In memoriam, Howard Gardner Nichols

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THE LIBRARY

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THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

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HOWARD GARDNER NICHOLS

*

'■'•His soul was made for the noblest
society. Wherever there is knowledge,
wherever there is virtue, wherever
there is beauty, he will find a home "

CAMBRIDGE

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MDCCCXCVII

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BIOGKAPHICAL SKETCH.

BY S. L. S.

A rarely gifted young life has passed from
our sight. That its memory, enshrined in loving
hearts, may become an inspiration to others, this
memorial is prepared by one who knew and loved
Gardner Nichols from his youth.

Like some sweet song too soon ended, his life
— pure, as it was strong ; simple, as it was he-
roic — is worthy of the imitation of the young
men of this generation.

Howard Gardner Nichols, eldest child and
only son of John Howard and Charlotte Pea-
body Nichols, was born April 16, 1871, at Haver-
hill, Massachusetts, where his earliest years were
passed, and where he received his first instruc-
tion, at a private kindergarten. His teacher
writes : " What a glorious truth that every one
forms his own character. Gardner had the privi-
lege of carving his own statue ; of giving an ex-
istence to the ideal of his highest thought of a
man ; of cultivating himself into the noblest con-
ception of faithfulness in stewardship. His life
has been so beautiful, so full of fruit in acts and
efforts, that I shrink from adding even a word ;

550086

4 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

he was my idol. For two short years it was my
joy to teach him, and to feel the brightness of
his sunny presence."

Removing to Newton, he entered the Bigelow
School, where he remained until fitted for the
Boston Latin School. In the summer of 1881,
with his father, mother, and eldest sister, he went
to Europe for three months. At the time of his
graduation from Harvard he said of this trip,
" Even now I remember most of what I saw and
did." He kept a little diary, very brief and
boyish, yet clearly pointing to the tastes of later
years. We give a few extracts : —

" July 18. British Museum in a. m. ; Na-
tional Gallery in p. m. ; liked Landseer's dog
pictures.

" July 20. Rotterdam. Drove round ; saw
many windmills ; to the Hague in p. M. ; to pic-
ture gallery ; saw Paul Potter's bull — fine pic-
ture.

" July 26. To Munich in a. m. ; women work-
ing in fields ; cows ploughing ; saw a wild deer ;
geese.

"July 27-31. Went to picture galleries;
bands ; soldiers ; Schiitzenfest. Saw an impor-
tant man — the king.

"August 10. Took early train to Visp;
walked to St. Nicholas in five hours ; drove on
to Zermatt ; saw snow mountains — the Matter-
horn ; saw lights of party ascending.

£>

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 5

" August 14. Chamounix ; Hotel Mt. Blanc ;
went to church in a. m. ; English service ; very
srood sermon ; saw Mont Blanc."

One day, when Gardner was quite young, his
attention, with that of his father, was attracted
by an unusual noise in a tree at the back of the
house. He writes : " It was a perfectly still, cloud-
less morning, with not a breath of wind stirring.
On close examination we noticed something red
bobbing backward and forward on the side of a
dead limb, near the top of the tree ; my father
went for his gun, and in a moment an innocent
little downy woodpecker, a male in full plumage,
with a beautiful scarlet crest, was our victim.
I could hardly believe it was he who had caused
all that noise. This aroused my interest, and
from that day to this (the spring of 1893), with
always increasing enthusiasm, I have been a de-
voted student of ornithology in particular ; of
all nature in general. This one incident changed
me from a bookworm to a young naturalist, and
I went now constantly into the woods. From the
time I was eleven years old, when I received a
shotgun, until entering college, I spent every
Saturday, rain or shine, in the woods."

In speaking of his life at the Latin School, he
says : " Here for five years I looked forward to
the preliminary examinations for Harvard with
awe. After I had passed these without failure
in any subject, the finals had no terror for me,

b BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

and I passed them clear, with credit in advanced
Greek." His parents would have sent him to a
private preparatory school, but thought it best
for him to be at home during these years. In
regard to their opinion he writes : " I must say
they were wise. I regard any boarding-school
for young boys as dangerous in the extreme ; it
is preeminently the time when boys should be at
home. Then, too, the tendency of private schools
is to develop cliques, and men from these schools,
when they reach college, consider they are en-
titled to special privileges not to be granted to
those from the public schools ; they believe that
a private school places them on a higher plane.
It is this spirit which is doing more to weaken
our school system than attacks from alien-born
citizens or religious intolerance. In not patron-
izing the public schools, we fail to practice what
most of us at all events preach, the mainte-
nance of our public school system. I can testify
most heartily that this is what I have learned
from four years' observation at college."

With his father, in the summer of 1888, he
took a trip across the continent of North America
by the Canadian Pacific Railway ; and in his jour-
nal thus vividly describes the approach to Banff :
" There were mountains on all sides, most of them
covered with snow ; they were rugged and seemed
like huge pyramids of rock. We passed a little
valley with a river flowing through it. Here the

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 7

mountains were thickly wooded at the bottom ;
halfway up were a few trees only, while the rest
of the way was steep and rocky. Banff, in the
Canadian National Park, is 4500 feet above the
sea level, and is noted for its sulphur baths."

While here he ascended the higher of the twin
peaks, taking with him a barometer adjusted to
tell the height of any mountain. Starting at
10.30 a. M., he reached home at 5.30 p. m., having
found the height to be 9000 feet, and the descent
harder than the ascent.

After leaving Banff, they went to Glacier.
" The railroad passes along the side of the canon,
crossing many bridges, and making very sharp
turns; the glacier is large, and as fine as any
in Switzerland." Of course Gardner must make
the ascent ; and a most exciting adventure it
proved : " After breakfast, we started to climb the
glacier; took gun, but left it at the bottom.
We could see where the glacier was, and how it
had receded, and began the ascent along its side.
After climbing five hundred feet, we came to
many deep fissures or chasms, some wide and
deep. All of us kept to the side on the rocks as
long as we could, and then walked on the snow
and ice ; the guide, Dr. B., myself, and our dog,
composed the party. At 1500 feet the climbing
became very hard ; I had a common axe, the doc-
tor an ice axe, and the guide nothing but the
lunch. The snow had become so firmly packed

8 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

that it was almost impossible to get footing, while
the angle we were obliged to climb was about
fifty degrees, with a deep and wide fissure below.
When halfway up, Dr. B. slipped, slid downward,
and tried to get his axe into the snow, but failed,
he was going quite fast, but, on the second trial,
managed to get it firmly into the snow ; but he
had fallen sixty feet toward a chasm — a little
more and he would have gone into it. We now
had to climb along the bottom of a perpendicu-
lar cliff ; went as far as we dared, then told the
guide it was too dangerous, and started down. The
guide threw my axe upon what he supposed was
firm ground, but it slipped, and went into a deep
fissure. He thought he could drop the lunch all
right, but that too went into the abyss. Our
party managed to get down, however, I by sitting
on the snow, with a sharp stone in either hand,
letting myself down. The dog climbed about
with ease. At last we got safely to the foot of
the glacier, arriving at the hotel at 4.30 P. M.
In starting out, we crossed a deep chasm on an
immense rock ; but when we returned, the way
seemed blocked, and we could not get across.
While we were upon the glacier, a landslide had
taken place ; the fissure had opened and swallowed
up an immense pile of rock."

This whole diary abounds with interesting
items, from which we cull bits here and there.
" Saw Chinese settlements ; the Chinamen work

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 9

for the railroad, or mine for silver or gold. They
live in miserable huts. . . . All along the Frazer
River, saw where the Indians caught their salmon,
drying them on poles with a smoking fire under-
neath. Mt. Baker could be clearly viewed. It
is entirely covered with snow, and though sixty
miles away, loomed up like an immense white
cloud. The scenery along the Frazer River canon
is the finest we have seen ; this is a very danger-
ous part of the road. Took photograph of Mt.
Baker. We touched the Pacific Ocean at Port
Moody, and for twelve miles kept along the sea-
coast. Eclipse of the moon." A visit to the
coal mines at Franklin was especially interesting
to Gardner. Our own large cities in the North-
west were visited, and contrasted with their
Canadian neighbors. The scenery along the
Willamette and Columbia rivers was greatly
enjoyed ; also that of the Yellowstone Park, in
which the wonderful formations of lime and mag-
nesia in terraces of different colors, the hot
springs and geysers, are specially noted. The
business and industrial enterprises came in for a
share of critical observation, remarkable in one so
young, Gardner at this time being only seven-
teen years old. At Olympia he found " Dwight
cloth." He took many photographs, which as-
sisted in making this trip what he later called
one of the most helpful he had ever made. In
June, 1889, he graduated from the Latin School.

10 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

The next summer, with his eldest sister, he
took his second trip to Europe. Making Weimar
their headquarters, they enjoyed frequent excur-
sions to the Thuringian forest and the localities
memorable in connection with the lives of Goethe,
Schiller, and Martin Luther.

Gardner entered very heartily into the home
life of his German friends. One day he proposed
to Frau G., his hostess, to cook the dinner ; she
assented, and early the next morning he went to
the market, accompanied by the maid who was to
carry his purchases, while Frau G. and his sister
followed at a distance, enjoying the sight of his
earnest, intent face as he did his marketing.

In describing this adventure he writes : " The
stove is not like ours, there being one flue but two
fires, — one to heat the oven, the other for the
open tops. Having no experience with that kind
of stove, it took a long time to start the fire ; as
soon as one fire was going well, it would spoil the
draught of the other, but I at last managed to fix
the doors and windows so that both would work.
The oven has a fire directly underneath, and also
contains a hole with a cover, such as we have on
the top of our stoves ; potatoes and soup were
cooking in the oven, but when it was time to
cook the steak, the fire which heated the open
part would not burn, so I had to take off the
soup and broil the steak in the oven, which was
difficult, as the potatoes were still cooking there.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 11

At last all was ready. It was greatly in my
favor that, having waited so long, they were all
hungry, even the guest whom Frau G. had in-
vited for this special occasion. When the soup
was removed, I had everything hot and ready to
serve ; cucumbers and radishes were ready, the
steak and peas garnished with parsley, and
everything was hot and well cooked, though the
beefsteak was a trifle singed and the potatoes
somewhat blackened. Frau G. wished me to
show her how to cook the steak, which they sel-
dom have here. Indeed, I had to buy a gridiron
on which to broil it. We had a pretty mould of
ice-cream, which was very attractive and con-
sidered a luxury. All pronounced the dinner a
success, although they had taken the precaution
to buy an extra quantity of bread, fearing they
might have to go without dinner. Frau G.'s
guest at once engaged me to cook for one month
for her boarding school, which consists of seven-
teen young ladies."

Leaving Weimar, Gardner and his sister jour-
neyed to Leipzig, the latter to remain there for
study. Before leaving her, Gardner inspected
her apartment, and thinking it would be difficult
to escape in case of fire, procured a rope, con-
structed a fire escape, and did not leave her until
he was satisfied she understood using it.

He visited Dresden, Berlin, and Hamburg,
where he sailed for New York in time to resume

12 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

his studies at Harvard. From the time of land-
ing at Liverpool he had planned and successfully
carried out the whole trip, his father giving him
full liberty.

The larger portion of the summer of 1891 was
most profitably spent with a geological class
under the guidance of professors from leading
colleges, during which time he visited a number
of the New England and Middle States.

Gardner made good use of his time at college,
studying more to become " a good all-round
scholar " than to gain distinction in any one
direction. He arranged for his second sister to
take a special course at Radcliffe, during his last
year at Harvard, preparatory to her spending
some years in study abroad, and watched her
progress with keen interest. Towards the end of
his college course, he said : " If I had only given
a little more time to one special subject, I might
graduate ' cum laude.' " He was agreeably sur-
prised when he did graduate " cum laude," with
honorable mention in history and natural history.

While at Harvard, he formed a friendship
with a fellow fraternity man, Herbert N., and
later with his brother Matthew, the three becom-
ing bound by closest ties. They were often at
Gardner's home, while in the summer of 1892 he
made his first visit to their beautiful home in
Minnesota, where the whole family became greatly
attached to him and he to them. Writing of a

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 13

sail up the Mississippi with his friends, he says :
" The scenery is as fine as any I have seen. The
bluffs all along the river are of limestone, the
deep valleys receding from the river to the prairies.
The rocks, which only appear at the tops of the
bluffs, often resemble castles ; their sides are
wooded, and at one place the hills were covered
with vineyards transplanted from the Rhine."
He was charmed with Western people and their
hospitality, and their hearts were won by his
sunny, manly disposition.

In 1893, after enjoying the World's Fair, he
visited his friends a second time. The three
young men were exceedingly congenial in their
tastes, and devoted to each other. They had
profited by travel, both at home and abroad, by
the best educational advantages, and all were
musical. They were well-read, well-bred, pure,
true-hearted, noble fellows, with an earnest pur-
pose in life, and an enthusiastic desire to benefit
and elevate their fellow-men.

Immediately after the summer of 1893, and in
accord with his settled purpose to connect him-
self with the cotton manufacturing interest, in
which his father was engaged, Gardner com-
menced work with the Great Falls Company at
Somersworth, New Hampshire, and later with
the Dwight Company, where every opportunity
was afforded him to see the working of each
department. He devoted his entire energy to a

14 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

thorough mastery of the subject, showing a re-
markable grasp and facility of comprehension.
His contented disposition, power of concentration,
and happy faculty of adapting himself to circum-
stances endeared him to all. From Great Falls
he writes : " I like the mills better than I antici-
pated, but find myself tired when night comes.
Am pleasantly located, and spend my evenings
in reading and practicing on my violin." He
was greatly interested in studying the details of
the work, felt he was gaining insight into the
business, mastered the technical terms, and found
time for occasional tramps.

In February, 1894, he and his friend Matthew
ascended Chocorua, and of this trip he writes:
" We started Friday a. m. ; reached "West Ossi-
pee about 1.30, and took stage for Tamworth,
four miles away. From there we drove to
Fowle's Mills, near where the farmer lives with
whom we were to stay. Friday night it began to
snow, and continued to do so all Saturday ; but
we took our snowshoes, and tramped through the
woods most of the day. Sunday was clear and
cold, so we put on our snowshoes again, and
started for Chocorua's peak. We found it hard
traveling ; the snow was soft, and from three to
four feet on a level. At two o'clock we reached
the top of the ridge, got into the house, and
built a fire. At four we started for the summit,
four hundred feet above us, and looking like the

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 15

top of the Matterhom. It was all snow and ice,
and so steep we could not at first climb it ; but
we procured an axe and rope from the house, and
after an hour's work reached the top. It was
blowing so hard one could not stand up. The
top is flat, and about six feet square. There was
a beautiful view all about us. I think Chocorua
one of the finest mountains in New Hampshire.
We reached the house on the ridge all right, but
it was six o'clock, and the sun had gone down.
The moon, however, gave us plenty of light, and
we had a fine walk home, reaching the house
about eight o'clock, well repaid for our trip.
This locality surpasses almost anything in the
mountains I have yet seen. We were very near
all those peaks of which Mr. Bolles speaks so
frequently."

In the spring of 1894 he took up his resi-
dence in Chicopee to continue his industrial
work. March 17 he writes : " It is about the
same here as at Great Falls. Mr. and Mrs. C.
do everything to make my stay pleasant, and I
spend most of my evenings at their house. They
have devoted an especial chair and table to my
use. Mr. C. makes it a point to let me know
just what is going on, and as I have a desk in
his office, can see all the details of management.
He goes through the mills with me about every
day, calling my attention to impoi'tant things to
be remembered. Though I thought when at

16 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

Great Falls I could not learn as much anywhere
else, find I can get a great deal more here."

When he left the Dwight Company the agent
wrote of him : " I have never met his equal in all
my life for honor and capacity."

From Chicopee he writes : " Walked all through
the Mt. Tom range from the house on Nonotuck
to the peak opposite Holyoke. There is one spe-
cies of bird, the duck-hawk, which is found breed-
ing on Mt. Tom, and nowhere else in the State.
I wanted very much to locate the birds, and, for-
tunately, think I know just where they will build.
The cliffs on Mt. Tom, where the duck-hawks
breed, face the west, and are formed by the
crumbling away of the basaltic trap. They are
not bare, but covered with Norway and pitch
pine. The valley stretching south is simply
beautiful, all taken up by fine fields, with here
and there a clump of evergreen trees, and re-
minds me of the country about Weimar. It is
very impressive to-day, looking off over the val-
ley, for everything is still, except for the hens,
chickens, and an occasional turkey gobbler. The
crows have full sway. Easthampton and North-
ampton appear to be sleeping, and in the back-
ground is the little church-spire of Westhamp-
ton, three or four miles away." He notes finding
the first violet, seeing the first butterfly, and on
his walk from Holyoke to Chicopee, heard the
croaking of the first frog.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 17

When it became known that the Dwight Man-
ufacturing Company proposed to establish a mill
in the South, Mr. Nichols, Senior, received nu-
merous letters pressing the claims and setting
forth the advantages of various sites ; and, with
Gardner, visited many places in order to find the
best possible location. It was finally decided to
build at the foot of Lookout Mountain in north-
ern Alabama. In September of 1894, Gardner
went South to arrange for and superintend this
work. One or two extracts from his diary will
show that he still keenly observed nature in the
midst of engrossing cares.

"November 10, 1894. Finished survey of
Black Creek at noon ; afternoon in office ;
tufted tit, winter wren, common chickadee,
pygmy nuthatch, golden-crowned kinglets, hairy
woodpecker; weather colder than any this au-
tumn ; saw no blackbirds ; think they must have
gone.

" November 15. Car works office in morning ;
out to Alabama City in afternoon ; several hun-
dred plover along Black Creek ; flock of 250
meadow-larks in bicycle track ; have been there
at least three weeks ; saw some on top of a high
oak, singing a soft plaintive song of four or five
notes."

November 29 he arrived in Newton in time
for his Thanksgiving dinner, finding among other
guests Matthew N. and his sister. During this

18 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

visit, he spent two mornings with Matthew in his
old room at Cambridge, and both were grieved
to hear that Herbert, Matthew's brother, was
ill, but it was thought " he would soon be all
right."

Gardner returned South, reaching Gadsden
December 15, where the first great grief of his
life awaited him. He writes home : " We reached
here in good health and spirits, Saturday noon,
but all was soon completely changed. As I
left the train, a telegram, which had been wait-
ing two days, was handed me, and I was made
aware that Herbert N. was dead. I couldn't
believe it, and can't realize it even now. Just
think of it ! Have n't heard particulars yet, but
shall in a day or two." Later he learned that his
friend was taken ill on the evening of Thanks-
giving Day, the result of a cold, contracted on
a shooting trip, and died after a brief illness.
Gardner was greatly overcome by this sudden
blow, but comforted himself by writing, " I still
have Matthew."

In January, 1895, Gardner writes to his mo-
ther : " The weather has been fine since papa
came ; he enjoys the place very much ; we have
ridden horseback together a great deal. I am
singing bass in the quartette in the Episcopal
church, and had a solo last Sunday ; enjoy this
country more and more ; we have had good wea-
ther all winter so far. All the birds we have in

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 19

Massachusetts during the summer are with us
now, the frogs can be heard croaking almost any
night, and the bats are flying around ; mocking-
birds, bluebirds, and robins are singing all the
time. I am glad you had Matthew and his sister
to dine with you. Think Matthew is quite poorly
from the shock he has experienced. Will write
grandma now."

To his grandmother he says : "I write this
letter as a birthday remembrance, and to offer my
congratulations on your eightieth anniversary.
Mamma writes you are in excellent health, for
which we are all very grateful. I hope you will
take the best care of yourself in the future, as
you have in the past, and not worry about lands
and lots and trespassers, and the like. The
contract for the mill was let last week ; we shall
begin building at once, and hope to have the
mill running by November next. Wishing you
many happy returns of the day, ever your affec-
tionate grandson."

Now followed a time of the greatest activity,
requiring the utmost patience, watchfulness, and
tact, and to this work he devoted all his well-
trained powers, with the most gratifying results.
His father's visits were helpful, and Gardner
always managed so to combine business and
pleasure that his father enjoyed the visits, and
benefited by them as from a brief holiday.

March 15, 1895, he writes: "Am now located

20 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

at the office in Alabama City. I go out there at
six o'clock in the morning, returning for break-
fast at 7.30 ; after that go down town to attend
to whatever business there may be, then out to
the factory again ; back for dinner ; to the fac-
tory again, where I stay until supper, at six.
Later, go down town and finish correspondence,
then to the telegraph office and take a lesson in
telegraphy. I do not get much time to practice
on my violin, but hope to soon. We have a good
quartette at the Episcopal church, where I sing
bass. Choir rehearses twice a week, which I
enjoy. Am feeling well, but get tired by night,
after rushing around all day." Though so busy,
he found time to do much for this little church
in Gadsden, raising money for a new organ, and
assisting in other ways.

He was still feeling the loss of his friend Her-
bert, but had some consolation in trying to com-
fort Matthew and Mr. N. in their affliction, and
was a great help to them. Matthew never ral-
lied from the blow, and when he took a slight
cold in our bleak March weather, had no power
of resistance, and after an illness of a few days
he, too, fell asleep. Gardner left for Minnesota
on receipt of the news, and on March 31 wrote
home : " You can imagine how they feel ; it is
hard to realize that both the boys are gone, and
all within three months. Shall miss them very,
very much, for I counted them my best friends.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 21

You need not worry about me, as I suppose you
will, for I am well and strong. We must all die
some time, and 1 am not troubled about that ;
shall die like all others at the appointed time."

On April 6, he says : " Matthew's funeral was
private, and at the close of the simple service, we
went up to the little cemetery on the side of the
Bluffs, overlooking the river, and laid him close
beside Herbert. The whole service was lovely,
just as he would have wished, even to the singing
of the hymns, ' My Jesus, as thou wilt ' and
1 Now the day is over.' It is a comfort to think
that Herbert and Matthew are together, for
Matthew could not be left alone. I am sure he
died of a broken heart, as he was physically
sound in every respect."

April 15, after describing his journey back to
Alabama, he tells his mother : " Am glad papa
is coming down, though I wish you could come
too ; it is delightful here now, and I am sure it
will do him much good. The apple and other
fruit blooms are out, and the trees are green.
There are great numbers of birds, too, many spe-
cies which I have never seen before, and do wish
I had some spare time to study them. I feel
much rested after my two weeks' vacation ; it is
well I got off ; was very tired. W. is a lovely,
restful place, and the home of the N.'s most
delightful ; it is dreadfully lonely, though, with-
out the boys, and you don't know how I miss

22 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

them. Yesterday was Easter, and a beautiful day.
I did not sing in the choir, as, being away, had
not attended the rehearsals ; the music was very
good, and the little church prettily decorated."
The next day he again writes : " This is my
birthday ; it has been showery all day, and now it
thunders and lightens. It is hard to tell where
twenty-four years have gone, and I am glad they
do not number more. Wish you could be here,
and hope next year you may. I have had a
pretty easy life thus far — for twenty-three years
and a half, at least — a great deal to be thank-
ful for. I owe it all to you and papa, and if I
have n't seemed to appreciate it, it was because I
did n't fully realize it before. Of course I can
see mistakes, but only experience shows us these.
Think I am pretty well started; have a good
chance, better than most fellows, and shall work
hard to benefit by it ; it is a good experience for
me down here in every respect, and am glad
the opportunity offered itself ; shall try to write
oftener to you."

In another letter on the 22d of April he says :
" Received yours this morning ; much obliged for
the two books, the one by Mr. Bolles is very
lovely. I had to go to Chattanooga last Wednes-
day, where I surprised papa and came back with
him. He had a bad cough, but the weather
has been warm and pleasant, and think he is
now much better. I sent you a little souvenir

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 23

of Lookout Mountain and surrounding places of
historic interest. Have not forgotten that next
Wednesday is your birthday, and hope this will
reach you on time. It is beautiful here now, and
am sorry you could not come with papa. The
leaves are out, and there are lots of birds and
flowers ; only wish I had three hours a day to
spend in the woods. Yesterday — Sunday —
papa and I went to the hotel on the mountain, and
took dinner ; in the afternoon we walked to the
Falls, gathering flowers on the way ; the azaleas
are in full bloom, pink, white, and some varie-
gated. There are quantities of yellow jasmine,
which grows upon the trees like ivy, with a trum-
pet-like flower, very fragrant ; also the blossom of
the wild crab-apple, which we found in bloom ; in
fact, there are too many flowers to mention, and
wish C. could be here to gather them. This morn-
ing, papa is looking over the work and laying out
a reservoir ; he enjoys being out of doors, and it
is good for him. Yesterday morning he went to
our little church, and 1 sang a solo, ' O rest in
the Lord.' I sing one every other Sunday. Hope
C. is getting on well with her music — she ought
to be able to play my accompaniments at sight by
this time. Tell her to stick to it ; I '11 bring my
violin when I come in June, which I hope now
to do. With best wishes for a happy birthday,
and many happy returns, I am your affectionate
son."

24 BIOGBAPHICAL SKETCH.

A few days later, April 28, he writes to the
father of Herbert and Matthew a letter which
gives, taken in connection with those already
quoted, an idea of the beauty and seriousness of
his character : —

" This is Sunday afternoon, and I am sitting
on the highest ledge on the eastern side of Look-
out Mountain, overlooking the country for miles
around. It is such a beautiful day that I sad-
dled my horse after dinner and came up here to
write letters. We had a very interesting sermon
read this morning, at our little church ; one by
Phillips Brooks, entitled, ' Help from the hills.'
The text was Psalm cxxi. 1, ' I will lift up mine
eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.'
The central truth of it is the duty of every one
of us to seek help from the highest source ; it is
trouble that tests us and shows what sort of men
we are ; it is the time of need that lets us see
what men think of themselves, how seriously
they contemplate their own existence, how they
estimate their need by letting us see from whence
they seek their help. One man turns instinc-
tively to the lowest, and another to the highest,
in his need ; and so it is that, in their own way,
our hours of need become our judgment days.
It is a beautiful sermon all the way through.
There is one place, especially, which appeals to
us all at this particular time. Bishop Brooks
says, ' It is a wondrous change when a man stops

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 25

asking of his distress, How can I throw this off ?
and asks instead, What did God mean by send-
ing this ? Then he may well believe that time
and work will help him. Time, with its neces-
sary calming of the first surface tumult, will let
him look deeper and deeper into the divine pur-
pose of the sorrow, and will let its deepest and
most precious meanings gradually come forth, so
that he may see them. Work done in the sor-
row will bring him into ever new relations to
the God in whom alone the full interpretation
and relief of the sorrow lies.' Time and work,
not as means of escape from distress, but as the
hands in which distress shall be turned hither
and thither, that the light of God may freely
play upon it; it is a beautiful thought, and I
know you realize its full meaning.

" I am sitting on the top of a ledge, overhang-
ing a precipice, several hundred feet high ; below
me is what is known as Owl's Valley, about
nine hundred feet down and not over half a
mile wide, while behind is a forest of second-
growth hard pine, through which the wind is
sighing most sweetly, for there is quite a breeze
just now, the forerunner of a coming tempest,
which I can see approaching from the north. I
will wait until it comes, and then crawl into a
crevice of the ledge below and watch the storm
go by ; it is not half a mile off now, so I '11

26 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

unsaddle my horse and get into the cave at
once. . . .

" I got in just in time, for now it is raining
hard; the sun is shining off in the west, and
there is a most beautiful rainbow just before me,
making a complete arch in the sky. The birds
have been singing all around me till now, and,
as suddenly as the storm approached, they have
taken to their shelter and are silent, save some
tame geese that I can just see with my glass in
the valley below; they seem highly delighted,
and though they are so far away, their gabble
can be distinctly heard. There has been a pygmy
flycatcher on a dead tree near by, which has
amused me greatly ; he darts off into the air in
a spiral course upward, catching without fail the
insect he is after, then, instead of spiraling back
to his perch again, he invariably darts head-first
down to the same dead limb ; he has had a real
good meal since I've been watching him. An
old turkey buzzard has just alighted on a pine
not far off, and is eying me wistfully, as though
he wished I might tumble down the ledge and
break my neck. There he goes ; he has un-
doubtedly given me up as not worth wasting
time on.

" The storm has passed ; it was much less of
one than I anticipated, for it only rained * pitch-
forks,' with no lightning accompaniment at all,
though it had been thundering in that direction

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 27

for some time previous to its arrival. I missed
seeing the lightning strike in the valley ; but I
shall have a pleasure which, perhaps, I might not
have had if the storm had been more severe and
lasted longer, for the rain has freshened every-
thing, even the souls of the birds, and they are
all singing vociferously. Now, if you only knew
the songs of the different birds, the mere men-
tion of their names would carry you into the
woods and you could hear them singing, even
though you were sitting on the sofa in your
library. Near by me, a black -throated green
warbler is lisping away all to himself ; down in
the valley are several song-thrushes and a mock-
ing-bird vying with one another. Chewinks, pine-
warblers, now and then a great-crested flycatcher,
scarlet tanagers, yellow-breasted chats, vireos,
redbirds, and sparrows of several varieties — a
veritable aviary — are all around me.

" But I have n't mentioned the most beautiful
of all — the landscape and the clouds. Before
me, at the foot of the mountain, is Owl's Valley,
with a stream running tortuously through it ; be-
yond, half a mile away, is a ridge, perhaps three
hundred feet high, running parallel to it; be-
yond this is the lovely valley of the Coosa, and
fifteen miles away the mountains begin again,
rising range on range for thirty or forty miles ;
on the south are more high hills, looking as
though they would bar the river's course, but it

28 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

finds a break in the walls and flows nearly eight
hundred miles to the Gulf of Mexico. Looking
northeast there is an expanse of lowlands extend-
ing forty miles, broken here and there by iso-
lated mountains, standing by themselves like the
Egyptian pyramids. It is not exactly a New
England scene, yet it calls to mind the river
Matthew and I looked down upon from Cho-
corua's peak, only then snow was over every-
thing ; but now the dark green of the pines,
broken by the lighter greens of the oaks and
maples, with the evening sun lighting them up
and down the valley, affords a marked contrast to
that scene. The sun, which since the storm has
been concealed, is just breaking through the
clouds. Part of the sky is blue, and part is hid-
den by dark purple clouds, while here and there
a great piece of cumulus, lower than the rest,
glows a gorgeous crimson, its great folds shaded
with purple. Resting on the serrated tops of the
little mountains are large masses of great white
clouds looking like glaciated mountain-tops. Do
you remember the Olympian Mountain range,
just at the mouth of Puget Sound ? I saw those
mountains at early sunrise, when just their snow-
capped tops were visible above the morning mist ;
they seemed to be almost overhead, and the sun,
not yet discernible above the horizon, shone on
them till they were a gorgeous crimson. I
thought at first they were really clouds ; and

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 29

now these great banks of cumulus, floating above
the horizon, call me back to the deck of the
steamer on Puget Sound. As I write, all has
changed to a pink effect, and the highest ridge I
see looks as if it were covered with pink azaleas,
and the whole sky is reflecting them ; it is fast
fading, and in half an hour it will be dark, for
the twilight here is very short. I miss the sun-
sets we have at home, for though their beau-
ties are more subdued, they last longer ; after all,
there is nothing more inspiring or more elevating
than to watch the sky at sunset from some high
point.

"This recalls the sweet memory of the last
sunset Herbert and I watched from the top of
the bluffs above W. What a difference it would
make in our lives if we could always live on the
top of hills ; our ills would seem less wearisome,
and we should always be hopeful, no matter
what business worries hung over us in the office.
Whenever I am tired out, an hour spent on
Lookout Mountain makes me feel like another
fellow. Well, the night-hawks are flying about,
and whippoorwills are calling from the valley : —

' Now the day is over,

Night is drawing nigh,
Shadows of the evening,
Steal across the sky.'

If I do not take advantage of what light is
left, shall have a difficult ride home.

30 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

"Saturday, May 4.

" I 've had this letter all the week, and meant
to have written another, this seems such a scribble,
but I 've not had a moment's time."

The work on the mill progressed with the trials,
delays, and discouragements incident to an under-
taking of such magnitude, but on the whole with
much less friction than might reasonably be
expected. On Christmas, 1895, a button was
pressed in a distant city, which set the wheel of
the great Corliss engine in motion. The " Ala-
bama State Herald " of December 28 devoted
several columns to a description of the mill and
its surroundings. Speaking of Gardner, this
article says : " He has a most pleasing address,
keeps a cool head with unswerving devotion to
duty, and it is an inspiration to see the enthusi-
asm with which he takes hold of every detail of
the business. I took a walk up one of the streets
of the new town, over whose future Mr. Nichols
is having no end of pleasant speculation. He
declares it shall be a model village, with no con-
cealed weapons, no saloons concealed or uncon-
cealed ; that there will be ample public schools, a
public library and reading-room, and a handsome
union church. There are 150 cottages build-
ing and completed ; a pleasing and striking fea-
ture of them will be the absence of sameness or
monotony. Mr. Nichols has a remarkably win-

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 31

ning expression for a Republican, which he avows
to be his politics, as though it were something of
which to be proud."

March 8, 1896, Gardner sent a letter to his
grandmother, which gives briefly his view of the
village, as follows : " It is not very often that
I write, but do not think I am forgetful of you ;
you can hardly realize what a busy time I have.
Am on the jump from early morning till late at
night. The mill is now started, but it will be
June before we have everything in operation ; the
work is going wonderfully well, and I am much
encouraged. "We have our village nearly com-
pleted, and as there are trees all about, it gives
it a very restful appearance. I only wish you
could see it. Have started a school, a Sunday-
school, and a church service ; it is very interesting
work, and I thoroughly enjoy it. Have a nice
little house of five rooms and bath ; two colored
servants, a man and his wife."

On his last birthday, April 16, 1896, he wrote
to the eldest of his three sisters, whose birthday
had just passed, a letter of congratulation, and
in speaking of the future, says : " I certainly
hope the years to come will be as full of pleas-
ure and good fortune as the past have been, for,
taking it all in all, every one of us has had a
remarkably smooth road to travel thus far. Of
course many things might have been improved,
but so it must always be. All of us children

32 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

should be especially thankful that through these
years we have had such good parents, who have
done so much for us. The older we grow, the
more we shall appreciate it. As for myself,
I could not be happier, for it would not be possi-
ble to find an equally interesting and absorbing
occupation. It gives a chance for business and
philanthropy, for work and study. I shall not
want to come away until my ideal is reached, and
hope I may not have to do so, much as I should
like to see you all, and be in Boston."

In May, he welcomed his parents — the first
visit his mother had made to his Southern home.
It was a very busy time, all effort directed to-
wards setting the last pieces of machinery in
motion. He took great pride in showing his
mother what he had accomplished, and in ex-
plaining his plans for the future of his village.

Before daylight on the morning of May 20, he
went to the mill to superintend the moving of
an electric generator which had reached the yard
during the night, and which he was very desirous
should be in position early that morning. The
men had moved it along nearly to the bridge
crossing from the storehouses to the main build-
ing ; with the light of their lanterns a hasty
examinatiou was made to see that everything
was secure. The machine had been moved but a
short distance on the bridge, when the latter gave
way, and Gardner fell with it, the machine strik-

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 33

ing him, and inflicting dreadful internal injuries.
He was moved to the drug-store, where local
physicians were summoned. There he remained,
bearing his suffering most bravely, till the arrival
late that night of a surgeon from Chattanooga,
when he was removed to his cottage. Early the
next morning an operation was performed, which
revealed such conditions that the operating sur-
geon informed his parents he could not survive,
and would probably live but a few hours.

After he had recovered from the immediate
effect of the surgical treatment his parents had
an interview with him, and noting the deep feel-
ing which they in vain endeavored to suppress, he
said, " You evidently think there is no hope for
me ; " and then, " I feel better than before the
operation, and while there is life there is hope."
His father thought best he should know the opin-
ion of the surgeon, when, after a moment's pause,
without emotion, he remarked, " Well, I am ready
to go, but I would like to live to finish my work
here." Later he seemed to be sinking, but ral-
lied, and showed such vitality that it was thought
there might be hope for him.

When the operatives began to occupy the
houses, they brought sickness with them, which
soon became epidemic ; and as arrangements for
a resident physician had not been completed,
Gardner procured medicines, and, as he wrote
his mother at the time, was " physician, nurse,

34 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

and undertaker," working hard throughout the
day, and ready for calls which came at all hours
of the night.

Because of this interest in their welfare, he
had greatly endeared himself to his little com-
munity, and when this accident occurred, the
greatest anxiety and sorrow prevailed. It was
touching to hear the expressions of affection and
sympathy, numbers begging that they might see
him once more, and saying he was the best friend
they had ever known. One of his assistants,
who had been intimately associated with him
from the first, was confident he would recover,
saying, " Mr. Nichols has been such an example
in this community for everything that is good, it
does n't seem possible that he will be allowed to
die." This interest of his operatives was re-
ciprocated by Gardner, for he was often heard
expressing the wish that he might be permitted
to live to help his people. His friends from
the adjoining city of Gadsden, who from the
first refused to leave him, were unremitting in
loving service; trained nurses were obtained,
and Dr. H. was brought from Atlanta, remain-
ing from Friday till Sunday morning. Eight
days after the accident, the doctor returned with
a special train in which to remove him to his
sanitarium.

Before leaving Alabama City, forgetful of his
constant suffering, Gardner insisted upon seeing

BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH. 35

his leading foremen. He gave them definite in-
structions as to the work, and to one of the
physicians in charge of his operatives his last
words were : " Doctor, look well after my people,
and let none of them die while I am away."
Among others, two little boys from Gadsden
came to bid him good-by. They were great
friends of his, and he was much pleased to see
them as they came in, daintily dressed, bringing
flowers. He greeted them cheerfully, saying,
" R. B., I am delighted to see you, and little
Conrad too." After a brief stay they were taken
back to their homes, three miles away ; but in
the afternoon, after Gardner had been placed in
the car, sturdy little R. B. came bounding in, hav-
ing begged a passing teamster to take him over
to see his Mr. Gardner once more.

The journey of one hundred and fifty miles to
Atlanta was comfortably made; on arrival, the
mayor of the city was at the station, and insisted
on walking beside the stretcher to the sanitarium,
about half a mile distant. Here all were devoted
in their ministrations, and everything possible
was faithfully and lovingly done. It seemed at
one time as though the brave spirit would conquer
the lacerated body, and life be spared, and in
this hope, his father left for home to attend to
some pressing duties. But soon after his de-
parture, Gardner had an unfavorable turn, and
gradually grew weaker, falling peacefully asleep

36 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

at five o'clock on the afternoon of June 23. As
hopes of his recovery had been entertained, his
death came as a great blow to those who had
noted each change, and as the daj's passed on
had grown more and more hopeful. The daily
papers kept his friends at Gadsden and Ala-
bama City informed of his condition, and at the
end were most kindly in their expressions of
sympathy.

The " Chattanooga Times " said : —
" Mr. Nichols was only twenty-five years old,
yet he had sole management of the construction
of the large cotton mill of the Dwight Manu-
facturing Company at Alabama City, and was a
young man of exceptional ability. His death has
cast a gloom over Gadsden, for he was beloved
by all who knew him."

The " Birmingham State Herald : "—
"In the death of Mr. Nichols, this section
loses one of her best citizens. He was loved by
everybody, and was a leader among men."

A local paper : " All the chances were in his
favor, so far as health, strength, nerve, a well-
kept body and a life of temperate habits were
concerned, but the odds were against him from
the start, as from the terrible nature of his inju-
ries, it was impossible for him, or any human
being, to live and struggle back to health ; but he
made a brave, strong fight for life, and if ever a
man deserved to live, he did. The entire city

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 37

regrets the young man's death, and none more
than the ' Tribune.' He bade fair to rise to
eminent heights in the business world, and it is
always sad to see a life so full of promise go out
in its bloom."

Every morning, so long as he was able, he
read the service from the Prayer Book, his nurse
reading it for him the last day, shortly before he
lapsed into unconsciousness. The letters of his
nurses to his mother best tell of his last hours.

One writes : " I hardly know how to begin,
but perhaps you would like to know that your
boy was not afraid of any fate that awaited him.
One morning he wanted to get up and stand on
the floor, and I said, ' Why, my dear Mr. Nichols,
don't you know you can't do that, — it would
almost kill you.' He looked at me with a smile,
saying, ' Do you know, I 've been thinking, and
I 'm not afraid to die. It is hard to tell just
how this is going to end, but I do not fear the
consequences.' The morning before he left us,
I read the service to him. After Miss B. went
down, he had me read more, then we talked
about his little village. I asked him what de-
nomination the church in the village would be, to
which he answered, ' It will belong to all alike.'
He was quiet a moment, then said, ' I feel I have
done my duty to God and man ; I have been
attending the Episcopal Church in Gadsden

38 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

regularly, and have been benefited, and believe
all is well with me.' I wanted to tell you these
things while you were here, but could not, nay
heart was too full. He spoke often of his home,
his village and his people, the little children he
so loved, of his youngest sister, whom he wanted
to see, and often in his delirium at night he would
think i" was his little sister. You don't know
how I sympathize with you in your loss, and
wish it might have been otherwise; if such a
thing had been possible, I would gladly have
given years of my life to have saved your boy.
Such a life as his is a loss, not only to those who
loved him, for we don't know what the world
has lost."

As soon as the news of his death reached
Gadsden, a meeting of the City Government was
called, and the Hon. R. A. Mitchell, mayor of
the city, and Mr. T. S. Kyle were appointed a
committee to accompany the remains to Boston,
and gave great help and comfort to the bereaved
mother on the sad journey.

On the afternoon of June 27, when all nature
seemed to welcome him who loved her so well,
friends far and near, from the South and West,
gathered at the Newton home to pay their last
tribute of respect and affection. It was fitting
he should be laid among flowers, and rarely
beautiful they were. A large shaft was sent

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 39

by the employees of the Dwight Manufacturing
Company at Chicopee, who could only be re-
strained from the most lavish giving by the
agent's telling them " Mr. Nichols would not ap-
prove of extravagance." Rev. Dr. Calkins read
comforting passages from the Scriptures. Rev.
Dr. Davis made appropriate remarks, with selec-
tions from favorite hymns ; and a prayer and
benediction closed the simple and beautiful ser-
vice.

All that is mortal of Howard Gardner Nichols
now rests in Mount Auburn.

A memorial service was held at Alabama City
at the same hour as that at Newton.

A lady intimately associated with Gardner in
his philanthropic work writes : —

" Out of respect to you we decided to have
Dr. Richardson, the Presbyterian minister, con-
duct the service, assisted by Mr. Agricola, lay-
reader in the Episcopal Church, as Mr. Gardner
worshiped with us, and loved our service. We
learned that Dr. Richardson was in Kentucky,
so Mr. Agricola took the lead, assisted by Dr.
Boydston, the minister of the Cumberland Pres-
byterian Church, who, having been almost con-
stantly with us, was well acquainted with Mr.
Gardner. The lady organist of the Gadsden
church presided at the organ. The hall was

40 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

filled with sympathizing friends. Special seats
were reserved for Hattie and Gates, Gardner's
devoted colored servants.

" The service began with the hymn, ' Hark !
Hark! my Soul,' then all the congregation re-
peated the Apostles' Creed. Mr. Agricola read
the Litany, after which was sung, ' Asleep in
Jesus ; ' then the burial service ; the beautiful
Psalms by Mr. Agricola and the congregation.
Dr. Boydston made some excellent remarks,
dwelling on the fine points we all so much ad-
mired. Mr. Agricola said he could not let this
opportunity pass without expressing his thanks
for the moral lessons he had learned from his
observation of Mr. Gardner's daily life. One
was his great patience. No matter what busi-
ness pressed, he gave each person (and there
were often crowds) an attentive, interested hear-
ing. He listened to their troubles and comforted
them. Again, he was no respecter of persons.
The workingman, soiled by labor, had his turn,
even if he did come in advance of the man in
goodly attire. Then there was his keen appre-
ciation of the force of example, his daily trying
to do as he would be done by, and sacrificing
personal pleasure where the indulgence might be
a stumbling-block to some weaker brother. Mr.
Agricola closed by reading one of Mr. Gardner's
favorite hymns, one he often sang and played

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 41

upon his violin, 'Now the clay is over.' The
last two stanzas are particularly beautiful : —

' Through the long night watches,

May Thine angels spread

Their white wings ahove me,

Watching round my hed.

4 When the morning wakens,

Then may I arise,
Pure, and fresh, and sinless,
In Thy holy eyes.' "

PERSONAL TRIBUTES.

"The Eiffel Alp, Zebmatt.
" While at Berlin, a home letter told me of
the accident. Curiously enough I had just been
talking with Gardner in a dream, and the news
came all the more directly home to me. I looked
eagerly for news, and rejoiced when all seemed
hopeful, and grew sad at every bad report. I
cannot tell you how much moved I was at the
news which came to me only yesterday. He had
been making such a gallant fight that I felt he
must come out all right. I simply cannot write at
all calmly. I am completely unstrung. I knew
little of what Gardner had been doing in the
South, but mother sends me an account of his
noble activity there. I have seen so much of self-
ish indulgence, idle dalliance, and wasted oppor-
tunity in my short experience that the thought
of even so short a career of honest effort, hard
work, and sympathetic devotion to others seems
a long life and a well-rounded career in compari-
son. The thought of what such a life, spared,
might be, is what comes home so crushingly upon
us. What such a life eternally is, is the truer
thought, I fancy."

PERSONAL TRIBUTES. 43

A classmate at school and college says : —
" I feel his loss very keenly, but as I think of
him and look back upon his life, I feel sure that
my life will be made better for having come in
contact with his."

The following tells its own story : —
" Although I have never seen you, I feel very
much drawn to you because I was so fond of your
son Gardner. I want to express my sorrow and
sympathy, and tell you how much Mr. L. and
I valued his friendship. We saw a good deal
of him in Castine, and after that he visited us.
The more we saw of him the fonder we became of
him. We were impressed by his strength of char-
acter, and his kindness to everybody. We liked
to talk with him, and enjoyed his bright young
manhood and his happy spirits. Underneath it
all we felt very strongly the unusual seriousness
of his nature, and his determination to be of use
in the world. Now he is gone, we feel the loss
very keenly."

The principal of the Boston Latin School,
where for six years Gardner was a pupil,
writes : —

" It affords me satisfaction to tell you, I am not
unmindful of the great loss which this community
has sustained by the death of Gardner. No one
can recall his association with him without bring-

44 PERSONAL TRIBUTES.

ing up the pleasantest memories of a noble life,
which gave the promise of a most beneficent influ-
ence in his future career. How pure and gentle
even in his school-days, yet firm as a rock for the
right ! How honorable and true in manhood !
Such a life leaves behind it a fragrance that is
rare, and ascends to heaven. The memory of it
comforts and consoles even in the agony of be-
reavement. When Gardner gave me his photo-
graph in 1889, it found a resting-place here, and
has never been removed. Many a time have I
looked on the likeness with satisfaction that so
honorable a boy was once my pupil."

The wife of one of the professors at Harvard,
in whose home Gardner was a frequent guest,
wrote his sister, —

" It seems doubly sad that one so fitted for
life must leave it almost as soon as he had shown
his real qualities. I always had great faith in
your brother's possibilities. His unusual execu-
tive abilities and his faithfulness to little duties
seemed to me a rare combination. We had va-
rious long talks together, in which he impressed
me strongly with his high, manly purposes and

aims."

Rev. Dr. G. writes : —

" There is in my heart a great sadness that I
should miss — and always on this earth — the

PERSOXAL TRIBUTES. 45

face of the eager and fine-spirited son — pride of
his home, of whom I, as friend and fellow fra-
ternity man, thought so much. Hearty is my
sympathy with you in this great sorrow."

A saintly friend, who has since passed to her
reward, says, June 27 : —

" I believe the Lord called Gardner to the won-
derful work he has achieved at the South ; called
him to be the helper of hundreds of toiling men ;
called him to manifest to them how rich, and
deep, and full an earthly life can be, through
earnest, faithful, consecrated work; and in so
laying secure foundations for happy human
homes, and an orderly civil life. How many
hearts are touched to finer issues, through the
quickening power of his noble self-forgetting
manhood ; how long will shine in those distant
States the beacon light of his loving, tireless
influence ! "

A letter from Mrs. N. expresses bereavement :
" We also feel this sorrow as a personal one,
for we have lost a dear friend in your son. He
was more of a comfort to us in our trouble than
words can express, so often sending us expressions
of tender sympathy when our hearts seemed
breaking with grief. He was so cheerful, coura-
geous, and true under all circumstances that it
seems as though a bright light had been put out,

46 PERSONAL TRIBUTES.

and the world left poor and dark without his
radiant spirit."

Mr. N. writes : —

" I well remember my first sight of Gardner.
I can see him yet at some distance from the house,
as he was coming towards me, with one of my
own boys on either side of him, — tall and erect,
so full of life and vigor, so much of manliness
even then in his whole make-up, and yet so mod-
est, and as gentle as a child. From the first he
won a warm place in our hearts, and our home
was open to him as it had never been opened to
any one before or since. Those were lovely sum-
mer days he spent with us; the young people
were fresh from school, with all restraint lifted,
and they were able to enjoy to the full whatever
came to them.

" I was delighted to see how readily he adapted
himself to all the different forms of enjoyment
that were before him, always winning the esteem
and respect of those with whom he came in con-
tact. He was in every way a most manly fellow,
always willing to do his share in the way of
helping things along, whether in the drawing-
room, or in a camping expedition, where the re-
sources were limited, and where much depended
upon what each one could do to make the expe-
dition a success.

" I remember, too, what a great love of nature

PERSONAL TRIBUTES. 47

was his ; the woods, the flowers, and the birds,
as well as the wayside brook, all seemed to be
old friends; he knew them well, and nothing
seemed to escape his observation.

" I noticed, too, his wonderful power to rise
above the little petty annoyances that are often
found in the way of complete success in a day's
outing ; an unfavorable turn in the weather, or a
dry and dusty road, was taken by him as a matter
of course, and he would not allow it to interfere
with the pleasure and enjoyment before him.
"With all the lovely traits possessed by him, it is no
wonder that he so thoroughly won his way into
our confidence and esteem that we were always
glad to have him with us. It gave me great pleas-
ure to see him undertake his work in the South ;
he was so enthusiastic, so self-reliant, and so full
of confidence, that I had no doubt of his success,
and the only fear that at times disturbed me was
that he might overwork, and thus become a victim
to the terrible typhoid that prevailed in that local-
ity ; but it never occurred to me that an accident
of any kind could befall him ; he was so strong, so
alert, and always seemed so well able to take care
of himself, that it was long before I could realize
that he could be so suddenly stricken down."

" After his terrible injury, what a manly fight
he must have made for life, lifted up as he was
by the thought and hope that there might yet be
a chance for him to do much for those who still

48 PERSONAL TRIBUTES.

needed his help ; and when this was denied him,
his willingness to join in the companionship of
those who had been among his dearest of earthly-
friends, to me is very pathetic.

" I did not intend to say as much as this, but
my mind has gone back to those happy days that
will never come back to me, when Gardner and
my own dear boys were standing on the thresh-
old of life, with all its pleasant possibilities before
them."

A business associate says : —

" I became strongly attached to him during
my stay with him in the South ; a better or more
honorable fellow than Gardner never lived, and
I feel his loss keenly."

From another business friend comes this mes-
sage : —

" I met your son at Chicopee, and at our
very first interview he won a high place in my
esteem. His character was so transparent and
his disposition so genial ; yet, with all his attain-
ments, he was so unassuming and cordial that,

' None knew him but to love him,
None named him but to praise.' "

A neighbor, whose sons had grown up with
Gardner, writes : —

" We all sympathize with you, and feel that

PERSONAL TRIBUTES. 49

we, too, have lost a very dear young friend, for
Gardner was to me the perfect ideal of a young
man, and as I watched him grow from childhood
to manhood, I have rejoiced with you that you
had such a beautiful son."

A mother in Atlanta, Georgia, tells us : —
" It must be a great comfort to you to know
that your son was such a fine character ; that it
was not just mother love that thought so, but it
was acknowledged by all with whom he came in
contact. I shall be happy indeed, and consider
myself most fortunate, if I can succeed in mould-
ing my boy into such a man, who possessed the
respect and love of all who knew him."

From the " Boston Transcript," June 27, 1896 :

H. GARDNER NICHOLS.

An ideal life cut short in its marvelous early
morning strength and beauty ! An ideal charac-
ter lost to love and honor and service of man-
kind just as its initial page of manifestation was
complete ; one matchless page of a singularly
heroic career, and the book closed by a strangely
ruthless fate.

It is a story which could be told as a tale of the
highest that modern man at his best of knowledge
and culture and power, and Christian man at his
richest of grace and truth, has achieved; yet

50 PERSONAL TRIBUTES.

achieved with but the step forward from youth,
and the mere threshold of a great career, which
death at twenty-five means.

The Iliad of human and Christian advance in
the end of the nineteenth century of Christ, and
in the America which best shows that advance,
could hardly be written in more fit form than by
an adequate narrative of the one stage of achieve-
ments which Gardner Nichols had brought to a
close when a sudden stroke of fatal injury, and
some weeks of hopeless heroic struggle, put a
period to his life.

Almost immediately upon graduation from
Harvard University with honors, Mr. Nichols
undertook an enterprise of difficulty and mag-
nitude, — that of representing his father, J.
Howard Nichols, in the creation of a model cot-
ton manufacturing plant at Alabama City, Ala-
bama, one of the centres of the new South. Not
only the knowledge and judgment of a rare
scholar in practical matters, and an able thinker
as well, were shown in Mr. Nichols's execution
of his task, but there appeared in it also, and in
his life in this new field, a passionate thoughtful-
ness, an enthusiasm of humanity, of benevolence,
and of manly piety, which far more revealed the
Christ of divine love than the master of capital
and the executor of plans for manufacture and
money-making.

The very last touch of the great work which is

PEESOXAL TRIBUTES. 51

now his monument was the occasion of his death.
In the placing of a heavy dynamo, a platform
gave way, and a violent lacerating blow left
wounds which the surgeons could not hope to
deal with. Yet for some weeks Mr. Nichols
made a fight for life which at least added one
more beautiful memory to a singularly rich
volume of remembrance. Rev. Dr. Calkins, who
is assisting this afternoon in the final service at
Newton, speaks from fifteen years' knowledge,
when he says that eulogy cannot exaggerate the
example which this rare gentleman and noble
Christian has left.

E. C. T.

From the " Tribune," Rome, Georgia : —

BLIGHTED HOPES.

I do not know when anything has impressed
me more deeply than the death of young H.
Gardner Nichols, in Atlanta.

So bright, so brave, so young, so full of the
promise of noble manhood, he was cut down like
a flower that had reached not its fullness.

It was my privilege to know him only slightly,
but the acquaintanceship was one of the pleas-
antest in my experience.

As a boy he is said to have displayed evidences
of those admirable traits of character that devel-
oped as he grew to man's estate.

52 PERSONAL TRIBUTES.

A graduate of Harvard College, he had the
additional advantage of daily contact with practi-
cal business methods.

When the idea of establishing a Southern
branch was first conceived, he entered into it with
a spirit and energy that were remarkable in a
man of his age.

He was of a careful and painstaking disposi-
tion, the very soul of energy, active, and filled
with that forceful enthusiasm which has made the
name of Americans synonymous with successful
progressi veness .

He came South at the time that Gadsden, or
rather Alabama City, was decided upon as the
most eligible point for the location of the South-
ern branch.

He was untiring in his energy and persever-
ance. He looked after all the details of the
construction of the mill, and nothing escaped his
untiring vigilance.

He was but twenty-five years old, yet his busi-
ness sagacity was more highly developed than
that of most men of twice his age.

He won friends among his social associates as
well as among those who had business dealings
with him, and no man was more popular in the
circle in which he moved than Gardner Nichols.

It was with a feeling of sadness ineffable that
I, even though I was but slightly acquainted with
the young man, heard of the distressing accident

PERSONAL TRIBUTES. 53

that was such a cruel shock to those whose high-
est hopes were centred upon him.

He struggled manfully and battled bravely for
life, and was given every assistance that love and
devotion could render, but all without avail.

In the flower of his youth, with the earliest lau-
rels of youthful achievement fresh and unfaded
upon his boyish brow, he was removed from the
earthly sphere which he adorned to that higher
region beyond our ken.

He was a true type of the honorable, ambitious
young American, and he has gone to his grave,
mourned alike by lifetime comrades and new-
found friends.

The light of a hopeful life went out when the
soul of H. Gardner Nichols took its flight to the
realms beyond.

M. M. F.

The lady whose account of the Memorial
Service has been given, and who has charge of
the school established by Gardner, writes again :

" I do so miss your son ! I often wonder if it
is possible for him to be missed in all the varied
departments of the work as he is in mine. It
seems to me that, next to his immediate family,
the blow falls most heavily on me. We so often
discussed together the ways and means to uplift
his people. Both of us being of a hopeful dis-
position, we expected in ten years, with a school

54 PERSONAL TRIBUTES.

equal in all details to the best, a marvelous
ohange — a model city with model operatives —
that is, kindly, industrious, cleanly, and some-
what advanced in education. But, alas ! alas !
for all our castle-building in a missionary way.
Your son and I attended the Easter services, the
last time we were together in the little Gadsden
church. The ' dummy ' not running to accommo-
date church-goers, we walked back, so as to be
in time for our own service. I shall never for-
get that walk. Of course * our work ' was the
principal theme ; that the want of gratitude, the
want of appreciation should never deter one from
a faithful following of duty, — duty, not as the
world sees it, but as the earnest, humble follower
of Christ sees it. Appreciation gives courage,
but courage should be of that kind which does
not die for want of it. As much as I need the
school-house, I dread to see it begun, so fearful
am I that it will be a disappointment. It would
have been all right, if Mr. Gardner could have
superintended, as he worked for the future, as
well as for the present. The day-school closed
June 26. "Weeks before, the 27th had been set
for our concert, and we were making elaborate
preparations for us. But, alas ! instead of songs
of joy, on that day we held our Memorial Service."

The following are from men of affairs, whose
age and experience give weight to their words.

PERSONAL TRIBUTES. 55

"Trion, Georgia.

"I have known enough of your son, and of
the hopes and plans you had built on the rich
promise of his young manhood, to have some
sense of the weight of this blow ; but, even in
the depth of your grief, you may find comfort in
recalling his well-spent youth, and the abundant
measure of pride and satisfaction which has
already rewarded your fatherly care. Life is not
measured by length of days, but by the work
done ; and, so judged, your son lived far longer
than his years would show ; I would we might all
say the same ! "

" Rome, Georgia.

" In the death of your noble son, the commu-
nity in which he labored and built so wisely and
so well has sustained a loss beyond repair."

" Alabama City, Alabama.

"My emotion is too great to express, for I
keenly feel your great loss and ours. I can truly
say that never in all my life have I met a young
man who gave promise of a better and more use-
ful life than your son. You can find great con-
solation in knowing that you had a noble boy.
The world would be better did it have more like
him."

" Gadsden, Alabama.

" Your son commanded the admiration and
high esteem of all who had the privilege of

56 PERSONAL TRIBUTES.

knowing him, but the kindly courtesies extended
to me in our business intercourse caused me to
regard him as my personal friend. His bravery
aroused the deep admiration of the whole com-
munity, and his death is a public sorrow."

The attorneys employed by Gardner write : —
"My partner and I extend our sincere sym-
pathy in the great loss you have suffered, and
which has fallen on us all. During our ac-
quaintance and association with your son, we
had learned to esteem most highly his business
acumen and his moral worth, and we shall ever
cherish his memory."

A prominent business man of Gadsden thus
expresses the sentiment of not only that city,
but of the whole section : —

" If there is any consolation in human sym-
pathy, you, in your deep distress, should be
greatly comforted. Our whole section, I may
safely say every man, woman, and child who
knew your noble son, mourns with you his un-
timely death. His devotion to business, his ten-
der regard for the amenities of life, his respect
and consideration for the worthy poor, won all
hearts. We shall miss him as no man of his
age was ever missed in Alabama. He had, as it
were, become a member of our family. We felt
for him in all his endeavors, and delighted to

PERSONAL TRIBUTES. 57

lend our feeble aid in advancing his interests.
It is no fulsome flattery to say that your son was
the best ' all-around ' man of his age I ever knew,
and in his death our section has suffered an ir-
reparable loss. He would have done more to
aid in building up our industrial interests than
any one will ever do, for his heart was in the
work. He would have elevated and ennobled
his operatives, giving them a new idea of life,
and by a personal supervision of their surround-
ings he would have awakened higher aspirations.
All feel this, and doubly mourn his loss. Dear
friends, your son's precious memory will be per-
petuated in the magnificent plant erected by him.
His words of sympathy will be treasured by the
worthy poor in whom he manifested such an in-
terest ; and long after you and I have gone to
meet him in the unknown beyond, the name of
Gardner Nichols will still be a household word
in north Alabama. Take comfort in the reflec-
tion that God honored you to be the parents of
such a noble son, and let sweet memories of him
cheer you along life's pathway. When death
summons you, you know that you will meet him
among those who honored God and kept his
commandments."

The following heart-felt words from men more
nearly Gardner's age, and who were intimately
associated with him, not only in business, but

58 PERSONAL TRIBUTES.

also in friendly intercourse, throw a still more
lovable light upon his life and character.

His instructor in telegraphy says : —
" I loved your dear boy as if he had been my
own brother. I was attached to him by esteem
and affection, and there was nothing in the world
I would not have tried to do for him. He was
all that was good and noble. We used to take
little trips in the mountains together, and would
stop by some brook and spread our lunch. I re-
member one evening when we were leisurely rid-
ing home in the moonlight, that our conversation
drifted to the pains and sorrows of the world,
and he said that he was willing to die at any
time, that death had absolutely no terror for
him ; and at the same time he remarked that he
felt his two dear friends, the N.'s, were often
with him in spirit."

The three following tributes are from young
men who were in Gardner's employ : —

" I cannot express the sympathy I feel for
you all. If there is anything in the world I can
do, I shall feel as if I was doing a labor of love
for my departed friend, whom I miss more and
more as the days go by. I saw Mr. M. yester-
day, and he told me all about the services in
Newton. Was so sorry I could not be there,
but felt it my duty to stay here. I know Mr.

PERSONAL TRIBUTES. 59

Gardner would have thought so. I want to see
everything carried out as he desired, and will do
all in my power to that end. All the instruc-
tions he gave me that last morning before he
was taken to Atlanta, I have followed as closely
as I could."

The next is from a young man who was so
devoted to Gardner that he wished to watch with
him day and night. One night Gardner sent
him from the room four times, telling him to
" go and get some rest," but each time the poor
fellow came stealing back, unable to stay away
from the friend he so much loved, and whom he
so passionately longed to help : —

" No one will miss your son more than I, for I
have lost a friend who could and would do more
for me than anybody on earth. I shall never
forget what he has done for me in the last year
and a half. He was just as good and kind to
me as if I had been his brother."

The youngest of the group writes : —
" I want to express to you my sincere sym-
pathy and condolence in your great grief, the
weight of which is surely a heavy burden. I am
almost overwhelmed with sorrow myself at the
loss of one whose many acts of kindness and
expressions of confidence, in both word and deed,
leave no manner of doubt of his true friendship

60 PERSONAL TRIBUTES.

for me. In all my associations with him (nearly
a year and a half) in his business office, never a
word of displeasure escaped his lips, nor even a
sign of impatience was ever visible. He taught
me what I know of business. He set before me
many examples of benevolence, morality, Chris-
tian love, and charity, and I want to say that it
shall be my purpose in life to emulate his many
virtues and his noble character as seen by me,
and that his memory will ever be sacred to me."

One wonders how many such testimonies of
patient and upright living could be given. No
"word of displeasure, no sign of impatience"
during those months of perplexing care and hard
labor.

As he was in business, so was he in home life,
as shown by the letter from Mrs. E. : —

" The remembrance of your noble son here in
our mountain home comes back so vividly to me
to-night, as I sit sorrowing over the untimely
end of his bright young life. Here is where he
cast his lot among us, and our home was the
first he called home in this sunny Southland. We
recall with pleasure his gentle companionship ;
even the little incidents of his life with us are
refreshing memories. While he was with us he
awakened in us the tender interest of sweet
friendship. Many hearts mourn with you in

PERSONAL TRIBUTES. 61

this bitter sorrow, and feel deeply the loss you
have sustained. We realize that in the death of
your courageous, noble son our community has
lost one of its most valuable citizens, one to
whom we could point our sons as an example of
manly virtue, energy, ambition, fidelity, courage,
and endurance. We who knew him in our
homes know his most lovable traits. We feel
that our homes have been honored by his abiding
in them. We shall ever tenderly revere his
memory, and shall point with pride to the grand
work of his heart and hands in our midst."

A Gadsden gentleman writes : —

" We feel that the half has not been said that
might have been truthfully written. Gardner's
life was an inspiration to young men, and one
that should not and will not be forgotten by
any who knew him. We miss him very much,
and shall always remember him with deepest
affection."

The " Tribute of Respect " given below bears
the date of Gadsden, Alabama, July 9, 1896.

" Our friend H. Gardner Nichols, having
passed from this life into the greater and better
life, the task of delineating his character as a
man and a friend belongs to those who have
known him from his youth up. It may, however,
be permitted his friends who have known him but

62 PERSONAL TRIBUTES.

a few short months, yet who have been deeply
impressed by his noble character, to echo their
sentiments of deep esteem, and to show in what
manner he was held by all who knew him well.
His death, coming as it did without the decay of
years, a youth cut down in the flower of his young
manhood, just at the threshold of what gave
promise of a long and useful career, has its
peculiar sorrow for those who have been favored
by his friendship, and are left to mourn his loss.
He came to this community in the full vigor of
youth, equipped with an extraordinary intellect,
and with a form evidencing perfect health, and,
after but a few months, during which time he
touched every heart with beautiful and indelible
impressions, he goes from us, not back to his
native' land, but, answering ' Ready ! ' to the sum-
mons to the better world, 'he lies down in the
night of Death, and awakens in the morning of
Eternity ! ' Although his career was brief, like a
meteor it shed forth a brightness which illumined
the sphere through which he passed.

" He was honest. In his judgment, honesty was
an element which every decent character should
possess. He was ambitious, too, and did possess
a well-rounded character ; he was ardent and
honorable as a friend, was no hypocrite, who for
the sake of policy hid his real sentiments ; he
was philanthropic, keenly feeling the wants of
the poor, and his death was their loss. Yet he

PERSONAL TRIBUTES. 63

stood not in public places to offer alms, but dis-
pensed bis gifts witb the quiet reserve of true
charity. He was deeply religious, in that he be-
lieved true religion constituted the art of higher
living.

" His courage was sublime, and when convinced
of the correctness of his position, threats of per-
sonal violence could not swerve him the breadth
of a hair from holding steadfastly to his purpose,
until the desired end was accomplished.

" He knew not failure. Difficulties at which
most men would halt and turn back seemed only
incentives to a trial of strength, and he would
attack and overcome them with a spirit and
adeptness marvelous to behold. His extraordi-
nary faculty for controlling business affairs came
not alone from knowledge or experience, there
was that in him which operated independently
of tuition. His was the ' spontaneous force of
an untrammeled soul, genius.' Before reaching
the age of twenty-four, he was intrusted with a
work of great proportions, and had nearly com-
pleted it in a manner above criticism.

" Having gathered around him, in the little hill
village, more than a thousand souls who looked
to him as employer and protector, he had im-
pressed his individuality upon them by taking
an active interest in their welfare both temporal
and spiritual. He was ready to serve, and did
serve them day and night ; he taught them how

64 PERSONAL TRIBUTES.

to live ; visited them when sick, ministering to
every necessity ; and when he was dying, he
expressed the greatest sorrow that he should be
called away before he had completed the work of
elevating them to a higher plane.

" Having the interest of his people at heart, and
being imbued with a spirit of reform antagonistic
to vices in every form, he was not loath to take
upon himself the government of the town in
which he resided, and as its Chief Magistrate
frame laws that would insure economy, and pre-
vent a vicious social life. Possessing the air of
one mature in years, he found pleasure in that
which was instructive, ever shunning the frivoli-
ties of life, and never forsaking business obliga-
tions to take up matters of less importance, but
ready to step aside to speak a pleasant word
or to do an act of kindness. One trait of char-
acter, his faithfulness to his friends, we would
emphasize again. Those whom he loved never
tired him ; he drew his friends to him, and bound
them with the bonds of love, and his friendship
was always ready for any test or trial. Belong-
ing to a better and a higher age, he lived in
advance of his many associates. We, who be-
lieve the world grows better, and minds grow
brighter, can foresee many such characters as his
in the future generations. We look upon his life
here as one borrowed of the future, and given us
as one worthy of emulation."

PERSONAL TRIBUTES. 65

The Mayor of Gadsden, Alabama, with which
city Gardner seemed to be almost as closely iden-
tified as with his own, sends this sincere and lov-
ing memorial of the friend he valued so highly :

" The death of Gardner was to me a great
personal loss and affliction. I knew him inti-
mately, and had learned to love him as a brother,
to admire him for his unsullied and exalted char-
acter, for his many, many noble traits of head and
heart, and for the wonderfully harmonious devel-
opment of his faculties. These manly character-
istics were not held in reserve, and used as on
' dress parade,' but were conspicuous in his every-
day life, and were part and parcel of his very
existence. His manner towards his friends was
elegant in its naturalness and simplicity, and he
possessed that indescribable grace called ' charm,'
in a most marked degree. His every action
seemed to say, ' I would rather be, than seem to
be,' and was the very antithesis of show. I want
to say, for his credit and for your comfort, that
if ever a young man held as the guiding star of
his conduct the injunction of Solomon, ' My son,
hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake
not the law of thy mother,' Gardner did. His
devotion to his parents, and his loyalty to the
teachings you gave him in his early youth, were
matters which he frequently mentioned in con-
versation with me, and which he, without excep-
tion, always exhibited in his conduct towards his

66 PERSONAL TRIBUTES.

fellow-men. His observance of proper lines of
conduct was beautiful ; he was as chaste and
elegant in his conversation with men as the most
refined and cultured woman. I always felt bet-
ter for a long talk with him. He inspired others
to nobler thought and achievement, and was as
magnetic and forceful a man as I ever met. He
was an ornament to his family, and to the grand
commonwealth which gave him birth, and a bless-
ing to our loved Southland in which he had cast
his lot, and where he seemed so happy in the
great work he wrought. I feel the world is
better for his having lived in it, and could he
have been spared to us, what great things were
in store for him ! In one sense he is not dead,
for to ' live in the hearts we leave behind is not
to die.' I often think of the very enjoyable trip
he and I took to Montgomery about two years
ago, when I went down to introduce him to my
friends, Governor Jones and Governor Oates.
Each of these gentlemen spoke to me of him some
time afterward. He had impressed them as a
young man of high character, earnestness, and
great capacity for affairs. They were delighted
that he had come to our State and would be one
of us, predicting that he would be a leader in his
chosen line of business. Had he lived, I think
he would have loved our people and been devoted
to our State. Alabama would have felt the im-
press of his genius, as our locality now feels it,

PERSONAL TRIBUTES. 67

and he would have become a factor in her affairs.
"We needed him in our midst, and his death is
the State's loss. It must be your greatest conso-
lation to know that Gardner was so good; his
life was an honor to his parents ; and his exem-
plary conduct worthy of all admiration. Not one
of the least of his characteristics was his big-heart-
edness. The poor, the destitute, the afflicted,
the unfortunate, appealed to his heart with great
effect. These classes always touched a respon-
sive chord in his bosom ; for them he had a
tender sympathy. His inclination in this direc-
tion was unusually strong, and I am quite sure
works of philanthropy would have engaged his
later years had his life been spared.

" I read a passage not long since, which comes
nearer describing Gardner than anything I can
write ; it is this : —

" ' He was chaste in his life, just in his dealings,
true to his word, merciful to those who were
under him, and hating nothing so much as idle-
ness ; in matters especially of moment, he was
never wont to rely on other men's care, how
trusty or skillful soever they might seem to be,
but, always contemning danger and refusing no
toil, he was wont himself to be one (whoever was
a second) at every turn where courage, skill, or
industry was to be employed.' This quotation
would make a fitting epitaph for his monument."

OFFICIAL TRIBUTES.

RESOLUTIONS OF RESPECT

passed by gadsden city council on the death of
hon. h. gardner nichols.

Council Chamber, City of Gadsden, Ala.

Call meeting of the Board held this 23d day
of June, 1896. Mayor Mitchell explained object
of the meeting to take action on the death of
the Hon. H. Gardner Nichols, which occurred at
5.13 P. M., this instant, at Dr. Holmes's Sani-
tarium, in the city of Atlanta, Georgia.

After a tribute to the memory of the deceased
by Mayor Mitchell, Alderman Green offered the
following preamble and resolutions, which were
adopted by a unanimous vote : —

Whereas, We learn of the death of our late
fellow citizen, the Hon. H. Gardner Nichols,
mayor of Alabama City, as the result of an acci-
dent which occurred at the Dwight Mill, on the
20th of May, striking down in the very dawn of
his young manhood one of the grandest charac-
ters with whom it has ever been our fortune to
meet, bringing sorrow to the hearts of all our
people without regard to rank or station,

OFFICIAL TRIBUTES. 69

Be it Resolved, That this Board, represent-
ing and voicing the sentiments of all and every
class of our population, hereby tender to the
family of the deceased our heartfelt sympathy,
assuring them that we feel that Massachusetts, in
giving us as a citizen Hon. H. Gardner Nichols,
gave us one of her brightest jewels, and we
honored and loved him as though he was "to the
manor born." Alabama mingles her tears with
Massachusetts in this sad hour, and we can truly
say that the short life of Mr. Nichols demon-
strated the fact that sterling worth, active indus-
try, strict fidelity, and noble charity are always
appreciated, and are honored and respected in
every land and by all people.

The Hon. H. Gardner Nichols's memory will
live in Alabama so long as the noble qualities
of heart and mind he possessed are appreciated,
and his example of exalted manhood will be re-
membered as a beacon light to which the young
men of our State will be pointed as worthy of
their highest emulation.

Resolved, That as a mark of the high esteem
and appreciation in which the Hon. H. Gardner
Nichols was held by our citizens, the Hon. R. A.
Mitchell, mayor of the city of Gadsden, and Mr.
T. S. Kyle be, and they are hereby appointed by
this council as an escort to attend the body from
Atlanta to Boston ; and that this preamble and
these resolutions be spread upon the minutes,

70 OFFICIAL TRIBUTES.

and that a copy of the same be forwarded to
the family of Mr. J. Howard Nichols, at Boston,
Massachusetts.

Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with the
people of our neighboring town, Alabama City,
in their loss of the official head of that munici-
pality, their distinguished young mayor, who had
the development of that city and the welfare of
its people so deeply at heart ; to them it is an
irreparable loss.

RESOLUTIONS OF RESPECT

PASSED BY THE ALABAMA CITY COUNCIL ON THE DEATH
OF HON. H. GARDNER NICHOLS.

The following resolutions of respect were
passed at a meeting of the Council of Alabama
City, on Saturday, June 27, 1896 : —

Whereas, It hath pleased Almighty God to
remove from our midst our beloved mayor, the
Hon. H. Gardner Nichols, and

Whereas, Our said mayor, although a com-
parative stranger to our community, had en-
deared himself to every one in both his official
and private capacity, by his uniform courtesy,
kindness, and high character, to such an extent
that he was elected to the position of mayor
without opposition, and

Whereas, His death has removed a noble and
fearless official, an honored citizen, and a be-
loved friend, be it

OFFICIAL TRIBUTES. 71

Resolved, By the City Council of Alabama
City, that in his death our city and entire com-
munity has lost one of its truest and purest citi-
zens, and our Board its wise and honored head ;
and that the enterprise of which he was the
founder has suffered an irreparable loss.

2. Be it further Resolved, That our tender-
est condolence be and it is hereby extended to
the bereaved family, and in this hour of their
deepest sorrow we point them to that All-wise
Providence who doeth all things well.

3. Be it further Resolved, That a copy of
these resolutions be spread upon the minutes of
this body, a copy furnished the county papers
for publication, and a copy sent to the parents
of our deceased friend.

At a meeting of the directors of the Dwight
Manufacturing Company, Boston, June 29, 1896 :

" On motion of Mr. Amory A. Lawrence, duly
seconded, the following resolution was unani-
mously adopted : —

" The Directors have heard with the greatest
regret of the death of Mr. Howard Gardner
Nichols, caused by an accident while in the dis-
charge of his duties at the Alabama City Mill.

" We appreciate his high character, his indus-
try, and great promise, and sympathize most
deeply with his father in his great bereavement.

" This resolution to be placed in the records."

72 OFFICIAL TRIBUTES.

IN MEMORIAM.

H. GARDNER NICHOLS.

Since it has pleased Almighty God in His di-
vine wisdom to take from among us the soul of
one of our most beloved Vestrymen, H. Gardner
Nichols, a man most closely identified with the
best interests, and foremost in work in behalf
of the Church of the Holy Comforter, of the
Protestant Episcopal Church at Gadsden, Ala-
bama, and whose charm of personality and chari-
table consideration were so prominently marked ;
a young man of keen intellect and sterling quali-
ties, spotless character and kindliness of heart,
endearing him to all, he strove to advance the
cause of the Master in many ways.

May his influence not be lost ; may it shed a
ray of hope and encouragement about us which
shall brighten the veil which God in His infinite
wisdom has seen fit to let fall upon our Church.

Close as were the ties which bound him to us,
we recognize that there are others to whom our
deceased friend was held by still more sacred
bonds, and it is the desire of this Vestry to ex-
tend to the sorrowing family our heartfelt sym-
pathy in their bereavement. May they, as well
as we, feel that it is the will of our Father, " who
doeth all things well."

Resolved, That as a formal and lasting expres-

OFFICIAL TBLBUTES. 73

sion of our sorrow at his sudden and untimely
death, these humble and inadequate resolutions
be enrolled upon our minutes as suggestive of
the love and esteem in which he was held by the
members of this Vestry ; and be it further

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be
sent to his bereaved parents.

Otto Agricola, Warden.

John C. Pugh. W. W. Pettis.

O. R. Goldman. Geo. W. Bowen.

Joseph Balfour. Calvin D. Clarke.

On a recent visit made by Mr. Nichols to Ala-
bama City, the first since the death of his son,
he accepted an invitation to meet the operatives,
at which time the following resolutions were
adopted : —

" We, the former employees of the late H.
Gardner Nichols, who, as agent for the Dwight
Manufacturing Company at this place, did so
much for our comfort and happiness as to place
us under lasting obligation to him ;

" And whereas we, the remaining employees of
said Company, who served under him here, feel-
ing that we have sustained an irreparable loss in
his sad and sudden death, desire to give expres-
sion to our feelings of sorrow and bereavement,
therefore, be it resolved, that we rejoice in the
presence of the father of him we admired and
loved, and give him our cordial greetings and

74 OFFICIAL TRIBUTES.

sincere welcome, and extend to him, and through
him to his bereaved family, profound sympathy,
and assure him that we shall ever cherish feelings
of gratitude and love for his noble son."

It has been the effort of the writer of this
Memorial to place before Gardner's friends a
picture of the true-hearted, honest boy, who de-
veloped into a noble, fearless, upright man; to
show him as he was to his family, his friends,
and those dependent upon him, and to do it with
the loving simplicity which befits such a story
of unselfish, loyal devotion to duty.

In this connection it seems fitting to quote one
striking instance of the influence flowing from
his life, and bearing fruit in the life of an entire
stranger.

A college classmate of one of Gardner's sisters,
who had visited the Newton home and knew him
well, writes from her place of residence in Illi-
nois : —

" Sunday night, at our League service, the last
person to speak was a gentleman about thirty-
five years of age. He said, in substance, ' Yes-
terday, while waiting in a business office, I picked
up a paper. It was a mill paper, and my eye
rested upon the notice of the death of a young
man ; it told of the beautiful life he had lived, of
his care for those under him, of his manly noble-
ness, and most of all of that Christian character

OFFICIAL TRIBUTES. 75

which enriched his whole nature. I read on and
on, thinking how such a life must have a force
for good in that community. I do not know the
young man, — he lived down South ; but this I
do know : reading the account of the beauty and
nobility of that character has influenced my life,
and made me start out to strive more earnestly
to live just such a life of usefulness.'

" After the meeting I spoke to the gentleman,
saying I thought I knew to whom he referred,
and mentioned your brother's name; he said I
was right — it was Gardner Nichols of whom he
spoke."

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY

Los Angeles

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In memoriam,

275 Howard Gardner
N5I3 ^Nicnolsc

CT

275

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