Hamilton College - Hamiltonian Yearbook (Clinton, NY)

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a .i 3.: IC'I;, . i . ,. V W lyru . :A: 167219- .. .. 5,5 I Vz'vg . , i . '. . 5 r . ' ,1 :fur: '. .t , t5. --1. i'lf , I V i Viv; t- . verted from the old Middle College Dormitory. The Edward Huntington Mathematical Prize Scholarship is his gift, named in memory of one of his Classmates, and now the magnificent Commons Hall stands as another monument to our benefactors, the Sopers. He has also given a scholar- ship endowment in Hamilton College yielding an income of one hundred twenty-six dollars for the Rome High School. One of the most striking and most laudable character- istics of the man is his modesty; no effort of his friends could induce him to affix his own name to the Mathematical Scholarship although it is the richest in College. No one knows exactly, unless it be President Stryker, where the money to tinish Commons Hall came from. Mr. Soper volunteered to raise the money and did it, no small part of it out of his own pocket as many of his intimate friends believe. Various alumni subscriptions which Mr. Soper has managed do not contain his name in their lists but the check sent has been generally forty or fifty dollars in excesslof the total listed subscription. There is another sort of loyalty which Mr. Soper has shown and which others of our alumni might well imitate; he has sent his two sons to Hamilton. This seems but a small thing but gives a twinge to the veterans of the Faculty and Trustees when the son of a Hamilton man does not follow in the footsteps of his father but seeks an education elsewhere. The College appreciates this form of loyalty as much as it does donations of money. To such a man as Alexander Soper the College and the student-body are at a loss to express their gratitude. His classmates say of him, We are all proud of Soper, and grateful to him because he does so much that We would hke to do if we could. The College has made him a Trustee and now the Class of 1908 adds its mite in this dedication. 10 xxx Went. tweet; VH5! 4 1k r- Mu xx : fm

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.' 8 AU 1! , 3 tr. V l. , ,, r . ,i 1? , '14 1 t V ', ll 1 1' if! 8 II ,1 Q '1- ' , I a, M' 1 , ' I 11.: ll 7' .1 ,, 4 i r;, I r. ,l I l , 1 f y'vv ,4 E, 5 1f .1 .1 f ' Q? '8 i a '3 i ,1 L l , a i -. , l r , , . r; l 1' f :t t 11 i Never mind bulletined or trumpeted honors! Graduates of Hamilton, and others not a few, will be glad that 1908 dedicates its work to Alexander Coburn Soper of '67. Mr. Soper was born at Rome, New York, june 6th, 1846, and after an efficient preparation entered Hamilton College at the age of seventeen. In college he was an all- around man, being appointed to Prize Stage his Freshman year and graduating with High Honor. He was a member of the first Board of Editors of the Hamilton Literary Maga- zine and played three years on the College baseball nine. He graduated with the respect of his Classmates and the esteem of the faculty. Thrown out upon the world he went to Chicago where for six months he was employed in a bank leaving this posi- tion to enter the lumber business as shipping-clerk and book-keeper. After two years he formed the partnership of Pond 8L Soper, a tirm which prospered abundantly and when, in 1884, the Soper Lumber Company was incorpora- ted, its annual sales were over one million dollars. Of this company Mr. Soper was first Secretary, then Vice-Presi- dent. and finally President since 1893. The company owns saw-mills in Michigan and Wisconsin, propellers and barges on the lakes and docks in Chicago and has won an enviable reputation for fair dealing throughout the country. In Chicago he is a member of the First Presbyterian Church and of the Union League Club. He was also President of the Chicago Lumber Exchange for one term. So much for what Alexander C . Soper stands for in the great world beyond the walls of our College; but what he is to his Alma Mater can be reckoned in no prosaic row of tigures. H is constant solicitude and anxiety for our welfare is not reducable to dollars and cents, although of these he has been prodigal in his gifts to us. Through the donations of himself and his brothers, we have the Gymnasium, con- 9

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CHAUNCZY SHAFFER TRUAX