Hobart College - Echo of the Seneca Yearbook (Geneva, NY)

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IN MEMQRIAM WILLIAM LUTON WOOD Born 1885. Died at Geneva, N. Y.,- December 9, 1921. 26

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CHARLES DELAMATER VAIL The death of Professor Charles Delamater Vail at the age of eighty-four de- prived Hobart College of an alumnus whose love for her had become historic, and whose services to her were worthy of his great love. From the first he was an ardent follower of her fortunes, and until his voyage around the world in IQO4-5 he had never been absent from Commencement since 18 56. When he became Horace White Professor of Rhetoric and Elocution in 1872, departments of English in the modern sense existed hardly anywhere. A lover of his subject, Professor Vail'believed that the English language and literature should be taught with the same ideals and objects as had long inspired instruction in Greek and Latin. At Hobart he fully established this principle, for which he was one of the earliest contenders. Not a few distinguished graduates of his day have given as writers and preachers brilliant illustration of the soundness of his views. ' - All this time he was carrying the duties of Librarian and those of Registrar as side-lines. The new library building was occupied in 188 5 and not long after- wards Professor Vail gave up most of his teaching and devoted himself to the highly important task of making for Hobart a modernized library. In ISQO, when the writer first saw it, the Library was already a source of encouragement and pride. Later on, after his retirement from active service, Dr. Vail filled his days with various congenial tasks, of which the most important was his scholarly edition of the Life of Mary Iemisonf' ' This again was a labor of love, but every labor of his was that. Persons, in- stitutions, causes-all had a share in his abundant affection. Cherishing his old friends very intensely, no one felt more keenly than he the losses which advanced years inevitably bring. Yet he attached himself the more closely to the friends who were left, and to the institution+his beloved college-whose cause he had always made his own. He had not an enemy in the world, said one of his oldest friends to the writer, better still, he had not a thought of ill-will toward anyone in the world. He has passed away after a very long life filled with con- genial labors and happy associations. We need not mourn our friend overmuchg he will be at hom.e where kindness is the Law. . l 25'

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5 WILLIAM LUToN woon There has passed away from our college life one who had always been a kind teacher and a generous friend to all Hobart men during his three short years in our midst. On December 9th, IQQI, William Luton Wood died at the Geneva City Hospital after a brief illness of two days. On one day we had seenhim walking quietly about the campus-a few days later we knew that he was gone, leaving a place that only he could ill. - Professor Wood graduated from the University of Rochester in the class of 1874. Having decided to make the study and teaching of music his life work, he served as director of music in Elmira College from 1876 to I882. Two years later he wentto Europe, where he studied with such masters as Mortiz Krocz- kowski, Oscar Raif, and Waldemar Bargiel. He studied vocal music with Belari from 1886 to 1890. Few American professors of music have had as fine training as that which Professor Wood gave himself. During his first two years as a member of the Hobart Faculty Professor Wood commuted from Ithaca, where he belonged to the Cornell University of Music and maintained a studio for private lessons. Gradually his work among the students of Hobart and William Smith Colleges came to behis absorbing interest. So interested was he in the welfare of his pupils, that he often gave a great deal of his tim.e to those from whom he could expect no payment for his services. Such generosity won for him the respect and admiration of all who knew him best. Professor Wood had gained a wide and lasting reputation as a composer of songs, and his melodies for children, in particular, won great popularity. The two volumes of music which he published, in which are included Ashes of Roses and For Love's Sweet Sake, are used by many musical clubs throughout the country. , - f The quiet, thoughtful temperament and the unfailing patience and generosity which characterized the life of Professor Wood endeared him. to all who came to know him well. 'His memory will not fade as long as gentleness and melody en- dure. .- Dear music! that can touch Beyond all else the soul that loves it much- Now heard far off, so far as but to seem' Like the faint, exquisite music of a dreamfl 27