University of Chicago - Cap and Gown Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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swift shining success, all the national and international fame, did not for an instant affect his modesty of bearing and genuine humility of spirit. His life was wholly vicarious, freely spent for humanity. If he demanded much of those around him, he demanded more of himself. If he was insistent and agressive and obliged at times to inflict pain, it pained him more than any other, and was always in the service of a great and distant end. This conviction of his absolute unselfishness, drew his colleagues to him in strongest bonds. While he must always be the fountain of authority, he never treated his lieutenants as employees. He insisted that scholars should have time for research, for travel, for production; and his conduct of this University has lifted the station of the University professor in America. Of his amazing power to toil I can tell you nothing, for you have seen it daily. He recognized clearly that it was not his function to give the University repose of spirit, but to give it impulsion and Vitality. His dynamic quality was unique in the history of education. Like the radio-active substances that give off their particles in perpetual shower, yet suffer no apparent loss of energy, he steadily radiated sympathy, inspiration, suggestion. He set in movement thousands of sluggish souls who will forever live an intenser, richer, more productive life because their minds were touched by his. Fortunate indeed was it that in this western metropolis the man and the opportunity met. In the colder and more cautious atmosphere of the east his work as innovator and renovator would have been impossible By remaining in New England he would have done more for Hebrew and less for the world. His power of daring initiative could find sphere only in some plastic environment, still young, and eager to hear or tell some new thing, His break With the past could not have been made in any ancient university. Here in a city Whose stalwart genius was akin to his own, whose vast undertakings reflected his own radiant spirit, he found a 1700 5-1-5 from which he could move the world. Here in the hopeful, hospitable west, in the magnificent gifts of the far-seeing founder, and the great gifts and loyal aid of many citizens, he found the materials to incarnate his vast design- Men of Chicago! Let not his work perish! Let it not for a moment falter! You are honored in having among you what may become the greatest seat oftlearning in the modern world. When in midcareer, at the zenith of his fame and strength, he was smitten with mortal pain, he began a work more spiritual in quality, and so more lasting in result, than any done before. For the last twelve months he has won the admiration and possessed the sympathy of all Who ever heard his name. Calm, unterrified, diligent, he has walked forward with slower step toward the iron gate that was to swing inward to the World of light. Men who have long differed from him in policy, have come close to him to Whisper their friendship and gratitude. They have realized that the finest heroism is not shown in some sudden charge at the cannon's mouth, but in a twelve months march through the valley of the shadow of death by one who even then feared no evil. A great University, composed of students of every nation under heaven, of teachers trained in many diverse fields, of strong and differing personalities, suddenly drew together; the 19

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still be sealed. But when the man comes who can take our gold and by his insight, foresight and energy transmute it into the fellowship of scholars. into the eager pursuit of truth whether it lead to joy or pain, into undying allegiance-to the ideal and the eternal-then waiting wealth follows the man as the tides unswervingly follow the moon. But President Harper had more than imagination and faith-he had a tenacious and indomitable will. His entire being tingled with vitality, and his will was simply immense Vitality and action. His vast power to originate sprang from a wealth of passion, for the passions are the driving wheels of the spirit. He was no ascetic or recluse, but took a frank undisguised enjoyment in the good things of life. Always he ielt delight in sound, and therefore studied musicmdelight in color and gave it expression at all academic functions A delight in festivals and pageants and paintings and sculpture. It was his principles, not his taste, that made him a staunch advocate of democracy. A man of warm red blood, he carried within him a store of intense feeling which made his will inflexible. In the glow of his own nature he fused the most diverse elements of the constituency around him. In his tremendous purpose were included men of all political parties, all sects and creeds and Classes. He instinctively divined the strength and weakness of men he knew; to their weakness he offered support, to their strength he offered a sphere of action. And the world amazed, saw men who could agree in nothing else, agree in upholding the educational enterprise of this leader unprecedented and unsurpassed. But let us not forget todayefor he would have us remembertite-that his great ambition Was not tobe an administrator or executive, but to be a teacher. Administrae tive duties were thrust upon him and he could not escape. The love of teaching was inborn and he could not lose it. On his sick bed he reached out a feeble hand and holding up his book on the Minor Prophets, just from the press, he cried: iiI would rather have produced that than be President for forty yearsl It was the voice of the scholar refusing to be silenced by the babble of administrative cares. With what sinking of heart he turned from the comparative leisure of the Professors chair to assume the burden of the Presidency none can know save those who fifteen years ago stood by his side. Plato in his Republic says that in the ideal state the magistrate will be chosen from among those who are unwilling to govern. Surely in this respect also Dr. Harper was amply qualified. More than once we have seen him plunged into uttermost dejection as he felt that he was sacrificing as a scholar to the desultory Vexatious demands of an office. More than once he has been tempted to drop the burden and resume the work in which he delighted. In recent years he felt a growing sense of isolation, and became increasingly sensitive to the misconstruction which always surrounds men of originality and achievement. But his conscience and his religion held him to his mighty task. Are not our greatest warriors those who hate war? The fact that President Harper hated official routine, and longed to resume the simple personal relation of teacher and student gave to his administration peculiar power. But a still deeper element in his power was his absolute unselfishness. Not a particle of vanity could his closest friend detect. All the honors heaped upon him, all 18

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touch of nature made all kin; and the leader who brought them physically near by his strength, made them spiritually one by his weakness and pain. And since he believed so unhesitatingly in immortality, since each day grew clearer his faith that somehow, somewhere his work was to continue, shall we not make that faith our own? Quietly he said: I feel less hesitation in advancing into the unseen than I had in accepting the Presidency. His life is not to be understood apart from that basal conviction. For myself, without reference to the faith of the fathers, I find it wholly incredible that that titanic strength which changed for some of us our horizon and our career, has vanished from the universe. Taught as we have been from our youth to believe in the indestructibility of force, in the conservation of energy, surely for us to believe that the end of all service has come to our dead leader would be as great an affront to our intelligence as a mockery to our heart. We dare with John Fiske to affirm that belief in the hereafter, which is simply, uan act of faith in the reasonableness of God's work. Dr. Harper's last service was to make immortality more credible. Yes, in some far-shining sphere, Conscious or not of the past, Still thou performest the word Of the Spirit in whom thou dost live- Prompt, unwearied as here! Still, like a trumpet, dost rouse Those who with half-open eyes Tread the border-land dim l'wixt vice and virtue; reviv'st, Succourtstlethis was thy work, This was thy life upon earth. 20