Iowa State University - Bomb Yearbook (Ames, IA)

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hard-working, with the all-saving commonfsensesn well-nigh universal' with the pioneersg the mother deeply religious, possessing far-reaching spiritual insight, and a faith that was sublime. By stream and wood the boy grew up in love with flower and field and tree, the children of the deep blue sky and all that nature held and taught. Struggles he had-not with poverty, for he belonged to that class so aptly described by John Hay, who know no hunger they are not sure of satis- fying, no luxury which can enervate mind or body -but struggles with himself. For a time he was conscious only of power. I-lis physical powers first attracted attention: for he was larger and stronger at fourteen than most men are at twenty-one, and he entered the army at the former age, by reason of his stature, and in spite of his years. But strong as was the body, the mentality of the youth overmatched it. The hour came when he went over the road to Damascus-saw the light, heard the voice out of Heaven, and made the same humble answer whichihas marked the starting point of every man to whom God has given a mighty work: 't What wilt thou have me to do ? Hope found a lodgment in his breast, Hope that he might be strong To do his noblest and his best ln undermining wrong. I-le went to college-from college to the ministry, and thence to the presidency of a college thoroughly in keeping with its name- Western, Who shall tell the story of these educational pioneers ? It is a story of hardship and sacrifice, unknown to and unappreciated bythe public at large, and oftentimes even by those who are the direct beneficiaries of this unself- ish, ill-paid labor. Eight years of his best effort Doctor Beardshear gave to this struggling collegeg and it was not in vain. Such light as illuminated his soul needed not to be set upon a hill in order to be seen and to give light. By the force of his personality this college became known in every corner of Iowa and far beyond. The largest city of the commonwealth asked for his services, and two years later the state claimed him. It is as the builder of the greater college at Ames that Doctor Beard- shear will be chiefly remembered. Others had done much of the pioneer work. His task was to build the superstructure-to build it with an eye to strength, beauty and utility, in the broad spirit of the heroic men who, founding these colleges, planned for a mighty and peaceful future, in the very darkest hour of the civil war, when even some brave hearts thought the national life lost upon the field of battle. The might and grandeur of the opportunity possessed him. For the very work's sake he lived and moved and had his being. I-le asked for nothing else, hoped for nothing beyond the consummation of his plans for this school. And those plans were never small or mean. Excelsior! You, to whom his work, undone, is bequeathed, will find naught but inspiration for titanic tasks in all that he has left you. Beardshear was an immense personality -original in everything. Most men can be assigned to a class, upon analysisg Beardshear stood alone. lt will be said of him as it has been said of Lincoln, that he nad no ances-

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A Tribute TO OUR LATE BELOVED PRESIDENT BY ONE OF HIS CLOSEST FRIENDS MR. W. R. BOYD or CEDAR RAPIDS, town WILLIAM MILLER BEARDSHEAR AN APPRECIATION O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells: Rise up-for you the Hag is flung-for you the bugle trills, For you bouquets and ribbonld wreaths-for you the shores a-crowding. For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning: Here-Captain! dear father! This arm beneath your head! I ' d th t n the deck I IS S0l11B I'B3lTl 2 0 -. You've fallen cold and dead. ND it is so now. We scarce can make him dead-any of uswho knew Doctor Beardshear. But recently he seemed so strong, so ful! of power, so much to do that only he could do, Some lives there be which may end at any time and none take note of their departure outside the family circle: most lives, perhaps, end so. And there are other lives, commanding the attention of the world, which seem to close as grandly and as naturally as the splendid setting of an unclouded sun after a perfect day. lt is finished comes unbidden in such cases- and we write it down almost triumphantly. But it would seem that the most precious of all lives have their ending without twitight and evening bell. The darkness comes suddenly and at high noon, and we all but for- get, for the moment, what has been, in mournful contemplation of what seems unfinished and on hand. Thus ended this great life, and in this hour of grief and darkness, we stand vainly asking: I-low can it be that he has gone away? I-le crowded into thirty years the work of sixty. I-le toiled as though he knew the limitations Time had set for him, and meant to triumph over them. But he needed yet more years. Doctor Beardshear is dead at fifty-one years of age. What is unfin- ished other hands must grasp and do. Ours it is just now to look for a moment, and with such appreciation as is to us vouchsafed upon what has been and ever will be the result of these brief but strenuous years of noble, untiring and unselfish work. William Miller Beardshear sprang, as did Abraham Lincoln, out of the loins of labor, and out of the heart of the continent. lt was a typical country home that john Beardshear and Elizabeth Coleman established on the banks of the Little Miami, and here the future leader and,master of men was born. It may always be taken for granted, almost Without testimony, that a great man has had a noble mother. The forbidding philosophy of Schopenhauer contains one dictum universally attested by observation and experience, that a child receives its mental and moral fiber as an inheritance from its mother. The father may or may not aid in the endowment. Both parents of William M. Beardshear were sturdy folk: the father honest and

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tors, no fellows and no successor. Few men of genius are well poised or satisfactory as a whole. Their admirers are forever compelled to apologize for the short-comings which all but obscure their unusual gifts. ln Beard- shear the subtle brilliancies of genius were reinforced by standard qualities and common sense 5 therefore he sustained himself always. He was daring in conception and in execution, but he did not attempt the impossible nor in- dulge the outlandish. l-le was broad-gauged-magnanimous in everything. He could not be small and he could not be mean. He used men after his own honor and dignity. He was forever seeking after truth, and if he found agrain ofit in the midst of error, he greeted it with enthusiasm regardless of the company it kept. Beardshear was a keen judge of character. He discerned the Vanities, the weaknesses and the follies of men, but avoided cynicism. He had charity for everything but hypocrisy. He was a leader-not so much by force visibly made manifest, as through the possession of power intuitively recognized by those with whom he came in contact. The leadership of such a man robs no follower of his sense of independence. It is only when weakness occupies the seats of power that obedience becomes degradation, even though the unreasonable be not required. Love and awe were joined in the regard the student body had for him. They knew he had charity for common faults-but no tolerance for the intolerable. ln the world he mingled with men freely and sympathetically-loving and being loved-yet dwelt apart. ln his deeper life he was most lonely. He sailed great voyages over the ocean of thought, in regions where sails are seldom sighted: but if, perchance, one came his way that understood his signal code, he hailed it as comrade evermore. Doctor Beardshear was an orator. ln the exercise of this gift he was much influenced by his moods. Sometimes he spoke as to himself, in lan- guage weird, with illustrations and quotations gleaned from fields whose grain and fruit would grow untouched forever, if left to wait for the ordinary har- vester. But more often he spoke in simple phrase, with homely illustration, and always with such earnestness that he captivated and convinced men-not against their wills, but because they were made to see the truth as he saw it. Great in stature, great in intellect, great in heart- and as the greatest only are in his simplicity sublime, was this man. He grew up out of doors and heremained a lover and an interpreter of nature until the day of his death. In every mood he went forth under the open sky to list to nature's teachings. He knew the t' various language, the voice of gladness, the smile, the eloquence of beauty and all the mild and gentle sympathy which steals away our sadness t' ere we are aware. And he walked with God. That is a phrase one dare not use except it fit the man. Whoever uses it recklessly invites contempt or pity both for his subject and himself. His nearness to his Maker was apparent whenever his voice was lifted in prayer. Lost almost utterly to self and situation, he entered into companionship with the Infinite-walked with God and talked with him, as it seemed, face to face. He had piety without show of it- reverence without pretence-trust like unto that of a little child.