Stitx ^ntitt 
 
 Memoriat Address • 
 
 
 t" " '• : . -' " ■{ 
 
 THE/NEV>7ycrvK! 
 
 PUBli ^! 
 
 p: I 
 
 HLOt 
 
 mt)mum* 
 
 
 
 
• "'tfir *** 
 
 THE NEW^#%K 
 
 PUBLIC, Lt^R^^RY. 
 
 ASTOR, LENOX AJJ©t.O' 
 TILDEN FOUNJSAtIONS. 
 
 AH. f-^ 
 
 0^ 
 
^.y^^^^-c^^ 
 
 ^. 
 
^tto Pardee 
 
 Born November 19, 1810 
 Died March 26, 1892 
 
^j^fKlNT% 
 
Memorial Address 
 
 THE NEW YORK 
 
 PUBLIC LIBR 
 
 p 
 
 Delivered at 
 
 
 Lafayette College 
 
 £XOHAHG£D. 
 
 FOUNDER'S Day, October Twenty-third, 1892 
 
 .By 
 
 William C.^attell, D.D., LLD. 
 
 Ex-President of the College 
 
 PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES 
 
 Easton, Pennsylvania 
 
 ,:) 
 
ex \ 
 
 In Sxclni. 
 
 JM.i.Fulo, i-ito. 
 
 Published by Order of the Board of Trustees 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 BY 
 
 Ethelbert D. Warfiei/D, LL.D., 
 
 President of I,afayette College. 
 
 The first step in the founding of Lafayette College was taken 
 on the evening of December 27, 1824, when a small company of 
 earnest and patriotic men met in the little hotel which then stood 
 upon the northeast corner of the public square in Easton. They 
 were men of promptitude in action and at once fixed upon a plan, 
 and gave to the College of their expectation that name which, now 
 borne by the College of our affection, seems so fitting and so full 
 of the inspiration of unselfish devotion. A charter was speedily 
 secured and the Hon. James Madison Porter, LL. D., became the 
 president of the first Board of Trustees. But, though there was a 
 purpose and a plan, for a long time the hand was lackmg which 
 should realize them. At last the Trustees found the man they 
 sought, and in the providence of God the Rev. George Junkin, 
 D. D., laid the foundations of this institution. On the 9th day of 
 May, 1832, the college began its work on the south bank of the 
 Lehigh River. A more suitable site was shortly afterwards secured 
 on the present campus, and in June, 1833, the ground was broken 
 for the first permanent building. 
 
 Years of struggle followed the inauguration of the first founder's 
 work. Years of hope and discouragement, years of self-sacrifice 
 and hard earned successes. At last in the dark days of the 
 Rebellion the college seemed on the point of failure. Then it 
 was that the Trustees calling to their aid the Rev. Wm. C. Cattell, 
 found in him the second founder of the college. By God's grace 
 he brought success out of discouragement, revived the hopes, and 
 re-established the confidence of the community. He was sur- 
 rounded by devoted men in the faculty and won to his aid assistance 
 
from many till then unknown, but henceforth to be remembered as 
 long as these walls abide. First among these was he whose memory 
 we to-day are met to honor — Ario Pardee, Esq., the founder of 
 the Scientific Department, the princely giver, the wise counselor, 
 the faithful head of the Board of Trustees. 
 
 Dr. Cattell has been invited to recall to-day not merely the 
 man who gave so nobly of all he possessed, and of all he was, to 
 the college, but also those events so critical and so fortunate in 
 which they were fellow laborers. He has been asked to lay aside 
 all reserve and tell the story of the awakening of Mr. Pardee's 
 interest in the college, of its growth and final fruitage, and of its 
 mellow fullness ; to tell all this that we who are entered into these 
 seats may appreciate all that was accomplished in the twenty years 
 of fellow service. In 1863 only a part of old South College 
 crowned this glorious hill; in 1883 these grounds were already 
 substantially what we now behold them. It is well for us to 
 remember these days of struggle and triumph. Well, that we may 
 honor the men who did so much for Lafayette College, well that 
 we may learn to emulate and imitate the noble spirit which was 
 theirs. 
 
 It now gives me great pleasure to present to you the Rev. Wm. 
 C. Cattell, D.D., LL.D., Ex-president of Lafayette College, whom 
 we may well name with Junkin and Pardee among the founders of 
 the college. 
 
MEMORIAL ADDRESS 
 
 BY 
 
 WiLWAM C. CattelIv, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 :Ex-President of I^afayette College. 
 
 Eighteen years ago, October 20, 1874, the following action 
 was taken by the Faculty of Lafayette College and ordered to be 
 placed upon its records for all the generations of Lafayette : 
 
 Resolved, That to-morrow, the twenty-first day of October, being the first 
 anniversary of the formal opening and dedication of Pardee Hall, the usual lec- 
 tures and recitations be suspended, and the day marked by appropriate exercises ; 
 and that hereafter the Wednesday following the twenty-first day of October in 
 each year be recognized as the anniversary of the founding and gift of Pardee 
 Hall, and that it be set apart forever by Lafayette College, its Faculty and students, 
 under the name of Founder's Day, as a commemoration of the founder, ARIO 
 PARDEE. 
 
 During all these intervening years, at each recurring " anni- 
 versary of the formal opening and dedication of Pardee Hall," the 
 Faculty and students of Lafayette College have, as one of the " ap- 
 propriate exercises" of the day, assembled in this spacious and 
 beautiful Auditorium to listen to an address. On these occasions, 
 members of the Faculty and other eminent men have discussed 
 such topics in Literature or in Science as are befitting the thought- 
 ful attention of a company of Christian scholars. 
 
 But during the past year the great benefactor of the College 
 has been borne to his honored grave, and the Faculty have fittingly 
 directed that what is said on this Founder's Day shall be said of 
 him, especially of what he was to Lafayette. To be sure, in every 
 address upon Founder's Day there have been appropriate and grate- 
 ful references to his munificent gifts, which have rendered possible 
 the great work al Lafayette in the wide reach of its Scientific and 
 Technical Courses. But the generations of student life come and 
 go ; there are now upon the roll of the College the children of 
 those who were undergraduates when Mr. Pardee first gave to the 
 College the forward movement which has resulted in the Lafayette 
 
of to-day ; many of his associates in the Board of Trustees and 
 many of the honored members of the Faculty, who were witnesses 
 of his timely and munificent aid, have passed away ; and although 
 the name of Ario Pardee will ever be a household word with the 
 Alumni and all other lovers of Lafayette, yet something more than 
 detached and fragmentary references to him is needed, in order that 
 the memory of what he really was and of what he really did for the 
 College may not become dimmed in the fast receding years. 
 
 The Faculty therefore, judging this Founder's Day to be a 
 fitting time for a memorial address, have invited one to be the 
 speaker who during the time of Mr. Pardee's great work for the 
 College was in very close official relations with him, and whom 
 Mr. Pardee honored with his personal friendship for so many years; 
 .and after what your honored President in his introduction this 
 morning has been so kind to say I need offer no apology to you for 
 introducing my own personality in what I shall say of Mr. Pardee, 
 nor need I apologize to the older members of the Faculty if I re- 
 peat what may be familiar to them, for the benefit of the younger 
 members of my audience. 
 
 But before I speak of the happy day when Mr. Pardee first 
 became interested in the College we all so much love, let me give 
 you, in a brief statement, some facts of general interest in his life. 
 
 Ario Pardee was born in the town of Chatham, Columbia 
 County, New York, November 19, 1810. He has told me, how- 
 ever, that his earliest recollections were of his father's farm in Ste- 
 phentown, near New Lebanon Springs, Rensselaer County, New 
 York, where he led the usual life of a farmer's boy until his twentieth 
 year. In a letter to me Mr. Pardee once said : 
 
 My education was limited to what I learned at my father's fireside and the 
 ordinary district school; though, fortunately, I had for a time the advantage of an 
 excellent teacher in the Rev. Moses Hunter, a Presbyterian clergyman who, to 
 eke out a scanty salary, taught our district school tM^o winters. I was then fifteen 
 years old, and his teaching about finished my school education, though I was an 
 industrious worker at my books at home. 
 
 In June, 1830, Mr. Edwin A. Douglas, who, as a fellow towns- 
 man, had known Mr. Pardee from childhood, offered him the posi- 
 tion of rodman in the engineer corps of the Delaware and Raritan 
 Canal, in New Jersey. Mr. Pardee often referred to the reception 
 of this letter, the turning point of his life. He was out in the field 
 plowing when it was brought to him from the house. He stopped 
 his work long enough to assure himself that the letter summoned 
 him from his boyhood's home, to go out into the wide world to begin 
 
a career for himself among strangers ; then, with characteristic 
 fidelity to the duty in hand, he resumed and finished his days' work. 
 This was on Saturday. Before daylight on the following Monday 
 he set out from home, joining Mr. Douglas and corps on the pre- 
 liminary survey of the canal, a few miles from Trenton. With him 
 and Mr. Canvass White, the chief engineer of the canal company, 
 he remained until the canal was fully located, when he was stationed 
 first at Princeton with Mr. George T. Olmstead, who had charge 
 of the middle division of the canal, and then with Mr. Ashbel 
 Welsh at Lambertville. In May, 1832, still under Mr. Douglas and 
 Mr. White, he was transferred to Pennsylvania to make the survey 
 and location of the Beaver Meadow Railroad from the mines of 
 that company to the Lehigh Canal at Mauch Chunk. The young 
 rodman had by this time exhibited to his employers those sterling 
 traits of character which his whole life afterwards exemplified — un- 
 tiring industry, a sound judgment, good practical common sense 
 and an unswerving fidelity to duty ; and though without the ad- 
 vantage of special training in technical schools, indeed with only 
 the very meagre common school education to which his letter refers, 
 he was soon advanced to the front, and the entire charge of the work 
 upon the Beaver Meadow road was entrusted to him. This was 
 before he had reached his twenty-fifth year. His removal to Hazle- 
 ton shall be told in his own words ; I quote from a letter of his 
 written to me many years ago : 
 
 In the Fall of 1836 the road was finished and the shipment of coal com- 
 menced. I then resigned my position, and after visiting my parents who had 
 moved to Michigan, I took up my quarters in the month of February, 1837, at 
 Hazleton, having previously located a railroad from the Hazlelon coal mines to 
 the Beaver Meadow railroad at Weatherly. We finished that road and com- 
 menced shipping coal in the Spring of 1838, and I continued in the employ of 
 the Hazleton Railroad and Coal Company as their superintendent until 1840, 
 when I commenced business in Hazleton as a coal operator, which I have con- 
 tinued up to this time. 
 
 In addition to his growing business as a coal operator, Mr. 
 Pardee took in hand, one after another, great business interests in 
 other parts of this State and in other States^ and in Canada as well 
 
 adding to his wealth year by year, until through his well-directed 
 
 and untiring energy, his enterprise, his business sagacity, joined 
 with rare administrative ability, there came to him a fortune which, 
 though he always said it was largely over-estimated by the public, 
 was yet a fortune of which, when following the plow upon his 
 father's farm, he had little dreamed. 
 
He continued to reside in Hazleton from 1840 until his death, 
 which occurred in the early Spring of this year, while he was on a visit 
 to Florida. There, after a brief and painless illness, tenderly minis- 
 tered to by his devoted wife and the two daughters who, with his 
 family physician, accompanied him, he peacefully breathed his last. 
 
 It was in the Fall of 1864 when Mr. Pardee, then in his fifty- 
 fourth year, had his attention first called to Lafayette College. It 
 was perhaps at the most discouraging period in the history of the 
 College ; I say the most discouraging, and this means a great deal, 
 for Lafayette, like all colleges in their early history, had a pro- 
 longed struggle with adversity. More than once its very existence 
 hung upon a slender thread — in 1849 ^^d again in 185 1 its gradu- 
 ating class numbered only three ! Its Founder and first President, 
 Dr. George Junkin, was a man of great endowments, mental and 
 moral, and he was a marvel of devotion to the College. Associated 
 with him in the Faculty were eminent scholars and teachers, and 
 from its comparatively small number of students the College sent 
 forth men who made their mark in the world. But the College was 
 always hampered in its work by the lack of means and other adverse 
 influences. From 1832, when the first classes were formed, to 1863, 
 when the scholarly and devoted McPhail retired from the Presidency, 
 there were (including Dr. Junkin's two terms) no less than six admin- 
 istrations — each President struggling for an average of five years and 
 then, worn out and disheartened, abandoning the almost hopeless 
 work to another. Under the last two of these Presidents I myself 
 served as a professor, and I well know of their heroic but ineffectual 
 struggles to establish the College upon a firm and secure foundation. 
 When Dr. McPhail resigned the country was in the throes of the 
 Civil "War; and so little breath was left in the College that in 1863 
 the Annual Commencement was altogether omitted, and a meet- 
 ing of the Trustees was called " to consider the propriety of sus- 
 pending operations under increasing embarrassments." 
 
 I was elected President of the College in October, 1863, and 
 resigning my happy pastoral charge at Harrisburg, immediately 
 entered upon the duties of the office. My inauguration took place 
 during the following Commencement, and the new College year 
 began in September, 1864, with a Freshman class of six — increased 
 to ten before the year closed. 
 
 Of course, the financial problem confronted us at every turn. 
 The whole amount of the salaries paid to the professors was $4900^ 
 and the income of the College was not quite ^3200; naturally, the 
 College was in debt, and it was generally agreed that unless the 
 
prodigious sum, as it seemed to us in those days, of ^30,000 was 
 secured within a year, the Board of Trustees would have to consider, 
 not the "propriety" but the necessity of suspending operations. 
 To emphasize still further the importance of securing this great 
 sum, let me add that a gentleman in New York had promised, if it 
 should be secured within a year, to pay the entire debt of the College. 
 
 At this crisis in the history of Lafayette Mr. Pardee appeared 
 upon the scene. But it was not until more than eleven months of 
 the year had passed — months, I can assure you, of anxious and 
 exhausting toil on the part of the new President, and with only one- 
 third of the sum needed to save the College actually secured. 
 
 It was towards the close of the year that I sought an interview 
 with Mr. Pardee, of whom I knew but little beyond the fact that 
 he resided at Hazelton, was a prosperous man of business and a 
 regular attendant upon the Presbyterian Church. The pulpit was 
 vacant, and I occupied it upon a Sabbath in September 1864, and 
 was the guest of Mr. Pardee. During the Sabbath day little was 
 said about the College, but enough forme to learn that Mr. Pardee 
 scarcely knew of its existence; in fact, he told me that he had 
 never been in Easton, except to spend occasionally a night there at 
 some hostelry in the old stage times, when the passengers to New 
 York and Philadelphia from the mining region were accustomed to 
 break their journey for the night at Easton. 
 
 But on Monday, as we walked to and fro in the beautiful and 
 spacious grounds which surrounded his mansion, Mr. Pardee, busy 
 man as he was, courteously gave me an opportunity to discuss with 
 him the whole subject. He listened patiently and attentively as I 
 told him the story of the College, its long-continued and heroic 
 struggles to carry on its work, and its present specially embar- 
 rassed condition which made its future seem almost hopeless. But 
 to all this his reply was characteristic of a man who, immersed in 
 business, had thought but little of liberal studies and of the aim 
 and object which a college education has in view. " Why don't 
 you throw it up," said he, " if it doesn't pay ? That's what we 
 do when we strike a vein of coal that doesn't pay us to work." Of 
 course, this led to an attempt on my part to show him that a college 
 was carried on with a very different object in view from that in 
 working a coal mine, or in carrying on any business operation 
 where the return looked for is pecuniary gain ; that every college 
 in the country was more or less an eleemosynary institution — even 
 at Yale and Harvard and Princeton, where there was the largest 
 number of students, the tuition fees never fully paid the salaries of 
 
the professors ; that while in Germany and other countries on the 
 continent of Europe, college and university studies were included 
 in the education provided by the Government, in this country, 
 although a common school education was aiforded to all by the 
 State, the pursuit of liberal studies would be limited mainly to 
 the sons of rich men, unless generous gifts for the support of pro- 
 fessors in colleges and universities should be made by those whom 
 God had blessed with wealth and the disposition to use it for the 
 benefit of their fellow men, and, I added, " such a man I take you 
 to be." 
 
 The minutest incident of that hour is deeply graven on my 
 memory. I can recall now, with the distinctness with which I recall 
 the events of yesterday, that Mr. Pardee, after several minutes of 
 silence, said : "Yes ; I see. I thought you had come to Hazleton 
 to preach ; but you came here to ask me for money to carry on a 
 college. I would really like to know how much you expected to 
 get from a plain business man like me." Had anyone assured me 
 when I left home for Hazleton to talk about Lafayette College with 
 a rich man whom I had never before met, that he would have given 
 me a thousand dollars, or even five hundred, a jubilate would have 
 broken from my lips ! But God put it in my heart then and there 
 to say : " Mr. Pardee, I trust you will give us twenty thousand dol- 
 lars " — though I added, as he looked fixedly in my face : "This 
 is a great sum of money even for a rich man like you to give, and 
 you know nothing of our great work and of our great need, except 
 what I have told you to-day. Come to Easton ; look over the 
 whole ground for yourself; talk with the professors at their homes 
 — and then decide." 
 
 Without a moment's hesitation he said : " No ; I understand 
 it all now as well as if I should come to Easton. I will give you the 
 twenty thousand dollars now. ' ' 
 
 He turned away abruptly and entered the house ; and while I 
 stood in a sort of daze — wondering if I had rightly understood him 
 or whether, indeed, it was not all a delicious dream — he returned 
 and placed in my hand his note for twenty thousand dollars payable 
 in six months, with his check for six hundred dollars as the inter- 
 est ; then bidding me good morning, he hastened to his office, 
 while I stood, more dazed than ever, but grasping tighter and 
 tighter the twenty thousand dollars I held in my hand. 
 
 How I reached the cars, or how I got home, whether in the 
 body or out of the body, I can hardly tell. But I know that the 
 delectable mountains were all round about me that day — for the 
 
13 
 
 thirty thousand dollars were now secured, the debt would be paid, 
 and the College was saved ! 
 
 And I remember that I reached Easton in the early evening of 
 the same day, and that at the door of my residence (then on Fourth 
 street) stood one to welcome me home, whose gentle and loving 
 sympathy in my work had cheered and strengthened me during the 
 disheartening toil of long, weary months. Again and again had I 
 returned home, after days and sometimes weeks of absence, to say 
 to her: "No; not one person has given or promised me a dollar 
 for the College." And even as the year drew to its close with so 
 little accomplished, it was she who always had the brave heart and 
 the cheerful look, and it was she who always inspired me with hope, 
 as I went forth again to plead for the College. When I took leave 
 of her on Saturday morning she had said, "I cannot but believe 
 that the gentleman in Hazleton, whom you are going to see, will 
 give you something for the College." On my way home I had met 
 with several friends, but not to any one of them did I tell what "the 
 gentleman in Hazleton" had given me, or speak of the joy with 
 which my heart was so throbbing that it seemed as if it would burst. 
 No ; it was to her I should first tell it ; and a score of times had I 
 put together the very words in which I would announce it. But 
 when I stood face to face with her not a word could I speak ! I just 
 looked at her, and I think she feared another disappointment and 
 rebuff had been too much for me and that I had gone clean daft. 
 But at last I managed to say: "There, read that," as I put Mr. 
 Pardee's note in her hand. All the brave words I had so carefully 
 put together, in which to make the announcement of this munifi- 
 cent gift dwindled to just these three ! She hurriedly read the note 
 and then looked wonderingly at me for a moment ; once more she 
 read it, and looking again at me, but with eyes now dimmed with 
 tears of emotion, she said : " What does this mean ?"— but I must 
 not dwell upon the scene that followed when I told her what it 
 really meant ; that it was a gift of twenty thousand dollars and 
 that the College was saved ! 
 
 Another sacred memory comes to me of that day, when later in 
 the evening I climbed College Hill, and entered the room in Old 
 South, where the Faculty were holding their weekly meeting. 
 Many a time had I come back to them too with the story of my dis- 
 appointment and discouragement. Now and then indeed at these 
 meetings (for I always planned to attend them) I could tell my col- 
 leagues of some success — the fifty dollars I had received from one 
 man, or a hundred from another ; but mainly it was the same old story. 
 
14 
 
 and they knew that the year in which the ^30,000 was to be secured 
 was drawing to a close, with only ten thousand in sight. For weeks 
 I had brought to them no cheering word, and I must leave you to 
 judge of the effect produced by Mr. Pardee's note which, without 
 a word of explanation, and struggling to conceal the emotion which 
 thrilled every nerve of my body, I handed the clerk to read. Only 
 this I will add : there was an unbroken silence for several minutes. 
 It seemed as though no word could be spoken by us to each other. 
 At last the profound and solemn silence was broken by the voice of 
 prayer. The venerable Dr. Coleman, who when the clerk read 
 Mr. Pardee's note had bowed his head on the table, rose to his 
 feet, lifted his hands towards Heaven, and with a voice tremulous 
 with emotion, invoked God's blessing on the donor. Then we all 
 turned away, each to his home, without another word. 
 
 I have purposely dwelt upon this first great donation to 
 Lafayette College, made at a most critical period m its history, not 
 only because it was the beginning of the new Lafayette, but because 
 it was for those days a very large sum to be given to any college. 
 The era of munificent gifts for educational purposes had not yet 
 dawned. 
 
 Had Mr. Pardee given me $^0 or $500, I have no doubt that 
 it would have been a purpose of mine to seize some favorable oppor- 
 tunity, as my work went on, to again ask him for help. But so 
 overwhelmingly munificent was his donation, the largest for any 
 educational purpose which had ever been made in Pennsylvania, 
 that at the time I had no thought of ever appealing to Mr. Pardee 
 again. I did not know indeed that I should again look upon his 
 face. He had told me that it was not likely he should come to 
 Easton, and, as I had nothing to call me to Hazleton, it seemed 
 very improbable that we should ever meet. Yet, as the weeks and 
 months wore on, and the effect of his gift was seen in the awakened 
 interest of the friends of the College, inspiring them with hope 
 and confidence, and stimulating them to new exertions in its be- 
 half, so that its success seemed now assured, you can perhaps 
 imagine how Mr. Pardee was, in the homely phrase, " though lost 
 to sight, to memory dear. ' ' In fact, he came to occupy in my 
 thoughts very much the same position I imagine the patron saint 
 occupies in the thoughts of the devout Catholic, who does not doubt 
 he has been saved by him from shipwreck ! I longed to see Mr. 
 Pardee once more. Believe me, it was not with the thought of 
 further enlisting him on behalf of the College. I simply wanted to 
 look again on one, who appeared to me as in a beatific vision on 
 
15 
 
 that memorable day. I never entered a railroad car, but I looked 
 around, hoping that he might be there. I had no definite purpose 
 of even speaking to him, least of all about the College. I should 
 have been satisfied to take a seat where, unobserved by him, I could 
 look upon his face. One evening during the following winter at 
 the Girard House in Philadelphia, a friend casually mentioned that 
 Mr. Pardee was at the Continental Hotel, and was to leave at 5 
 o'clock in the morning to take an early train to New York. Long 
 before 5 o'clock I was at the hotel door waiting to catch a glimpse 
 of him as he came out, still undetermined whether I should speak 
 to him. But when he appeared I could not resist the impulse to 
 step up to him and give him my hand. He received me in his 
 usual quiet way, expressing pleasure at the accidental meeting, and 
 complimenting me upon my habit of early rising, he entered the 
 carriage and was driven off. 
 
 More than a year after I got that undeserved compliment from 
 Mr. Pardee about my early rising, I met him in a railroad car. He 
 courteously invited me to take a seat with him, and immediately 
 asked me how his " investment at the College was paying." I 
 assured him that, while it was paying him no cash dividends, it was 
 bringing a most happy return in the helpful aid it was to the Col- 
 lege in its great and now growing work. But I told him that it 
 would bring still larger returns if he would look after it himself by 
 taking a seat in the Board of Trustees. At first, this suggestion 
 seemed only to amuse him. " What do I know about the manage- 
 ment of a college?" said he. But we discussed the subject pretty 
 fully, and what his decision was may be seen in the College cata- 
 logue of the next year, where in the list of Trustees appears the 
 name, ARIO PARDEE, Esq., Hazleton, Pennsylvania. 
 
 To the duties of his new office Mr. Pardee bestowed the same 
 thoughtful attention which he gave to everything he undertook. It 
 was soon evident to all his colleagues in the Board that he did know a 
 great deal about " the management of a college." He made him- 
 self thoroughly acquainted with the minutest details, and was soon 
 convinced that at Lafayette College as well as in many business 
 operations in which he had invested, "an additional assessment 
 upon the capital stock already paid in" was rendered very desirable, 
 if not absolutely necessary, by the enlargement of the business ! 
 What this conviction prompted him to do, and how quickly it was 
 done, is best told in the "Announcement of the College Course of 
 Studies" in the same catalogue which first contained his name 
 as a Trustee. After the usual announcement of the old course 
 
i6 
 
 of liberal studies in the College and the pledge of the Trustees to 
 endeavor to give it " greater efficiency year by year," it is added : 
 
 It is evident, however, that the number of students in our country is great, 
 and constantly increasing, who wish to study the Natural Sciences, Mathematics, 
 Modern Languages and Literature, History, Rhetoric, Logic, and Mental and 
 Moral Philosophy, as thoroughly as they are studied in our best colleges, and who 
 would be glad to enjoy the culture and learned habits and associations of college 
 life, but who will not study Greek and Latin. To secure these advantages for such 
 as prefer to pursue their studies at Lafayette College, A. Pardee, Esq., of Hazleton, 
 Pennsylvania, has placed in the hands of the Trtistees the sum of |; 100,000. The 
 Trustees have accordingly established such a course under the name of the 
 Pardee Scientific Course in Lafayette College. 
 
 The further statement in the catalogue that the " Pardee Scien- 
 tific Course" was to be a "part of our present collegiate system, 
 which has grown up under the fostering care of the Church," and 
 that as far as possible " the old approved methods of College edu- 
 cation would be retained as a thoroughly tried means of securing 
 the culture and of imparting the learning becoming a Christian 
 scholar' ' was received by educators with some surprise. They were 
 familiar with business or commercial colleges, in which students 
 were especially prepared for a business life. They also knew what 
 the distinctly Technical schools meant, such as the Rensselaer at 
 Troy or the schools for Technical instruction which were co-ordinated 
 with some of our older colleges, such as the School of Mines at 
 Columbia or the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale. But many 
 persons gravely pondered over this "new departure" at Lafay- 
 ette, where all the students — Classical, Scientific and Technical — 
 from their Matriculation day to their Graduation, made one college 
 family and were taught and governed by one Faculty. It was long 
 before it came to be understood that the College roll showed no 
 other division than the long established one of four classes — Seniors, 
 Juniors, Sophomores and Freshmen. More than once I was asked, 
 ''Do the students in the Pardee Scientific School really attend 
 chapel prayers ?' ' But I must not enlarge upon this. As I have 
 already said, I am here this morning to talk to you about Mr. 
 Pardee, not to discuss even those educational questions involved in 
 the Course of Scientific and Technical studies which he added to 
 the curriculum of the College. 
 
 But I must say one thing in this connection. Mr. Pardee fully 
 shared in the conviction of the members of the Board and of the 
 Faculty, that the new Course should have the same Christian char- 
 acter which had been impressed upon all the studies of the College 
 ever since its foundations were laid in prayer and faith by Dr. 
 
17 
 
 Junkin a generation before,* Mr. Pardee was in complete accord 
 with the view, not only that all the departments of instruction at 
 Lafayette "should be in the hands of Christian scholars," but that 
 in the new Scientific Department no less than in the old College 
 Course there should be " a systematic and thorough study of the 
 Word of God." He was himself a reverent and diligent student of 
 the Bible. His pastor, Rev. J. G. Williamson, in a sermon preached 
 on the Sabbath after the death of Mr. Pardee, referred to his " cus- 
 tom each morning to go into his library and spend a portion of an 
 hour in reading the Scriptures," and he added : " The Bible used by 
 him at such times is all thumbed and marked." And Mr. Pardee 
 always spoke with the highest approval of the announcement of the 
 ,' Course of Biblical Instruction," made in the College catalogue 
 the year before his becoming a Trustee ; of which the concluding 
 paragraph is this : 
 
 The truths taught in the Bible in relation to the character, powers and duties 
 of man are inculcated as fundamental in Mental and Moral Philosophy, and the 
 philosophy of history is identified with the history of redemption. It is designed 
 to make the Bible the central object of study in the whole College Course. 
 
 With these great additions to the Funds of the College and 
 to its Courses of Study, the Annual Commencement of the College 
 in 1866, as may readily be imagined, was a time not only of great 
 interest but of great rejoicing. Never in all its history had there 
 been so large or so enthusiastic a gathering of its Alumni and friends. 
 Dr. Junkin and Mr. Pardee were both present ; the observed of all 
 observers, as they will always be the central figures of interest when 
 the subject of Lafayette College is uppermost in the thoughts of men. 
 
 And now, with five distinct Courses of Study fully organized, 
 with a large and able Faculty and a scientific equipment creditable 
 for those days, the College went on with its work — no one watching 
 its progress more closely or with a more absorbing interest than 
 Mr. Pardee. But he soon became convinced that a still larger 
 addition was needed to its funds for the more efficient prosecution 
 of its work, and in a letter to me, July, 1868, he offered to add 
 eighty thousand dollars to the sum ($120,000) already contributed 
 by him, provided other friends of the College would add a like sum 
 of ^200,000. " The donations for this purpose," says the College 
 catalogue of the next year, "completing nearly half a million dol- 
 
 * Dr. Junkin's name appears in the list of the Faculty printed in the same catalogue which 
 announces Mr. Pardee's accession to the Board of Trustees. He had resigned the Presidency of 
 Washington College, Va., and now, as Emeritus Professor of Metaphysics and Lecturer on Po- 
 litical Philosophy, was again connected with the Lafayette of his early love and of his self-denying 
 and devoted labors. 
 
lars lately added to the College funds, were made before January 
 ist, 1869," and then Mr. Pardee promptly drew his check for the 
 amount of his new subscription.* 
 
 With the greatly enlarged number of professors and students, 
 the need of enlarged accommodations and of a better equipment in 
 the way of apparatus and scientific collections was seriously felt. 
 This was the subject of frequent discussion between Mr. Pardee and 
 myself, and I knew very well just what would be the outcome. At 
 a meeting of the Synod of Philadelphia, held in Scranton in Octo- 
 ber 1870, I discussed fully the great work now done at the College 
 in its various departments of study and the need of further endow- 
 ments for the support of the professors, as well as the need of new 
 buildings, additional dormitories and professors' houses, a chapel, 
 a gymnasium, a library building, etc. I emphasized also the need 
 of a building specially adapted for the studies in the new Pardee 
 Scientific Department, but I added : 
 
 Although it is the most expensive of all our much needed improvements 
 it is among the least of my anxieties. There will be no appeal to the public for 
 this. Only let it be seen that the general College departments are provided for 
 by the Presbyterian community, upon which, in all directions, are radiating from 
 this centre of high education such manifold blessings, and we shall soon see rising 
 upon College Hill a building that shall combine the best features of the most 
 celebrated Technological institutions of this country and of Europe, fitted up with 
 all the appliances of modern scientific culture and every way worthy of the en- 
 larged and comprehensive views of the munificent founder of the department. 
 
 Of course, I did not speak these words unadvisedly. In fact, 
 I had read them to Mr. Pardee from the manuscript of my address 
 before I delivered it. He simply said : " All right " — for he was 
 a man of few words, though they were always to the point. Tn the 
 following Summer Mr. Pardee, seated in the study at my house, 
 asked me for a sheet of paper and rapidly wrote these two pages 
 which I shall read to you from his manuscript — you will see that 
 what he here says is also to the point : 
 
 Easton, Pa., July 24, 1871. 
 Dr. W. C. Cattell. 
 
 My Dear Sir : — We have had many conversations as to the proposed build- 
 ing for the Scientific school, but so far have arrived at no definite conclusion, 
 except that a building is absolutely necessary and must be built at no distant 
 
 *When the history of the College in those days is written, there will be grateful mention of 
 what was done by others whose gifts for the enlargement of Lafayette were added to those of 
 Mr. Pardee. By far the larger part of all the donations to Lafayette College during my 
 administration was made by the Trustees who, like Mr. Pardee, gave also in its service so much 
 time and labor out of their busy lives. I can here write only the honored names of those gener- 
 ous members of the Board who have passed away : — William Adamson and Morris Patterson, of 
 Philadelphia ; Thomas Beaver, of Danville, Pa. ; B. G. Clarke, of New York City ; Joseph H 
 Scranton and Thomas Dickson, of Scranton, Pa., and G. Dawson Coleman, ot Lebanon, Pa. 
 
19 
 
 period of time. Tiie growing wants of the College from the present and large 
 prospective increase in the number of students surely indicate that that time is 
 now. Will you therefore submit the plan of the interioriprepared by the Faculty 
 last Winter, or such amended plan as on further consideration is deemed prefer- 
 able to competent architects for a plan of the exterior, with estimates of its cost ? 
 The material to be stone. The style plain and substantial, yet such as may not 
 look out of place in the beautiful natural scenery with which it will be surrounded. 
 The cost not to exceed Two Hundred Thousand Dollars. If the plans can be 
 prepared in time, it would be my wish to put in the foundations this Fall, that they 
 may have the benefit of the Winter settling. While I do not, as in my former 
 gifts to the College endowments, make my contribution of the cost of this building 
 conditioned on an equal sum being raised by other friends of the Institution, yet I 
 shall be much disappointed if in the cost of other needed buildings and contribu- 
 tions to the Endowment Fund they do not place themselves on more than an 
 equality with me. 
 
 Respectfully yours, 
 
 A. Pardee. 
 
 The construction of the building commenced in the early 
 Spring of 1872, Mr. Pardee watching the progress of the work with 
 intense interest. Fully occupied as he was in his varied and ex- 
 tended business operations, he found time to give it his personal 
 attention. Nothing seemed to escape his notice. I recall his com- 
 ing over to my house one day with his hands daubed with mortar. 
 Noticing that I observed it as he went up to his room, he said 
 "Yes, I have just come from the new Hall where I pulled down a 
 portion of the walls ; they were not put up right ! " 
 
 The building was finished in the Fall of 1873, ^^- Pardee 
 adding to his original donation of ;^2oo,ooo, the entire cost of the 
 furnishing and the Scientific equipment, making his gift for the 
 Hall more than a quarter of a Million of Dollars. 
 
 Then came the great day, October 21 1873, observed as a 
 general holiday in Easton and the neighboring towns and villages, 
 when the magnificent building was dedicated. In the presence of a 
 distinguished Assemblage that crowded every part of the Auditor- 
 ium, R. W. Raymond, Ph. D., Lecturer upon Mining Engineering 
 in the College and President of the American Institute of Mining 
 Engineers, delivered an address full of noble thoughts. Himself 
 eminent among the Scientists of our day he discussed with masterly 
 ability the curriculum of the new Department, and showed the ad- 
 mirable adaptation of the Hall for Scientific and Technical studies. 
 Mr. Pardee's munificent gifts had brought this scientific education 
 within reach of the masses, and referring to this as an illustration of 
 the beneficent, use of wealth. Dr. Raymond said: "Such wealth 
 ought never to rouse the • faintest sigh of envy. Every poor 
 
man in Pennsylvania has reason to be glad and give thanks 
 to-day that Ario Pardee is rich." And the great Auditorium rang 
 with applauding cheers. In the afternoon there was an imposing 
 procession of the authorities of the Borough and of the adjoin- 
 ing towns, together with various civic and military organiza- 
 tions of the Valley, the schools and many citizens, which, after 
 parading the streets of Easton, visited the College grounds. In 
 the presence of this vast throng of many thousands gathered in 
 front of the Hall, Mr. Pardee, holding the keys in his hand, ad- 
 dressed me in these few but well-chosen words : 
 
 The completion of this building makes it a very pleasant duty, on behalf of the 
 Building Committee, and myself as the donor, to formally present it to you as the 
 representative of the Trustees and Faculty of Lafayette, The building itself 
 speaks of the skill and taste of the architect, the faithfulness of the builder, and 
 the care with w^hich it has been supervised during its erection. Our responsibilities 
 have not been small ; but on you, Sir, and on the students who shall go out year 
 by year from these halls, rests a far larger responsibility — the reputation of the 
 Institution. But, looking to the future by the light of the past, we rest the respons- 
 ibility on you with no misgiving. I have the honor. Sir, of now presenting you 
 with the Keys of the Hall. 
 
 Brief addresses then followed from high officials present — the 
 Governor of Pennsylvania, the State Superintendent of Public 
 Instruction, the President of the Easton School Board, the Chief 
 Burgess of Easton, the President of the Borough Council and 
 many others eminent in Church and State. In the evening there 
 was an informal Reception at the building. The main Auditorium, 
 the well-appointed Lecture rooms, the spacious halls for the Scien- 
 tific collections and apparatus and the numerous corridors were all 
 brilliantly lighted and thronged by an enthusiastic multitude. 
 
 This Reception recalls an incident which well illustrates Mr. 
 Pardee's modesty. The Borough Council in accepting the invita- 
 tion of the College authorities to attend the Dedication had, among 
 other Resolutions, passed the following: — 
 
 Resolved, That a Committee be appointed in connection with a Committee of 
 our citizens to confer with Mr. Pardee to ascertain whether it will be agreeable to 
 him on the evening of October 21st, to receive the citizens of Easton who desire 
 on that occasion to call upon him and testify their respect for him and their appre- 
 ciation of the noble gifts made by him to the College. 
 
 To this Mr. Pardee made the following reply : 
 
 Hazleton, October 13, 1873. 
 Messrs. Edward H. Green, John Stewart, McEvers Forman, and others. Committee, 
 Gentlemen . — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt through Dr. 
 Cattell, of your kind invitation to meet in a public reception of such of the citizens 
 
of Easton as should do me the honor of calling upon me on the evening of the 
 2 1 St inst. 
 
 There will be on that evening a social gathering of the Trustees and Faculty 
 with their families and the students of the College, in the new Hall, and there and 
 with them I shall be happy to meet the citizens of Easton and other friends. While 
 deeply sensible of the high honor conferred on me by your request, I would beg 
 leave most respectfully to decline a more public and marked reception. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 A. Pardee. 
 
 This letter was sent to me with a brief personal note, so char- 
 acteristic of Mr. Pardee's thoughtfulness and delicacy of feeling, 
 that I must read it to you : 
 
 Hazleton, Oct. 13, 1873. 
 
 Dear Sir . — I enclose my reply to the Committee of Citizens of Easton, which 
 please hand them. I hope my conclusion will be agreeable to them, for I deeply 
 feel their kindness and would do nothing that would seem to show a want of 
 appreciation of it. But I could not bring myself to agree to a more demonstrative 
 reception. Yours, 
 
 A. Pardee. 
 
 This shrinking from any demonstration in his honor or, in- 
 deed, any public reference in his presence to the great work he had 
 done for the College, was characteristic of Mr. Pardee. Of course, 
 at Commencements and other public occasions such references 
 could not be restrained, and they were always received by the 
 assemblage with enthusiastic cheers. The older members of the 
 Faculty will recall the ineffectual attempts at such times to get in 
 response a speech from Mr. Pardee. Sometimes the prolonged 
 cheers would get him upon his feet, but it was only to acknowledge 
 the kindness of the company and to say he "never could make a 
 speech." Once indeed, at the Commencement Dinner, Governor 
 Pollock, who presided, did get a speech from Mr. Pardee, and it 
 was a model of brevity, aptness and good sense, as well as modesty. 
 Said he : 
 
 You give me too much credit and the Professors too little for the great 
 work the College is doing. You should remember the answer the old painter 
 gave when asked with what he mixed his paints to produce such wonderful effects. 
 He said it was "with brains!" What would all the money given to Lafayette 
 College have amounted to if the Professors had not mixed it with brains ? 
 
 The Pardee Scientific Department was now fully equipped, and 
 the number of students rapidly increased. The year following the 
 dedication of Pardee Hall, the Freshman class numbered one 
 hundred and fifteen, and the whole number upon the College roll 
 was three hundred and nineteen. It can readily be imagined 
 what labor and responsibility all this added for the Trustees of 
 
the College, in which I can assure you Mr. Pardee took his full 
 share. He ''gave himself with his gift." Although so pressed 
 was he by his numerous and varied and important business opera- 
 tions, that he never took "a. day off" for a vacation, yet he 
 took many days off from his own work, that he might by a careful 
 study become thoroughly acquainted with the College management 
 even in its minutest details. He never missed a meeting of the 
 Board, and was always ready to serve on its committees, no matter 
 how much time or labor the business in hand demanded. 
 
 And Mr. Pardee was so quiet in his manner and ordinarily so 
 undemonstrative, that only those who knew him well could appre- 
 ciate his force of character, and the promptness and vigor with 
 which he discharged every duty. He never put off to-day's duty 
 till to-morrow ; and it seems the very " irony of fate," that when it 
 was announced that he " left no will," the public journals referred to 
 this as another illustration of the folly of men so immersed in busi- 
 ness as to put off such an important duty from day to day until it 
 is too late ! Mr. Pardee never put off anything ; and it is due to 
 his memory that I should say here that his views as to this matter 
 of a '' will " were well known to his intimate friends. Everyone, 
 he said, must decide this question for himself, but his own opinion 
 was that the law provided a just and equitable division of 
 a man's property among his family, and that any distribution other 
 than to these he thought should be made by a man during his life- 
 time. Mr. Pardee was reticent as to what he jhimself would do in 
 this as in most other matters, yet to those who knew what his few 
 words meant upon any subject, the announcement that " Ario Par- 
 dee left no will," occasioned no surprise. It never occurred to 
 them that it was through neglect ; nor were they disappointed that 
 he made no public bequests. He had given what he thought was 
 right and proper during his life-time, when he might have employed 
 all his money, as indeed so many do, in "making more," to be 
 distributed by the "dead hand." The church edifice in which he 
 worshipped at Hazleton was his gift, with the parsonage and the 
 land on which they were built ; and he gave to Lafayette College, 
 in successive donations, as the occasion seemed to demand, half a 
 million of dollars. What he gave more privately, here and there, 
 can never be known. More than once was I made his almoner in the 
 distribution of these private benefactions. When I happened to speak 
 one day, (in his presence, but with no thought of appealing to him 
 for aid,) of a clergyman, a friend of his and mine, who was painfully 
 embarrassed for the need of a new overcoat, Mr. Pardee, as he left the 
 
23 
 
 room, slipped a fifty-dollar bank note into my hand, saying, '' of 
 course he need not know from whom this comes." What he gave 
 in this quiet way is known only to the All-seeing One — but the 
 aggregate must have been large. 
 
 To all of his colleagues in the Board he was uniformly 
 courteous — often indeed hesitating to express his opinion upon 
 questions of expenditure under discussion in the Board, lest he 
 should seem to be "dictating" how his money should be spent! 
 Naturally, with the President of the College he was brought into 
 very close relations. Many and many conferences did I have with 
 him, and upon matters of gravest importance. We met by appoint- 
 ment at his house and at mine, and on the cars, and at hotels in 
 New York or Philadelphia, and discussed important principles in 
 College administration and minute executive details. Not un fre- 
 quently there were conflicting opinions to be reconciled and opposite 
 policies to be adjusted — enough, it would seem, to harass and irritate 
 any man living ; but he was always the same kind, patient, wise coun- 
 sellor. Never, in all those twenty years, anywhere or at any time, 
 did Mr. Pardee give me an impatient word. I cannot believe that 
 any College President ever had, or ever could have, an associate in 
 the Board of Management more considerately kind, more loyal, 
 more helpful. To my honored successor in the Presidency Mr. 
 Pardee was the same sympathetic and helpful friend and counsellor. 
 Dr. Knox had taken his seat in the Board the same year with Mr. 
 Pardee and, like him, had given his hand and his heart to the work. 
 There were but few important Committees of the Board upon which 
 both of these men were not placed ; and Mr. Pardee soon learned 
 to appreciate the high character, the learning and ability, the sound 
 judgment and conscientious performance of duty which distinguished 
 his colleague. When, therefore, in 1883, the Presidency became 
 vacant, Mr. Pardee at once turned to Dr. Knox (as did the other 
 members of the Board) and besought him to take the vacant Chair, 
 and he was always to him the same steadfast, helpful counsellor that 
 he was to me. 
 
 Had Mr. Pardee's life been spared he would have been the same 
 to Dr. Warfield, and there are for me delightful memories which con- 
 nect Mr. Pardee with your honored President. Serving with him 
 upon the Executive Committee to which the Trustees referred the 
 nomination of a successor to Dr. Knox, we were again brought 
 together in many conferences as in former years, and I can testify to 
 his joy when the good Providence of God brought Dr. Warfield 
 within our view, and to his anxious solicitude lest by any delay we 
 
24 
 
 should fail to secure him for the vacant chair. The very last lines I 
 received from his pen had reference to this. Writing to me as 
 Chairman of a sub-committee and in reply to a letter of mine giving 
 reasons for immediate action he says : 
 
 I have yours this morning, and am decidedly in favor of making a square 
 offer of the Presidency of Lafayette College to President Warfield, with the 
 assurance on the part of the Executive Committee of the Board that he will be 
 formally elected as soon as the Board can be convened. As far as I can do so, I 
 would authorize you to make the offer either by letter, or by personal interview at 
 once. 
 
 To US all it must ever be a cause for great rejoicing that Mr. 
 Pardee was spared to witness the inauguration of your honored Presi- 
 dent at the last commencement, and on that happy occasion to 
 place, as President of the Board of Trustees, the Keys of the 
 College in his hands. 
 
 But now, returning to the earlier days, I must recall that night 
 of horror — June 4, 1879 — when we all stood helpless and agonized 
 as we watched our beautiful Pardee Hall burn to the ground. But 
 upon that scene I dare not dwell. I never can recall it without a 
 shudder. 
 
 Let me hasten to say that in less than eighteen months a new 
 Pardee Hall arose, constructed upon the same general plan exter- 
 nally as the first, but much improved in the interior arrangements, 
 as suggested by the eight years' experience of the first building. 
 And then came another Dedication Day — November 30, 1880 — 
 more glorious even than the first. The Rev. Dr. Paxton, Modera- 
 tor of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, made the 
 Dedication prayer, and our own honored and beloved Professor 
 March delivered the address. The services of that ever memorable 
 day are a matter of recent history, and you scarcely need to be 
 reminded of the notable assemblage that graced the occasion. The 
 Governor of Pennsylvania was in attendance with his Staff; the 
 President of the United States came in a special car from W ;hing- 
 ton with a distinguished party, including two members of his Cabi- 
 net, and also the Assistant Postmaster-General, the United States 
 Commissioner of Education, and the General of the Army ; then 
 there were high Dignitaries of the Church, distinguished Educators, 
 Judges, Legislators and men eminent in all the learned professions 
 and in business life ; the borough authorities and other prominent 
 citizens of Easton and of the Valley were present; from all parts of 
 the country came congratulations by letter and telegraph ; and the 
 speeches on the College campus in the morning and those which 
 
25 
 
 followed the Banquet given in the Hall were worthy of this most 
 notable assemblage. 
 
 In his noble address to the great multitude gathered in front 
 of the Hall the President of the United States emphasized the vital 
 importance to a republic of popular education, and in conclusion 
 said : (I quote from the New York Tribune' s report) 
 
 Wealthy men understand that in no way can they do much good to those 
 who come after them, in no way can they build to themselves such a monument 
 that will preserve gratefully their memories in future generations, as by endowing 
 a College, a University, a Scientific School. Therefore, my friends, we are here 
 on this occasion, to do honor to the man who has set an example. And what an 
 example it is! He does it while he is alive and can see that his wishes are pro- 
 perly carried out and the work well done. I am glad to be here, glad to join with 
 you in saying God bless Mr. Pardee ! 
 
 The mention of Mr. Pardee's name led to loud and long-con- 
 tinued cheers and repeated calls for him to make a speech. With 
 some difficulty I persuaded him to come out from the rear of the 
 Presidential party to the front, in full view of the multitude, and 
 when silence was restored, he simply expressed his delight that the 
 building was " completely restored and even improved for its work," 
 but modestly disclaimed all credit for this. ''It is," said he, 
 ** through the wise forethought of the Trustees in keeping up an 
 ample insurance that we have to-day the Hall restored to the Col- 
 lege." Notwithstanding this modest disclaimer, the afternoon ad- 
 dresses in the crowded Auditorium had frequent references to his 
 munificent gift, and every mention of his name was received with 
 prolonged cheers. Said the Secretary of War, Ex-Governor Ramsey, 
 of Minnesota, an Alumnus of Lafayette: " But we are here to-day 
 to inaugurate this grand Hall, one which every man in the country, 
 and especially Pennsylvanians, will be proud of, the munificent gift 
 of one great public benefactor. The world everywhere may be 
 proud of such a man;" and General Sherman said: "He has 
 receiv i to-day stronger thanks than words, for he can see in every 
 face how much his act is honored and appreciated. His name will 
 be honored for all time." 
 
 But I cannot linger upon the memories of that happy day ; I 
 must come now to the severance of the intimate official relations be- 
 tween Mr. Pardee and myself upon my retirement from the Presi- 
 dency of the College ; and although these last words I fear must be 
 even more personal to myself than what has preceded, I must, if for 
 no other reason than to illustrate Mr. Pardee's kindly sympathy, 
 refer to what was to me so great a trial. 
 
26 
 
 The President's report to the Trustees of the College at the 
 close of the fiscal year 1882, is printed in full in the Lafayette 
 Toutnal of January 1883. After a somewhat extended review of 
 the year, •' the most delightful to me since my connection with the 
 College," it closes with these words : 
 
 With such pleasant recollections of the year just closed, and with such a 
 brightening outlook I enter upon my twentieth year of the Presidency with only 
 one misgiving ; and that is whether, in the present state of my health, I have the 
 strength fully to discharge the arduous and responsible duties which are insepar- 
 able from my position. I am deeply grateful for the generous and unfailing sup- 
 port of my colleagues in the Board and the Faculty and of the Alumni, but even 
 with this help the continuous anxiety and strain of my ordinary work, and the 
 necessity at times of severe and prolonged exertion, seem to me to demand more 
 than my present strength. But I am firmly persuaded that the great work here 
 will continue with increasing power and usefulness, whoever may be the men 
 honored of God to carry it on . 
 
 What was foreshadowed here became definite as the year went 
 on. My health was utterly broken by the long and exhausting 
 strain of twenty years and, assured by my physicians that only a 
 prolonged rest, perhaps for years, from work and from all responsi- 
 bility, could restore it, I laid before the Board at its next meeting 
 in June my resignation of the Presidency. Of course I had not 
 taken this step without full conference with Mr. Pardee, and it i& 
 with the deepest emotion I recall his tender and thoughtful sym- 
 pathy during all these trying hours. He was at my house more 
 frequently than ever, and his letters showed a kindly consideration 
 that if possible endeared him to me more than ever. " I shall very 
 much regret," he wrote, "if your conclusion as to resigning is- 
 final," but fully recognizing the condition of my health he adds 
 that however painful the separation may be, " your own judgment 
 and that of Mrs. Cattell as to what is best for you should and must 
 govern." Though he was willing to serve, and did serve, on the 
 Committee appointed by the Board to request me to withdraw my 
 resignation and to arrange, if possible, some plan by which I could 
 secure the needed rest and still remain at the head of the College, 
 he saw in this last conference with me on the subject that it could 
 not be done — and the intimate official relations between my honored 
 friend and myself, which had existed for so many years came to an 
 end. The last official act I performed as President of Lafayette 
 College was in this hall, which bears his honored name. On 
 Founder's Day, October 21, 1883 — ^just twenty years, to a day, after 
 my election to the Presidency — I presided over the exercises in this 
 
27 
 
 Auditorium, and when I left Pardee Hall that day, I was no 
 longer President of Lafayette. 
 
 I must add one thing more — a reference to the last sad rites 
 that were paid to his memory in Hazleton. Mr. Pardee had lived 
 in the town for more than fifty years — always a kind and thoughtful 
 friend, a helpful neighbor, a just and upright citizen ; and his home 
 life was one of typical beauty. He was a man so pure in his heart, so 
 stainless in his life — in every way so upright — that those among whom 
 he had lived so long and who knew him so well, could set his char- 
 acter before their sons as the model upon which their own might 
 well be formed. Prospered in his business he had become a million- 
 aire, but he lived among his neighbors and friends always the same 
 simple, unostentatious, kindly life ; and on the day when he was 
 borne to his grave the very streets of Hazleton were crowded by 
 them as they gathered to honor his memory. And men of high 
 position came to Hazleton that day from other parts of the Valley 
 and from distant cities and towns — men who had been long associ- 
 ated with Mr. Pardee in his many and varied business enterprises ; 
 the College too was represented — its honored President was there 
 and members of the Board of Trustees and of the Faculty and 
 many Alumni. Never had Hazleton witnessed such a great and 
 notable throng of men as were on that day gathered to show their 
 profound respect for the memory of Ario Pardee. 
 
 Although I could not, for one moment, hesitate to accede to 
 the request of the family that I should make the address, yet I said 
 then, as I say now to you as my closing words, Mr. Pardee was so 
 dear to my heart that my place on the day of his funeral should 
 have been, not in the pulpit but in those seats where, around his 
 lifeless body, the stricken members of his household during this 
 service sat in their silent and sacred sorrow. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 028 342 617 8