Sauquoit Valley Central High School - Saghdaquadah Yearbook (Sauquoit, NY)

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The life of Asa Gray always seemed to me a singularly happy one. His disposition was eminently cheerful, and his circumstances and occupations gave fortunate play to his natural capacity for enjoyment. From opening manhood he studied with keenest interest in a department of natural history which abounds in beauty, fragrance, and exquisite adaptation of means to ends, and opens inexhaustible opportunities for original observing, experi- menting, and philosophizing. For sixty years he enjoyed to the full this elevating and rewarding pursuit. These years fell at a most fortunate periodg for the continent was just being thoroughly explored and its botanical treas- ures brought to light. Dr Grayis labors therefore cover the principal period of discovery and of accurate classification in American botany. Merely to have one's intellectual life-work make part of a structure so fair and lasting is in itself a substantial happiness. His pursuit was one which took him out-of-doors, and made him intimate with nature in all her moods. lt required him to travel often, and so enabled him to see with delight different lands, skies, and peoples. It gave him intellectual contact with many scholars of various nationalities, whose pur- suits were akin to his own. Intellectual sympathy and cooperation led to strong friendships founded securely upon common tastes and mutual services. All these are elements of happiness-love of nature, acquaintance with the wide earth, congenial intercourse with superior minds, and abiding friend- ships. Although Ur. Cray had no children, his domestic experience was un- usually happy. His life illustrated a remark of his friend Darwin-ethat with natural history and the domestic affections a man can be perfectly hap- py. His way of living was that most agreeable to a philosopherg for it was independent, comfortable, and frcc alike from thc restrictions of poverty and the incumbrances of luxury. With simplicity and regularity of life went health and a remarkable capacity for labor. All appropriate honors came in due course to Ur. Cray from academies, scientific associations, and universities at home and abroad. The stream be- gan to flow as early as lfifl-4, and continued to the end of his life. With these honors came the respect and affection of hundreds of persons who were devoted to the pursuit in which he was a leader. His reputation was larger than that of a specialist, he was recognized as a clear thinker on philosophi- cal and religious themes, a just and sagacious critic, and a skillful and vigor- ous writer. It is the greatest of human rewards to be thus enfolded, as years advance, in an atmosphere of honor, gratitude, and love. Finally, Dr. Cray enjoyed the conscious satisfaction of having rendered, during his long and industrious life, a great and lasting service to his kind. For many years past he could not but know that he had made the largest and most durable contribution to American botanical science which had ever been made, and that he had done more than any other man to diffuse among his countrymen a knowledge of botany and a love for it. He knew, more- over, that by his own work, and by the interest which his labors inspired in others, he had placed on a firm foundation the botanical department of the university which he served for forty-six years, and that the collections he had created there would have for generations a great historical importance. To have rendered such services was solid foundation indeed for heartfelt content.

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ASA GIQAY To one of Oneida Countyis most 5- learned and eminent sons, Dr. Asa Gray, distinguished botanist, the junior class deems it a privilege and a pleasure lo dedicate their year book, to com- memorate the 125th anniversary of his birth. The placard affixed to his portrait in- forms us that he was born at Sauquoit, November 18, 1810, and died at Cam- bridge, Mass., January 30, 1888. In the years between these dates he accom- plished an immense amount of hard work, study and research and he attain- ed eminence in his specialty which has not been surpassed by any other Ameri- can. The place where he was born, the site of the tannery where he labored as a boy, the house erected by his father at Paris Furnace lnow the home of ' Miss Clara Wordenj, the home where many of his works were written lnow the home of James Quinn, Sauquoitj, the church which he attended, the oak tree which he planted, remain, dear to those who treasure the memory of Asa Gray and the history of our valley. Our school is also the proud possessor of a fine portrait of Dr. Gray, the gift of his nieces, the Misses Alice and Emily Crayg also of several fine vol- umes of his writings as well as a collection of interesting letters from other famous men of his time. These were the gift of Miss Kathrine Loring, niece of Mrs. Gray. Of himself Dr. Gray writes, H1 was born in a little house which had been a shoe shop on the premises of the tannery yard. My earliest recollec- tions are of Paris Furnace Hollow, for before 1 was a year old my father and mother removed to Paris Furnace and set up a tannery there. Of this l retain some vivid recollections, especially those connected with the first use to which 1 was put, the driving round the ring of the old horse which turned the bark-mill and the supplying the mill with its grist of bark,- a lonely and monotonous occupation. ul was sent to the district school nearby fClayvillej when I was three years old. There was a year or two of early boyhood in which l was sent to a small cselect' or private school at Sauquoit and at the age of twelve 1 was sent off to the Clinton Grammar School, nine miles away where l was drilled in the rudiments of Latin and Creekf, Dr. Cray says also that, following his fatherls wish, he took a medical course. He was graduated with honor, but his beloved botany was more to his taste. So he began his career as a teacher first at Utica and then at Ham- ilton College. lt was not long before he acquired such a widespread reputation as a student and instructor that he was called to Harvard and as long as he lived he retained his connection with that institution. President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard pays him the following tribute:

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THESHEDI-IEIQD Cf THE HILLS In the heart of the hills in Mohawk Valley there dwells a kindly old shepherd. This shepherd is an old friend of mine although he is a fanciful make-believe. Amid the glorious splendor that surrounds him he is at peace with all the world. There is something which clings about his person, that reminds one of the hills from whence he comes. The sun finds him awake at early dawn, tenderly minding the sheep which he keeps so comfortably in a little hut in the rear of his own. His sheep are better cared for than the shepherd himself. A cascade of wild roses form a bower over his little cottage, and the setting sun shedding its rosy rays upon it finds it nestled snug among the hills like a babe in its motheris arms. Thus the wind finds things, as it comes whispering through the tree tops. The sheep also come from a world of make-believe, and their names are: Beautiful Thought, Love, Self-Confidence, Truth, Gentleness, Frank- ness, Joy, and What Other People Think. A Beautiful Thought is seldom found in the dust and hub-bub of city life, while Joy is everywhere. What Other People Think does more good than anyone knows, yet may do harm if used wrong. Self-Confidence is what leads to a golden future, and Truth, Gentleness, and Frankness guide the way. Love is darling little sheep that find a place in everyone's heart. There are some other sheep that come down the hil'side and sometimes try to crowd out the others. They are: Fear, Hate, Worry, and Temptation. Would you like to meet my friend, the shepherd? Ah, then you must travel among the hilltops, and find yourself amid the peaceful sight where few of this busy world take time to go. When you have wandered at random far from all earthly things, then you will find yourself with the shepherd and his sheep. I detached myself one day from all the world and wandered up the hillside, coming by accident upon the shepherd. It was a wonderful day and the beautiful sunshine brightened the landscape below. I had the selfish desire to have Mother Nature all to myself. There was nothing to break the stillness but the merry tinkle of the brook as the water rushed over the stones, then to go with a mad rush down the hillside. That is how thoughts are sometimes calm and merry, yet also exciting and confusing. I sat down on a gnarled old root of an oak to rest, half expecting to see a fairy pop out from nowhere. Then my glance fell upon the shepherd coming toward me from the opposite hill. He was a dear old codger with iron gray hair and his sheep scampered before him in a mad rush to surround me. Beautiful Thought caressed me and Love flung herself into my arms. Self-Confidence came close snuggling his nose against my car, while Truth, Centleness, Frankness, Joy, and What Other People Think were content to lie at my feet. As the sun sank slowly to its fiery bed, the shepherd told me how I could gain the friendship of all the sheep. He said that if I learned to love them wisely they would push out all the other sheep. I glanced at the beauty which was all around me, and when I looked back the shepherd and his sheep were gone. After that it grew lonely on the hillside so I wandered back down thinking all the while of what the shepherd had told me. It was something which I was to think often of when I was again alone with Mother Nature.