University of Denver - Kynewisbok Yearbook (Denver, CO)

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Or. flmmi B. Hyde T IS said of Giotto, the burly peasant painter, that he went about the streets of Florence busy and humorous, always some joke on his lips, always some beautiful thought in his heart. He was everybody’s friend, ever received with honor, pursuing his peaceful way with a merry word and a jest, and betraying his course wherever lie went by something beautiful, some bit of rude common wall blossomed into an immortal thing. This graphic description of the great Florentine painter is every way applicable to the subject of this sketch, for bits of wisdom, quaint conceits, merry jests and beautiful thoughts fall just as naturally from his lips. Such qualities of mind and heart are the product of a keen and sympathetic appreciation of men and things as they are or as they may be; a sense of humor; an artistic mind and temper, and a deep and abiding trust in God. Circumstances mould men too; struggle develops character. And the boy Amtui who at seven began to work his way, who at eleven attended Oxford Academy and by teaching Latin paid for his own tuition and that ot his brother and sister; the lad who worked on the farm studying and preparing himself for college; entered Wesleyan University as a sophomore and graduated with a total expenditure of $550; this boy Ammi was fit father to the man our beloved professor, and Christian gentleman Dr. Hyde. If you ask how could a young man graduate from college on so small a sum? we reply, though he did not shirk in his contributions to deserving objects, he was self-denying, he wasted nothing, he had no costly habits. Then he had superb health; “physical disabilities from his youth to his ripe manhood never averaged a half a day a year.” Furthermore, this young man never had any sense of humiliation at helping himself through college; but a sturdy sense of pride and self-approval. Dr. Hyde was born at Oxford, New York, March 13, 1826. He graduated from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, in 1846. In 1848 he joined the Oneida Conference. In 1850 lie was married to Miss Mira Smith of Utica, New York, and the married life of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning was not more ideally beautiful than the true marriage of this noble couple. For more than fifty years I)r. Hyde has been a teacher. For sixteen years he was Professor of Modern and Ancient Languages at Cazenovia Seminary, and for twenty years Professor of Greek at Allegheny College. Pennsylvania. In 1884 he accepted the chair of Greek in the University of Denver, and for one year was acting Chancellor of the University. In 1894 he was chosen to be the first

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26 reject whatever is inconsistent with true manliness and womanliness, and above all to model their lives after that of the Great Teacher. The Chancellor’s influence is by no means confined to the University, but is felt throughout the State. From a recent article in the New York Tribune we clip the following, which shows the esteem in which he is generally held: “ The Denver University, which is largely under the direction of the Methodists, has at its head a man of the most catholic spirit, of rare scholarship and ability; he is making a university that is rendering important and far-reaching service to the whole region. Chancellor McDowell is recognized by even- one as a man among ten thousand, and his institution, which was founded early in the history of the State, is worthy of encouragement and generous support.” He is a member of the State Board of Charities and Corrections, having been appointed by Gov. Mclntire, and re-appointed by Gov. Adams. He is also a member of the State Committee of the Y. M. C. A. These positions are not, however, so much sources of influence, as recognitions of it. Throughout the length and breadth of the Commonwealth his gifts as a public speaker have made him known. He gave at Greeley the first course of University Extension lectures ever delivered in the State. The subject was “The French Revolution.” This course has been also given in Laramie, Wyo., Colorado Springs (twice), and in Denver where it will be repeated this year. His most popular lecture, entitled “To-morrow and the Day After,” has been delivered once a month, on an average, for several years past. It is a powerful plea for a liberal education, and receives the highest encomiums wherever heard. He is in constant demand for occasional addresses, on all sorts of public occasions. It is, however, in sermons and other religious addresses that the high water mark of his oratory is reached. His baccalaureate sermons are always sources of inspiration to the throngs who listen to them. At four annual meetings of the Collegiate Christian Associations of the country, held at Lake Geneva. VVris., he has been engaged to deliver addresses; his re-engagement for the coming summer shows that he has skill in touching and influencing the hearts of the Christian young men and women in the colleges of our land. For three years past articles from his pen, entitled “ In a Library Corner,” have regularly appeared in the columns of the Central Christian Advocate. To the series of l ooks, entitled “The Picket Line of Missions,” he has contributed a sketch of David Livingstone. The students would be pleased 10 see more of his literary productions put into permanent form. That the Chancellor may long continue to fill the office which he now occupies is the earnest wish of hundreds of students into whose lives he has entered.

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28 pastor of the Methodist Church at University Park. He was one of the founders of the American Philological Society, and is a member of the American Oriental Society. In i3fi8 the degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by Syracuse University. I)r. Hyde has used his gifts of mind and heart for the benefit of the world at large; for he has fine literary taste and ability. The Story of Methodism; Articles on The Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Zacariah, Haggai, and Malachi, in Whedon's Commentaries, A collection of Essays, 1500 articles for the Pittsburgh Advocate, articles for the Methodist Review, these are among his published works. But best of all. Dr. Hyde lives most in the love and esteem of thousands made better by his presence, for as a teacher he is at his best. “He adapts himself to the need of every student, presents the dryest of Greek roots in the most palatable manner, rivets to the memory every difficult or elusive point by some unforgettable story, and holds the interest unfagged. Greek grammar may slip from the student's mind, but there ever remains in his heart a chord responsive to the music of Homer, and to his disciple Atuuii B. Hyde. Verses by 3actyl The pale stars yield to a sad faced nun, In rube of sombre gray, Who gently, tenderly places Dawn The rosy fingered child of morn. Into the arms of day. The sun fire burns the golden west. The birds chant soft their prayers, The flowers droop low on the earth's warm breast. The very winds have gone to rest, And Day put by its cares. And Night comes on with noiseless tread, And o'er the dusk earth skims; The wise, wise stars wink out o erhead, The moon glides forth from her jewelled bed, The world is wrapped in dreams