Illinois State Normal University - Index Yearbook (Normal, IL)

Page 18 text:

Walked. In their gracious shade, generations yet unborn shall mention his name with gratitude. Institutions Whose only aim is helpfulness to man, record his generosity and public spirit, while, in a thousand hearts, bloom fadeless forget-me-nots, sprung from seeds that have dropped from his generous hands. THOMAS METCALF. f . Dlx f 0 Q fy --:gy--jfs '-4:-fzgv-f lfltlflt as

Page 17 text:

1 cating liquors within the corporation limits, this benelicent pro- vision is due to Mer. Fell's foresight and energy. Born into the Quaker church, Mr. Fell was plain in manners, speech, and dress. He was a man of deep religious feeling, which oftenest found expression in love of 'fthe brother -in generous sympathy and self sacrificing deeds. There was no organization of Friends near Payson, and he joined the Methodist church, but the creed not being in accord with his convictions, he, after his return to Bloomington, aided in the organization of the Free Congregational church-since known as the Unitarian- of which he ever after was a devoted member. Mr. Fell's death occurred in February, 1887. At a memorial meeting of the Bloomington bar, Senator Cnow Governorj Fifer used the following language: 'f Mr. Fell hated wrong and injustice at all times and in all places. He detested slavery, but not the slaveholder, and he did as much as any citizen in private life to wipe that foul blot from our national honor. X X X In the darkest hours of our country's necessity, he, in his way, upheld the Hag and fought the battles of his country as effectively as the soldier who carried a musket and marched in the ranks. He was the confidential friend of Lincoln and Davis, and, without disparagement to either of these great men, I may say, that, in far reaching sagacity, in patriotic zeal, and as an earnest and conscientious worker in the interest of liberty and progress, he was the peer of either of them. At a memorial meeting in the Unitarian church, Prof. Qnow Presidentj Cook, who had known Mr. Fell for almost a quarter of a century, said : 4' Mr. Fell was an able man. He would have graced any position to which, in the workings of our republican institutions, he might have been called. For place he had no aspirations, yet, if history were really written, it would often appear that the power behind the throne was our modest friend. Nor can one read what he has written, without perceiving at once a literary Havor that is the sure mark of a literary mind. In that picture gallery of the soul that We call memory, there will always be a gracious presence. The personality is vivid, the outlines are sharply defined, the face is full of earnest purpcse, every line is suggestive of tireless energynand the radi- ance of hope. A simple, honest, unostentatious man, yet, wherever he went, good deeds marked his footsteps. As if by magic, stately trees have sprung from the path which he has

Page 19 text:

1. s. U. l Q3 M it ifii asf l 'sr' ad dr i E Q 5 f Q . -g 'ii -m.+: aifzE,i 5 T L, S s.2i5Wi3f2mli f Wglg UR y VERY GRADUATE, and every li ' f 'Z ii student of the NormalUniversity i' .ln : I ought to have some knowledge AJ MUN M P6 W ix i of its history. Other men have , V XX labored, and they are entered into these labors. Other men have sowed good seed, have, with much toil and care, fostered the growing plants, whose, fruitage it is the privilege of the present generation to enjoy. These things ought to awaken a lively interest in all who are now connected with the Normal University. Hoping to do something towards promoting such an interest, I have acceded to the request of your editors, to prepare a brief statement of facts concerning the past of the institution. Of course, the limits of the article compel brevity and baldness of statement. On the 18th of February, 1857, Gov. Bissell signed the bill creating the Illinois State Normal University. The bill had passed the legislature, by a bare majority, and after an earnest struggle. Among its best supporters were Hon. S. W. Moulton, of Shelbyville, and Hon. Calvin Goudy, of Taylorville. Both were members of the Board of Education for many years, Dr. Goudy died several years since. There were two reasons why the school was called a University. It received the income of a fund that was set apart for a Universityf' and it was also thought that other departments would be added to the Normal, constituting a real University.