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

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igio PATHFINDER numbers and material equipment, but also by the esteem, admirati(jn and luyal support of his teachers. In 1901, when he had completed twentv-five vears of service in the school, including- uventy years as principal, the faculty tendered him a compli- mentary banquet and presented him with a ln ino- cup. The alumni of the school also showed their affectionate regard for him, wiicn he had completed t venty-fi e years as principal, by presenting him with his portrait, painted by the famous artist, William T. Smedley, a native of Chester County. Temple University, of Philadelphia, conferred upon him the honorary de- gree of LL.D. His alma inatcr had already, in 1874, made him ;. Master of Arts, and ten years later, a Doctor of Thilos- ophy. To those who knew Dr. Philips best, the causes of his notalile success are an open secret. Endowed with a rare measure of common sense, personal dignity and powers of endurance, his practical wisdom, his ability to discern and his courage and fearlessness to advocate what is genuine, substantial and vital, his detestation of shams, and his unswerving integrity, coupled with his dominant conviction that hard, persistent toil is the best talisman, and his halnt of doing everything when it ought to be done and of ininimizing ditticulties and jiersiinal discomforts, stamp him not merely as a man of thought, but preeminently as a man of action, wlio proves that work is possiljle liy strenuously setting about it, making even the timidity and irresolu- tion of others pay contribution to his strong and skilful initiative, and who thus, as a leader, secures the best results from his as- sociates by the virility of vigonuis e.xample rather than by the persuasiveness of uncertain precept ; added to these personal traits, his large experience in dealing with men and measures makes him a man in whom trust can safely be reposed by those who wish to have tlieir interests receive prompt and proper consideration, whether they lie in the direction of the education of children, the investment of the capital of a bank, the writing of a new code of school laws or the care of the sick in a hos- pital. With Dr. Philips industry is, indeed, a Christian obligation. While the fairest fruit of this is a great institution, not the least is a valuable library of volumes ( the second largest in the United States ). collected at odd intervals, bearing the sig- natures and sentiments of authors from all cpiarters of the globe. Dr. Philips, too, is a close reader of current literature, to which he is also an occasional contributor. He is affable and cordial in manner, a fine conversationalist, fond of humor, having himself an appropriate anecdote for almost any occasion and, w ' ith all his achievements, he is modest and unassuming. Thus, by the force and graciousness of his engaging personality, he attaches to himself a host of loyal friends, whose good qualities he commends, but whose faults and foibles he prefers to pass over lightly.

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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

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PATHFINDER 1910 It remains to be said that the l)ent of Dr. Philips ' s mind is distinctively judicial, thus fitting him not only to see both sides of a question and give them due weight, but also to anticipate probable objections to any suggested line of procedure. His conclusions are, therefore, urged with an aggressiveness and tenacity, compatible only with such breadth of view and far- sightedness. This (|ualily of mind, while affnrding a valuable hint as to how he wnuld ha e served the state i)r nation, had he entered the legal profession and been invested with the ermine, becomes an invaluable and well-nigh indispensable factur in the administration of a great institution, in which a faculty f fortv members, a student-biuly numbering nine hundred pupils and a board of trustees made up of able and progressi e men are constantlv locking t him for suggestion, advice, or reciimmendation, so that the interests of teachers, students and the comnumitv alike may be suitably safeguarded, and the success of the school may not be jenpardized, because of a low intellectual or moral standard, nr liecause of financial embar- rassment. It must be apparent, therefore, that Dr. I ' hilips has the confidence of the board of trustees, as a wise manager, as he has served them for nearly thirty years, and it is e(|ually manifest that parents tru.st him implicitly and ap- prove of his careful ])olicy, since, each year, in increasing numbers, they send their children to him and his associates to lie edu- cated, and the entire harmony in the faculty, together with the sympathetic attitude of the ])rincipal towards the various de- partments of instruction, deepens the feeling, year by year, that it is a jirivilege and a pleasure to labor under him. 1 he perspective is too short to do more than scant justice to the man, George Morris Philips, or his work. It is no idle retrospective dream to venture the assertion that, had he included a political career with the prosecution of law (his fellow- citizens would have maile it inevitable), his sterling (pialities of mind and heart, added to his well-known genius for executive direction, would ha e insured him eminence in the go ernmental councils of stale an l nation ami, ha ing filled the usual t-Hn-z .v (( if ' ' i ;; of his native state, he would ha e been a formidable and probabK- successful candidate for any ]iosition to which he might have as])ired. But it may be true that, by instilling right principles of thought and action into the minds of the thousands of vouug men and young women who ha e come under his ])ersonal care during the past forty years. Dr. I ' hilips has exerted a wider influence, perhaps at a personal sacrifice, and has done more to better existing conditions and stinnilate human societv to a keener percep- tion of the highest good, than he could have done in any other avenue of iniblic ser ice and, as he is yet in the full vigor of his