Amherst College - Olio Yearbook (Amherst, MA)

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been his steady aim tothe present time. He at once developed original and attractive methods in the presentation of subjects, which, with the personal in- fluence of the teacher, aroused enthusiasm in whatever branch he taught. He individualized his pupils. The results produced were as permanent as im- mediate, so that a large number of those whom he then taught look back upon his instruction and influence as one of the formative forces of their lives. While teaching in the academy, he was himself a diligent student, using every spare moment in carrying on lines of private study as well as reading thoughtfully in a wide range of subjects. In these early years were laid the foundations of that wide information and broad intelligence which, coupled with his unusual culture, have distinguished him and his work. In consequence of this private study and reading, he easily entered Hamilton College a year in advance, and in several subjects was prepared for Junior year. Being offered, in the early part of this year, a salary of fifteen hundred dollars to teach in the Polytechnic Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y., he was absent from college until the beginning of Senior year. Yet with this absence, and his advanced admission to college, he was in 1870 graduated valedictorian, with a long distance numerically between him and the next member of his class. He also won several rhetorical honors: was Clark Prize Oratorg and at graduation, with the Valedictory, delivered the Pruyn Medal Oration on The Utility of Classical Study to the Public Man. At this time he was strongly inclined toward the profession of law. A sense of duty, however, made him hesitate in favor of the ministry. But his success during Junior year at the Polytechnic Institute, led to such strong induce- ments to return there that he decided to teach for a time. The two years that followed were made to contribute largely to his future efficiency and power. Courses of reading in various directions, suggested by college work and competent advisers, were vigorously pursuedg the best lecturers and public speakers were heard with careful preparation and critical attention 3 and every opportunity for self-culture afforded by two great cities was improved to the full limit of his time and strength. While at the Polytechnic Institute other attractive positions in teaching were offered him, including a professorship in History and Rhetoric in a West- ern college of high standing. Having decided to enter the ministry, he declined these offers, and arranged in 1872 to begin his theological studies at Union Seminary, New York City. But at the same time came a call from his alma mafer to the professorship of the Kingsley Department of Logic, Rhetoric and Elocution. This department had been under the able direction of Professor Upson for twenty-five years, who had given it a wide reputation and made it the most prominent in the college. The position was of largie and exacting demands and full of difficulties, especially for one so 8

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c-.mpg fffxn YXIDQ, Professor of Logic, Rhetoric and Public Speaking. - IT is easy to sketch a life that has tangible results. But labor spent upon invisible but imperishable material is as difficult adequately to portray as it is to paint the effect of sunshine or the wave that beats upon the shore,-leaving its impress, but too subtle to be measured except by the centuries. In nearly every walk of life except that of the teacher, there are material results to display to the world, and which can be noted by all men. The teacher makes an impression upon the mind and character, moulds habit, stimulates and fires the aspiring soul, gives direction to life, teaches the use and marshaling of forces, wakes up the dormant powers and shows the delight that comes from their use,-in short, is like one who directs the actors in a play, who watches their success, and has his reward in hearing the applause given those he has trained. These words I have written, not as a formal opening to the sketch I am about to attempt, but as an essential part of it. It is the outline, the details of which I will try to so fill in that others may know something of the character I have been so long intimate with and know so well. This sketch, is not only of a teacher, but of an inspiring and eloquent preach- er, a brilliant writer, a man of executive power, with natural gifts thatevidently would have made an able lawyer. It is, however, in teaching that he has centered his activities and done his characteristic work. My qualification for writing this sketch is that not only was I associated with him in his earlier ex- perience in teaching, but until his connection with Amherst College, I have been so situated as to have intimate knowledge of his work and influence throughout his career. His preparation for college was made in the Academy at Binghamton, N. Y., and undertheprivate instruction of Professor Metcalf of Deposit, N. Y., a well-known teacher of the classics. A student with him under this instructor, I had abundant opportunity to observe the mental characteristics of Professor Frink. They were a quick apprehension, great application, unusual power of sustained mental effort, and an ideal of study that was only satisfied when the subject was mastererl. After graduating from the Binghamton Academy with the Valedictory, he accepted an invitation to teach History and Mathematics in that institution. So marked was his success that in a little time he shared the responsibilities of the principal, and received a like salary. Although only eighteen when he began teaching, he set before himself well-defined objects, to attain which has 7

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young as was Professor Frink when he accepted it. But the difficulties were courageously and successfully met, and the work and influence of the depart- ment under his administration were broadened and enriched. Public re- cognition of this success soon came in a most complimentary form: at two successive Intercollege Contests at the Academy of Music, New York City, in 1876 and 1877, Hamilton College, in competition with many of the promi- nent colleges of the country, was awarded the first prize for the best written and spoken oration. As the judges one year were George William Curtis, William Cullen Bryant and Whitelaw Reid, and the other Bayard Taylor, Joseph R. Hawley and Edwin H. Chapin, D. D., the unanimous and almost instantaneous decision in each instance had more than ordinary significance. It had been the aim of Professor Frink to add to the English department a course in literature different in many respects from the courses then offered in our colleges. To do this at Hamilton a special library was necessary. For this, friends of the college, infiuenced by the success of the department at New York, furnished the funds, and a course was established which was developed into one of the most useful and popular in the college. With this library were also secured, through his efforts, endowments for several valu- able prizes in Rhetoric, Oratory and English Literature. At the same time he was carrying on privately his theological studies, and in 1877 he was licensed to preach by the Utica Presbytery. After this, as long as remained at Hamilton College, he was occupied Sundays, as far as college duties would permit, in supplying pulpits in the cities and larger towns of central New York. Perhaps no better estimate of his preaching can be given than the following extract from the Brooklyn Engle. t' He is a highly cultivated and eloquent speaker. His style is severely logical, but so relieved by beauty and elegance of illustration that he holds one's attention to every sentence. The delivery is sprightly, free from monotony, and at times rises to great power. The enunciation is so perfect that no word is lost. The sermon yesterday morning was upon Faith, and was replete with eloquent and inspiring thought. The congregation was large, and they listened to the discourse with careful attention. While at Hamilton College, there came overtures to consider a change of position, to other college professorships, to become the head of large and pop- ular institutions of learning, and to important churches. But none were encouraged until in 1885, when after mature deliberation, a call to the profes- sorship of Logic and Oratory at Amherst College was accepted. Of the work done at Amherst I am not qualified to speak. I therefore quote from the Springfield Rzpublifan :- It is announced that Professor Henry Allyn Frink of the department of.Logic and Oratory may be called to the presidency of Hamilton College in Clinton, N. Y. Should this be true it only emphasizes 9