University of North Carolina Chapel Hill - Yackety Yack Yearbook (Chapel Hill, NC)

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Vol. XI UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA 7 to-day. He has let no opportunity pass of showing this interest practically. The success of the Olympic Games, through the coming of the American athletes, who gave such life to that athletic meeting and insured its success, was due to Dr. Alexander. A genuine representative of a democratic people, he has maintained a charming simplicity of manner without petty diplomatic affectation and his house has been open with the utmost hospi- tality to every Greek who sought an interview with the American Minister, and to all his compatriots, who have carried away the same good impression of their diplomatic repre- sentative. It is a pity that we are losing such a friend. In 1897, he took up again the quiet hfe of scholar and teacher at the University. His knowledge and love of books had led him to give much time to the care and development of the library, and as Supervisor he did much to direct its growth and make it the strong and useful library which it is to-day. When President Alderman resigned in 1900, he was urged by many to consent to undertake the duties of the presidency, but could not be moved by any of our arguments or pleas. He finally consented, however, to become Dean of the University, and by his wise counsel, encouragement, and unswerv- ing loyalty he did much to uphold the hands of the one upon whom the task of government had fallen. In March, 1910, after two years or more of failing health, the end came, painlessly and without sadness of farewell. And here amid the oaks of the campus, where we both had labored through the sunshine and sorrow, the bright and the dark days of more than twenty years, and in the peaceful village which we both had loved, find no place Tvhich does not breathe Some gracious memory of mv friend. F. P. Venable.

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M? THE IQll YACKETY YACK Vol. XI He was called to the University of North Carolina m the fall of 1886 as Professor of Greek, and speedily made his influence felt for all that was high and best in the University. He taught Greek with a love for the art, the litera- ture, and the heroic days of Greece that attracted his students and made it a liberal education to be brought in contact with him. They gathered around him in his office, filled with books and papers and pictures of Greece and Greek art. There they read together the Greek Testament or some late copy of a newspaper from Athens. But deeper and more lasting than all other lessons was the quiet, ennobling influence of the teacher himself. How great was the charm of his kindly courtesy, his unselfishness, and his deep and varied learning, many of his students, now scattered throughout the State and the South, can testify. Truly, he belongs to that great Choir Invisible. The presence of a good diffused. And in diffusion ever more intense. In 1893, President C;e eland appointed him Minister to Greece, Rou- mania, and Servia. He was granted leave of absence by the trustees and re- mained abroad for four years. During most of this time his duties kept him at Athens. It has been the general testimony that this country has never had a more efficient or acceptable representative there. His acquaintance with the Modern Greek tongue enabled him to mix with the people, and his gentle courtesy won him many friends. His intimate knowledge of their literature and of all that was glorious in their past brought him in touch with the scholars and great men of Greece, and lasting friendships were formed with the king and members of the royal family. For years after his return to his quiet home in Chapel Hill the king and some of his sons continued to correspond with him and to send him affectionate reminders of their former acquaintance. He was largely instrumental in the restoration of the Olympic Games, the first of the modern games being celebrated during his official stay in Athens. The Acropolis, the leading newspaper of Athens, contained the following reference to him on his return to this country: The Athenian people have heard with sorrow of the proposed departure of the American Minister, Mr. Alexander. Greece is, indeed, losing a highly valued friend, and Athens especially will miss one of her most sympathetic personalities. A scholar in the widest significance of the word, but not, for all that, the less of a diplomat, although the diplomatic activity of the American Legation at Athens is limited; deeply learned in Greek language and literature, he has loved Greece not with the soulless interest of the archaeologist, but with the warm love of a man interested in the prosperity of Greece of

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THE IQU YACKETY YACK Vol. XI An Appreciation [TANDING one cold November day on a street corner of Nash- ville, Tennessee, in company with the late Dr. Wiggms, Vice Chan- cellor of the University of the South, waiting for a car to take us out to Vanderbilt University, I saw a man, then unknown to me personally, step out into the street and help an old woman with a basket, who was having some difficulty in threading her way through the mazes of carriages and other ve- hicles that throng that part of the city. Later the gentleman got on the same car with us and I was delighted to be introduced by a common friend to Dr. Alexander, whom I had long known by reputation. This was a simple act and haply not worth the recording, but it made an impression upon me and attracted me at once to the stranger; it was, moreover, an inherent character- istic of the man, and I saw it again in after years, when we had become close friends. Meeting at the station in Athens, Georgia, where we both had spent the night, on a cold rainy morning in January, we boarded the train for At- lanta, and the car being well crowded, we were compelled to take seats in the small smoking compartment in the rear — no delightful place on a slow local train, but as we both smoked it was not so bad. We at once fell to dis- cussing Greek matters, an almost inevitable hap whenever two or three of our persuasion are gathered together. It was still raining and bitterly cold when the train stopped at a small station and an old man laden with provisions and other bundles was struggling to board the car. With his usual foresight for others. Dr. Alexander jumped up and rushed hatless through the rain and sleet to the platform to help the old man aboard. Another simple act, and perhaps not worth the telling to those who have fallen under the spell of his charming personality; and yet, nothing so tells the tale of a man ' s life and reveals his real inner self as do his little courtesies, his unselfish forethought, his personal discomfort cheerfully undergone, where he can render service whence no re- turn can be made. I mention these incidents because they are landmarks in my acquaintance with Dr. Alexander, and doubtless played a large part in making me love him so tenderly as I did. They always recur to my mind, recalling as they do, amid all his glory as ambassador, amid all his brilliancy