Cornell College - Royal Purple Yearbook (Mount Vernon, IA)

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that a man's effecftive pulpit power begins to wane at fifty years of age, it has been remarked by Dr. King's friends that his ability as an effective public speaker, has very materially increased since he has reached the age of fifty years. Thus it may be seen that a great purpose, worthily assumed and unflinchingly followed, is a perennial fountain of mental and moral vigor. In r87o, President King received frpm the Illinois Wesleyan University, the degree of Doctor of Divinity. In 1887 he received from his Alma Mater, the Ohio Wesleyan University the degree of Doctor of Laws. The latter degree was also conferred at the same time by the State University of Iowa. t While Dr. King has thus been honored, both at home and abroad, it is worthy not only of in- cidental mention, but of constant iteration, that he has never used his position as a vantage ground to bring any promotion or honor to himself. He has not looked beyond his allotted duties in anti- cipation of reaching any higher place. Doubtless he has wisely thought that there is no higher place and no larger work. Be this as it may, he has never wavered in his evident purpose to build up and endow a successful christian college. To this one end he has devoted all his energies with a con- stancy that has never wavered, and a vigilance thatihas never slept. Withal he does not hold the position which he occupies either for the honor or the emoluments connected therewith. Certainly not for the emoluments of the office, for he serves the, Church and the State at a less compensation than any other man is known to do in a position of equal import- ance and dignity. He has never made his own compensation a matter of stipulation, and, whenever the affairs of the' College have been such as to demand retrenchment anywhere, the President is always the first to propose that his own inadequate salary shall be diminished, and diminished in greater ratio than that of any one else. And just as certainly, while he appreciates the honor of holding the headship of a prosperous college, he does not hold it for that honor alone. First, in 1873, and since that on several occasions, he has felt that he might lay down his work and formally tendered his resignation to the Board of Trustees. just as often his resignation has been unanimously declined. Thus he continues with us unto this day in simple obedience to his Lord's command, Occupy till I come. The History of his life is in a great measure the history of Cornell College, and is it not all written in the hearts of the hundreds of alumni who have been trained for honor and usefulness, and who have already, even at this early day, attained by scores and hundreds to positions of fair eminence in church and in state, from the Atlantic seaboard to the Golden Gate? Is it not ! I-

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neccessary rest, the College is always on his mind and heart. This is sufficient of itself, without labored explanation, to account for his success and the success of the College. It may be added that, he has been able to surround himself with a Board of Trustees and Faculty of like mind. It is well to note also, that President King not only considers his work as important as the active Christian Ministry, but a part of the work of the active Christian Ministry. He never admits that he is not in the regular work. And thus in harmony with this idea, he never loses sight of the moral and spiritual welfare of the students under his care. He has always and constantly, both by public appeal and personal approaches, urged upon all, the religion which he has himself enjoyed. Having been himself born into the Methodist church, having been converted at the age of ten years, he has remained true to all the usages, institutions, and doctrines of the church. While not indiffer- ent to any plan of improvement, and keenly alive to whatever presents manifest advantages, he maintains through alla wise conservatism, preferriiig rather to bear the ills we have, than fly to others thatlwe know not of. A ' While never wavering in his attachment to Cornell College, President King has been in active sympathy with the Public Schools and general educational interests of the state. He has been Pres- ident of the State Teachers' Association, and has served for years on its most important committees. In the National Association he is honored with membership in the Educational Council. Thus, although retiring and modest, and unassuming, both in deportment and in character, the labors of PresidentiKing have not been confined exclusively to the College over which he presides. He was first elected to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1876, and is again a member of that body the present year. Here, as elsewhere he is not one of the most con- spicuous in keeping himself before the public eye, but is always one of the most active, efficient, and successful in practical labors. When he feels called upon to speak, he is listened to with the closest attention and with marked effect, wdaether in the Councils of the Church, or the State. He has been frequently invited to preach or lecture on special occasions, has read papers before various educational and ecclesiastical conventions, and has delivered addresses at a number of differ- ent colleges. These, as well as his Baccalaureate discourses, have been marked by a depth of thought and scholarly finish to which few men attain. He has written not a little for the periodicals of the day, but generally anonymously. He has traveled over nearly all portions of the United States, and is unusually well informedaon the resources of the country and the character of its public men. Contrary to a somewhat prevalent opinion,

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written in the hearts of those other thousands who did not attain to the formal honors of graduation, but who attained in college halls the greater boon of inspiration and courage for 'the battle of life? Beyond the public life, to its inspiring support and inspiration in the home life, the curious eye of the stranger may not see. But to one who knew Margaret lVIcKell in Chillicothe, Ohio, in the olden days, this sketch would be incomplete without at least her name, just as the life of President King would have been incomplete without the sunny cheerfulness and child-like faith, and beautiful flavor of hospitality, that she brought to his home. To her President King was married in August, 1865. One child, the beautiful Lucy Hayes King, gladdened their home with infant prattle and childish innocence for a dozen years, and then one little year ago exchanged the uncertain possibilities of a sinstained earth for the many mansions in Ouif Heavenly Father's house, where the Lord God shall wipe away the tears from all faces. To these stricken hearts, the one bowed beneath the crushing weight of sorrow, the other carry- ing in concealment the pain of private grief in order to be faithful to the path of public duty, go up ten thousand prayers that they may have strength to endure, as seeing Him who is invisible, until the Angel of the Resurrection shall roll away the stoiie from the door of earth's myriad sepulchers, and until the Voice that once flashed across the darkness of earthly sorrow may again gladden the hearts of all earth's sorrowing millions with all the quickening power and glory of the old acclaim, He is not here. He is risen. HUGH Bovo.