Colorado College - Nugget Yearbook (Colorado Springs, CO)

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General William Jackson Palmer In 1870, only a few years after the last Indian raid into this vicinity, General William J. Palmer directed his engineers to stake out the City of Colorado Springs on an arid and waste prairie, and to plot within it the college campus on which are situated today the numerous college build- ings with its lawns, trees and attractive grounds. With that marvelous insight which perceived the future of Colorado in those early days, he believed that some dav there would rise here under the shadow of Pike ' s Peak, an institution which would have national power and influence. Honored, beloved, trusted, his death, this past year, has left an enduring and potent impression upon every one connected with Colorado College. Each year since its foundation, his generosity, his definite in- terest, his loyalty, have been essential factors in its creation and growth. It is most fitting that its central building should bear his name with- out whom the College would not be in existence. With the calm, judicial mental quality inherited from his Quaker ancestry, with the training and ability of a great engineer, with the ac- curacy and grasp of a far-sighted business man, with the constructive genius of an empire-builder, with a power of leadership which made him a celebrated military commander, he stands among the foremost men of the country. Not only has his wealth been generously given, but what is of even more value, his wisdom, his thought, his marvelous insight, have all entered into the creation and development of this foundation of the higher learn- ing. With all his large affairs and the never-ceasing demands upon him, he has given throughout the whole period of its history, most generously of his time, to those details which have so much to do with the making of a college. His thought has entered unobtrusively into the planning and erection of its buildings, the parking of its campus, the choice of its facul- ties, and the direction of its affairs. His high ideals of manhood and womanhood, his personal integrity of character, his unselfish devotion to everything that has made for the public weal, his creative power in the constructing of a great common- wealth, his modest refusal of all official positions, his never failing courtesy and rare kindliness, his passionate love of nature, his deep and practical interest in all philanthropy, his innumerable gifts to the poor, his wondrous breadth as well as strength of intellectual and moral grasp, have all left an influence upon the students of Colorado College which will bear their fruit in the future of our commonwealth and the nation. As he will ever be the first citizen of this commonwealth, so he will always remain the patron saint of Colorado College. The march of the faculty and student body with uncovered heads as an escort to his ashes, for miles through the city and out into the country, on the day of his funeral, was only a slight indication of the love and respect which they will ever feel for the man who has profoundly influenced the character of the College and been its founder and its great friend. 20 The Pike ' s Peak Nugget ccc 1910

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PROFESSOR GEORGE NATHANIEL MARDEN A little more than twenty -seven years ago there came to this college campus a man of forty-five years of age, slight in figure, delicate in health, but of unusual strength of character. He was born in New Hampshire, and not only reflected the qualities which so often have characterized men who lived among the rocky hills of that state, but possessed that high sense of duty and spiritual courage which brought our forefathers to New England. The best things in Puritanism appeared in him and brought him to the New West to render a service to this college the worth of which can hardly be over-estimated. He came to Colorado to become professor of history in the new col- lege which had been founded only seven years, and entered with pleasure upon his work. No one ever loved the quiet of his own home more than he, and the new profession to which he hoped to give his life was full of constant joy and the promise of usefulness. After a little more than two short vears of service, financial disaster overwhelmed this institution. Its future existence was in peril, and then with the same spirit that has ever sent the noblest heroes to their tasks, he left his home and of his own initiative undertook one of the most soul- trying tasks that ever comes to a man with fineness and sensitiveness of heart and mind. For months and vears, in cold and storm, this man, delicate in health, of refined tastes, went from place to place securing the funds necessary for keeping alive this college. No one can ever write the story of that work in all its details. Only one who bears day and night the financial burden of the modern i merican college can possibly under- stand the courage, weariness and the pain of such a mission. Without flinching, without one word of complaint, with the spirit of the true mis- sionary, he went his way and saved Colorado College for its larger oppor- tunity. It was this effort of his that provided for the current expenses of the college during these years of stress. There are many things in his character which made the achievements of his life possible. Above all else was that personal integrity which marked all that he said and everything which he undertook. The only question for him was, Is it right ? Self-seeking and personal advantage were never motives for any action. No one could ever question his at- titude towards righteousness. He held himself to what he b elieved was right and he expected the same of everyone who dealt with him. There were no compromises in his nature. Closely allied to his integrity of character was his sense of duty. He decided what was given him to do and then he did it with all his might, simply because it was his duty. No argument, no word of others affected him in the least when this sense of personal obligation came to him. He went East on his weary pilgrimages because he believed it was the right thing for him to do. Other men would have found excuses in the fact of physical limitations; the enormous difficulties of the undertaking; the seeming impossibilities of the whole situation, or because it was not their 22 The Pike ' s Peak Nugget ««« 1910