West Chester University - Serpentine Yearbook (West Chester, PA)

Page 13 text:

iqio PATHFINDER the scliodl. Biickntll was natiirall}- luatli n ])art with one of her youngest and most distinguished professors, but he deemed it the call of duty to embark in the larger undertaking, accepted the principalship and, August the first, entered upon its duties and upon what was, indeed, destined to be a distinguished career of service. Dr. Philips will thus soon complete thirty-five years of service in the school, and round out a memorable term of thirty years as principal, and the school that has felt liis guiding hand for this long period is now in the forefront of kindred institu- tions. The number of students has increased from two hundred and forty to more than nine hundred enrolled this vear ( iqio), and the cost of the numerous l)uildings and equipments of the Xornial School |)lant has reached $750,000. The graduates of the school have, ir. the main, followed teaching as a profession, and are to be found in all grades, from tlic i)rimary school to the university, while hundreds today are also filling honorable iiositions in a score of other professions antl useful vocations and, years after graduation, whatever their occupation may be. they ha e freely conceded that they cannot properly estimate the value of the inspiration ihev received from personal contact with l.)r. Pbili])s. who, either as teacher or adviser, spurred them to put forth their best efforts and seize every opportunity for self-improvement. While the chief concern of Dr. Philips is the great school of which he is the head, he has in every way possible lent his aid to advance general educational interests. He is in constant demand in Pennsylvania and other States as an institute instructor am! lecturer. His subjects, drawn from his varied experiences of the past forty years, co er a wide range. In 1888, he vis- ited the Pacific Coast, and has visited Europe three times, seeing most of the western and southern jjarts of it. He observed schools of all grades, met many distinguished men and is now delivering valuable and entertaining lectures based upon what he saw and heard, but he has the happy faculty of making an address on arithmetic, comets, business methods or how we elect a President of the United States as interesting as a lecture on London, Italy or the Vello vstone Park, He is, perhaps, more widely known as an author of te.xt-lKioks. In collaboration with President Sharpless of Haverford College, he has written te.xt-books on .Vstronomy and Natural Philosophy. These, together with his own works on the Civil Government of Penn- sylvania and the Geography of Pennsylvania, and his most recent publication, Nation and State, have had a wide use. The last-named work is especiallv in demand, because of the comprehensiveness, directness and luciditv of statement that character- ize its pages, as well as all of Dr. IMiilips ' s addresses, lectures, magazine articles or class-room explanations. . s fiu ' ther evi- dence of his worth to the cause of education, it is notewortliv that Dr. Pliilips is a member and secretar ' of the .State Educa-

Page 12 text:

PATHFINDER igio esteem. At the age of sixteen vears, he was aihnitted tu Lewisburg ' (now Biicknell) Uni ersity and tonk higli rank in all his classes, graduating with honors, in 1871, in the classical course, witli the degree of A. B. Immediately after his graduation, he was offered the professorship of natural sciences in the West Chester State Nor- mal School, then just opening its doors. Ijut was obliged to decline it, as he had already accepted the professorship of mathematics in Alonongahela College, Jefferson, Greene County, Pa. Despite the difticulties incident to the building up of a new colleo-e, which would have disheartened one of less heroic mould, Professor Philips achieved marked success there, the earnest of greater achievements yet to follow. He had intended, eventually, to enter the legal profession, but not being able to shun his manifest destinv, the teaching ])rofession still claims him. The gain to the legal profession would un- doubtedly have been very great, but the events of the last thirty years pro -e conclusi ely that the educational world W( mid ha e suffered a proportionately serious loss. It is interesting and significant to note here that Dr. Philips has been in the thought of the various boards of trustees of the (ist Chester State Normal School from the beginning until now, a period of nearly forty years. Though he was obliged to decline their first offer, the l)i)ard did not lose sight of him. unanimously tendering him in ? Iarch. 1S73. the pro- fessorship of higher mathematics, which was accepted, and the school felt the charm anil impulse of his scholarly and enthusi- astic teachin,g for more than five years. In 1878, to the keen regret of the West Chester people, he resigned to accept the professorship of mathematics, natural philosophy and astronomy at Bucknell Uni -ersity. Si. months before, he had married Elizabeth Marshall Pyle, the acconiplished young woman who taught instru- mental music and J ' rench in the State Normal Sclnjol and whi , thanks to a kind I ' roxidence, still presides o -er his household with dignity and grace and is a zealous and efficient wurker in musical, literary, temperance and social circles connected with the school, the church and the community. It mav l)e mentioned here, also, with special interest that two children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Philips. Both graduated from the Normal School and afterwards from higher institutions, William Pyle Philips, now a promising young attrirney of New York City, from Ha erford College. Harvard L ' ni ersity and the Harvard Law School, and Sarah Elizal)eth Philips, from V ' assar College, where her talent as a singer soon brought her into prominence. The trustees of the West Chester State Normal School still kept Prof. Philips in mintl, and in 18S1 elected him principal of

Page 14 text:

PATHFINDER 1910 tional Commission appointed Ijv Governor Stuart to draft a new code of laws for the schools of the State; he is a nieniher of the board of trustees of Bucknell Uni -ersit ' , of ihe College and L ' niversity Council of PennsyK ' ania and of the Baptist lulu- cational Society. He was president of the State Teachers ' Association of Pennsylvania in 1891, an.d in 1894 was vice-presi- dent of the National Educational Association of the United States, and again in 1908, and since 1808 he has been a member of its Council. In local enterprises, Dr. Philips bears his full share of resjinnsiljilit}-. He is president of the Chester County Historical Society, second vice-president of the Dime Savings Bank of Chester County, a director of the National Bank of Chester County, and a member of the board of managers of the Chester County Hosjiital. . t the time of the West Chester Centennial celebration, he was chairman of the Invitation Committee, and was able to secure Dr. Charlton T.Lewis to deliver the oration. On the occasion of the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the Republican party in Chester County, Dr. Philips was chairman iif the Reception Committee, and aided in arranging and carrying out a program in which former Vice-President Fairbanks and other dis- tinguished persons took part. Dr. Philips is a member of the First Baptist Church of West Chester, in which he has filled va- rious official positions, and his advice and counsel have always been sought and cheerfully given in all matters connected with the spiritual and temporal welfare of the church and congregation. It would seem that the busier he is. the more leisure he has, and during the last thirty years he has filled numerous other positions in borough, county or state, l)ut the activities already mentioned show the versatility of his genius, the scope i.if his knowledge, the confiilence reposed in him by his fellnw- men and the willingness he always displays to serve their best interests. That Dr. Philips is thoroughly devoted to the upljuilding of the State Normal School, is anipl}- attested by the fact that he has consented to remain as its head for such a long ])eriod. It is not generally known that his election to the principalship of this school in 1881 was almost simultaneous with a similar electimi in the Indiana (Pa. ) State Normal School. It is gratify- ing to record that his choice then has been his deliberate preference ever since. In 1888, he declined the presidency of Buck- nell University, in 1890 the position of state superintendent of public instruction, and in 1910 the tender of the presidency of Girard College. He has refused other overtures to enter college work anil has resisted flattering calls, not publicly km.iwn, from institutions of high standing and primiinence. That Dr. Philips is the right man in the right i)lace, is shown n.it only by the phenomenal growth of the school in point of