Springfield College - Massasoit Yearbook (Springfield, MA)

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T H F. M A S S A S (1 I T OF 19 0 9 7 3 irol) C. 33otont A little tnhiite of love. ani told his true name is facoh I itus Howne and that he was horn at Cjlencove, Long Island, hehiirarv I 2 th, i! 47, hut I ahvavs think ot him as jacoh I rustw ' orth a nickname which someone who knew him w ' ell uave him loii(f a o. hike Lincoln, he has always been dependahle; you could he sure to hnd him always where he ought to he. Dr. Ihirkhurst once said that you could tell the time ot day hy looking into the faces ot certain men and while it is true that we do not li e “in hwures on a dial” it’s not a had thmir to have some ot the traits ot a w ' ell preserved clock. I know this, plenty ot men have set their little watches hy our dear triend, making his standards ot life their owm. It was my good fortune to meet Mr. Bowne (it would he easier, though (]uite unseemly tor me to say “ fake”) when he was the president, faculty, and especially librarian, ot the embryo I raining School, then located at Kewhurgh, New ’ork. I here had not been many graduates; fohn B. S(|uire ot Buffalo was one, and about the same time that I went there, W iihur Messer was a promising student. Bowne had one advantage as an instructor ot prospective secretaries; he had been vigorously opposed when he wanted to take up the Association work as a calling, hut m spite ot that he had won a solid place m the confidence ot the leaders and he could therefore help those who were just about to enter upon a new Held ot activity. His method then was to give a certain amount ot time each day to instruc- tion and to laying out the reading tor the student. I here were two ot us at Newburgh in the “School,” my classmate (!) being a Canadian who did not impress .Mr. Bowaie tawirahly and wdio afterwards strongly resented being re)ected as a candidate, sav ing that the .Associations were controlled hy a council ot three such as we read ot in Venetian history! A ear or two atterw ' ards at a Secretaries’ CAmterence one ot the “graduates” was asked hy a seeker tor the truth: “What impresse d ' ou most at Newburgh. ”

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To 0ur Jrirnl] 3arob Citus !!3oUinc Tbf JJionrrr in S ' rnrtiinal (Tiaming:, vur 0r itrfullp iDrlnratr this -Boob

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8 THE M A S S A S O I T OF 1909 “ Mr. Howne’s collecrion ot old pamphlets,” he replied. 1 hat was not true with me. It was Bowne the man, the triend, the Christian, living his unself- ish life, giving himselt to his work in the city and reaching out to the rest ot the vast Association Held, with clearness ot vision seeing its neetl, making his best contrihution to the meeting ot it by the training ot men. J got the impression in those early days that McBurney and Mall had influenced Bowne’s lite more tully than any other two men; and who could tollow better e.xamples ? Hall was tull ot Hre and tervor, a tireless worker, a gitted evangelistic speaker, a tacttui and resourcetul leader. His capacity for friendship was phenomenal and, especially m conventions and conferences, he was unsurpassed in his ability to stimulate and sustain interest. He also disco ered secretarial timber and dragged it out, rough and gnarled sometimes, to where the treshets ot Association lite could sweep it down to the school at Newburgh. McBurney m New ork was the man ot strength and sagacity, ot wide e.xperience and initiative, with a hold upon the movement trreater than any other (jeneral Secretary has ever had or ever can have again. He, too, was a man ot large sympathy, possessed ot a nature ardent and glowing with strong humanities and love tor his tellows “passing the love ot women.” Bowne loved them both and loved other men of their ilk. His triends were the best men in the brotherhood and that is the index ot what Bowne himselt was and is. I have not seen much ot him during these later years, hut when I have met him, his blunt si ncerity, the genuineness ot his spiritual lite, the sountlness ot his )udgment, the warmth of his affections and his conscientiousness m the thschartre ot his utmost iluty has impressed me as it did when I Hist saw him in i88o. I he verse which he underscored m my Bible as 1 lett tor New ' i Ork was typical ot his own sense ot responsibility; it was, “()ccu|iy till 1 come.”