Springfield College - Massasoit Yearbook (Springfield, MA)

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H t ribute to T wo friends of the Craining School By prof. f). M. Burr I N Bnnyan ' s “Pilgrim’s IVogress, Christian and her family had but one Great-heart. We have had two, Jrlenry Lee and iNIrs. Woods. They have passed on before us, hut having ceased to be guiding hands, they have become guiding stars. They both gave liberally of their money, but they gave even more liberally of themselves, and their example constitutes an example that is priceless. Such lives permanently enrich an institution. They leave ideals, inspirations and traditions which are deathless. Every student who enters the school enters into the fellow- ship of these saints of God. The ideals for which they lived and strove are a sacred trust. Henry Lee was the very embodiment of the spirit (T friendship which is one of the fundamental qualifications for success in our work. Though an active man of business, he was never too busy to be the sympathetic and helpful friend of any man who needed what he could give. Class after class found a place in his big heart. Whenever he came to the school he brought a benediction with him. Many a man is doing splendid service for the Master because of Henry Lee’s helping hand. It was charac- teristic of the man that his last conscious thought was to help a young man who was struggling for an education. Mrs. Woods had the same genius for friendship, hut she looked at the school with a woman’s eyes. She saw that the Christian must always be the gentleman, and that gentlemanliness developed best in a home atmosphere, so she gave the school a building, which should have in it as many as possible of the refining infinences of the Christian home. The highest tribute which we can ])ay to her memory is to make Woods Hall what she dreamed that it might be — a center for the development of cul- ture, refinement, and Christian fellowship. Mrs. Woods’ motto for life might well have been that of a great English king, Icli dien, “I serve.” Her supreme passion was to be of use.

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Gditorial Board

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12 THE M ASSASOIT She was never so happy as wlicn she was expending ' herself lavishly in serviee. Someone has said that there are two kinds of people, those who lift and those who are lifted. Mrs. Woods was one of those who lifted, raising ' all those whom she touched to a higher level. r oth Henry Lee and Mrs. Woods had a prophetic (jiiality in their affection for the school. They saw with the eye of faith not merely that which was, hnt that which was to he. ' riiey saw possibilities for measure- less service to God and men in the struggling ' school and the struggling students, d ' he realization of their ideals rests ni)on ns. The ’onng Men ' s Christian . ssociation is Christian friendship or- ganized. It is strangely appropriate that these two pioneer lovers of the Training School should have been rare embodiments of friendship in its highest form. The very word friendship will have a new meaning to ns hecanse of their lives, and if we are loyal to onr inheritance, we also will belong tt) this royal order of friends. lUesscd are those who help, for theirs is the royalty of service! These lines, taken from W hittier ' s poem In Memory,” are fitting when a])plied to both Mrs. Woods and Henry Lee: — W ' arm of heart and clear of lirain, Of thy sunhriglit spirit ' s wane Tliou hast spared us all the pain. “ Now that thon hast gone What is left of one to say Who was open as the day? “ Mirth that lit hut never hurned ; All thy lilaine to pity turned. Hatred thou hadst never learned. “ Every harsh and vexing thing At thy home-fire lost its sting; Where thou wast was always spring. “ And thy perfect trust in good, Faith in man and womanhood Chance and change and time withstood.