Iowa State University - Bomb Yearbook (Ames, IA)

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men who saw him but once carried away a vivid impression of a strong, virile personality. Association only deepened the impression of strength, which, though a man of strong feelings, he did not weaken by losing self control, even under great provocation. His moral and intellectual strength were equal to his physical, and his integrity was beyond question. He was an optimist, and there is something in human nature which responds instinctively to him whose courage and confidence in the good never fail. He was also a poet, and here again human nature yields instinctive deference to the soul ahre with nature's inspirations. He was a growing man, not bigoted or narrow, whose ideals were constantly developing. He was a well balanced and well rounded man, in whose judgment all could confide. These qualities all added to the strength of his influence, but I am only voicing what many have thought when I say that the great secret of his remarkable powervvith students was the magnanimity of soul and sincerity of sympathy which made him treat all as fellow men and women, whom it would be a great privilege to him to aid toward true manhood and womanhood. Thus his influence was effective not only with the weak, but even more with the strong students of the college. Doctor Beardshear's' death was so sudden and has been so recent that it is still impossible to form a just estimate of the full extent of his influence upon our State Col- lege. It has already been said that he was a man whose ideals were constantly growing and developing, but for four years before his death he had in mind the general features of an ideal for our college, better and grander, it seems to the writer, than any other ideal yet formed for such institutions. This ideal was such a one as would permit the college to grow and work in perfect harmony with the State University and all other state schools, and in the last years of his life he did much to help the University and the Normal School secure the appropriations needed for their growth. Moreover this idea was such as to harmonize all departments of the college into one homogenous but broad and well rounded whole. - This ideal is that our State College is to become a great technical school, which shall train not only the heads and hands, but also the hearts of its students, so that they shall become worthy to be the trusted leaders of our country in the myriad technical interests of modern civilization, and which shall be more intimately in touch with all the agricultural and other industrial and technical interests of the state than has been true of any other educa- tional institution. He saw the Iowa State College as the acknowledged leader and co-worker of all the agricultural, the mining, the manufacturing, the transportation, the engineering and the labor interests of Iowa. Under his Wise guidance the first step in carrying out this ideal was the construction of our new Engineering Hall, a step made with the heartiest co-operation and the most cor- dial support of our Agricultural Department and its friends. The next step, to enable which to be successfully made he literally sacrificed his life,1was to provide similar homes for our Agricultural department and our general departments. In this the Engineering Departments will C0-Operate in every way in their power. Later Domestic Science and Veterinary Medi- cine and athletic training and the general culturetraining necessary for a well rounded tech- nical student must be provided for, and we all will work together in fulfilling his great ideal. Doctor Beardshear's influence is with us yet. Almost can we see that tall and well loved form come forth from his little ofiice near the close of the dayls work, with the overcoat thrown loosely over the broad shoulders. We can see him mingle with the teams practising on the athletic field. We can see him drinking in the inspirations of nature on our beautiful campus. By the virtue of his infiuence his great ideal shall yet be fulfilled. ANSON MARSTON. is

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The Influence of President Beardshear's Life. BUT, when all else is forgotten, there will remain the influence of his life upon men -men who have been helpedg men who have been inspired lf lt -these will remember our friend and cherish his memory. ' Such were the closing words spoken by the head of Iowa's public school system in an address delivered in memory of our lost president. Yet just how great has been the influence of Doctor Beardshear's life can never be told. It is not with him as with a soldier or a statesman, whose oflicial acts create his influence, and whose Appomattox surrender or Emancipation Proclamation is a great public event, whose effects are visible to all the world. On the contrary Doctor Beardshear's life work, both as a pastor and after as an educator, required him to be continually exerting an influence upon others, not published to the world, an influence peculiarly personal in its nature. In fact the great distinguishing feature of his life influence has been its personal quality. True he guided with wisdom the affairs of great educational institutions, but it was a personal guidance. True he made countless public addresses, but their force came from the personal presence of the man, and from the impact of his intellect and personality. Because of the personal nature-of the influence of Doctor Beardshear's life We should not therefore belittle its importance. The soldier and statesman may aid a nation in ful- filling its destiny, but they cannot build a nation. Alexander nor Charlemagne nor Peter the Great could build an American Republic out of the peoples of ancient Asia or bar- barian Europe. This has been reserved for education, directed by such men as our great president, and the importance of their influence is greatest of all. Nor, because of its personal nature, should we belittle the extent of Doctor Beard- shear's influence. The writer boarded a train recently for an hour's ride. Two teachers strangers, devoted the Whole hour to a discussion of Doctor Beardshear, which showed his great personal influence on them, though they had met him but a few times. Perhaps no other man had so great an influence upon the teachers of Iowa, and through them he influenced the whole population, for in our state everyone attends or is directly interested in the public schools. The writer boarded another train, and a chance seatmate told how Doctor Beardshear at a crisis had revolutionized the life of his son, a student-in the State College. Through the persons, families and friends of the thousands of college students with whom he came into close contact, Doctor Beardshear exerted an influence greater than can be estimated, upon thousands of communities. Statistics show that college men are in general the leaders of the thought, the policies and the affairs of the country. Years hence a deed may be done, vital to the nation's welfare, which shall be due, could its motives be laid bare, to the personal influence exerted by Doctor Beardshear upon some college student. To me it is Doctor Beardshear's crowning glory that both the great success and the great influence of his life were due to his personal qualities. In this he resembled Lincoln, the man of all others of whom he reminds us. We may doubt the extent of Grant's influence had not the Civil War given him his opportunity, but Lincoln's influence would have been great under any conditions of life. As with the martyred president Doctor Beardshear's personal influence was due in the main to the magnanimity of a great soul, and to the depths of personal experience with a strong man's struggles of soul which alone can give completeness of insight, depth of sympathy and infinity of forbearance in dealing with other men. True the other personal qualities which contributed to Doctor Beardshear's' influence were many. I-Iisrugged physical appearance and strength of countenance were such that 15 3

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,Many of the Beautiful Thoughts OF DOCTOR BEARDSHEAR HAVE BEEN LEFT IN UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS. THE BOMB PRESENTS THE FOLLOWING FROM HIS PEN, FEELING THAT THEY CAN BEST BE APPRE- CIATED BY THOSE WHO HAVE COME UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF HIS MASTER-MIIxD THEITWO I'S OF YOURSELF. WHAT a Heaven's wide flung palace gate was the parlor of the old childhood homestead! It had the scent of a holy shut-inness from being open chiefly on Sundays. As a retreat in the mountains to wild things, it beshuttered, gave a boy a week day seclusion. Its hair mattressed settee was as soothing to a boy's bare feet on a summer day as a mother's hand to a fevered brow when the day becomes tired. The biggest mirror that ever hung in the world graced that parlor with a God-Almighty's face. One day when the hours were tired, a bare-foot boy lay upon that settee, afront of that God-Almighty's face measuring souls. The soul of him fell into the balances of the face. Who is that boy- in the mirror? I am that Ig that I is I. The I is called - . What is this I? What are Emi and Elim? Oh, to be a barefoot boy upon that settee again! It isn't long enough now. The fir trees near the windows like Thomas Hood's seemed close against the sky. It is no pleasure to find one's self farther off from heaven than when a boy. The years have enfilled that I with many. If the night has a thousand eyes and the day but one, the soul has a thousand and seventy times seven. TWO THOUGHTS OF THE NIGHT. ONE spring time when the flowers were belated and the crops tardy, for a full week the sun had not shown and the husbandman complained of the backward spring. The roads were lead and refused their purple to the eye. Days of continuous cloud tied the body fast in on the soul when the day was done and the darkness of the night. Under foot in the mud and the cold a 'humble insect of God lit a light. The passerby stopped out-right. He had been somewhat blue, andthat tiny insect threw out more light of cheer into the blackest night of the Week than man or sun had done. He said to himself, This light is more appreciable than that of the sun for six whole days. A star in its glory never did better in his degree than this.', And he went his way reconciled. On a dark, stormy night of another year in the lull of the storm on the bank of an old stream way, a man sat down to listen to the brook and the night. His face was between his hands and his eyes to the earth. When the stars do not shine the gloom of the clouds is easiest back of the head, so he was sheltering his soul from the shadows of the storm. But down through the muddy, murky grass and weeds sprang a light. Naturalists say it is a love light of an insect. The increase of the light drove out the darkness. 17