Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/133

 THE FIRST PRESIDENT 105 in theological schools, in women's colleges, and in churches. On December 10, 1889, he was elected president of the University of South Dakota, but declined. He had developed such extraordinary gifts in so many directions that Dr. A. H. Strong had sought and obtained his co-operation in the plans for organizing the proposed graduate university in New York City. This is the impression he made on Dr. Strong as shown in the Memorial Number of the Biblical World already quoted from: With my first acquaintance with him he seemed to me compact of vitality, capable of endless endurance, and determined to win whatever battle he might engage in. Industry never went farther, nor economy of time His love for learning was not the love of a recluse. He learned in order to teach others; indeed, he never learned anything himself that he did not immediately set about forming a class in that particular subject. Not only the subject-matter interested him, but the method of imparting it. Pedagogics were natural to him. How to get the most out of a teacher and out of an hour were vital problems to him. And this pedagogic instinct qualified him to launch a new university upon uncharted seas and with new methods of navi- gation His executive powers were quite equal to his ambitions. He could organize a machine to run the federal government. Is it to be wondered at that all who were intimately connected with the founding of the University of Chicago from the beginning thought of Dr. Harper and of him only as its President? They never wavered in their choice of him nor in their expectation that he would take the place. They would not consider the possibility of failing to place him at the head of the new enterprise. They regarded his presidency as manifest destiny, as a duty imposed which he could not escape. Their object was to bring him to this view and make him willing to undertake the duty. The main purpose of this chapter is to relate the steps they took to accom- plish their object, the difficulties they encountered, and their ultimate success. The movement looking toward Dr. Harper's presidency began very early. On July 17, 1886, three weeks after the Old University closed its doors, Mr. Goodspeed wrote: Hold yourself ready to return here some time as President of a new Uni- versity. When, after the Vassar conference in October, 1888, he informed his friends in Chicago of the new prospects opening before them for an