Hiram College - Spider Web Yearbook (Hiram, OH)

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KE A.H1NSDALE. BU ATE ATW JOHN M. ,V - CI. W EVERESD HARVEY

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and this from Longfellow: And with childlike, credulous affection Vtfe behold their tender buds expand, Emblems of our great resurrection, Emblems of the bright and better land. When death came, as we are told by one who was present, it had no fears for him. He died as he had lived, in the bright hope of a blessed immortality, looking not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are not seen. Although he died in the prime of manhood, his life measured by its varied ertperiences and his untiring service for the good of others is rich and full. He had his faults and limitations as do we all, but we would forget the little short- comings common to our weak humanity and cherish the memory of his many virtues and strive to imitate them. I do but voice the sentiment of many hearts when I say of him, a faithful worker, a true hero, one of Godis noblemen. His work here is Hnished and he is gone, passed away from our field of vision: and yet he lives not only in the bright world beyond, but also in the hearts of many with whom and for whom he worked. He has put off the mortal that crurnbles into dust that he may be clothed with immortality. Hffedit item retro, de terra quod fuit ante, In terras, et quod missumst ex aetheris oris, Id rursum caeli rellatum templa receptantf' God has so ordered his world that we all must leave behind us a legacy in our influence. The memory of one who has been helpful to his fellow-men is like the sweet perfume that lingers in a room after the flower is gone -- a thought in harmony with the following little poem of which Professor Pierson himself is the author: I saw a rose, at early morn, Hang high above a cruel thorn 3 A gardener trimmed the thorn away The rose was there at close of day.. ! K! I saw the muddy water rise, When showers fell from April skiesg The skies put on an azure look, Clear ran the water of the brook. it I saw a star in beauty play Along the glimmering milky way, The star in cloud and shadow set, But o'er me falls its radiance yet. 1 G. A. Pncicn.-iM. I5

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BIIYKQ HGYOII BillSddlQ. Burke Aaron Hinsdale was born at XVadsworth, Ohio, March 31, 1837. lt was his good fortune to be one of a family in which industry, honesty and good sense were virtues strongly marked. Such educational advantages as the country schools near the farm home afforded were his until his seventeenth year when he became a student of the Eclectic Institute at Hiram. He came as he said 'twith the smell of the furrow on his garments, but he soon became prominent as a student. He was then, as throughout life, a great reader, and he seemed from the first to know how to read profitably. The period of his student life at Hiram extended from the winter of 1853 to the spring of 1860, but it was often broken by intervals during which he taught in the country schools. In the catalogue of 1881 he is named as an as- sistant teacher, and in those of ,62, '63 and '64 he is named as teacher of English. Though it was his ambition to complete a course in one of the eastern colleges he was unable to do so. However upon the broad foundation laid at the Eclectic Institute he built so well that the most prominent institutions of the land were at length glad to confer upon him their degrees. He left Hiram in '64 to become pastor of the church at Solon, Ohio, and in '66 he assumed similar duties with the Franklin Avenue Christian Church of Cleveland. He served also at this time as one of the editors of the Christian Standard. At the opening of Alliance College in the fall of '68 he became pro- fessor of history in that institution. The fall of '69 found him once more at Hiram, this time to occupy the chair of history and English literature in the college now entering on its third year. At the close of his first year in this capacity he was chosen to the presidency of the college, a position whose duties he discharged with marked ability and faith- fulness for twelve years. Although his special field of instruction covered philos- ophy, history, rhetoric and Biblical literature, he never hesitated to take other classes when the distribution of the work made it necessary. He came to his place when the young college with small means and few instructors was striving hard to do the work which its new dignity imposed upon it. Both physically and intellect- ually he was a strong man, yet the burdens of administration and instruction which he took upon himself were heavy even for his broad shoulders. He was a tire- less worker. The class-room claimed him for five and even six hours per day, and as college treasurer he looked after many details of business. The chapel lec- tures, then quite a prominent feature of the work at Hiram, became in his hands a source of great profit to the students. He usually preached twice on Sunday, addressed frequent teachers' associations, contributed copiously to the columns of I7