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

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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

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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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Vol. XI UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA 9 as a scholar, amid all his reputation as a teacher, the sweet simplicity of his loving heart and the unostentatious character of a knightly gentleman. About his ambassadorship to Greece, by which he is likely more widely known to the world at large, it is perhaps needless for me to speak, save to say that when I was in Athens in 1908, many loving inquiries were made about him, and everywhere his name was beloved and revered. So complete, indeed, was his wonderful personality that, although he was deeply imbued with a love for the past, he was yet never for a moment detached from the train of modern life, and his interest in the affairs of the Greece of to-day, spiritualized by his love for the Greece of yore, won the hearts of that people. It is here that his extraordinary administrative and executive ability and his diplomatic acumen were brought into their greatest prominence, foreshadowing a larger career on his return to America, but laying aside with dignity and honor the garb of office, and disdaining all the allurements of ambition and keeping himself unseduced by the beckoning hand of preferment, he returned to the arduous but loved labors of unfolding and uplifting the minds, and instilling the highest moral principles into the hearts of the young students who were flocking to this University. Of Dr. Alexander as a scholar I can also speak from personal knowledge, for it was my privilege to discuss with him many problems of Greek syntax, no one of which did he ever fail to illuminate from his wide range of reading. His deep insight into the language, backed by his masterly knowledge of the life and art of this gifted people, always quickened every point and rendered his every opinion weighty. For mere statistical learning, mere tabulation of the facts of language he had little use, but, whenever these toilsome details added to our appreciation of the content of the language or enabled us to inter- pret it more clearly and more surely, he eagerly welcomed them. In every instance possible he would bring to bear some incident in the life, public or private, or some matter of art or sculpture, to elucidate the interpretation of a passage. Possessed of all the characteristics that make up the great scholar, he was not only a learner, not only a listener, following the paths marked out by others, but was himself also imbued with the spirit of research and had col- lected and assimilated a mass of material from every side on which to nourish and expand his natural intellectual endowments. As a teacher he brought to bear upon the many complexities of Greek syntax his power of simplification and direct thinking, and by illuminating every subject with which he dealt, he gave to those who sat lovingly under him the best in Greek in its simplest and most attractive form. Upon the moral tone his influence will last as a vital power, not alone in those with whom he