Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/464

 410 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Thus, a year and half before his death, he knew what was before him. The story of the heroism of those eighteen months is well known. Other operations followed, the last one on February 22, 1905. Indeed every means of relief was tried. Meantime the President's labors continued. In February and March, 1905, four new books from his pen appeared The Trend in Higher Education; a revised and enlarged edition of The Priestly Element in the Old Testament; The Structure of the Text of the Book of Hosea, and the Commentary on Amos and Hosea. He continued to meet with the Trustees regularly until August 29, 1905, and to preside at most of the quarterly Convocations up to and including that of Septem- ber i, 1905. In the autumn of that year he published another book : The Prophetic Element in the Old Testament. In December, the last month of his life, he began to prepare the quarterly statement for the January Convocation, but was able to make a beginning only. This fragment contained about seven hundred words and was printed in the University Record of January, 1906. President Harper died on January 10, 1906, in the fiftieth year of his age and the fifteenth of his presidency. Rarely has a man met death in so serene a spirit. It did not come as a surprise. A few weeks before the end he wrote to a friend : Nobody knows when it will come, but it will come I mean the end. For myself I do not think it will be a very long time. In consultation with Dr. Judson he prepared in full detail the program for his funeral. It was like him to request that except the half -day of the funeral "all University regular exercises be continued." It fell to the Secretary of the Board to call on him a day or two before his death to tell him of the business transacted by the Trustees at a meeting they had just held, in which he was much interested. Some foolish statements that have been made as to Dr. Harper's religious experiences during the closing days of his life lead to the relation of the following part of this interview. He introduced the subject of his death, then so imminent, and said that his "faith was infinitely stronger and sweeter than ever before" and repeated twice over "infinitely, infinitely," with a depth of feeling his hearer can never forget. The only thing that