Penn State University - La Vie Yearbook (University Park, PA)

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Gen. James A. Beaver, Ex-GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA. HJC Hlt'li and public service of Gen. Beaver are so well known and ilppl'ct'iiltcti in Pennsylvania that the mere mention of his name is all the biography that he needs. His qualities as :1 jurist, 115:1 soldier, 11nd as :1 states- man have been in public view and subject to public judgment for over thirty years, and no new presenta- tion of them now eun ildti t0 the lustre of his career. I'lowever valuable and distinguished have been his services in public life, none perhaps will he of wider usefulness 01' he more enduring than his less conspicuous service in behalf of :1 struggling college near his native town. The Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania was opened for students in 1859, and on her first matriculation roll are found the names of the sons of the most prominent 11nd intluentiztl people of the State. Mast netive in the inauguration of this new movement was the Hon. H. N. MeAliister, 0f Bellefonte, Pu.,1t leading attorney and 21 successful farmer, and until the day 01' his death, june 5, 1873, he was :1 most energetic 11nd faithful friend of the institution, and gave his time and money freely in its behalf. After the institute had started on its course there came long wczu'y years of poverty and discouragement. The new education was unknown and unttppt'ecizttetl. The farmers themselves spoke of book learning with contempt, and popular tlisfztvur was manifested on every hand; this, together with the 102111 of debt and luck of funds to adequately officer and equip the enterprise, 1thnost caused its death. Gen. Beaver, after graduating :tt jet'ferson College, in 1856, began the study of law in the office of the Hun. II. N. MttAllister, in Bellefonte, and after his admission to practice, in 1859, was associated with Mr. McAllister as 121w partner until the latter's death, in 1873. His life in the ofliee with 24

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Mr. MeAllister acquainted him with all of the details and course of instruc- tion and purposes of the institution, and informed him of all of its difficul- ties and iliseoiu'agements. and fitted him to understand and appreciate its value and needs; and when in the summer of 1873 he was elected to the place in the Hoard of 'llrustees made vacant hy the death of Mr. McAllister, he was better prepared than any other man in Pennsylvania to assume the work and responsibility of the position that he was called upon to lill. From that time until the present he has been identified with the college as a member of its Board of 'llrustees, and has given it about twenty years of constant service, not only without pecuniary compensation for his time and professional counsel, but has also borne his own expense for travel and entertainment in its behalf. The character of his devotion to its interests are probably nowhere better shown than in his conduct in the political cam- paign of 1882, when his connection with the college was used by his adver- saries as a reproach, aml yet, instead of repudiating the institute, he lirmly upheld it through all of his political career and twice signed appro- priations in its favor against the protests of strong: party friends and in spite of the curses of political foes. He has also shown his faith in its course of training by educating two sons within its walls and in giving con- stant attention to its needs and desires. 'l'o even enumerate his many serr vices to the college in the last twenty years would take more space than the LA Vnc has at its command, and we can only say that his labor of love is now hearing valuable fruit in the useful and popular education that the State College offers to all of our citizens who wish to engage in the H vari- ous pursuits and professions in life, and in the appreciation in which this staunch friend of the college is hehl by those of her ol'lieers aml students who know him hest.