LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. Gl FT OF Class or THE UNIVERSITY OF LUFORNl^ an6 TLetters of travel Stephen. OF THE UNIVERSITY OF San TrancUco 1908 COPYRIGHT 1908 BY MRS. STEPHEN G. NYE Printed by ttfte fetanler-tEaplor Company San Francisco In compiling this book my first thought and intention was only to have the speeches and letters of travel of my dear husband printed in book form. I desired to have this publication as a souvenir for our children and also in order that our grandchildren, who were too young to remember him long, and the later ones who never saw him, might in coming years become acquainted with him in this way. Learning of my intention, the Judge's old friends claimed that they, as well as his immediate family, should have a share in the undertaking, and so the work has outgrown the simple plan at first formed by me. His letters from abroad, as will be perceived, were written to members of his own family. Had he entertained any idea that they would ever be published he would, doubt- less, have given them more care, but they probably would not have been more interesting. They appear as he wrote them, and that they are thoroughly characteristic his acquaintances can testify. I can not fully express my gratitude to the many friends who have contributed reminiscences and helpful suggestions. I am especially indebted to my friend, Hon. A. B. Nye, now State Controller of California, who has woven the material contributed into a truthful and sym- pathetic character sketch, in which he has embodied also his own impressions derived from a long and intimate acquaint- [iii] 166941 FOREWORD ance. Without Mr. Nye's invaluable aid I fear this book never would have materialized. Though only remotely related to the subject of the sketch both having descended from the original Benjamin Nye of Massachusetts he was a warm friend and dearly loved by the Judge. Also, I wish to express sincere thanks to Bishop J. M. Thoburn, to Mr. W. R. Farrington, to Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Richardson, to Mr. F. A. Hall, to Rev. J. B. Creswell, to Mr. Dudley Kinsell, to Mr. George W. Reed, to Hon. Grove L. Johnson, to Mr. F. A. Leach, and to others who have contributed such appreciative tributes of worth and affection; also, to the members of the Alameda County Bar Association for the touching memorial service; to Dr. E. E. Baker for his fitting eulogy, and to Dr. D. A. Mobley for his words of comfort; to the choir who rendered so sweetly his favorite hymn, "Lead, Kindly Light"; to the press, and to the many dear friends who sought to sweeten our grief with choicest flowers. But, above all, for the blessed husband who was vouchsafed to me for so many years, Lord, I give thanks. [iv] (Tontents Biographical and Character Sketch Alfred Bourne Nye . 3 Tributes to Stephen G. Nye 35 Stephen G. Nye Rev. James M. Thoburn .... 37 To the Memory of Judge Stephen G. Nye Rev. John B. Creswell 46 Proceedings Alameda Bar Association ..... 49 Speeches and Orations Stephen G. Nye 57 On the Death of Garfield 59 The College and the American Boy 63 A Grand Army Address 74 The Legal Aspect of Prohibition 78 Address at a Flag-Raising 92 Emotional Insanity and Legal Responsibilities ... 96 The Progress of Education 105 A Fourth of July Oration 115 Society and the Saloon 130 The American Common School 143 Memorial Day Address 163 To the Settlers of Tulare County 177 Letters of Travel 189 Naples and Vicinity 191 The Old and the New in Egypt 194 From Cairo to Beirut 201 The Jerusalem of the Present Day 207 Bethlehem, the Jordan, and Jericho 212 The Fountains of Palestine 217 Nature Studies in the Holy Land 220 The Oriental Rug Trade 224 Three Days in Florence 228 [v] CONTENTS The Charm of Venice 233 Milan and Thence to the Alps 240 Interlaken, Berne, and Geneva 247 Zurich and Strasburg 256 The Greatness of Modern Germany 264 Ten Days To See Paris 274 Unconventional Views of Dutch Art 283 Westminster Abbey and Monumental Art .... 294 An English State Trial . 302 The Lake Country and Scotland 311 On the Sea, Homeward Bound 315 Additional Letters and Lecture on Ancient and Modern Rome 317 Central Florida and Its Old-Time Orange Groves . . 319 The Boer-British War 327 Letter to His Grandson 332 Two Days in Rome 335 [vi] Cist of If [lustrations Stephen G. Nye Frontispiece FACING PAGE When We Were First Acquent 7 Pauline 14 The New Home at Fowler 23 On the Veranda at Fowler 33 At Life's High Noon 58 The Old Home at San Leandro 92 The Road to Sorrento 190 Crossing the Nile 199 Luncheon under the Walnut Tree 222 On the Grand Canal, Venice 231 Harriet Feeds the Doves 236 Hotel on Mt. Rigi 243 The Castle of Chillon 255 He Studies Clover While She Studies the Guide Book . . 300 The Family 1892 317 [vii] A Oo ?ou, O m? ^tlyrtle an6 TKarrlet, 60 U 6e6lcate this monument to Y^ur 6ear ^atber's memory, "more enduring tfyan brass." att6 Character SKetcl) of Stephen <5. bourne I UNIVERSITY an6 Character SKetcl) of Stephen Bourne This collection of the speeches and writings of the late Stephen G. Nye may be appropriately preceded by such a sketch of his career and estimate of his character as a long personal acquaintance and the assistance of many friends and admirers of the much-respected jurist will enable the present writer to give. There could be no more grateful task than to pay a deserved tribute of esteem to one whose long life of seventy-two years was honorably and usefully spent in the service of his fellow men; but it will be the endeavor to confine this sketch to a plain recital of facts, which in this instance will be the best eulogy. The noblest benefaction to the world is the example of a good life, and the more simply the story can be set forth, the clearer the truth will shine. Stephen Girard Nye was born in Westfield, Chau- tauqua County, New York, on the 3 But when the creditor came he was very well satis- fied with the loan and preferred to leave the principal as it was. Judge Nye observed the poor woman's disappoint- ment and appealed to the money-lender to accept partial 22 BIOGRAPHICAL AND CHARACTER SKETCH payment. Encouraged by this, the woman added her en- treaties, but all was of no avail, as the creditor refused to entertain any consideration but that of strict business. Thereupon Judge Nye, indignant at such an exhibition of indifference, offered to buy the note on the money-lender's own terms, and this bargain having been struck, he told the washerwoman that she could make payments on the princi- pal as often as. she pleased. As a fitting conclusion to what has been said of this aspect of Judge Nye's qualities as an attorney and counselor at law, I can not do better than to quote the following from one of the addresses made at the memorial meeting of the Alameda County Bar Association: "I do not think it is too much to say that there are scores of small homes and bits of property sheltering widows and orphans because Judge Nye, with his generous heart and wise counsel, gave them the aid they needed at a critical time." There can be no question of the quality of Judge Nye's heart. It was not merely generous; it was easily touched by the appeal for help or sympathy. A well-known lady of Oakland contributes this rather amusing illustration: "I went to hear Maud Ballington Booth, and by chance met the Judge in the lobby. I thought it a great honor that he proposed our sitting in the same pew, and I think I was rather surprised at his frequent use of his handkerchief, which was obvious and perfectly shameless. She gave her deeply affecting experiences in the slums as only a Booth can do it. When we left the church the Judge turned to me and laughed, saying: 'She is a good woman. Now I'll go home and hang my handkerchief on the line to dry.' " OF STEPHEN G. NYE 23 During the period of his residence in San Leandro and of his practice in Oakland Judge Nye had bought a farm of 160 acres near Hay ward. His love for mother earth was intense and no life appeared to him to hold pleasures so great as that of the farmer. At as frequent intervals as he could find time he would visit the farm and form plans for its improvement. He was interested in every variety of grass and in every weed which grew upon the place. After he had planted an orchard of forty acres, he felt a personal concern for the welfare of each individual tree. The letters which he wrote while visiting Europe and the Holy Land show the minuteness of his observation in studying and com- paring plant growths in different quarters of the globe. But the Alameda County property did not satisfy his ambitions as a land owner, and when the opportunity offered he sold it, and with the proceeds purchased two tracts of land in the San Joaquin Valley. One was a ranch of 1,800 acres in Tulare County, and the other a half section of fer- tile soil near Fowler, in Fresno County. He now deter- mined to retire from professional work, and make his home upon one of his farms. In October, 1888, he removed to the Antelope ranch, as the Tulare County property was called; it was situated in the foothills, about eighteen miles northeast of the city of Visalia. The location was excellent, a beautiful small valley, surrounded on three sides by high hills covered with live oak trees. But the improvements were old, and to develop the property called for a great deal of energy and expense. He built nine miles of wire fence to enclose the hills for pasturage purposes; developed the numerous springs; constructed a reservoir and piped the 24 BIOGRAPHICAL AND CHARACTER SKETCH spring water to it for use in irrigation; built a large barn, and remodeled the house. Until this time grain and stock- raising had been the only industries ; the new owner at once planted an orchard of mixed fruits, and finally, as an ex- periment, he set out a grove of oranges and lemons. As a theoretical farmer, he benefited his neighbors more than himself, for he taught them, by force of example, to aban- don the shiftless methods of farming with which they had worn out their soils, and to resort to deep plowing and sum- mer fallowing. But in the operations already spoken of, and later in trying to develop larger supplies of water by sinking wells, he exhausted his ready capital, and since the investment was one which did not promise to pay at an early day, he decided to return to law practice, and jokingly gave as his excuse therefor that one law office would run one ranch, yet having two ranches he must establish two offices. But he had sown seed which was to bear a rich harvest, for his orange grove, when it came to maturity, proved a great success, and this, with a few other similar experiments, led to the establishment of very large orchards in that favorable belt of land along the foothills; today every little cove in the hills is an orange grove, and the plan- tations extend out on the adjacent plains; hundreds of pumping plants supply an abundance of water for irriga- tion, and hundreds of carloads of the earliest and finest oranges grown anywhere in California are shipped to the New York and Chicago markets. When he again resumed his law practice, Judge Nye established his home as well as his office in the city of Oakland, where he continued to reside for some fourteen OF STEPHEN G. NYE 25 years. His old clients returned to him, and with them came many new ones. Miss Harriet Nye entered his office and became his chief clerk and private secretary, which position she occupied for a period of nine years, developing an ability that was a source of great satisfaction and pride to her father. In 1894 he took in a young partner, Mr. Dudley Kinsell, and the firm of Nye & Kinsell enjoyed a lucrative business, which endured until Judge Nye's retirement from practice in 1904. During this period Judge Nye's participation in public affairs was only occasional, although his interest in politics remained keen and he was always ready, with voice or pen, to aid a cause which he thought called for his assistance. His interest in the world was never bounded by a local horizon. He loved to make journeys through California, and also the States east of the Rocky Mountains. One of the most extended of these journeys was taken in 1885, when, with Mrs. Nye, and their daughters, then aged 14 and 12, he visited the New Orleans Exposition, and afterward jour- neyed leisurely on through the South to Florida, where they waited for the winter to pass; then proceeded northward, visiting many points of interest, and arrived in New York in time to witness the great public funeral of General Grant. One of the incidents of this journey was a visit to the old family home of the Nyes, in Barre, Mass., where many relatives were living. The return to California was made after an absence of eight months. Of the trip to Europe and Palestine, which was made in 1901, a sufficient ac- count is contained in the letters written in intervals of travel by Judge Nye, which constitute an important part of this 26 BIOGRAPHICAL AND CHARACTER SKETCH volume. All of these letters were addressed to members of his family, but some were given by them to the newspapers for publication. This trip abroad, and a preliminary jour- ney through the United States, including a visit to Wash- ington to witness the second inauguration of President McKinley, consumed about nine months. Few persons have a wider range of interests than was possessed by Judge Nye, and no one has ever enjoyed a more wholesome, simple nature. His manner and words bespoke the sheer pleasure of living. His sympathies stretched out on all sides to the people about him to men, women, and children. Deep as was his interest in material nature, it was with humanity that he was most profoundly concerned, and a great number of persons with whom he was in no way related by family ties, or joined by business con- nections, were sharers in his friendly enthusiasms. This was especially true of the young, in whom he loved to en- courage high aspirations, industrious habits, and the rule of strict integrity. To learn that a young man, the son of a friend or a client, or even the merest acquaintance, was manifesting these qualities gave him the greatest possible pleasure. He would oftentimes say to boys: "I want you to study mathematics and learn to shoot at a mark." Ex- actness in both matters of conduct and mental and physical labor was an essential part of his moral code. It would, naturally, be expected that a man so thor- ough and at the same time so straightforward would make a lawyer who, whether upon the bench or in office work, would be direct and simple in his manner of reaching re- sults, and such was the case. He had no love for technicali- OF STEPHEN G. NYE 27 ties. Indirection and surplusage were alike irksome to him. It is said that the deeds and contracts drawn by him were the briefest written by any member of the bar. He regarded one clear expression of an intent as better than a score of repetitions. When he was County Judge he drew up a set of probate forms which has remained in use more or less to this day, and the distinguishing characteristic of which was its conciseness. Something has already been said of his singular open- mindedness, and this was well phrased by one who re- marked: "It was not necessary to know Judge Nye long to know him well ; a ten days' acquaintance with him would enable one to know him almost as well as an acquaintance of ten years; and this was because he had nothing to con- ceal; his nature was so open that you were taken at once into his confidence. I think I never knew a man who was so frank." A man who conceals nothing must reveal much, and in his varying moods Judge Nye could be abrupt and harsh- spoken, but underneath any demeanor there was always the same kindliness of heart which never varied. His soul was a perpetual fountain of benevolence and affection. Mr. Wallace R. Farrington, the editor of the "Evening Bulletin," one of the leading newspapers of Honolulu, aptly described some of the characteristics of the subject of the sketch when he wrote : "Unfailing good nature and perfect integrity are the memories of the Judge that will stay with me while memory lasts. He was one of those men to make a deep impression on you, and one that holds for life. I never heard a petty complaining word from the Judge. He 28 BIOGRAPHICAL AND CHARACTER SKETCH was always on the comfortable side of life, whether things were as he wished or not. He allowed nothing to disap- point him, accepting the progress of events, not with in- difference, but with an absolute refusal to permit himself to be overcome. Judge Nye was not, as I knew him, a dominating spirit in the sense the term is ordinarily used. He was determined, without making any fuss about it. He was original. He was fair and square in his dealings. And he tied himself to your heartstrings in a way that will make him remembered and his many good deeds recalled when even the names of more pyrotechnical men of his day are forgotten. He was a mighty good man." The Hon. Grove L. Johnson, who served with Judge Nye in the Senate, wrote of him thus: "Like others of the Senate in which he served, I came to love him for his sweet- ness of disposition, kindness of heart, and willingness to aid others on every occasion. "I served with him in the Judiciary Committee, and found him always accurate in his conception of the law, always ready to listen to arguments and under all circum- stances fair in his treatment of questions and anxious to do that which was right and not expedient. "He was, I think, pre-eminently fitted to be a judge, because, while unyielding in his adherence to what he deemed to be the law and the right of the case, still he was so desirous to give every one an equal chance, that if he would have erred at all as a judge, it would have been in favor of the weak and feeble. "He was full of humor, and enlivened our committee sessions by his witty comments on matters and men and OF STEPHEN G. NYE 29 measures that came before us, while, at the same time by his dignity, preserving good order and decorum during our deliberations. "It was a distinct loss to the State when he declined further service in the Legislature." Another friend, in referring to his family and social life, said: "The Judge was singularly fortunate in all his family relations, and it always seemed to me that his life was blessed with a larger share of real happiness than usually falls to the lot of mortals. He was the star of a social gathering; where he sat was the head of the table. His fund of anecdote was drawn upon to the end and his con- stant humor was a joy to all who were within the circle. Not only was he the prince of entertainers, but he was a good listener. Nothing really good ever got past his notice." Judge Nye's appearance on a public occasion was always welcomed, because it was recognized that he would have something to say which would be at once entertaining and instructive. His abounding humor never ran to frivolity in his public addresses, which were notable for their intense earnestness. Judge Nye's stories and anecdotes were famous, and although always telling them, he seemed never to repeat himself. His memory was a vast storehouse of such things, and only the slightest impression of a passing incident was needed to touch the spring which would bring forth a nar- rative both apposite and mirth-provoking. His wit was as ready as his humor was abundant; but only a single illus- tration of it now occurs to the writer. On one occasion, 30 BIOGRAPHICAL AND CHARACTER SKETCH when he was in the State Senate, an oratorical member had made a long and ambitious effort, upon which Judge Nye offered this comment: "The Senator who has just taken his seat made a most beautiful speech, but you may rub your hands all over it and you will never feel a point." A legislative story which is worth recording is told by Mr. Clinton L. White, one of the well-known lawyers of California, who was recently elected Mayor of Sacramento. Mayor White was clerk of the Judiciary Committee of the Senate in 1880, when Judge Nye was the chairman. The full membership of the committee numbered ten; the com- mittee's work, for reasons already given, was extremely heavy, and it was necessary to have meetings every evening. A majority of the members soon tired of this grind, and after a time only three members Senator Nye, Senator Hittell, and Senator Wendell could be depended upon to attend the sessions. It had been voted that a quorum should consist of whatever number might attend, and the three faithful ones carried on the work until Senator Wendell fell ill of a fever and could no longer be present. Then Chair- man Nye and Senator Hittell constituted the quorum and got along very well until one night they disagreed upon an important bill and locked horns. They argued, but could not agree, and finally, as the only way to reach a decision, they said they would let the clerk vote. Mr. White sided with the chairman, whose report thus became the majority report of the committee; but Mr. Hittell was dissatisfied, and said he should file a minority report, to which Senator Nye readily assented. But next morning the historian pre- sented his report to the other eight members of the com- OF STEPHEN G. NYE 31 mittee and persuaded them to join with him in signing it. So, when Senator Nye presented to the Senate the "majority report" of the committee, signed only by himself, it was immediately followed by the "minority report," signed by nine members. There was great hilarity among the Sena- tors, but it did not in the least disturb the usual composure of the chairman; he declared that his remained the majority report, and that as such it should enjoy full rights of par- liamentary precedence. In attempting to deal with the side of this remarkable man's character which more than any other, probably, im- pressed his nearest friends I refer to his absolute, unde- viating integrity it is difficult to give the exact conception intended. Many men are honest in many different ways, and nearly every man is honest in at least some one way, however deficient in integrity in other respects. But the man or woman who is literally honest in all ways is rare indeed. Judge Nye was one of these extraordinary persons. Mr. Richardson, his old partner, made a fine distinction when he said : "Some men would not do a dishonest thing; Judge Nye could not do a dishonest thing. His integrity was as much a part of him as his body was." It was not in his nature to consider more than one possible way of doing a thing, and that was the simple, straightforward one. Pe- cuniary temptation, in the form of doubtful gain, did not appeal to him merely because he never regarded it as a possibility for him. As he approached the end of his seventieth year Judge Nye decided definitely that he would at last carry out his long-cherished plan of giving up business and retiring from 32 BIOGRAPHICAL AND CHARACTER SKETCH the city to the country. His farming enterprises had pros- pered even in his absence, and he believed that rural enjoy- ments would add not only to his happiness, but to his span of life. But, as events proved, he had waited too long, and his health had been fatally impaired before he took the final step. On June i, 1904, he retired from practice and closed his office door to clients, but remained at his post several months, closing up various matters of private trust. By October ist he was ready to leave town for his vineyard, but with characteristic regard for duty, he waited more than a month in order that he might cast a vote for The- odore Roosevelt for President. As soon as it became known that his active professional life had closed, the Bar Association tendered him a banquet, but Judge Nye, with his natural aversion to being lionized, declined the honor. Social entertainments were showered upon him and his family by their friends, not only in Oakland, but in adjoin- ing towns. His new home was on the Fowler ranch, where there had been reserved a choice building site on a hill overlook- ing a fine landscape. A pleasant country house was built, and water and lighting plants installed. Fine shade trees and shrubbery had been established long before, and avenues of eucalyptus planted; so that when the family entered the new home it was a little country paradise. From the house, Judge Nye could overlook his more than two hundred acres of vineyards, peach and fig orchards and alfalfa and grain fields. For a brief time the happiness of the retired jurist in his new surroundings was extreme. His ON THE VERANDA AT FOWLER OF STEPHEN G. NYE 33 enjoyment was intense when the mocking-birds, orioles and goldfinches made merry in his trees and the meadow-larks sang in the fields just beyond. The household at this time included, besides Judge and Mrs. Nye, their daughter Harriet. The elder daugh- ter, Myrtle, had been married in 1892, in Oakland, to Mr. Thomas H. Davis. In June, 1905, Harriet Nye was mar- ried to Mr. Philip W. Davis, a brother of the husband of the older sister. The newly married couple made their home in Visalia, where P. W. Davis was engaged in busi- ness, while Mr. and Mrs. T. H. Davis lived on the Antelope ranch. But the end of the life of the just man was fast approaching. In May, 1905, he suffered a stroke of par- alysis, from which he recovered only partially ; he was com- pelled to forego his usual activities, and his merry quips and joyous laugh were missed; but he still sat upon the porch of the house and listened to the birds singing in the trees, and almost daily he took a short drive. Once he visited a health resort and came back somewhat improved. In March, 1906, he went to visit his daughter at Antelope ranch, and while there his last and fatal illness overtook him. He lingered only five days after suffering an apo- plectic stroke, and passed away at ten o'clock on the morn- ing of April second. On the fifth of April there was a private funeral service held at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. P. W. Davis, in Visalia, Dr. D. A. Mobley, of Fowler, officiating, and using as the text for his brief remarks the words, "Know ye not 34 BIOGRAPHICAL AND CHARACTER SKETCH that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?" The body was taken for burial to Oakland, and there a more public funeral was held in the First Presbyterian Church on the seventh. Dr. E. E. Baker, the pastor and friend, gave an appropriate eulogy, and the choir sang "Lead, Kindly Light," which had been Judge Nye's favorite hymn, and "Good Night, Take Thy Rest." A large con- course of friends and members of the bar attended the ser- vice. Judge S. P. Hall, J. B. Richardson, Dr. V. E. Putnam, George Payne, L. C. Morehouse and Dudley Kinsell acted as pall-bearers. The remains were laid to rest in a beautiful spot in Mountain View Cemetery. The day before the Alameda Bar Association had held a special meeting, presided over by Judge Ellsworth. The usual testimonial of respect in the form of resolutions was offered and remarks evidencing the high regard in which Judge Nye was held were made by several of the Superior Court judges and by a number of the members of the bar. tributes to Stephen <&, 3 antes Mt. O bob !&. (Treswell of Tennessee (Tountv Stephen <&, Allegheny College is an institution established in the year 1815 at the town of Meadville in Western Pennsyl- vania, and having a record of good work done in the course of its successful career. Many worthy men have sought instruction in its halls, prominent among whom may be mentioned the name of William McKinley. It was my good fortune to become a student in this institution about the middle of the century which has recently closed, where still at the early age of fifteen I began to prepare for active life, and to assume the management of my own affairs. I found the college to be a little world in itself. Each student seemed to be an important factor in this world, and I scrutinized both the face and the conduct of each as I formed my most intimate acquaintanceships among them. The attachments thus formed in early youth have proved very strong and are unbroken still. Unfortunately I was obliged to leave the college at the close of my second year, and was unable to return for two long years. When I returned in September, 1855, I, of course, found that a great change had passed over the students in attendance. A majority of them were strangers to me, and of those I did know, very few belonged to the circle in which I had formerly moved. My new classmates were nearly all strangers, and among the members of other 38 TRIBUTE TO STEPHEN G. NYE classes I picked out friends more cautiously than I would have done when two years younger. At that early date, before the era of college fraternities, the choice of friends at college was a task which the better class of young men did not regard lightly, and when attachments were once formed, they were apt to last as long as life itself. Many long and eventful years have passed since that far-off day, but some of the bonds of personal friendship then formed remain as real and as firm as they were fifty-three years ago. Memory ever and anon goes wandering back to those good old days, and lingers long in recalling times and scenes and associations which the years can not steal from us, and which seem to become more delightful and precious as Time relentlessly goes marching on his way. Prominent among those whom I learned to love and appreciate in those olden days was Stephen G. Nye, of Western New York. He was a little older than myself, and unlike me in some of his tastes, and our outlook in life was along different lines, but as often happens in the making of intimate personal friendships, our very difference in tem- perament and in personal tastes seemed to draw us more closely together, and we formed a mutual attachment which time never lessened and world-wide space never weakened. We parted on June 25, 1857, and did not meet again until June, 1892. In olden days it was a frequent practice to give im- provised names to students, usually such as trivial events might suggest. One day a large company of students was standing on the college green and engaged in animated conversation, when something led Nye to tell the story of BISHOP JAMES M. THOBURN 39 the Persian ambassador who asked the King of Sparta why his city had no walls. In reply the Spartan led the am- bassador out to his parade ground and pointed to his soldiers drawn up in battle array. "There," said the king, "there are the walls of Sparta, and every man is a brick." The story was well told and very well received, and some re- mark connected with it, I have forgotten what, led some one to suggest the name as applicable to Nye himself. In a moment it became his permanent surname, to which now and then with affectionate freedom they added the word "old," and as "Old Brick," S. G. Nye is still remembered by some of the "boys" who now and then are permitted to meet on the campus of Allegheny College. He and I were never permitted to meet on that old campus again, and our paths in life led us very far apart, but the attachment which grew up between us in those far-off days was never broken and never weakened by the lapse of years. My dear friend Nye was a "manly" man. There was nothing mean, nothing little, nothing selfish in his character or life. He recognized sincerity at its full value, and esteemed it as one of the chief elements in character. On the other hand, he was impatient with every appearance or even suspicion of insincerity. He did not hold connection with any church, and yet among his most intimate friends were some of the most active Christian workers in the college. He seemed to recognize a clear, distinct, and per- fectly straight line of right which ran through the immediate world in which he lived and moved, and he rejected with utter scorn every plan, purpose or policy which lay on the wrong side of that line. 40 TRIBUTE TO STEPHEN G. NYE My dear friend was a man of generous impulses, one filled with a kindly feeling toward others, and to whom the word friendship meant more than a mere expression of good feeling. He had not been long in college until he had drawn around him a large number of devoted friends, and it was noted that these represented all the college classes, and all ages and social groups. He was a respecter of character but not of person. For the vile and vicious he had no respect whatever; for the poor and aspiring youth who was nobly striving to win an education and open a pathway for himself in life, he was ever ready to hold out the right hand of social fellowship, and speak a word of fraternal cheer and encouragement. I left Allegheny College on the evening of June 24, 1857, in company with eight other students. In those far- off days we traveled by the old-fashioned stage-coach, and when we reached the crest of the hill south of the town, we were able to call a halt and take a farewell look at the town and college, with its endeared environment. A strange feeling came over me as I looked at the scene something like a premonition that while all were leaving the familiar scenes before me, I among them all was going very far away. And so it proved. In less than two years I sailed from Boston for Calcutta to enter upon the life of a missionary to the people of India, and when the second anniversary of my graduation came around, it found me far down in the South Atlantic, enduring the rigors of a South Atlantic winter. In due time I reached Calcutta and pro- ceeded to my station, a thousand or more miles north of that city. I was truly far away. BISHOP JAMES M. THOBURN 41 The years passed by; one change followed another; the cares of life, the burdens of responsibility, the weariness of toil, the pressure of care, the chastening of sorrow all these left their impress on me, perhaps more than I myself suspected. The year 1892 came around, and in the providence of God it fell to my lot to make a brief visit to the Pacific Coast. One bright Sabbath morning I had an appointment to preach in a San Francisco church, and while waiting in the vestry I was surprised and startled to receive a card with the inscription, "S. G. Nye, alias Brick." To say that I was startled would be to state the case very mildly. I rushed out and found my dear friend of other days waiting to greet me at the door. We had a joyous meeting, and both were deeply moved. The time for be- ginning the service had arrived, and while I proceeded to the pulpit, my friend was given a seat well to the front. Glancing down I noticed that by chance he had been put in the same pew with my wife, and I at once went down and informed him of the fact and asked him to introduce himself to her at the close of the service, which he was only too glad to do. I was hurried away, but not until I had made an engagement to meet him again the following even- ing and spend the night with him and his family. I ac- cordingly did so, and I need not say that the evening has been memorable among all the evenings and mornings of my somewhat eventful life. Stephen G. Nye was a man of progressive ideas and liberal principles. It was easy for any one who knew him to tell in advance what side of a question he would take, what course he would pursue in a given emergency, and 42 TRIBUTE TO STEPHEN G. NYE what view he would adopt when a question of principle was at stake. He was a man of action. He knew the value of time when important issues were at stake, and was never tempted to court weakness by yielding to temptation to postpone action when delay involved weakness or loss. My dear friend was a life-long sufferer from a physical disability which in the case of many men would inevitably have depressed the spirits, if not indeed impaired the temper and finer feelings of the sufferer, but in his case it seemed to produce no adverse effect of any kind. He was cheerful, hopeful, and even buoyant in his temperament, and seldom failed to inspire every circle in which he chanced to join with his own irrepressible spirit of good cheer. He took hopeful views of life, believed in the progress of society, and always kept step with the advanced leaders of thought and action. He was not tempted to despair of humanity, and in his public life allied himself with those elements in society which gave best promise of reform and progress. During my last interview with my friend, I was led to ask him why he had never entered the political field. He possessed many of the qualities which would have insured his success had he done so, and his temperament would have seemed likely to draw him in that direction, but only once had he, even for a time, consented to yield to solicitations to venture a step in that direction. Politics had few attrac- tions for him. On a higher plane, with fewer personal interests involved and more lofty issues at stake, the result might have been different; but as public life was then viewed, political questions being confounded with partizan interests, my good friend did not feel inclined to enter upon BISHOP JAMES M. THOBURN 43 a career which gave assurance of much turmoil and vexation and little promise of success in any practical sense of that term. I did not feel sure that he had decided wisely, for the public needed, and still needs, men of his character all the more for the very reason that the political world is more or less corrupt and politicians prone to be governed by wrong ideals. But he had not been able to take that view of his personal duty, partly for the reason assigned by him, and partly perhaps because he did not sufficiently appreciate his own ability to become a leader of men. He could hardly have failed to achieve success had he made the political world the sphere of his life-work, and in these days when men of principle are in so great demand to man- age our public affairs, men of our dear friend's class can hardly be spared from the service of the public. The discipline of life is a subject which receives less attention than it merits. The poet has said, speaking of God's discipline, "Afflictions all his people feel." These afflictions come in a thousand forms and are often veiled in strange mystery. They do not by any means seem to be distributed with an impartial hand, and yet how do we know? "We know only in part" as yet. If we could choose our own blessings, we would no doubt make many sad mistakes, and it is well for us all that this power has not been placed in our own hands. Our dear friend be- longed to the great multitude of those who know what it is to endure affliction, but his sore trial never produced either bitterness or sourness in his character. "I am of no account, anyhow," he once said to me, "but if there is any good in me, or if I succeed in doing anything in life, I shall owe it 44 TRIBUTE TO STEPHEN G. NYE in a large measure to the fact that I have been disabled so as not to be able to engage in an active life." His theory seemed to be that his affliction had been to him what an anchor is to a full-rigged ship a means of keeping it from going adrift in dangerous seas. He believed in a God of providence, a God who "Guides the zephyr and the storm, Who rules the seraph and the worm." Hence he was cheerful and hopeful, accepted life with the limitations which God had placed upon it in his case, and succeeded in achieving a successful career, without wasting an hour in vain repining, or casting a gloomy shadow on the pathway of those who were his companions in life. Happy would our world be if all upon whom the hand of affliction is laid could exhibit so much of the wisdom of the sage and the submission of the Christian. Patient endur- ance is one of the chief virtues of an enlightened Christian life, and the quiet sufferer who illustrates its power in prac- tical life makes his career a lesson to all who meet him and a blessing to his race. In the days of our intimate acquaint- ance, when the hope and ambition of youth were still active and potent, no one ever heard him complain of his lot, or lament that he could not contend on equal terms with those whom he met in the great arena of life. It is encouraging and inspiring in our hurried age of bustle and strife to witness the career of a man of the type of Stephen G. Nye. Truly, on the broad stage of human life the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. The man of courage can win in life's battle if he keeps true BISHOP JAMES M. THOBURN 45 to principle, and the man of patient industry can build his life into a structure which will endure and be admired of men long after the man himself has vanished from the stage of human action. Such has been the achievement of the dear friend whose memory we commemorate. He has left behind him the record of a noble life a record which will not perish. He will be long remembered, and in the language of the inspired writer of old, "his memory will be as ointment poured forth." of Stephen . 3ol)it 3&. (Treswell of Tennessee 3ttember of ty* ~partv witb Wl)om 3u6r/Kamlltoit's (Tburc^, Oakland, California, September 25, 18SI Today the world grieves at the death of Garfield. My tribute shall be but a paragraph; and I would that I were endowed with the gift of tongues that I might seize the moment to say the fit word. There are souls so great that all the world claims kin. There are minds so magnetic that all others are attracted to them. There are natures so grand that, when the icy breath has kissed the clay and closed the temple, all earth's millions meet with muffled tread, mute in the memory of a measureless loss. Man- hood is a guild of nobility. There are other poets than those whose verse we read. Thousands thrill with un- uttered poetic thought. Other orators there are than they whose words wake to action. Noble deeds have sprung from noble thoughts the children of silence. Heroic facts, more thrilling than romance, robe us all around. The heroes stand in serried ranks the world over. They are born of Him who died to save a world. They know the brotherhood. And this universal grief is not alone because, at the height of his achievement, Garfield's honor- * "From the mass of turgid oratory that has inundated the land over the death of our honored and loved President, from out the watery flood of thin preacher-talk, we reproduce the following by Hon. Stephen G. Nye, as something worth preserving for its beauty of expression, elegance of diction, and purity of sentiment." The San Francisco Argonaut. 60 SPEECHES AND ORATIONS able ambition begat no enmity, and his advancement no envy, but because to the world's great masses he was their high priest at the altar of liberty, the interpreter of their thoughts, their example of great manhood, and the revela- tion of the grand possibilities under a free government, among a free people. The man we mourn is now a part of history. What is it? What is human history? We boast of our country and of our age ; of our century's growth ; of our fifty millions of people ; of individual greatness. Of the fifteen hundred millions of people of the earth, how small a part are we ! Earth's little day goes by; the world moves on. If the pen of history notes us at all, it has but a single line on a single page to show that even our generation has lived, and our grandest and noblest are forgotten. Human history what is it? The measure of a moment; the record of a lightning flash. See now nature's history: In the Mariposa Grove stand living sentinels whose childhood reaches far back toward the infancy of human history. It is but Nature's Now. Look at another page: Near us, in the Livermore Valley, every winter's rain that cuts a section of the soil tells the story of a time when jungles and tropical trees and verdure prevailed, and the elephant and the lion lived and died. It is Nature's This Morning. Look at the grand heights of Yosemite, and see how the Titans fire and frost in successive ages have traced, as with a diamond pen, the history of their time. It is but Nature's Yesterday. Now, when the historic muse thus stands upon the mountain-peaks, and strides from age to age, to whom a ON THE DEATH OF GARFIELD 61 million years are but as the mincing step of the little girl, do you say that national and individual history fade away "like the baseless fabric of a vision" 4 ? I tell you, no! Nature's history tells us of creation and destruction; of power and intelligence; but they are of the Infinite. Human history, however, tells the story of human kind; and when it is written, and the future shall read of the battle of right and might; how the dim perception of the right became crystallized; how men learned to love liberty, and to fight and pray for it, not only for themselves, but for their fellows, the life and times of him we mourn will fill a brilliant page. And more. I shall not tread upon the domain of the clergyman, but I may say that public life has seldom presented a purer example of faith, not only in the future of the nation, but in the future life. He is rich whose faith takes hold with unfaltering trust on the hereafter. To some, it is a born sense; to others, it comes by training and development; but I believe that to most men there never comes that unwavering faith that sees the future life as if "face to face," as did our President. It has been the question of the ages: "If a man die shall he live again?" In the tragedy of "Ion," you re- member that the prince from childhood had been educated by the priest. He had grown to noble young manhood, and between him and Clemanthe, the priest's daughter, had grown an undying love. The oracle had proclaimed that, for his country's safety, the young prince must die. He accepted his fate. Their last interview was long. At last the parting came. Clemanthe said: "Shall we meet again?" He answered: "I have asked that dreadful ques- 62 SPEECHES AND ORATIONS tion of the hills that look eternal; of the clear springs that flow forever; of the stars, among whose fields of azure my raised spirits have walked in glory. All are dumb. But as I gaze upon thy living face, I feel that there is something in love that mantles through its beauty that can not wholly perish. We shall meet again, Clemen the." His conclusion was the child of reason. In our lives sometimes this faith is born of grief. Has it ever happened to you to hang in hope and fear over your darling, only at last to see the thread of life snap, and the waxen fingers and the white blossoms folded over the still bosom, and when the anguish of empty arms was almost too great to bear, has not the light of a future life come to you like a new sense? And may it not be that he, whose all-grasping, sym- pathetic hands reached down from the highest position earth could give to the humblest citizen under his rule, shall, by the example of that pure faith which made him "so fit to live so fit to die," take a nation by the hand and lead it to the sublime heights of practical religious faith upon which he stood? And may we not hope that when another century shall have passed, and our children's chil- dren shall stand upon the mountain heights of the world's progress, our beloved country shall blossom and fructify in all the glorious fruits of a Christian civilization? So let the nation pray; and so praying with the faith of him we mourn, the prayers shall be answered. and e American at tlje (Braduatlng^Exerclse* of "Xtvermore Collage, , ISS2 When the Roman gladiators appeared in the arena of the circus, the amphitheatre above and around them crowded with hundreds of thousands of the Roman popu- lace, they stood with knotted muscles, facing the fierce wild beasts or fiercer men, and turning to the imperial box, they cried, "O Csesar, we who are about to die salute you \ " That was more than eighteen hundred years ago. In 1875, in another, and to the Romans, a world undiscovered and un- known, in the halls of Bowdoin College, in the State of Maine, under a new civilization, without the accessions of brutal brawn and bloody bravery, before an assemblage of the culture and scholarship of America stood the poet whom we now mourn our beloved Longfellow. It was the fiftieth anniversary of the Bowdoin class of 1825. That band of graduates had gone out to try conclusions with the world, possessed of the daring and ambition of young manhood. After half a century the scattered remnants of the class had met again. Death had claimed his share; and of the rest, to some had come disappointment; to others, measurable suc- cess; a few wore the laurels of unstinted fame; and old age had come to all. In his snowy crown of three score years and ten, regal in the panoply of well-earned fame, the poet stood, and like a benediction from his lips, fell upon the 64 SPEECHES AND ORATIONS hushed audience the address of the gladiators: "We, who are about to die, salute you." I salute you, my young friends, not like the Roman gladiators about to die to please the bloody barbarism of a brutal populace, nor yet because the slanting beams of the western sun warn me that life's little day is nearly over, but rather I salute you from the position of life's high noon. Horace says some- thing like this : "I am a man; and there is nothing pertain- ing to human affairs in which I am not interested." That is the way I feel. And in all the scope of human observation there is nothing of such surpassing interest as the sun-kissed flowery springtime of life. I have extreme respect for young manhood and young womanhood, for boyhood and girlhood. The world is a great school, and experience is its teacher. All knowledge is but the outcome of experience. We are all scholars in the great school, and you and I are fellow students. Now, my fellow students, I want a talk with you. I have heard of you, and when I come to see you, I must say I like you. We have interests in common in this great school of life. You will soon be promoted into my depart- ment, and we with whom there are silver threads among the brown, we shall soon have to turn over the work of life to younger hands and stouter hearts, and it may be useful and I hope pleasant to have a confidential talk about the road to promotion and the prospects ahead of us. And I want to talk about it as if all ears were deaf but yours and mine. In other words, it is "our party," and all the out- siders well, if they behave themselves, they can stay. I should judge, to look at you, that you were a body of young people who had an honorable ambition to be some- THE COLLEGE AND THE AMERICAN BOY 65 body; and that you had discovered the open road to that point was by way of educated brains. Am I right*? If that is the target you are aiming at, you have made a center shot, and you are the kind of young people I am trying to find a chance to talk with. I knew a couple of boys in my early life who had been led to believe the same thing that education meant some- thing, and they were ambitious. The facilities from the common school were limited, and the academy meant money. They lived on the beech- and maple-covered hills; work was plenty and money scarce. College-bred men were so few they were a curiosity. It took all the energies of their fathers and mothers to compel from the rugged earth a scanty living. They had heard of Bacon's philosophy, but the serious problem with them was to get bacon to eat. Their parents had good, sound, hard sense, were well in- formed and had good judgment, but they felt the lack of mental culture and training; they saw the immense advan- tage which the young man or the young woman had who had received this mental training, and who had learned to think, and they saw the great rewards of life falling into their hands, and they made every sacrifice that their children might have that better education of which their pioneer life had deprived them. These boys were unable to hire board, so they rented a single room for fifty cents a month, put in a straw bed, two chairs, an old cooking stove no carpets nor "tidies" nor "what-nots." A pine table answered for a study desk and dining-table, and tallow dips furnished the evening light. And thus they began life at an academy. They took jobs, 66 SPEECHES AND ORATIONS sawing and splitting wood for the neighbors at night and morning, at three shillings a cord, to pay for books and incidental expenses, and the mothers wore the "best dress" another year, and the fathers worked earlier and later, and wore patches on their knees, that they might pay the tuition bills. And so all the day and far into the night those boys wrought out the beauties of algebra and the mysteries of geometry and the declension of Latin nouns and the con- jugation of Latin verbs. Their ultimate object was an aca- demic training, such as would make them high school teachers. Sometimes, as those boys worked on, they wearied, courage flagged, mathematics were hard, and Latin dull, and the question would come, "What's the good of it all? " On the road through the village to the academy, in the shade of the spreading maples, was a brick law-office in the summertime always with an open door its numerous cases stacked high with books, all owned by a lawyer named Aus- tin Smith, and if ever there was a man entitled to the appel- lation of God's nobleman, he was the man if he was a lawyer. He was a graduate of Hamilton College, and of thorough education. He had begun like those boys, and had wrought his own way through college; had been a teacher of district schools, that he might pursue his college studies, and was principal of the first academy in our county that he might become a lawyer; and he had that ever- ready sympathy which took into its broad grasp every young man or young woman who aspired to become greater and better and nobler and stronger. And to him or her who starts out on such a career, oftentimes alone, without the backing of THE COLLEGE AND THE AMERICAN BOY 67 home influence or the rallying power of surrounding cir- cumstances, how much more than untold gold is the energiz- ing power of such a sympathy ! On their way home one day this lawyer called the boys into his office and inquired of the academy and of the teachers and the students (he was one of the trustees), and of their studies, and of their lessons of the day, and he ex- plained the structure of the Latin verb and the errors into which students were apt to fall in regard to the study of Latin, and the different ways of demonstrating geometrical theorems and their manifold application in architecture and mechanics and engineering, and after that the Latin gram- mar was effulgent, and a halo of glory hung around that geometrical theorem called ports asinorum or the fool's bridge; and when examination came and this lawyer, by chance, called on one of these young men to demonstrate that theorem, he brought out every point in the demonstra- tion with the confidence of absolute knowledge and fastened every corner as with the sledge-hammer blows of mathe- matical certainty. My fellow students, you know what the feeling is. When you learn that to multiply one fraction by another, you take the product of the numerators and place them over the product of the denominators; and when you have learned the reason why; when you have learned that to divide one fraction by another you invert the divisor and proceed as in multiplication, and when you have learned the reason why; and when you have learned that minus multiplied by minus produces plus, and when you have learned the reason why; when you have learned any mathe- 68 SPEECHES AND ORATIONS matical truth so that you know it, and know why you know it, you have a right to be proud of it, for it is a victory. You have scaled the ramparts of ignorance, and the gates of knowledge are opening. The thrill of pleasure, the flashing eye, and the mental exaltation are a noble intoxication, which cures itself by repetition. Another day this lawyer called the boys in and asked, "What college are you preparing for? " They told him that their plan was a couple of years at the academy, and then active life; that they had no means for a college course. "Oh," said he, "you don't want any means except such as you can earn." And then he told them of his own battle, and how it had been won, and before long he had them both converted to the college course. But what an inspiration there is in the advice and encouragement and sympathy of a large-hearted man like that ! In a long and useful life, nothwithstanding the urgency and pressure of professional labor and duties, he never failed to speak an encouraging word at the critical moment to every aspiring boy and girl within the range of his acquaintance. He was a home missionary. Five years ago, when I was East, I found him in the serenity and peace of years. He had not grown old ; age is in feeling, not in years ; and his were the feelings and sympathies of youth. But time went on, and the roads of those two young men diverged. I will follow only one; he taught district schools in the winters and worked during the vacations, and pursued his studies the rest of the year. He entered college as a sophomore, and finally, seven years after that lawyer put the college idea in his head, he held his college sheepskin THE COLLEGE AND THE AMERICAN BOY 69 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Homer says that at the siege of Troy the aged Priam, grown too old to join in the combat with the Greeks, daily sought the Scsean gate, and there, perched atop the city wall, viewed the battle- scenes below and gabbled of the valor of his fifty sons and of the prowess of his youthful days. I have been gabbling to you of my youthful days. Have I outlived my useful- ness? Perhaps, perhaps; but I hope not. I have said experience is the world's great teacher. I have given you mine. Its lesson is this : There is not one of you no, not one if you are in earnest about it, but can acquire a thorough college education, and if by anything I can say, I can encourage a single one of you to adopt such a course, I could talk to you all night; for I know that in so doing you would choose that better part. It may involve self-denial, toil, economy, and drudgery, but the result will sanctify them all. No egotism, no sense of self -adulation possesses me, but rather regret that life has accomplished so little ; for it seems to me that if my life were mine to repeat, or had my early education been directed by more experienced hands, life's labor might have shown better results. Of one thing I am sure: Remembering the past, my sympathy and love warms toward every one whom I see traveling the same road. I have spoken of educated brains; of the im- portance of the trained powers of thought; of the worth of ideas. A few short years and you will be in active life, and among the factors that move the world. Do not be misled ; it is thought, it is ideas, that make the moving power. Did you ever reflect on the overmastering power of an idea? See that man with the spade tugging away lazily and 70 SPEECHES AND ORATIONS with equal effort at his little short pipe and at the work before him; he piles up his little mound of clay, with no soul in his work, no thinking powers aroused, except such instincts for food and drink and rest as come without think- ing. He gets a dollar a day and it is all it is worth. Now look over here; this one takes the same clay and mixes and molds and fashions it into forms of grace and beauty, and pencils it with glowing colors and subjects it to furnace heat, and it comes forth the beautiful vase, the admiration of the world, and its value is measured by its weight in gold. Or perchance that clay comes into the hands of a Powers, or a Story, or a Miss Hosmer, and they mold it into human form, and fashion the features, and depict thereon the passions and affections of the soul, until it seems in- stinct with emotion, and needs but Pygmalion's prayer to make it throb with the sweet pulsations of life. The world of education and culture seeks these treasures, and wealth empties its full coffers to become owners. The laborer and the artist use the same clay; the laborer and the artist alike work; why, then, this vast disparity in the rewards of labor? The one mingles only his labor with the clay; the other mingles with the clay his labor and brains. It is thought transferred to the work before him. "Lives Phidias in his work alone? His Jove returns to air; But, make one God-like shape from stone, And Phidian thought is there." And so in every avenue of industry and in every walk in life, it is the applied thought; it is the utilized idea that THE COLLEGE AND THE AMERICAN BOY 71 is rewarded. Look at the government of these United States. In a government like ours a government of the people, by the people, for the people and in which you are so soon to have a voice, it is well to consider a moment its constitution and its spirit. Our government is the outgrowth of an idea, and I will tell you what I think that idea is. It is individual growth. It is the first government on the face of the earth, so far as I have ever found, that was based on that idea. The Declaration of Independence declared that all government derived its just powers from the con- sent of the governed. The American charter of rights de- clared that "all men are created equal"; all other govern- ments held that a few favored people called kings and popes and emperors were of better blood, and were the fav- ored of heaven and had a divine right to own and oppress all the other people of the earth. What did the new government mean 2 It meant in- dividual growth; it meant an aristocracy of brains; it meant that they who had the great ideas would be the great men in the new government, and it has so turned out. Where else and under what institutions could have grown up such men as Henry Clay, or Douglas, or Lincoln, or Garfield*? And when we talk of the genius of American liberty, it is but the genius of individual growth. And every school- house that dots the hillsides and valleys, or rears its prouder form in town or city, is but the further development of this same idea of individual growth. It means that gov- ernment will furnish the facilities of mental culture to her children all alike, so that no hard condition of poverty shall prevent anybody from pressing on to the highest position 72 SPEECHES AND ORATIONS that talent can attain. And whenever any insidious foe of the American idea of individual growth has aimed a blow at the free schools, or when any public man has sought his own grandeur at the expense of the masses, the frowns of the American people have stayed the hand of the former, and the latter they have relegated to the seclusion of private life. American statesmen have been honored just in proportion to their devotion to this central truth of American liberty. My fellow students: Too long I have wearied you. Give me one word more and I am done. Ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five years at farthest, the farmers, the merchants, the judges, the lawyers, the doctors, the preachers, the bank- ers, the statesmen, the teachers, the women who are queens in a million households will be no more; or, if still living, will have stepped down from the management of the world's affairs, and you will fill their places. Shall you be ready*? Shall the farms produce two blades of grass where one is growing now"? Shall the wants of commerce be con- trolled by energy and integrity? Shall the ermine of the bench be spotless and its judgments just 4 ? Shall the bar be peopled with the defenders of the weak, and the avengers of wrong? Shall disease be treated with a cultured brain and skillful hand? Shall the pulpit ring with the "glad tidings"? Shall you who fill the halls of legislation shall you be the fearless defenders of liberty? Shall the teachers inspire the young to know the truth, so that the truth shall make them free? Shall the women of the coming time pos- sess all the fascinating blandishments and accomplishments of mental culture that make her the queen of our hearts in all ages and in every clime? So shall it be ! THE COLLEGE AND THE AMERICAN BOY 73 I believe in the men and women of the future. I be- lieve that when the world is submitted to your guidance, it will blossom and bear the fruits of a nobler civilization. "Heaven put no lack of sorrow in thy share Of life's allotment, and no want of care; No path of flowers; no smooth and easy way, But a stout heart, and a devoted will Life's foes to meet, life's battles to fulfill, And when burns low and dimly nature's fires, And life's last sunbeams court the tallest spires, Though dark without, within the light increase, And peace, the peace of God, the God of peace." ^t tbe installation of Officers of TL?on -p os t, 3t .s,