rl-> V^ MT LD 1364 3 LP A tyucic^ ^0 UC-NRLF B ** Sas q73 '^S| '^U Ezra Cornell Centennial Number ^ GIFT OF Professor Fritz The Cornell Era Advertiser IdeaJ FbikfSiiltV'en The drudgery of letter writing is changed to pleasure by the use of Waterman's Ideal Fountain Pea It is a swift and faithful messenger between friends. FOR SALE BY BEST DEALERS L. E. Waterman Company 173 Broadway, ^ew York. Boston San Francisco Chicago Montreal Important to Students. Urband & Urband T/fe Tailors OF 5th AVENUE, NEW YORK Are open for business with a new and complete line of the most choice varieties in Material and Styles. PRICES BELOW COiPtllllON I. M. Urband, Late of A. Nelson Co. J. B. Urband, Late of Everall Bros. Aurora St., Ithaca, N. Y. Preshmsn ! SEND YOUR WORK TO The Palace Laundry 323-325 Eddy St. There's where the old students send theirs. F. C. BARNARD, Propr. WHEATON & PERRY Fine Tailoring 107 North Aurora St. Ithaca, N. V. WHITE & BURDICK Caterers to Students' Wants. Prescription Druggists. ii6 East State Street. The Cornell Era Advertiser m The Uniyersitv Art Gallery THE STANLEY PHOTO CO., Proprietors. Latest styles and novelties in photographs at moderate prices. Developing and finishing for amateurs. Photo Engraving in all branches. 212-21:}. East State Street, Opposite Ithaca Hotel. Why Fool WITH AN INKDROPPER? Why soil fingers and spoil temper 1^ filling an old style fountain pen ? Here is the Bolles ** Standard'* Self Filling, Self Cleaning Pen Costs no more than the old kind. Every part guaranteed for two years. Simplest fountain pen made — only six parts. Sold and Guaranteed by Rothschild Bros. 155-157-159 F-ast State St. Department Store, 100 to 114 South Tioga Street. Ithaca, N. Y. The Cornell Era Advertiser 5 J. G. Pratt, '09 B. J. O'Rouke, '09 H. P. Coffin, '08 Ithaca Phone, 452 x. University Laundry Co. Representing SHYNE'S Geneva Laundry. (Consolidation of U. L Co. and Justin & Reed.) 328 Huestis Street. The best FREE Mending — . Service. The Whitest Linen. The Finest Domestic Finish. Try a Good Laundry. GENTLEMEN WHO DRESS FOR STYLE NEATNESS, AND COMFORT WEAR THE IMPROVED BOSTON GARTER THE RECOGNIZED STANDARD The Name is stamped on every loop — CUSHION BUTTON CLASP LIES FLAT TO THE LEG— NEVER SLIPS. TEARS NOR UNFASTENS Sample pair, Silk 50c., Cotton 25c. Alailed on receipt of price. GEO. FROST CO., Makers Boston, Mass., U.S.A. ALWAYS EASY Greetings toCornell Cotrell & Leonard Albany, N. Y. Official maker* of Caps & Gowns To the American Uni ver.sities and Colleges Our Ithaca Agent Mr. L. C. BEMENT. School Books in a hurry < And at New York prices, singly / or by the dozen, may be obtained second-hufid or n«f , by any boy or girl in the remotest hamlet, or any / teacher or official anywhere, and Delivery prepaid i Brand new, complete alphabetical I catalogue,/r^(r,of school books of a// | publishers., if you mention this ad. HinDS & NOBLE ^ ' 31-33-3.5 W. 15th St., New York City. All the Latest Style Photos AT RIGHT PRICES. Kodaks and Cameras For Sail-. Rent or Exchange. Supplies. Ama- teur Kitiishiiig ru.shed if necessary Van Buren, Photographer Ne.\:t to I'ost Office. The Cornell Era Advertiser To the Faculty and Students: Huy your goods at the MOST COMPLETE, LARGEST and CLEANEST GROCERY STORE in Ithaca. By so doing you will help those who help to keep this mag- azine in existence. LARKIN BlIOS., ^08 Eddy St. THK DREKA CO. Fine Stationery and Engraving, 1121 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. College Invitations Reception and Wedding Invitations Danne Programs \'isiting Cards Fraternity Menus Fraternit}- Stationery Engraving for Annuals Exclusive Novelties NO AMATEUR. " Want a job on the mine, eh ? Do you know how to use dy- namite? " " Yes, sare. I was a practical anarchist for two years, until ze cheap German competition lose me ze job. I have blowm up much of ze nobility of Europe." — Sydtiey Btilleiin. Decorate your Rooms. Flags of all the leading colleges in stock. Fraternity Flags made to order. Clarence E. Head, Custom Shirts and College Flags. 109 N. Aurora St. The Cornell Era Adv^tiser For the Best Food in the City GO TO THE STUDENT INN 319 EDDY STREET. The only first-class A LA CARTE Dining Hall in the city for both LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. Mrs. McCready Mrs. Pool. Of I. That's what we are showing -IN- H I For Fall. See onr window display and then buy a pair at S TAIN^LEY'S HOE TOR.E. OOLDENBERG THE Unwersity Tailor. Come in and look over our new stock of Suitings, Trousers, Fancy Vests, Overcoats, and Rain Coats. Prices below competition. Workmanship and fit Guaranteed. GOLDENBERG BLOCK. Eddy Street. The Cornell Era Advertiser. the sxhnoard Enorjiving Co M.C.CLARn.E: Pf^EsiDENT INCORPORATED ARTHUR C.COLAHAN Treas «JOHN E.RODCERS Manager JOSEPH S. Co OK SECRETAfir ^Tnr PHILfilDELPHUI "^"ivr for the execution of rush orders and the convenience of Advertisers and Newspapers. Attention is especially jldv Street. Why not try the Best One ? li lilff. John Reamer, Prop. Red Cross Pliarmacy F. T. DUDLEY, Prop. 214 E Stale Street, Itha< a, N. Y. Students' Supply House for Toilet Articles and Drugs and Med- icines when in need. CHARLES P. BEAMAN, M.D. Physician and Surgeon. office, 224 East State Street, corner opposite Itiiaca Hotel. Residetice, 506 East Seneea street. Office hollr^ — 9 to 10 a m.; 2 to 4 and 7 tc S p.m. Ithaca and Bell I Residence 70 and 184. Telephones. | Office, 184-a and 184-b. Physician to Cornell Football Team. This is to remind yoti that at the store of 1 1 He I Bio. Coii 136 East State St. You can get the best of everj'thing in the Jewelry line at reasonable prices, if your Watch or Jewelry is otit of order, bring it to us, we have the right kind of w^orkmen. will also advance money on watches and diamonds at low rates. DR. A. M. MacGACHEN, Dentist. 21 S Ea-t State Street. Opposite Ithaca Hotel. Btll Phone Hours — 9 A. M. to 5 p. M. W. C. DOUGLASS, M.D. Physician and Surgeon. Both Phones. 409 Eddy Street. BROKKR. Established 1892. LOANS ON VALUABLES. Fire and Burglar Vault. C. A. SAG£. Savings Bank Building. Ithaca, N. Y. For good SHOE REPAIRING GO TO GARE LONE, Heustis Street, Near Sheldon Court. TABLE OF CONTENTS. EZRA CORNELL CENTENNIAL NUMBER. I'AGE * Founders of Universities President J. G. Schurman 351 _ My Father Mary E. Cornell 353 Ezra Cornell (Poem) J. L. H. 355 The p:arly Life of Ezra Cornell W. B. Cornell, '07 356 Ezra Cornell and the Magnetic Telegraph 359 The Life of Ivzra Cornell, 1841-1865 Charles E. Cornell 362 The Proposal for a University Andrew D. White 369 The Incorporation of Cornell University--Hon. Henry B. Lord 370 From an Act I{stablishing Cornell University 373 Address of P>,ra Cornell at the Opening of the University 376 Men and Women of the Early Days of the University Professor J. M. Hart 379 The Ten Lecturers Professor Goldwin Smith 384 Goldwin Smith on Ezra Cornell 387 The First Founder's Day Samuel D. Halliday, '70 389 Ezra Cornell's Letter to the Era 391 Ezra Cornell and Sibley College Professor G. S. Moler, '75 391 Ezra Cornell as the First Students Knew Him A. J. Lamoureux, '74 392 The Management of the Land Grant — Mr. Cornell's vServices-- Professor W. T. Hewett 396 The Time of Trial Late President Charles Kendall Adams 399 The Character of Ezra Cornell — President White's Estimate 401 Ezra Cornell's Estimate of Attacks Made Upon Him 404 Ezra Cornell Rufus P. Stebbins, D.D. 404 Founder's Hymn Judge Francis Miles Finch 406 Judge Finch's Reminiscences of Ezra Cornell 408 Anecdotes of Ezra Cornell Mrs. A. B. Cornell 412 Reminiscences of P>,ra Cornell Professor B. G. Wilder 414 Ezra Cornell Professor C. M. Tjder 420 Reminiscences of Ezra Cornell Isaac P. Roberts 421 The Public Services of Ezra Cornell Professor James Law 423 Ezra Cornell's Debt to His Son 426 Ezra Cornell as a Citizen of Ithaca Horace Mack 427 The Courtship of P:zra Cornell Otis E. Wood 429 Ezra Cornell : Extracts from Centennial Da> Address Andrew Carnegie 431 The Memory of I{zra Cornell Dean T. ¥. Crane 438 Editorial 439 Cs.'^K Jl\ L. VVJ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Ezra Cornell : His Best Photograph * Frontispiece Old Quaker Church, near New Britain, N. Y.* 356 The First Telegraph Instrument =•- 359 The "Nook"* 362 Four Generations of the Cornell Family,* (Full Page) 366 Mrs. Ezra Cornell 368 The First Breaking Ground for Cornell University 374 Cornell University in 1868, (Full Page) 375 Chair Occupied by Ezra Cornell at the Opening of the University* 376 Professor J. M. Hart 379 The Founder and the Original Facultj^, (Full Page) 382 Professor Goldwin Smith 384 Cascadilla Place * 389 "South University," now Morrill Hall* 392 Cornell University in 1872, (Full Page) 395 Professor W. T. Hewett 396 Andrew Dickson White, (Full Page) 400 Ezra Cornell : His East Photograph* (Full Page) 405 Judge Francis Miles Finch 408 The Old Cornell Mansion* 412 Professor B. G. Wilder 414 Cornell University in 1870* 419 Professor James Law 423 Andrew Carnegie, (Full Page) 430 Ezra Cornell* 438 *The plates for ihese illustrations, made for this magazine from rare and unpublished photographs, have been deposited in the University Library. Plates for illustrations taken from the Twenty-Five Year Book, 1893, (6901 G 22) are also in the custody of the Library. For other illustrations we are indebted to the Cornell Daily Sun, the Cornell Atbletic Association, the Ithaca Daily News, and to the Carnegie Technical vSchools and Murdoch, Kerr and Company, Pittsburg. M 6614 i8 The Cornell Era Advertiser " \Vc treat your Linen white." STVDENT LAVNDRY AGENCY A. D. ALCOTT, 07 I^. M. UeBARD. 'O? AGENTS FOR HASTINGS' LAUNDRY 420 Eddy Street Phones: Bell 676. Ithaca 73 SUPERIOR QUALITY WORK Goto BERNSTEIN, Cornell Tailor and Haberdasher, 143 E. State St., For First Class Tailoring and Men's Toggery Specialties : Dress Suits and Tuxedos. THE SOLUXIOIV. Do you want lietter clothes than 3-011 have ever had ? Try the Modern Clothing Store ! Are you weary of the waste of time and the uncertainty of get- ting fitted in made to order clothes ? Try the Modern Clothing Store ! Do you want the best clothes and furnishings for the money ? Try the Modern Clothing Store ! BARINEY SEAMON. ESTABLISHED 1816 BROADWAY COR.TWENTY-SECOND ST, NtW YORK. We he? to c ill \> irticuKir alteiilion to our Spring and Suinnier stock of : Suits and Overcoats ready-made or to measure ; English Hats, English Fur- nishings, Riding and Hunt- ing Clothes, Motor Garments, Leather Goods, etc., .". .'. desi%ned especially for college moi. Catalogue with illustrations and measure' tnent form mailed on request. Anything in the line of Fine Printing can be procured at our shop. We also do Photo Engraving. This department is complete, and capable of turning out work upon .short notice. Give us a call. Ithaca Publishing Co. Opp. City Hall. Iihaca, N. Y. FOUNDERS OF UNIVERSITIES HN' rKi;sii)i;N'r jacoh c'tOI'i.!) sciirkMAN ^ I 'HE man who founds a university or the man who founds a college or a de- ■*• partment in a university erects an imperishable monument. Hundreds of years have passed since the establishment of the colleges at Oxford, but they per- petuate to the latest generation the memory of the wise and generous men whose endowments called them into existence, and every additional professorship, or residential hall, or library, or fellowship or scholarship has added a new name to the roll of worthies whom England keeps in fresh and grateful remembrance. No other investments have proved so safe and lasting. And though our own Repub- lic is little more than a century old, it exhibits the same attitude of mind and heart — the same pious and reverent gratitude — to the founders and benefactors of its colleges and universities. Happily, too, these institutions themselves have shown the same prudent and careful management of their endowments. It IS just and proper that the founder or helper or friend of a college or university should be held in grateful and pious memory. For he has established or strengthened an institution dedicated to truth and knowledge, to learning and re- search, to art and culture, ends which along with virtue and piety are the highest that the human mind can conceive, ends that the human mind must always keep before itself as the goal of its noblest civilization. The greatness and the dignity of the cause ennoble and immortalize the generous man who served it. It is per- haps an infirmity of human nature that teachers who give their lives to the cause are, except m rare instances, soon forgotten ; the fact is there is no sensible object to recall them after the generation of their pupils has passed away. But mem- ory, which waits on objects of sense, never loses contact with founders and bene- factors; for the buildings they erected, the chairs they endowed, the funds they conveyed, are a constant tangible and visible reminder of the part they took in the establishment or development of the institution which to the annual graduating class is personified for all the years to come as Alma Mater. And to share with Alma Mater the unalloyed affection, the genuine gratitude, the enthusiastic devo- tion of successive generations of undergraduates, old students, and alumni is, whether in experience or in anticipation, the highest bliss which mortal philanthropist can ever know. This, however, is the portion of the founders and benefactors of our colleges and universities. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Ir^^^'' mi ^P^^^^^^^^^l ■ ^^^^y^^^«^|^^B^K^^^ji^si^^H^^^^| ^H H H gjjki. 'CL. 1 ^1 ^^^^^B. ^ ^^^^H^Hflfe^BCiA' ^ '^hUKZ^^I ^^^1 ^^H h^^rmHI jj^H ^^1 ^H ^^^^^^^^ ^H ^K^J^^I /56 Y?!C^u^l^At<^^ — ^y Jr^ cot. J:^- Vol. 39 MAY, 1907 No. 8 MY FATHER, BY MARY E. CORNELL. SITTING in my steamer chair on the deck of an outward bound steamer one summer morning, feeling rather forlorn because I was fast leaving behind my home and friends, I was somewhat startled and very much interested by hearing a young man standing directly before me say to his companion : — " Ezra Cornell made my father. He was one of the noblest hearted men who ever lived." I waited with some impatience for another sight of the stranger who so honored my father ; and my astonishment was great when, presently, he returned with a book and seated himself in the chair next my own. I could not refrain from telling him of the conversation I had overheard, and how it cheered me to hear such words spoken of my father ; and then he told me how, as a young boy, his father had gone to Ezra Cornell for work, and the many kindnesses shown him by the great-hearted man who never turned Note on frontispiece, Ezra CornkIvI.. This picture was regarded by Mr. Cornell and his family as his best photograph. It was taken about 1868 or 1869, soon after the University opened. The original is in possession of Mrs. C. H Blair, his daughter. The autograph is reproduced from the book containing the proceedings at the dedication of the Cornell Library, (Ithaca, 1866), loaned by Mrs. Alonzo B. Cornell. 354 Tffi'^ CORNELL ERA a deaf ear to anyone wlio desired to get on in the world by honest labor, — how he had started him in the telegraph lousiness, which had been the means of making his fntnre. Most people thouglit him very stern. He had no patience with meanness or dishonesty of any kind, bnt he had a qniet luimor which was ever ready to appreciate a joke. I remember the embarrassment of some stndents who came to him in the early days of the University to ask if they might have a few apples from the University orchard. He threw them into great confnsion by looking at them very sternly, and asking them how many they had already had. They owned np to "a bushel or two"; and then, with a twinkle in his eye, he told them to help themselves, — that he thought perhaps they were entitled to the "few more" they asked for as a reward for their honesty. The University was his delight. In those early days he was a ver.y familiar fig^ure as he drove from one end of the Campus to tlie'Dther, 'havin«;' an eye upon every smallest detail of the work qf'. hfitiidirjg'rjnd grading and bringing things into shape. There were few stuclent's in 'those days, and he took a personal interest in each one of them. I have heard the wife of one of the professors who came from abroad to help build up the new University tell how he used to cheer up her homesick heart, as he met her on the Campus, bv stopping and giving her a word of friendly encouragement. All children loved him. They instinctively knew that he was their friend. There was never a philanthropic work started that he was not ready to helj) it on. During the Civil War he took a personal interest in the family of every soldier who went to the front from his own town. No one will ever know how many women and children were looked after and cared for by him while the husband and father was fighting for his country, nor how many widows and orphans received not only material aid, but the loving sympathy which meant so much to those in sorrow. He passionately longed to make it easier for poor boys to get an education than it had been for him. It was one of the real sorrows of his life that he had been unable to go to college. He had a deeply religious nature, though he rarely talked of THE CORNELL ERA 355 spiritual things. He was a "birthright" Quaker; but when he married a " world's woman " the society to which he belonged sent one of their members from De Ruyter to tell him that he had been turned out of the society for "marrying out", but that he would be reinstated if he would say that he was sorry. I have often heard him tell how indignant he was that they should for a moment think he would say he was sorry "for the best deed he ever did." I remember hearing my mother tell how. many years later, she made the acquaintance of the old man who had walked forty miles in the winter snow to "turn him out of meeting", and how she had asked him if he was not sorry for having done it, laughingly telling him that, had he not done so, she might have been a good Quaker long before ; and his quick reply : — " I fear thee would have made a very fresh-water Quaker." At heart he always clung to the religion of his forefathers ; but the good in all forms of religion appealed to him, and his own religion was lived, not spoken. He truly loved his neighbor as himself, and did to all men as he would that they should do unto him. EZRA CORNELL. The measure of a century away, 'Mid kindly Quaker folk, To act his portion in the world's great play, A soul awoke. He trod the boards th' allotted span of life, Then passed beyond our ken. He took his part amid the toil and strife. But strove that men. All men, might profit. (The great purpose scan!) The angel who records " Wrote him as one who loved his fellow man," — In deeds, not words. And when his last act in the drama came. And the dark curtain fell, He left to us the fruitage of his fame ; ♦ He left to us the high reach of his aim ; He left to us his greatly honored name — Beloved Cornell. J. L. H. 356 THE CORNELL ERA % HI an^ Oi,D Quaker Church, near New Britain, Columbia County, N Y., in which Ezra Cornell's father and mother were married in 1S05. From a photograph in possession of Mrs. Alonzo B. Cornell, Ithaca. THE EARLY LIFE OF EZRA CORNELL. BY WILLIAM BOUCK CORNELL, '07. ONE hundred years ago, on the eleventh day of January 1807, Kzra Cornel], the founder of Cornell University, was born at Westchester Landing, Westchester Co., N. Y. His ancestors were of Puritan origin and members of the Society of Friends or Quakers, with whom sobriety, integrity, industry and frugality were dominant characteristics. Ezra was the eldest of eleven children, and as such learned the discipline of industry and self- denial taught where meager income struggles to maintain a large and dependent family. The Cornells lived in Westchester until 1819, when they removed to a farm which the father, Elijah Cornell, had purchased at Crum Hill, three miles east of DeRuyter, in Madison County. Here, at the age of twelve years, Ezra at once became, by his zealous labor, one of the main supports of the family. He was THE CORNELL ERA 357 never idle as boy or man, and while fond of ordinary sports of yonth and a leader in all he entered, his ingenions and practical mind led him, even in boyhood, to constant endeavor in useful directions. He was an eager student and availed himself of every oppor- tunity for learning within his reach ; his father being a man of superior education for his time, assisted Ezra very materially in the early struggle for knowledge. So great a luxury was school- ing in those days that, at the age of sixteen, aided only by his brother, one year younger, Ezra chopped and cleared four acres of heavy beech and maple woodland, and plowed and planted it to corn, as a condition precedent to attending school during the winter term. This desire for learning did not cease with school, but all through life Mr. Cornell devoted his spare time to reading and investigation. Mr. Cornell was endowed with rare talent for mechanics and practical work. His first year after school was spent at farm work and in his father's pottery ; the next he worked at carpentry, learning the trade in assisting in the construction of a new factory for his father. Upon the completion of this building, with no help but that of his younger brother, he cut the necessary lumber and built for his father's family a two story dwelling, which at the time was the best residence in DeRuyter, and even now after eighty-three years is in a good state of preservation. At the age of eighteen, Ezra left home in the quest of business and after a couple of years work at Syracuse and Homer, came to Ithaca, then a little village of about two thousand inhabitants. He entered Ithaca in April 1828, having walked from his home at DeRuyter, a distance of forty miles. Without a single acquaint- ance, with no letters of introduction or certificate of character, he came to Ithaca to earn his living and establish a home. How well he succeeded is a matter of history. The first labor performed by young Cornell in Ithaca, was as a carpenter in the construction of a dwelling, known as the Blood- good house, at the corner of Geneva and Clinton Streets. Shortly after reaching Ithaca he entered the employ of Otis Eddy, in that gentleman's cotton factory, which occupied the site of the present Cascadilla Place building. About a year later he was hired by 358 THE CORNELL ERA Jeremiah S. Beebe, as millwright and machinist in the extensive mills at Fall Creek. It was while in this employ that Mr. Cornell conceived and carried out the idea of constructing the well known Tunnel, which conveys the mill race to the mills below Ithaca Falls, thus doing away with the dangerous and expensively main- tained wooden flume which used to pass around the face of the precipice. The Tunnel was built in 1831, and has been in constant use ever since. Mr, Cornell also supervised the construc- tion of the old Beebe Stone dam in 1838, which was recently superseded by the modern dam in the construction of Beebe Lake. He remained with Col> Beebe about twelve years until the latter withdrew from active business, when Mr. Cornell was left without employment, the mill property being converted into a woolen factory. Thus it came, that in 1841 he was forced to look for business elsewhere. Fortunate indeed for himself and those dependent upon him, was this seeming hardship, for it was while seeking business that this practical man was thrown into contact with those who were just then experimenting with the magnetic telegraph, entirely at a loss as to how to utilize the magnificent instrumentality. It was Mr. Cornell's quick comprehension as to how to construct the telegraph lines that first united their interests, and he speedily became indispensable to the development of the vast enterprise, and at the age of thirty-six he left the narrow path of his early life and entered into a career, not only vastly successful for himself, but of equal benefit to mankind. On March 19, 1831, Ezra Cornell married Mary Ann Wood, daughter of Benjamin Wood, of Dryden, N. Y., and shortly there- after built himself a home on a plot he had purchased just north of JFall Creek, on the Lake road, opposite Percy Field, where he lived for more than twenty years, and where his nine children were born. The old house still remains, but in sad repair ; it was well known for years as " The Nook." This brief sketch of the life of the Founder of Cornell Univer- sity, up to the time of his becoming associated with the telegraph interests, is of necessity but a mere recital of a few facts connected with that busy life, but in them one may readily see the promise of the successful career which was in after years the reward of that indomitable man, Ezra Cornell. THE CORNELL ERA 359 Thk First Telegraph Instrument and The First Message. Instrument used as the receiver, at Baltimore, of the famous message "What hath God wrought!" — the first message transmitted by the magnetic telegraph, — in May, 1844. Preserved in the museum of Sibley College, where this photograph was taken. EZRA CORNELL AND THE MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH* The following two letters of Ezra Cornell, never before published, were written about thirty-five years ago to Mr. John Horn, of Montreal, in response to inquiries addressed to Mr. Cornell regarding; his connection with the telegraph enterprise. They form part of a large collection of letters, pictures and documents on the early history of the telegraph which Mr. Horn accumulated, and which were ac quired a few years aj^o by the Uuiversity Library. The letters give biiefly, and in Ezra Cornell's own words, the story of his part in the construction of the first telegraph line between Washington and Baltimore. Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., Nov. 6, 1871. Jno. Horn, Esq., Dear Sir: — Yours of 15th September ha.s been lying on my desk since its arrival, awaiting- attention. I don't know now what to write you, as I don't know your aim in reference to the matter. It is true that I know much of the early history of the Telegraph which has not been published, and, as it would not harmonize with the laudations of Professor Morse now so popular, I have thought perhaps it not best to hurry it up for public attention. I will enclose you a photograph of myself and await further developments in reference to early history of Telegraph. Yours Respectfully, Ezra Cornell. 36o THE CORNELL ERA Ithaca, Nov. 20, 1872. John Horn, Esq., My Dear Sir: — Vonr letter of tlie lytli inst. caine to hand this niornino; askiiij^ " a few words in reference to your (my) early connection with the Telegraph." This being the third request of like import that you have made within the past two years, I propose to reply upon the same prin- ciple that the girl justified marriage with an unpleasant suitor, " to get rid of him." I can place only a brief space of the early history of the Tele- graph on the pages of a single letter, and having my mind pre- occupied with more important matters at present (the develop- ment of the Cornell University) I scarcely know what incident to select, as likely most to interest you. I must be brief and general. After obtaining an appropriation from Congress of $30,000 to build an experimental line of Telegraph, in the summer of 1843 Professor Morse decided to lay the line from Washington to Balti- more, and let the contract to F. O. J. Smith of Portland, Me. for placing the leaden tube containing tlie conductors in the earth two feet below tlie surface between those cities at a cost of $100 per mile. On investigation Smith found that it would cost him much more than $100 per mile to execute the contract, and sought means to cheapen the cost of doing the work. At this juncture of the enterprise he appealed to me for aid. I invented a machine and built it for him by which the pipe could be laid at about $10 per mile. Smith engaged me to go to Baltimore and take charge of the work of laying the pipe by the machine. On my way to Baltimore I stopped at New York to see Professor Morse to learn how soon the pipe would be in Baltimore so that I could com- mence work. While visiting the works where the pipe was made, with Professor Morse, I noticed defects in the pipe which I thought would render them useless. I called the Professor's attention to the defects ; he replied that Dr. Fisher (one of his assistants) tested the pipes in a manner that proved them to be reliable — he explained the mode of testing the pipes, which I also condemned as an unsafe test and suggested a safe test. Profes- sor Morse adhered to his plan and sent the ])ipe on to be laid. I received the pipe at Baltimore and laid it with the machine beautifully. The i)ipe proved defective and worthless as I had THE CORNELL ERA 361 foreseen, and Professor Morse proved the defects in the first mile of pipe hiid ; before he discovered tlie defects, however, I had "ot tlie pipe laid as far as the Relay House ten miles from Baltimore, and there I broke the machine for laying the pipe purposely to conceal from the public the failure of Professor Morse's plans for working the telegraph. At the Relay House, Professor Morse convened his assistants and contractor Smith, Gale, Vail, and P'lsher, and canvassed the situation, which appeared as follows : — $22,000 of the appropria- tion expended, $8,000 only remaining, work all a failure, the wires only of value in further prosecuting the enterprise, and they in the leaden pipe where they could not be used. Professor Morse and his three assistants drawing salaries from the fund at the rate of $6,500 per annum. At the close of this conference Gale and Fisher resigned. Vail declined to resign, but had nothing to do, but draw his salary at the rate of $1,000 per annum. The work was all placed under my charge as Assistant Superintendent, and from that time, December, 1843, ^ went forward with the work to the completion of the line working successfully in May, 1844. without assistance from ]\Iorse, Vail or Smith. We found the instruments as de- fective as the pipe and insulation, and could scarcely make shift to work this line of 40 miles with the instruments made by Vail and under his superintendents, with a battery of eighty grove cups — but with much adjusting and tinkering we managed to use them. They failed, however, entirely when placed on a hundred mile circuit between Philadelphia and New York, and new and other instruments had to be provided. The line from Washington to Baltimore is the only line and that only 40 miles, upon which the Morse instruments would work. From the day of the break-down at the Relay House to the day of his death, I am not aware that Professor Morse made a suggestion or a hint that resulted in any improvement, invention, or further development of the Telegraph ; but in several instances we were misled by his suggestions, resulting in loss and much embarrass- ment to the enterprise. If I have omitted any special point upon which you desire information, you must call my attention to it, and I will respond as I find time. Yours Respectfully, Ezra Cornell. 362 THE CORNELL ERA "The Nook" just north of Fall Creek, on the Lake Road, opposite Percy Field. Built by Ezra Cornell shortly after his marriage in 1831 and occupied by himself and family for more than twenty years. Here his nine children were born. From a photograph, 1907. A THE LIFE OF EZRA CORNELL, I841-1865* BY CHARLES EZRA CORNELL, Life Trustee of Cornell University. HISTORY of the life of Ezra Cornell, from the time of his first association with the telegraph until the founding of Cornell University, wonld read like romance to those not acquainted with the struggles of those constructive years of that period of American development. Thrown out of employment in 1841, after unsuccessfully seeking work near home, he purchased the rights to sell an improved plow in the states of Maine and Georgia. In the spring of 1842 starting out on his new under- taking, he sought out Hon. F. O. J. Smith, of Portland, Maine, Member of Congress, Editor of the Maine Fanner^ and a man of great influence in his own state. Convinced of the merit of Mr. Cornell's plow, Mr. Smith readily became an advocate for its sale, and commended its use to the readers of his paper. Very cordial relations were soon established between Air. Cornell and the editor, which naturally led to clo.ser ties in the coming years. In the autumn of that same year, Mr. Cornell went from Maine THE CORNELL ERA 363 to Washington. Thence jonrneying- on foot, as there were no rail roads and the stages were very primitive, he went south through the state of Georgia, and back to Washington, covering a distance of over fifteen hundred miles, walking an average of about forty miles per day. As the poverty of the country prohibited the ready sale of even seeming necessities, he returned to Ithaca quite discouraged with his new enterprise. Tiie following spring, 1843, ^^^ again started for Maine, for the purpose of closing out his plow interests. He made the journey from Ithaca to Albany, a distance of one hundred and sixty miles, onjoot, in four days time, thence, by rail, to Boston, thence, on footN^gain, to Portland, one hundred and two miles, which he covered in two and one-half days. In writing of this trip after- wards, Air. Cornell said, " Traveling on foot has always been a source of great enjoyment to me. " If I had the time to spend in pleasure travel, I should prefer to walk Nature can in no way be so satisfactorily enjoyed, as through the opportun- ities afforded the pedestrian." On reaching Portland he immediately called upon Mr. Smith, to renew their friendship of the previous year. He found that gentleman trying to explain to a plow manufacturer, some imple- ments which he needed in the construction of a telegraph line. Mr. Smith greeted Mr. Cornell with delight, as the very man he wanted in his dilemma. He explained to Mr. Cornell what he wished to accomplish, and the latter, taking a piece of chalk, sketched out on the rough board floor the draft of a machine, which he assured his friend would not only dig the trench required, but would lay the wire, enclosed in a hollow pipe, and cover it up with soil, all in one operation. At the urgent request of Mr. Smith, Mr. Cornell consented to undertake the construc- tion of such a machine, and immediately began work on it. The machine was completed on August 17, 1843, '^'^^ °" August 19, Prof. S. F. B. Alorse was, on invitation, present to see it put in successful operation. Thus began the association of Ezra Cornell with those interests which were destined to revolutionize the conduct of the world's business. For the next twenty years the history of the develop- ment of the telegraph and the life of Ezra Cornell became one, so 364 THE CORNELL ERA iiitiinately were they woven. He was the constructive element of tliat vast enterprise which has ^rown to h^ one of the most potent factors in modern business affairs. The successful operation of the first line of telegraph, between Baltimore and Washington, built under federal appropriation, afforded satisfactory evidence of its practicability for the pur- poses for which it was intended, and Mr. Cornell, now most thoroughly convinced that its utilization for public jjurposes would bring profitable patronage, determined to devote himself to the development of the telegraph as a business enterprise, and accordingly spent some time at Washington familiarizing iiimself with its practical workings. After a brief visit at home, from which he had been absent nearly a year, he proceeded to Boston for the purpose of bringing the telegraph to the attention of moneyed men, but being unsuc- cessful there he went to New York and constructed a line for demonstration in that city. By great personal effort, a few people were finally induced to risk small amounts in the venture, and the " Magnetic Telegraph Company " was formed, being the first of its kind incorporated for the proposed business. Other companies followed slowly, each being organized only after the greatest labor. One w-as built from New York to Boston, in 1845, another from New York to Buffalo, of which the section from Albany to Buffalo was constructed that same year. The section from New York to Albany was completed by Mr. Cornell in 1846, by private contract ; this was the first work Mr. Cornell was able to conduct for his own personal advantage, and he realized from it a profit of about six thousand dollars. Afterwards he built a line in Canada, and then erected one from Tro}-, New York to Montreal. These several contracts proved highly profitable and enabled Mr. Cornell to undertake greater work on his own account. He organized the I^rie and Michigan Telegraph Company, between Buffalo and Milwaukee, also the New York and Erie to connect the former line with New York City through the southern section of New York State. Many local lines were built all through the rapidly growing west, and the rival interests created a bitter warfare, threatening ruin to the entire industry. Various attempts had been made to rifE CORNELL ERA 365 bring these interests together, bnt nothing was accomplished nntil Mr. Cornell and some of the other principal owners of telegraph properties sncceeded, in 1855, in consolidating the lines, and the Western Union Telegraph Company was organized, by a combina- tion of these local companies. j\Ir. Cornell was one of the organizers of the Western Union Telegraph Company, was one of its earliest directors, in which capacity he was identified with its management for twenty years, and for more than fifteen years he was its largest individnal stockholder. From the commencement of his career in telegraph matters, jNIr. Cornell showed his faith by investing every dollar of his earnings in the bnsiness, and declined to part with his holdings, until the building of the University required him to realize on his telegraph stock to provide means for this great undertaking. What Ezra Cornell suffered and how great were his labors, both with hands and brain during this period of nearly twenty years, is almost beyond belief. He traveled nights and worked days, hesitated at no exposure ; heat, cold or storm did not deter him. The wiry vigor of his manhood enabled him to bear this most severe test, and there was probably no harder worker in any walk in life in those days than Ezra Cornell, and for a portion of that time, none poorer. His industry and integrity were of the highest order, but these did not buy bread. Money he had not, and his humble home was kept from suffering only by the strictest economy and good management. His faith in final success seemed to some almost fanatical, but it was well founded, and as the day dawned at last, after the frightful nightmare of pinching poverty and endless struggle, it found the man worthy of the awakening. The fortune that was his was not for selfish ends, it was God-given unto a stewardship for the benefit of his fellowmen. To relieve suffering, to comfort and help the weak, to assist others to a self-sustaining basis, to inspire to noble deeds, to uplift humanity, was his desire, and so quietly and unostentatiously did he render assistance that it may be truthfully said of him that his "right hand knew not what the left hand did." Mr. Cornell was always interested in agricultural affairs, and a great lover of fine stock, partially to satisfy this desire, he pur- S ifl M ^ "" u ^ — N « £ "> — CO — X ae ?2 >> 51^2 ■/. r i o i; ir-'. u ■/; f^ s — . • n J. I- y _■ '•J t. ex* n 5 - ^ * .5 ■"^ X i« -'JO. ; -C T '' 5 K -^ F THE CORNELL ERA 367 chased, in 1857, Forest Park farm for a home; it consisted of a tract of abont three hnndred acres, comprising all that area on east hill between Cascadilla and Fall Creeks, east of University Avenne, excepting the city cemetery, bnt inclnding the Jennie McGraw Fiske property, and all east to the Forest Home road east of the new Athletic Field, the greater portion of which afterwards became the home of Cornell University. The honse, remodeled several years ago, is now occnpied as a residence by his second son, Franklin C. Cornell. Here Mr. Cornell gathered together a magnificent herd of shorthorn cattle, several of which he pnr- chased in Europe when he was there in 1862 ; this herd had a national reputation, and was maintained for a number of years after ]\Ir. Cornell's death, until the encroachment of the University made its disposal advisable. In 1862, desirous of doing something to benefit the village of his adoption and to encourage the rising generations to mental improvement, Mr. Cornell presented to the citizens of Ithaca the Cornell Library, at the corner of Tioga and Seneca streets. This property represents an expenditure of approximately seventy thousand dollars, and was dedicated with impressive services on December 20, 1866. An indication of its appreciation by the present generation is the fact that the circulation of the Library for the year 1906, as shown by the report of the Librarian, was forty-two thousand volumes. The Ezra Cornell who was known to almost every inhabitant of Ithaca, and widely known throughout the county, was a man to attract attention anywhere. He was six feet tall, with a mag- nificent constitution strengthened by a life of hard labor and frugal living, rather spare in figure, with fine muscular development. His features were rugged, with high cheek bones, firm jaw, and a prominent forehead indicating marked alertness of the perceptive faculties. He wore a sparse beard, and always dressed plainly but neatly. Though naturally reserved, he had a most cordial and kindly manner, with a well developed sense of humor, and a most sympathetic nature. Many kind deeds known only to the recipi- ent and the doer followed the path of Ezra Cornell, and many a burdened heart he made lighter with cheering word or ready gift. As a public servant, Mr. Cornell served two years in the Assem. bly and four years in the Senate of the New York State MRS. EZRA CORNELL nee MARY ANN WOOD. Born Apr. 25, 181 1. Died Sept. 2, 1891. Legislature, with credit to himself and honor to the State. Dur- ing this period began his acquaintance with Andrew D. White, the honored first president of Cornell University. Space permits only the scantiest outline of some of the events in the life of Ezra Cornell during this arduous period from 1840 to the founding of the University, but it were only just to add, and could the man himself tell, he would say, that the fruition of the vast endeavors of the struggling, indomitable man was made possible and sweeter by the faithful cooperation, the encourage- ment, the sympathy and the patient suffering and self-denial of his devoted wife, and the noble sacrifices and assistance of his eldest son in caring for the family while the father was on his mission. THE CORNELL ERA 369 THE PROPOSAL FOR A UNIVERSITY. BY ANDREW D. WHITE. From " My Reminiscences of Ezra Cornell." Reprinted by Ptttnission I WAS one day going down from the State Capitol, when Mr. Cornell joined me and entered into conversation. He was, as usual, austere and reserved in appearance, but I had already found that below this appearance there was a warm heart and noble purpose ; no observant associate could fail to notice that the only measures in the Legislature which he cared for were those pro- posing some substantial good to the State or Nation, and that political wrangling and partisan jugglery he despised. On this occasion after some little general talk he quietly said, " I have about half a million dollars more than my family will need ; what is the best thing I can do with it for the State?" I answered. " ]\Ir. Cornell, the two things most worthy of aid in any country are charity and education ; but in our country, the charities appeal to everybod)- ; anyone can understand the impor- tance of them, and the worthy poor or unfortunate are sure to be taken care of. As to education, the lower grade will always be cared for in the public schools by the State, but the institutions of the highest grade, without which the lower can never be thoroughly good, can be appreciated by only a few. The policy of our State is to leave this part of the system to individuals ; it seems to me, then, that if you have half a million to give, the best thing you can do with it is to establish or strengthen some institution for higher instruction." I then went on to show him the need of a larger institution for such instruction than the state then had — that such a college or universit)- worthy of the State would require far more in the way of faculty and equipment than most men supposed, — that the time had come when scientific and technical education must be provided for in such an institution,— - and that literary education should be made the flower and bloom of the system thus embodied. He listened attentively, but said little. The matter seemed to end there ; but not long afterward he came to me and said, " I agree with you that the land-grant fund ought to be kept together, 370 Tin: CORNELL ERA and that there should be a new institution fitted to the present needs of the State and the country ; I am ready to pledge to such an institution five hundred thousand dollars as an addition to the land-grant endcnvnient." .... As may be imagined I hailed this proposal joyfully, and a sketch of a h\\\ embodying his purpose was soon made. THE INCORPORATION OF CORNELL UNI- VERSITY. BY HON. HENRY B. LORD, Alember of New York State .Issonbly, /S6/-/S6j. " The Cornell bill was advocated most earnestly in the House by Mr. Henry B. Lord ; in his unpretentious way he marshalled the university forces, and moved that the bill be taken from the committee and referred to the Committee of the Whole." Andrkw D. White : Autobiogfaphy. IN compliance with your request I will, as briefly as possible, give you my recollections of the circumstances of the passage of the act chartering Cornell University. This act became a law in xApril, 1865. The story of the desperate and unscrupulous oppo- sition it encountered from the moment of its introduction in the Senate by Ezra Cornell to its final passage is so fully told in Prof. Hewett's " History of Cornell University " that I can add little to it. Under the provisions of the Act of Congress of July, 1862, com- monly known as the Morrill Act, from the name of its author, Senator INIorrill, of Vermont, scrip representing 990,000 acres of the public domain — 30,000 acres for each representative in Con- gress of the Stale of New York — was issued and forwarded to the Comptroller of the State. This scrip was to be disposed of by that officer at his discretion as to time and price, and the money so real- ized he was required to invest in securities not yielding less than five per cent. The interest on the fund was to be paid over to the institution or institutions designated by the Legislature as benefi- ciaries. The principal was to be held forever by the State as trus- tee for the beneficiaries. A few years previous to the passage of the INIorrill Act, an insti- tution called the People's College had been founded at Watkins in Scluuler County at the instance of Charles Cook, a man of abil- THE CORNELL ERA 371 ity and influence, who had foiineily been a Senator of the State. He was possessed of large means and he promised to bestow upon the People's College an ample endowment. Upon the passage of the Morrill Act, Mr. Cook, backed by a powerful influence includ- ing well known and highly esteemed friends of education, applied to the Legislature of 1863 to designate his institution as the benefi- ciary to enjoy the benefits of the Morrill Act. There was little opposition made to this application. But, as the People's College had been nominally in existence for a term of years, and had never attained a higher rank than that of an academy, the Legislature affixed to its grant certain conditions relative to accommodations for students, faculty, and necessary library and apparatus. These conditions were made pre-requisites to be fully complied with be- fore any monies should be paid over to the People's College, and two years from the passage of the act b)- the Legislature was fixed as the period within which the conditions should be met. Month after month passed without any movement on the part of Mr. Cook or the friends of the People's College to place that in- stitution in a condition to avail itself of the legislative grant. The assembling of the Legislature of 1865 drew near. Anticipat- ing the forfeiture of the grant, through the neglect of the People's College to com-ply with its terms, Ezra Cornell, early in the ses- sion, came forward and offered to give five hundred thousand dol- lars to an institution to be established at Ithaca, provided the in- stitution should be made by the Legislature the beneficiary of the fund created by the ^Morrill Act. The first President of Cornell University, Andrew D. White, ■was at that time a colleague of Ezra Cornell in the Senate from the Onondaga District. He at once became deeply interested in Mr. Cornell's measure. The bill introduced by Mr. Cornell was largely shaped by his advice and suggestions. This bill embodied ]\Ir. Cornell's offer and his application for the transfer of the fund created by the ]\Iorrill Act to the institution which he proposed to establish at Ithaca. After the introduction of the bill, Mr. White lent the powerful influence which his consummate ability had ac- quired to its support through all its stages to its final passage. The opposition to Mr. Cornell's bill arose from two sources — the friends and agents of the People's College, and the friends and agents of most of the denominational colleges of the State ; the 372 THE CORNELL ERA former seeking to retain the hold of that institution on the fund, the latter seeking its division among themselves, A persistent and bitter fight was made against the bill. But all efforts to pre- vent its passage by the Senate were unavailing, and all the efforts of the opposition were directed against its passage by the House. To succeed in this no pains were spared — no means left untried. When the bill came down to the House it was referred to a special committee consisting of the committees on Education and Agriculture. The Chairman was Sanford of Oswego, who was at the head of the Committee on Education. This special committee soon appointed a day for a hearing, which I attended. The opponents of the bill had secured the services of a lawyer of great ability, especially noted as a master of the vocabulary of abuse. On this occasion he fully sustained his reputation. For an hour he poured out on Mr. Cornell a stream of invective, apparently inexhaustible. He and his clients were " wise in their genera- tion." On the merits of the case Mr. Cornell and the friends of the bill were impregnable and his opponents knew it. Their only hope lay in aspersing their motives and thus exciting a prejudice which might affect the measure they advocated. Nothing showed the quality of the man more clearly than the manner in which he received this attack. Calm, serene, and dignifiegl, all the oppro- brious epithets showered upon him " passed by him as the idle wind." It soon became evident that the Committee to which the bill had been referred intended to kill it by putting off, under various pretexts, a report upon it. No other resource seemed open to its friends except the somewhat desperate one of moving that the House order the Committee forthwith to report the bill for con- sideration and that the Committee be discharged. This is an ex- pedient reserved for extreme cases. Here I will relate an incident, which is entirely outside of any record of legislative procedure. I was then serving on the Com- mittee of Ways and Means. To that committee a bill had been referred providing for the first appropriation for the erection of a new State Capitol. Sufficient opposition had developed against that bill to cause some nervousness on the part of its friends. I\Iy associates on the Committee of Ways and Means were all in favor of the bill chartering our University. Some of them were able THE CORNELL ERA 373 men of great influence in the House (one, Abram B. Weaver, was a charter member of our Board of Trustees and afterwards as Superintendent of Public Instruction an ex-officio member). All proposed to unite with me in notifying certain influential friends of the Capitol Bill that the Committee of Ways and Means could and would hold back the Capitol Bill as long as the joint Com- mittee held our University Bill. This notification was made. Precisely how much influence this action had, I, of course, cannot say. But I do know that when I moved after a few prefatory remarks that the House direct the Joint Committee forthwith to report the bill chartering Cornell University for consideration, several friends of the Capitol Bill, among whom the Senator from Albany was conspicuous, were most busily engaged in bringing in their friends to vote for the pending motion which was carried by a decisive majority. By this vote the temper of the House was so clearlv shown that the fight was virtually ended. When the bill came up on its third reading, the opposition was feeble. That the friends of the People's College might be deprived of every cause of complaint, six months from the passage of the Act was allowed it in which to comply with the conditions imposed upon it. This period passed without action on their part and the transaction was closed. FROM AN ACT OF THE N. Y. LEGISLATURE ESTABLISHING CORNELL UNIVERSITY. Chapter 585 of the Laws of 1865. §4. The leading objed of the corporation hereby created shall be to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, including military tactics ; in order to promote the liberal and pradical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life. But such other branches of science and knowledge may be embraced in the plan of instruction and mvestiga- tion pertaining to the university as the trustees may deem useful and proper. And persons of every religious denom- ination, or of no religious denomination, shall be equally eligible to all offices and appointments. ;74 THE CORNIU.L ERA The First Breaking Ground for Cornell University. — Orening of the Quarry, on the slope west of the present University buildings. From this quarry the stone for Morrill Hall was cut about 1867. This plate was made for the Twenty Five Year Book, 1893, but was rejected as a failure and not inserted. Evidently some attempt at retouching has been made : it has been hardly successful. The origii al picture is now lost and the plate cannot be improved. [illustration on opposite page ] CORNELL UNIVERSITY IN J 868. FROM THE TWENTY-FIVE YEAR BOOK, 1893. The view is from the cupola of the Clinton House, looking toward East Hill. On the crest of the hill, at the left-hand upper corner of the picture, may be seen Morrill Hall (then called "South University " 1, the one building completed. Just to the right of it the temporary shelter of the chime is nearly hidden by the trees. Near the right-hand upper corner appears Cascadilla Place, built for a watercure establishment, but given to the University at its opening, and of the utmost ser- vice in its early years. To the right of this, in the background, the " Giles Place" (now Cascadilla Cottage, the residence of Professor Corson). On the left of the picture, beyond Cascadilla gorge, the village burying-ground is seen, and, cross- ing it, the footpath, then as ever since the favorite short-cut to the Campus. 376 '11 fl- CORXl'.I.L r.RA Chair occupied bv Ezra Cornkij. at thk opening of the University. Preserved in the the President While Lil)rary, A-here tliis photograph was taken. ADDRESS OF EZRA CORNELL AT THE OPENING OF THE UNIVERSITY IN thp: hall of the Cornell library, ITHACA, N. Y., OCT. 7TH, 1 868. MR. Chairman, Citizens, and Friends : I tear that many of you have visited Ithaca at this time to meet with disappointment. If you came as did a friend recent- ly from Pennsylvania, expecting to find a finished institution, you will look around, be disappointed with what you see, and re- port as he did, " I did not find one single thing finished." Such, my friends, is not tlie entertainment we invited you to. We did not expect to have " a single thing finished," we did not desire it, and we liave not directed our energies to that end. It is the commencement that we have now in liand. We did expect to have commenced an institution of learning — which will mature in the future to a great degree of usefulness, which will place at the disposal of the industrial and productive classes of society the best facilities for the acquirement of practical knowledge and mental culture, on such terms as the limited means of the most humble can command. THE CORNELL ERA. 2,11 I hope that we have laid the foundation of an institution which shall combine practical with liberal education, which shall fit the youth of our country for the professions, the farms, the mines, the manufactories, for the investigations of science, and for mastering all the practical questions of life with success and honor. I believe that we have made the beginning of an institution which will prove highly beneficial to the poor young men and the poor young women of our country. This is one thing which we have not finished, but in the course of time we hope to reach such a state of perfection as will enable anyone by honest efforts and earnest labor to secure a thorough, practical, scientific or classical education. The individual is better, society is better, and the state is better, for the culture of the citizen ; therefore, we desire to extend the means for the culture of all. I trust that we have made the beginning of an institution that shall bring science more directly to tlie aid of agriculture, and the other brandies of productive labor. Chemistry has the same great stores of wealth in reserve for agriculture that it has lavished so profusely upon the arts. We must instruct the young farmer how to avail himself of this hidden treasure. The veterinarian will shield himself against many of the losses which are frequent in his flocks and herds, losses which are now submitted to as matters of course by the uneducated farmer, and which, in the aggregate, amount to millions of dollars every year in our own state alone. The entomologist must arm himself for more successful warfare in defense of his growing crops, as the ravages of insects upon both grain and fruit have become enormous, resulting also in the loss of many millions of dollars each year. Thus, in whatever direction we turn, we find ample opportunity for the applications of science in aid of the toiling millions. May we not hope that we have made the beginning of an institution which will strengthen the arm of the mechanic and multiply his powers of production through the agency of a better cultivated brain? Any person who visits our Patent OflEice at Washington, and contemplates the long halls stored with rejected models, will realize that our mechanics have great need of this aid. The farmer is also enriched by increasing the knowledge and power of the mechanic. Mechanism, as applied to agriculture, 378 THE CORNELL ERA was the great motive power which enabled the American farmers to feed the nation wliile it was strnggling for existence against the late wicked rebellion, and it will enable them to pay the vast debts incnrred by the nation while it was crnshing that rebellion. This is an inviting field in which we must labor most earnestly. The mechanic should cease the fruitless effort " to bore an augur hole with a gimlet.'" I desire that this shall prove to be the beginning of an institu- tion which shall furnish better means for the culture of men of every calling, of every aim ; which shall make men more truthful, more honest, more virtuous, more manly ; which shall give them higher purposes and more lofty aims, qualifying them to serve their fellow-men better, preparing them to serve society better, training them to be more useful in their relations to the state, and to better comprehend their higher and holier relations to their families and their God. It shall be our aim, and our constant effort to make true Christian men, without dwarfing or paring them down to fit the narrow gauge of any sect. Finally, I trust we have laid the foundation of an university — "an institution where any person can find instruction in any study." Such have been our purposes. In that direction we have put forth our efforts, and on the future of such an institution we rest our hopes. If we have been successful in our beginning, to that extent and no further may we hope to be encouraged by the award of your approval. We have purposed that the finishing shall be the work of the future, and we ask that its approval or condemna- tion shall rest upon the quality of its maturing fruit. To take the leadership of this great work we have selected a gentleman and a scholar, who, though young in years, we present to you to-day for inauguration, with entire confidence that the " right man is in the right place." We have also selected a faculty which I trust will very soon convince you that we have not thus early in the enterprise com- menced blundering. They are in the main young men, and they are quite content to be judged by their works. Invoking the blessing of Heaven upon our undertaking, we commend our cause to the scrutiny and the judgment of the American people. THE CORNELL ERA 379 MEN AND WOMEN OF THE EARLY DAYS OF THE UNIVERSITY. HV PROFESSOR J. M. HART. " Professor Hait has set himself vigorously to elevate the instruction in rhetoric, and especially in e'ementary English, in which he found the prevailing instruction in the second- ary schools of the state very deficient. His services in this direction, both within the uni- versity and in the public schools, have effected a revolution in the character of inslructiun in this study." W. T. Hewett : Cornell Universily : A History. THE character and labours of Ezra Cornell have been depicted in full by one intimately associated with him and conversant with all his plans and purposes — by President White. I shall not be so ill-advised as to try to add anything to the portrait. Yet I may be permitted to narrate from my own experience a little in- cident which, in my eyes certainly, threw a searching cross-light upon Mr. Cornell's peculiar temper. The occasion was a memo- rable night in October, 1871. Then living down-town, I heard a rumour, which no one seemed wholly able to verify, that Chicago ivas biirjiing up. Walking along Tioga street, a little after nine o'clock in the evening, I saw a light in Mr. Cornell's office. The house then occupied by him was a large old-fashioned double house at the corner of Tioga and Seneca streets ; the site is now covered by the Savings Bank. Remembering that Mr. Cornell was a director in the Western Union, I decided to venture to apply to him for information. In those times Ithaca had no daily news- paper, no Associated Press agency ; was nothing more than the or- dinary country town. Breaking in upon Mr, Cornell at such a late hour had much the air of bearding the lion in his den. But I made the venture, rang the house-bell, and was ushered in without ceremony. Mr. Cornell was seated at his desk, reading what seemed to be legal documents. To my explanation of the intrii- 38o THE CORNELL ERA sion he answered briefly, but with friendliness: " Sit down. Yes, youno; man, Chicajro is burning up. No, it's burned down. The Western Union office is gone witli everything else, churches, hotels, railroads. The reports that \vc get are confused ; but I fear we haven't learned the worst. It's very, very bady All this in an even tone, wholly free from excitement, yet sug- gesting an emotion that had no need of utterance. I felt awe- struck, as in the presence of a spirit able to overlook the misery of the moment and forecast the future. The man who could estimate a Chicago fire with unflinching eye was not the man to falter in upbuilding a university. The question has been raised : We hear much about the Pilgrim Fathers, will no one tell us about the Pilgrim Mothers? Well, we Cornellians are not likely to overlook the trials and achieve- ments of Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White. But has any one done quite justice to Mrs. Cornell and Mrs. White? Yet few women known to me have been better fitted by nature for their respective positions. Mrs. Cornell, as the wife of a great man, too rugged, too self-contained, too insistent upon his high ideals to be lavish with petty suavities — Mrs. Cornell was the embodiment of frankness, kindness, cheerful affability, deeply loved by all who had the privilege of knowing her. In her society one was comforted into forgetting the bufifets of life, even faculty jangles and freshman French, and chaffing and laughing with the unre- straint of the home-circle. When, in 1890, I returned to Cornell after a separation of eighteen years, and saw Mrs. Cornell once more in her honie and received her almost motherly welcome back, the years seemed to be obliterated and I was young again. The quiet unobtrusive daily services rendered by Mrs. Cornell in establishing the university, we "aborigines" know and still better feel, although we may not be able to set them forth in words. And what I have said of Mrs. Cornell I may say also of Mrs. White, though with a difference. The wife of our first president did not recline upon a bed of roses. Let ns not blink the fact, the early years of the University were years of storm and stress. Nothing had got beyond the experimental stage. No professor had had time to adjust himself comfortably to his colleagues or to his president. The original faculty, we should never forget, was gathered from north, south, east, and west, strangers to each other. THE CORNELL ERA 381 little more than strangers to the president who had appointed them. There was no tradition of discipline or of edncation. Every man had his own views, and the president's miglit rnn connter to them all. Natnrally there was confnsion, perplexity, hasty action followed by repentance at leisnre, or — at the best — a pretty lot of ironical blunders. Throngh this tangle of jarring elements Mrs. White moved with a serenity that nothing seemed able to distnrb. ]\Iy recollection of her, as clear as if it were fashioned only yesterday, is that of a woman no longer yonng thongh not yet in middle-age, a lady of distingnished presence, most refined in manner, cultnred in speech, endowed with a memory that never forgot names or faces, and with a tact that never failed. Her mission it was to make every professor and instructor feel the touch of that mysterious gift — urbanity ; to say and do the right thing at the right time and in the right way. One learned from Mrs. White how not to be hasty or rough or fretful, in brief, the virtue of self-restraint. A word or two upon the faculty as it was in 1868-72. Numbering between twenty and tliirty, it was made up almost wholly of young men. The president was considerably under forty. Only three pro- fessors were over forty : Evans (Mathematics), Wilson (Philosophy), Russel (French and History). The others were about or perhaps a trifle under thirty. Were I forced to sum up the characteristics of this faculty in a single epithet, I should use the old-fashioned word " bumptious." Every man was ready to fight and die for his own belief, but with a certain sub-consciousness that the other man might perhaps be right after all. Faculty meetings were not con- ducted according to parliamentary rules, answers were shorter and sharper than now, there was a keener desire to get at facts and waive formalities. The debater must be ready for something of a rough- and-tumble, there was no time for posing. Yet, in spite of its crudities and blunderings, life was very pleasant. One learned to know one's colleagues far more intimatelv than is possible now ; one was not lost in an army of colleges, departments, instructors, assistants ; the individual counted for more. On the other hand, the teacher knew his students better. There were scarcely any barriers between student and professor, and intercourse was frank to a degree which to-day would be inconceivable. Among my pleasantest memories is that of the freedom with which some of Ei)c jfouutirr auti iC>rigiual j/aculuj of vHoruell EZRA CORNEI.I ANDREW UICKSON WHITE THEODORi: VV. DWIGHT WILI.AKD KISKE EVAN W. EVANS WILLIAM C. CLEVELAND HURT (,. WILDER JOSEPH H. WHITTLESEY LEWIS SPAULDING JAMES LAW ELI W. BLAl<« CHARLES KRKD HARTT I (nnS A(iASSi/. (UiORC.E C. CALDWELL JAMES M. HART HOMER M. SPKA(;rE ZIHA H. I'OTTKR JOHN L. MOKKLS WILLIAM D. WILSON WILLIAM C. RUSSEL GOLDWIN SMITH JAMES Rl'SSELL LOWELL GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS JAMES M. CRAFTS T. FREDERICK CRANE ALBERT N. PRENTISS ALBERT S. WHEELER JOHN STANTON GOULD THE CORNELL ERA 383 my students would tell me all sorts of things about themselves and their fellows, as if they were talking, not to a professor, but to an elder brother. And, indeed, I was not much older than some of them. This freedom had in it nothing of the tell-tale. On the contrary, it s])rang from a well-founded confidence that what was told thus in private would never get any farther. One more professorial trait I may record. Although we were all intimates and — official differences of opinion apart — the best of friends, still there were wheels within wheels. In one of these inner circles, numbering perhaps half a dozen, the custom estab- lished itself of our addressing each other as Brother. The trait is worth noting as an additional evidence of youthful exuberance. The most abiding impression made upon me by the faculty collectively was that of alertness and enterprise, what now goes by the slang term of " push "; the Germans call it more hand- somely Strebsa))ikeit. These young professors, whatever they might have already accomplished, were bent upon doing more and better. Their attitude was that of reaching out into the future. And, at the risk of appearing invidious, I may add that some of them bore the hall-mark of genius. Notably three : Cleveland, the professor of engineering, cut off in 1873 ^" ^^^^ very flower of young promise ; C. F. Hartt, professor of geology, who lived a few years longer, long enough to lay the foundations of the survey of Brazil ; and Crafts, professor of chemistry, who still lives, full of honors, in his native Boston. To these three I am tempted to add a fourth, Willard Fiske, librarian and professor of German, who, if he had not precisely the originality of insight of the others, was a marvel of book-lore and book-collecting , witness his unrivalled Dante-Petrarch-Icelandic collections in our library. The memory of such chosen spirits hovering before me, I may be pardoned for lapsing into the tone of the laudator temporis acti. [lU^USTRATION ON OPPOSITE PAGE.] THE FOUNDER AND THE ORIGINAL FACULTY. FROM THE TWENTY-FIVE YEAR BOOK, 1S93. These photographs of the Founder and the original Faculty of Cornell Univer- sity were taken (with the exception of those forming the topino-^t row in the pic- ture) by Purdy and Frear, at Ithaca, in the first year of the University, and were thus grouped by them. The photograph of Professor Agassiz used in the group was from a painting, and is here replaced by one more satisfactory. 384 THE CORNELL ERA THE TEN LECTURERS. BY PROFESSOR GOLDWIN SMITH. " Professor Smith entered at once into our plans heartily . . . came to us . . . lived with us, . . . lectured for us yewr after year as brilliantly as he had ever lectured at Oxford, gave his library to the University, . . . and .<-teadily refused . . . to accept a dollar of compensation. Nothing ever ga\e Mr. Cornell more encouragement than this ; for " Goldwin," as he called him in his Quaker way, there was always a very warm corner in his heart." Andrew D. White. f HAVE survived foiir.sncces.sors in in\' Cliair of History at Ox- ford, and I am afraid all iny fellow- lecturers at Cornell. Two or three of my fellow-lecturers I did not meet. Of those whom I did meet my memory grows faint. On my arrival at Cornell I found Agassiz giving his course, and I had the great pleasure of his society for a fortnight, during which we were both stopping at the Clinton House. He was a charming com- panion and a not less charming example of the simplicity of scientific greatness. Ithaca was religious, and Agassiz was afraid that his science might hurt its susceptibilities. In the first of his lectures that I heard he happened to have to reconcile science with the belief in a universal deluge. He (lid it by saying, "Why, when the Mississippi overflows, what do we hear? We hear that the whole country is under water." One Sunday, returning with a large collection of natural history which he was bringing home from a pond, he had the misfortune to encounter the ])iety of Itliaca just filing out of church. It was said that he never used a bank, but spent what he had collected and then replenished his purse by going on another lecturing tour. He stood firni]\' by his theory of the diversity of species against the inrusli of Darwinian evolution. But this I apprehend THE CORNELL ERA 385 did not hinder him from l)eint^ a pioneer of science in his own way. Lowell is a name well known to everybod)-. It is needless to rehearse his titles to fame, of which the " Bigelow Papers," seriously influencing- public sentiment as they did, though in a playful way, are perhaps the greatest. I had made his acquaint- ance at the time of the war, when I had the delight and benefit, never to be forgotten, of being for some time the guest of Eliot Norton, at Cambridge. Lowell, I need not say, was a fervent Unionist. I, too, was a Unionist and had come charged with greeting and assurance from the English friends of the great cause. But I think he rather eyed me askance as a Britisher, taking, as most Americans unfortunately did, his notion of British sentiment from the Tory and Secessionist Times. I saw him again some years afterwards in England, where he was as Ambassador, per- fectly reconciled to the Britisher and a great favorite in British drawing-rooms. I am not quite sure that though he was patriot to the end, he did not contract a slight preference for the objects of his former aversion. At Cornell, of course, his lectures were excellent, but the delivery was not so happy. He seemed a little afraid of his own good things. This defect when we met in England he had overcome. He had won renown as an after- dinner speaker, and almost vied with Lord Granville, the happiest of after-dinner speakers, when I heard them both at a Royal Academy banquet. The figure which has left the deepest impression on my mind, however, was that of George William Curtis. Why did this man never get beyond journalism and the platform ? Why did he not become a political leader, a powerful statesman, a pillar of the commonwealth? He had all statesmanlike qualifications. He was full of political knowledge, he was an admirable speaker, both as to matter and manner. In character he was the purest and most high-minded of patriots. Why was all this to a great extent lost to his country ? It seems because he happened to live in a district in which the other party had the majority. It is true that as a force in politics he was felt beyond the influence of his journal. He played a great part in what was called the Mugwump insurrection against party corruption and the vile 386 THE CORNELL ERA domination of the " Boss." He played the leading part in the reform of the Civil Service. But he was not to his country half what, if he had gone into public life, he might have been. The extreme localism of the people of the United States in the choice of their representatives makes the Britisher feel that on one point at least he has the advantage of them. Of the other Americans on the list of lecturers my memories are faint, amounting to little more in any case than a general recollection of pleasant intercourse. Bayard Taylor, whose sub- ject was German poetry, lectured well. I need not say that he was a worshipper of Goethe, even putting him, I think, in his heart above Shakespeare. Dwight, Green, and Gould I do not remember to have heard, though I have specially pleasant recol- lections of personal intercourse with Gould. James Anthony Fronde and Edward A. Freeman, my fellow- countrymen, afterwards lecturers, showed, I fear, in their de- livery lack of the cultivation of the graces of the platform in which Americans are supreme. Fronde's language could never fail to charm, nor could his narrative power. But as a historian, neither accuracy nor impartiality can be said to have been his forte. Im- partiality, indeed, he may be said almost to disclaim, so far as his history of Henry VHI is concerned. His most fervent admirer owns that he set out with a polemical purpose. In him Cornell had before it a curious epitome of the vicissitudes of religious opinion in England. Beginning life as the son of a highly ortho- dox Anglican clergyman, he had become a fervent disciple and collaborator of the Romanizing Henry Newman. Breaking away from Newman when Newman went over to Rome, he had become a free-thinker and forfeited his Oxford Fellowship by his writing. Finally he became a disciple of Carlyle, and his writings, like Car- lyle's, are instinct with the worship of force, which both alike persuaded themselves was moral. Though Fronde succeeded Freeman as Professor of Historv at Oxford, there was an almost ludicrous contrast between them. Freeman lacked Fronde's grace of style and liveliness of narra- tion. As a writer he is diffuse and somewhat pedantic. But he was a profoundly learned, thoroughly conscientious, and strictly accurate historian, perfect master of his period. Socially, it must THE CORNELL ERA 387 be owned, he was rather grotesque. He was a Saxon Thane transported into the nineteentli century, thoroughly kind-hearted but extremely blunt and brusque. At an antiquarian banquet a wit proposed a toast to him as " the man who was most familiar with the manners of our rude ancestors." He moreover made the mistake of fancying that in the society of Americans he was con- forming to the rude simplicity of Republican manners. His name in the list of lecturers nevertheless does honor to Cornell. GOLDWIN SMITH ON EZRA CORNELL. From " The Early Days of Cornell.'" Reprinted by permission. EZRA CORNELL, our Founder, was a character more often produced, I take it, in the American democracy than in any other commonwealth. Raised by his own industry, intelli- gence, and vigor from the ranks of labour to wealth, he retained the simplicity of his early state and aspired, not to social or political rank, but to that of a great and beneficent citizen. His first ques- tion on finding himself wealthy was how he could do most good with his money. He resolved on founding a University for the special benefit of poor students. His idea was that a young man might support himself by manual labour and pursue his studies at the same time. This proved an illusion. The experiment was tried, and I remember seeing a notice to those who desired employ- ment in tending masons, but the result was a failure. After all, we draw on the same fund of nervous energy for the labour of the hand and for that of the brain. Only in a man so vigorous as Ezra Cornell could the same fund supply both. A general invita- tion to young men of the artisan class in England which in the fulness of his benevolence Ezra Cornell put forth, had it been accepted, might have brought trouble on his hands. I see the old gentleman in his familiar buggy or sitting in the chair of state at Cascadilla on Founder's Day. His figure and face bespoke force and simplicity of character. His will undoubtedly was strong, and as he could not be familiar with Universities, it would have led him astray had there not been at his side the best 388 THE CORNELL ERA of advisers in tlie person of Andrew White, whose self-sacrificing devotion to tlie enterprise for which lie left his elegant home and his ample library at Syracuse, with the salutary influence which he exercised over the Founder's policy, well entitle him to be regarded as our co-founder. In the early days I have no doubt he had much to endure in the way of anxiety and vexation as well as in that of discomfort. Cornell rendered the most vital service to the University by locating the scrip given to the State of New York by the Federal Government in pine lands, while other States sold their scrip at the market price. Tliat measure, while it entailed difficulties and struggles for a time, was in the end our financial salvation. Ezra Cornell had been advised to place the University at Syra- cuse on the ground that the social attractions of a city would make it easier to obtain professors. But he refused, it was said, for the reason that he had once in his humbler estate waited all day long on the bridge at Syracuse to be hired, and at last had been hired by a man who cheated him of his wages. If this was a legend it was well invented. But it has been truly said that there is no pleasure more intense than that of being great where once you were little ; and that pleasure must have been enjoyed by Ezra Cornell in a high degree when he saw his University rising above the lowly home of his early days. Eminently plain, frugal, and abstemious in his own habits, Ezra Cornell would fain have impressed the same character on the students of Cornell. If he saw a boy smoking he would go up to him and ask him if he had fifty per cent of brain power to spare. In this austere opinion he had on his side an eminent professor at Oxford who told me that he marked a decline of brain power in his pupils, and that for it he blamed the weed. Perhaps for us Eton boys who had nothing like fifty per cent brain power to spare, it was as well that we were forbidden to smoke. It is to be feared that Ezra would hardly have smiled on athletics in their present high development. The fashion had its origin in a social element to him quite alien, that of the wealthy youth of the English Universities Now Ezra Cornell sleeps in his grave of honour. His epitaph in the Memorial Chapel, like that of Wren in St. Paul's Cathedral, might be Circumspice. THE CORNELL ERA 389 " Cascadilla Place." — "The old pile claims our veneration as the cradle of University life." From an early stereoscopic " view," loaned by Professor George L. Burr. THE FIRST FOUNDER^S DAY/== BY SAMUEL D. HALLIDAY, '"]Q>. Now Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees. A FEW months later (after the opening of the University), and on the nth of January, 1869, there was a large social function. It was the first Founder's Day and the Founder and his wife had invited a large number of guests to a reception in the Cascadilla parlors. It was by all odds the greatest and the most important social event that had ever occurred in Ithaca up to that time. It was in fact a sort of inaugural ball. A terrible blizzard prevailed that night, but that did not prevent the assembling of a very large company. Not only was the large Cascadilla parlor jammed full, but the spacious halls and stairways all around the building were full of people. A large cake with sixty-two tapers all lighted was presented to the Founder. When the large dining-room was thrown open there was a crush and everybody seemed to proceed on the theory that " the Lord helps those who help themselves." There were no Singletons or Albergers in those days and catering had not become a fine art ; much less did the caterers know how to serve *( From Chapter I of Life at Cornell published in \.\i^ Ithaca Daily Journal, June, 1901.) 390 THE CORNELL ERA and take care of so large a crowd. I do not recall that there were any ices or ice-cream, bnt large roasted tnrkeys, iincarved, were placed every few feet along the many tables. The refreshments were very mnch in the nature of an old-fashioned New England Thanksgiving dinner. In time, however, everybody was served, but not with that ease and facility with which even greater crowds are taken care of today. It seemed as if everybody in Ithaca was there, and in fact, nearly everybody had been invited. Later in the evening when the older people had departed, probably twenty or thirty young people remained and engaged for a while in a dance. A few days thereafter there came from the ministers of Ithaca a joint protest. It was gotten up largely by the Rev. T. F. White of the Presbyterian Church, and was signed by some half a dozen. They spoke of their respect for the Founder and their interest in the institution, but they solemnly declared that they would not have honored the occasion with their presence if they had known the reception was " to wind up with a dance." One expression in the protest I distinctly remember. It was to the effect that " dancing was opposed to vital godliness." If that is true, what a godless set of people we have gotten to be in these later days ! I think that every one of those ministers is now dead, but if they were to come back to earth and should look down upon one Junior Ball, what a horrified set of people they would be ! And they certainly would be struck dead if in that throng they saw not only boys and girls, not only young ladies and young gentle- men, but also grave, gray-haired, and dignified professors whirling through the mazy scene to the tune of " There'll be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight." The protest, however, did not produce any serious or marked results, except to revive the hue and cry that some portion of the clerical press was indulging in at that time, to wit, that " Cornell was a godless institution." THE CORNELL ERA 391 EZRA CORNELL'S LETTER TO THE ERA. (From the first issue of the Era, November 28, 1S6S. ) Editors of " The Cornell Era : " Gentlemen : — In reply to your desire for my views respect- ing your contemplated enterprise of a University paper, I will say that such a sheet conducted in the interest of morality, truth, and industry, as applied to the development of character, man- hood, and scholarship in the student, will be a source of much good, and will afford much pleasure to the friends of education. I therefore recommend the enterprise as worthy of support and heartily approve of the undertaking. Yours respectfully, Ezra Cornell. EZRA CORNELL AND SIBLEY COLLEGE. BY PROFEvSSOR GEORGE S. MOLER, '75. IN the early days of Sibley College the writer remembers with what interest Ezra Cornell would come into the machine shop and watch the boys at work. He would usually perch himself upon a high stool near some of them and ask them questions about what they thought of that kind of training, and how they liked it. And so in that way he soon gained the good will of every boy in the shop for they felt that he was their friend and had an interest in their welfare. In those days the shop was in the square room in the extreme west end of the Sibley building and the number of machine tools in it was very limited, so to provide some lathes and other ma. chine tools until newer ones of modern types could be obtained, j\Ir. Cornell brought to the University a second hand lot of ma- chines, the whole equipment of an old machine shop, and placed them at the disposal of Sibley College. A part of these were either too massive or were too nearly worn out to be of much use, but Professor John E. Sweet, who was then the foreman of the shop, put some of them in commission and made them useful. Mr. Cornell continued to manifest his interest in the develop- ment of Sibley College by driving to the campus quite often, and visiting it until failing health compelled him to remain at home. i^^ THE CORNELL ERA fllv/ I ,T:i(I. fflji/ij ,vJl(m rforHii ^o yywu .[fOJJBDIlb'i to - bnn Jroqqn?. ^o / '.'.SOH1*»lUj^vieH9I3fc'," now Morrill Hall. The first building erected on the campus. From an early stereoscopic " view," loaned by Professor George L. Burr. EZRA^gbS8ffe& AS THE FIRST STUDENTS -11' ->iHJOKKNEW HIM. dU-u .■i9cfrriorr,3-r ,^U^ ^^U^^ lamoureux, '74. qoffn yfrlffontrr o/fj ojfif -jttioo ]fo'^.PFtt?fy?Mft&(P94fM^r<^#*t^' )^^''^ were accordingly of an adventurous type, earnest, self-centered, determined. rSome came to work and they worked as best they could here while studying. The influences about them were democratic and f^l|>fuI/"WefMyd t:ai'iil^fat/ ok! •Qu^k«^f' Founder alive then, and it was no unusual ^i{]l>i Jkp fe^eobigrfelmijjigi jtb© hoiysv^'it^iidiDg over them like a fond and anxious -Joseph C. Hendrix, '73. • OTJ. ainjA^BIijIAiR as)WE 9tndpHtsr6f t3ie?University's first years were gJooj withflhorficeaMfftgrrrb 6f[iE?3raJIQornell, I do not know that .Bin aji^lioffuBcieeeiiib^canie^sufficzieiiajtlyiintiniate with him to form ffejooEfdot ■je;&tfrfiafte eiqhisrobforHctdn ^oWe knew very little of his -pciv^teJlifefaaidl bfusiiness a.sscDbintioinsIbeycbnd what was said of him fiTDcbpiieotioyi>.'^.itJifrtlia;(fDnhda.tioli< dfuthe: iU niversity. What we ssaxr waGESfiltid)!, Jgaqivt, sLkjpl^Iireiet^ditiiaiQ-, ^inllose facial lines were ,saijelbiboroft®iB(bpJaJsmi4e|)cyr ^hosc stdrniexpression rarely showed strflc'es ofj.nnhn'htiotl. rrJ^t,^»'erc)([w€,tor-cclncInde that this snrface appdaiknDei(DCMii'tctflyfipdritrayed^tlieriunerriiian,!iiSisome of us were -tpaxflandol IdJdo^iwe-grbitxuikl^bfe t'-ertyifaanftHMh thertrutli. He had the fiiardfifEJabnrts;^ndfr]Q£Brx'eibf ihi3jScdbdhvalieqjsli:fp9-the reflection of bameoHilfeB aiidriLa\velrifngr[shiifey'perli»aji$k7^(iit:.idkB}t iorered a warm THE CORNELL ERA 393 heart and tender sympathy, or he wonld not have hastened to give a part of liis fortnne to an institntion of learning with the express understanding that it slionld provide facilities for poor stndents. His own education was so limited that he once confessed to a friend that he always hesitated to mail a letter before submitting it to his wife for correction. He had worked his way up through )'ears of grinding poverty, and he knew what it was to be poor, consequently he must have had an active sympathy for the student working his way through college. Before his fortnne was made, he lived in a little red house in "The Nook " at the lower end of Fall Creek gorge, where one room served as living-room, bed- room, and kitchen, and the attic above as sleeping-room for the children. (I am sorry the University does not own that little house with its humble furnishings, for it would be a whole course of lectures in one small picture.)* One little table, only large enough for two, was all they had to eat from, and that little table, I am told, has been lo^'ingly preserved. The years spent in "The Nook " were years of privation and hard work, but they had in them the making of a great fortune, and of a future governor of the State of New York, In speaking of them in later years, Mr. Cornell said to one of his acquaintances that he had seen the time twenty years before, when he could not get credit in Ithaca for a bushel of potatoes, or a bag of flour. So great was his faith in the future of telegraphy that every cent he could raise was put into stock, regardless of the hardship and discredit that such a policy would entail. And then, when his foresight was justified and his fortnne made, his first thoughts were for the town where his credit was once rated at less than the price of a bushel of po- tatoes, and for the penniless student struggling for an education. I am not familiar with the private life of Ezra Cornell, but I think it can be said that his fortune was made without a single trespass upon the rights and fortunes of others, which cannot be said of the predatory rich of a later period, and that his benefac- tions were carried out with careful consideration and for helpful purposes. He had the Scotch antipathy to waste and inconsiderate giving, but he spared neither himself nor his fortune where his judgment approved the urgings of his conscience and sympathy. *See illustration, page 362. 394 THE CORNELL ERA Perhaps tio better illustration could be given of what was, in my opinion, the dominating trait of his character — the desire to be helpful to others — than the following incident told me by an old lady still living in Ithaca, who had it from Mr. Cornell's grandson. The two, Mr. Cornell and his grandson, were passengers on one of the Hudson river steamers between New York and Albany. There was a poor woman on the same boat, who had been kept pacing the deck incessantly by a fretful child. She seemed to be com- pletely spent with fatigue and want of sleep. When the little boy was put to bed in the evening, Mr. Cornell told him that he would be outside for a while, and that he should go to sleep and not wait for him. When the boy woke up the next morning he discovered that his grandfather's berth had not been occupied, and later on he learned that IMr. Cornell had spent the night walking up and down with the child so that the exhausted mother could rest and sleep. He had first secured the child's confidence, and then persuaded the mother to let him take her place for the night. The incident, if correctly related, gives us the true key to Mr. Cornell's character — a keen human sympathy with the needs of others, and a desire to be helpful to them. He would never have endowed a school of theology or philosophy, but a school of agri- culture, or manual training, or domestic economy would have appealed to his sympathies at once. I should like to emphasize the fact that Ezra Cornell's fortune was made without '' hustling," that he never swindled, nor robbed, nor drove any man out of business in gaining it, that he made no offensive nor ostentatious display of it, that he never used it to oppress others, that he was never ashamed of his early poverty, and that he built no fences around his benefactions. He was cruelly assailed during the last years of his life for founding a " godless " institution of learning, but time has thrown the mantle of oblivion over all that and has given us a better and wider appreciation of the helpful things he sought to do. ILLUSTRATION ON OPPOSITE PAGE. Cornell University in 1872.— Krotn the Twenty- Hive Year Hook.liSqj. This view is from near the site of the present lioardman Hall. It was taken in May, 1S72, and was distributed by The CoRNBLL Kra as a gift to its subscribers. Morrill Hall (then " Sonth I'niversity"), McGraw Hall and White Hall appear at the left, Sibley Collene in the backgronnd, and at the right the temporary wooden building nsed as a chemical laboratory and familiarly known for years as the " Old Lab." Sundry farm buildings of the I'niversity may be seen behind. 396 THE CORNELL ERA THE MANAGEMENT OF THE LAND GRANT. MR CORNELL'S SERVICES. HV PROKKSSOR WATHRMAX T. HEWETT. Abridged from Cornell University ; A History. Rcf>rinted by Permission. A KTER the cliarter of Cornell Uni- versity had been fornialh' granted, the difficult)' of realizing any sum commensurate with the magnificent amount of land received from the state faced the trustees. It was then that the sagacity of Mv. Cornell and his great devotion to the cause which he had espoused were fully manifest- ed. He surrendered himself and all his powers during the nine years of his life which remained, to the one grand thought of realizing the highest possible proceeds from the sale of this land. During the year 1865, most of the Northern States received their land scrip, which was practically a certificate authorizing the selection of the amount of land specified in the scrip from any of the public lands of the United States not mineral, and not other- wise disposed of. Most of the states, in order to realize immedi- atelv the value of the national grant, sold the land scrip issued to them in great blocks to speculators. The amount realized from this sale was in some cases as low as forty-one cents per acre, and the entire amount of the national land grant realized an average of $1.65 per acre. Mr. Cornell saw that if the states could retain their lands for the present until the demand for desirable government land had been exhausted, the price of the land must inevital^ly increase in value. In his report of 1864, the Comptroller stated tliat he had received the land scrip of the State of New York, consisting of 6,187 pieces of 160 acres each, amounting to 990,000 acres of land. In the course THE CORNELL ERA 397 of a few months sales were made to the extent of 475 pieces, equal to 76,000 acres, at the rate of eighty-five cents per acre. The total amount received on all sales was $64,440. He reported that the sales of the scrip had almost entirely ceased, in consequence of other states reducing the price. Therefore it became an im- portant question whether the price should also be reduced here and a sacrifice made to induce sales, or the land be held as the best security for the fund until the sales could be made at fair rates. In 1866 the Comptroller reported, "A saleof ioo,oooacres has been uiade to the Hon. Ezra Cornell for $50,000, for which sum he gave his bond properly secured, upon the condition that all of the profits which should accrue from the sales of the land should be paid to Cornell University." On April 10, i856, the legislature passed an act to authorize and facilitate the early disposition by the Comptroller of the land scrip donated to the state. Mr. Cornell made a contract with the people of the State which was sanctioned by the legislature, by which he agreed to purchase all of the agricultural land scrip then in the possession of the State. He promised to pay thirty cents per acre and to deposit stocks or bonds for an amount equal to an additional thirty cents per acre, the estimated market value of the land scrip at that time. Mr. Cornell also entered into obligation at the same time and by the same instrument, with ample securi- ty, to locate the lands with the scrip thus purchased, in his own name, and to pay the taxes and all expenses of such location, and to sell the land in twenty years and to pay all the net proceeds over and above the expenses and the sixty cents an acre above re- ferred to, into the treasury of the State of New York. The amount originally received for the land scrip was to constitute the College Land Scrip Fund, and the amount realized from the sale of the lauds, over and above sixty cents per acre and the expenses, was to constitute a separate fund to be called the Cornell Endow- ment Fund, the income of which should be devoted forever to Cornell University The energy with which Mr. Cornell prosecuted his great pur- pose, and the hardships which he voluntarily assumed in locating the forest lands of the University are illustrated in a letter which he wrote August 24, 1866: 398 THE CORNELL ERA "I have just returned from a trip of three days in the pineries of the Chippewa, sleepintj two nights in such rude camps as we could construct of pine boughs, by the application of half an hour's labor. Yesterday morning we were aroused from our slumbers by the howling of a pack of wolves of a dozen or more, counting by the noise and the varying voices. They remained with us an hour and then moved slowly on until their howl was lost in the distance." He proceeded with the location of the land. The labor in- curred in this vast undertaking for the good of the University cannot be overestimated. It was necessary for him to spend a whole summer in the wilderness; to employ skilful and experi- enced assistants ; to encounter great exposure and fatigue ; and to spend large portions of his private fortune in surveying, locating and paying taxes upon these lands during a long series of years. The work was done as systematically as though the resultant gains were to be his own private possession. Tlie trustees realized that Mr. Cornell's fortune, large as it was, would be inadequate to meet the demands of the task which he had undertaken. The entries of land had been filed in three great states, which afforded the promise of most immediate re- turns, viz., in Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota. The balance of the scrip could not be located in these states and it would be necessary to select lauds further west or in the southwest. Such a division of the University domain would render its efficient management difficult. College land scrip had been selling in the two preceding years for less than sixty cents per acre. In view of these facts, the Trustees united in a request to the State Com- missioners of the Laud Office to authorize Mr. Cornell to sell the balance of the college scrij) at not less than seventy-five cents per acre, or to locate it as he might deem best. ]\Ir. Cornell was en- abled to dispose of all the remaining land scrip for $357,651, realizing about ninety-four cents pei acre Cornell Universit) has realized an average of over seven dollars per acre for its lands. This is certainly a splendid tribute to the vision of one man. THE CORNELL ERA 399 THE TIME OF TRIAL. LATE PRESIDENT CHARLES KENDALL ADAMS In an address, ' ' Cornell University ; Its Significance and Its Scope,'' Be ivered March 31, 1886. WHEN the University was opened, its possessions, including the Federal grant and the gift of Mr. Cornell amounted to about $1,100,000. . . . While the Trustees and Mr. Cor- nell were waiting for the pieces of pine lands to bring some return, the University had to live on its million of dollars. Large expendi- tures were made for buildings. Flocks of students, smitten with the liberal ideas of the institution, thronged its doors and crowded its limited accommodations. Numerous professors were appointed in a confident hope that a sale of lands would soon bring relief. But the hard times of ''jt^ came on, and for eight years, Cornell University, though the world knew nothing of it, was silently carrying on a hard fight against bankruptcy. During that period the Trustees were confronted with this : either sell the lands for next to nothing, letting their best professors go, if need be, provid- ed only, the institution could be tided over into the fair future, when a pine tree w^ould be worth something in the market, and the treasury could be replenished. Surely, it was a heroic fight, more heroic than the world has ever supposed. For, again and again, the Trustees with Mr. Cor- nell at their head, found no way of paying the salaries and the other bills, excepting by plunging their hands deep into their own pockets. At one time, simply as individuals, they gave $170,000, on security that was worthless in the market. At another time they contributed $150,000 as an absolute gift, simply to tide over the emergencies of the hard times. At length the resources of Mr. Cornell gave out, and after lie had broken his fortune in pay- ing the taxes on these lands ; and worse than all else, had broken his health in the service of the University, and in his anxiety for it, he said to the Trustees : " You must take this land off my hands for I can carry it no longer." And as he was going down into his grave, still burdened with this great load, almost his last words were, " Don't give up my policy. The lands will yet be worth three millions of dollars." ANDREW DICKSON WHITE, LL.D., L.H.D., D.C L., < 1832 1. CO-FOUNDER, FIRST PRESIDENT AND BEST FRIEND OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY. THE CORNELL ERA 401 THE CHARACTER OF EZRA CORNELL. PRESIDENT WHITE'S ESTIMATE. FROM " MV REMINIvSCENCES OF EZRA CORNELL." BY ANDREW D. WHITE. Rcprivted by penuission. FOR seveial years it fell to my lot to discuss a multitude of questious with him, and reasonableness was one of the most striking characteristics: he was one of those very rare, strong men who recognize adequately their own limitations. True, when he had finally made up his mind in a matter fully within his province, he remained firm ; but I have known very few men, wealthy, strong, successful, as he was, so free from the fault of thinking that, because they are good judges of one class of ques- tions, they are equally good in all others. One mark of an obsti- nate man is the announcement of opinions upon subjects regard- ing which his experience and previous training give him little or no means of judging. This was not at all the case with INIr. Cor- nell. When questions arose regarding internal university man- agement, or courses of study, or the choice of professors, or plans for their accommodation, he was never quick in announcing or tenacious in holding an opinion. There was no purse pride about him. He evidently did not believe that his success in building up a fortune had made him an expert or judge in questions to which he had never paid special attention There was in his bearing a certain austerity and in his conver- sation an abruptness which interfered somewhat with his popu- larity. A student once said to me, " If Mr. Cornell would simply stand upon his pedestal as our ' Honored Founder,' and let us hur- rah for him, that would please us mightily ; but, when he comes into the laboratory and asks us grufidy, ' What are you wasting your time at, now?' we don't like him so well." The fact on which this remark was based was that Mr. Cornell liked greatly to walk quietly through the laboratories and drafting-rooms, to note the work. Now and then, when he saw a student doing some- thing which especially interested him, he was evidently anxious, as he was wont to say, " to see what the fellow was made of," and 402 THE CORNELL ERA he would frequently put some provoking question, liking nothing better than to receive an equally pithy answer. Of his kind feel- ings towards students I could say much : he was not inclined to coddle them, but was ever ready to help any deserving young man. Despite his apparent austerity, he was singularly free from harshness in his judgments, even regarding his assailants. There were times when he would have been justified in outbursts of bit- terness against those who attacked him in ways so foul and ma- ligned him in ways so vile ; but I never heard any bitter reply from him. In his politics there was never a drop of bitterness. Only once or twice did I ever hear him allude to any conduct which displeased him, and then his comments were rather playful than otherwise : on one occasion, when he had written a gentleman of great wealth and deserved repute as a philanthropist, asking him to join in carrying the burden of the land locations, and had received an unfavorable answer, he made a remark which seemed to me rather harsh. To this I replied, " ]\Ir. Cornell, Mr. is not at all in fault ; he does not understand the question as you do ; everybody knows that he is a very liberal man." " O," said Mr. Cornell, " it is easy enough to be liberal ; the only hard part is drawing the check." Of his intellectual characteristics, foresight was the most re- markable. Of all the men in the country who had to do with the college land grant of 1862, he alone had foreknowledge of the possibilities involved and courage to make them actual. Clearness of thought on all matters to which he gave his atten- tion was another striking characteristic ; hence, whenever he put anything upon paper, it was lucid and cogent. There seems at times in his writings some of the clear, quaint shrewdness so well known in Abraham Lincoln ; very striking examples of this are to be found in his legislative speeches, in his address at the opening of the Universit}', and in his letters. Among his moral characteristics, his truthfulness, persistence, courage and fortitude were most strongly marked. These quali- ties made him a man of peace. He regarded life as too short to be wasted in quarrels; his steady rule throughout his business life was never to begin a lawsuit or have anything to do with THE CORNELL ERA 403 one, if it could be avoided. That hysterical joy in litigation and squabble, which has been the weakness of so many men claiming to be strong, and the especial curse of so many American churches, colleges, universities, and other public organizations, had no place in his strong, tolerant nature. He never sought to punish the sins of any one in the courts or to win the repute of an uncompromising fighter. In his peaceful disposition he was prompted not only by his greatest moral quality — his desire to aid his fellow-men, — but by his greatest intellectual quality — his foresight; for he knew well "the glorious uncertainty of the law." He was a builder, not a gladiator. There resulted from these qualities an equanimity which I have never seen equalled. When his eldest son had been elected to the highest office in the gift of the State Assembly, and had been placed, evidently, on the way to the Governor's chair — afterward attained — though it must have gratified such a father, he never made any reference to it in my hearing; and, when the body of his favorite grandson, a most promising boy, killed instantly by a terrible accident, was brought into his presence, though his heart must have bled, his calmness seemed almost superhuman. His religious ideas were such as many excellent people would hardly approve. He had been born into the Society of Friends, and their quietness, simplicity, freedom from noisy activity, and devotion to the public good, attached him to them. But his was not a bigoted attachment ; he went freely to various churches, avoiding them without distinction of sect, though finally he settled into a steady attendance at the Unitarian Church in Ithaca, for the pastor of which he conceived a great respect and liking. He was never inclined to say much about religion ; but, in our talks, he was wont to quote with approval from Pope's "Universal Prayer " — and especially the lines, " Teach me to feel another's woe. To hide the fault I see ; The mercy I to others show. That mercy show to me." On the mere letter of Scripture he dwelt little ; and, while he never obtruded opinions that might shock any person, and was as 404 THE CORNELL ERA far removed as possible from scofifin^^ and irreverence, he did not hesitate to discriminate between parts of our Sacred Books which he considered as simply legendary and parts which were to him pregnant with Eternal Truth. His religion seemed to take shape in a deeply reverent feeling toward his Creator, and in a constant desire to improve the con- dition of his fellow-creatures. He was never surprised or troubled by anything which any other human being believed or did not believe: of intolerance he was utterly incapable. He sought no reputation as a philanthropist, cared little for approval, and nothing for applause ; but I can say of him, without reserve, that, during all the years I knew him, "he went about doing e^ood." EZRA CORNELL'S ESTIMATE OF ATTACKS MADE UPON HIM. " Don't make yourself unhappy over this matter — it will turn out to be a good thing for the University ; I have long foreseen that this attack must come, but have feared that it would come after my death, when the facts would be forgotten, and the trans- actions little understood : I am glad that the charges are made now, while I am here to answer them." — Quoted by Andrew D. White in his " Reminiscences of Ezra CornelL'''' EZRA CORNELL. REV. RUFUS P. STKBBINS, D.D. MEMORIAL ADDRESS, FOUNDER'S DAY, JANUARY II, 1 875. His character, not his wealth, made him great. His wealth only enabled him to reveal the greatness of his character. He made wealth worth, and riches righteousness. He redeemed money- getting from greed, and its use from prodigality and vanity. His wealth served him ; he never became its servant. The poorest need not despair, for he was one of them and attained. The richest need not be proud, for he was one of them and was humble. Pl^^^^^l^ 11 ^Hj^'*^ ^' '^^^ fll ^P^ ■iiiiiiiiiiiHiiM'iiI l^H Q^^^l ^^^^^^^P ^ '^MSSSS^ ^^^^^^^^H B^^j i' ^ E^ * -- 1^ ^^^w^^ ^^^^^^H B^^J^^H ■ A ^^^H u B EZRA CORNELL. JANUARY n, t807-DECEMBER 9,1874. His last photograph, taken in the early summer of 1S74, at the request of some of the students. Mr. Cornell's family did not know of it until aft« r his death in December. Original in possession of Mary E. Cornell, Ithica. 4o6 THE CORNELL ERA FOUNDER'S HYMN. BY JUDGE FRANCIS MILES FINCH. The " Chimes " are still. Alone., As falls the year's last leaf The great belVs tnonotone Sloiv hymns our helpless grief. Boicntiful heart ! bountiful hand / Bountiful heart and hand / O I Father and Founder ! O ! Soul so gravid ! Farewell., Cornell ! Farewell ! From Slander'' s driving sleet., Fro7n Envy'' s pitiless rain., At rest., the aching feet ! At rest., the weary brain I Laboring Jieart ! laboring hand ! Laboring heart and hand ! Of Father and Founder ! O! Soul so grand ! Farewell., Cornell ! Farewell! So calm., and grave., and still., Men thought his silence pride., Nor guessed the truth., until DeatJi told it — as lie died. Lowly of heart .' lowly of hand ! Lowly of heart and hand ! O I Father and Founder ! O I Soul so grand ! Fareivell., Cornell ! I^\irewell I " Trjie ", as the steel to star ; With eye u 'hose lifted lid Let in all Truth — though far 1 71 clouds and darkness hid. Confdetit heart f confdefit liand ! Confident heart and hand ! O .' Father and Founder ! O .' Soul so grand ! Farewell., Cornell! Farewell ! THE CORNELL ERA 407 " Firm ", as the oak's tough grain^ Yet pliant to the prayer Of Poverty^ or Pain^ As leaf to troubled air. Kindliest heart ! kindliest hand ! Kindliest heart and hand / O ! Father and Founder ! O ! Soul so grand! Farewell^ Cornell ! Fareivell ! Untaught, — and yet he drew Best learning out of life ^ More than the Scholars knew., With all their toil and strife. Conquering heart ! conquering hand! Conquering heart and hand ! O ! Father and Founder ! O ! Soul so grand ! Farewell., Cornell! Fareivell ! The spires that cj^oivn the hill., To plainest labor free., Where all may win who will., — His monument shall be ! Generous heart ! generous hand! Generous heart and hand ! O ! Father and Founder ! O ! Soul so grand! Farewell., Cornell! Farewell! Brave., kindly heart., adieu! But with us live alzvay The patient face we knew.. And this memorial day. Bountiful heart ! bountiful hand ! Bountiful heart and hand ! O! Father and Founder ! O! Soul so grand ! Farewell, Cornell! Farewell! 4o8 THE CORNELL ERA JUDGE FINCH'S REMINISCENCES OF EZRA CORNELL. EXTRACTS FROM AN ADDRESS ON THE LIFE AND SERVICES OF EZRA CORNELL, DELIVERED ON FOUNDER'S DAY, JANl'ARV IITII, 1887. Reprinted by Permission. " From the first he had been the counselor of the Founder and had shared with him his hopes, and borne with him his trials. He was closely united bj- ties of college and fraternity with the first president. He was the friend of the second founder. From the first coEception of the University to this day he has been intimately in touch with its growth and progress." — E. W. HUFFCUT. I HAVE come among you to-day from a sense of duty which I found it impossible to resist. Since it was my fortune to be one of those who watched at the cradle of the University, — sometimes when the nights were dark, and enemies gathered and danger approached in the shadows, — and to stand by the side of the Founder, giving such help as occasion permitted or anxiety prompted, it .seems appropriate that those memories of his life which I may have unconsciously stored away, whether familiar to the many or known only to the few, should have the repeti- tion of this memorial occasion, or the preservation of such record as it is )'et possible to make. However vain the wish, one cannot repress a longing that events might have been so ordained as to have given to his open and observant eyes a view of what has already been accomplished in the upbuilding of this University whose completion and suc- cess became the dominant purpose of his life. Doubtless, some such wish was often his. Once at least I traced its presence in an THE CORNELL ERA 409 expression of momentary regret. I remember riding with him over these hills when bnt a single bnilding was slowly rising, and our way led through tangled grass, over uneven ground, amid the stone and timbers of construction, and when, after some moments of silence, with a patient and far-off look in his eyes, he said that I was more fortunate than he, since I might reasonably expect to see how the scene would look after the changes of twenty-five years, while for him there was no such hope. Less than that quarter-century has gone and I can see the change ; but I am sure that he saw it then. In that niomentof thoughtful silence every building took its appointed place, and he counted them already by the score, and voices and footsteps broke the stillness in the fields One can almost see the hope and the purpose shining out of his young eyes as he stood upon this very hill, after a long day's walk from the parental roof, and looked down upon the village that was to be his future home. . . . I have sketched one side of our Founder's character. If I left it here you would see him imperfectly, as many saw him in his life ; a tall, strong man with a grave stern face, reticent, and almost cold in his manner, looking at you with eyes of deliberate blue, steady beneath a brow unfurrowed and framed in by the gathering gray of hair as determined as his will. To a stranger, sometimes he seemed hard and repellant, likely to be proud, or to deal out rebuke with savage force. That was not in the least the man. No kinder heart than his ever beat, and it made him tender to distress and generous beyond measure ; not merely on a large scale and in the public eye, but silently and in the shadow of his daily and private life. To relieve suffering, to lighten the burdens of poverty, to open the way to despairing effort, to in- stinctively find the need that pride concealed, to fill his days full of kindness and charity, was as natural to him as for the flowers to bloom or the corn to ripen. . . . While writing these words an incident, unknown to me before, has been communicated by one whom many in this assemblage will remember with an esteem and regard as lasting as my own — the Reverend Doctor Torrey, who in the early days of the University was resident here as Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. He had been preaching to his conofreeation, amone whom the Founder was an attentive 4IO THE CORNELL ERA listener, upon the duty of aiding young men of slender means who desired to enter the Ministry to secure the necessary and adequate education, and quoted the remark which happened to linger in his memory that " these were Poverty's jewels, taken in the rough and polished for the crown of Christ." At the close of the sermon a collection was had for the benefit of the Board of Edu- cation of the Church and among the gifts of money large and small was found a little card upon which and over his initials was penciled in the Founder's hand : " Select for me one of Poverty's jewels that it may be wrought out — the diamond for the crown of Christ." When, after the selection was made, he was told the name of his jewel and the expense to be borne for seven years while its purity and light were being slowly developed, he simply said in his brief, terse way, " Right ; I agree to that ; " and silently fulfilled the promise till the need of it ended. For any young man struggling to obtain an education his heart beat warmly and his help was never withheld. No man was firmer in his friendships. His confidence once given was never withdrawn until hopelessly betrayed. Long after selfishness and greed had grown visible to other eyes they were unseen by him or softened by charitable interpretation, and he resented a suspicion of his friends as a personal injury to himself. But among the Founder's traits, what to me was the strangest of all in so strong and earnest a nature was his serene patience and forgiving temper under persistent and bitter falsehood, de- structive and stinging slander, and a jealousy recklfess of the truth. . . . We who know that his fortune was lessened and perilled by the demands of the burden he had assumed have little need at this day of speaking in his defence ; and yet before my own lips are sealed and I follow him into the dark which I hope but borders the light, I desire to say one thing with all the force and weight which it is possible for me to command. Day by day and almost hour by hour I became familiar with all that he planned and all that he did in the management of his self-imposed trust. None of his accounts or of his correspondence with his chosen agents were withheld from my scrutiny, and if ever man had a full and complete opportunity to find and know the uttermost truth, that THE CORNELL ERA 411 opportunity was mine : and I am glad to declare that never, in word or deed, in act or intention, did I discover the least faint trace of a selfish purpose, or a shadow of a personal benefit sought or gained. Thoroughly and absolutely pure and without alloy was the true gold of his nature and his life. But the time came when the Founder's work was ended. There came at last the hardest trial of all, to unl')ose his hold upon the helm and commit the wheel to other hands. That he did it sadly, reluctantly, and with pain is almost true, but he did it patiently and with unhesitating trust in his children and his friends. I recollect the shiver and the chill with which I became conscious of the first surrender. With one of his sons we were seeking safety from a menacing danger, and searching anxiously for a rift in the cloud or a light in the dense darkness, and he, folding his hands upon the table and laying his head upon them said only — " You must do the best that you can : I am not well ! " — The words were simple, but how much they cost him we shall never know. From that time on, he grew steadily weaker, yet his patience and placid resignation continued to the end. It was my privilege with the aid of the Trustees, who generously lent their own means to the emergency until the land securities could come into effective use, and with the first Treasurer of the University, to place in the Founder's hands as he sat in his sick room, every bond he had given the State, every obligation it held against him, and assure him that all his promises were fully and exactly ful- filled. He went to his death with his benevolent and marvellous Trust accomplished and complete. I have thought that the duty which I owed to this occasion was not at all an effort of logic or of learning, if such were within my power ; not even a defence of the New Education or a study of your relations to it, however I might love to break a lance in the fray ; but an effort to paint the Founder as I knew him in his life, in outlines accurate and true, and in colors as vivid as I could find surviving among the dull browns of daily toil ; in order that you who knew him not, who have come later upon the scene, may interweave among your younger labors and fresher ambitions the face and the step of the grave but kindly man who made your places and purposes possible ; and in the hope that the story of 412 11 IE CORNELL ERA his life may be handed down from one to another and never for a day be forgotten. I trust that tlirough all vicissitudes and changes, however the New may supersede the Old, and Time and Death blur or efface the Past, there may yet remain, as the center of every aim and ambition, as the stimulus to ever)- useful efTort, as the atmosphere of the University, the memory of Ezra Cornell. ANECDOTES OF EZRA CORNELL. BY MRS. ALONZO B. CORNELL. Thk Old Cornei-i^ Mansion. — This house was situated at the southwest cor- ner of Tioga and Seneca streets, where the Ithaca Savings Bank now stands In it Ezra Cornell lived during the early years of the University, and in it he died, December 9, 1874. From an old stereoscopic " view, " in possession of Mrs. Alonzo B. Cornell, Ithaca. About 1865, while the Cornell iM'ee Public Library was being built, Ezra Cornell was one day sitting in the house which then stood opposite, looking out of the drawing-room window and watching the progress of the new building. His little three-year THE CORNELL ERA 413 old grandson, Edwin, the youngest son of Governor Cornell, was on his knee, prattling about the long ladder that reached from the sidewalk to the roof of the tower, and wondering how the masons could carry the plaster so far on their backs. His grandfather said, " Would you like to go up that ladder, Eddie, and see what they are doing?" The little boy was delighted, so his coat and cap were quickly put on and up the ladder they went, Ezra Cor- nell placing Eddie's little feet on each round before him. They climbed in this way to the top, looked around for a few minutes and then returned round by round. " When you are old enough you will climb the ladder of learning step by step, my little man, and grow to be great and good," said the grandfather. " This building is for little boys and girls as well as grown men and wo- men." Just then a little colored boy ran by, and Eddie said, " Grandpa, is the building for colored boys, too? " " Yes, yes, for colored boys, too — for all." In one of the debates in the State Senate, after Ezra Cornell had founded and endowed Cornell University, a speech was made by a man from Havana regarding the alleged " land grab " that Mr. Cornell was making in order to enrich himself and family. Ezra Cornell asked for a committee to investigate his actions. The committee was appointed ; Governor Seymour, one of its members, said he was ashamed to be called to such a proceeding. The subject came up one afternoon while Mr. Cornell was at his home, and my sister and I were in the room. During the conversa- tion he was silent for some time and we could see that he was under severe emotional strain, until presently his eyes filled with tears which rolled down his face. "Girls," he said, "I am willing to abide my time — perfectly willing to abide my time." 414 THE CORNELL ERA REMINISCENCES OF EZRA CORNELL= \\\ PROFESSOR BURT G. WILDER "For the professorship in this department Professor Agassiz had recommended to me Dr. Burt Wilder ; and I soon found him, as Agassiz had foretold, not only a thorough investigator, but an admirable teacher." Andrew D. White, Autobiography . WITH liis notification of my appointment, under date of October 7, 1867, Andrew D. White, then jnst elected president of Cornell University, inclosed an invitation to visit him in Syracuse to "talk over" my department, adding that it was " not of cast-iron." At Dr. White's, November 8, I met Hon. Francis M. Finch, later of the state appellate court and Dean of our Law School, then secretary of the Board and confidential legal advisor of Ezra Cornell. Judge Finch invited me to visit Ithaca and entertained me from Saturday till Tuesday. Sunday evening we spent at his office in the Cornell Library Building. Then and there I first met Ezra Cornell. Of him I liad previously seen no picture and heard no descrip- tion. As a millionaire, telegraph-promoter, state senator and founder of a university, he had been vaguely prefigured as aldermanic, bustling, loud-spoken and dictatorial. How unlike the reality ! He reminded me at once of Abraham Lincoln as I had seen him during the Civil War. His features were finer, but of the same distinctively American type; there were the angu- larity, the height, the slight stoop, the quiet manner, and the * Based upon the writer's diaries of the period. THE CORNELL ERA 415 habitual gravity of expression illiiniined upon occasion by flashes of kindliness or humor. His reception put me quite at ease, and for an hour we conversed upoii what was then uppermost in the minds of the leading men of Ithaca. Learning that I had planned to leave the next morning, he said that if I would remain over he would take me to drive and would telegraph the cause of my detention to Professor Agassiz, for whom I was then working. Promptly at ten o'clock, on Monday, the nth of November, Mr. Cornell called at Judge Finch's office in his well-known buggy, which I remember as comfortable but far from new. Until four, with an hour for dinner at the Clinton House, he drove me in and about the city. It is worthy of note that our first objective was an enormous exposed boulder near Buttermilk Creek at the base of South Hill, presenting glacial grooves of unusual distinctness ; of this he gave me photographs for Professor Agassiz. Near the Inlet canal-boats were building, and some Italians were carving stone for ]\Ir. Cornell's new house. Perhaps the best exemplification of the duality of his nature was offered by his indifference to the impression made by his rather shabby vehicle, horse, and even hat, as contrasted with his genuine and superior artistic pleasure in the execution of carvings for his projected residence. At Cascadilla Place he remarked that it probably would be used for University purposes after the creek was bridged. That six hours unbroken association with Ezra Cornell was a high privilege, not then fully appreciated. Would that a Boswell- ian spirit had moved me to record every honest, kindly and weighty word. Forty years, however, has not effaced the general impression of his goodness, modesty and force ; of his rare powers of observation, reflection and expression. There was nothing coarse or trivial ; and he made no harsh comment upon the crit- ics and adversaries that had begun already to manifest their jeal- ousy or open hostility. THE FIRST founder's DAY On the evening of January 11, 1869, Mr. and Mrs. Cornell gave a reception in the large parlor which then occupied two stones of 41 6 THE CORNELL ERA the west central portion of Cascadilla Place. ' Despite the bliz- zard then ragino^, the attendance was lar<(e from both " Town and Gown." Among other incidents chronicled in the local papers was the presentation, by President White, of the prizes offered by him for the best work in Physiology :- Fifty dollars to Edson Hamilton Scofield ; twenty to William Gushing Barrett; and ten to William Jones Youngs. At the request of Mrs. E. G. Putnam, wife of the then business-manager, the writer presented to Mr. Cornell a large frosted cake, bearing sixty-two lighted candles. The address and response are here reproduced partly by reason of their commendable brevity, but mainly because the latter illus- trates Mr, Cornell's readiness and command of language and the former gives the estimate of him still entertained by the speaker : " Mr. Cornell : — A lady friend of yours, a fellow-traveller, and I need not add an admirer, wishes me to make this birthday offer- ing. A very giant among cakes, it typifies your immense benefac- tions. White as snow, it is not purer than your purposes. F'ull of the good things of this world, may it represent your lot here and hereafter. And though the sixty-two tapers now stand for the past of your life, would they were rather the omens of the years to come in which you might live to reap in rest and peace that which you have sown in toil and strife. Their flame is surely an emblem of the gratitude which will ever burn in the hearts of all who have known Ezra Cornell." Mr. Cornell replied : " Mr. Professor : — I thank you for the very complimentary terms in which you have presented this handsome gift, which you say is from a lady friend. In reference to the donor, I can only say, God bless the ladies. This splendid cake surpasses in beauty and ex- cellence all presents I have received from ladies, excepting those which have been presented to me from time to time by the lady at my side, my good and beloved wife. I again thank you for this handsome present." * This portion has been since converted into suites of rooms ; it then corre- sponded nearly with the present dining hall, but had two tiers of west windows. For a fuller account of this reception and of the futile cleric protest against danc- ing under University auspice", see the initial chapter of " Life at Cornell," by Hon. S. D. Halliday, '70, in the Ithaca Journal for June 4, 5, 6 and S, 1901. (Re- printed in this issue of the Era, page 389.) THE CORNELL ERA 4^7 THE MASTODON OF SIX-MILE CREEK On the 20tli of May, 187 1, Mr. J. P. Allen bronght me some teeth, which, altho much worn and decayed, were clearly those of the Mastodon, an extinct animal resembling the elephant. He had found them in the banks of Six-mile Creek near his home at Brookton (then Mott's Corners) about six miles east from Ithaca. Four days later Mr. Cornell accompanied a party comprising, besides the writer, President White, Charles Frederic Hartt, Pro- fessor of Geology and Paleontology, John J. Brown, Professor of Physics, and John Henry Comstock, '74, now Professor of Ento- mology, then my very eflficient laboratory-assistant. We all took a hand at digging in the muddy alluvium, and exhumed several more teeth and some bones.* Mr. Cornell probably shared the cost of the expedition with Dr. White. MR. CORNELL'S INTEREST IN NATURAL HISTORY He was interested in the "Silk Spider of South Carolina"! and shared my belief (since realized elsewhere) that silk drawn from the living spider could be woven into ornamental or useful fabrics. He advised some public lectures upon the subject and at the first, on the evening after the reception above mentioned, introduced me to the Ithaca audience that has since been almost surfeited with lectures upon nearly every conceivable topic. He was president of the Farmer's Club, and at his request, June 15th, 1870, I read before it a paper on "The Methods of Improving Domesticated Animals by Breeding." My diaries record the attendance of ^Ir. Cornell at two of my regular lectures, and seven visits to my laboratory. At one he brought me a rare spider. At another he witnessed the removal of the brain of a dog. Upon a third occasion he had an animated discussion with Professor Hartt upon some point in the local geology. *These, with other mastodon remains from Centre Lisle, about twenty-five miles from Ithaca, may be seen in the McGraw Museum, south-west corner. A brief note upon the discovery was published in the American Journal of Science and Arts for July, 1871. tFouad by me near Charleston, during the Civil War ; see " How My New Acquaintances Spin," an illustrated article in the Atlantic Monthly for August, 1866. 41 8 THE CORNELL ERA THE LAST INTERVIEW On the 29th of August, 1874, by appointment, and accompanied by President White, Mr. Cornell came to my laboratory to see the dissection of a cat, with especial reference to the location, structure and action of the lungs. F'or some time his failing health had limited his activity and alarmed his family and fellow-trustees. He asked few questions, but observed closely and with evident concern. I never saw him again alive. But I knew that he continued to labor for the University to the utmost limit of his waning strength ; indeed, then as always, he worked as if he were making a fortune instead of giving one away. The pathetic end is graphically and affectionately described by Judge Finch in his Founder's Day Address of 1887. I have already likened Ezra Cornell to Abraham Lincoln. Both would be instinctively selected as eminently dependable. With both there was the care-worn look of heavy and unceasing responsibilities. Now, after the event, we may perhaps claim that each, while confident of the ultimate triumph of the cause to which he was devoting all his energies, foresaw his own untimely fate, yet labored to the end. Ezra Cornell was human, and upon comparatively small matters his judgment may have been at fault. But no conviction of mine is deeper or more enduring than that of his great generosity, his absolute integrity, and his single-minded devotion to the welfare of Cornell University. He founded a common sense college ; and such an institution constitutes one of the noblest visible monuments that man can devise. From the ranks our Founder great Rose, and led the generous van ; Helpt the city, served the State, Made the lightning slave to man. Cold to stranger, warm to friends — Dauntless heart, prophetic soul — Wealth he sought for noble ends And self was ne'er his jjoal. THE CORNELL ERA 419 Learning, long for liini delajed, Fain would he make free to all ; Creed nor sex his bounty stayed, Nations answered to his call. Patient, tolerant and wise. Labored he with failing breath ; Died, as every hero dies. Still faithful unto death. Oh Cornellians, " True and Firm " ! Note his motto's grand intent ; Make his work of yours the germ ; Be your lives his monument. Why he is to you endeared Sound aloud in every clime. That his name may be revered Until the end of time. Cornell in 1870. — The view is of Morrill and McGraw Halls, lookinj^ north along the west front. Note the cl«ick and chimes in the tower of McGraw Hall, ■where they remained for almost twenty years, until the present Library was hudt. From a photograph in possession of Mrs. H. L. Estabrook, Ithaca. 420 THE CORNELL ERA EZRA CORNELL, BY PROKKSSOR CHARLES MKLLEN TYLER. J NEVER knew Mr. Cornell intimately. I can only contribnte a frao^ment of objective psycliolog^y. I came to Ithaca in December, 1872, and observed on the streets his tall and lithe figure ; noted the abstraction of manner ; sometimes conversed with him for a moment to find him preoccupied with intense and silent purpose. Time enriched my estimation of his character, and now, in retrospect, all of us can discern his moral and mental greatness, as his fabric of purpose has reached a present great fulfilment, and is expanding to proportions to which we can set no limit. Mr. Cornell was an idealist. Financial success was never his objective. Extending telegraph lines meant not for him the gain of riches, but the advent of a new era in civilization and progress. The arrival of wealth roused within his brain dreams to become realities for humanity, ideals which slumbering, only awaited the coming of good fortune to kindle in the soul an altruistic fire which could not be extinguished. He must have been profoundly an idealist when standing upon the wind swept heights above the city and gazing beyond the hills and down Cayuga water, he looked out from the belvedere of his imagina- tion and saw generations coming thither to seek higher culture. Henry Clay returning home from Congress, once checked his horse on a summit of the Alleghanies and gazed westward wrapt in thought and when asked the cause of his abstraction replied, " I hear the footsteps of coming generations." As the poet is a creator and gives to "airy nothings a local habitation and a name," Mr. Cornell shared with the poet the creative sympathetic imagination. He saw, with the mind's eye, stately halls rising in succession, throngs of earnest youth moving along the corridors and with confidence prophesied the coming of thousands. But it was not a sentimental but a practical sympathy, for he contemplated methods by which poor scholars could work their way through the courses of instruction. In power of imagination and in unfaltering purpose to cast ideas into visible and permanent form, and in humane sympathy THE CORNELL ERA 421 with poor young men eager to gain an education, Mr. Cornell must be classed with great men. Cornell University was a new conception and has revolutionized higher education, and stimulated at first — I will not say, jealousy — criticism at least, on the part of the old colleges of the land. It is just to say that Mr. Cornell had a noble friend and wise co-adjntor in Ex.-Pres. White, whose bold and wise originality helped to give shape to Air. Cornell's conceptions. As Blucher and Gneisenau were inseparable in the Prussian wars, Mr. Cornell found in Mr. White an able marshal and strategist. I attended Mr. Cornell's funeral, in the house which then stood where now exists the Ithaca Savings Bank. A large throng^ of lamenting citizens attested the sense of the public loss. Too soon, the patient, thoughtful, meditative, upright great man passed away. I believe he looks down from the serene heights of immortality, and beholds the unfolding grandeur of his ideas. REMINISCENCES OF EZRA CORNELL. BY ISAAC P. ROBERTS. AS I came to Ithaca only a short time before he was taken ill, my acquaintance with Mr. Cornell was slight. I remember him at the time that he was planning and working to make certain that the University should not in the future lack for funds to complete the great task which he had begun, the plans of which he had had in mind ever since the first stone was laid. Never but once did I converse with Mr. Cornell except as he was viewing the locations for the proposed buildings which were to house the various departments. With the confidence of a prophet he pointed first to one elevation and then to another, naming over one by one the buildings which were to adorn them in the future. In the face of discouragements which would have appalled most men he was calm and confident, and in his far-reaching vision he seemed to see these buildings as really as he would now were he permit- ted to visit that rolling plateau which he always loved so much. 422 THE CORNELL ERA His discussions were not set forth in the idle words of a vision- ary. One could readily understand his plans for the future, for they were expounded with a dignity and assurance which could come only from an abiding faith that, come what might, the fru- ition of all his sacrifice and toil would follow in good time, and the dream which he had dreamed would come true. When I visited him the last time he was reclining on his couch, and we all knew that the end was at hand. He realized this too, yet it was marked by no great change — there was the same kindly forgiveness for those who had done their utmost to thwart his plans, the same abiding faith in the successful outcome of his life's great work, the same peaceful resignation to the inevitable. He most of all must have wanted to live, to see the realization of his beneficent conception and gather the full fruits of a life that had been spent in planting. Yet in all our conversation there was never a word of doubt. He seemed like one who wraps the drapery of his couch about him and lies down to pleasant dreams. The most valuable lesson of my life I learned from Air. Cornell. At first I chafed and fretted over the slow progress of the College of Agriculture. There was little money and few students, and the majority of educators were doing what they could to discourage the introduction of technical training into the university curric- ulum. But this great silent man, Kzra Cornell, made me realize that the race is not to the swift, but to the patient, hopeful, per- sistent worker. So when the prophet nad passed away I took the great lesson which he had taught me to heart, and by reason of this inspira- tion, caught from the man who did things and waited patiently for his reward, I was able to struggle on through many toilsome years, until at last I saw the plans of our Honored Founder for the College of Agriculture realized beyond our greatest expecta- tions. THE CORNELL ERA 423 THE PUBLIC SERVICES OF EZRA CORNELL^ BY PROFESSOR JAMES LAW. "With especial gratitude should be named Dr. James Law, of the British Royal Veterinary College, whom I had found in London and called to our veterinary professorship. Never was there a more happy selection. From that day to this he has been a tower of strength to the University, and has rendered incalculable services to the State and Nation." Andrew D. White : Autobiography EZRA CORNELL was a noble product of the peerless nineteenth century. Never before had the spirit of progress been so active and widespread. Never had Nature been so successfully entreated to uncover her latent powers; never had such powers been so effectively applied to useful work for humanity. New cosmogonies, new physics, new chemistry, new doctrines of human rights, had opened up new avenues of enter- prise where capable men achieved great material successes. In the world's work steam had superseded wind and water, had in great measure annihilated distance, had brought widely separated peoples into close relations, and had unprecedentedly stimulated trade and manufacture. Light had been used to do printing and artistic service, and the elusive magnetism had been coerced to convey thoughts and speech to distances with practically instan- taneous effect. Morse had demonstrated the principle of the telegraph, but there was still lacking the ingenious and practical mind to overcome the difficulties of connection and isolation over long distances. Here the resourceful Ezra Cornell came in to introduce practical efficiency and economy into the work of the 424 THE CORNELL ERA great inventor. For this work, Mr. Cornell had been adinira]:)ly fitted both by inheritance and training. Derived from an ancestry that sturdil}- maintained the right of private judgment, and the supremacv of the individual conscience in religion, that crossed the ocean and faced the dangers of the American wilds in their search for mental liberty, and while even there had to resist the persecution of their brother exiles in the same cause, he inherited that basis of love of truth which is fundamental to all real excellence. In his veins ran the blood of tlie shrewd, inventive Connecticut Yankee. This manifested itself in his own ambition to learn, and confidence in achievement, which made him, at twenty, a skilled workman in a variety of crafts, and at thirty-six the fit helper for such a man as Morse. His school education was scanty. His one lesson in geography, he said, was in giving the boundaries of the State of New York which was said to be limited on the West by " the Jinknoivn regions^ P>ut if tlie school instruction failed him, he was a voracious reader, devouring every technical book available, and, with his extraordinary aptitude, acquiring much knowledge and skill in many different fields. Then his practical training was strangely varied. He became skilled in agriculture, in pottery, in house-building, in lumbering, in machine construction and repairing, in cotton manufacture, in grist and plaster milling, in engineering, in agricultural implements. Entering a new factory as an employe, he soon mastered its system, and made himself indis- pensable as a supervisor and in making economical improvements in its methods. Into every new field he brought the strictest and most effective business methods. The classical scholar might call him uneducated, but he had worked out for himself an education which men in general might envy, and which, with his extra- ordinary capacity, especially fitted him to secure for himself a great success in his chosen field. Such was the man who proved th^ mainstay of Morse in establishing his infant telegraph enter- prise, and who covered those iniknown regions of his school days with the lightning-bearers of language and thought. When his faithful labors were crowned with opulence, not the result of watered stock, of cornered product, of stock exchange manipulations, of trust promotion, but every dollar representing THE CORNELL ERA 425 a sound business value, his humanity stirred within him and found vent, among other things, in the gift of the Cornell Library, in the collections of thoroughbred stock for the profit of local agri- culture, in his benefactions to those who had rushed South to fight the country's battles, and to others who at home were wag- ing a brave fight to build up small local industries. When sent to the legislature he proved himself a wise and worthy member and senator and speedily gained the esteem and cooperation of his colleagues. His influence was enlisted in favor of improved agri- culture as the solid basis of all national prosperity, and he success- fully advocated a veterinary sanitary police as the best means of protecting the increasing herds from destructive epizootics which would rob the soil of its true source of fertility. It was character- istic of the sound judgment of the author, that this bill provided for an honorable indemnity to the owners for stock which were killed to stop the progress of infection. This provision, founded in abstract justice and a deep knowledge of human nature, has been abolished by a succeeding legislature, so that, although the remainder of the Act is administered at considerable expense to the State, its actual effect is now to extend infection in place of restricting it. Stock owners who detect or suspect infection in their herds, now too commonly sell them at market rates, thus planting the disease in many new centers, rather than accept the alternative of an absolute loss of their property. My own relations to Mr. Cornell were very agreeable. His' strong, confident bearing, tempered by a kind, fatherly expres- sion, drew respect and esteem, the interest manifested in our voy- age from Europe, our experiences and impressions of the new country, and our facilities for the work to be taken up in the bud- ding university, established at once an entente cordiale which suf- fered no subsequent eclipse. For a man of his native strength, and who had achieved such a remarkable success, Mr. Cornell maintained an extraordinary equanimity. Distrusted, suspected of ulterior motives with pur- poses of self-aggrandizement, charged with irreligion and infidelity, met by attacks in the legislature and the appointment of an in- vestigating committee, he went quietly on, strong in his conscious- ness of rectitude. He could not ignore the assaults, but they did 426 THE CORNELL ERA not embitter him a<^aiiist his fellows, nor turn him from his chosen course. They wrung from him the remark that " no one need ex- pect gratitude for what he does for the public," but he went on placidly serving the public as before. In face of every detraction, in the darkest days of the University, he set aside 96 per cent, of his income to ward off threatened disaster. His faith in himself and in the future was phenomenal, and to the end he cherished the hope that he would live to secure other large sums with which to build up the University. To a flippant would-be socialist who bantered him by saying he thought "he should have just about one-half of Mr. Cornell's means," he instantly pricked the bubble by the retort that " it would be great fun getting it back again," Fortunate in the choice of Andrew D. White as the president, he could safely leave him to care for all academic questions, but in financial matters he foresaw the great advantage of holding the nation's gift of land for a better market, and, securing the right of holding this, at his own expense on behalf of the University, he very largely increased the endowment of the institution in this way. The full value of this was only realized after he had passed to his reward, but the event proved a splendid endorsement, as had the growing value of his telegraph stock justified his hopes so long before. The career of Ezra Cornell furnishes a splendid example to as- piring youth, and his best monument is in the institution which bears his name, diffusing from its halls to coming generations that knowledge which is power, that skill which is success, that art which is refinement, and that humanity which is godlike. !May this ever stand the consummation of his ideal, " An institution in which any person can find instruction in any study." EZRA CORNELL'S DEBT TO HIS SON. Ezra Cornell's debt to his eldest son, Governor Cornell, in the making of his fortune, is expressed as follows in a letter written to Mr. Otis Wood, father of Otis E. Wood of Ithaca : " Next to and along with my wife, I owe more to my son, Alonzo B., than to any other for his cooperation, advice and financial ability." THE CORNELL ERA 427 EZRA CORNELL AS A CITIZEN OF ITHACA, BY HORACE MACK. Assistant to the Treasurer in the Land Office. LOOKING backward more than a half century, I recall the tall figure of Ezra Cornell as he came occasionally to my father's place of business. It was at that forming period of the telegraph when the separate, independent lines were building, whose consolidation some years later constituted the Western Union. Other prominent Ithacans took active part in organizing and constructing the minor lines, and, as regards the telegraph, I always associate the names of John James Speed, Jr., and William P. Pew with that of Ezra Cornell. Mr. Cornell took up the telegraph enterprise only a few years subsequent to his term of service with Jeremiah S. Beebe, for whom he constructed the famous Tunnel at the head of Ithaca Fall, in 1832. Mr. Beebe soon recognized Mr. Cornell's unusual capabilities and in time entrusted him with the management of his extensive milling interests. I knew Mr. Beebe well. The two men were as unlike as possible, in figure and temperament. Mr. Beebe was short in stature, but well rounded in face and form. His spirits were always bubbling with irrepressible jollity. These characteristics were quite in contrast with the greater stature and the quiet deliberative manner of Ezra Cornell. When the consolidation of the telegraph lines had brought a competence, and more, to Mr. Cornell, our citizens were not to wait long for the assurance that his struggles through many years had a higher purpose than mere selfish gain. His apparent desire was to expend largely of his wealth and remaining strength in the service of Ithaca, his chosen home. His sympathies were therefore readily enlisted in projects for the development of our natural resources and the improvement of existing conditions. Investigations, carried on through several years, had convinced some of our citizens that a salt deposit underlay the Cayuga basin and that a deep boring to test the matter should be made. 428 THE CORNELL ERA 111 1863, '^ subscription aiiiountin<( to five thousand dollars was secured, Mr. Cornell's name headin^^ the list with $500.0x3. I remember his remark at the time, that, though we failed in efforts to get salt, he would give that sum to ascertain how far beneath us lay the Tally limestone. Unfortunately for Ithaca, through some misguided action by the subscribers, the boring, though about to begin, was postponed indefinitely and our salt industry thus delayed a quarter century. The "Draining of the Cayuga Marshes" had been the subject of Legislative action since 1830, and is a problem still unsolved ; while the removal of " Obstructions at the Outlet of Cayuga Lake" has been a vital local question since 1858. To these matters as relating to the health and prosperity of the place, Ezra Cornell gave largely of his time and effort. It was about this period, (£864), that Mr. Cornell made an exhaustive investigation of the conditions existing at the " Out- let " and introduced a bill incorporating the Cayuga and Ontario Canal Co. His speech, before a committee of the Senate, in advocacy of this bill, demonstrated not only the commercial im- portance of such a canal, but also its value in diverting the waters that entered the Erie Canal " from foreign sources " and were finally discharged into the Cayuga Outlet. Although Mr. Cornell's advocacy of the canal bill was masterly and exhaustive, it was defeated, chiefly by the opposition of the mill-owners along the Oswego river who knew the value of Cayuga Lake as a storage reservoir. Mr. Cornell continued his efforts to gain for Ithaca some relief from the destructive effects of the frequent floods. In 1870, during a time of high water, at his request I made soundings over the drowned area west of the present Fair Grounds, that he could more clearly shovi^ to the Legislature, then in session, how greatly Ithaca was suffering from the abnormal conditions at the foot of the Lake. While no substantial relief was ever secured by these many appeals to the State, no citizen can withhold his veneration for the memory of the noble man, who while caring for his great Uni- versity and aiding several local Railroad enterprises, could find time thus to plan and plead for the material interests of the com- munit\- at large. THE CORNELL ERA. 429 EZRA CORNELL'S COURTSHIP. BY OTIS E. WOOD, Brother of Mary Ann Wood (Mrs. Ezra Cornell.) JUST as young Kzra \va.s reaching lii.s majority, he fell in with the then quite prominent factory man, Oti.s Eddy, whom he followed from DeRuyter "Quaker Basin " to Ithaca to build his great three story Cotton Factory which stood for nearly fifty years where Cascadilla now stands. Quaker Basin had four prominent young persons at this time — Ezra Cornell, Ben Smith, Welthy Russell and Mary A. Wood. Ezra was a tall, lean, not homely young man, of large mechanical ability, having built, at sixteen, a house on " Crum Hill "' for his parents. Ben Smith was a dapper young fellow of small but artistic mechanisms. Welthy Russell was a fascinating young Quakeress, much the same to Quaker Basin, in her well-appointed home life, that Emily Rowland was to the Scipio "Society of Friends." Welthy was the "best girl " of young Ezra. Mary A. Wood was the helpful multum 171 parvo of her mother's large family, " spinner and weaver" for her large household. These qualifications attracted young Ezra as substantial additions to her beautiful face and form. About this time Welthy exhibited to Ezra an unimportant but beautiful device of a "frame," made by Ben Smith, with the bantering remark — "Ezra, does thee think thee could do as well as Ben Smith has done this ? " It is fair to assume that his larger mechanical aspirations were so shocked that he "side-tracked" Welthy for Mary A., who became his wife. About 1869 Welthy made the almost annual pilgrimage of the DeRuyter Quakers to Scipio. Having heard and being proud of Mr. Cornell as a DeRuyter boy they came by way of Ithaca to see how he was progressing among the crude rail fences and corn-hill appointments of his young University. During the interview with Welthy the Founder ventured the remark : " Welthy, does thee think Ben Smith could and would have dune as well as this?" ANDREW CARNEGIE, LL.D. THE CORNELL ERA 431 EZRA CORNELL. Extracts from an Address to the Students of Cornell University on Ezra Cornell Centennial Day, April twenty-sixth, J907. BY ANDRP:W CARNEGIE. THE subject of onr address sprang from a sturdy race of Puri- tans who had been strict Quakers for generations. The union of his parents was blest by eleven children, all of whom reached adult age, and were noted for temperance, industry and frugality, — excellent citizens. The father lived to the advanced age of ninety-one. The mother was a model of all that a noble woman should be, and the children had superb constitutions. Ambition stirred within Ezra Cornell, and at eighteen he set forth to establish himself upon an independent basis. After some trials he finally heard of Ithaca as a promising point because it was connected with the Canal. There he went and, as the whole country knows, Ithaca became his home, and is destined as such to remain famous. Cornell and Ithaca are inseparable. With a few dollars in his pocket he walked from his father's home to Ithaca, forty miles distant — a second Dick Whittiugton, for Cornell also became the foremost citizen. He was an ardent Whig and plunged into the 1840 campaign, in which he was prominent. Later he was a delegate to the con- vention at Pittsburg, which organized the Republican Party (1856). No doubt I saw his tall figure among the delegates, for even while a telegraph-messenger boy I was a keen free-soiler and ever on the lookout for the celebrated delegates who were then the gods of my idolatry. He came into contact with the men who were nursing that mysterious infant, the telegraph, much troubled to know how the stranger from a strange world was to be nursed. It was an uncanny visitor, whose evident connection with occult forces staggered those in whose charge it lay. Cornell was then in his thirty-sixth year, just in his prime. We must not fail to note here that but for the mechanical and scientific genius of Cornell, as far as we can judge, Morse and his party would not have succeeded, and we should have had to wait until one of Cornell's stamp had been discovered. 432 THE CORNELL ERA Mr. Cornell, had become tlioroly convinced that the new niedinm was specially adapted to the needs of commercial bnsiness, and hence that it wonld prove profitable. He plnnged into the work with all liis resolute enthnsiasm and all his means, inclnding what he could borrow. Where others faltered he drove on, firm of heart and sure he had divined rightly. Short lines were built in many parts of the country, and at last men entered upon the Telegraph Age in earnest. Lines were erected in every direction, subscriptions being obtained in the towns and villages connected with them. The chief burden fell upon Cornell, as nothing approaching the needed capital could be obtained in the towns along his great Western line. Here again he displayed in the darkest hour that sublime confidence in his own judgment that amounts to genius. He persevered, investing not only all he had made in the Eastern lines, which he had built upon profitable contracts, for he was a great manager, but obligating himself deeply beyond. In 1848, his enterpri.se was completed, Buffalo was connected with Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago and Milwaukee. Then followed his line thru the Southern counties of this State. Later came connection with Pittsburg. Well do I remember that among my first sights upon arriving in Pittsburg from Scotland, just entering my teens, was the erection of telegraph poles thru the town. From 1848 till 1854 there was bitter competition among the various small short lines. The great West proved the most profitable field. The people of a village there supported an office, which small towns in the East failed to do. Bankruptcy for most seemed imminent when there was formed the first "Trust," I think, in our history, the Western Ihiiou Telegraph Company, which embraced most of the smaller companies and, admirably managed as it has been, now covers the whole land. At its head to-day stands General Clowry, President, my fellow ex-Telegraph- Messenger-Boy, whom Cornell knew and often noticed. Cornell was the most prominent man among the originators of consolidation. He had watched over the new invention of its infancy, supervised it during its growing )outh, and conducted it to maturity ; was the largest stockholder in the Western Union and one of the few millionaires then known. This was before THE CORNELL ERA. 433 the new species, the inulti-inillionaire, had made its appearance. His fortune, immense in tliose days, exceeded two million dollars^ all made out of nothing but hard work, speculation having no place in it. Cornell money was clean money, the reward of labor. It is a remarkable fact that this man of unconquerable faith in the invention, never faltering for a moment, made more out of it than all the original owners of the patent combined from their interests in the telegraph companies. He invested all his savings in the one enterprise — put all his eggs in one basket and then watched that basket. He held on to all his stocks, while they lacked faith and were discouraged by the obstacles which only aroused Cornell and gave him the giant's strength. Even when in want of funds for ordinary expenses he would not sell. Here our hero shines out again as a born leader of men, one among a million, who compels success, "snatching from the nettle danger the flower safety." For all time he ranks as the "Great Pioneer Telegraph Builder.' In 1857, at the age of fifty, finding himself owner of a compet- ence, he determined to distribute some of his surplus for the good of his fellows, and rightly feeling that his beloved Ithaca was entitled to his first benefaction, he decided upon establishing a Free Public Library as the best gift that can be bestowed upon a community. I shall not be expected to disagree with our hero y" upon tt^at point. Such was the opinion of my father, who was one of the founders of the first library in my native town, and I rejoiced when I read that this object appealed above all others to Cornell. He had to borrow the books he read in his youth, and only such as have had to do this can fully realize the necessity for and blessings of the Free Public Library. They may be trusted to place it first of all benefactions. To Cornell is to be awarded the credit of being one of the foremost to establish on this wide continent a library free to all the people. A proof of breadth of view, remarkable in his day, was the ap- pointment as Trustees of the Library, holding title and managing all, of some of his strongest political opponents, and of the minis- ters of the different churches, Catholic and Protestant alike. Co- lossus-like, he spanned the narrow gorge of prejudice, political and theological, and set the best men of Ithaca of all parties and all 434 THE CORNELL ERA sects co-operating for the public good. Quite common this now, and growing into the general rule as man develops, but in his day it needed the bold pioneer among the horde of smaller men who only follow a leader. Such men marvelled at Cornell's display of such unheard of catholicity. The idea of taxing the community for the maintenance of a library had not then developed. Such would no doubt have been considered decidedly socialistic, for why should property of those who had a library, and did not need one, or who did not want books, be assest for the benefit of those who did want to read books? Much water has run under the bridges since then, and I venture the prediction much more is to run in the same direction. Cornell, therefore, erected a partly-rentable building in which the library was placed. The rents maintained the library. To-day communities gladly furnish sites and tax themselves for maintenance, so clearly is this seen to be a wise use of public revenues. The world does move, and moves rapidly, impatient tho we often are at its seeming immovability. Peter Cooper was the first apostle of the "Gospel of Wealth" in this country and perhaps in any country, and Cornell one of his first disciples. It is a cult which, I believe, is sure to grow. More and more are thoughtful men to regard surplus wealth only as a sacred trust to be administered during their lives for the good of their fellows instead of being hoarded. A few words may not be amiss here summing up what Cornell stands for. First. — It was the first Eastern University to give full liberty of choice between studies. Before its day with two or three ex- ceptions in the West, all University students, without reference to their aims, tastes or abilities, were required to take mainly one simple, single, cast-iron course. Cornell completely changed this. Large liberty of choice was given, and the result was magical. Second. — Before Cornell obtained its free charter, with the ex- ception of the State Universities of the West, all in the land were sectarian and denominational. Its charter provided that no pro- fessor or officer should be chosen with reference to his religious or political views, and that a majority of the Trustees should never be of any one religious sect. This latter provision may some day create embarrassment, when all Christian sects agree upon just THE CORNELL ERA. 435 what Christianity is and nnite, which seems sure to come sooner or later. This, however, is unlikely to disturb our generation. Third. — Another claim to our regard is that until Cornell ap- peared there was a great gulf fixt between the higher institutions of learning and the common school system. Instead of these be- ing combined into one unbroken, ascending path, they were dis- connected. Cornell from the very start determined to remedy this disastrous break by pushing its roots down into the school system. It establisht a free four-year scholarship in each Assem- bly District of the State open to public competitive examination, so that from the beginning there has been a body of young men and women which numbers to-day not less than six hundred, the vast majority coming from the hard-working poor but worthy class, enjoying free University education in any branch desired, and this not as a charity, but for proven merit. From infant school to Cornell University and thru it, all free as the wind, not one cent to pay. What other land can boast of anything approach- ing this ? What would not a scholar so developed do for such a country ? Fourth. — We come now to another feature of Cornell's unique organization, that of women students. Here again it stood in the van. Its Founder in his scheme favored their admission, but it was then thought best not to proceed. In 1872, however, a young lady won the scholarship in her district and made her ap- pearance. She was cordially welcomed. At the opening of the session both Founder and president favored co-education, and then came ]\Ir. Sage with his magnificent gift of the splendid Women's College which bears his honored name. There was much search- ing of heart among the people then about this forward step, but there is none to-day. A brilliant success highly creditable to both sexes, the product of a more manly man and a more womanly woman. Another Cornell idea must not be overlookt. It was first among Universities to admit its graduates to full and effective participation in its government. The Alumni here, both men and women, have a large representation in the Board of Trustees, with excellent results. Cornell is the University of Triumphant Democracv. 436 THE CORNELL ERA. Business men and methods are sliarply criticized in our day, not without reason, but we do well to remember that the man of affairs is essential, and that business ability ranks high in import- ance when working for some such purpose as Cornell and Sage were in this instance. Not for self-gain was he inspired, but for a noble public need. His gains are still at work here and this stream of benefaction flows for ever. Universities more than most institutions have been favored by the gifts of business men. It dignifies the lives of Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Stanford, Hop- kins, Clarke, Brown, Dartmouth, Williams and others to have their wealth transformed into seats of learning. Their very names arouse the enthusiasm of thousands of our leading men who were students in the past, and of thousands of students of to-day, and hundreds of thousands yet to come will cheer them. In the memorable struggle with the Land Grant problem, we note the rare foresight which distinguished Cornell, the indomita- ble will and abiding faith in himself against all doubters, and, above all, we feel the throbbing heart which prompted him to greatly dare for the object of his love, his University. If any student of Cornell in a crisis be ever in want of example to inspire him to hold fast and fight on to the end, knowing no such word as fail, he can find no better in the pages of history than that of the Founder and the Land Grant campaign, fought against the earnest advice and even remonstrances of his best friends. He stands in history here, recalling Coriolanus' proud boast, "Alone I did it." Ex-President White judges that the most remarkable of all his traits was his foresight. He was apparently the most sanguine of men in regard to the future of his country. He had faith in her destiny which he saw was to become the mightiest and freest Empire the world had ever dreamed of, a Continent under one flag. Hence his belief that the telegraph would prove profitable, that his railroad projects would prosper, and that the Land Scrip would become valuable as population increased. All his ducks were swans. To make this transformation is an invaluable quality in any man. He knew much better than not to count his chickens until they were hatched. He counted his over and over long before a hen cackled, and a few extras were sure to THE CORNELL ERA 437 arrive in due season. Philosopher as he was, he knew that even if they never were hatched at all he had thus at least enjoyed the pleasure of the count, which was something to the good. If we do not anticipate many a splendid brood, we may seldom have the pleasure of counting at all. It is good policy to secure the count. Be king always, students, in your dreams. Have faith in your star, as Cornell had. Rejoice in coming triumphs. Count them over often in anticipation. Stand to your guns, certain of victory at the finish as he was. You cannot find a character more worthy of imitation in every respect, unselfish, courageous, truthful, gen- erous, and reverent man as he was, and although not quite ortho- dox in his day, ever mindful of the great truth that " the highest worship of God is service to man." Ezra Cornell at last saw Cornell University fairly launched, his ideas adopted and bearing good fruit. The next enterprise that attracted him was to bring Ithaca well into the railway system, and into this serious task he launched with his usual enthusiasm and incurred heavy responsibilities, again against the remon- strances of friends, who pleaded with him to take the rest he needed. His reply was that he was good for twenty years yet, like his father, " and would make another million out of the rail- roads needed for the University endowment." Never was man more completely absorbed in an undertaking than he in his Uni- versity. It was his first care from the day it began, and, as we see, his last care to the end. Of this we may be well assured, no University bearing the name of man ever received from its founder a tithe of the labor bestowed upon this by Cornell, who contributed not only his fortune, but consecrated himself to it, and just as his abilities were sorely needed he was prostrated, on June 9th, 1874, by an attack of pneumonia, which proved fatal. On December 9th, he breathed his last, in his sixty-seventh year. lyadies and Gentlemen, Faculty, Students and Alumni of Cor- nell, let us be grateful that there has come to us the knowledge of such a man, and resolve that this light shall not shine upon us without creating within our breasts the firm resolve to revere the memory, emulate the virtues, and follow as closely as we can the example of one who all his mature life " went about doing good " — Ezra Cornell. Ezra Cornell. — From a photograph in possession of Mary E. Cornell, Ithaca. The date of this picture is not known, but it was probably about 187 1, as the pict- ure in the Horn collection is a duplicate. (See Mr. Cornell's letter, page 359.) THE MEMORY OF EZRA CORNELL, BY DEAN T. F. CRANE. IT is almost forty-two years since I first met Ezra Cornell and I can still see the tall, spare form and the bine eyes in which Inrked shrewdness and hnmor. For the three years before the opening of the University I saw him constantly, and for a time acted as his secretary. He was very kind to me, as he was to all young men, and I have tried to show my gratitude by my devotion to the enterprise he inaugurated. As time pa.sses, one trait of his character asserts itself in my memory — a trait which seems to me almost divine. In his pur- pose to benefit mankind he was moved from his course by no storm of obloquy, nor was he checked by ingratitude or indiffer- ence. Thought of self had no place in his mind, and his life was marked by an almost austere simplicity. The number here who knew him personally is fast growing smaller and soon he will become a memory like John Harvard and Elihu Yale; but the students of Cornell University who owe to him such an inestinuible debt of gratitude should hand down to each other a vivid portrait of the Founder's moral traits which it needs no legend to ennoble. The Cornell Era Vol. XXXIX May, 1907 No. 8 Terms :— The subscription price is ji.oo per year, payable on or before December ist. Single copies, 25 cents, may be obtained at Andrus & Church, the Co-operative Society's Store and the Triangle Book Shop. BOARD OF EDITORS. William Winthrop Taylor, '07, Edito r- in - Ch ief. George Perrigo Conger, '07 Managing Editor. Henry George Stutz, '07. Eldridge a. Spears, '07. Georgk F. Rogalsky", '08. Robert J. Spencer, '08. I,eroy R. Goodrich, '08. William A. Kirk, '07. Business Manager. Robert Robinson Bergen, '08, Assistant Business Manager . T. Glenn Durkan, '08. F. W. Warner. '08. Walter 1,ed\'ard Todd, '09 lyORiNG K. Warner, '09 William T. Burwell, Jr., '08, Artistic Editor. Address matter for publication to the Managing Editor, and business communications to the Business Manager. Entered at the Post Office, Ithaca, N Y., as Second Class Matter. " Thought once awakened does not again slumber.^' The constructive work of the Founder will last forever. Ezra Cornell, in simply doing unto others what others had been unable to do for him in his youth, opened new paths in education and gave new ideas to his countrymen. His noble character has been an influence in the lives of those of the old Faculty who had the privilege of personal acquaintance. His name will live in the memory of every boy whom he has helped along the road. — Former Professor James M. Crafts. ON BEHALF OF THE MANAGEMENT. WITH this issue of The Era the present board lays down its pen. To go back a little, in June of last year The Era made certain promises. Those promises we hope we have fulfilled ; whether we have is not for us to venture state- 440 THF'. CORNRLL ERA meiit. If, however, The Era following the line of development laid down last year has continued to evolve, then we are not nnsatisfied. If it has widened the circle of its friends, interested its readers to a reasonable extent, and secured for itself, more or less firmlj^, a permanent place in Cornell undergraduate life, then will the effort expended not have been without purpose. In any event it has been a labor of love and is its own reward. So much for the past, — just a word as to what is to come. If The Era merits anything of praise this year — (and we do not venture opinion) — we have no hesitation in predicting that it will be at least fifty per cent, better next year. Plans effecting this im- provement have already been decided upon and they will be put into operation, — that is, of course, provided the generous support given this year is increased in the future. But that is a practical hint and, editorially at least, we don't like to talk business. Suf- ficient to say that the new Board will do the work. And so with the kindliest feeling toward all, contributors, read- ers, and advertisers, and university public at large, the present Board steps down and out, glad indeed for the respite but regret- ting that the work is done ; severing connection in fact but never in spirit with Cornell's oldest publication. The results of the Prize Poem Contest, announced in these pages last December, will be published in the June issue of The Era. TODD, BLACKMER & CO. A first class place to find all kinds of good Dry Goods. The establishment is of long standing and most reliable. Opposite F»ost Office. Electrical Devices of every kind and Supplies for Gas and Kle^ric Lri^liting^. Table Lamps, Pocket Lights, etc. Davis=Brown Electric Co., Inc, Licensed Contractors and Electrical Engineers. Next door to Lyceum THE CORNELL ERA 19 THE CHAMPA GNE .< .h. 20.h Gntury MOET %. CHANDON WHITE SEAL of the MarvelloDsly Grand Vintage of the year 1900 Superior in Quality, Dryness and Bouquet to Any Champagne Produced Since the Great Vintage of 1884 20 THE CORNELL ERA some: ITHACA MADE SPECIALTIES THAT ARE WORTHY OF ATTENTION ARE White Hat Baits ) . ^ Q«r^r+orY^^r. White Hat Trout Flies ^^°^ Sportsmen. The Cornell University Gasoline Broiler-Heater, for Poultrymen. The Automatic Ice Cream Freezer, for every home. ALL MADI-: RV TREMAN, KING&CO., Manufacturers and Jobbers of HARDWARE AND SPORTING GOODS, Ask for Catalogue, Dept. G. Ithaca, N. V. College Men in DennsncI Search for 1907 men who will be in the niarkef for positions next summer or fall is already ou. This year we ran short of college men long befr re we had filled all the positions that came to us for them. Positions now open at each of our 12 offices for 1906 college and technical school grad- uates who are not yet permanently located. Well known firms offer salaries of |50o-$iooo. Write us to-day. The National Organization of Brain Brokers. Broadway and Duane Sts.. New York. offices' iu twelve cities. write 11^ lu-ud^. HAPGOODS, L. E. G LA ESS EL, 65 Grand St., New York City, Exclusive Boot Maker To College W\&r\. AT ITHACA HOTEL MONTHLY. THE CORNELL ERA 21 MahevH to Coruell 1905. Caps AND GOWNS. Selected Material and Careful Workmanship at Lowest Prices. Faculty Gowns and Hoods^ Pulpit and Judicial Robes. CUSTOM TAILORS. Cap and Gown Contracts executed a7id satisfaction guaranteed to Yale University , Brown University, Coltimbia University New York University, Ohio State University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota. and a great many Colleges. COX SONS and VINING, 262 Fourth Avenue, NEW YORK. 22 ■ THE CORNEL/. ERA BELL ENGRAVING CO. ILLUSTRATING DESIGNING ENGRAVING High-class Halftones and Line Cuts at Attractive Prices. Mail Orders Receive Prompt Attention. Class Books, Annuals, Souvenirs, etc., a Specialty. Seixl for Free Copy of "Photo-Engraving Tips." College Shoes TJnequuhd Varietj/ Correct Stf/le So tisfactory So vice Cost less than imitation. Sixth Avenue and 19th St., NEW YORK. ALEXANDER. The Cornell Era Advertiser 23 WANTED, FIVE HUNDRED HEN To take their CLEANING and PRESSING To A. G. HOLLAND 216 W. State. Coyitracts a Specialty. PETER SCUSA Does First Class Shoe Repairing At 412 Eddy 5t. BAKER'S Chocolate Makes the Fudge. Send for our new recipe book, mailed free, con- taining recipes for mak- ing Cocoa Fudge, Smith College Fudge, Welles- ley Marshmallow Fudge, Chocolate Fudge with fruit. Double Fudge, Fudgettes, and a great number of other tempting recipes. DO IT jsrow t 47 Highest Awards in Europe and America. WALTER BAKER & CO., Ltd. Established 1780. Dorchester, Mass. Registered, C. S. Pat. Oft. MEi^Ll^Y'S PHARMACY FOR YOUR Drugs, Prescriptions, Sponges, Tooth Brushes, Tooth Powders, all kinds of Toilet Articles, Wines and Cigars. 154 E. State St. "If you get it from us it's right." BUTTRICK & FRAWLEY, Clothiers and Furnishers. Largest Assortment. Quality ttie Best. SUITS, OVERCOATS, RAIN COATS, and TROWSERS. 118 East State St., Ithaca. 24 The Cornell Era Advertiser Spring and Summer Woolens. Large Stock. Little Prices. The Corner Tailor Shop. 409 Eddy Street. CLEANING AND PRESSING. MR. CORNELL AND THE LABORING STUDENTS. " The way the boys take hold of the spade and wheelbarrow indicates the stuff that great men are made of. Mr. Cornell him- self, as if taken with the spirit of the thing, was seen a few days back, with a pick-axe in his own hands, giving to the boys his personal countenance and management." — Ffoni the ItJiaca Daily Journal^ November 10^ 1S6S. The Gibson Mandolin and Guitar Company. Kalamazoo, tS/lich. Sold by George L. Coleman. Reserve this spaee for HEREON, the COLLEGE SHOE MAN. The Cornell Era Advertiser 25 Hotel Iroquois. ABSOLUTELY FIREPROOF. EUROPEAN PLAN. Wooley & Gerran, Proprietors. Buffalo, N. Y. Also under same luaiiajjeiiient Grand Union Hotel, Saratoga Springs, N. Y. Hotel Marie=Antoinette, Broadway and 66th and 67th Sts. New York, N. Y. 'H '""^'.I ■,r.'.l'l>""vk CORNELL LIVERY. Edward P. Sayre, Proprietor. First-Class Livery and Coach Service. 213 SOUTH TIOGA STREET. Particular Attention paid to Wedding and Party Orders. Good Four-in-Hand Rigs with Only the Best of Drivers. Bell Phone, 55. Ithaca Phone, 363. University Book Bindery. PRACTICAL BOOK BINDING IN ALL ITS BRANCHES F. GEORGE REED. 1 1 8- 1 24 South Tioga St. Try Picture Framing AT )mit|'s l^rt %m 315 E. State St., Ithaca. 26 The Cornell Era Advertiser The Equitable Life Assurance Society OF THE UNITED STATES, —PAUL MORTON, Piesident— OFFERS TO THE PUBLIC THE New Standard Life Insurance Policy Prescribed by the New York State Law. THE POLICY has been framed to insure to each policy- holder the fullest protection, and every appropriate benefit. It is INCONTESTABLE and UNRESTRICTED after the first year. Dividends are paid Annuallv. Liberal loan, and surrender, values are granted. Policy payable at maturity either in cash or instal- ments, or The money may be left with the Society at interest, or The insurance may be converted into an annuity. THE COMPANY. The financial strength of the Society ; its promptness and liberal dealing with the public ; its many reforms ; the conservatism and economy with which its affairs are administered, guarantee to its policyholders insurance that insures — protection that protects. For further particulars apply to the undersigned. W. A. KIRK, or SNYDER & SNYDER, 119 Eddy Street, 102 West State St. Phones: Bell 551, Bell Phone, 148B. Ithaca 405X. ITHACA, N. Y. The Cornell Era Advertiser 27 NORWOOD'S TAILORING SHOPS IS THE PLACE TO Get Your Clothes Pressed WELL. They guarantee everything to be first-class. Stilts to Order, $20 up. 411 East Strte Street. To the New Fellows : We have the Shoes demanded by the College Boys at the Right Price, Fall Oxfords at $4.00, $5.00, $6.00. We a.sk to let us show them to you. Vorhis & Duff. 204 E. state St. the: CASH store: ^ 111 «/ NA/here you can Save 20% by Raying Cash 28 The Cornell Era Advertiser HMEIN l)eKin purchasing your DRUGvS, MEDICINES and TOILET ARTICLES, CIGARS, TOBACCOS and CIGARETTES of us and you will continue. The Hill Drug Store, HK 320 Huestis St. THE CORNER BOOKSTORES. Elst. 1S6S. Endeavor to keep in touch with t-very student requirement. Our facilities for handlinj( and distribuliiig are unsurpassed. We receive daily direct from the j)ublishers all new public-ilions as issued and carry on our shelves constantly all text and reference Ijooks. Drawing Instruments and Supplies for Various Departments. Our prices compete with anyone. aTsentiment. One of the oldest officials in the treasurer's department tells this story of Ezra Cornell. Among the early students was one who had developed a mania for the autographs with or without sentiments, of the great men of the community. One day he rang the bell at Mr. Cornell's house. The servant who opened the door informed him that Mr. Cornell was at dinner. " I only wanted Mr. Cornell's autograph with a thought or sentiment," said the importunate collector. In a moment the servant reappeared, bearing a slip of paper which she handed to the delighted collector. His joy, however, was considerably lessened when he read the sentiment : ^'- 1 do not like to be disturbed at my meals. Ezra Cornell. — Cornell Magazine., Febr.^ i^oo. R. C. Osbom & Co. Largest assortment of CORNELL BANNERS in the city. Ask to see the large Felt Flag for 50 cents. Fountain Pens a Specialty. The Cornell Era Advertiser. 29 WISE, The Printer. \ YOU WANT IT STUNTY YOU WANT IT G O O D YOU WANT IT Q U I C K i TYPfWRll *^^^^1?^' We Can Save YOU Money. Get Wise, Corner Aurora and Seneca Sts. If )OU are thinking of buying or renting typewriters. WE SELL NEW MACHINES AT A DIS- COUNT OF 10 . AT LEAST OFF LIST PRICES. Secoiid-Haiid Macliiiies of all makes, prices from $10 to I75. All ma- chines guaranteed delivered in perfect condition. LocalAgent, D. B. KIRK, 119 EDDY STREET. 402 Huestis St. D. M. BARBER, at The Monarch Typewriter Agency, Phones : Bell 24 ;-B ; Ithaca 402-A. First National Bank CORNELL LIBRARY BUILDING A General Banking Business transacted YOUR BUSINESS SOLICITED. Safe Deposit Boxes for Rent 30 The Cornell Era Advertiser Every Student, Professor and Instructor Needs Insurance "We \%'rite We can put your risk in the Best Companies and at a rate that will please you. Call and see us. GEORGIA & SOUTHWORTH, Insurance, Real Estate and Loans. 156 East State St. Both Phones. ' Ithaca, N. Y. ALL ACCESSORIES FOR L3unohes_or.Ro\A/ B03t3 Mufflers, Carbureters, Mixers, Spark Coils, Spark Plugs, etc. Marine Lu^jincs Irom 1 . H.l'. to 40 H.P. New and second-hand Launches, from i8 ft. to 25 ft. long, will be sold at a sacrifice. THE MOTER & MFG. WORKS CO. Foot of Buffalo Street, Ithaca, N. V. The Cornell Era Advertiser 31 An DRV s & Church, Booksellers, Stationers, Printers and Bookbinders. ORDERS FOR ENQRAVeD\ CALLING CARDS PROMPTLY FILLED WATERMAN AND REMEX FOUNTAIN PENS. Printers of the publications of The Sibley Journal, The Widow, The Cornell Era, Transactions of the Association of Civil Engi- neers of Cornell University, The Forestry Quarterly, and the Proceedings of the Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Society of Cornell University, arjrarjrararararjrararararar** vsov ^^ *ij*-»,. \ \ 'o^^L-®^ rHOTOGFAFHeRXLflS^fo" The Cornell Era Advertiser 33 CORNELL STUDENTS FIND THEIR WORK SIMRLIFIED BY USING TypeWri-tcr The Standard Visible Writer. HALP AN HOUR Of practice and you can operate it much faster than you can write with a pen — and your work is much neater. -ASK US ABOUT OUR SPECIAL PURCHASE PLAN. BURROWS & O'DANIEL, Everything for the Typewriter. Bell Phone 604. 205 E. State. 34 The Cornell Era Advertiser "Ve: stoodes," For Room Decorations, For Paints and Varnishes, For Paper of Any Kind, CONSULT U. S.Jolinson, 309 E. State St, PARKER FOUNTAIN PENS A SPECIALTY. HAS STOOD THE TEST, and will continue to serve board at $4.00 per week, cash, to those who like Perfect Service and Pure Food, 327 Eddy Street, near Campus Gate. Tlw Cornell Era Advertiser 35 STATLEKS UllCOTT SdlARE Wright, Kay & Co. 30 c. iVlEALS and a la Carte Lower Dining Room 40 c. MEALS and a la Carte — ON- First Floor buffuosBesi RESTAURANT i SIATS 500 [[flhi You owe it to Yourself to phone us before you give vour order for LAUNDRY. Just call up the Sears Hand I^auiidry on Bell Phone 29S k Badges Jewelry Novelties Pennants Stationery Invitations Announcements Programs Our 1907 Catalogue of Frater- nity Novelties is now ready and will be mailed upon application. Send for our Sample Book of Stationery. Wright, Kay & Co., Detroit, Mich. Manufacturing Jeweler.s and Importers. Paris Office, 24 Rue des Petits Hotels. HONEST GOODS AT HONEST PRICES. Standard High Grade Surgical Instru- ments and Physicians' Supplies. You can not afTord to buy poor instruments, nor can we afford to sell poor ones ; we would soon be down and out. You don't want to be overcharged for good instruments either? Then deal with us. Our prices are from 10 ■^ to 40 "t lower than those of other instrument houses. If you haven't our latest price list, " OUR SALESMAN, No. 4," a postal will Ijring it to you. Get it and compare our prices with prices of our competitors. It will pay you, and we want your business. THE PHYSICIANS' SUPPLY CO. OF PHILA. Room 51 to 54 Estey Building. I II 8-1 1 20 Chestuut St. , Philadelphia. Mention this Journal when you write. 36 The Cornell Eta Advertiser HAVE YOU SEEN THE New No. 12 Hammond ? Besides having all the advantages of the old No. 2 Hannnond such as perfect and unchanging allignment, back spacer, instantaneous chaijge of type thus writing twenty-seven languages in over one hun- dred styles of type, an}' width paper, uniform impression, etc., it has the new additional features of polychrome ribbon attachment and ab.solute visibility and new line feed with variable spacing mechanism, making it possible for a change from the regular spacing to the three, four, five and six letter spaces, very desirable for mathematics, map lettering, etc. You should have a typewriter in your University work as it means marks ten per cent better, work performed with greater ease and rapidity, and the Haillliioncl is the only machine for the student as it is the only machine on which 3'ou can do all kinds of work. The Haniiiioiici is for sale by FLOYD M.GRANT/07, 408-420 Eddy St. i860 46th year 1906 HOME LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NEW YORK. Assets, 117,886,594.88 Liabilities, fi6, 457,194.41 (Including Dividend-Endowment Kund.) Dividend Endowment Fund (Deferred Dividends) 11453,907.00 Contingent Fund 225,000.00 Net Surphis 1,204,400.47 Insurance in Force 76,775,340.00 The Home Life supplied one of the marvels of the present investigation — an insurance company without any obvious scandals — -IV. V. Tribune, 12-1205. Mr. Hughes' inquisition was not less searching than before, but the officers of the Home Life insurance company apparently survived it unscathed. — N. Y. Herald, 12 12 05. Statement Furiiislied upon Request. I. R. STEIVEINS, Gen.Agt 220 E. STATE ST., ITHACA, N. Y. Insurance that insures. Agents Wanted. The Cornell Era Advertiser BORN A KING! Crowned by the instant approval of critical users, the TYPEWRITER Today reigns supreme in the business world 99 **THE MONARCH TOUCH Tells the reason. Send for it. The Monarch Typewriter Company General Offices and Faclory. SYRACUSE. N. Y. CARVER & BARBER, 402 Huestis St. PflOOeS : Bell IM B ; lltiaCQ 402. 38 The Cornell Era Advertiser T O see if this book is worth ad- vertising in, we offer the following specials : A Plate and 100 Cards, Script $1.00 100 " Solid Old English $2.00 100 " Shaded Old English $2.50 [| 1 00 Sheets of Note Paper with Monogram ) - $2.00 Plain Embossed and Envelopes J Invitations, Programs, Etc. A Department for Brass Plate Engraving. C. E. Brinkworth, Engraver and Stationer, 331 Main Street, BUFFALO, N. Y. The Cornell Era Advertiser. 39 A Camera to keep your memory frP^cK There is nothing Hke it. Pictures are truer than * ^^^ • your memory and a great source of pleasure in later years. A very good camera can be bought for two dol- lars but there are better ones at a higher price. THE CO-OP. CORRKC r CLOrHIIVCi." But experience teaches ! Experiejice has taught us that good «pM^w Clothing at medium prices pays IILIiIaL. "^ ^"^ yo\x. If you want the experi- ence of finding a suit you can get into and feel right — come right here. Sole Agents for IS A ARD CHER Fine Clothing. Full Dress and Tuxedo Suits for Sale or Rent. Suits and Overcoats Made to Order. Monarch Shirts, $i.oo. Cluett Shirts, $1.50. Adler and Fownes Gloves. Stetson and Howes Hats. BAXTER & SHEPARD, One Price, 126 E. State St. ^\)c triangle Book Sljop SHELDON COURT. Everything for the College man, and everything right including price. 40 The Cornell Era Advertiser VARTRAY GINGER ALE. Pure — sparkling — refreshing — rich with natural ])i(iuancy and the flavor of fruits and flowers. Vartray Ginger Ale is the College Man's drink after study and after exercise on the athletic field. You can buy a dozen bottles of Vartray Ginger Ale packed in a bucket. Remove the wrappers from the bottles, fill the space with ice and the bucket becomes a refrigerator. Just the thing for little card or jollification parties. Mighty handy to have around all the time. Vartray Cobbler. Here is a delicious drink to be decorated with seasonable berries and served with straws : Into a large glass put one teaspoonful pow- dered sugar, one piece of orange and lemon peel, one-third glass shaved ice, and fill up with Vartray Ginger Ale. Send for the \'artray Book of Recipes a n d Toasts. VllRIRllY MIER COMPANY. Buffalo, N. Y. ' The Cornell Era Advertiser 41 A College Book of all the College Athletic Records and clothes styles sent free on request. College Brand Clothes are made especially to please college men. They are the only ready-forwear garments that are cut extreme in every way. Not a bit like any other make in America. They're merchant tailored with all the annoyances and bothers and hang-ups and delays of the custom-shops eliminated— with the merchant tailoring profit extracted, and all the things that are worth-while left in. Sold in the best stores in every cityfi om the Atlantic to the Pacific. Made in New York City by E. L. Blimline & Co., 154-158 West 18 th Street. The First Bridge over Cascadilla Gorge, at the entrance to the campus. It was a wooden structure, crossing at the same point as the present bridge, but much nearer the stream. THIS BOOK IS DmG ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY ' WILL INCREASE TO 50 CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $l.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY i OVERDUE. 1 1 OCT 20 Ib^. fxper Ol \iiAA \)\}\ ajl •»*••* OCT 23 1944 LD 21-100w-12,'43 (87968) i / YD 1^25^ M GG14 lDl^e4- THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Sole Dietrilniters of IRuppcnbeimcr (5oot> Clothes Blackvvell Bro6. flDen'ri Shop IH lEast State Street Opposite post ©ffice Press oi- Anruus & Church, Ithaca, N. Y.