University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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3fn ALKKKT H. I ' ATTKNGILL, A.M., Professor of Greek Died at Ann Arbor, March 16, Aged 64. KuriT, Literary, 1905-6 Died at his Ho ' tie at Saginaw, March 19, Aged 19. VIRGINIA AGNES THOMPSON, Literary, 1904-5 Died at Ann Arbor, October 9, 1906, Aged 21. RALPH WALDO OAKLEY, Literary, 1904-6 Died at Detroit, Mich., November 14, 1905, Aged 17. ARTHUR CHRISTIANSEN, Engineer, 1904-6 Died at Greenville, Michigan, February 19, 1906, Aged 21. JAMES DONALD MclNTOSH, Literary, 1904-5 Died at Phoenix, Arizona, May 12, 1905, Aged 19. ROBERT HUNTINGTON JACOBS, Literary, 1903-4 Drowned at Freedom, N. H., Sept. 7, 1905, Aged 21. PERCY DOUGLAS POUND, Literary, 1904-5 Drowned at Detroit, September 4, 1906, Aged 19. ALBERT HENDERSON PATTENG1LL Professor Pattengill entered the faculty of the University nearly thirty-seven years ago, and for over a third of a century has impressed upon the life of this institution the influence of a strong nature. Many of us remember the hours spent in his class-room; we recall his quiet demeanor, his placidity, his calm exterior, through which glowed intense interest in his lesson and in the minutest problem of translation. In his undemonstrative way without the ordinary appearances of deep enthusiasm he expressed his own devotion to his work and awakened a corresponding feeling in his students. It never occurred to his classes that they might be listless or inattentive or that to be nearly right was sufficient; for his spirit was contagious and without a word of sharp reproof he led us on to an appreciation of accuracy and completeness. To find the exact word, to catch the finest shade of thought, to grasp with assurance the subtilest meaning, became for us an absorbing occupa- tion. Though he loved the knotty problems of translation and the niceties of grammatical construc- tion, he had a feeling for words and for the sentiments and beauties of literature. All this means that he was a great teacher, and little more need he said of any man. As a colleague and a friend Professor Pattengill was large minded, sympathetic, and generous, with a peculiar faculty of entering into the interests of those about him and of forgetting himself. Many a student went to him in hours of perplexity, to consult him on trivial questions of college work or on the weightiest matters of individual life; and such confidence was always met with ready appreciation, with understanding, with fellow-feeling and with wisdom. Many of his friends on the faculty turned to him continually for advice and encouragement, relying on his unusual judgment, his unselfish interest, and his unfailing sincerity. And there was withal in this quiet undemonstra- ive man not only a strength on which his friends naturally relied, not only a certain bigness which his very presence suggested, but a depth of human feeling and a warmth of affection which only those that needed him could know in full measure. For some years he was chairman of the Ad- ministrative Board, and in this position he showed marked capacity for administration. He performed the duties of the office with the requisite attention to details; but here as elsewhere his greatest service was ' in aiding students, setting them right and under- standing their needs. For the last ten years his most significant work outside of the class-room was in the direction and control of Athletics. As chairman of the Board in Control he devoted untiring energy to the betterment of athletic conditions, to encouraging a spirit of manliness and fair play and to looking after and solving justly the perplexing problems that con- stantly arose. The value of his influence and his strong, honest personality cannot be easily overes- timated. Thus in many ways the life of a vigorous man was wrought into the life of our university. It is a comfort to remember that the influence of his character on its destinies is undying. ANDREW D. MCLAUGHLIN. ALBERT H. PATTENGILL

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awakening consciousness and dignity while the thousand students enrolled gave promise of material stahility. The next year non-resident entrance fees were raised to twenty-live dollars, and in still the next the professors reward had climbed laboriously from five hundred dollars in 1841 to two thousand. . iniil all this quietness and seeming contentment there was one change of importance, the admission of women. In 1855 Doctor Haven the future president, after advocating coeducation in a senate meeting, writes Not a member of the faculty approved it. It was regarded as rather a dangerous joke on mv part. Four- teen years later, however, the sentiment for the higher education of women had become so strong that the Legislature recommended their enrollment. February 2, 1870, Miss Madalon 1.. Steukwell was admitted to the classical course and thirty-four women entered in the succeeding fall. Contemporary information asserts that they were above the average age of students and one admirer refers to them in the somewhat equivo- cal language as A trusty band of pioneers. At first their presence was ignored, but better judgment pre- vailed and only at long intervals does the Segregated Man sigh for the seclusion that he does not want. The last thirty years have witnessed the flowering of the University. With the coming of Or. Angell in 1871, begins the practice of special appropriations from the Legislature enabling a more rapid growth in build- ings Two years later current expenses were largely provided for by the one-twentieth of a mill tax law. In this same year of 187.1 University Hall was completed at a cost of one hundred and eight thousand dollars, and by the end of the decade buildings for the Homeopathic and Dental Colleges, the Museum, and a central heating plant added to the equipment of the cam pus. The Library was opened in 1883. Traditions areas plentiful in this period of expansion as in the modern editorial columns of the Daily. Rushing, side-walk raids, burn- ing of mechanics, and horning the faculty are discreetly forgotten by sober alumni in advising their sons of the good old days. A gallery storm of grass bouquets and a rooster seriously marred the class exercises in 1872, and no one knows the number of secrets buried in the mire of the Cat-hole. Youthful exuberance troubled the faculty as well as the police. In 1865 concerted bolting was forbidden unless the professor did not ap- pear by five minutes after the hour. Mein Gott, poys, cried an outraged German professor, sie must nicht at the faculty chalk throw. In 1865 a Memorial building was planned among the alumni for the Michigan dead in the Civil war. In ' 67 the maize and the blue became the college colors. The following year inaugu- rated the Senior Hop handed on in 1871 to the Juniors to become an annual affair. Class caps and canes made their appearance in ' 69 and ' o, the same year that Acting President Frieze gave the tirst annual Com- mencement dinner. Many of the present organizations are of long growth. The Alpha Nu societv begun its career in 1843, the Adelphi in ' 57, the Webster in ' 59. Programs of the Students Lecture Association dating from 1854 bear the names of E. P. Whipple, Ralph Waldo Kmerson, Bavard Tavlor, Wendell Phillips, and Kclward Everett. The Young Mens ' Christian Association started four years later, and the present Glee Club traces its beginning to 1870. The Chronicle, a College paper, ran from 1869 to 1890 when it was succeeded by the Michigan Daily. In ' 01 the Inlander began its publications and in ' 94 the Alumnus. The University of Michigan is now completing the sixty-ninth year of her existence. Her student enroll- ment ranks fourth in the United States. Her teaching force has trown from two to three hundred and five, the number of campus buildings from five to seventeen and the annual expenditure hovers around seven hun- dred thousand dollars. Amid material prosperity, however, it is not to lie forgotten that Michigan stands for something more than mere bigness. She is the first Universitv whose governing body was chosen di- rectly by the people, a striking vindication of the democracy of the West. She was the firs! to begin the primal feature of all modern University instruction, the substitution of the lecture for the text book system. While not the first she is the greatest of the State Universities. March 10. iu x . F. B. K.

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PAUL ROSSEAU BELLON DE PONT Assistant Professor of French nnd Registrar of the University. Died at Ann Arhor, March I, 1906, Aged 66. When a man ' s life is ended, when death has set its seal on eye and lip, standing in the shadow, we look back upon his career with added perspective, and with a better sense of proportion. We then discover, that certain characteristics, which in life were accepted as a matter of course, stand out in such bold relief, that they become the most cherished memories of the departed friend, and often condition our final judgment of his work. Appreciation of a man ' s scholastic attainments and contributions may exist with no trace of the sense of the loss we experience when one whose personality endeared him to us is taken. Fortunate indeed is the man whose death brings sorrow to many hearts, and casts a shadow over many lives. Of such the University of Michigan has known many, but no one can mistake my meaning when I say that possibly no death, in recent years, has touched so many lives as that of Professor de Pont. He was brought into peculiarly intimate relations with the student body by rea- son of his official position as Registrar. The duties of that position he discharged with rare fidelity and lovaltv. As a teacher, he gave himself utterly to his students, and few can appreciate, for few have known, the hours he devoted to them outside of recitations. Many who read these lines, will remember how freely he gave himself to them, and how willingly he sacrificed a leisure hour how few he had! to assist them in their work, for charity and sympathy conditioned the performance of his duties, even when severity was demanded. In spite of his kindliness of nature, and the sympathetic promptings of a warm heart, he always insisted upon a strict observance of all rules. Evasions of duty he frowned upon, and trifling with principles he never condoned. Withal lie was just. The universal testimony of students to the effect that he was square, indicates their appreciation of his absolute fairness, and his keen sense of justice. Their expressions of regret and sorrow, prompted bv genuine affection for the man, reveal how deeply he impressed himself upon them. Who could resist the charm of his smile and his courtly manners. The winning smile, the warm grasp of the hand, the kindling eve, revealed hisabsolute sincerity. The graces of manner, inherited from a distinguished ancestry, not put on, as it were, were the outward expressions of a manly, chival- rous nature. Mis mind was well stored with knowledge of books, and experience had brought to him judgment of men, and all that goes to the formation of character. His appreciation of literature was deep ami true, and he loved the classic literature of his native France with ever increasing ardor. His love for the drama, for painting and sculpture, was a part of his being but an intimate know- ledge of masterworks in these fields, and an ac- quaintance with technical processes, made his enjoyment rational and justified. His pleasure in them was genuine, and his love for them was devoid of sensuous qualities, and had no trace of the sentimentality that so often mas- querades as feeling. Hut of all the arts, music appealed to him most powerfully. Gifted with fine artistic instincts, and con- siderable training, no one can appreciate how much the development of music in this com- munity is indebted to him. Animated by singleness of purpose, he brought to the ser- vice of these musical interests tireless energy, rare enthusiasm, and boundless optimism. He was closely identified with every musical en- terprise, from the very beginning of the mod- est singing club, which later developed into the Choral Union, up to his death. For the last seventeen vears he has been its President. He was also one of the most valued members of the University Musical Society. He leaves a place in these organizations that will be dif- ficult, if not impossible, to fill. Of a social disposition, he was never happier than on those occasions when he and his hospitable wife welcomed his colleagues, his friends and students to his home. He found his greatest delight in serving others. Because he did this, and because he was ever willing to sac- rifice himself for others, the memory of Paul Rosseau Bellon de Pont will be enshrined in the hearts of all who were so fortunate as to have known him well. PAUL K..SSKA, HF.U.ON me PONT ALBERT A. STANLEY.