Wabash College - Wabash Yearbook (Crawfordsville, IN)

Page 17 text:

J, been but a few weeks in office, with plans and methods and resources in hand, discovered to them a new wisdom in their choice and the rare good fortune of the college in securing the leadership of so able a man. He was evidently thoroughly familiar with educational needs and methods, broadly informed as to tl1e local situation, judicious, earnest, energetic, resourceful. His determination at the outset to move forward, marked him as a man of progress and modern method. Immediately his influence began to be felt in the life and conduct of the college. His hand was upon everything. No detail of administration escapes him. Already new courses of instruction have been added. Old ones have been strengthened and developed. The departments are stronger and combined into a more complete unity. The whole organization is more complex and perfect. ' Nor is this all. The new President's influence has been extended al- ready far beyond the college organization. He has visited all of the larger cities of the State, and not a few of the smaller ones, and been heard in their pulpits and in their conventions. These sermons and addresses have brought him in demand to an extent that is beyond his limits of time and strength. The successful college President of to-day must be largely a man of alfairs. It is no longer sufficient that he be dignified and scholarlyg he must know men and methods. He must have business ability and adminis- trative power. He must know tl1e value of details, and have patience and tact a11d energy in mastering them. All these qualities belong to President Burroughs in a marked degree. He is not only educated in all scholarly attainments, but of man, the heart of man and human life, is he a trained and accurate student. One of his splendid qualities is his ability to enlist the interest and sympathy of men and women who are able to supply tl1e financial needs of the college. Already he has gained new friends and supporters who are of great value. He is always approachable and companionable. In his govern- ment l1e appeals to the manhood and self!respect of the student rather than to his own authority. His own energy, and industry, and unselfish devotion to his work are a constant inspiration to all about him. Wabash gives to her new President an open heart, a fraternal 11and, and a loyal support.

Page 16 text:

reaidenl' Burroughs od' CGXNQBQAF1. NNW 7 ,T WAS an important day in the history of Wabash College when new Dr. George S. Burroughs accepted the presidency of it. No 2 ,NX 4 ji!! . - . ff. one could have been present on the occasion of his arrival if and doubted its felt importance. The College and its friends had been many weeks in happy expectation. When the hour fl A came Trustees, Faculty, students and citizens were ready W with their warmest welcome. The whole body of the students meet him at the depot, cheered him loudly, and unhitching the horses, a select number of them hitched themselves to his carriage and, accompanied by the rest i11 procession, proceeded to his hotel. His reception was more than a display of characteristic Western enthusiasm. It was a splendid ex- pression of welcome, expectation and confidence. And there was intelligent ground for it. Although coming a stranger, he was not unknown to us. His election was the Trustees' most deliberate choice. Careful investigation of his career had been made, and the cordial endorsement of ex-President Seelye, President Harper and others, had already established him in the confidence of the authorities. All of us were pre- pared to believe that he was the right man, and that under his leadership the college would enter upon a new era of prosperity and progress. Dr. Burroughs' generous appreciation of cordiality and confidence, his easy ad- dress and eager social interest, at once strengthened this impression. His first contact with the young men demonstrated his ability to enter into their lives and grasp their affections. His quick perceptions and power of self- adjustment to new relations created, immediately, still stronger assurance. His regard for the work and achievement of his predecessor and co- laborers, established him in their esteem. The manner in which he probed every feature of the college organiza- tion and its resources showed his talent for organizing, and his business in- sight, to be extraordinary. His first appearance before the Board, having

Page 18 text:

NX.. Hgfie Urzegaqaecfeci, Because of God. EX-PRICSIDENT TUTTLE. 1111: ROMAN HISTORIAN asserts the pleasure of tracing a river to its source. I desire to trace Wabash College to the fountain from which it flows. When,Sir Walter Mildmay said, referring to the origin of Emanuel College, Cambridge, Eng.: I have set an acorn, which, when it becomes an oak, God alone knows what will be the fruit thereof, he expressed the Roman's thought by another figure of speech. In one it was a river, in the other an oak, but in each case the result came from a cause. In November, 1832, the Rev. James Thomson, and sev- eral men of like mind, set an acorn in the wilderness at Crawfordsville. a young town of a few hundred people. The Indians had re- cently sold the land, over which wild beasts still roamed. In 1821 its first white family came. In 1822, Rev. Charles C. Beattie preached the first Presbyterian sermon and solemnized the first marriage. In 1824, the first Presbyterian Church was organized, and, in 1827, the Rev. James Thomson became its pastor. He was a graduate of Miami University, in its first class, in 1826. While in the University, he formed the purpose of setting an acorn, of Sir Walter Mildmay's kind, somewhere in Wabash valley. This he did November 21, 1832. He and his fellow enthusiasts in the sublime undertaking, were home missionaries who had little money but a large wealth of faith. In one year from the starting of the work the first college edifice was sufficiently advanced to allow the first school to commence. 'Prof. Caleb Mills, December 3, 1833, began it with twelve students. In another twelve months the institution had shown enough vitality to get itself deep-hopelessly some thought-in debt. '