Williams College - Gulielmensian Yearbook (Williamstown, MA)

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for cleanliness and gentlemanly spirit unexcelled. In spiritual qualities and influence there has been no decline,--apparently there has been pro- gress, even beyond the high point attained in the past. He carries with him the admiration and the respect and the good wishes of all those who appreciate fairly what he has done for the college. Although he made no bid for popularity, often showing a New England reserve and even aloofness, there are many who came to know him and to love him as a man. Those best fitted to speak from knowledge and from the point of view of the interests of the college are the trustees. Few higher tributes could be given than that which they have expressed, and that tribute expresses also the feeling of others whose knowledge and disinterested temper qualify them for just judgment. This is their statement: The trustees desire to communicate to President Carter and to place on record their profound and grateful appreciation of the ability, faithfulness, high aims and whole- hearted devotion with which, for twenty years, in the midst of many diffi- culties, he has spent himself in the service of our beloved alma mater. As a loyal son he has freely given her his best. He has been a skilful and inspiring teacher, and a wise and conscientious leader, seeking always the truest interests and zealous for all the noblest traditions and loftiest ideals of the college. p A. H. MORTON. 9

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hours which can ill be spared. If he picks a few friends, others resent the choice. Even trusted friends are not always proof against the temptation to seek special favors to which they are not in justice entitled, and are not pleased when the administrator refuses what he would like to give as friend. The college must be guarded, too, against all sorts of schemes, presented for the good of the institution, but whose rejection is taken as a personal injury by their authors. Students petition for this or that which it does not seem wise to grant, and are indignant when they find their request refused. If the president himself is not pushed to the point of thinking, I am the spirit which denies, he is for- tunate if others do not say it of him. He will be a very exceptional man if he never loses patience and he will be more than man if he makes no mistakes in judging motives. In dealing with these things Dr. Carter thought more of the interests of the college than of his own popularity or the feelings of those with whom he had to do. Himself a man who with Puritan principle would do what he thought his duty whether he met with smiles or with rebuff, he may have underestimated the extent to which other men, presumably of high principle also, would allow themselves to indulge their resentment. But when an experienced man of the world hears of an administrative ofiicer who is universally beloved and adored, he looks at once to see whether any interests of the institution have been sacrificed, or any executive prerogatives surrendered. A strong man is likely to arouse strong opposition. Since the discipline and the adjust- ment of conflicting interests fall to him, no matter how kind and tactful he may be, he will make enemies if he does his duty. In the statement that Dr. Carter represented the Puritan spirit his attitude is defined. That means that he did his duty and expected others to do theirs, without caresses and without coaxing. But it would be unjust to represent Dr. Carter as a stern man. Far from it. Those who have been fortunate enough to experience the warm cordiality and the fine courtesy which he showed as friend and host, and those who have known of the numberless instances of kindly help, in which he gave freely both of his money and of his personal service, will never think of him as stern. On the other hand, his liberal views, his concessions to the judgment of professors in the conduct of their departments, his allowance for difference of opinion and personal peculiarities in others, are attested in the resolutions of the faculty where they say: We wish to express our appreciation of the independ- ence which we have enjoyed in conducting our several departments, and the general harmony which has prevailed between the president and ourselves in matters of college policy. Dr. Carter closes a long period of successful administration, leaving the college prosperous, its future well assured, its morale excellent, its character 8

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