Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 26.djvu/503

Rh I have called your attention to. I have to say that I feared for your success with that man at the head. Nay more, I know you will not succeed!

You may think I have written very plainly about your Pres. but it is to a Trustee, and my conviction. I want you to have a man that will give you character. You have not now and neither material out of which one can grow. D. RUTLEDGE.

In addition to his duties as president of the university, Dr. Wythe was also, as already stated, pastor of the local church at Salem. He appears to have been successful in this work, for his church enrolled a membership of 200, with a Sunday School of 300 to 400 members. When we recall that Salem at that time had only 1200 inhabitants, it is evident that Wythe must have had the larger proportion of Salem church-goers in his church.

Two personal glimpses of his work at Salem are given in the following quotations from students at the university during his term as president:

"Dr. Wythe was president and also pastor of the Methodist Church. How would that seem now? He was a very fine scholar. He often made explanatory remarks in reading the Bible lesson, but we never could tell by his tone where the reading ended and the remarks began by which you may know that he was a very perfect and natural reader."

Another student of the time writes:

"The president of the faculty, Rev. J . H . Wyeth who in a short time resigned to take perchance other and more lucrative fields of work, was a man of small stature, but large of knowledge. He was kind and affable in disposition, he was a true friend to the students and by them greatly beloved."

It was during Wythe's presidency of the university that the medical department was finally organized. The initial steps toward establishing a medical school in Oregon were taken by Governor A. C. Gibbs and others in