Millikin University - Millidek Yearbook (Decatur, IL)

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of tools and became an excellent machinistg he still retains great interes-t in lnachinery of all kinds. Leaving the bench and tools of the machine shop, the future adminis- trator entered a store, where he learned the principles of trade and indus- try and gained a knowledge of men. A In 1864 he enrolled as a student in the Model School of the Illinois State Normal University at Normjal. While there he was a member of the class reciting to P:rofessor L. B. Kellogg at the moment the latter was called to meet the Regents of the Kansas State Normal School, to which institution Professor Kellogg was called as the first president. The stu- dent could no-t then forsee that nearly two decades later he would be called to the same position. Later, he attended Knox College at Galesburg, Illinois, for one- term, entering Lincoln University at Lincoln, Illinois, the following term., from which he graduated with the class of 1872. On the c-ompletion of his course at Lincoln University, he was offered a tutorship which was ac- cepted reluctantly, as he had a desire to study law. The work at Lincoln proved so successful that before the end of the first year, he was offered a full professorship as head of the department of natural sciences, in which he remained until his election to the presidency of the Kansas State Normal School in 1882. The ten years at Lincoln were a period of growth and preparation. Lifelong friendships were made and the home was es- tablished. For nineteen years President Taylor presided over the Kansas State Normal School. I-Ie found it with a small building and an attendance of four hundred students: when he left it in 1901, the attendance was over two thousand and the buildings were large and well suited for their use. Six or more years before he resigned the presidency of the State Normal, it had become the largest teachers' training school under state control in the woarld, and had an international reputation. The graduating classes frequently numbered more than a hundred. To few educators has been given greater opportunity than he had in Kansas, and to few has been given .so fine a fruitage. The demands upon him for lectures were many, and his vacations were largely sp-e-nt in making lecture tours. Yet he found time to write arti- cles for periodicals, religious and professional, to write books, and to do a multitude of things that seemed almost impossible to one so busy. One of his books, The Study of the Child, published by D. Appleton Co., belongs to the International Education Series. Over twenty-five thousand copies of this book have been sold. It has been translated into the Jap- anese and Spanish languages. He has also written the following named books: The Government of the State and Nation, Apple Blossoms, Civil Government in Kansas, The Church at Wo,rk in the Sunday School, Among Ourselves, being a joint author of the first two named. His great energy, ability, and educational success made President Taylor the leading educator in Kansas. To resign an assured life position as president of such an institution after all difficulties had been surnmounted and the future promised more of ease in the enjoyment of a great work accomplished, was the most mo- mentous and difficult decision President Taylor had ever been called upon to make. Kansas people generally protested against his final decision to 22

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ALBERT REYNOLDS TAYLOR , J- ' The 1,l'E'Si111'l1l ut' 'l'l1v .lzumvs Millikiu l'I1iXn'l'5lIX xx IN Q- .Q ,:. on zu. farm in l'utn:1m wmnly. lllinuis, His m--uh'-1 NX,ux ..f ktuxvvix ujxnk Stock and his fntlwr gn 1'umlwrl:m.l l'n.-xm1.L11.m lu-an R' and God-fearing. lf':u-ming :un-I ilu- -li511'iv1 Mlm.-15 --1 fn. 1.1.1 fum Q 21.1111 the Will' pvriml Wvlw' KIM' v:ll'livH1 Illvl--Is in 111-X -!f M1--3-111.-1 1-f T' future educntimunl ls-aulq-up .M this lu-rin-I -vf his 1111, Xll-- 21 'I' .xl--1 -11--www 1 of future succ-1-sa-:ni llw IllJll'llilliHI-F un..-lv 1151 um. Im M. lu-. . .- 1 INILUFUI zlpliluwlv, :mil fm' scum- tilm- lu- um1i1i---l lux -I--N1 . 1-w 1'. u fl

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respond tothe call of his church and the friends of his youth to return to Illinois to build from the foundation to the tower a modern university. These first five years have amply confirmed the public judgment of his adtministraztfive powers. Hzis untirinfg energy and great zeal are the admira- tion of all. The administrative duties of the president of the The James Millikin University are exacting, yet Dr. Taylor finds time to teach ten hours per week, and to lecture extensively throughout the state. Since coming to Illin-ois, he has served or is serving as president of the following organiza- tions: 'The State Sunday School Association, The Illinois College Federa- tion, The College Section of the State Teachers' Association. The Universi- ty Club of Decatur, and The Elducaitional Commission of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. In 1890 Dr. Taylor was president of the National Council of Education, the most important educational body in our country. President Taylor mariried Miss Minerva Dent of Wenona, Illinois, who fs in entire sympathy with him in his Christian and educational work, und lives in the hearts of his friends as his peer. Their home has always been open to the stud-ents, to whom it is an ideal of hospitality and re- finement. They have two daughters, Mrs. Allen S. Newman of Emporia, Kansas, and Miss Kittie M. of Decatur, who has been active in University circles. Docto-r Tayloir is a man of warm personal attachments. His affections are knit to family, friends, students and his work. All his purposes seem to be formed in the spirit of helpfulness and thoughfulness. To the stu- dents he is counselor and confidant, their advisor in difficulties, their helper in every legitimate ambition. Governing without set rules, he appeals to the highest instincts of honor. Severe he can be when severity is needed, but in his severity there is an intuitive sympathy and an abiding hope that acts as an appeal. His faith in the ultimate triumph of the right cannot be shaken. He has oftern written. There is no longing of a nioble soul that hath not somewhere its satisfaction. VVhen others de- spair, he hopes and labors on: others may retire in defeat. but he knows how to win a victory from defeat. His pride in the University. its clean- liness, its strength, and its walls of brick and stone, is always strung. hut never so marked as is his pride in the clean hearts and pure minds of the young men and women of his flock in whose mental and spiritual develop- ment he finds his supremest joy. 1 S. 23