 
 self-consecration and earnestness on the part of his 
 pupils. In the younger years, it is natural that many 
 should fail to see the value or the beauty of what they 
 are learning, and thus should think of study only as 
 a task. But if the man is ever to have the true inspira- 
 tion of manhood, he may be expected to exhibit it as 
 he moves forward in the work which opens into his 
 entire future career. The task must now have an ele- 
 ment of pleasure and delight in it, it would seem, or the 
 
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 PHELPS HALL 
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 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 dulness of the soul and mind is beyond hope. Yet even 
 in these higher schools, the professor cannot fulfill his 
 duty as he ought, unless he adds by his own force to 
 the enthusiasm already aroused in the student's mind, 
 and thus proves to him, as it were through a personal 
 experience revealing itself before his eyes, that knowl- 
 edge is infinitely precious and is ever giving to its 
 possessor its own reward. 
 
 In connection with the subject of enthusiasm in study, 
 I may properly allude to another matter which has 
 sometimes a direct, and always a more or less indirect 
 bearing upon it. I refer to the honor, or, as the word 
 is more frequently used, the honors, given by the 
 University in the sphere of scholarship. That a young 
 man may work and strive for such honors without any 
 scholarly inspiration with earnestness indeed, but with 
 no real stirring of the inner life-powers cannot be 
 denied. But their natural influence is seen in the appeal 
 which they make to the higher element in the manhood ; 
 and so, when they move, in the forces which they exert, 
 along the true lines, they tend towards the development 
 of a genuinely enthusiastic mental life. It would be 
 unfortunate in this view of them, as well as in others, 
 to separate them altogether from our university sys- 
 tem. If they are to be retained as a useful and helpful 
 part of it, however, there can be no doubt, it would 
 seem, that their true power for the student community 
 should be given them at all times. The question may 
 fairly be raised, I think, whether they have not recently, 
 in connection with some of the desirable changes of the 
 time, been suffered to lose something of their just promi- 
 nence in the thought of the academic company. If this 
 be so in fact, we may also ask whether the loss is not 
 of greater significance because it has been contempo- 
 raneous with the rising in the student mind of the value 
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 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 of honors in other spheres of effort. I do not refer to 
 the matter here as bearing upon the possibilities of col- 
 lege education. These are greater now than they ever 
 have been in the past. But in the relation of these 
 honors to the awakening and growth of enthusiasm, and 
 thus to the elevation of the scholarly life of the institu- 
 tion, I think they should be regarded as worthy of most 
 attentive consideration by those who shall in the future 
 have the academic interests in charge. 
 
 As I offer this suggestion, I would also express a 
 thought and feeling which I have with reference to our 
 Graduate School. That this school has accomplished 
 an admirable work already, and has added greatly to 
 the university life, is universally acknowledged. Its 
 growth and prosperity awaken a sentiment of satisfac- 
 tion and gratitude. But I think that in the future its 
 influence will become more widely extended, and may 
 be made much more helpful to the best culture, if its 
 students are not limited hereafter, in the degree which 
 is now manifest, to such as are desirous of preparing 
 themselves to be teachers in schools or colleges. One 
 of the great advantages and blessings of such a school, 
 whether to the university or to the cause of education, 
 will be realized, as it seems to me, if many of the best 
 and most enthusiastic students in our college classes, 
 who have no desire to enter the teacher's profession, can 
 be led to pursue their studies for one or two years after 
 graduation with the purpose of securing for themselves 
 a yet wider and more liberal culture. These young men 
 would have an honorable place in the community of 
 scholars. If graduate fellowships with or without in- 
 come, as might be determined by the needs of each par- 
 ticular case could be offered to students of the best 
 and highest order as they finished the undergraduate 
 course, this reward would surely be an inspiration in the 
 university life. The future of our country, as we may
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 hope may we not say, as we cannot doubt will de- 
 mand with increasing earnestness and emphasis men of 
 a culture wider than that of their individual profession 
 or calling. Our Graduate School in the University 
 should educate such men. 
 
 Graduate fellowships of this character might also be 
 fitly given to the leading scholars in the classes, on re- 
 ceiving their Bachelor's degrees, in cases where the call 
 of life should seem to come for a more immediate en- 
 trance upon a course of professional study. Their 
 stimulating influence, if thus offered, would be equally 
 great, as bearing upon those in the undergraduate period 
 to whom they would make their appeal, and they would 
 thus be an inspiration for scholarship which would have 
 in itself a life-giving force. The founding of such 
 fellowships is worthy of the serious and generous 
 thought of the authorities and friends of the Univer- 
 sity. 
 
 In most of our collegiate institutions in New England, 
 the selection of persons who shall fill professorships and 
 instructorships is one of the prerogatives of the Presi- 
 dent. He determines whom he will nominate to the 
 Board of Trustees, whenever an appointment is to be 
 made, and the candidate presented by him is, almost as 
 a matter of course, placed in the designated position. 
 The same order of things pertains, as I think, to the 
 institutions in other parts of the country, most of which 
 have been, in greater or less degree, modeled after those 
 of our own section. Public sentiment seems to accept 
 this provision as a part of the legitimate system of 
 college government. I remember hearing one of the 
 most prominent among the presiding officers of our 
 universities say, a few years ago, that he regarded any 
 other arrangement with reference to the matter as un- 
 wise and unfortunate. A recent writer, who states that 
 
 487
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 he has held a similar office, carries his views on the 
 subject still farther, and claims that the chief executive 
 official in such an institution should have powers kindred 
 to those of the head of a great commercial establishment 
 or railway enterprise that he should have authority not 
 only to appoint his associates in instruction to their sev- 
 eral chairs, but also to remove them from their positions 
 according as it should seem best to him to do so. All 
 instructors of whatever name or rank would, under such 
 circumstances, be in the strictest sense subordinate to the 
 President, and would be dependent on his will and 
 pleasure. 
 
 In the early part of the century which has just closed, 
 a different system of appointments was introduced and 
 established at Yale. The decision in respect to the 
 candidate who should be presented to the Corporation 
 for their action was intrusted, not to the President alone, 
 but to the professors in connection with him. This was 
 ordained as the rule of the institution in this regard, 
 or, what was perhaps better, it passed by universal con- 
 sent into an unwritten law of the University life. In 
 accordance with it, as the institution extended itself and 
 added to the original College new Departments, the 
 Faculties of each section became independent the per- 
 manent officers in each uniting with the President in 
 the selection of those who should be associated with 
 them. The President, by reason of his office, held the 
 prominent place; but he was the first among equals, 
 rather than the sole judge and authority. The newly- 
 elected professor or instructor was thus assured of a 
 kindly welcome as he accepted his appointment, and 
 the Corporation, in electing him, had the best of evi- 
 dence that he was the choice not of one, but of all. 
 
 Notwithstanding the opinion of eminent authorities 
 and the prevailing order of life in other institutions, my 
 own judgment, confirmed by all my observation and
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 experience, is that the Yale plan is, in every way, 
 preferable, and is the one, in all essential points, adapted 
 to the modern age. I do not believe that any Yale 
 professor, or any president, who has held office since 
 the system was first introduced has ever, for a moment, 
 desired to change it for that which is known elsewhere. 
 As for myself, I am sure that its establishment here 
 has secured for our University no inconsiderable meas- 
 ure of its prosperity, as well as of the happiness of its 
 membership. 
 
 It is undesirable, as I think, that the President of a 
 college should have in his hands too much power. It 
 is better, even as it is in the case of the Chief Executive 
 of the country, that limitations should be set upon his 
 authority, and that he should be in a degree dependent 
 on his more permanent associates, while he is indeed 
 their leader. The prerogative of selecting the new 
 members of a Faculty is one that may be attended by 
 grave dangers, especially if the power of removal, such 
 as has been suggested, is added to it. We may have con- 
 fidence in the present President whom we know, because 
 of the qualities of manhood that are in him, but the 
 system is continuous, and includes in its provisions his 
 unknown successors, as well as himself. 
 
 There is, however, one new element in the question 
 relating to this matter in our own University which, as 
 I think, may justly demand consideration. In the 
 growth and changes of the recent years, the larger 
 Faculties, especially, have divided themselves, not indeed 
 in sympathies, but in studies and personal interests, into 
 subordinate sections, to a degree far beyond what was 
 known or was possible at an earlier period. These 
 sections have, each one of them, a certain separate unity 
 and a kind of organization, so that each has its head 
 professor to whom the other instructors are in a measure 
 responsible and with whom they are closely allied. As 
 
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 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE -AND MEN 
 
 a result of this new condition of things, and of the 
 concentration of thought in the case of the smaller bodies 
 of men on the matters pertaining to themselves as in- 
 vestigators and scholars, there is already beginning to 
 appear a tendency to leave the suggestion of new ap- 
 pointments to the men of the particular section or de- 
 partment in which they are called for. In many such 
 cases, if not in all, the influence of the leading professor 
 is likely to become unduly powerful, and the result may 
 be that he, in effect, nominates, or indeed makes choice 
 of his associate or possibly his successor. That there 
 are evils or dangers connected with such powers of 
 nomination, can hardly be doubted, as it seems to me, 
 by any one who carefully reflects upon the subject. 
 There are certainly many scholarly men who are not 
 fully qualified to name their successors; and I believe it 
 is not altogether wise or safe to entrust to a small section 
 of such a company as a college faculty the decision as to 
 persons who shall be admitted to its membership. 
 
 As our Faculties grow larger in numbers, accordingly, 
 there will be an emphatic call upon each professor to 
 acquaint himself as far as possible with the gifts and 
 qualifications of every new candidate, whatever may 
 be his department of study and teaching, and especially 
 upon the President to have a very wide and intelligent 
 outlook, a generous sympathy for scholars in all lines, 
 and a never-failing watchfulness for the highest interest 
 and welfare of the University. 
 
 In what has been said I have referred to the matter 
 of nominations for membership in the Faculties. The 
 appointments or elections to all offices of instruction, as 
 well as to other positions, belong appropriately to the 
 Corporation or Board of Trustees, in which body the 
 President should, of course, have a prominent place. 
 The Corporation, however, will in all cases, if their 
 course of action is guided by wisdom, give the views 
 
 4QO
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 of the nominating Faculty their most respectful con- 
 sideration, and will not fail, unless for reasons of the 
 weightiest character, to confirm the nominations that 
 are presented to them. In this matter, as in the sphere 
 of studies, the opinions and judgment of the permanent 
 teachers of the institution must, of necessity, be of much 
 more value than those of the trustees can be, for they 
 know the needs and the men who are fitted adequately 
 to meet them. 
 
 The relations of the Yale Corporation and the Yale 
 Faculties to each other have been almost of an ideal 
 character during the entire period of which I am writ- 
 ing. The two boards of instruction and administration 
 have been harmonious in sentiment and action, each 
 generously contributing in its line of special. service to 
 the common life. No jealousies or conflicts have 
 hindered the progress or disturbed the peacefulness of 
 the institution. That the inheritance which has come to 
 us with so much of blessing may abide in its influence 
 and its gifts with the University that we love, may well 
 be our earnest desire and our confident hope. 
 
 Within the most recent years, our undergraduate 
 colleges are beginning to find themselves subjected to a 
 pressure alike from above and from below from the 
 professional institutions on the one side, and the second- 
 ary schools on the other which may well awaken, as 
 I think, the most serious and deliberate consideration 
 on the part of university leaders. For some time past, 
 as we all know, the schools of medicine and law have 
 pressed with urgency the demand that the course of 
 study distinctly preparatory to those professions should 
 be lengthened. In view of this need which is affirmed 
 to be imperative, prominent schools in both of these 
 spheres of learning our own among them have al- 
 ready added a year or two to the curriculum required 
 491
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 for the attainment of a degree. As such an addition 
 delays the entrance upon professional duties for the 
 young men who are preparing for their life-work in 
 those lines, a remedy for the evil is called for, and the 
 claim is made that it can be found only in a shortening 
 of the undergraduate college period. 
 
 It is manifest, on the other hand, that the governors 
 of the secondary schools have of late years been or- 
 ganizing their institutional life, and arranging their 
 plans of work, in such a way as to render it more and 
 more difficult for the youth who is in their school mem- 
 bership to finish his studies preparatory for the college 
 course within a more limited time than that which is 
 scheduled for their curriculum. If there is to be any 
 change, it is maintained on their part that it should be 
 through adding to the school years, rather than dimin- 
 ishing their number. 
 
 The guardians of the colleges are expected by both 
 parties to yield readily and gracefully to the pressure 
 which is thus brought upon them, as if the question of 
 duty and propriety in the matter were already passing 
 beyond the sphere of dispute. At the same time, the 
 opinion is asserting itself among educational leaders, 
 that the attainment of a bachelor's degree in the under- 
 graduate college course should be required as a condition 
 of entrance into our university professional schools. 
 The learned professions must be filled, it is said, with 
 truly and genuinely educated men. The old-established 
 college curriculum, however, demands so long a time 
 that very considerable numbers of young men who might 
 otherwise take the studies pertaining to it and receive 
 the accompanying degree are now altogether excluded 
 from it. They turn away at the beginning, because 
 they cannot devote the years which are needed to secure 
 what comes only at the end. In justice to these men, 
 as well as to the demands for the highest education of 
 492
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 those who enter the learned professions, the colleges 
 must, in some way, yield a portion of the period which 
 has been at their command. 
 
 At the present moment, the authorities of some of our 
 colleges seem disposed to accept the situation at once, 
 and to make provision for a more limited course. In 
 one or two, the suggestion has been made that the degree 
 of bachelor of arts may be conferred at the close of the 
 second year. In connection with such a suggestion as 
 this, it would seem that the question might naturally 
 arise, whether it is not as well for the culture of our 
 lawyers or physicians to admit them to the professional 
 schools at the end of the Sophomore year without a 
 degree, as to confer one which must have such minor 
 significance. A degree without meaning in it is, cer- 
 tainly, of no very great value, either to the true life of 
 the individual who receives it or to the cause of the 
 higher education. 
 
 I would not attempt here to forecast the future, or 
 to anticipate the final decision which may be reached 
 hereafter. But it may not be out of place to inquire 
 briefly as to the alleged evil on which the whole dis- 
 cussion is based, and, in case its existence is acknowl- 
 edged, as to the necessity of the remedy that is pro- 
 posed. 
 
 The evil which is claimed to exist is this that the 
 present educational system does not allow those who are 
 under its control to enter upon the work of their mature 
 career at a sufficiently early age. Is this claim well 
 founded? It seems to me very doubtful whether this 
 can be affirmed. The average age of our Yale stu- 
 dents, in the present era, is, at the most, from three to 
 six months higher than it was fifty years ago. It is 
 between twenty-two years and six months, and twenty- 
 two and nine months. The young man who graduates 
 at this age can take his law course and be ready for his 
 
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 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 entrance upon his profession when he is twenty-six, or 
 he can complete his medical course just before he is 
 twenty-seven. In case he begins his undergraduate life 
 at eighteen, he may save nearly a year, and if at seven- 
 teen, nearly two years, for his future work. I cannot 
 think that, under these circumstances, he is to be re- 
 garded as being at an unfortunately late period of life 
 when he begins the business of his manhood. The 
 college, as it seems to me, can scarcely be held responsi- 
 ble for an unnecessary demand upon his time, or for a 
 sad loss, which he is made to suffer, of a portion of his 
 working career. 
 
 That there are some young men, or even a very con- 
 siderable number, who are unable to enter college at 
 nineteen or earlier, is of course the fact. But the col- 
 legiate and educational system is and, as it seems to me, 
 must be founded upon the idea of the earlier entrance, 
 and all these cases are to be considered exceptional. 
 If provision is to be made for such persons because of 
 the lack of time at their command, it may fitly be of a 
 special character, and need not involve an entire change 
 of the system. There are men in almost every college 
 class, the condition of whose life renders it impossible 
 for them to be prepared for a professional career before 
 they are thirty-one or two years old. They are un- 
 fortunate, because of their limitations. We may be 
 called upon to treat them as generously as we can, but 
 surely we are not called to limit the general life for 
 their sake, or to send them forth at the end of their 
 second year with a bachelor's degree. With reference 
 even to these men, my observation of my own class- 
 mates, and of many classes since my college era, leads 
 me to believe that the longer period of the undergrad- 
 uate course is, in general, highly advantageous, rather 
 than otherwise. The educated man will realize more 
 for himself, and be more effective for others there can 
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 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 be no question as to the truth of this in proportion as 
 he knows more and has larger and more wide-extended 
 learning. It is better to begin the manly career a little 
 later with more knowledge, than a little earlier with less. 
 
 In the case of those who have early advantages, and 
 are free from the limitations alluded to, the saving of 
 time which is called for should be secured at the begin- 
 ning. There is, as I believe, no just ground for the 
 delays which are so general in the earlier period. The 
 boy can commence his studies which tend in some meas- 
 ure toward the college work when he is ten years old, 
 instead of waiting until he is twelve or thirteen; and if 
 he has ordinary quickness of mind and good instruction, 
 he can be prepared for college at seventeen, or even 
 sixteen, as well as at nineteen. The wasted years, in 
 this regard, are found in the early time. The mistake 
 in our educational arrangements goes back, not only of 
 the college, but also of the secondary schools. The 
 opportunities and possibilities which should be opened 
 to the youngest boys, in the study of languages as well 
 as in other lines, are neglected through an erroneous 
 view on the part of parents or teachers as to what they 
 are capable of doing; and the time is thus left unfruitful, 
 to the injury of the later youthful development. 
 
 The idea, however, that the curriculum of the 
 secondary schools cannot be shortened in the period 
 devoted to it, while that of the colleges should be, we 
 may properly regard, I think, as mistaken and without 
 foundation. The bright and intelligent youth, and even 
 the one of moderate gifts, can prepare himself for col- 
 lege work in a briefer time than the schools require, 
 and in many cases at least, he should, as I am per- 
 suaded, do this for his best and highest interests. The 
 spending of five or six years in secondary school work, 
 to the end of putting oneself in readiness for the college 
 studies, and only three in doing all that these studies 
 
 495
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 call for as disciplining and strengthening the man for 
 his manly career, must be considered, I think, an ar- 
 rangement of youthful life which is out of proportion to 
 the demands of the case and to the claims of the higher 
 education at its different stages. 
 
 In the consideration of this whole question, as it 
 seems to me, we should also bear in mind the educating 
 forces which pertain to the college community in the 
 sphere of its own peculiar life, apart from the studies 
 and instruction. Mind and character are developed 
 largely, as all agree, by the associations and friendships 
 of the undergraduate period. The power of these 
 friendly associations is, however, especially manifest in 
 the latest part of the course; and naturally so, because 
 of the passage of time and of the growths connected 
 with it. The man who terminates his college life at the 
 end of his Junior year, though he may by extraordinary 
 efforts have, perchance, accomplished what he would 
 otherwise have done by the use of an additional twelve 
 months' time, cannot know the fullness of the gift 
 which comes from the personal influence of his fellow- 
 students. He will lose even somewhat of the best part 
 of it, and thus somewhat of the rich blessing which the 
 university bestows. The remembrance which we all 
 have of the college years, and of the later portion of 
 those years, may most fitly make us serious in our 
 thought of the changes suggested. Such remembrance 
 may also, not inappropriately, have its own power in 
 the minds of those who order and administer the uni- 
 versity life in the coming time. 
 
 Questions respecting the fundamental idea of the 
 university seem to be already, as the new century opens 
 upon us, beginning to rise in many minds; questions 
 as to what the university should be in its relation to the 
 undergraduate college; or how far its various courses
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 of study may properly be intermingled in their oppor- 
 tunities as offered to the entire community of its students ; 
 or in what measure the development of the several sec- 
 tions existing at present is to be modified; or whether 
 its Faculties should, in any way, be brought into a more 
 organic unity. It is my personal conviction that changes 
 in the directions suggested by these questionings should 
 be made, if at all, only after the most careful considera- 
 tion of the whole matter in all its bearings. The past 
 in its ordering has reason in itself. I find myself unable 
 to believe that the system which, in this regard, it has 
 handed down to us should be set aside and abandoned. 
 The elective possibilities may certainly be extended too 
 far, and the later studies may be begun before the 
 education of the youth in the earlier ones has been 
 properly gained. It seems to me also to be evident from 
 observation and experience that men pursue the higher 
 studies more appreciatively and successfully, when they 
 are wholly given to them and are in closest union with 
 others who are altogether within the same sphere. The 
 professional school has its own place and may not fitly, 
 as I think, attempt to usurp that of the college, or to 
 press its way into it too forcibly and too fast. 
 
 But apart from the decision of* these questions 
 there is a suggestive thought for our own University 
 which comes from its history. Its past growth and 
 development and the plan according to which it has 
 come to its present life have been in the line of distinct 
 and separate departments, having as their design and 
 purpose the preparation of their students for different 
 educational ends. It would seem to be beyond question 
 that, in some sense and measure at least, this life- 
 principle of the institution must continue as its animat- 
 ing and directing force in the coming period. There 
 must needs be special courses of study for particular 
 professions or spheres of work, to which those who are 
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 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 in preparation are required to give themselves; and such 
 students and their professors or instructors must, for 
 the best results, be in no inconsiderable degree set apart 
 by themselves. In some sense of completeness, it would 
 seem, they must form a school of their own. The 
 effectiveness of the entire institution, and its power for 
 good as bearing upon the public life, will thus be greater 
 than would otherwise be possible. 
 
 Whatever changes or modifications may take place, 
 we are at least safe in affirming that there will, of neces- 
 sity, be separations of studies and a call for professor- 
 ships, as well as for other provisions with reference to 
 learning or instruction, in the case of each and all. The 
 demand of the past century therefore enforced by its 
 entire history whether of unhappy neglect or of happy 
 and successful effort will come, with an even greater 
 emphasis, to the central authorities in the century now 
 beginning, to keep in mind all the varied university 
 interests; to have the widest and most generous outlook; 
 and to esteem every school or section of the institution 
 as having a like, as well as constant, claim upon their 
 thoughts and their energies. It would be doubly un- 
 fortunate a mistake and failure ever afterwards to be 
 regretted, and protfably never to be overcome in the evil 
 effects resulting from it if the governors of the Uni- 
 versity should lose thought of or disregard this demand. 
 It would be the more to be lamented, by reason of the 
 fact that so much has been accomplished for the realiza- 
 tion of the true idea of the institution within the very 
 recent years. The University is strong let it not be 
 forgotten only as each and all of its departments are 
 strong, and are rich in resources as well as in the best 
 and most genuine life. 
 
 The very rapid and remarkable growth of the Uni- 
 versity in the latest part of the century just ended bears 
 498
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 also with itself a most impressive suggestion and lesson 
 with reference to the need of a constant increase of its 
 endowment. Every growing institution demands for its 
 life the means of larger development, while the one 
 which does not grow begins soon to show signs of 
 weakness or decay. No one, I am sure, who has been a 
 'close observer of Yale and its progress, even since 1886, 
 can have failed to see how immediately every addition 
 to its funds has been made helpful in its educational 
 work, and thus in a high degree advantageous to its 
 students. But each forward movement, which has in 
 this way been rendered possible, has only brought with 
 greater distinctness before the mind the desirability and 
 importance of a still farther advance, to the end that a 
 yet larger measure of good may be realized. The 
 lesson and suggestion are the same in the case of every 
 school or department of the University. The effective- 
 ness of every one is, and must be, dependent on the 
 supply of its imperative and growing necessities. 
 
 The era in which we pass from the second century 
 of our history to the third is one which, as I cannot help 
 feeling, brings a special appeal to all the graduates and 
 friends of the institution to do great things for it. We 
 are far more able to render it such service than our 
 fathers were, and a far larger work is opening upon us 
 and those who are to follow us. It becomes us, surely, 
 to have the spirit which the fathers had the spirit that 
 led them to determine that the college which they knew 
 in their time should become a grand university in the 
 days of their descendants, and to devote themselves with 
 generosity to its highest interests. 
 
 This volume, however, is one of memories not of 
 prophecies, or outlook upon the future; and, as I close 
 
 499
 
 MEMORIES OF YALE LIFE AND MEN 
 
 its pages, I gladly turn backward for a moment from 
 the end to the beginning. The little company of youths 
 who entered within the College gates on that pleasant 
 autumn day, in 1845, na d varied callings and allotments 
 in life awaiting them when the manly career opened after 
 their graduation. To me alone of all the number it 
 was given to find my permanent home and sphere of 
 life-work in the University itself. The studies and the 
 friendships of the long years, the pleasures of teaching, 
 as well as of learning, the possibilities of service in the 
 upbuilding and the administration of the University, 
 the blessing which is brought to the soul through the 
 kindly regard of all the sons of the institution, and by 
 reason of an affectionate sentiment towards all, the 
 joy of witnessing the success that has been realized for 
 Yale in a measure beyond my highest anticipation these 
 gifts have proved to be included in the privilege that was 
 granted me, and they have made me ever thankful for it. 
 That autumn day of the past was indeed full of 
 promise that day of the beginning, and the teaching 
 which has come from it to my mind and heart, as the 
 years have passed, is that life grows happier as we move 
 onward in its course. 
 
 500