THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF
JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
The Biography of an Educator
ELIZABETH HAZELTON HAIGHT
THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF
JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
T.
THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF
JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
The Biography of an Educator
BY
ELIZABETH HAZELTON HAIGHT
PROFESSOR OF LATIN, VASSAR COLLEGE,
CO-AUTHOR WITH JAMES MONROE TAYLOR O* " VASSAR"
NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY
681 FIFTH AVENUE
Copyright, 1919*
By E. P. BUTTON & COMPANY
All Rights Reserved
Printed in the United States of America
TO
JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
PRESIDENT OF VASSAR COLLEGE, 1886-1914
SEER AND BUILDER
WHO TRANSMUTED THE PRACTICAL
INTO THE IDEAL, AND CONSECRATING
HIS LIFE TO THE EDUCATION OF
WOMEN HELD HIGH THE TORCH OF
LIBERAL CULTURE AND SOCIAL
RIGHTEOUSNESS, BY ASPIRATION, DE-
VOTION, AND ACHIEVEMENT DURING
TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS, THE SECOND
FOUNDER OF VASSAR COLLEGE.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. CHILDHOOD AND EARLY EDUCATION, 1848-1864
II. EDUCATION: THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER,
ROCHESTER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, A YEAR IN
EUROPE, 1864-1872
III. YEARS IN THE MINISTRY, 1872-1886 . . . .
IV. FIRST YEARS AT VASSAR COLLEGE, 1886-1895 .
V. VACATION IN EUROPE, 1895-1896
PAGES
1-2 1
22-71
72-89
90-H7
II8-I52
VI WORK RESUMED fTHE CALL TO BROWN UNIVERSITY,
1896-1899 IS3 ~ 177
VII. EDUCATION, FINANCE AND REST, 1899-1906 . . 178-218
VIII. YEARS os GROWTH AND SUCCESS, 1907-1911 . 219^256
IX. LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 257-315
X. VACATION DAYS AND HAPPY RETURNS, 1914-1915 3i6-35i
XI. THE LAST VACATION AND THE FINAL RETURN,
I9 i S -i 9 i6 352-379
APPENDIX: PARTIAL LIST or WRITINGS OF JAMES
MONROE TAYLOR
380-386
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE FACING
JAMES MONROE TAYLOR Frontispiece
"THE GROWING BOY" 8
"THE HILL OF SCIENCE," ESSEX, CONNECTICUT . . . . n
THE REVEREND ELISHA E. L. TAYLOR, THE FATHER OF JAMES
MONROE TAYLOR l6
"BlENVENUE," THE HUNTINGTON HOME, ROCHESTER, NEW
YORK 33
JAMES MONROE TAYLOR AT GRADUATION FROM THE UNIVERSITY
OF ROCHESTER, 1868 35
KATE HUNTINGTON 7*
THE PRESIDENT IN HIS STUDY IN THE MAIN BUILDING, 1894 . 103
THE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE J 5 2
THE LAYING OF THE CORNER STONE OF THE CHAPEL . . .176
ON FORMAL OCCASIONS l8 4
A FOUNDER'S DAY SPEECH AT THE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE . . 245
TAYLOR HALL 342
THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF
JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
CHAPTER I
Childhood and Early Education,
1848-1864
"Everywhere around us
Stand the closed portals of events unknown/'
Sdkoontald. 1
THE Taylor stock, according to the genealogical records, 2
came from that Norman Baron Taillefer who accom-
panied William the Conqueror to England and, riding
with a song on his lips to battle, fell at Hastings before
the eyes of the monarch. 3 Taillefer's family received
from the Conqueror large estates in the County
of Kent, and here generation after generation of Tayle-
fers and Taylors appeared in possession until the time
when one Edward Taylor emigrated to America in 1692
to receive lands in New Jersey, bequeathed him by a
brother. This Edward's grandson, John Taylor (son
of another Edward), settled in Charlton, Saratoga
County, in 1774, and was Judge of the County Court
there from 1809-1818. He and his wife had nine chil-
*The quotations at the beginnings of chapters are from a note-
book and memoranda kept by Doctor Taylor.
3 "The Genealogy of Judge John Taylor and his Descendants,"
by Elisha Taylor, 1886.
8 See Bulwer-Lytton's description in "Harold, the Last of the
Saxon Kings."
1
2 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
dren, of whom Richard, born 1777, was the grandfather
of the subject of this biography. Richard Taylor was a
prosperous merchant living in Delphi, Onondaga County,
New York, a fine-looking man of vigor and geniality,
according to his portrait. He was married four times,
the last time to Mrs. Phebe Clark, who bore him t
sons, James Monroe Taylor and Elisha E. L. Taylor,
father of our James Monroe Taylor who was named
for his uncle. As both Richard Taylor and Mrs. Clark
had children by former marriages, this Taylor ^ family,
too, was a large one, and Elisha was brought up in a cir-
cle of half-brothers and sisters. One of Richard Taylor's
chief delights was a good horse, and Elisha remembered
with pleasure how, when he was four years old, he was
put on a horse with his brother to ride to mill and stayed
on. A horse seemed, indeed, such an essential of living
to the father that when his son, Elisha, went to college
his horse went with him! It was ironic that the old
gentleman met his death by being thrown from a wagon,
while he was driving. The wife, Phebe, was described
recently by an old clergyman as "a Mother in Israel'
known for "hospitality to the saints" (that is, the visiting
clergy). She was a thrifty and capable housewife and
a mother who won and held the affection of her sons.
A remarkable joint letter written to their son Elisha
while he was in Hamilton Seminary shows the religious
zeal and the character of both parents.
To Elisha E. L. Taylor.
DELPHI June 3Oth 1831
MY DEAR SON
We reed your letter of the 25th Instant yesterday and
was gratified to hear from you although all the inteli-
CHILDHOOD AND EARLY EDUCATION 3
gence was not just such as we could desire; particularly
of the pain in your side and stomach. It is probably the
effect of Study and I think likely exercise would be good,
but you must consult others that have suffered the like
affliction as to the best method to pursue and also be
observing yourself so as to learn and proffit by your own
experience and in all cases let your judgment and experi-
ence dictate your conduct rather than your fancy and
inclination I w i sn you my son in all your
letter writing to endeavour to take time to compose your
letter and review it before you send it. There are several
words left out of this one that we reed. It will be of
special benefit to you through life as well as great satis-
faction to you to learn to commit your thoughts to paper
and communicate your ideas in that way in an easy ele-
gant manner, particularly if you should fill any public
station in^life: it will therefore, be well for you to spend
as much time in tjiis way as can be well spared and attend
to other duties. I wish you to keep a little book to enter
every Item in, that you lay out that we may see and
judge of the fitness of the appropriation. And I wish
you to make it a maxim in your setting out, to save every
Item^of expense that will not specially hinder your prog-
ress in study or in some way materially injure your use-
fullness and in this get the advise of others of more
years and experience than your self particularly Mr. W.
who has Interested himself so much in your welfare 'and
to whom I trust you and all the rest of us will ever feel
gratefull. It is gratifying to learn by your letter that
you appear in some good degree to appreciate the duty
and priviledge of prayer and my son it is a glorious priv-
iledge and it is what I would not and I hope and trust you
would not be deprived of for any earthly good.
hope my son you will be faithful in your attention to
your studies whilst you are there for we know not how
long you may have the priviledge, nor what the Lord
has designed for you to do. I would not wish to be
anxious about it for the Lord will provide for all
4 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
that put their trust in him and obey his will. But if it
should please him to qualify you for the Ministry and
send you forth to proclaim the glad tidings of Salvation,
it would be peculiarly gratifying to me. I would wish
however in this as well as all other concerns to say from
the heart not my will but thine O Lord be done. The
time here is short and I have often thought that our pas-
sage through life to the great place of residence through-
out eternity is not unlike going to market with a Drove,
it is a matter of comparatively little importance whether
the road is good or bad or the places of en-
tertainment are commodious or indifferent if we arive
safe, find a good market, make a good sale and return
safe home with our wealth. Although in our passage
we cannot but have a choice. And so to us if we are so
happy as to arive at the haven of Eternal rest, the dispro-
portion of our life of sorrow and trouble to an Eternity
of happiness is so great that it dwindles to insignificance
and we may well say that the only way to estimate the
value of anything is by eternity I shall leave
the other side for your Mother to fill, who will give you
such information as she thinks interesting
My son your parents need your prayers, do remember
them and endeavour to be use full in some way while the
lamp of life holds out to burn. "Trust in the Lord and
do good and verily thou shalt be fed." May God pre-
pare us for his holy will and pleasure here but especially
for that happy state where sin is never permitted to enter
is the earnest desire and sincere prayer of your Father.
R. TAYLOR.
MY DEAR CHILD
It was with tears of grattidude to God I trust that I
received your letter yesterday. I cannot express my
feelings when I think of the Change that I hope and
trust has been wrought in your Heart of late. O that
we could give God all the Glory and never cease to thank
and Praise and Love him forever and ever. My Earnest
CHILDHOOD AND EARLY EDUCATION 5
Prayer and Desire is that you may be Dedicated to the
Lord both time and Tallant and Devote the Rest of your
Life to His service and His Cause All want
to see you very much. James often speaks of you and
says he is agoing to see Elisha. I am in hast the Feemale
Prayer meeting is here this afternoon and it is pase one
o'clock now. Give best Respects to Our Friend Mr. W.
and all the rest of the Dear Friends of Christ and except
a large share for yourself. Pray for us.
PHEBE TAYLOR.
Elisha Taylor's children knew these grandparents only
through the vivid recollections of their father. So, too, by
family tradition they came to a proud acquaintance with
that great-uncle, John W. Taylor, member of Congress
from Saratoga County, and speaker of the House, whose
ringing pioneer speech against slavery at the time of the
Missouri Compromise is quoted by Horace Greeley in
'The American Conflict/' * His portrait, which hangs
in the Capital, has the large brown eyes and the dis-
tinguishing features of the Taylor family.
Grandfather Perkins was the only grandparent known
to James Monroe Taylor and his brothers and sisters.
The Perkins family was an old Massachusetts family
that came to this country in 1623, but the Rev. Aaron
Perkins (the grandfather) began his preaching in Lat-
tintown, near Marlborough, New York, and married
there Deborah Smith, whose family had lived in Ulster
County since 1700. Grandmother Perkins was a name
associated with music for the Taylor children; they re-
membered being told (as Doctor Taylor's sister writes)
how, "when her last hours were near, Grandmother asked
'Vol. I, pp. 77-8, (Hartford 1873).
6 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
her 'boys' to stand around her and sing The Shining
Shore,' and the thought of this cheerful hymn sung by
the harmonious voices of her sons made a lasting and
pleasant impression upon our childish minds as of a
brave and cheery faring forth upon the unknown sea.
With this, too, was associated the simple and beautiful
words we saw on her gravestone: 'Her children rise up
and call her blessed, her husband also and he praiseth
her/ "
Grandfather Perkins lived in Leavenworth, Kansas, in
the latter part of his life and there witnessed many of
the exciting Indian troubles and the pre-war agitations;
saw, indeed, a man hanged to a tree near his own house.
A staunch abolitionist himself, he narrowly escaped a
similar fate, as masked men called for him one night
when, providentially, he was out of town. His grand-
children (as grandchildren will) remember not only his
tall, commanding presence, but also his great wig, his
habit of drinking green tea, and the fact that when James
was a young minister in South Norwalk, Grandfather, on
being asked to preach on each visit and accepting, always
told the congregation solemnly that he should doubtless
never see their faces again, or they his. He was the
Grandparent to the children and had all the affection that
might have been divided among four.
Against such rather vague memories of forbears stands
out a peculiarly bright picture of the home life of James
Taylor and all it meant to him as a child and in after
life; and in the center of that picture are father and
mother. The father, Reverend Elisha E. L. Taylor, re-
ceived his education (classical and theological) at Madi-
son University, Hamilton, New York, 1831-1839, and
CHILDHOOD AND EARLY EDUCATION 7
after a year more of graduate work there began in Brook-
lyn that ministerial service which was to last twenty-five
years. Mr. Taylor entered upon his labors in a church
recently organized, the Pierrepont Street Baptist church,
but as soon as it was well developed, with a pioneer band
of church members he left it (in 1849) to organize a
mission church, the Strong Place. This, too, he built
up to power before temporary ill health compelled his
resignation in 1865. Then, merely stopping to take
breath, he accepted a Secretaryship in the Home Mission
Society, with special charge of schools for the American
Indians, and as his last activity raised a Church Edifice
Fund of $300,000 to help struggling churches in build-
ing, a mere extension of his mission field interests.
Such were the public activities of a long life devoted
single-heartedly and happily to the cause of religion.
Those who knew the son, James, but not the father,
will be interested to find that the qualities which built
the success of the Reverend Elisha Taylor were consecra-
tion to service, absolute frankness of nature, uncom-
promising support of principles, breadth of sympathy,
tact and unfailing energy in work, all peculiarly char-
acteristic of his son.
During his student days in Hamilton, Elisha Taylor
met a young boarding-school girl who afterwards, on
the eve of her eighteenth birthday, became his wife. This
was Mary Jane Perkins, second daughter of the Reverend
Aaron Perkins, 'The prettiest girl in the school," she
was called, and the qualities her children most remem-
bered in her were her loving nature and her natural
"gaiety of heart." Elisha and Mary Taylor had six
sons and three daughters, and these brothers and sisters,
8 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
with only two or three years between their successive
birthdays, were the happiest of comrades in play or work,
the boys going off to school, then to college, in relays
that delightfully overlapped and helped weld their strong
family feeling. "As a family, we children were fairly
clannish in our fondness for each other," one brother
writes.
The earliest picture of the Henry Street home in
Brooklyn, where all but three of the children were born,
is in a letter of 1854, written to Mr. and Mrs. Taylor,
who were taking a much-needed rest in Europe away
from their family of five small children. (It is interest-
ing to note that, as they crossed on a sailing vessel, the
voyage took twenty-three days.) Phoebe Hart, friend
and caretaker of the three younger children (the two
older boys were in boarding-school), writes in delicate
hand and with fine feeling exactly the sort of picture
the anxious young mother must have craved.
To Mrs. Etisha E. L. Taylor.
BROOKLYN, July , 1854.
It is eight o'clock and for half an hour, I have been
sitting with my eyes intently fixed on the happy group
before me, and listening to the sounds which you have
so often been delighted with. It is church time. Jamie,
Charlie, Mary, Annie and myself compose the Audience.
Charlie has just given out the hymn, and they are now
singing, "See the smiling sunbeams." And I wish you
could see the smiling sunbeams. Dear little Mary is sit-
ting close at my side, holding her book, and singing as
sweetly as any little bird. Jamie and Charlie are sitting
opposite, they require considerable room for their per-
formance on the Piano, and generally take seats at a
respectful distance from little "Sister." Jamie
The Growing Boy."
CHILDHOOD AND EARLY EDUCATION 9
has requested Charlie to "prayer," and poor child, if he
had been put in the stocks he could not have put on a
more woebegone countenance as he said, "Say, Jamie, I
can't prayer" Now they are singing, "Twinkle, Twinkle,
little star" after which they will dismiss. I love to
write 'mid scenes like these. I think they bring you
nearer home, as you are no stranger to them. Need I
say we are well?
Family tradition records that the brothers considered
themselves chivalrous protectors of the baby sister in
their parents' absence, and that when she cried, they at-
tempted to administer swift and condign punishment to
the old nurse, holding her responsible for Mary's tears!
The letter-picture of the boys of six and four shows
how early was started the family custom of a good
"sing." Negro melodies, college songs, civil war songs,
hymns were all included in the repertoire. "Especially
memorable for these good times," writes a member of the
family, "were our Saturday nights, when the two busi-
ness brothers came home, often with guests, and also
our family reunions at holiday seasons, which were never
considered complete without a 'sing.' Sunday
evenings we always sang hymns, generally from memory,
each member calling his choice."
The Henry Street home was filled not only with the
large and happy family and many relatives whom the
spirit of the clan assembled frequently, but by many other
guests "well-known men and women of interest, and
my memories of the table conversation of our childhood
were of much spirited talk on national, civic or religious
questions, and of the widest interest in affairs of world-
wide importance." Even in the midst of such conversa-
10 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
tions as these, at Sunday dinner when guests were often
present "the Father's warning 'Boys!' was sometimes
needed to restrain the live wires who had their own
jokes and discussions at their end of the table." Sun-
days were not hushed or restrained days in the minister's
family, and there were no torturing catechisms. All
were expected to go to church and Sunday School, but
the latter, at least, was distinctly enjoyed, partly, no
doubt, because of the hearty singing favored there and
the general sociability. Then there were books to read
in the afternoon, though the pleasure in them was partly
dampened by the father's habit of asking each child to
tell at the supper table what he had read, "a performance
much detested," and there was the regular family "sing"
at night.
From this house on Henry Street the children would
take a ten minutes' walk to a school on Tompkins Place,
kept by Mr. A. T. Baldwin, a member of their father's
church. "Daddy Baldwin," as the boys called him, was
"a conscientious and painstaking man, thorough in his
methods and a good drill-master." He was in the habit
of keeping a "School Diary" of each pupil in a printed
form which could be exhibited week by week to the
parent at home, signed, and returned. Inside the cover
of this small book is the motto "Just as the Twig is bent
the Tree's inclined," and below the use of the diary is
explained : "As a Diary exhibits to the teacher and the
parent the diligence or negligence of the pupil, it there-
fore often incites to increased efforts on the part of the
latter to gain the meritorious marks. Hence it is con-
sidered by many teachers an invaluable auxiliary in their
arduous profession." In the diary at hand, James M.
^ N Ucport </ "...
!i tJKw ///.>, v
:a,.,.
"The Hill of Science," Essex, Connecticut.
CHILDHOOD AND EARLY EDUCATION 11
Taylor's record is given from Feb. n to July I, 1859,
and it is interesting to note that except for an occasional
lapse in geography and deportment the small boy main-
tained a "perfect" record during these weeks. How high
a value the father put upon education is shown by the
fact that although he was a minister with a large family
whose household had to be governed by economy, every
child was offered a college education (only one refusing
it to go into business).
The boys were prepared for College at a boarding-
school in Essex, Connecticut, whither Albert and Mor-
gan went first, later James, then Charles. To this school
James went in '59, at the age of eleven, and his first let-
ter written home to his parents is preserved, July 16,
'59. The small boy requests piously: "When you send
my trunk up here, please send my Bible in it," but adds
in a more natural postscript: "How much can I have
for spending money. I hope nine cents." He says
proudly also : "I have not been homesick and hope I shall
not be" (this on the day after arrival!).
The Essex Seminary was situated on a high hill,
known as "The Hill of Science" (probably because the
village academy was also there), and from the building
there was a fine view up and down the Connecticut River.
About twenty boys attended the school and all sat at
one long table in the dining-room with the principal, Mr.
Cummings, and his wife in the center. No one could
begin to eat until all were served and Mr. Cummings
held up his fork as a signal. The boys slept in small
bedrooms, not in large wards. School-room hcurs were
long, from 8:30 to 12, from i to 4, and an hour in the
evening. Mr. Cummings himself taught all the classes
12 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
and in spite of a quick temper was an excellent teacher,
thrilling the boys by the richness of his comments on
Vergil, and making all his students enjoy even the pursuit
of English grammar. He had certain unique methods
of his own to vary routine, purchased a sail-boat and
on Friday afternoons used to take the whole school out
on the river and hold classes in Grammar and public
speaking as they sailed down the stream. The boy,
declaiming with one arm around the mast, must have
gained inspiration from his unique rostra.
Seven essays written by James at Essex are before me,
the first six when he was eleven and twelve years old,
on "Happiness," "Politeness," "Friendship," "America,
the Land of Liberty," "A Visit to New York," and
"Japan and the Japanese." The first two are very ethical
and the one on "Happiness" (Dec. 9, '59) with stoic
decision crushes all hedonistic conception of the subject.
"Happiness," it begins, "consists in doing as we ought
and behaving well. If we do a kind act, we will be happy
and know we have done some good." Surely, as Presi-
dent Anderson was to say later, the child of eleven was
father to that teacher of Ethics who introduced generation
after generation of Vassar students to the "stern daughter
of the voice of God!" The essay on "Friendship" is
equally as typical of the James Taylor who maintained
friendships for over fifty years. It begins "Friendship
is intimacy united with affection. It is very important
to have friends if they are good ones, but if they are
bad ones it is bad for us."
The next essay is equally ethical, but more childish.
"Politeness consists in behaving well at all times, but not
in wearing fine clothes, and carrying a watch; but if we
CHILDHOOD AND EARLY EDUCATION 13
wear the plainest clothes, and behave well, such as keep-
ing in good order, offering our chairs to old people and
speaking kindly, we are just as good as those who wear
fine clothes and carry watches." A more natural subject
for a child is the one out of his own experience on his
visit to New York to witness the celebration of the laying
of the Atlantic cable, and here he gives a genuine small
boy account of the procession.
A VISIT TO NEW YORK
Two years ago, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty
eight, I went to New York to witness the celebration of
the laying of the Atlantic Cable. This procession con-
sisted of the soldiers of the city of New York, Brook-
lyn, and many other cities of the United States. The
procession moved up Broadway among the acclamations
of the people.
After the soldiers had passed, the carriages, butcher
wagons, express carts, and many others passed.
Cyrus Field the gentleman that laid the telegraph, rode
through the principal streets, boweing to the crowd.
In the night there was a very large torchlight proces-
sion. This procession was the largest procession that
ever took place in the United States of America. At
the night celebration there was a bear which was chained
to an engine. He pulled from one end to another but
all in vain. He was chained too tight. On another en-
gine, was a fireman, with hoops on blowing a trumpet,
and on another a bladder elephant which was cast in
among the crowd. Some of the firemen had roman can-
dles which the<y> pointed at the crowd thus making
great confusion. JAMES M. TAYLOR.
About thirty years after this essay was written the
Taylors dined with Cyrus Field at his New York home
and heard him tell how, when at last the cables were
14 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
joined from the boat at sea and the test showed that
messages passed, he went down into his cabin and
wept. The last essay, "Our Country," written in 1864,
the year before James went to college, is about the war
and full of fiery rhetoric.
The outdoor life of the boys at Essex was free and
vigorous. There were skating on the river in winter,
rowing, swimming, and ball games in summer. The
first day of skating was always a half holiday, although
the boys each year had to go through the solemn for-
mality of petitioning for this privilege. "Jim" as he
was called at home and in school, was in all sports, was
a good oarsman in the boat of the rowing club, a good
skater, runner and swimmer, and good at baseball; in-
deed, was always to be reckoned with as an all-round
sport. One fortnightly report about James sent home
by Mr. Cummings, May 15, 1861, has under the head-
ing "Remarks" : "Appears thus far to be one of the
best boys I ever knew." Dec. 21, the principal com-
mented : "Still as much a favorite as ever," and on Feb.
15, '62, he remarked: "A Jewel of a boy and can be
made up a man." All these reports bear the highest
mark, 8, under every heading, scholarship, deportment
in school-room and out and at table, neatness in dress
and room, and punctuality. On Sundays the boys all
regularly attended church. In this atmosphere of care-
ful training in studies, manners, and religion, in a beau-
tiful country where vigorous out-door sports were en-
couraged, James Taylor was prepared in mind and body
for his University work. A letter to his father and
mother, written at fifteen, best shows the manliness of
the boy at this time.
CHILDHOOD AND EARLY EDUCATION 15
ESSEX, Dec. 22d, 63.
DEAR PARENTS,
Father's letter has just been received, and though I'm
very sorry I can't go home, yet I shall endeavour to enjoy
myself up here to the best of my ability. I suppose I
shall have to study between Christmas and New Years.
As to the package you propose sending, Mr. Cummings
says that it is safe to send it by the New Haven boat
to N. H. and from thence it will come to West Brook
by the cars, and then to Essex by the stage, arriving
here at about J^ past one (mail time) Friday, if you
send Thursday. The boat leaves N. Y. some "where"
about 3 P. M. I think. Direct to Essex, Conn. In
Haste. With Care. As to the skates I have none, (ex-
cept a broken pair) do not send them unless you can
easily afford them, and I will skate when I can borrow
a pair. I am sorry to hear you are getting any poorer,
and I shall be as economical as possible. I do not care to
go to college, and it will save a great deal I suppose if I
do not go. I am pretty well advanced in latin and greek,
and if you take us away at the end of the quarter, then
I might as Morg. did get a business education in a short
time and go into a store in September. I would willingly
relinquish all ideas of going to college. I'm sorry to
hear that mother and Mrs. B. are so poorly. When you
write next I hope they'll be better. Charley is skating,
and did not expect to go home much. He has not seen
father's letter yet. I hope you'll conclude to do as I
propose or something of the kind and I'd soon be in a
condition to help both you and myself, for "where there
is a will, there's a way." I might study too at leisure
moments, or evenings. Think of it and decide. I care
not how soon I leave for I'm getting tired of the place.
Hoping to hear from you by Christmas,
I remain
Your Affectionate Son,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
P. S. I've joined a "Band of Hope" here under the
16 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
leadership of Mr. Bacon. I'm pledged to abstain from
liquor in all its forms as a beverage, from tobacco in all
its forms, and from profanity. So I'm safe there I
think. I'm pledged till 21. C. for life. Rest assured
that I'll enjoy myself Christmas, and with love to all,
I am
Your Affectionate Son,
JAMES M. TAYLOR. 1
The boy was not removed from school, and his educa-
tion went peacefully on until the following summer,
when, the year before he was ready for college, a new
idea took possession of him and he decided that he wished
to be a farmer. The wise father, although this was not
at all in accordance with his ambitions for his son, did
not oppose his plan, but at once found a place for him
with a friend, a retired business man who had a market
garden farm on Long Island near Oyster Bay, and here
for one summer the boy did a man's work and learned
the exacting demands of a farmer's life. The family
always thought that the gentleman-farmer had been told
by James' father not to spare him in any way so that
he should have full benefit of the experience. His
brothers still remember how horrified they all were to
learn that the asparagus (one of the chief products) had
to be cut even on Sunday and how decidedly Jim had
objected to such Sabbath-breaking. One summer as a
farmer was enough to restore James' desire for an educa-
tion and he returned to Essex to continue his college
preparation.
In 1863 Doctor Elisha Taylor, in view of threatening
1 Abbreviations which occur in the letters, chiefly in the early
ones (like reed for received, aft. for affectionately and e for the)
have been expanded.
The Reverend Elisha E. L. Taylor, the Father of James
Monroe Taylor.
CHILDHOOD AND EARLY EDUCATION 17
ill-health, purchased a country place two miles from the
town of Marlbo rough on the Hudson, six miles north
of Newburgh, a large house with twenty acres of land
which were gradually increased to one hundred. Here
the family went for the summer of 1864, just before
James entered the University, and this, for the ten years
following, was a center where they delighted to gather.
To Mrs. Taylor, who had been born in Marlborough,
this was a joyful coming home to the country she loved.
The Marlborough house, which stood two miles back
from the river, high on a hill, had been built as a sum-
mer home and was comfortable in every way. As a
guest approached after driving from boat-landing or
station up the winding wood road, he came under the
shade of the row of maples across the front of the
house to the steps leading up to the porch that sur-
rounded three sides, and on the porch turned to look
back at one of the noblest of river views. For there
across the meadow and beyond the wood was a wide
view of range after range of hills and below them glim-
mered the silver Hudson. Such pictures of woods, river
and mountains were framed by the many windows of the
house. The two living-rooms, which extended straight
through the house, ended in French windows on the
porch and two windows towards the hill, and at right
angles to these was a long dining-room with a bay-
window again glimpsing the river. An open house, that
was the Marlborough home.
The farm included a berry patch, currants, a vine-
yard, and hay-meadows. A letter from his sister de-
scribes how James was again given a chance at farm-
ing this summer. "The region then as now was a
18 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
famous fruit market-garden, and our farm possessed
the usual 'raspberry patch* of some extent, which called
for an overseer as well as for pickers. Our oldest
brother being still in college, and the next one in business
in New York, our father appointed James to be manager
of the farm in his frequent absences, including the rasp-
berry patch and its pickers. He was just 16 years of age
that summer. We younger children, eager to earn an
honest penny, offered our services to father as pickers
for the berry season at the usual market rates, one penny
per basket, and our father agreed to hire us, only stipu-
lating that once hired we must serve the season out, since
otherwise he would be left in the lurch.
The young manager was naturally, in that family circle,
not allowed to put on any airs! He was expected to
pick berries with us, but in addition his duties included
the packing of the berries, sending them to market, keep-
ing accounts, managing the men and other details of
which we children were ignorant. The group of pickers
included any stray cousins, or young guests, and we
were all alike disposed to chaff our young 'Boss' and to
make life as lively at the beginning of each day as a
set of girls and boys from eleven to eighteen years old
might do. Every morning at 9 o'clock the conscientious
young manager would appear around the piazza, berry-
baskets in hand, calling out : 'Come on, fellows, it's time
to go down to the patch/ and almost as regularly he had
his bad quarter of an hour, while we tried to tease him
into believing that that morning we wouldn't pick ber-
ries. Always in the end, however, he was followed and
the morning's work honestly done. However, the berry
patch was by no means a sad or silent place.
CHILDHOOD AND EARLY EDUCATION 19
James was reading Walter Scott's poems that summer,
and we young ones followed his example (as we so often
did in other matters), being especially strong on Mar-
mion, so that this robust poem is indelibly associated
for all of us with the Marlboro' berry patch. When the
hours dragged too slowly some one, oiten James himself,
would start the ball rolling by shouting a couplet of Mar-
mion from his end of the patch :
"Burned Marmion's swarthy cheek like fire,
And shook his very frame for ire,"
and lightning-quick another picker would challenge:
" 'And this to me !' he said :
'And darest thou then
To beard the lion in his den,
The Douglas in his hall?'" etc., etc.,
until every picker had said his say and was refreshed.
The "Up, drawbridge, grooms what, warder, ho !" was
always rendered with the finest dramatic effect. A
brother states that the accounts which James kept this
summer are in existence and perfect in accuracy and
completeness, showing excellent system and ability.
A great delight at Marlborough was driving, for the
Reverend Elisha Taylor, trained by his father Richard,
always had spirited horses on the place and taught his
children to ride and drive. Then there was fishing in
the river or a pond near, catching frogs, finding birds'
nests (even a nest of young hawks once), and for home
sports there were games, "one old cat," "fungoes,"
pitching quoits, croquet. "Saturdays there were always
arrivals from the city, and frequently father or brothers
brought friends with them," so that sometimes as many as
twenty-four would sit down at table. And the guests
20 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
would join in the ball games and the evening "sings."
"In time," a brother writes, "the house was enlarged by
another story, and one of the new rooms was always
known as 'Ji m ' s> room. There he spent many hours of
study, during his seminary years, and presumably wrote
out his first sermons, which he rehearsed by himself, out
in the woods."
Vignettes of the life at Marlborough appear in James
Taylor's letters written in vacations there, after he had
entered the University of Rochester, to his college chum,
Alonzo K. Parker, of Poughkeepsie. In August, 1865,
the day before his seventeenth birthday, James writes of
weeding strawberries all the morning, plans a trip to the
city on the "Mary Powell" and urges "Lon" to come to
see him.
July 30, '66.
Yours of the i8th inst. was duly received, and should
have been acknowledged before, had I not been very
busy on the farm. Hay and harvest, with an acre of
berries, are poor aids to reading, study, or correspond-
ence. You know that I was expecting to have no work
to do. Well, we have had such times with our help, that
I have been obliged to work, a large portion of my time.
I have done no study, scarcely any reading, none, I be-
lieve, but "Gertrude of Wyoming," and the "Last Man,"
together with one or two of Dr. Robertson's sermons. I
like them very much. One on the "Religious Nonobserv-
ance of the Sabbath," occasioned a great deal of argu-
mentation in the family, I being rather inclined to sup-
port Robertson. His sermons forcibly remind me of
Dr. Robinson's. So you see my reading has been lim-
ited
Another letter (Sept. 2, '67) tells of plans for a drive
of twenty-five miles to Cornwall and Canterbury. And
CHILDHOOD AND EARLY EDUCATION 21
a paragraph from the end of the summer of '66 shows
how hard it was to leave Marlborough even for Roches-
ter with all its call of University and friends.
To Mr. Alonzo K. Parker.
MARLBORO, Aug. 2oth. '66.
DEAR LON,
I am at present enjoying the fullest ease. I ride a
great deal, and am enjoying life. But, "miserabile dictu,"
such enjoyment must cease in three weeks I
am not at all inclined to go back But away
with discontented thoughts. One thought looms before
me, which helps, to some extent, to reconcile me to my
fate "I must go, anyway." It is imperative, and re-
pinings are of little use
With the best wishes for your happiness, and success,
I remain,
Yours very Truly,
J. M. T.
But these letters are anticipating college days. James
Monroe Taylor entered the University in the fall of
1864 not only well prepared in mind by thorough school
training and vigorous in body from devotion to outdoor
life and sports, but also founded in character by a deeply-
rooted feeling for home, a social sense there acquired,
and an established habit of religious thought and faith,
no mean equipment for a sixteen-year-old freshman.
CHAPTER I;I
Education: The University of Ro-
chester, Rochester Theological
Seminary, A Year in Europe,
1864-1872
"Milton says 'I call that a complete and generous education
which fits a man to perform justly, skillfully and
magnanimously all the offices both private
and public ', of peace and war.' "
WHEN James Monroe Taylor entered college at sixteen
in 1864, the University of Rochester was a struggling in-
stitution in an inland town, yet with a vision which far
overbalanced lack of stimulating environment, material
equipment and splendid edifices. There were no resi-
dence halls for students; the buildings were few; and
the endowment ($130,000) with which the University
opened in 1850 was so inadequate that bankruptcy was
often faced by the administration. The number of stu-
dents, too, was small, smaller even than usual on account
of the war. But that famous definition of a University
as a log with the student on one end and Mark Hopkins
on the other was most happily illustrated here again
where, opposite the boy of sixteen, sat President Martin
Brewer Anderson.
This remarkable man, who, during a presidency of
thirty-six years, shaped the ideals and policies of the
22
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 23
University, had been prepared first in the school of pov-
erty. Of Scotch-Irish stock and state of Maine environ-
ment, worker in a shipyard first, then struggling student
in college and theological seminary, next a tutor in class-
ics in his own college, 1 for a brief period an editor, he
came to the office of college president with varied experi-
ence of men and life and a fixed ideal of service.
With feeling little short of veneration, his students
have recorded his large, vigorous, magnetic personality,
his "noble simplicity of manner/' and his incessant ac-
tivity. Although he was possessed of "encyclopaedic
knowledge" on many subjects, his aim as teacher was
never the mere imparting of facts, but the discovery of
truth and in that quest his own mental processes were not
so much the scientific as the intuitive and the inspired.
Special lines emphasized by him in the work of the
University were the teaching of art as essential for cul-
ture, the teaching of history and political science to con-
vey the lesson of the past to the present, and what he
aptly termed "the editorial function of the teacher"
weekly review of current events and interpretation of
them in the light of past history. During the civil war
he taught the duties of citizenship in many eloquent ad-
dresses both within and without the college walls. Above
everything else, his interest in education was ethical and
his aim as an educator was "to make the largest and best
kind of a man" out of each student in the University.
And his interest in such educational work never flagged.
David Jayne Hill, President of the University of Roches-
ter from 1888 to 1896,2 said of him : "In most men the
*Waterville College, now Colby University.
* Ambassador to Germany, 1908-11.
24 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
interest in education is but an occasional and spasmodic
impulse; in him it was a burning, inextinguishable pas-
sion of life-long endurance."
This passion found expression in class-room discus-
sion, in chapel talks, in sermons, in personal interviews
through all of which ideals and visions were conveyed
to the boys under his charge. With no children of his
own, President Anderson was a father to hundreds in
his care, and these foster-sons paid back his devotion
with their love and his inspiration by their character.
Letters show how James Taylor felt his power.
Two Rochester professors also touched the imagina-
tion and the mind of the youth, Doctor Ezekiel Oilman
Robinson, President of the Rochester Theological Semi-
nary and afterwards President of Brown University, and
Doctor Asahel Clark Kendrick. Doctor Robinson held
the professorship of Biblical Theology in the Theological
Seminary, Doctor Kendrick the professorship of Greek.
Like President Anderson, Doctor Robinson was a man
of lifelong devotion to education and had great qualities
for his work which were summarized at its end by
Doctor Taylor, who spoke of him as an able administra-
tor, a counselor and friend of students, a man fearless in
the pursuit of truth, of great human interest and of sim-
ple faith. When James Taylor entered Rochester both
President Anderson and Doctor Robinson had been in-
vited by Matthew Vassar to be among the charter trus-
tees of Vassar College, which opened in 1865. How little
could be foreseen then the future relation of president
and trustee which the boy of sixteen and his President
and professor were to hold!
Two letters written in 1867 to his "brother in
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 25
Alonzo K. Parker, show the effect upon the sensitive boy
of Doctor Anderson's powerful pleas, and how under
that influence the great decision of a life-work was about
to be made. Certain snapshots of the faculty in the same
letters picture the informal friendliness between teachers
and students which existed in the small University.
ROCHESTER, February i$th, '67.
DEAR LON,
At our last week's meeting Dr. Anderson gave one of
his most stirring addresses. He exhorted us "to take
our bearings," to be diligent in work. He spoke on
preaching also. He said that he had never before spoken
to students here, on the subject. But he wished each of
us to consider candidly, whether or not we were called
to labor directly for God. We must be willing to preach,
he said, to do anything for the Master, if he called us.
If not, we were not converted. How earnestly, how elo-
quently he put it, only those can conceive who have heard
him on such a subject. He believes that within a few
years there will be a dearth, a terrible want, of ministers.
Is it your duty, is it mine, to help prevent this dearth
which threatens the church?
By the way, a young Dr. Kendrick has come into the
world. On the Dr.'s entrance into chapel the other
morning, it being known that he had a son, he was
vociferously applauded. He laughed heartily. After
prayers, by understanding, we all remained, took our
seats, applauded, called for speech, &c. Dr. A tried to
drive us out by waving his hand, but he was laughing
and we heeded him not. Soon the faculty, shaking hands
with Dr. K, amid the applause of the students, marched
out of chapel. We have the Dr. first hour. So C. asked
him to read to us. He could not refuse, of course. But
he postponed it until today. So today we had it from
Whittier. When, in reading Maud Muller, he came to
the passage in which Maud expresses herself to the effect
26 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
that 'the baby should have a new toy every day 1 he was
greeted with enthusiastic applause, and I scarcely ever
saw him indulge in a heartier laugh. A small thing may
produce much merriment, in college, especially. A re-
mark he made to our class the other morning, when we
applauded him, was characteristic. Said he "Gentle-
men, you were all born once," and then becoming sud-
denly solemn, he continued, "and I hope, if you are not
already, will be born again," and commenced the recita-
tion. But I've written a good deal on such a matter,
but I thought I must tell you.
Most sincerely,
Your Bro.
J. MONROE T.
ROCHESTER, March 8th, 1867.
DEAR LON,
Your last reached me just one week ago today. It
was the day after College-Prayer-Day. On that day,
which we so enjoyed one year ago, I attended morning
prayer-meeting, as usual. We had an excellent meeting,
Dr. Anderson addressing us on "Self-sacrifice," mainly,
and Dr. Kendrick, on the importance of the present
period of our lives In the afternoon I attended
the Theological meeting. A remark of Dr. Northrup
made a deep impression upon my mind. I will give it to
you. Said he, "The great fundamental problem of Chris-
tian life, is to get out of one's self." The doctrine is
not new, but how comprehensive the statement ! Others
before self. This problem I desire to solve. Did you
ever hear the statement, that "Demosthenes' orations
were logic, heated red-hot with passion ?" Dr. Anderson
quoted it, applying it to sermons. "Heated red-hot with
the love of Jesus." But you know the Dr. on such occa-
sions. I have seen no special evidences of unusual in-
terest. Last Friday's meeting was enjoyed much by
some, I among the number.
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 27
I suppose you have not heard about our spree Wash-
ington's Birthday. A large number of students gathered
in F.'s and M.'s room per a few hours notice. C. was
orator; M., poet. I was too late for the oration. The
soberest students, all, agreed in pronouncing the oration
a wonderful success, johnny kept them laughing stead-
ily. I lost most of the poem. What I heard gave me
quite an idea of M.'s poetic genius. After many toasts,
drunk in ale and cider, we proceeded to serenade. Prex
was serenaded for some time, and just as we were leaving
he got out of a sleigh and made for his door. (Joke
on us). We sang again, and called Speech. He said
it was too frosty. As we were leaving he poked his
head out of the door and said "Good night, Gentle-
men" ! ! ! ! We proceeded to Dr. Kendrick's. After some
singing (by us) he responded to our calls of "Speech."
What was he up at that hour for? It was a
very characteristic speech. We left well satisfied. You
know the 22d Feb is a legal holiday now.
Yes, I am delighted with Macaulay. I expect to finish
his History in about two weeks. I think I shall then
take up his Essays, and read two or three of them.
Motley must be read soon. I try to guard against Ma-
caulay's partiality, but I declare I think he is pretty
sound. I have written an essay on "The House of
Stuart." I consider it one of my best productions, though
capable of much, very much, improvement. It is not
historical, but considers their weaknesses, the causes of
their failures as monarchs, &c. By the way, I have my
Freshman Prize "Stones of Venice," in 3 volumes,
handsomely bound in light brown. Have not read any
of it yet.
You ask my opinion of the ministry. I have not come
to any conclusion in the matter. Still, I think I shall
preach. I believe I desire to 'know nothing among men/
"but Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Nothing could be
more glorious than to preach the gospel the Good Tid-
ings of salvation to men. I know many, at least some,
28 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
of my friends, think it is not my vocation to preach.
But they cannot decide for me
Can I do more good in the ministry than any- where
else, can I "get out of myself" better, in the ministry
than any where else, these are the questions which re-
quire an answer, and that answer points out the path
of duty. I think, as a pastor I should with God's bless-
ing, do much good. I should not be much as a preacher,
but I believe God would bless my labors. If I continue
to think thus, my life is carved out. If not, as a business
man I shall try to do God's will. The question is an im-
portant, a vastly important, one. It requires for its de-
cision in the affirmative a spirit of sacrifice, and yet
not in all. It will not be a sacrifice in me. It may be
in another. I have sometimes thought of being a Mis-
sionary. I do not like the idea, in fact do not consider
myself as well fitted for a missionary as for a pastor.
I must, however, be willing to be a missionary, "to be
anything, or nothing, for Christ," before I take upon
myself the sacred calling of the Christian ministry.
I do not know that you can get much of an idea of
my feelings from the above. I can explain my feelings
better in conversation that is, unless I write carefully,
which perhaps I should be ashamed to say, I have not
done
Very affectionately Yours
MONROE.
It is not surprising after reading these letters to find
the student writing on Aug. 25, '69, of a happy day
spent in New York with Doctor Anderson, and again in
'72 when doubts about his fitness for the ministry cloud
his sky, to hear that he yearns to accept Doctor Ander-
son's invitation to spend a month with him. The same
devotion to this great educational leader and to the Uni-
versity appears in a letter of Oct. 10, '74, on Rochester
Revisited.
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 29
SOUTH NORWALK, Oct. 10, 1874.
MY DEAR LON,
I had a good time in Rochester, though very quiet.
Was at the Seminary and University a good many times.
Had lovely times with Dr. Anderson, and Dr. Buckland,
and was most kindly received by all the Profs. I was
disappointed not to see more of dear old Dr. Kendrick,
beloved /cat pay (accents were a late invention), but
saw him and spoke a few moments with him. Dr. An-
derson took me about the college, told me what they
were doing, gave two hours one morning to showing me
new books, &c., and was as fatherly as could be. The
blessed man lectures on Art every Saturday A. M. from
now till March. What a treat ! The college owns some
$1200 worth of engravings &c. ! Really the
improvements are very great in the University. They
are doing good work. Prex talked AA$ to me at a lively
rate, introduced me to some of the boys! The
semniary has a bowling alley !
I was in Morey's room once or twice. He is a capital,
wide-awake, thorough teacher. His room was a revela-
tion to me of possibilities of life and interest in Fresh-
man Latin. I read Livy's preface, and considerable
beside that.
Morey gave me some good ideas. He is working
finely. He inspired me to study Roman Hist, and I am
going to, from a political point of view. Just now I've
nothing but Dew's Digest (!) to begin with, but I shall
buy. The little I've gained from Dew, studying from
this point of view, has given me new ideas of the
growth and decay of Republics, and opened my eyes
more widely to the tendencies of our time. M. says
that all the questions, even financial, of today, were
worked out at the period of the Gracchi.
A few great teachers, new studies, new books were
effective stimuli to a boy already vested with a strong
30 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
sense of responsibility to himself and to others. He
had already received the year before the Freshman mathe-
matical prize so that his habits of work seem to have been
assured from the first, and he was making a Phi Beta
Kappa record. Two letters in '67 picture the young
student at work.
ROCHESTER, March 2Qth, '67.
DEAR LON,
Next Wednesday, will, as you are probably aware,
finish this term. Already we have finished recitation,
and only await in anxious fear of the examinations to
come. German, Chemistry, and Natural History are
the studies which are to try our patience and our pains.
Today we bade farewell to Mr. Orton, who will probably
go to Williams College, to fill the chair of Natural His-
tory. 1 Therefore next term we shall probably take up
Political Economy and English Literature, under Cut-
ting. Half of our class is making a desperate (?) effort
to get Kendrick next term, instead of Richardson. We
want Plato, the others Horace. I go for Plato, not be-
cause I like Greek better than I do Latin, but because I
fancy that Plato would, in a measure fit me for Prex'
instructions. It is doubtful yet which side will carry the
day. Kendrick is with us. "Rich," I suppose is for Hor-
ace. Of course he has the precedence, but Dr. K. thought
he might possibly change off the Fresh, for us. If he
does, next term will be a pleasant, though pretty hard
term. . . .
Of course I am glad the term is gone, though it has
been a pleasant one, and the most profitable I have ever
spent. I think I grow in my willingness and desire to
study. . . .
Yours most Sincerely,
MONROE.
1 James Orton, Professor of Natural History and Geology at
Vassar College, 1868-1878.
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 31
ROCHESTER, June 14, '67.
DEAR LON,
Class-day has passed and Friday has come. Hence a
topic presents itself, and my letter day has arrived. How
revolutionized are my habits since we roomed together.
Think of my sitting down deliberately to write letters,
without having prepared for Saturday and Monday. The
fact is, lessons have been easy. We are reviewing As-
tronomy, and I get that mornings. Political Economy
also employs my morning hour, and Latin has employed
an hour or so after dinner. But "Prof. Rich" being
unwell is to be absent the remainder of this term. Prex
is to take us in "English Literature." Its a pleasant
change, if it will be harder work. . . .
It is interesting to note that Doctor Taylor's lifelong
habit and sense of duty about steady general reading were
well established in his college days, and we find him apart
from his regular curriculum work devouring Macaulay's
"England," refreshing himself with "Old Curiosity
Shop," asking "Lon" if he has seen O. W. Holmes' "Bill
and Joe" in the Atlantic.
Inspiring professors and stimulating studies were
enough to awaken a youth even in an inland city and with
limited numbers of fellow-students about him. As great
a formative power in his life were the friendships made
in his fraternity, Alpha Delta Phi. The strongest of these
and one of lifelong duration was that (already attested
by the letters) for Alonzo K. Parker, class of 1866, later
professorial lecturer and recorder of the University of
Chicago. This Alpha Delta Phi brother, somewhat older
than himself, became first the "chum" of the boy of six-
teen, later the friend to whose congeniality and sympathy
he constantly turned in letters when absent. Most for-
32 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
tunately Doctor Parker preserved the letters written to
"Lon" by "Monroe" and the series makes almost an auto-
biography extending as they do from the first in the
spring vacation of 1865 (April 8) to October i, 1916.
The letters are a remarkable record of a great college
friendship of fifty-one years* duration.
With foundation for happiness in his fraternity, the
free, yet close social life of the boys together was constant
joy to one who had been brought up in a large family
and in a home which hospitality filled with guests. The
letters show the pride of the boy in being corresponding
secretary of the chapter, his keenness that they should
secure the best possible new members, his feeling of sor-
row for them all when one proved unworthy, his sense of
honor maintained in the prizes their men won. As the
University of Rochester from '64 to '68 depended not
on its buildings but its professors, so the fraternities
of the time gained their meaning not from luxurious and
extravagant club-houses (one hall or "lodge" for the
meeting of the AA$ is mentioned), but from the men in
their ranks.
One of the members of this fraternity was Frank Hunt-
ington, the son of a Rochester business man, who was a
trustee of the University from its foundation to his
death. The Huntington home in the outskirts of the city
was the scene of constant hospitality and here, as her
brother's friend, James Taylor came to know intimately
the young woman who was to be his wife.
Kate Huntington had Puritan blood in her veins from
Simon Huntington, the English ancestor who went to
America in 1633. Tradition said, moreover, that the
Huntingtons had a line back to Robin Hood, the Earl
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 33
of Huntington and (to anticipate by many years this
history!) though neither Doctor Taylor nor Mrs. Taylor
cared for genealogical records, it was a pastime among
their children to discuss jocosely which was superior, the
Norman or the Saxon line.
In the Huntington house, James Taylor found that
hospitality which was characteristic of his own home,
in fact, the very name of the place, "Bienvenue," sug-
gested what a visitor once said of it, that as one came up
the walk, the spacious house with its great front door al-
ways looked as if it were saying, "Come in." Built by
Mr. Huntington sixty-five years ago, it still stands unim-
paired by time. It was a large house with high rooms,
tower of observation on the top, wide porches on the
sides, and about it were park-like grounds with fine old
trees, stretches of green lawn and wide fruit-orchards.
The house was always filled with friends and on such
occasions as Fourth of July often as many as a hundred
would gather for a celebration, and every Sunday night
friends dropped in for the informal suppers which were
the precursors of Mrs. Taylor's Sunday night suppers
at Vassar. Here at Bienvenue small tables were set
through the living rooms or on the piazzas and, while
supper was served informally, Mr. Huntington, a genuine
paterfamilias, sitting in his favorite arm-chair, used to
talk on the many subjects which attracted his alert mind
or quote favorite poetry from the inexhaustible store-
house of his memory. Of Mr. Huntington, Mrs. Robin-
son (wife of Doctor Ezekiel Robinson) wrote Mrs. Tay-
lor later when her father at the age of ninety had just
gone : "He was so lovely, so companionable, so cheerful,
34 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
so full of beautiful thoughts of his own, and of those fine
spirits whose words he so wonderfully remembered."
In this delightful atmosphere, the young people became
intimately acquainted. Letters tell of happy rowing par-
ties on the river with Kate Huntington and others, one
recorded Nov. 9, '66, when Doctor and Mrs. Robinson
were with them . . . and James glows with admiration
of "Mrs. Rob" and pride in her praise of his rowing.
Feb. 23, '70, he writes of going to Vassar College and see-
ing K. there and on March 15, '70, he writes with some
anxiety about the effect on her of certain teaching at
Vassar. "What think you of as a Bible Class
teacher ? He tells them prayer has only a reflex influence,
cannot touch God. Rather dangerous to put such ideas
among young women who don't know enough, or rather
have not yet examined the subject enough to maintain
their balance against a professor's dictum. Am sorry
touches such subjects. There's enough to teach
without such undermining of all faith. K. was somewhat
troubled in her own mind."
A letter from Munich, Feb. 23, '72, asks: "Lon,
which is worse, not to have a wife, or to have one almost
so, and be separated from her? If I didn't think all
this experience was fitting me not only for a more useful,
but for a better man, was giving me more sources of
happiness, and so her, also, I'd not stay here long."
Graduation in June, '68, found James Taylor with sys-
tematic habits of work established and keen intellectual
interests aroused; with lifelong friendship formed and
lifelong love awakened ; with a resolution to prepare for
the ministry which sometimes wavered, but finally pre-
vailed; and with an ideal of service for others that was
James Monroe Taylor at Graduation from the
University of Rochester, 1868.
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 35
never dimmed through his long life. For few could col-
lege years be more significant. The channels of his life's
currents had been cut so deep that it is not strange to
find President Anderson later quoting of him "the boy is
father of the man" or to learn that James' commence-
ment oration in '68, for which he received the second
gold medal, was on the theme "The Power of a Control-
ling Thought."
Doctor Taylor might have been commenting on the
meaning of his own college course when he wrote in
1898:
"But the College! The Youth is at the most sus-
ceptible stage of his training, the mind opening to the
range of life's powers and responsibilities, kindling
toward new ideals, reaching out for direction in path-
ways of thought and questioning, new and untried,
eager for friendships which shall make or mar the life,
with the feelings of the adult, with the self-restraint
of the immature, all life, physical, mental, religious awak-
ened, eager, susceptible, longing for suggestion, or am-
bitious to transgress all bounds, this is the age of the
teacher's largest opportunity, and of the student's grav-
est danger. The after-life is made for most in these four
years." 1
Graduation was followed by a summer at Maryborough
during which plans matured for entering Rochester
Theological Seminary. This institution, which had main-
tained a precarious position without endowment or build-
ings, received new life and dignity after Doctor Robinson
was made President in 1860. Endowment funds to guar-
antee salaries for new members of the faculty were raised
by President Robinson and a gift was secured for the
la From Woman's Education," address at Cooper Union, 1898, ms.
36 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
erection of a suitable building for residence and lectures,
Trevor Hall, which opened in the autumn of 1868. To
enter this Rochester Seminary where Doctor Robinson
was President was for James Monroe Taylor almost a
return to his educational home, all the more so because
he was again fellow student with Alonzo K. Parker.
Two new lifelong friendships were made during the
years at the Seminary and a unique quartette, based on
intimacy here, met year after year for informal reunions.
I take the liberty of quoting the letter which Doctor
Parker has written me about the meetings of the four
friends :
July 31, 1918.
The 'club* of which you ask was merely the intimate
association of four men whose friendship began when
they were students at Rochester Theological Seminary,
James M. Taylor, W. C. P. Rhoades, James M. Bruce
and myself. There never was anything like a formal or-
ganization. We happened once to go to the Oriental
Hotel at Coney Island together for a day and a night.
We enjoyed this outing so much that we agreed to meet
again the next summer. And we just kept on meeting
year by year for a quarter of a century or more. Time
and place were agreed upon by correspondence. We
were together for a week at the longest and only once
or twice for that time. When we could do no more we
met for a dinner, followed sometimes by a visit to the
theatre. It was very remarkable that the time and place
of the meet having once been settled never once did a
member of the Quartette fail to meet the appointment.
By different routes one and another would drop down
upon the designated spot. I am quite unable to recall
the places we visited beginning with Coney Island, Yonk-
ers, where Bruce lived, Rhoades' summer home on Round
Island, St. Lawrence River, Providence, Siasconset,
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 37
Plymouth, my cottage here in the Catskills, the Adiron-
dacks, Portland, Me., Boston, Rochester. More than
once we dined or lunched together at the Century Club in
N. Y. The last meet was there, when James lay upon a
sofa after luncheon and talked with all his usual anima-
tion and spirit.
We never had a 'programme' or anything like a for-
mal discussion of a topic previously selected. We be-
haved and talked quite freely and irresponsibly. There
were serious hours, of course. Year by year we were
growing old together. Last June, Rhoades, Bruce and I
slipped out of the Vassar Trustee meeting, found a motor
car, and drove down to the Poughkeepsie Cemetery to
stand together 'for a few minutes in the golden afternoon
by Taylor's grave.
As James Taylor and Alonzo Parker were together
again now in Trevor Hall, in 1868-69, there are no let-
ters from the college year but they are resumed from
Maryborough in the summer vacation of '69 and here
the young theologue with his strong sense of duty is
trying to write his first sermons and get time to read
although his "horses are waiting at the door."
MARLBORO*, July 19, 1869.
DEAR LON, . . .
My life Hows on as usual, always containing, to my
view, more of those petty troubles which wear upon me
so, than I seem to be able to conquer. People used to talk
to me about working hard. Bosh! Worrying hard is
more like it. But this by the way. I am gaining a little
more time to read, but have not done much. It is so
easy to go riding, when your horses are waiting at the
door. I began to copy my sermon, this morning. I ex-
pect to preach Aug. 8, morning and evening. How's that
to begin on? Unwise? Well, I thought I'd do better
38 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
twice than once, and Mr. B. was anxious. It is his vaca-
tion. Can you come down ? My second sermon reposes
peacefully in my brain, at least that is the charitable
supposition. I hope it does. Mr. Beecher is much
alarmed, and Mr. Spurgeon hopes I will be moder-
ate. Poor men! They can't always expect to "run"
things. . . .
Write when convenient, to
Yours sincerely,
J. M. T.
A manuscript exists labeled "My first sermon Preached
for a license Nov. 1869 Strong Place." Based on the
text Matt. 1 6 :6, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of
the Pharisees and of the Sadducees," it is a fervent de-
nunciation of formalism in religion in both faith and
work and an eloquent plea for deep, spiritual life.
In the second year at the Seminary, a terrible strain
and sorrow came upon the student. The happiness of
the family circle in Brooklyn had already been broken
by the death of a little sister of five mentioned in a letter,
July 17, '68. "Extend my sympathies to in his
affliction. I know from my short experience, that the
loss of a little one from the family is more felt than is
generally thought." On Feb. 23, 1870, a letter written
from the Henry Street home in Brooklyn tells of the
serious illness of the older brother, Albert, and from
February till June James remained at home acting as
night nurse much of the time, yet keeping up his theo-
logical studies and writing and preaching some ser-
mons. The letters which tell the story of this half
year show his homesickness for the boys in Trevor Hall,
and the depression which was bound to come at times
under such a strain.
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 39
To Mr. Alonzo K. Parker.
329 Henry St.,
BROOKLYN, Feb. 23, 1870.
DEAR LON,
I find A. cheerful, most of the time, weak, but in a
pretty comfortable state, for him. He reads the morning
paper; I read to him; we talk, &c, most of the middle
portion of the day. ... I am satisfied more and more
that I ought to be here. There are a thousand things oc-
curring, in which I can render aid, and I shall probably re-
main as long as A. does. I cannot say positively, how-
ever, as Father may object. He will continue his ab-
sence, unless A. shows marked failure of power.
But I simply write to inform you how things are, and
must be brief. I do a little reading every day, and shall
take up my Theology again, immediately. . . .
Hoping "things" are better at "Trevor" I am
Yours Sincerely,
J. M. T.
329 Henry St.,
BROOKLYN, March 7, '70.
DEAR LON,
Your very interesting and welcome letter arrived two
or three days since, and I thank you for your full ac-
count of the state of things in general, and Trevor Hall
in particular. ... I suppose Rhoades has left you, a
real loss. ... I might go on recalling as I often do, the
jokes, the friendships truly formed, the better things of
the life at Trevor, which after all, counterbalance the
discomforts we have suffered. I never thought to make
as good friends again, as those I believe we have gained
this year. I thought of you all on "Prayer Day," too,
wished I might be with you, and prayed for you. . . .
My duties here have increased, since I wrote you last.
I haven't slept all night in a bed, in a week. One night
I retired at i o'clock, and that's the earliest. I didn't
go to bed at all, one morning, and this A. M. only did
40 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
so for the sake of undressing, remaining there only an
hour. I sit up, and sleep so, always waking readily when
I'm wanted. A. has been much weaker than when I first
came, but seems a little better today. . . . His conversa-
tion is a source of great strength to us who hear him.
Of course we do not fully realize that we are so near part-
ing, for my part, I felt it more when in Rochester.
This being in Death's presence at all times tends to make
one regardless of the fact. . . .
My time is fully occupied, my nights in sitting by
A., my morning with Theology, reading to A., sitting
here, &c, sometimes errands. My evenings are gen-
erally my own, but I am weary then, but am doing a
little, very little reading. . . .
Excuse mistakes, &c, but I write in haste. Write when
you can. My love to the H's and all the boys.
Sincerely yours,
J. M. T.
329 Henry St.,
BROOKLYN, March 30, 1870.
DEAR LON,
Your entertaining and brotherly letters open Roches-
ter, "Trevor," &c to my mental vision, if they are denied
to my physical sight; in fact they are the loop-holes
through which I catch an occasional glimpse of the life
of which I cannot feel I have yet ceased to be a par-
taker. I can not give you such letters, neither as long,
for interruptions, and other duties, are constant, nor as
interesting, because these scenes are not to you what
"Trevor" is to us. . . .
By the way, I've preached in O. since I wrote you. I
enjoyed the day much more than any previous "preach-
ing-day," felt my sermon, and preached it so. The peo-
ple with whom I stopped, old friends, were pleased;
how it impressed the majority I cannot say, though they
paid excellent attention. In fact, I enjoyed it, and was
encouraged. Possibly I may preach in New York, Sunday,
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 41
but it is not decided. Just as possibly, I may not. Have
planned a sermon out, good plan, for me, but I do
not seem to gain time to write it. I am kept busy,
this week on Theology. Am clear behind, but am trying
to work up surely. I read some, too, on other subjects,
but home, at such a time, isn't meant for study. . . .
And while I am about it, I may as well tell you that I
spent Saturday at the Astor Library, trying to work on
the Catechumenate, which I haven't touched since leav-
ing R. I found nothing on it, new, and wrote but little.
I have thought some of looking up its later history, and
preparing a monograph. But I can't tell. I shall need
your help in suggestions on literary execution, before I'd
dare put such a composition in print. Ambitious? No,
but think the subject worth reading on, and think I
have a tolerably full account of it. . . .
Your European fever I can appreciate. . . . Go, if
you can, by all means, though I may be ready another
year, and we were going together. What if I couldn't
though? I cannot tell. No one knows so far ahead.
... I tell you, with A. so low, . . . and mother very
poorly, . . . and the children sick, it looks dark some-
times. God will keep us, anyway, he will take us.
Sometimes I think I ought to go right back to R. and
yet, how can I?
I have given you a sort of "hash," but such is all
my brain affords. Add a dose of brotherly affection and
try to swallow it. By the way, if you can spare your 2d
volume of Theol., may I have it by Express, C. O. D. ?
Love to my friends. Don't forget the Robinsons.
Affectionately MONROE.
Monday P. M.
BROOKLYN, Apr. n, 1870.
DEAR LON, . . .
Have begun my review, having reached "Limits,"
in the prefatory lectures. A little work will place me in
"Inspiration," and my progress will thence be more sat-
42 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
is factory. Church History I am entirely behind on, and
my lectures are in Trevor. Just as well, perhaps, for
I guess Theology is enough. I find more inclination to
read, than study, for literature rather than Theology.
Have been reading Tasso, considerably, and declare a
decisive liking therefor, notwithstanding, perhaps for
the very reason of, the great amount of the supernatural
which is weaved into the poem. I am coming to doubt
all poetry which hasn't a strong, imaginative, vein. This
may be sweeping. So is my inclination. Mills' "Comte"
has also been perused, with mingled interest, and lack
thereof. Comte wasn't so "awful wrong," was he? if
he had only looked at the co-truths. His later specula-
tions are simply maniacal, not simply so, either, for
there is a deal of good, sound, sense, mingled with his
frenchified nonsense. "Utopia," too, is drawing me,
but not extensively, as yet.
I believe I wrote you of my preaching at O. Last
week, the 3d, I went to 42d St., and seemed to get along
pretty well, though I did not enjoy it, as at O., for it
was work to speak. Yesterday, I "addressed" the Car-
roll Park Mission, at its quarterly concert. "They"
seemed to think it pretty good. I had the pleasure of
differing from them. It's hard work, isn't it? I dread
it, sometimes, thoroughly. . . .
You want to know about A. For four nights he has
had almost no rest. . . . He is apt to go at any minute.
Well, he is ready. Mother is very poorly, now. . . .
Love to the boys, and all my friends. With much
for yourself, and hoping to hear from you, whenever it
is convenient for you, I am
Yours Sincerely, T M T
329 Henry St.
BROOKLYN, June I, 1870.
DEAR LON, . . .
The fact is, Lon, I believe more and more, everyday,
that our work is not so much in preaching, which "is
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 43
comparatively empty, but in working as men, heart to
heart, the much sneered at, and often odious "pastoral"
work. I have little faith in the preaching that at least is
not followed up by such hand to hand work.
But I didn't start off to lecture. . . . You have heard
from C. the particulars of A.'s death. It was beauti-
ful.
Well, it's hard to think of, and strange. People
think we forget such things. . . . We don't. . . . But
there's no need to show them to others. . . .
Well, Lon, we know better how to sympathize. I often
wonder how I could endure it, without a Christian trust.
Must go now. They keep calling.
Yours Sincerely,
J. M. T.
After this sad spring, the young man of twenty-one
recuperated at Marlborough, getting the needed relaxa-
tion, yet half disturbed by a sense of duty to theology
even in summer days.
MARLBORO', July 6, 1870.
DEAR LON,
It is a good while since I've written you, but I have
thought of it often, and this morning must say I'm not
more than in the mood Epistolare. (What language the
adjective is, I know not.) Fact is, I'm in a half-chronic
worry. I want more time for my books, and I cannot
get it. I do not want to be so outrageously systematic,
in vacation, as my friends are wont to make me out in
term-time, but I must do more work. A little theology
has gotten itself reviewed, about four chapters of I Cor.
have been studied with the utmost pleasure, Dean Stanley
assisting, and a little miscellaneous reading, principally
Lamb, has capped the climax of my intellectual. Intel-
ligible phrase! What have I done? Roasted, trimmed
vines, driven horses, loafed! Perhaps I shall be just as
well off. I know I am gaining more of that physical
44 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
elasticity which is by nature mine, and which I have not
really felt for nearly six or eight months. And the books !
well I hope to do something after my return from
Rochester. . . .
Yours,
J. M. T.
September finds him again in Trevor Hall, separated
from "Lon," who has been graduated in June, and writ-
ing to him about his theological studies usually seriously,
occasionally humorously.
Sept. 17, '70.
DEAR LON,
Just one week tonight since you left, and it seems
as though enough had been crowded into it to make a
month. It has been just one constant run on original
sin.
A letter from Trevor Hall later in the fall gives some
idea of his lines of work.
TREVOR HALL, Oct. 17.
DEAR LON, . . .
I've been very busy, and so has time, I should think,
judging from his rate of progress. A class sermon has
been engaging my time, due on Wednesday, and half
copied. I am writing on Christian Unity, finding it in
the highest individuality of every member, all bound by
the Christ in us. What I have made out I do not know,
but shall by Wednesday P. M., I suppose.
I have an Essay to prepare on Schleiermacher's view
of Sabellianism, which I have not begun, but hope to,
now that my sermon is out of the way, "so to speak."
I am also reading on a historical subject, The English
Reformation, and the English Church, and shall pre-
pare my essay upon it if I ever get through the mass of
authorities about me. Froude is my present objective
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 45
point, enjoyable enough. A page of references will
supplement him. So you see, if you add the regular
reading to be done, to my extra duties, my time is well
filled.
So much for me. We are on the Person of Christ, in
Theology, and are studying i John with Dr. Hackett,
meeting Dr. B. also, two days weekly. . . .
Yours Sincerely
J. M. T.
The spring of this year was saddened as the year
before had been by the shadow of illness in the family,
this time the beloved Mother's.
BROOKLYN, March 29, 1871.
DEAR LON, . . .
I came home on account of mother's illness, and find
her failing rapidly. We feared she would pass away
night before last, but she is still with us, though very
weak. She suffers a good deal, but without complaint,
thinking now, as she always has, rather of us than
herself. It is a sad coincidence, my being home now,
with this time last year. My Seminary course has been
interrupted for a longer or shorter time, each year, by
the affliction of our family. I shall be here perhaps
some time, perhaps a few days only. We cannot tell.
I only know this, that I shall not leave while mother is so
poorly.
I have done little, and seen little, since coming here. I
keep at home most of time, copy a little, on Theology,
read a little, and sit in mother's room when she is
able to talk with me. But it is a great, if a sad satisfac-
tion, to be here. . . .
Sincerely and affectionately
JAS. M. TAYLOR.
Mrs. Taylor lived only until April seventh and her son
returned to Trevor, finished his work and received his
46 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
degree in June. But the family plans for his education
were not yet completed and an undated letter from Marl-
borough shows that the dream of a year abroad expressed
in an earlier letter was to be gratified. The letter simply
tells of his steamer and begs "Lon" to come to see him
before he goes. James was accompanied on the trip
by a young brother of sixteen years, Electus, who has
written a letter of reminiscences of the year. The boys
settled at once in Berlin and remained there until Janu-
ary, living in the family of a clergyman, Rev. G. W.
Lehmann, "a vigorous old Teuton, who as a young man
had been in jail for his religion." January first, travel-
ing began with short stays in Leipsic, Dresden, and
Nuremberg, a longer halt in Munich, a short stay in
Vienna, the spring in Italy with the joy of Venice,
Naples, Rome and Florence vivifying the letters. A walk-
ing trip in Switzerland, a month in Paris, finally Eng-
land completed the itinerary. Monthly letters to Mr.
Parker and weekly letters to Miss Huntington show
fully the significance of the year in the young man's
life.
Homesickness, for the first time, is the undertone of
the letters and in spite of interest in new cities, joy in
picture galleries, enthusiasm over mountains, and sur-
render to the charm of Italy, the traveler was at times
half sick for family, friend, and fiancee, a feeling in-
creased by the difficulties of learning the German lan-
guage and responsible perhaps in part for new doubts
about theological dogmas and personal fitness for the
ministry. The difficulties with the German language
came partly from the unwise method, prompted by
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 47
economy, of working without a teacher. Several letters
to Mr. Parker show his discouragement.
To Mr. Alonzo K. Parker.
BERLIN, Oct. 6, '71.
I'm studying without a teacher. It may seem very
foolish, and I sometimes doubt, but with an education
of a sort, at least, with a little previous study, and with
a family to help me on a few knotty points, I have
thought perhaps I could do well without a teacher, and
save the money for travel. Moreover, and this may dis-
appoint some of my friends, I do not see how I can
hope, anyway, to get any such thorough knowledge of
German as Bruce gained. I could do it if I could afford
to go to a small town, and give myself up to it, which
I'd do had I money and time enough. But I've come to
feel that the seeing picture galleries, art collections, &c,
has an equal place with a knowledge of the language. I
can learn to read German in 5 months, I'm sure, and if
I don't speak it, well, I must yield to the force of cir-
cumstances. Between that accomplishment, and the profit
which comes from good travel, I must decide for the
latter, if it can be but one.
Nov. 6, '71.
I feel driven to make up all I can, driven by a sort
of despair which you could better appreciate, had you
ever, in the midst of full health and strength, devoted
yourself exclusively to such puerile work as the acquisi-
tion of a language, and that with very indifferent suc-
cess. . . . Not that I'm unhappy. I've improved, in this
respect, since writing you, and am a little more encour-
aged, otherwise, but still questionings will come led
on, mostly by the discouraging work of learning a new
language. I don't get on fast, for I've trained my ear
very little, greatly less than my eye. I know a good
many words "by sight," which I'd not recognize by
ear, because I've let my reading run away with me. But
48 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
I hope to do better this month, in all respects. I can talk
a little, can say more than I can understand, and read
better than all, but at best one cannot be jubilant in
looking upon six weeks work made up of a little advance
in German.
A very creditable list of German reading follows.
A letter from Munich Jan. 30, '72, speaks more cheer-
fully of reading Goethe's Italian Journey, Schiller's
Thirty Years' War and Heine's poems with considerable
pleasure and of having a teacher who "expressed himself
as astonished, when I told him I'd been here but four
months."
Homesickness, however, was recurrent through the
year. In the first letter to Mr. Alonzo K. Parker, Oct.
6, '71, comes the first expression of this feeling: "Per-
haps you have heard from the folks that I have not been
overwhelmed with joy, as yet, in this semiaccomplish-
ment of our long cherished plan. ... I never knew be-
fore, what a pleasure I could find in writing those who
are dear to me. It seems something like talking with
them, and I've felt the need of such communion. Lee
is very companionable, a boy I love and admire, manly,
studious, and full enough of fun. You know what I
mean. I feel the need of some one who can study as I
can, who knows more than I do, and with whom I could
labor more as a companion than a teacher. You under-
stand me." In another letter, depression and doubts
intermingle in expression :
BERLIN, Dec. 4, 1871.
DEAR LON, . . .
Many and many a time have I thought that our old
plan, you and I studying here together, would settle
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 49
my troubles, those troubles of mind to which I've before
referred, and with which I do not propose to burden this
sheet. It has been a consequence of my loneliness and
unsatisfiedness, that I've "poured out my soul" a little too
freely upon my friends. I rather regret my egotism,
and certainly hope it has not been my custom to inflict
my mental griefs on others. To be sure the outlet has
been beneficial, to me. I look at things with a better
heart, now, but the remembrance of the past is with me.
... I read today in Goethe, that man is seldom reduced
to the Either Or, there being as many chances and ways
of action between the two, as grades between the Roman
and the Pugnose. (I don't quote exactly). Had I seen
myself so reduced I might have saved myself much dis-
comfort. Allow me another quotation, which I read
some years since in a translation of Schiller's Wallen-
stein, I think :
A bitter and perplexed 'What shall I do?'
Is worse to man than worst necessity.
You may have that. How very true it is ! I am pleased
to look over the past as you suggest, as a God appointed
method of leading me to the acquirement of something
better, perhaps a closer trust in him, perhaps a deeper
capacity for feeling with others. . . . How like children
we are! How we grope about here and there, don't
know what is before us, but struggle on with childish
impatience, restlessness, and too often, inefficiency.
Happy he who, like a good child, can trust the leadings
of the Heavenly Father! And by this, Lon, I don't mean
that I'm through with either loneliness or doubts. The
first, you and every one who knows what good friends
and a loved home are, would make up your mind to ex-
pect; the second, you know the meaning of, and the
special tendency to such of theologically educated young
men, who haven't yet learned to put their theology into
life. But I am content, happy as I can be in a foreign
land, increasing my means of enjoyment, certainly, and
50 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
of usefulness, I hope. As you can easily imagine, the
time goes vastly more pleasantly since I've begun putting
my knowledge of the language to practical work. I did
so, from the beginning, in a measure, but it's very little
pleasure, as you know, to read where you must look
out most of the words. But I can read with some degree
of pleasure now, and am daily getting into the language
more and more. . . .
God keep you Lon, and answer our prayers for your
true success.
Yours,
J. M. T.
Jan. 30, '72, he wrote : "I shall rejoice when the year
is past, and I'm home again. But I'm happy, as happy
as could be away from all I sympathize with and love."
A great wave of sorrow sweeps over him in Florence,
(May 4, '72) : "There are sad Anniversary times, Lon.
Tomorrow two years since, A. left us. Apr. 7th mother
went. These things grow no easier to bear."
On April eighth in Rome he had written to Miss Hunt-
ington more fully of his mother : "Just a year ago was
mother's last night, and I shall never forget the sweet
talk we had ! It is painful to recall the time, and yet joy-
ous to think of her happiness. I sat with mother a part
of that night, I'm happy to remember, and we talked of
her death, and our loss. She was such a perfect mother,
K. The feeling of our loss was intensified Sunday, the
anniversary of her death. ... It has lost nothing, this
grief, by one year's passage."
Many of the foreign letters not only center in the home
of the past, but yearn for the home of the future as in
this one to "Lon" in Florence, May 4, '72 : "Meantime
my bride is waiting and I am waiting, and it gets only
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 51
worse and worse. ... I suppose this is one thing a per-
son gets for youthful engagements. Well the pleasure is
more than the pain thus far."
Such quotations from letters, however significant
when assembled, perhaps cannot convey the personality
of an individual as one complete letter might. Here is a
typical letter from this year, virtually in itself a summary
of much of the year's experience.
To Mr. Alonzo K. Parker.
MUNICH, Feb. 23, 1872.
MY DEAR LON,
I'm beginning a letter to you though I know I cannot
finish it tonight, for it is near 10, and I've been up too
late, recently. But I've wanted to write you, have
thought about it all day, and don't mean to go to bed
without making a beginning. I meant to devote my
whole evening to you, but got discussing art and litera-
ture at supper, and so was deterred therefrom. A dis-
covery ! A revelation ! I can move my ears as you can !
It came like an inspiration. I sat at this desk, reading
Jean Paul, my scalp involuntarily twitched, and I be-
came suddenly conscious that my ears did likewise.
What a triumph ! I need no longer blush at my weakness
as you astonish audiences by "those ere" movements
of "yourn." Indeed I've just tried to see if the success
was merely temporary,- and after some hesitation and
adjustment of my muscles, was blessed with the most
gratifying success. Alonzo, you have a companion in
your quondam uniqueness. Much as you will be aston-
ished, I must tell you that notwithstanding my sudden
discovery, I've not sat working my Hearers all day.
Indeed, but a few minutes after, I put on my boots and
overcoat, and started for the depot, not to rush home
and display my new talent, but by a plan, to visit a
Lake about 20 miles from here. Munich, you may know,
52 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
lies in a plain, the mountains being about 40 miles
distant. The Lake, Starnburger See, is about 20 miles
from M., and the mountains, though far off, are yet from
there plainly and grandly visible. I never saw moun-
tains before. These rise grandly, the summits too high
to allow of visible vegetation, and so their naked forms
clearly distinguishable. It was a perfect clump of rugged
jutting peaks, for miles around, all covered with snow,
and reflecting most gorgeously in the sunlight. The
Lake itself is not of great account, but combined with
the mountains formed a picture inspiring to a man who
loving the grandeur of Nature, has been doomed to the
miserable flatness of Munich and Berlin. I do not think
I shall soon forget the impression made upon me by
the first snowcapped mountains I've ever seen, especially
the sunset, when one peak seemed to gather all the sun-
light, and reflect it from its white surface in more than
its original splendor. I expect to see much finer moun-
tains, before many months have passed, but these are
my first and that means much, you know, The Lake is
a great resort of Munich, in summer, and has many villas
around it, among them one or two belonging to princes.
I saw no fine ones, none of any special taste, none to
compare with our Hudson River Homes. But then, how
can we expect anything to compare with our homes?
Isn't that cosmopolitan ? Well, I must say that I am more
American than Cosmopolitan, yet, and seem to become
more and more fond of American institutions. You
read Dr. J. R. Kendrick's Sermon on his impressions of
Europe, in the Examiner. That touched some of the
causes of my increased respect for American customs and
morals. Yet I think I am more Cosmopolitan too. From
that broad Cosmopolitan mind, that enlightened judg-
ment which throws down all bounds, and loses itself in
infinite vagueness, I hope to be long delivered. N. B.
That's a reflection, a philosophic jewel, so to speak,
i.e. if you don't mind what you say.
We came home about 7, and then went to supper. Do
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 53 6
you think you'd like living here, in this way? I don't.
I shall appreciate home life, I think, where you needn't
see any bill of fare, or know what each thing is to cost
you. That isn't my full idea of "home life," you know,
but it bears on my present experience. How often,
though, I've wished you here ! My life would be so dif-
ferent. I've gotten somewhat accustomed, of course, to
being quite alone, spiritually almost wholly so. I have
no such blue times as I had in Berlin, but the times do
come when the whole sense of my loneness comes over
me, and when my whole life seems merely trifling. I
am used to, now, and even find enjoyment in the com-
pany which was at first distasteful. . . . but in the
main I find the good in the men. Some of them are real
good fellows, naturally, but what can one expect of a
young man in a place like this, if he has no religious scru-
ples, and a wholly negative faith ? I tell you it taxes a
man's faith in the All-Good sometimes, the state of life
one finds here. But I'll not particularize. We can talk this
over sometime, in your study. I don't want to write it.
The experience has not been bad for me, I think. Who
ever did think a past event, an experience, bad for him ?
I see more what ideas rule men generally, indeed see
much of that much prated-about "life," which, I still
think it does no man good to know. I must see it,
and I trust it may fit me for more usefulness. But I'm
not a believer in the "through evil to good" system. I
see I'm off on a tack. I'll go back. You have never
told me how you live. Do you go out for your meals,
as I suppose, or have them all alone? Do you have
two or three rooms, in your parsonage, and how other-
wise are you fixed? Of your "conditions" you've not
told me much. I want to know just how you are sit-
uated. I've thought a good many times, lately, of my
proposed visit to you. How would you like me to be with
you a month, next winter, with the avowed purpose of
studying with you, that is, to be long enough in your
parsonage to be "one of you," and to put myself once
54 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
more, and under more favorable conditions, beside you
in your every day life? Is this visionary? I hope not.
But no man knoweth the future. When I shall be home
I know not. But if I get on this tack I shall go on
until too late. I do not feel more than first rate tonight,
and must say good night. It's nearer n than 10, now.
More I trust, on the morrow.
Saturday night. I've put off writing till tonight in
order to have a quiet time with you. It's a little late,
to be sure, but I mean to finish tonight. We got talking
on colors at supper, on the Venetian School, and on the
theory of a gentleman who thinks he's found the secret
of their coloring, and so we stayed till 9 o'clock. We
don't go till 7, and it's very easy to pass an hour and a
half or two hours, thus.
I see I was writing on my proposed visit to you, and
on the uncertainty of the future to us all. Only to-
night I received a letter from father, urging a trip to
Palestine most strenuously, that if I could not go this
year on account of the lateness of the season, I could
carry out my summer plan, and then next Fall or Win-
ter, go to Egypt and the Holy Land. I shall let it rest
till Fall. I've enough "plan" on my hands, till then.
I shouldn't think of going, of course, unless I had a com-
panion older, abler, indeed a man who knew something
about Palestine and what one should see there. As I
say, we don't know the future, and I shall simply keep
on, though if I thought I should be here another win-
ter, my plans after leaving Italy might be varied. How
is it ? Could your church spare you a year ? I do want
to see the Holy Land, and I do also want to go home in
the Fall. But that's six months ahead.
Since I wrote you last my time has been pretty well
filled up. For sometime we had a teacher come daily,
with whom we conversed, merely, but he became sick
and our talking German has not much improved. As a
matter of usefulness I don't much care, but as a matter
of pride I often feel a little sore to think I can speak
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 55
so little German. If I compare myself with those about
me, I find myself generally better informed on the lan-
guage, but when I think of Bruce, who was here about
the same length of time, I feel a little ashamed. Yet
why? I've worked faithfully, I'm sure, but have had
few advantages. There's but one rapid way, to go to a
town as Bruce did, see no English or Americans, and
have to speak German. I've had no such advantage, and
less in Munich than in Berlin. But in reading I've made
rapid improvement here, though I'm only learning how
little I really know. I've read Goethe, Schiller, Heine,
Lessing, prose and poetry, considerably, and some mis-
cellaneous reading besides. For a week I've been at Jean
Paul. He is the foundation of our Carlyle's style, but
Cs is much better. Jean Paul is very hard, at first,
and so far as I have read him I don't think he pays. Here
and there comes out a most beautiful thought, but one
has to hunt through such a mass for it! "Hesperus" is
the work I've been at and the last one of his that I expect
to read for sometime. I don't think it pays to read a
man's works because a great many people rave over them.
There's an immense amount of strained sentimentality
in this book. I am reading a little from Klopstock, too.
I've tried to work hard here, and have read a good deal,
but don't feel much satisfied. Still I begin to feel as
though I'd learned something. My study of Romans
has greatly increased in interest, as you'll appreciate
when I tell you I'm near the middle of the 8th ch. How
I shall progress when we travel is doubtful, but slowly,
I fear. We expect to leave here next Friday, March
1st, for Vienna, and after a week there to go to Italy.
Our route will depend upon certain undecided contin-
gencies. (That's like a true fact). Anyway we expect
to be in Rome, March 3ist, Easter. We shall be there
about a month, either April, or after visiting Naples,
till the middle of May. I begin to feel as though I were
going to see Rome! But of our travels, when we've
journeyed.
56 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
You refer to my remarks on "Study in Europe," and
are happy to find that we agree. I am more and more
convinced of the correctness of my opinion, and I meet
many University Students from home who confirm it,
though I'm bound to say, some that thoroughly like the
system. Of course opinions will differ, and of course
those who favor "foreign study" have the advantage
of the glamour which gathers about everything European,
as well as the general truth that a man anxious to learn
will learn here. I only think I could learn a great deal
more in Rochester ! I refer to Dr. Anderson, as support-
ing this view. He told me he wouldn't settle down any-
where to study, save for the language. How much better
I'd do though if I were coming again, and how I could
help a fellow coming here to study. . . .
Keep up your spirits, Lon. . . . When you get lone-
some imagine my spirit as hovering about you, though
it may be a little lonesome too. . . .
As for me, I'm well, happy as a man could be under
my circumstances, have much better spirits than for-
merly, and much better health, and am thankful daily
for what I have, and have had. Can I tell you any-
thing about Europe, or will you wait till we can talk?
Excuse scraps, but I didn't intend writing so much.
Your letter came the nth, one Sunday A. M. forming
a delightful accompaniment to my coffee I expect your
letters. Do you recall that poem of Holmes, "Bill and
Joe." I've been thinking of it, tonight.
My love to your folks Yours very Affectionately,
J. M. T.
"Monroe"
For so buoyant a nature as James Taylor's, however,
this blue undertone of certain letters could never become
the dominant one. And after German seemed less in-
vincible, and traveling brought new interests, he is keenly
alive to new impressions, particularly the world of art in
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 57
the galleries and the world of nature in some of her
most magnificent aspects. The letters are full of first im-
pressions of great artists. In Berlin, the Dutch are the
favorites Van Dyck "above all others, unless it be
Rembrandt." He feels the lack of the spiritual in
Rubens, yet protests he enjoys the everyday life in Dus-
seldorf. The Dresden gallery wins him to the Italians,
and words fail him for the effect on him of the Sistine
Madonna and Correggio's tender "Night." Before Ti-
tian's "Assumption" in Venice he feels an inspiration
that the Tintorettos do not stir. The Pompeian frescoes
he has a word of surprise for, "much better than any-
thing I'd expected, possessing real merit, as pictures, not
like our early Christian art, merely of historical inter-
est." In Rome at last, awe, complex of aesthetic and
religious feelings, rises in the Sistine Chapel. All this
joy in pictures clearly forecasts President Taylor's strong
defense of art as a cultural study at Vassar and gives
added significance to his noble monument there, Taylor
Hall, the beautiful art building erected in his name.
As marked in later years was the response to nature
which is shown in these letters of '71 -'72 in his delight
over his first real mountains, over a walking trip in Swit-
zerland, over the ascent of Vesuvius. Here are some
glimpses of happiness in the country, accompanied by lit-
tle sketches of all kinds of people who interested him on
the way.
To Miss Huntington.
VENICE, March n, *7 2 -
From Vienna we ran directly S. to Neustadt, then a
little W. of S. to Gloggnitz. . . . The town of Gloggnitz
is some 1300 ft. above the sea, and Semmering is about
58 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
2800, so you can see that there must be something of a
grade. We went slowly, and enjoyed it vastly. After
a long ride from G. we looked down and saw it below us,
the road running for a ways like an immense spiral
stairway. You can form little idea of its grandeur. Miles
ahead you'd see some object of interest above you, and
by continual turning gain ever renewed views, ever chang-
ing, until you reached the object, passed it, and soon
were again seeing it below you, in new relations, a grand
natural kaleidoscope. One such view was particularly
fine, the ruin of an old Lichtenstein Castle, perched on
a lofty crag, a long way above us. It looked beautifully
romantic. We reached it in time, passed it, saw that it
was finer than we'd supposed, and when we thought we
were done with it, suddenly turned, and there it lay
below us, the crag on which it stood jutting up between
two precipices, and between these walls and the Castle,
stretching for miles back of us, was a beautifully varied
landscape, doubly attractive because seen through such a
vista. . . . The country was fertile, things looked very
green, it was warm so that I sat by an open window
without my overcoat. I saw several pictures that would
have suggested "Illustrations of Scripture," such as a
shepherd lying on the ground with his sheep about him,
a number of women gathered at a well, &c. We traveled
on to Gratz, which we reached at dusk. The country was
all beautiful. Beyond G. as I slept but little I saw the na-
ture of the landscape. The mountains come up close to
the track, and form a bold view. I forgot to tell you
that N. of Gratz, through the Valley of the Mur, I was
continually reminded of the Erie, only* the mountains
are higher here, and bolder, so beautiful! During the
evening and night we made several singular acquaint-
ances, a Russian who said he was on Sigel's staff, and
at last, about midnight, a young Italian girl was put in
our car. She was excited and with reason. She was go-
ing to Italy, from service in Germany. A German, or
rather Croat, insulted her, as she was alone with him in
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 59
a car, and she made noise enough to frighten him and
summon the guard. He put her with us. She spoke Ger-
man, and so we had quite a talk. She is parentless, poor-
girl! She was very frank, told me how old she was,
showed me her lover's picture. . . . She had been in ser-
vice where her lover was, but her sister had called her to
Italy, and she hoped her 5 years lover would follow her
in 10 months when his military service would expire,
quite a romance. She was neither pretty nor specially
attractive, but very simple.
The next is about a walking trip.
To Miss Huntington.
WASEN, SWITZERLAND, June 2, 1872.
. . . We are in a lovely little Swiss inn, awfully
neat, where they speak German, and have all the charm
of country simplicity. It's been very pleasant, lately, to
stop where no formality is dreamt of, where the neat girl
comes in and talks to you as frankly as though she were
as good as you, and so she is, where everyone seems
independent and quite happy. In this inn they are, as I
said, beautifully neat, the floors, striped in squares, im-
maculate, when we came, the ceilings, panelled, neat as
wax, and everything beautiful. The girl who waits on
us is a frank, sweet, creature of some 5 and 20 summers,
at least, intelligent, kind, modest. Indeed, I like the place,
so void of conventionality, so delightfully simple and
genuine. We, Dinsmoor, North, Lee, and I, are at pres-
ent the guests, in toto, the season being late, and travel-
ers few. But I must tell you how we got here. I said
my last words to you just before retiring, last Sunday
night, at Menaggio. We left there about 9, Monday,
Dinsmoor, Lee, and I, on foot, A. and Fr. 1 by Diligence.
It was a delightful walk, though not much, compared
with our recent experience. We walked over quite a
mountain, just as we left M. and then followed a beauti-
1 Miss Huntington's sister and brother.
60 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
ful valley to Porlezza, at the head of Lake Lugano, only
about 6 miles. It was genuine enjoyment, this getting
into the free country again, seeing country people, and
occasionally catching the song which came from some
busy worker. 7 USED to sing, when at work. I wonder
if I'm getting old. . . . Thursday morning, we walked
to Giornico, 18 miles. The road is quite level, the valley
quite broad, but yet beautiful, the mountains very high
and constantly higher as you advance, the flowers beau-
tiful, the towns gradually losing their Italian character.
The mountain streams were the great feature of the land-
scape, rushing pellmell, sometimes forming the most
beautiful falls, and always flowing out to the road to
invite the pedestrian to a foot-bath. We weren't slow to
accept the invitation, I assure you, for a stream is grateful
to the weary foot. But how cold the water was, just
fresh from the snows above, clear as crystal, and more
beautiful! The 2d day we couldn't arrange well for
time, and so only made 6 miles in the morning, to Faido,
where we dined. From there the road was charming,
rising rapidly, the streams increasing in violence, and
here and there those immense gorges which add so much
to the grandeur of mountain scenery, with the rushing
stream cutting its way through. Here the scenery be-
came more genuinely Swiss and grand. We approached
nearer the snow too, and saw some of those peaks on
which the snow rests smoothly and undisturbed, and
from which the sunlight is reflected like burnished sil-
ver. The effect, seen from a beautiful green valley is
wonderfully fine. We only reached Airolo, that night,
but 1 6 l / 2 miles. The 2d day is always hardest, and we
left very late. From Airolo you start right up the moun-
tain, for the pass. It was raining hard as we left the
neat, pleasant hotel, and we pushed on through it, the
boys with umbrellas, but I in preferred freedom, trusting
to my overcoat for protection. We left the road, and
climbed up the almost perpendicular sides of the moun-
tain. They were green and beautiful, at first, then
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 61
brown, then rocky, but all the way we saw flowers. The
views, as we advanced were wonderful in extent and
beauty, both below and above. After about an hour's con-
stant ascent, we reached the snow, and for an hour and
a half clambered on through the snow. It snowed heav-
ily all the time. Sometimes we walked through paths
that had been dug out, the snow from 10 to 30 feet high
about us, and sometimes we took short cuts, walking over
the drifts, and climbing up steeps, thus cutting off much
from the winding roads. I plucked some flowers away up
near the summit and enclose them. It was novel, as well
as unspeakably grand, this experience of Jun-e 1st. It's
rarely so here, the snows being away before this. Now
the road is impassable for the Diligence. I would not
have missed the experience, though we did not see the
finest views, of course, on account of the storm, but
we can see the highest peaks again, seldom such a
grand effect as the storm gave. We reached the summit
in 2 l /2 hours, well wet, and dined there, and waited 2,
hours, when we began our descent. The valley was bolder
and more barren than that of the south side, but we
were very soon below the snow, and at 4 o'clock in
Andermatt. We thought of staying there, but finding it
so early started on, and brought up here at 6 o'clock.
From Andermatt to Wasen it is very beautiful, more as
we all imagine Switzerland, than anything we've yet seen.
The trees are more plenty, the most a sort of fir or cedar,
the mountains correspondingly beautiful, though yet
very abrupt, and grand. At every turn you gain new
views, new combinations of grandeur and beauty. The
river flows through the entire valley, and between An-
dermatt and Wasen is a constant succession of falls and
rapids, dashing through gorges whose walls rise per-
pendicularly for 1000 feet. It is a succession of grand
views, soullifting landscapes, all the way. Think of it !
Delight in the quiet aspects of the English country
fills a letter from Oxford.
62 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
To Miss Huntington.
Aug. 1 8, '72.
We had a delightful time in Canterbury. The change
from the closeness of the city to the freedom of the coun-
try, the richness of the beauty of all about us, the grati-
fication in short, of my love of nature gave me the fullest
sense of enjoyment.
Of Winchester, he says : "We went first to the Cathe-
dral, and after a superficial view of its exterior went on
to the 'walk along the river.' It's ridiculous, the river.
The English call little brooks rivers. We walked a long
way, and I felt lifted up by it. I love this communion
with evening nature. There's a hallowing effect, a soften-
ing of the hard things of nature, and of one's own char-
acter. . . . Winchester is not beautiful, but the mea-
dow stretches far before you, St. Catharine's Hill is at
one side, the clump of trees which is the object of your
pilgrimage is in the distance, and the moon is just ris-
ing the sun having scarcely set/'
These thoughts of the country send the Marlborough
boy back to the Hudson River. "Sometimes I think I
indulge too much in revery, to the neglect of my small
power of good thought. For instance, see one of my
day visions which has come to me often, of late. There's
a little town, several miles from home, called Pleasant
Valley. I first saw it as I made a solitary excursion,
horseback. It's a pleasant ride, and I've thought often,
lately, of us as taking it together this Fall. I've pictured
the long ride with its pleasures, leaving our horses at the
little Inn, . . . and wandering off to some little knoll, or
nook, where we could sit and enjoy ourselves till we felt
like riding again,"
Nature was part, too, of Italy's spell for the traveler,
her "garden-nature" loveliness. Yet who can analyze
the whole power of Italy where
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 63
"swift streams under ancient bulwarks flow,
Mother of all good fruits and harvest fair,
Mother of men!"
Art, nature, history have lavished their wealth there un-
til the stir they create in senses and imagination makes
many a passionate pilgrim. In Venice, first, the young
theologian seems to have lost his anxieties about theology
and his dissatisfaction with travel.
To Mr. Alonzo K. Parker.
April i, 1872.
Then you reach Venice. That's the place, Lon ! You
might be a little disappointed in it, at first, but you'd
soon get over that. You'd likely find it a far less beauti-
ful city than you've imagined it, dirtier, not so prepos-
sessing. But stay a day or two, "gondole" down the
Grand Canal and watch the fine old architecture, the
Venetian Gothic, which the imitations of the Ducal Palace
have somewhat disseminated, then after supper ramble,
stroll, loaf, as you will about St. Mark's Square, with
the delightful feeling that you are shut in on every side,
and must laze, then mornings walk around through the
narrow streets, a slander on a narrow alley, even, find
yourself in all sorts of unaccountable places as bad as old
Boston, visit the churches with their tombs and pictures,
and stroll over to the Academy, the fine picture-gallery,
then "gondole" again till supper-time and ramble on St.
Mark's till bed-time. That's Venetian life. Does it ap-
peal to you ? You couldn't resist its charms.
"I always was a 'castlebuilder/ " he says in one letter,
and over and over again in the letters to Miss Hunting-
ton are painted the castles they will share. April 29,
'72, he Says: "That (a walking trip in Switzerland)
and a ride on the Grand Canal, and numberless prome-
64 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
nades on the St. Mark's Square are settled for. My dear
K., I fear my pleasure will not be by any degree unal-
loyed till I can share it with you/'
Always after this year for Doctor Taylor "beyond the
Alps lay Italy" and the spell which called him back there
on several vacations had built the last dream-castle of
residence in Rome after his life-work was finished a
lovely edifice shattered in the bombardment of personal
happiness during the Great War.
The one objective misfortune in this year abroad oc-
curred in Italy, a slow fever which the younger brother
contracted in Naples and which delayed the brothers
there. A letter to Miss Huntington, April 8, '72, is full
of tender solicitude over "Leccy's" health and accounts
of playing dominoes with the boy and reading aloud to
him Thackeray's "Philip." Mr. Electus Taylor in his
reminiscences, 1918, says of this illness: "It was un-
doubtedly a sad disappointment for James (not to go to
Rome for Easter), as well as a time of anxiety for a few
days, but he was always the attentive and affectionate
'big brother/ and never, at the time or thereafter, re-
ferred to the loss of time and opportunity which my illness
entailed."
This untoward event of illness and delay was of minor
importance in comparison with the mental distress which
befell the elder brother in regard to his future career.
While his sense of the unseen and his personal religion
deepened, his contacts with doctrine lessened, and his
recognition of this fact placed him in the quandary of an
uncertain future, in spite of his previous training and
his desire for parish and home. Repeatedly he expresses
envy of Alonzo Parker's "settlement" (his church, quiet
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 65
study, and useful work), but the haunting thought keeps
returning: "Am I fit for the ministry?" May 4, '72,
he writes : "Do you know I've thought a good deal about
what I said once, about spending a month with you, when
I get home. The absolute beauty of such a plan comes
over me more and more. It's just what I need before I
settle. And Lon, frankly, I've gotten all over my long-
ing to be a settled pastor, so wholly unfitted do I find
myself. I am not settled. I struck something the other
day, that struck me, Stop ford Brooke's Sermon on F.
Maurice, a beautiful thing, and a fine exposition of M.'s
creed. Something in it, loose as it seems, strikes me as
just what I want. But dear me ! when shall I have time
to settle down and think, and find out what I believe ? I
don't know. I pray for guidance." This uncertainty
becomes later a determination not to preach unless he
sees more light. All the sincerity of his character comes
out in the resolution of this letter.
To Mr. Alonzo K. Parker.
PARIS, July 3d, 1872.
The probability now seems to be that I shall go home in
September, but the Eastern trip is not yet fully given
up. Sometimes I feel as though I ought to take it,
but mostly, I fear, because I dread getting to work. I
don't mean that either. I am pining for some good study,
but for preaching I am not pining, nor would I accept
a call now, were I home. And that's where your sug-
gestion that work will be the solution of my doubts, finds
a difficulty. I will not go to work till I know my belief,
will not preach till I know what I can honestly and
heartily preach. Yet your suggestion is the true one, I
feel, and have so written father. What I want is to go
home, and among Christian associations, and with my
66 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
books, to work out my way to a firm stand. I am sure
I shall see light. It is by no means dark ahead, only
chaotic, with the promise that "Let there be light" shall
bring order out of the confusion. . . . And do you
know, Lon, that's one of my difficulties, this being
"made so." I am naturally conservative, and yet much
of an iconoclast, and my belief swerves from one to
the other, according to my condition. I almost believe in
fatalism at times. But from all these doubts I have
learned one useful lesson, to judge no man's belief
harshly, where he seems honest. Charity is the great
thing, and so long as we are at union in essentials it is
enough. What are essentials? "Believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ." And if a man says he does not, if he does
not believe in the sense I do, yet if his life be true, if he
show that he reverences the principles our Lord taught,
that he reverences that Life, then too he is our Brother in
faith, not seeing clearly, it may be, and who does?
but groping, waiting for the great day when we shall
see, and all our minor doubts find solution in the one all
satisfying love and presence of our Lord. I believe the
socalled essentials, myself, but I will never ask ordina-
tion till I am a little more satisfied on the subject of Sin,
of man's guilt. No man can preach powerfully who does
not know what he believes. But the Lord reigneth, and
all shall one day be clear. I trust that a few months
of study, united with some work, may bring back my
enthusiasm for the ministry. What do you think of my
fitness for an editor? or a Professor? Buckland wants
me to fit myself for the latter. The fact is, Lon, honestly
and truly, that I fear the cast of my mind is such that
I can never preach very well, continuously, and I must
confess too, that I seem equally unfitted for any other
post, unless it be a physician or business man, and I
shall be neither one nor the other. Perhaps I may learn
to preach.
I hope the visit to your parsonage may not be chimer-
ical, but I don't know. I never dare hope much. When
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 67
I arrive in America, there may be a dozen things re-
quiring my time, and forbidding the accomplishment, the
realization of my fond dream. By the way, Dr. Robin-
son told father "Tell James to come and spend a month
with me in the Fall." Wouldn't that be larks? I'd give
anything to do that. Dr. R. could help me immensely.
But we shall see. October may see me in Marlboro', Sep-
tember may, or November may see me in Egypt. I
can't plan, and am contented to work on and wait. . . .
Part of a letter from his father, written about this
time, shows how sympathetically that wise man under-
stood his son's mental perplexity and how free he left
him to choose whatever course he should believe was
right for him.
I need not assure you of our deepest and most prayerful
interest in that which is to have the most intimate rela-
tion to your future happiness and usefulness, viz. your
selection of your profession, or great calling of life. No
question has a more vital connection with your future
good and none therefore deserves your more careful,
patient or prayerful thought.
The great dearth of ministers, with the opportunities
which the ministry offers for doing good, renders it an
office if desired, or longed for, to be coveted. Not surely
in a mere worldly point of view, but from a standpoint
which takes both time and eternity within the calculation.
While therefore you need to guard yourself against the
undue influence of personal friends who desire that you
should go into the ministry, and of course seek to in-
fluence your mind in that direction, you should on the
other hand endeavor to hold your mind in that state
of perfect submission to the Divine will which will render
you happy in following the leadings of both the Provi-
dence and the Spirit of God in this matter Of all things
to be abhorred, is a mere man-made minister To "run
68 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
before one is sent," in Ms direction, is if possible worse
than to hesitate to run, after one has been sent of God.
I would not have you do either, and with the spirit of
honest inquiry which I trust controls you, I have very
little fear of your going very far astray upon the ques-
tion. You need not grow I think "impatient" upon the
subject, but leave it till your path is made comparatively
plain before your feet. With a prayerful spirit, the path
will be thus open and clear in due time, if it is your duty
to become a minister of the Gospel.
Unless you see your course clear and duty quite plain,
I trust you will continue to hesitate in your full decision
to go into the Ministry. I think your Parents both feel
a perfect submission to God's will in this matter. I'm
sure if it be God's will that you become a minister, I
would not have you anything else, even though you might
thereby attain to the highest worldly honor and success.
If on the other hand, you have no direct call from God
to this work, I should rather see you a shoemaker or
blacksmith, than a professed minister of Jesus Christ.
The Master you seek to serve, guide you, teach you His
will, and bless you in doing it, is the fervent and daily
prayer of
Your Affectionate Father.
Almost at the end of the year this uncertainty and un-
rest are still in possession of his mood. From Frank-
furt he wrote a remarkable autobiographical passage:
To Miss Huntington.
June 23, '72.
When I think of all there is to do, and of my inability,
mentally, to do it well, of the historical subjects that I
must investigate thoroughly, of the theology I must keep
up with, of the literature, philosophy, political economy,
politics that I must be at home in, and then think of my
incapacities, my unstudent nature, my lack of thorough
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN EUROPE, 1864-1872 69
mental powers, my mind misgives me, entirely and I
don't say this to be contradicted. I hardly expect you to
believe it, but you know you are prejudiced. ... I am a
pretty good dray-horse, but though I can do thorough
work, and put it on paper, there I leave it, and it leaves
me, or in other words, I don't retain it. I sent you my
photograph a few weeks since, at your request. I now
send you my mental picture, true to reality, a good like-
ness. Let me add that I seem to have received some gifts
of leadership, some qualities which give me place gener-
ally, and which have at times secured me even mental
praise, but that makes the case no better. I can't support
my reputation I fear. But I'll try.
So, too, he writes from Cambridge Aug. 21, '72:
Lon, I shall be delighted to see the land fading in
the distance again, and feel the swell of the sea once more,
and be free, my journey over. I trust our good ship
may not be derelict, but may carry us faithfully through.
I am ready, all ready, heart, mind, body, to be home
again, and then, so soon as consistent, I want to be at
work, hard work, straining, something that takes hold
of me, at the ministry, if it may be, if not, then in
some business where I may be prospered, and so benefit
my fellows. I trust I've not lost sight of that, yet. I shall
see you soon after my arrival, and then we'll talk it
over. I mean to rest a month, at least.
During these anxieties the man's faith in the unseen
and his personal religion were deepening. On the voyage
to Europe he had written his simple creed :
To Miss Hunting ton.
Sept. 13, '71.
I've been reading Robt. Falconer, which you gave me,
and have finished it. I feel a new impetus. You know
70 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
I'm not much of a theologian, and never expect to be,
but I do believe to my heart's core in Jesus Christ. Such
a book as this intensifies that belief. I do not fear its
apparent broadness, sometimes degenerating to looseness
of belief, and I admire its system of Christian work. I
like the book and its author. You know I have often
said I believed there was no other way of reaching peo-
ple, but by going right among them with a heart full of
love to God and to them as His creatures. Theology
goes a very little way, but a life infused with Christ's
life, goes a great way. I hope we may illustrate it some
day. I wish I could have told you all the various thoughts
that came to me as I read. I do not remember them now,
but I feel better and stronger, more ready for this sep-
aration, even, for it seems the way of duty. "Let him
that believeth not make haste," I learned from the book,
a noble motto.
In several letters he comments on "How much cir-
cumstances change a man."
Dec. 28, '71.
A. taught me to think of heaven, only a few months
before he left us. Before that, it seldom came to my
thoughts, which were all of this life, of present activ-
ity, with full trust, however, that all would come right,
in heaven. It's very different with me now. Experi-
ence !
In Naples a certain mystical aspect of his personal faith
finds expression :
To Mr. Alonzo K. Parker.
Apr. i, '72.
Yesterday you probably preached an Easter sermon,
and I sat here and preached to myself, and thought more
than once of you. The truths of the day were very dear
to me, came home with a new force, and I felt more than
Kate Huntington.
EDUCATION, A YEAR IN.EUROPE, 1864-1872 71
for a long time that through our risen Lord we can com-
mune with one another, whether we be separated by an
ocean, or by the narrow line which divides Time from
Eternity.
The final year of education thus progressed along lines
of discouragement and happiness, doubt and hope, and
throughout the varied months, the prophecy of James
Taylor's teacher at Essex was fulfilled, for the boy had
now been "made up a man." The boy, however, still
speaks at times, as in the end of the summer in London,
on the thought of home.
To Miss Huntington.
Aug. 12, '72.
... I must go to Marlboro', and if you could know
just how I feel, so anxious to get into the country again,
away from everyone but our own family to ride, and
drive, and screach, open my lungs, &c, &c, you'd appre-
ciate my saying that I want to be in Marlboro' more than
in any place under the sun. But to enjoy it thoroughly
I need you. Do I ask too much? . . . Well, I live in
September now. Our steamers generally arrive on the
Saturday or Sunday, and my fervent desire is that I may
arrive on Saturday, by noon, and so be at Marlboro* that
evening, at the family gathering.
The much anticipated end of the year came finally.
Last days in London were characteristically spent in buy-
ing books. The man of twenty-four set sail not only for
America, but on that voyage of life for which previous
years had been merely preparation. Presently from the
boundless sea and the mists of doubt clear land was to be
sighted.
CHAPTER III
Years in the Ministry,
1872-1886
"Get thy spindle and distaff ready and God will send
the flax."
Old Proverb.
THE preliminary steps to James Taylor's decision about
his lifework do not appear in the letters, but his resolution
was soon directed to the course for which training had
prepared him. By early fall the decision was made.
To Mr. Alonzo K. Parker.
ROCHESTER, N. Y., Oct. 23d, 1872.
MY DEAR LON, . . .
The more I've thought over my doubts and troubles,
of late, the more I've been forced to believe that only in
Christ can I find any peace, and only in his direct work
any satisfaction. I've been startled, at times, to see where
my doubts were leading me. ... A negative, skeptical
state, would sap every noble aim I ever had. It has not
been without struggle that I've come even so far. Many
a day since I came here I've been on the point of giving
up all, and going into business. . . . Now I want to go to
work, want a settlement.
Yours,
J. M. T.
Four months followed of writing sermons for un-
familiar audiences and of preaching as a candidate in one
72
YEARS IN THE MINISTRY, 1872-188G 73
strange place after another. The letters are full of ac-
counts of the subjects of sermons, the size of the congre-
gations, and across the grave narrative flashes some
humorous self-description. "What think you of being
played out of church to 'Home, sweet home'? Was it
complimentary to my discourse ?" Another letter, dated
Jan. 15, 1873, which begins, "I am ready for anything, I
believe, if I could only tell where I ought to go," speaks
of an invitation to preach at South Norwalk the next
Sunday, and on Feb. 24, 1873, he announces that his deci-
sion is made.
To Mr. Alonzo K. Parker.
HOME, Feb. 24, 1873.
MY DEAR LON,
I have but a few minutes before the mail goes, and
want you to hear from me. I cannot invite you to my
ordination, because the time is not set, but that I am to be
ordained there seems to be decided. I received a call on
Friday evening, perfectly unanimous (by ballot), and
told them yesterday that I should give them my answer
by Wednesday. I wanted to talk finance with them,
thinking $1500 below the proper rate. I had a good talk
with the Committee and though it is not to be raised
at present, yet I have the assurance of a fair support.
I shall probably settle on March Qth, though should like
to wait, and get ahead a little on my work. But . . .
they want me to begin immediately, and father seems to
think I'd better. . . .
As ever Yours
MONROE.
The next letter, from South Norwalk, March 7, 1873,
plans for the ordination on March i8th and confesses:
"Am settled, lonely enough, but content, though burdened
74 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
by the weight of our Calling. I suppose the only way is
to move day by day, and trust."
The following letter portrays this daily routine.
SOUTH NORWALK, Apr. 14.
MY DEAR LON, . . .
Since the ordination I have fairly spun in work, and
seem to have accomplished very, very little. For several
days after that ceremony, I was not myself in any em-
phatic sense, but I managed to force a sermon out that
week, and have since done better. But I am worried when
I see how my studies have been absolutely neglected. I've
scarcely done a thing, save on my sermons. Not even my
regular Bible study has been maintained, as before my
ordination, and I've felt pushed continually. I've man-
aged to read a little from Hagenbach's 18 and 19 Cents,
but very little, and almost nothing beyond that. You can
easily appreciate the discouragement of such experience.
I've had several evenings for work, and tried faithfully to
do something, but on many of them I've been so tired as
to sink into deep sleep before long reading. What can I
do ? I begin with my sermon work, work till dinner, read
an hour afterward, then call till supper. That hour's
reading includes the daily "Tribune." I have hopes that
time and work will modify this, but I fear. I know, too,
that I must study to maintain my position.
This past week I studied some for a sermon on I Cor.
15 114 for Easter and made a thoughtful sermon of it. I
was in New York Monday and Tuesday, studied Wednes-
day, and Thursday and Friday wrote my sermon. M.
came Friday P. M. and remained till this A. M. . . .
But I was hard driven. One of our members died Friday
A. M. and beside visiting her home that day I'd to call
at two houses where children had just died. . . . Mr.
C.'s baby was buried today. I didn't get back till 3 130.
Yesterday, too, I preached at 3 P. M. in the chapel by
B.'s and in the evening made a 15 minute speech to the
YEARS IN THE MINISTRY, 1872-1886 75
S. S. at its concert. Do you see I've been pushed? It
might not be very much to an older man but is to me,
and then a funeral is very trying to me, always. . . .
Your account of the Minister was exceedingly in-
teresting. He must be a remarkable man. $400 ! Has
he ever been married? Do say he supports 13 children
besides buying a valuable number of books, on $400
per annum. That church must be very poor, or else too
mean to be Christian !
I want to write on the mission of suffering, this week,
if I've brains enough. I think it a difficult subject, but
many, very many, of my people have been led through
deep waters lately, and I think such a sermon might be
useful. Does your mind work? or do you feel like
an inelastic body whenever you strike a thought? That's
my mental character, I fear. I don't seem to rise, and
grasp something beyond. I move into others footsteps.
So Lon, I close tonight. Rather a shabby letter, but it
means much. Would that I might often talk with you.
In much love
Yours
MONROE.
Sermon-making was in these early days perhaps the
heaviest of the burdens, but with characteristic Spartan
rigor the young minister decided that he must add to his
difficulties by preaching at least once a Sunday without
notes. May ninth, he writes : "Your experiment in ex-
tempore preaching seems to discourage you. I must tell
you what Pete told me, that I'd fail miserably again and
again, but would come out vastly better satisfied. Be-
sides, didn't your people like it better? I've preached
two of the best sermons I ever delivered, on the past
two Sabbath A. Ms. from Jno. 3:19, extempore . . .
and the thoughtful people of my congregation have en-
joyed them above all I've done." The steady drain of
76 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
planning two sermons a week (sometimes more) for at
least forty-eight weeks in the year manifests itself in
appeal to the more experienced friend to know where
he turns for ideas.
To Mr. Alonzo K. Parker.
SOUTH NORWALK,
June n, 1873.
MY DEAR LON,
If I tell you I'm tired, though it's but about 2 P. M.
and that I wrote 16 pp. of a sermon this A. M. you may
get my connecting thought. I went to work with a semi-
stupid head, became warmed up, and worked rapidly.
I can't say how poor it is, as I haven't read it over. It
is from part of the parable of the Sower, the Wayside
and the Rock. And by the way, I'd like to know what
you do when you get out of material. When you wrote
me your "pond was dry." What do you do? Turn up
the bottom? Dig? Rest? Worry? I run out every
week, nearly, and would really like to know your method
of meeting such crises. I've gotten into the partial habit
of faith, myself, believing that somehow I'll get through
my week's work. And so far I have, somehow. If one
could only get time for a little genuine study.
His lifelong belief in regular general reading at times
fairly hounds him through his inability to maintain the
leisure for it. However, letter after letter tells of new
books begun, of plunges into English poetry (Shake-
speare, Pope, Dryden, Tennyson's new "Queen Mary,"
Wordsworth), of reading Greek again (^Eschylus'
"Agamemnon"), Mommsen's history, Newman's "Apo-
logia," Draper's "Intellectual Development." These are
but a few of the authors mentioned. One letter says
(July 30, '74) : "I am working more on the plan of daily
YEARS IN THE MINISTRY, 1872-1886 77
spending an hour or two in reading, before going at my
sermon, and like it though sometimes I find myself hard
pushed in the latter part of the week." In spite of so
little time for mental effort or refreshment, some writing
is achieved, and a theological work, 'The Catechumen-
ate," begun in Seminary days, is finished and published.
There were also special problems in the parish which
both strained the young minister's nerve and tried his
mettle. New York City was then resounding with the
Tweed Ring scandals and a leading politician who had
turned state's evidence was an influential member of the
South Norwalk community. In spite of the personal
implications, Doctor Taylor boldly and frankly preached
a sermon against such graft and corruption in public life
as New York was then witnessing. No less fearlessly
did he take a stand on the divorce question, although he
was preaching in a state where the laws were particularly
loose.
All this time Doctor Taylor, like any minister in a small
parish, was performing many other duties besides preach-
ing, teaching a Sunday School class every Sunday in
addition to his two sermons, raising funds for home mis-
sions, trying to awaken the spiritually indolent with con-
tinuous pastoral work.
He was a part of all the life of the community,
served on the school board, helping Mr. Samuel T. Dut-
ton, then Superintendent of Schools there, in the re-
forms which he instituted ; started a reading-room which
was the nucleus of a town library, with a coffee-room in
connection with it as a sort of anti-saloon club. In addi-
tion to all these outside problems, there were the financial
ones usually attached to a limited salary which made
78 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
traveling and the buying of books always luxuries. Doc-
tor Taylor had an excessive dislike of debt and the family
budget was strictly limited to the monthly income. But
it was characteristic of the Taylors that successive sal-
aries always seemed to them opportunity, not limitation.
The great, compensating happiness was finally
achieved, and on September 10, 1873, James Monroe
Taylor and Kate Huntington were married in Roches-
ter, New York. When spring came a house was found
and housekeeping commenced, a beginning that was to
be significant for many beside the Taylors in future years
through the hospitality that their own happiness extended
so easily. It is typical that the second night in their first
house they entertained guests!
To Mr. Alonzo 'K. Parker.
SOUTH NORWALK, CONN.,
Apr. n, 1874.
DEAR LON,
With my work done for the day, at 12 M. I sit in
my delightful study, the vast extent of landscape and
water view before me acting somewhat as an inspira-
tion, only like the haze which obscures the Long Island
shore, a cloudy inspiration. My double front window
looks over rocks and hills and town for many miles,
and in the far distance the Sound terminates the view.
Sitting here at my desk, and looking directly before me,
all this scene is spread out in its beauty, and if now so
enjoyable, what of the summer? To my right through
another window I see the Sound far and wide, with
its many sailing vessels and its occasional steamers. And
this from my seat. If I go to the window my view is
well nigh boundless. This is a good deal to see for a
small room. My desk stands in the center, in the corner,
between the right window and the double one is one of
YEARS IN THE MINISTRY, 1872-1886 79
my bookcases, in the corresponding corner is a delightful
lounge, my easy chair by the left window, and between
that and the register by the door, my other two cases of
books. K.'s desk is between the right window and the
closet door, and our engravings stand in the fourth cor-
ner, while pictures and brackets &c, complete the scene.
It makes a delightful room. Do come to see it.
Opposite we have a nice bedroom, and above these a
spare room and a servant's room (but no servant yet).
Below this is a fine parlor, with one of those patent-
heaters under the mantle. The room has a large "square
bow window," so to say, and two other windows.
Our kitchen and dining room are basement, but pleasant.
Can see the Sound from there.
We've been here a week, got possession Wednesday,
the first, and had carpets, furniture, books, and all, here
on Thursday, and slept here. Friday night my books
were in their place again, what work it is to move a
library ! and that night M. B. stayed with us. S. came
with F. B. on Saturday, P. M., and W. B. came that
evening. He slept at the hotel, and went off Monday.
The others stayed till Tuesday. S. was very sorry not to
visit you, and expressed much regret, but couldn't spend
the time requisite to get over the Harlem R. R. All
this week I've been trying to work, but with poor success.
Our girl hasn't come, and we have our own work to do.
I tend to the fires, three of them, each morning, and
of course the breakfast isn't early. But I've made a
sermon, done a good deal of business relative to settling
my bills, &c, &c, and read an essay on Novalis, and a
little else in a desultory way, a poor exhibit for a week.
But I hope better things for next week. Indeed my time
has been so broken up for two weeks that I've scarcely
read or thought anything. I'm going to try to preach
tomorrow from James 1 : 27 on What is Genuine Re-
ligion? I've prepared myself for it. I am coming to
dislike notes or manuscript, except when I preach from
an O. T. character. I enjoy preaching extemporaneously
80 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
far better, and find a considerable advance in the year.
Your buying books reminds me that I've done no such
thing since Jan. I really mean to, but with my house-
beginning and all, I've not been able to. Then I'm almost
threadbare, but books must come soon. I'm getting
hungry, that way. If you are rich, why not buy Alli-
bone? I mean to.
You ask if I've touched Temperance. No, not sys-
tematically. I am not a Prohibitionist, and people think
that means Temperance, as it seldom does. But I touch
on the evil frequently. So of political morality, and
commercial immorality, I speak of them very plainly, as
in God's name. . . .
No more today, only come soon, if you can possi-
bly. . . .
Yours
j.
SOUTH NORWALK,
Monday, Jan. 18, '75.
DEAR LON,
It was good of you to write me two weeks ago, so
late at night. You pastors in the country must have a
good deal of time evenings, though. We city pastors
are driven all the time and never get done then. Avoid
these large city churches, Alonzo, if you would save your-
self the evening hours! But really I have lately often
wished, not that I was in Amenia, which, I suspect,
gives its pastors enough to worry over, but that I might
be in some very small Utopia, where people were moral,
and never had Committee Meetings in the evening, and
needed no extra work for Educational Societies, and
profited by one good sermon on the Sunday. But I rather
suspect that this is a Utopia even beyond a Plato's, or
More's or Bacon's, or whoseever else's that gave his
imagination foolish sweep. . . . I've done almost noth-
ing for five or six weeks; that's the reason of my Utopian
fever. Broken into in Dec. so that I could find time only
YEARS IN THE MINISTRY, 1872-1886 81
for my sermonwork, and that was hastily done, my at-
tention taken up with breaking up our old Brooklyn
home, I did not read a thing after the ist week of the
month. Returning from Montclair after New Years, I
determined to get hard at work again, directly, but one
thing and another has prevented, and I begin to think
I shall never know anything. I've tried to read Roman
History and have done a little at that, recently, and also
begun to read Byron, which K. gave me Christmas.
That, with my sermon study, about comprises my work
for this month. I've been working too, but it has been
hard, and my sermons have not easily adjusted them-
selves. . . .
No more today. Much love from
Yours
MONROE.
SOUTH NORWALK, CONN.
March 6, 1876.
DEAR LON, . . .
This winter I've really not averaged a letter a fort-
night I believe, and you know how readily one aban-
dons the corresponding faculty. Or don't you ? Do you
still write daily, or biweekly, to your numerous male and
female . . . correspondents? I've only one suggestion
to make. Do not make it so voluminous that I shall be
obliged to keep back your biography too long from an
impatient and hungering public. Then how it will look
to see so few letters to the Compiler. They'll say I'm
modest, perish the thought! or I'll just intimate in a
preface that the compiler burns his letters! . . .
Yours,
MONROE.
SOUTH NORWALK, .Aug. 2.
DEAR LON,
When you left here I was in some anxiety awaiting
developments, and had I known your whereabouts, should
82 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
have sooner told you that a small boy has been added to
our small family. He arrived here just a week ago to-
night, and for the most behaves very much as children of
his age generally do. Yet I am bound, in all fairness, to
say that he is a wellbehaved and goodlooking boy and
gives promise of making himself heard in the world.
He is built like his respected father, and pleases his grand-
mother by imitating her chin. But I'll not regale you
with the account of his table-talk. I may say that I
am sorry to see traces of a disrespectful disposition in his
manner of squinting at me through one eye. For the
rest, your mother will be interested to know that he
weighs about 9 Ibs.
Yours
MONROE
Three of the Taylor children were born in South Nor-
walk. The following letter is reminiscent :
January 26, 1911.
DEAR DAUGHTER,
We could not forget, if we lived a thousand years,
that January morning when you came to live with us.
You gave me a hard Sunday, to be sure, for the people
had to have their minister, but that did not count. It
was a joyous day for us, and nothing clouds the mem-
ory of it. You have been bringing us joy ever since and
you grow better with your advancing years.
I wish I could give you a thousand dollars for every
year you have lived. That would only be a token, not
an expression, of your worth. As it is, I am leaving you
a very little check, since the gods have not cared for my
monetary wishes, and am hoping that every little dollar
will get some value to itself because you get pleasure
from it.
Your loving
DADDY.
YEARS IN THE MINISTRY, 1872-1886 83
A pleasant phase of Doctor Taylor's life in South
Norwalk came from membership in a literary club of
which he was one of the founders. The faded minutes
of this club are interesting reading:
"One evening in June 1877 on the invitation of Dr.
James E. Barbour the following gentlemen, Genl. R.
B. Craufurd, Rev. James M. Taylor, James Richardson
and Nelson Taylor Jr. 1 met the Doctor at his house and
talked over a plan of forming a small club of gentlemen
who would enjoy meeting together occasionally and
spending an evening in the informal discussion of such
topics as were likely to excite an intelligent interest. . . .
It was thought advisable . . . that some member should
be assigned to introduce a topic by reading an essay or in
any other manner he might choose. It was suggested
also that it would be proper for any other person to either
write about or speak at length on the topic before the mat-
ter was thrown open for general conversation. ... It
did not seem necessary to choose any name for the Club
or to elect any officers.
'The evening was very agreeably passed in thus out-
lining a plan the execution of which promised a good
deal of pleasure ; and there is no doubt that the discussion
of a light and cooling refection which the good Doctor
caused to be served, contributed so much to the enjoy-
ment of the company that it was then and there deter-
mined that a light refection should always form part of
the proceedings at each of the club meetings."
*It is interesting to note how many elements met in this club.
Doctor . Barbour was the prominent physician in the town, Gen.
Crauford represented the army, Mr. Richardson was a scientist,
Mr. Nelson Taylor a lawyer, and Doctor James Taylor a clergy-
man.
84 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
The club from the first established this habit of en-
joyment so that the astonished secretary records of the
first regular meeting: "Supper was served as late as
eleven o'clock and it was not far from one when the
meeting was over!" So popular the club became by
reputation apparently that on Sept. 27, '78, it was voted
firmly that the membership should be limited to twelve.
The records are usually brief : date, place of meeting
(the club "met around" at the homes of the members),
subject of paper, and name of author. . . . Among Doc-
tor Taylor's subjects were "Russia," "Socialism : Its
Genesis, Doctrine, Progress and Cure," "The Religious
Movement in the Time of Henry VIII," "The Cate-
chumenate," and "The Establishment Under Elizabeth."
The minutes of Dec. i6th, 1881, record: "44th meeting
at James M. Taylor's. This was the last meeting held at
Mr. Taylor's house before he left Norwalk to assume the
pastorate of the Baptist Church at Providence, R. I., to
which he had been recently called. No paper was read.
The Club ladies were present and the evening was very
pleasantly passed in conversation, . . . and the discus-
sion of an excellent supper."
The call to the Fourth Baptist Church of Providence
(already referred to) came early in Dec., 1881 (possibly
at the suggestion of President Robinson of Brown Uni-
versity). The spirit in which it was accepted is shown in
the letter of resignation :
Dec. 4, 1881.
To the South Norwalk Baptist Tabernacle,
DEAR BRETHREN AND SISTERS
It has been known to you for two weeks or more that
the question has been pending of a change in my pastoral
YEARS IN THE MINISTRY, 1872-1886 85
relations. My inability to settle a question involving
so much to the Church's interest and to myself has, until
yesterday, prevented my relieving the natural suspense
of our hearts. My way now seems clear and I take this
earliest opportunity to present my resignation as your
pastor, to take effect at the close of the last Sunday in
December. . . .
There is no reason that I should dwell upon the pain
that this resolution brings to me personally. ... I well
know how many motives must enter into any important
decision, but far above all such in this case has been the
consideration of the large field of labor that seems to be
open to me. . . .
I cannot thus formally resign my pastorate without a
reminder of the long course over which we have jour-
neyed in Christian fellowship. My effort from the outset
has been to do my work so honestly, so solidly, so thor-
oughly that it might stand and have the approbation of
the Master. I have had no confidence in sensational
methods, but have believed that the truth simply taught
is God's means of helping men to righteousness. . . .
Whatever the defects of my ministry, I have aimed to
press on your hearts the truth of God without respect
of persons, and through it to lead you all to recognize
more clearly that your duty is to God and His church,
and cannot depend upon the conduct or opinion of any
other. ... I shall feel that my work has been in part
a failure if it has not led you to work for Christ's sake
rather than for that of pastor or friends, and if you do
not continue firm in the faith wherein you stand. My
constant effort has also been given to the development
of the social life of the church. If I have had my friends,
like every other man, I am sure that I have never forgot-
ten the equal claim upon my pastoral regard and care of
every member of the church. . . .
For almost nine years I have been permitted to lead
you. . . . You bore with the immaturity of my early
work. You gave me constant assurance of kindness and
86 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
love; you granted me all the confidence that a pastor
could ask. I have tried to give you my best thought and
care and labor. ... It has been a work rich in reward,
and for which I thank God before you all. Its deficien-
cies, its failures, its mistakes, plead for your charity and
for God's forgiveness.
May His Spirit guide you, and send you a better and
wiser leader! May He bless you and your children and
keep you in the way of everlasting life! . . .
Very affectionately,
Your Pastor,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
The South Norwalk Baptist Church accepted the resig-
nation with sincere expressions of appreciation of Doctor
Taylor's work and on New Year's Day, 1882, he began
his labor in fresh fields. Most unfortunately no letters
from the years in Providence have come to light. The
History of the Fourth Baptist Church records under
Doctor Taylor's pastorate of four years a new and ef-
fective church organization, the employment of a church
missionary to aid in the pastoral work, the establish-
ment of a strong mission church, the building of a par-
sonage, extensive repairs of the church and the payment
of the large church debt. The present pastor, Rev. C. E.
Burr, writes in a personal letter:
April 10, '18.
I have been told that one of the most prosperous pe-
riods of the entire history of this church covering ninety
five years was when Dr. Taylor was here. Soon after
coming here I had occasion to visit the police captain of
this ward, in the interest of a family near by. After the
business had been attended to, the captain turned and
said, "Then you are pastor of the Fourth Church. Let
me tell you, when I was a young man, ... I began to
YEARS IN THE MINISTRY, 1872-1886 87
feel that as my environment during the week was not
always of the best, I ought to have one day in the week
when I was surrounded by more helpful influences, so I
decided to attend church. The church that appealed to
me was the Fourth Baptist because of the strong manly
character and preaching of ... Dr. Taylor. I at-
tended there, as did many of the strongest business men
of the East side so long as Dr. Taylor remained."
Professor George Coleman Gow, now professor of
music at Vassar College, writes that while a senior in
Brown University he became acquainted with Doctor
Taylor.
Sept. 17, '18.
When he talked of the needs of his Sabbath School
in music it was inevitable that I should fall under the
charm of his manner and make enthusiastic response to
his suggestion that I undertake the training of the school.
I was at once aware of the affectionate regard in which
his people held him. ... I appreciated even then the
care with which he looked after the details of the Sunday
School and supported and encouraged the workers in it,
myself included.
Besides his main work in his church in Providence,
Doctor Taylor, as in South Norwalk, furthered the edu-
cational interests of the city by serving on the school
board, working particularly in the interests of the night
schools.
A pleasant element in the Providence life was the
association with a group of congenial clergymen who
met every Monday for the discussion of a paper and
luncheon. And above everything for the Taylors, Presi-
dent and Mrs. Robinson made immediate connection for
them with Brown University, a happy renewal of old
88 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
friendship and a delightful inception of new interests.
The greatest test of a man's life is not how he works,
but how he makes holiday. So Doctor John Finley once
affirmed in a Phi Beta Kappa address. Certainly use
of one's leisure and character of one's vacation are sig-
nificant. While the Taylors were in South Norwalk,
they went regularly to delightful "Bienvenue," Mrs.
Taylor's Rochester home, for their vacations. During
the Providence years and for several after, they spent
their summers at Sciasconset on Nantucket Island. Of
these, Doctor Taylor's daughter writes:
'Sconset at that time was just a dear, quaint fishing-
village with incursions of 'off-islanders' during the sum-
mer. Our cottage, built well beyond the village and on
the edge of the bluff, looked out upon a rolling surf and
open ocean. The presence of an old wreck in our fore-
ground, the knowledge that a Light-ship was tossing
just beyond our horizon and the drift-wood washed in
by every storm fired our childish imaginations. One
had a fine sense of being well out at sea when the salt
fogs rolled in across the moors. Our neighbors, Pro-
fessor Wilder of Cornell University, Doctor Allen of
Philadelphia and their families formed with ours the
happiest of circles. We bathed to-gether, went berrying
across the moors, or picnicing by the inland ponds, and
as our group included some excellent musicians, we
frequently gathered in the evening for music at the
Wilder Cottage.
Here at Sciasconset, facing the ocean from his desk
in a bay window, Doctor Taylor spent the mornings at
work. Then the daily swim and long walks over the
moors or along the bluff to the light-house filled the sum-
YEARS IN THE MINISTRY, 1872-1886 89
mer day. His sister, writing of his pleasure in the life,
says :
He always brought back from the afternoon walks a
large bunch of the lovely wild-flowers and sweet fern
that grew in such abundance on these sea-side moors.
The walks were generally taken at a brisk pace, and his
flushed face and pleased, expression as his quick, light
step brought him with his treasures to the cottage door
showed what a mental and physical diversion these ex-
cursions were to him.
After such a vacation of work and happy outdoor
activity, Doctor Taylor returned refreshed to devote
himself heart and soul to the year's tasks. As the college
grew and its demands became more insistent, he felt the
necessity of finding a more accessible summer home.
But this is anticipating history.
CHAPTER VI
First Years at Vassar, 1886-1895
"Either teach not, or teach by living"
Gregory Nasianzen.
WHEN the Reverend James M. Taylor had been in the
ministry fourteen years, an opportunity for a very dif-
ferent kind of service came to him in a call to the Presi-
dency of Vassar College. This institution for the higher
education of young women, founded by Matthew Vassar
in 1 86 1, and opened in 1865, had already achieved an
honorable distinction as the pioneer endowed college for
young women in the United States, but it was now at a
critical time in its history. For seven years the college
had been passing through a period of depression, the
number of students was diminishing, the endowment was
inadequate, and, justly or not, the character of the work
of the college was being criticized. Moreover, no ener-
getic efforts were being made to face criticism and dispel
it, to increase endowment, or to secure a larger clientele
for the college through appeal to preparatory schools and
alumnae organizations. President Caldwell resigned in
June, 1885, and during the year 1885-1886 Doctor J.
Ryland Kendrick, a member of the board of trustees,
gave excellent service as acting president. All friends
of Vassar knew that the future of the college now de-
pended upon able leadership.
90
FIRST YEARS AT VASSAR, 1886-1895 91
In the search for the new president, the choice of
the trustees came to fall upon James Taylor through the
recommendation of his old professors, President Robin-
son and President Anderson. In a reminiscent letter,
two years later, President Anderson wrote :
ROCHESTER, N. Y., Sept. I5th, 1888.
It was personally a great pleasure to me to be able to
recommend your election to the position you hold to the
Trustees of Vassar College. The eminent success of your
administration thus far has justified all my expectations.
I recall very distinctly your career as a pupil and the
fidelity with which you discharged all your duties and
the success which attended your efforts as a student. It
is true that you were young at that time but I have found
many illustrations in my experience of Wordsworth's
line that "The Boy is the father of the man." I did so
much work in the organization of Vassar College that I
am deeply interested in its success apart from my personal
interest in you. . . .
Upon the recommendation of these friends, Mr. Tay-
lor was approached on the subject and after meeting a
committee of trustees was unanimously elected President.
His letter of acceptance shows deep appreciation of the
great work ahead.
PROVIDENCE, Ap. 21, 1886.
Rev. J. R. Kendrick D.D.,
Chairman of the Board of Trustees,
Mr. S. M. Buckingham,
Secretary.
GENTLEMEN :
Your communication notifying me on behalf of the
Board of Trustees of my election to the Presidency of
Vassar College is received.
I accept the honorable place thus offered me, with the
92 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
most exalted conception of the responsibilities involved
in it, pledging to its service all the powers I possess.
Permit me, further, to express my appreciation of "the
cordial unanimity" to which you refer.
I am, Very truly yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
Among Doctor Taylor's papers is a slender bundle of
letters of congratulation received at this time, and the
selection of those preserved is significant: one in trem-
bling hand from Maria Bayles, a helper in his childhood
home, a few family letters, three from AM> men say-
ing he had always been a comfort, now would be a glory;
one from a fellow-minister in South Norwalk, who
writes, "the word leaps from lip to lip, with a benediction
upon your memory," and one from a clergyman in Provi-
dence.
Central Baptist Church,
Pastor's Residence
HOME, Wednesday ev'g.
Rev James M. Taylor,
President-elect Vassar College:
The inferior clergy salute thee. Their wives adore
thee. Let the girls obey thee. If you can condescend
to sup with a humble pastor and his wife, who crave
every possible opportunity of communing with you ere
you leave for classic shades, come and have tea with us
tomorrow at 6: 15. We want to see you while you are
a plain Rev. and before the D.D., LL.D., &c, veil your
youth.
Don't fail us, will you ? Will let you off in season for
church.
Yours,
RICHARD MONTAGUE,
Pastor.
FIRST YEARS AT VASSAR, 1886-1895 93
With these letters is also one from President Ander-
son announcing that the University of Rochester had
conferred a degree upon him.
ROCHESTER June 18" 1886
Rev. James M. Taylor, D.D.
President of Vassar College
MY DEAR SIR :
It becomes my official duty to inform you that the
University of Rochester at its annual Commencement
held on the 16" instant, conferred upon you the Hon-
orary Degree of Doctor of Divinity.
It gives me unusual pleasure to announce this action
of your Alma Mater to one, whose honored father was
my friend and whom also I have known for many years
as a man whose life has honored the sacred profession
of his choice and who from youth has been an indus-
trious scholar an honest searcher after truth and whose
powers have always been consecrated to the service of
God and the elevation of our common humanity.
That the Divine Blessing may always rest upon you
in the arduous and responsible office you now hold is the
sincere prayer of your old teacher and friend
Yours Very Truly
M. B. ANDERSON
Pres't. University of Rochester
In the fall of 1886 Doctor Taylor assumed his new
duties as college president. At this time Vassar had
five buildings, Main (the great residence hall), the
Museum, the Observatory, the Lodge and the Vassar
Brothers Laboratory. There were no houses for Presi-
dent or professors but all lived in suites in the Main
Building. The endowment apart from scholarship funds
was $311,973.51 and the number of students for the
year 1885-^86 was but 291 (2 graduate students, only
94 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
151 in the regular college work, 50 in the preparatory
department, and 55 in the schools of art and music).
The Trustees had requested that the new President
should make an inaugural address and, although Doctor
Taylor, as he said afterwards, did not believe in announc-
ing policies before he had experience, an "Address on
assuming duties of Pres. of Vassar College" exists in
manuscript, characterized by the simplicity and devotion
which were elements of his success. After paying trib-
ute to the noble history of Vassar College, Doctor Taylor
declared: "Whatever . . . has contributed to this influ-
ence of the College, in the spirit of its administration, in
its standards, and in its methods of teaching, and in the
organization of its domestic life, it will be my aim to
preserve and to stimulate." In showing that Vassar
was meeting a new challenge to its prestige in the open-
ing of other colleges for women and of men's universities
for coeducation, he stated : "The demand upon this col-
lege is thus greater than ever before. It is not enough
that its standard be high : none must be higher." Another
point emphasized was that in the midst of the great
enlargement of the realm of knowledge, the philosophical
element in education must never be lost sight of and the
aim of the best education must be "to send forth not
merely well-informed men and women, but men and
women who can use their knowledge efficiently in any
and in every department of the world's activities." Again
he stressed "the need of a sound religious basis for all
valid, broad culture," saying that the college "must dis-
courage cant, and reject all sectarian strife, but its spirit,
animating its domestic and scholastic life, as well as its
religious services, should be, and I humbly trust will be,
FIRST YEARS AT VASSAR, 1886-1895 95
the spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ." The end of the
address is prophetic of Doctor Taylor's administration:
"Conserving, then, every worthy tradition, and standing
firmly on the strong foundations so well laid, the Col-
lege will strive, in the future, as it has in the past, to
send forth women of fearless intellectual independence,
efficient in all the work of the world, thorough in think-
ing and in action, and possessed of a reverent, God-
centered faith. It will not forget that its best may be
bettered, and that in its scope and power it may always
make progress."
The Vassar Miscellany furnishes invaluable data for
the beginnings of Doctor Taylor's work: student com-
ment on chapel talks; reports of many trips taken to
become acquainted with the alumnae and to make speeches
before them and at preparatory schools; notices of educa-
tional addresses and sermons. The subjects of some of
the first chapel talks were the study of the Bible, general
reading, the importance of keeping informed in regard
to current events, Washington and the Constitution.
Editorial comment in the Miscellany in regard to these
speeches is enthusiastic as it is also in regard to an ad-
dress given on "Ancient and Modern Charity." Doctor
Taylor was taking pains to express himself and his
ideas to the students and was winning them by self-
expression.
He ;was also making consistent efforts to know the
Alumnse and to further the educational interests of the
college by attending meetings and delivering addresses
in the east and the middle west and, in the spring of
'94, traveling as far as California to speak en route
before groups of alumnse, schools and colleges. It is in-
96 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
teresting to note that at the time of the celebration of
Vassar's twenty-fifth year at Commencement in June,
'90, the Miscellany states that the enthusiasm constantly
manifested "showed itself preeminently at every expres-
sion of loyal support and appreciation of President Tay-
lor's work." Already he had won his constituency.
President Taylor's addresses and articles (printed and
in manuscript) show clearly how the lines of his thought
were taking shape in this first decade. Conspicuous in
many of the addresses appear devotion to the cause of
women's education, absolute faith in it and recognition
of women's educational work. Nowhere is this clearer
than in speeches about two great leaders, Maria Mitchell
and Emma Willard. In 1889 at the funeral of Maria
Mitchell, distinguished astronomer and pioneer professor
at Vassar, Doctor Taylor spoke of the services she had
rendered science, of the distinguished merit she had
gained, of her fearless pursuit of truth in science and
religion, of "her strong influence in the lives of her
devoted students . . . who look back to that beautiful
vine-covered Observatory as a birthplace of new life in
their souls." In an address in Troy, May 16, '95, on
the dedication of the monument of Emma Willard, Doc-
tor Taylor, after reviewing the influences of the civil war
on America, declared : "One force has developed quietly
during this time which has meant more to civilization,
though often unnoticed, than all else generally associated
with the story of our growth. In the light of the so-
ciological or economic problems of today, her relation
to the family, her power in society, her influence direct
and indirect in church and state, what can compare
in significance with the broader liberty and education
FIRST_ YEARS AT VASSAR, 1886-1895 97
of women? Commercial supremacy? More numerous
populations? Enormous increase of natural wealth?
Telephone and electric railway, and quickened forms of
manufacture? What are these all beside the influence
in our life today of the new force that has come with
the larger life of woman?" He then spoke of Emma
Willard as a supreme figure in the pioneer movement for
women's freedom and education and quoted the high
educational ideal of her great address of 1819: "Edu-
cation should seek to bring its subjects to the perfection
of their moral, intellectual, and physical nature, in order
that they may be of the greatest possible use to them-
selves and others." Such high belief in the education
of women and in the work of women educators as these
two addresses show is typical of Doctor Taylor's atti-
tude, not only in the first decade of his work, but all
through his life.
Confidence and interest in the student come out in
two printed addresses, both before the Association of
Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the Middle States
and Maryland. In Dec., '92, Doctor Taylor made a
strong plea for student government in the college, based
on his faith in the students themselves, and stated in what
lines he believed responsibility might well be delegated to
them.
"The government of a college, so far as it concerns
the student, deals I, with public order, involving all
questions of noise, disturbance of fellow-students, care
of college property ; 2, relations to the class room, excuses
for absence, fidelity, or unfaithfulness in study, examina-
tions; 3; attendance on public exercises, as chapel; 4,
athletics so far as they bear on the student's work and,
98 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
possibly, on his health; 5, conduct concerning the moral
welfare of the institution.
"As regards the second division of this classification
it belongs wholly to the faculty; all the rest offer oppor-
tunity to intrust to the student a share in the responsi-
bility, if not the whole of it."
This belief in the power of the students to govern
themselves had already taken the form of action with
President Taylor, since in 1889 he had inspired the first
steps towards the organization of a plan of self-govern-
ment on the part of the Students' Association of Vassar
College. Under this plan, the sway of corridor teachers
in Main Hall was abolished, and administration of the
rules governing exercise, retiring and chapel attendance
was granted to the students.
As President of the Association of the Colleges and
Preparatory Schools of the Middle States and Maryland
in 1893, Doctor Taylor made an address on "The Neg-
lect of the Student in Recent Educational Theory," in
which he pleaded that in the multiplication of subjects
and of one or two hour electives, either the student
studied under too high pressure or became accustomed
to superficial work. He maintained also that subjects
too difficult for the average student were presented in
the first two years of college; that time was wasted by
lack of coordination between the high school and the
college, and that, finally, the lecture system, constantly
more in vogue, did not begin to offer the mental stimulus
of the more difficult Socratic method. The address pleads
also for a revival of the old ideal of a liberal education
which Matthew Arnold called "to enable a man to know
FIRST YEARS AT VASSAR, 1886-1895 99
himself and the world," and made Rousseau exclaim:
"To live, to live is the profession I would teach him."
Other essays of these years * show how searchingly
Doctor Taylor was surveying the whole problem of the
American college in its relation to the secondary school
and to the university, and in its own development. For
the secondary schools, he urges less demarcation between
the work of the grammar and the high school, more
continuity of study, standardized quality of work, more
hours under the teachers' supervision. To the Univer-
sity proper, he would relegate work for the doctor's
degree to avoid in the college wasteful duplication of
work, and because only the university can afford "the
enormous cost of worthy graduate work, in men and
apparatus and books"; but he thinks that the master's
degree, given for scholarly work, in the field of liberal
studies, may often be granted by the college. In the
future of the American college he sees a combination of
the old college and university systems of prescribed cur-
riculum and free specialization, and believes that this
combination will be characterized by greater freedom
in the choice of both prescribed subjects and electives.
The woman's college will follow this general trend of
development of the American college and can maintain
a like intellectual grade with the colleges for men if edu-
cational endowment can be secured, for the work of the
woman's college is now "not primarily a question which
regards the quality of students. In that aspect it has
lr The Future of the Woman's College (Quarter- Centennial Ad-
dress), Poughkeepsie Eagle, June 12, 1890; The Report of the Com-
mittee of Ten, School Rev., April, '94, vol. 2, pp. 193-9; Graduate
Work in the College, Educ. Rev., June, 1894, vol. 8, pp. 62-74.
100 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
answered itself. The question concerns the ability of a
woman's college to maintain a faculty of intellectual rank
equal to that of the college for men. ... It is chiefly
a question of endowments." Of what prime importance
pure educational endowment for salaries seemed to him
comes out practically in a letter to Mr. Edward Els-
worth (trustee and treasurer of the college), Dec. 18,
'94, when the expense of a new sewage system is under
discussion : "Personally, the educational feature of this
College rises in my mind so continually in its insistent
demand for more money that the idea of an expenditure
of 50,000 dollars for a sewer hangs over our future like
a nightmare, but if it is finally best, I shall stop my
objections, you may be sure, and cheerfully resign myself
to the inevitable, only I want to be sure that it is in-
evitable."
Another significant point in Doctor Taylor's educa-
tional theories formed at this time is his opposition to
denominational control and his interpretation of the
meaning of "Christian education." When an eminent
educator had proposed for Doctor Taylor's opinion a
plan to raise funds for a great university, under Baptist
control, Doctor Taylor replied:
May 2, 1889.
I doubt the possibility of laying out a great university
on the lines of denominational control. I believe in
Christian control, and I do not for a moment think that
you mean a narrow spirit of administration when you
speak of Baptist control, but I question deeply, I may
almost say I wholly disbelieve in, the possibility of our
own denomination developing or directing the University
of the Future. It seems to me that any denominational
administration of that University will be impossible^
FIRST YEARS>T VASSAR, 1886-1895 101
. . . The institutions most nearly approaching universi-
ties in our own land, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Yale,
Cornell, are more and more putting such control aside,
and in the case of the first and last named may be said to
have already entirely freed themselves from such influ-
ences. I believe that to be the growing and necessary
tendency, and that an institution of the highest grade,
such as you outline, founded on any other than the
broadest basis, would have to meet the insuperable ob-
stacle of the prejudice of the educated world. . . .
At this point, too, I raise a question as to your defini-
tion of Christian Education. I thought, as I read, though
I have not the page now before me, that it might be justly
urged that our education is Christian, for the most. We
believe in a Christian Country, but few of us believe in
the need of inserting the name of God in the Constitu-
tion. And I fear our education could not be made essen-
tially more Christian in such a University as you plan
than it is today in Yale, to which you refer.
This broad attitude assumed by a college president of
but three years' standing showed an independent mind,
untrammeled by theological training, fastening upon the
essentials of the subject in hand.
This breadth of viewpoint in matters of religion in
relation to education appeared no less in the sermons
of the year. Among Doctor Taylor's papers is the com-
plete file of his baccalaureate sermons and charges to the
graduating classes from 1887 to 1913. The Idealist
preached the first : "Dwelling in tents ... he looked for
a City, The Completeness of Life in Its Ideal." The
second typifies the spirit of his whole life of service:
"Freely .ye have received: freely give." Perhaps his
own past struggles and doubts as a young man prompted
the sermon of 1889 on Heb. n : 8, "By faith Abraham,
102 ^LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
when he was called to go out into a place which he should
after receive for an inheritance, obeyed : and he went out,
not knowing whither he went/' Self-sacrifice and self-
development are the subject of the next, '90, "He that
loseth his life for my sake shall find it." So the themes
flow on: "the Divinity of Human Personality" ('Thou
hast made him a little lower than God") ; "the Light of
Life"; "the Quiet Way of God"; "the Kingdom of
God Among You"; "Where There is No Vision, the
People Perish." The themes themselves suggest the
trend of these baccalaureate sermons from '87 to '94:
a simple message of the spiritual life, no dogma, no
theology, emphasis on the highest spiritual development,
the most generous service, the most far-seeing vision.
Preeminently the message was to the Young, and given
by one not so far from Youth but that he understood it.
This sympathy and understanding comes out especially
in the charges to the graduating classes. Facing their
future with them, he gave to many a young woman a
sense of peace and strength in the realization of her own
limitless possibilities and her call to endless service.
Such was, in part, the public life of Doctor Taylor
during his first years as college president. It may be
questioned whether the President of Vassar in these years
could be said to have any private life, living as he did
in the midst of his work and in the center of the col-
lege community in his apartments in the Main Building.
So close was his relation to the college that though only
in his forties, he was somewhat in the position of a
paterfamilias.
Illustrative of this family relation between President
and college is an incident which occurred in June, '91.
FIRST YEARS AT VASSAR, 1886-1895 103
On June 8th a baby boy arrived in the Main Building
and the graduating class sent to him a present of some
silver with the message: "To '91 's baby whose com-
mencement so nearly coincided with ours." At the class
supper, on June n, "Mother Flett" (well-remembered
college nurse) suddenly appeared proudly carrying the
three-days-old boy. To his dress a poem was pinned,
ending with the lines:
"And of all things I'm proudest, on this, pray you, ponder,
That among all the babies I'm the sole Ninety One-der."
The delighted class, warned to welcome their guest
quietly, gently threw pink rose-petals over him and he
was borne back to his Mother covered with these fragrant
messages.
One of the most prized senior privileges was the invi-
tation to dinner with President and Mrs. Taylor, an in-
vitation extended to small groups at a time, thus insuring
real acquaintance. Dinner was followed by the much
anticipated visit to the President's study. This study
was on the first floor in Main Hall, a quaint old room,
originally intended for the apartment kitchen, and it
possessed, fitted into the chimney, a Franklin stove
which Doctor Taylor had hunted up when he was in
Connecticut (driving about the country until he found
one and then inducing the owners to exchange it for a
fine modern heater). Around its fire, the seniors would
gather, while Doctor Taylor showed them his precious
books, or his foreign photographs and engravings, and
talked of the things for which he most cared. On
Thanksgiving Day and other anniversaries the President
and his wife were at home to the whole college and the
whole college would come! Certain center rooms in
104 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
Main Hall are still rich in memories of the most genial
hospitality.
In the fall of 1892 the first break in the Taylors* home
circle occurred when the oldest son entered Yale Uni-
versity. Doctor Taylor's letters to his son during the
next four years picture not only the father's relation to
the boy, but the life of Vassar College and of its Presi-
dent.
To Huntington Taylor.
VASSAR
Oct. 2. '92.
near 10 P. M.
MY DEAR BOY,
The last callers have gone and I have a chance . . .
to send you a few words. I wonder how your first Sun-
day in college has gone. You have been in our thoughts
a great deal : we have talked about you, looked at your
picture, tried to make the baby say "Hunt," and we have
tried to picture you in your room.
Not today only, for every day since we saw you go
down the front walk our thoughts have been with you
and our prayers for you.
We are impatient enough to hear how things went
with you. ... I suppose you have been rushed every
minute, with furnishing, unpacking, and your new les-
sons. Don't forget that I am thoroughly interested in
the length of your lessons, the time it takes to get each,
the character of your teachers, the fellows you know,
everything. . . .
How are the "Commons" ? What can you say for the
living ? Is your room all you hoped ? . . .
I wish I could look in on you. I shall, depend on it,
at my first chance.
I think of nothing new to tell you about your pet
brother, except that your Mother thinks he can't be
FIRST YEARS AT VASSAR, 1886-1895 105
named Richard because she finds that his great-grand-
father (Richard) was married four times! The small
boy doesn't seem to care. He has been very cunning to-
day. You ought to hear him imitate the ducks.
Write us as often as you can. Tell us everything.
I know you'll be a man in all things. Be a good man.
I wish that your faith was rooted and grafted in Christ
as you start off this new life. Remember, we all think
of you. You aren't forgotten for an hour.
Your loving
FATHER.
HOME
Sunday night
Ap. 1 6, '93
I was sorry to miss you last night. I telegraphed from
Boston about i : 30, but I knew you might not get the
message in time. I thought I would venture a quarter
on it even for the poor little five minutes we had in
New Haven. I found I was quite disappointed, though
I knew it might so easily turn out so. I "kind of wanted"
to just see you. You fellows can't very well know how
much thought for you goes on in a father's heart. . . .
I want your confidence as well as your respect and I
want to feel that if you are in trouble I am the one you
will turn to.
Oct. 10, '92.
MY DEAR BOY,
Don't be discouraged over that one study, and don't
believe half what the fellows tell you. If you do well
it will be known. We can match you against the other
fellows we know. It will go hard for a little, then you'll
get hold and the rest will come better. It provokes me,
though, to think that your tutors call it "education" when
they rush fellows as you are pushed in that. It's cram
and humbug! But push on doggedly and you will
conquer. It is in you. . . .
106 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
I send this little line just to cheer you up a bit. Let
us know everything. Tell us if you are perfectly well,
too.
Your loving
FATHER
HOME, Nov. 19, 1893.
MY DEAR HUNT, . . .
Baby talks on about "an education.*' I asked him
where Morgie was, the other day. "Gone to 'Cool to
get an ed-i-cation." "Where's Hunt?" "At 'Ale Col-
lege." "What for?" "To get an ed-ication." He will
remember you, I think.
I have been greatly interested in your account of your
reading and am encouraged to find you laying out a real
course of independent work. But before I say a word
or two on that, and before I forget, let me say one thing
about your French. I care little about your mere marks
in it, but I am troubled to think you have not conquered
it. You ought to read it correctly and with ease now,
and you certainly have done well with linguistic studies
heretofore. Find out where your real trouble is, and
if need be, go back and master the elements. You will
need to know French well. Don't neglect it.
Now about the English. You asked about Hawthorne.
Read the Marble Faun. Nothing better, and a very
interesting story it is, and one much talked about, too.
Then it will take you to Rome. When you go there
you will want to read it again, as I did.
I am wondering if you are really doing the best thing
for yourself to follow the list you sent, chronologically.
I doubt it. It is too much drama, proportionally. Why
not, at least, take one of Jonson's plays, one of Webster's,
one of Massinger's, one of Fletcher's, and then take a
change, some poetry, Spenser, the reference given you
in Palgrave, and then some prose, a few essays of
Bacon, part of Sidney, part of Burton, and a little of
Lyly. You've had the best of the dramatists, except
FIRST YEARS AT VASSAR, 1886-1895 107
Shakespeare, in Marlowe. I don't think it worth your
while, now, to delay over the sonnets of Shakespeare.
You can go back to them for special reading. In this
way you will get a general knowledge of the old literature
and you want that chiefly now.
Valuable emphasis on the use of good English in
speaking and writing shows how Doctor Taylor himself
must have formed his own clear style.
Nov. 12, '93.
Practise on Mr. Phelps' criticisms. I want you to
learn to write a fair style. But you'll have to work hard
and overcome the faults that have grown on you because
you had no proper training, and because you always write
in a hurry. Writing essays will not suffice. You must
watch all you write, letters as well as the rest, and your
talk, as well. All this goes into the formation of a
style, and habit here means all it does elsewhere, in
the hold of the old, or in the increased readiness, and
the growth of the better, through steady practise.
The strong family feeling of the Taylors comes out in
a sentence in a letter of Nov. 13, '92, along with a ref-
erence to a football game attended, partly for the sake
of Hunt, partly for love of the sport.
Saturday I saw my brothers. Nothing like these re-
lationships, when you've grown up. Take care of them
while you are young.
Uncle Morg asked me to go to the Yale-Pennsylvania
game, and thinking of you and of my need to understand
your pleasures, I went. I enjoyed it. We stood right
by the fence, and saw it all. It was a good game. The
best work was the running of Bliss. He was badly
hurt, not seriously, I hope. It was all very plucky,
108 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
horribly rough, though, and several men were laid off
during the game.
Advice about athletics and work run together in fine
ethics.
Oct. 15, '93.
I want you to be thorough in whatever you do. Master
whatever you undertake study, baseball, everything.
Where one mastery is sure to conflict with another, choose
the higher.
Keep us informed about your training as well as your
study and tell us your chances of making the team.
HOME,
Jan. 14, '94.
9:20 P. M.
MY DEAR BOY,
It seems a good deal more than a week since you left
us. We enjoyed your visit very much and were sorry
to have you leave us. ...
I am glad to hear about your work, and your getting
settled. I hope your new books look attractive on your
shelves. It is a great thing to come to feel familiar
with a number of books and to see them looking up at
you and to know they are your own. I enjoy the com-
panionship of some of these I see about me almost as
if they were friends.
I felt the growth in you, my boy, this time. I can
see that you are opening your mind to new interests,
and developing a taste for reading. It will be an inval-
uable treasure to you. It is a deep satisfaction to note
this advance and to hope in its steady progress. Choose
good books : a poor one is like a bad friend. . . .
We are supremely interested in you, and all you do
interests us more than you can know. Write fully.
Whatever fun you have, and whatever you have seen in
life, my strongest prayer is that you may be good. That
FIRST YEARS AT VASSAR, 1886-1895 109
is more than anything else, and best of all one can get
or have. All well and send love.
Your loving
FATHER.
PLAINFIELD
Oct. 7, '94.
MY DEAR BOY,
I came down here yesterday afternoon to be near Uncle
Morg. . . . We have sat about and talked and waited,
with the shadow over us. Of course it is not all shadow.
Uncle Morgan's faith is clear, and he has no apprehen-
sions as he looks death in the face. He reaps the reward
now of his habitual trust in Christ. Beside, we have
only happy memories. He has been almost a perfect
brother to us all, so generous, forgetful of self, so happy
and cheering all the way. And his life has been success-
ful in the best sense, steady, faithful, honored work in
business life, and a very happy home.
He feels very grateful for all he has had, and says
he would not have anything changed. To us it seems
hard that he cannot have a year or two of quiet enjoyment
of the home he planned for after leaving business. But
we ought to think more of the home beyond, and the
assurance we have in the promises of our Heavenly
Father. . . .
Since we were little fellows he and I have been inti-
mate, friends as well as brothers. It robs life of a
great deal to have him leave it.
It makes me think, too, how careful we ought to be
to cultivate the kind and loving side of life, and to
show our loved ones how we love them while they are
with us. ...
My heart is with you, my boy. May you long be saved
from sorrow, and when it comes may you have a faith
and hope to sustain you !
Your loving
FATHER.
110 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.
Oct. 28, '94.
MY DEAR HUNT,
I cannot sit down here, late in the evening, 10 : 30
o'clock, without my mind running back a week, when
we were together but under such sad conditions. I think
of them down there, while our change of place has
brought us other skies, other scenes, and other things of
which we must think. Time will never make Uncle Mor-
gan's memory less than a blessing and a joy to me, but
this distance from his home and work are a great help
in bearing the sorrow that we must feel. I wonder,
sometimes, if the whirl of life leaves us a chance to feel
as we ought !
I hope you'll think of the two or three strongest traits
in your uncle's character. He was a man of duty. He
said, in his last days, to me, "I have tried to do my duty :
I hope I have : I wish nothing else said of me."
He was also very courteous in his treatment of all
men, not "goody-goody," but firm, strong, frank and
direct in speech, popular among those whom he op-
posed because they knew him genuine in his opposition,
and courteous.
He was a very "square" man in his business relations.
I have letters about him now telling how he was es-
teemed. He was fair, honest, strict with himself (I
remember noticing how he bought his own stamps for
his own private correspondence, . . . though a member
of the house).
Above all, he was a Christian man with a well defined
hope in Christ. That was his anchor: the rest might
have done in prosperous days, but what would all these
last days have been but for a calm, deep trust in God and
the risen life in Jesus? I know what it was to him,
and you know whether or not 7Jncle Morg enjoyed life.
. . . Your loving
FATHER.
FIRST YEARS AT VASSAR, 1886-1895 111
CHICAGO, Nov. n, 1894
9 P. M.
MY DEAR BOY,
I am about to leave for Des Moines, and send you
only a word to let you know I am not forgetting you.
I got here Friday, spent that night thirty miles away, at
Lake Forest, was busy at Alumnae meetings all yesterday,
and today have been to Uncle Lon's Church and spent
the afternoon with him. It seems a good deal to look
forward to, to think of spinning away at this rate for
two weeks more, but I hope to stand it well.
As I have looked about today I have thought of you
and of the standards of life I hope you are holding up.
I am very anxious to have you all good, righteous, more
that than successful, as the word is used. To have you
so truthful that all will trust you, so faithful that all
will know where to find you, pure in thought and chaste
in action, . . . all this I would have you. I have no
reason to suppose you are not all this, . . . but I am
anxious to have you have that trust, not in yourself, but
in God, which shall be a security to you.
I must hurry now, but my heart goes out for you.
Your loving
FATHER.
Another letter from this western trip shows the sched-
ule of a college president taking vacation!
SALT LAKE CITY,
Mch. 1 8, 1894.
Every minute o>f my time has been crowded full till
today, except when we have been travelling. I spoke
twice in Kansas City (Monday) and had a reception,
and another that night in Topeka, spoke twice there
Tuesday, spoke and offered a dedicatory prayer at the
Library opening of Colorado College (Col. Springs),
Wednesday, lunched with the President, we drove to
Manitou and the Garden of the Gods, . . . and dined
112 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
with the Jacksons . . . and went to a Library re-
ception. We got to Denver at n, Thursday, I spoke
five times that and the next day, . . . and on Friday
lunched at Bishop Spalding's, and drove, and dined with
Mrs. Davis, . . . and she gave us a fine reception in the
evening. This is our only let up before plunging into
another round in San Francisco. We expect to be there
Wednesday A. M.
The Sunday letters from "Home" to the son at Yale
picture the President's busy "days of rest" and also
much of the social life of the college.
To Huntington Taylor.
HOME, Oct. 22, '93.
MY DEAR BOY,
It is even later than usual tonight. My minister stayed
late, and it's 10:15 o'clock. . . .
It was the usual Sunday, visiting, and showing the
clergyman about till five, then preparation for prayer-
meeting, and a little reading till 6, the faculty at supper,
and so on. Since the meeting A. and E. W. have been
in, and the minister. . . .
It has been a busy week, beside strictly college work.
My Club met at Mr. Elsworth's Monday night (I read
the paper, on the Neglect of the Student in Recent
Educational Theory), we went to the Reading Club,
in town, Tuesday night, Mr. Thompson was with us
Wednesday night, we had a concert Friday night (I
send you the programme), and last night we went to see
the Senior Parlor just opened. . . .
Is all well with you ? I wish you would send me your
essay after you finish it. Work hard on this line and try
to think for yourself. It will pay you more than you can
know. Of course reading is very valuable and suggestive,
but work out your own ideas, too.
Your loving
FATHER.
FIRST YEARS AT VASSAR, 1886-1895 113
To Huntington Taylor
HOME, Feb. 10, '95.
Sunday night
MY DEAR BOY,
I wish you were here tonight instead of so far away,
and we could sit here and talk for an hour. I share
the feelings of "Dick." I was in his room an hour ago,
and told him I was going to write you. He raised him-
self a little in his crib and said, "Papa, why doesn't Hunt
come home ?" I told him why you had to be away, and
he added, "I'm lonesome for Hunt." Poor little boy,
he's been quite ill, and this was his third day in bed.
He told you, I believe, that he thought he was going to
have grip. . . . The first night, he remarked, cheerfully,
that it was nice to see people moving about in his room
in the night. He told the doctor she was a funny doctor
to give him medicine without looking at his tongue or
feeling his pulse, like a man-doctor. Mamma told him
he never knew anything about a man-doctor. Yes, Gran-
<Miss Frances Wood> had shown him a picture of one,
and he was feeling a boy's pulse. . . .
It has been a very cold spell, quite a little blizzard.
Our lecturer, from Harvard, did not arrive Friday night,
and we had to have him Saturday morning. Dr. Patti-
son could not get a train from Rochester, and the preacher
was detained in the same way, and so I preached this
morning, on "the seeking of goodly pearls."
Then we had Mr. J., of Kansas City, and Miss V., at
dinner, and had our walk up Sunset Hill instead of the
usual round of buildings with the minister.
Last night we had twenty more seniors in at supper,
and enjoyed the evening. We came down here and sat
around the fire, with the lights low, and let them tell
stories. . . . Other times we have looked at old books,
or pictures, &c. and so have had a variety. . . .
We all send love.
Your loving
FATHER.
114 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
HOME, May 19, '95.
MY DEAR BOY, . . .
I have had some variety of work this week. I had to
go to Troy Wednesday night to speak Thursday at the
Emma Willard Statue dedication. . . , I had to speak
out of doors, to a large crowd, and it was quite an effort.
The exercises in the afternoon were in a church, and
Chauncey Depew was one of the speakers. I came down
in his private car to Albany, and as he was going to stop
he gave me an order on the Empire State Express to
stop here for me. So I was able to get home Thursday
night. Your mother and M. had spent the day in New
York.
Friday night we had a lecture here on Shakespeare's
country, a series of pictures, about 120, by a former
student, now living in England. She made the photo-
graphs. At 9:30 I ... went in to the Board of Trade
dinner, and spoke there on "our schools." To complete
the series, I am to speak at the Congregational Club to-
morrow night, in New York, on what the New Education
has done for our colleges. Then I must "turn to" and
get ready for commencement.
My senior examination will come on Wednesday, and
I hope to have read the papers by the end of the week.
It is a hard job. . . .
Fragmentary pictures as these are, they help make the
Biography of Doctor Taylor in these early years of the
establishment of his position as a young college presi-
dent.
One of the interesting points of contact with the life
of Poughkeepsie is to be recorded, the foundation of a
club which from its plan and work seems probably the
direct descendant of the South Norwalk Club of which
Doctor Taylor had such pleasant memories. The Club's
Record, printed in 1907, states that at the first meeting,
FIRST YEARS AT VASSAR, 1886-1895 113
in December, 1887, those present were W. G. Stevenson,
J. M. Taylor, J. R. Kendrick, E. H. Parker, H. L. Zie-
genfuss, and H. V. Pelton. Although the club has seen
many changes in membership, it is still in existence and
the original simple plan has been preserved: that it
should meet once a month during the winter at the
homes of the different members, and that at each meeting
one member should present a paper on a subject chosen
by himself. As in South Norwalk, a "refection" is regu-
larly partaken of. The subjects of some of Doctor Tay-
lor's papers were: "The Influence of the Crusades in
European History," "The American Idea of the State in
Relation to Religion/' "Herbert Spencer's Idea of Jus-
tice," "Mediseval Universities," "The War with Spain
Profit and Loss," "Democracy," "Stanley Hall on
Woman's Education," "A Roman Bath and What Came
of It," all significant of the author's varied interests.
One aspect of his activity has not been mentioned, al-
though it has been forecast, in reference to the need
for educational endowment. That need had become so
imperative to the President's mind that in the year 1887
he started to raise a part of the needed sum. In the His-
tory of Vassar he has told the effort and the discourage-
ments of the undertaking. 1
"The first effort to enlarge the endowments was made
distinctly in the interest of salaries for the faculty. It
was before the present easy talk of millions, and the
mark set was $100,000. The alumnae numbered less than
seven hundred, and there was no organized effort on
their part. The President was asked to raise the fund
1 This endowment of $100,000 was completed on commencement
day, 1889.
116 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
and found the College practically without a constituency.
At the end of the first year only $61,000 was reported and
it took a second year to complete the fund, but it was
raised in difficult times, by weary pilgrimages, by numer-
ous letters, much of it from new-made friends, and the
president was obliged meanwhile to keep up his college
classes and the general work of the administration. It
was Vassar's first appeal, and notwithstanding the gen-
erous help of the press, it proved a lack of knowledge
and appreciation of woman's education on the part of an
unconvinced public." *
During this period, '86^95, new buildings also were
secured (all gifts), the Conservatory, the Gymnasium,
the first new residence hall, Strong, and by '91, pro-
fessors 1 houses had been begun.
Before the President came to his well-earned vacation
abroad in 1895-1896, during the first eight years of his
administration, he had changed materially the status of
Vassar College. The educational endowment had been
increased by $100,000, and the gift of three new buildings
had been secured. The preparatory department (always
a menace to the regular work of the college) had been
promptly abolished. The number of students had been
increased from 291 (of whom 50 were in preparatory
classes, 55 in art and music) to 538 students (of whom
only 23 were in special courses). Far more than this
the loyalty and cooperation of faculty, alumnae, and
student body had been won. Public confidence in the
work of the college had been restored by the educational
addresses and essays of the President, which showed
his wise conceptions of the scope and ideals of a liberal
1 "Vassar" by J. M. Taylor, and E. H. Haight, p. 173.
FIRST YEARS AT VASSAR, 1886-1895 117
college, his confidence in the undergraduates' power of
self-government, and his final spiritualizing of all educa-
tion towards the development of inner life and outward
service. More than all, the genial, human presence and
force of the man himself had won not only Vassar,
but the educational world. It was now time for him, as
he saw, to make holiday in order to keep his vision clear
and his energy unimpaired, and in October, '95, Doctor
and Mrs. Taylor set sail for Europe.
CHAPTER V
An Interlude: Vacation in Europe,
1895-1896
"The lesson of life is to believe what the years and the cen-
turies say against the hours."
Emerson.
DESIRE certainly brought fruition for Doctor Taylor
when on October 12, 1895, he sailed for a vacation in
Europe with his wife to whom as fiancee he had written
so longingly in the year of '71 -'72. Only a needed rest
could have made President leave college, Father and
Mother leave children; but with vacation justified, the
college in good repute, the oldest son at the university,
and the three other children left in the care of their
beloved "Gran" (Miss Frances Wood, the College Li-
brarian), the horizon of pleasure was not darkened by
rising clouds.
The diaries kept by Doctor Taylor this year are full of
interest, readable from the beauty of handwriting and
the clarity of expression. Everything indeed that he put
down on paper was in exquisite form, even to the notes
on his reading which he usually made for future refer-
ence. But the letters of the year make a fuller auto-
biography than the diaries, for they are a weekly serial
written in alternate numbers to the family at Vassar and
to the son at Yale. The first letter is in the shape of notes
left at home for his young daughter.
118
AN INTERLUDE, 1895-1896
119
Have full consideration for Mamie and Nanna <the
waitress and the baby's nurse >. Don't let the feeling
grow in your mind that there is a "serving class." The
Lord of all came to serve. In their case, too, you deal
with two who were not brought up to feel that they be-
longed to any "class." Of course one must give oneself
to one's work, whatever it be, and without assumption,
or the feeling of being above it, since all work is honor-
able, and the spirit we put into it makes the difference.
But we all need to guard against a wrong feeling of
superiority in such relations.
I need not urge you to read your Bible, but I counsel
you to read but little at a time, and to reflect on it.
Believe always that God is your Father, that he hears
you, loves you, and will keep you.
You are the dearest girl in the world, and my heart is
always with you. May God bless you and keep you !
In the letter from the steamer thanks are sent to mem-
bers of the faculty for fruit and books, and a message
to the president of the Students' Association : "Tell Miss
McCloskey I value the letter of the Association greatly.
I leave with greater freedom because of my entire con-
fidence in the students." A later letter, Oct. 20, speaks
of a steamer rug from the senior class delivered after
the pilot had left, and the end of a letter to the children
on Nov. 3 shows how his thoughts centered in the col-
lege. "Give love to Miss Wood, and K., and Mrs. Ken-
drick, and don't fail to say that I think affectionately
of all the college, faculty, students, all. Glad as I am
of this rest and change my life is there."
The same letter is touched with grief over the news
of the death of Mr. Wheeler, the college janitor.
"But for Mr. Wheeler's death all would seem blessed
there, but that brings a pang to me. I was very fond
120 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
of him: he was that best work of God, a faithful, un-
selfish man, true to his duty, great in his sphere. Vas-
sar College will miss him beyond measure. After all,
the great thing is to live so we shall have Our Father's
'Well done.' Mr. Wheeler has that if anyone has."
At Thanksgiving time, Doctor Taylor's thoughts turn
to the college custom of Thanksgiving dinner when
President's family made one with college family and
the President acting as toastmaster always talked to the
college.
Nov. 17, '95.
MY DEAR CHILDREN : I fear Thanksgiving will be past
before you get this. I shall think of you all, at home,
and in the college, and shall wish to send to the dinner
a hearty greeting and God-speed, and thanksgiving for
the best children in the world, and the best friends and
best girls living.
One quiet Sunday in Perugia, Dec. I, he wishes again
for a chance for a Sunday night talk to the students.
"I should have had small spiritual help today but for the
Bible and some thoughts which came to me. ... I
felt like talking about it to the girls at home. I don't
forget the college, if I have thrown off all responsibility."
The children, of course, were never out of the thoughts
of both parents : the Mother assures them that she has
"cheered up" and they are to "tell Gran I am comforted
whenever I think of her"; the Father adds (Nov. 3~) :
"Tell Gran her letters make us know better than ever
what a Saint she is. Over in this land she would have
been painted by Titian and put up over an altar for us
to find with a Baedeker, but we like her best where she
AN INTERLUDE, 1895-1896 121
is." A letter to the son at Yale, Nov. 10, breathes peace
and confidence about the absent family :
Well, you see we are enjoying ourselves. We
couldn't do it, though, if you all were not doing your
utmost to cause us no anxiety. We think of you all
continually, and very happily. I am sure you are trying
to get all you can out of your last year. Choose the
best things, those which will mean most to you in after
years.
Don't forget you can't tell us too much about yourself.
We have the family photographs spread about on our
bureaus, &c., and are glad in all our thoughts of our
dear children. Good night, my boy. Your Mother sends
a heart ful of love.
Your loving
FATHER.
With this brief introduction and slight notes the letters
may be left to make an autobiography of the year and may
themselves show how Doctor Taylor took holiday, what
his keen eyes saw, what people he enjoyed, and where his
thoughts centered.
Landing at Genoa, stopping two days at Milan for
the cathedral and "the great picture," traveling through
Brescia for Moretto's pictures and Verona for the am-
phitheater, Doctor and Mrs. Taylor came at last toVenice,
one of the joys he had promised his fiancee twenty-three
years before. Now he shares the delight with the chil-
dren at Vassar.
VENICE,
Nov. 3, 1895
Look at the map of Venice and see what a funny
city it is. Then find the Riva della Schiavone and you'll
see where we are, with rooms looking toward the sun,
122 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
when there is any. We had two days of rain at first,
and several doubtful ones since. But we've enjoyed
Venice greatly. Now look along a little way to the
Piazza San Marco. What a splendid place it is! In the
desk in the corner among my photographs, you will find a
dozen of Venice (stereoscopic) There's enough there
to interest us all. Tell Dick the pigeons come down and
walk all about you, hundreds and hundreds of them, such
fat little fellows, and afraid of no one. People feed them
there, and we often stop to see the little boys surrounded
by them. They get on your feet, sit on your hands, if
you hold corn in them, and gather on your shoulders
and head even. And all about you are the splendid build-
ings of Venice, the magnificently beautiful church, in-
laid (over the whole interior) with beautiful mosaics, pic-
tures, you know, in stone and glass, and these are real
pictures. The whole background is like gold. We spent
a rainy afternoon there, and went up above, in the little
galleries, and had a fine time with the pictures, and the
splendid bronze horses, outside. And the Ducal Palace,
unspeakably grand and beautiful within and without! I
can give you no conception of it. Perhaps I'll bring you
here some day, or you'll bring me! Then we've been
to churches without number, have had our gondola rides
and our walks, and have really enjoyed Venice. We
may be here three or four days more, but we are not sure.
We go as we please, and we are not driving ourselves.
When you get lost in Venice, and you do, in the streets
about four to six feet broad, a little fellow is sure to
accost you with "San Marco, Signor?" You give the
little rat a cent (un soldo) and he guides you to the square.
You see the streets run round and round, on no system,
and no sane man could go right in them. I go to the
Post office very well now, but should not like to try to
describe the way to anyone.
When you go out in a gondola, and that is a delightful
thing to do, an old fellow holds it to the steps with a hook,
and you give him a soldo. It is very unnecessary, but
AN INTERLUDE, 1895-1896 123
he is an institution and must be supported. But the beg-
gars who used to follow you . . . when I was here be-
fore, seem to have almost disappeared. And the people all
seem industrious, and though we go through all kinds of
little lanes, hardly broad enough to go through, we have
met only pleasant faces, and people who mind their own
business unless they are trying to help you. And we've
seen just one drunken man, last night and by our own
door!
I gave one little fellow a soldo, the other day, because
he held our boat while we went into a church. When I
came out he had a half dozen more. I would have noth-
ing to do with him, but he laughed and ran about, and
pulled out from the crowd his wee little brother. Bam-
bino, Signer, bambino! It was funny, the little beg-
gar!
After Venice, the itinerary runs Padua, Ravenna,
Bologna, then Florence for a longer stay with life settling
into happy and leisurely habits.
To Miss Ella McCaleb.
FLORENCE, Nov. 15, '95.
MY DEAR Miss MCCALEB,
Though you so kindly say that your letter calls for no
reply, I think I must take a few minutes before our cof-
fee comes up to thank you for the two excellent epistles
from your hand. But you must not add to your work on
my account, much as I enjoy what you write.
You have all taken me literally enough regarding in-
forming me of college affairs, but your letters have given
me all I can really ask to know, or ought to know. . . .
Yet perhaps it should be said to my shame that I find
myself engrossed in Europe, and though many a thought
of my work and my friends comes into every hour, yet I
never so fully appreciated my need to get out of it all as
I do over here.
We are enjoying ourselves thoroughly. The children
124 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
doubtless tell you of our doings. Here we are rationally
settled in a comfortable small pension, with our belong-
ings about us, a bottle of ink of our own, and two pen-
holders and pens, of doubtful shape, I fear. We are
subscribers to a library, have Howell's Tuscan Cities,
Romola, and other books on our table, and do not rush
from morning to night. Yesterday, for example, we
strolled out, after ten o'clock, after reading and studying
a little Italian. We went through some old streets and by
old storied palaces, found Dante's house and the tiny
church he was married in, went to the flower market
and saw how they are pulling down the old Ghetto for
new Florence, and in the afternoon went to the Boboli
gardens, and shopped a little.
I am sure that does not sound much like sight-seeing,
but we had tired ourselves in the galleries before. But
how grand they are, and how I enjoy renewing my ac-
quaintance with the pictures and the towns !
We have an Italian lesson before dinner every night.
We cannot hope to do much, in our brief time here, but it
may help us to get on, and to read. We plan nothing very
definitely, but we may be here a fortnight more, and we
may conclude to go to Rome sooner. In any case we
mean to be reasonable and enjoy life, if a kind Providence
will continue to us our present blessings. We bless
you all, in every thought of you, because we are relieved
by your generous thoughtfulness of all care for the home
and college side of life. . . .
Our love to you and Mrs. Kendrick and of course re-
member me particularly to Miss Cornwall. If I go fur-
ther I shall make a longer catalogue than S. Paul to the
Romans, but I bear them all in mind and heart.
Apropos of Dr. Moore's ignoble reference to Chianti,
here is a story. Two American dames, home from
Europe, quoth one, "I was abroad a year." "Then you
must have learned to love Tintoretto." "Yes, I did, but
I think I loved Chianti better." "My dear," interposed
the husband, seeing the effect of this remark, "Tintoretto
AN INTERLUDE, 1895-1896 125
is not a wine, it's a cheese!" With my remembrances
to the Latinist!! Now I must stop, as you see! I have
most grateful thought of all your labor and care and kind-
ness. Do not overwork, at whatever cost you avoid it.
Sincerely yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
I have not referred to the students, but I never forget
them. There is no such body of girls in the world.
FLORENCE, Nov. 17, '95.
MY DEAR CHILDREN,
It is my turn to write you to-day, while Mother takes
Hunt in hand. Well, it is no hardship to write our chil-
dren, and it seems to give us a touch of home feeling to
sit down for an hour and talk with you. We need to
have that feeling, too, I assure you, in this rambling,
changing, unsettled life of ours.
It is Sunday P. M. not dark yet, the ending of a per-
fect day. Indeed our weather has been beautiful here,
and warm, too, so that we've been able to go about with-
out overcoats, a good deal. We are sitting at our little
round table in the room which has become very familiar
to us now, and where we are well-content. The sun pours
into it all day long, and so it is cheerful. We have our
coffee served here at eight o'clock, and we generally read,
or study Italian, or both till half past nine or ten. Then
we go to churches, galleries, museums, &c., and back
again to lunch at 12 130. We are out again by two, gen-
erally to see some gardens, views, seldom to see pic-
tures, or anything requiring steady looking. Then we
are back for an hour's lesson in Italian, at 5 130, and dress
for dinner at 7. Generally we talk with the people
here, in the "drawing-room," afterward, and at about
8 130 or 9, come up to read, till we are too sleepy to do
anything but go to bed. . . .
That reminds me of our lovely walk to Fiesole, because
since I was here they have dug down a side hill up there
126 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
and have found fine remains of a Roman Theatre (just in
your line, now!), and baths, and an Etruscan wall. But
oh! how beautiful the views are up there. We walked
up a good deal of the way, the steep hill, and at every
turn came a fresh aspect of the great plain, and beautiful
Florence, and the magnificent mountains round about.
When you have read more you will find still further in-
terests up there, connected with the lives of Lorenzo di
Medici, and Fra Angelico. Perhaps you know about this
latter, the painter. He lived part way up, at a Monastery,
before he went into Florence, to San Marco.
One day, morning, we "poked" about the old part of
the city, the narrow streets, where stand still the old pal-
aces, and these princely families were always fighting,
and their palaces are castles. Then we found Dante's
house, where he was born, and near there lived Beatrice,
of whom he writes, and who died so young, and near,
also, is the littlest church I ever saw, where the great poet
was married. You could put it inside of our V. C. parlor
and shake it around. . . .
You see I am not telling you about the pictures we see,
so many beautiful, that one would see over and over, if
one could. You find them in all kinds of places, in a little
church, a suppressed monastery, a palace, a gallery. We
saw a rarely beautiful fresco of Perugino the other day
in a little room of an old monastery, the only thing left
for one to see, and I wish I could see it often, all my
life.
Sunday P. M., Dec. i, 1895.
MY DEAR CHILDREN ; . . .
First we went to Pisa. There are pictures in my study
of the wonderful buildings there, Cathedral, Campanile,
Baptistery, and Campo Santo. I will only tell you that
we had a delightful afternoon there, and at evening, or
sunset, were on top the leaning tower (Campanile) tak-
ing in one of the loveliest of views, the snow-clad Ap-
ennines, the nearer hills, with their villas, the beautiful
AN INTERLUDE, 1895-1896 127
plain, and away at the end of it the sea, and out beyond
the form of a lofty island. And Pisa was below us.
We saw from there one of the peculiar funeral proces-
sions of Italy, a boy bearing a large cross, a priest, a
body of women, in everyday dress, many bearing torches,
or candles, and in their midst four women bearing what
seemed to be the body of a young girl. Later, we met
the black-cloaked and large hatted men bearing a body
to the grave, but it was in a coffin, and all was black,
and they carried great lanterns before the bier, like a
street lamp on a pole. . . .
Then we came down to Sienna. How can I tell you
about it ? It is the Middle Ages in stone, narrow streets,
on which stand fine old palaces, which streets run at
last toward a great open place, it would be a square if it
were not rather round, or egg-shaped! and there is
a splendid old Palace, with a beautiful tower reaching up
ever so far toward the sky. They have races there every
year, but I can't see how they escape killing the horses,
for the course is paved, and slopes, and it is all shut in
by the old houses and palaces. . . . Then the Cathedral,
a larger church than you ever saw, all made of courses
of black and white marble. At first, when you step in-
side, you can't help thinking of a Zebra and his stripes,
but that wears off and you are filled with a sense of
grandeur, as you sit and look and look through that great
forest of stone, through nave and aisles, while the after-
noon sun shines through them from the beautiful round
window above the doors. We went back there the sec-
ond day, before sunset, and enjoyed the quiet till they
closed the church. There are many beautiful pictures
there, too, and the woodcarving is sumptuous, and the
whole pavement is made up of pictures in black and white
marble.
Of course we went to many churches, and to the gal-
leries, &c, but the most interesting thing in Sienna is
Sienna itself. How the streets run up and down and
twist around, now pushing through a little arch, now
128 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
carrying you up stone steps, now shooting you down art
incline, while the houses are often so near that you can
almost reach across the street! And now you find
yourself on a height, and before you is spread a charm-
ing view of all the surrounding country, reaching on to
the mountains.
The stay in Perugia was followed by long leisurely
weeks in Rome, Rome, so changed since '72.
To Huntington Taylor.
ROME, ITALY, Dec. 8, '95.
Rome is very much changed, to me. Even the ruins
are new! They have excavated twice as much of the
Forum, and half of the arena of the Colosseum, and
taken away the huge cross which stood there. And there
is much more than there was, therefore. But the new
part! They have forced broad streets through the old,
and great blocks of buildings extend in every direction
over places which were gardens and villas.
ROME, Dec. 15, '95.
MY DEAR MAMIE AND MORTIE, . . .
So far we have not met many people, save fellow trav-
elers, and really haven't much time to. Still we called on
the Lancianis and enjoyed an hour there, and I have seen
the Hales at the "American School" several times. . . .
Your Mother is quite herself again, but it was not
prudent for her to go into a church today, so I went
alone, and she went out into the sun. We had a simple,
earnest, good sermon. . . . Nothing gives me more pleas-
ure than to think you both are learning to know God as
your Father and friend. I hope you will feel naturally
about it, and avoid any forced feeling. Just think of
Him as really caring for you and for us all and as helping
you to all good and against all evil.
One sees a great deal of very unnatural feeling here.
AN INTERLUDE, 1895-1896 129
. . . We were in a church yesterday where the whole end
wall was covered with offerings to Mary, little pictures,
showing what the people had been delivered from through
her, little tin hearts (silvered?), a pistol (!), all kinds
of things, connected with some important event in the
worshipper's life. We stood sometime by the statue of
the Virgin, which has been covered with jewels, a neck-
lace of finger rings, crown, &c, &c, and the foot of
which has been shod with bronze to prevent the wearing
it away by the kisses of the devotees. Men, women, and
children came up, wiped it with the handkerchief, and
kissed it, and some laid their cheeks lovingly against it.
This is one of the remarkable images of Rome. . . .
We have not spent much time among the ruins, this
week, but have walked by the forum and colosseum sev-
eral times. We went, however, with Lanciani, to see a
museum made up of "finds" from new excavations.
Among them were the statues of the boxers, pictures of
which are in my copy of Lanciani's book on Ancient
Rome, . . . and the beautiful one of the Vestal Virgin,
also in that book. I cannot bfegin to tell you of the
beautiful jewelry they have found, the wall painting,
the exquisite low-reliefs in plaster, from ceilings, for I
should spin out my letter interminably.
The streets are not as picturesque as they were twenty
years ago. (We stopped here, to go out to walk before
sunset, and have been on the Pincian Hill. The band
plays, the people walk and drive, for here, as in all Cath-
olic countries, Sunday P. M. is the great holiday. As we
came back we went into a church at the head of the
Spanish Steps, near here, and heard the nuns sing ves-
pers. People go as they do in New York to hear a fine
choir or a sensational preacher. But it is sweet singing. )
I was going to tell you a little about street scenes. The
students in the colleges wear an ugly straight gown, and
a round crowned, very broad brimmed, hat. Most of the
uniforms are black, with occasional facings of purple,
or red, very narrow, like a cord. Quite a number,
130 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
though, wear a bright red, and a few purple, and the
groups are picturesque. . . . The monks use to be very
common, but one sees far fewer now, in brown, or black
and white, or white, according to the order they belong
to. The adherents of caps and gowns ought to see a body
of these young priests, but I confess the oxford cap is
prettier, and the girls couldn't look as these young men
do.
The boys here in schools, poor fellows ! also wear uni-
forms and go out to walk in squads. Some wear caps
with a little gilt on them, but the funniest little chaps
appear in a cloak and tall hats. I met the squad yester-
day and one boy seemed to me not much larger than
Dick. His cape touched the ground and the tall hat sur-
mounted it!
I met the good queen on the Pincio, yesterday. Her
coachman is in bright red and the two footmen, or out-
riders, were also in red. She bowed to everyone, and
we raised our hats to her. She is an excellent wom-
an interested in all good things, and greatly beloved
here. . . .
To Huntington Taylor.
ROME, Dec. 22, 1895.
I met at the American School, a brother of "S. P.,"
V. C. '97, who graduated at Princeton last year. There
are thirteen fellows in the new "school," and they are
enjoying their work greatly, they say. They have a good
place and great opportunities for it. They study in vari-
ous lines, archaeological, epigraphical, paleographical,
&c, &c, and go out to see the things they read about.
Think of a bicycle trip to visit Etruscan tombs ! Then
the ruins are here, and as for manuscripts, &c, the Vati-
can Library is full of them.
We have had considerable to do with archaeological
interests ourselves, this week. Parts of two mornings
we gave to the Forum, tracing out from the ruins, with
the aid of our books and reading, the various temples,
AN INTERLUDE, 1895-1896 131
basilicas, &c., the most interesting house of the Vestals,
the Sacra Via, and so on. It is very interesting to recon-
struct it all, in imagination. Here is the old Cloaca,
built in the earliest days, and still draining the low ground
where the Forum is. Here is the ruin of the rostra where
Marc Antony exposed the body of Caesar and made his
oration. Here is the Sacra Via where the old "triumphs"
marched, the arch of Titus spanning it above, and just
beyond the Forum is the old Mamertine prison where
Jugurtha, Sejanus, the Catiline conspirators and others,
perished, and where it is said S. Peter and S. Paul were
confined. It goes back of almost everything here, and
is undoubtedly genuine. We were down in the old dun-
geon.
Then we went through the Colosseum yesterday, study-
ing out the plan of the lower parts (under the Arena),
the places for wild beasts, and for the scenery they used
in their plays, the grooves by which the "lifts" were
hoisted, the stones on which rested the masts from
which the awnings were stretched over the seats. Of
course we climbed to the top, too,- all the seats are gone,
and this doesn't compare with the amphitheatres at
Verona and Pompeii for giving you the idea of the whole
thing. But this was "sizeable," you might say: it held
87,000 people, and a few thousand more could find
standing room. . . .
One day we went with Lanciani to see a Museum made
up of things excavated within a few years. This was
our second trip with him and most interesting. It is
wonderful to see the statues, bronzes, &c, &c, taken out
of the ground just about here, within twenty years.
Among them is the now famous small statue of the lad
of twelve who won the prize for Greek Composition, and
died of overstudy. The composition is inscribed at length
on the monument. This should be set up in the rooms
of Yale as a warning against overwork! We lunched,
delightfully, with the Lancianis.
Speaking of students, we called on a young "steamer
132 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
friend/* yesterday, a very nice fellow studying here for
the priesthood. He is well along, in the higher classes,
but cannot call on his friends, and can receive them only
between 12:45 an d I:1 .5- How would that work at
Yale? You should see the ugly straight gowns and the
dreadful shovel hats they have to wear. Most dress in
black, but a large delegation of Germans wear a bright
red! . . .
I hope your new term, from now till the Spring re-
cess, will be your best. Work hard, but take care of
yourself. Get all you can out of this last year. You
will need it in all your life, and more than I can tell
you depends on how you use these months. Make your
life right now. Go out of college as well equipped
as you can be, fix your start right, and to that end
see that your spiritual relations are all they should be.
It can never be all right with you till they are.
How I wish we could see you this afternoon. It would
be a delight to be at home with you.
Your Mother sends a great deal of love. A happy New
Year for you ! It will be an important one, and I hope
full of blessing.
Your loving FATHER.
It hardly seems possible that the rumors of war can
last. It would be the crime of our age if our country
and England could fight, an iniquitous and inexcusable
conflict, out of which only curse could come. Soberer
thought will quiet the bluster of such men as Chandler
and Lodge, I hope.
ROME, Dec. 29, 1895.
MY DARLING CHILDREN,
The steamer or something has been late again, and
we are disappointed at not having your Sunday letters.
It was so last week too, but we heard from you all Mon-
day morning, and were happy in all you wrote. Your
letters give us the greatest pleasure, more than you can
AN INTERLUDE, 1895-1896 133
know, not only in what they tell us, but in all the
spirit which breathes through them. You can't tell how
much we think of you all the time, and how very dear
you are to us, and what a pleasure it is to think of
you as you are. You are certainly the dearest children in
the world.
How we did think of you on Christmas Day ! and how
we wished to be with you and share your fun! I hope
all the day went delightfully for you all. . . .
We are invited to lunch at the Ambassador's (Mr.
MacVeagh's) tomorrow. He, his wife, and daughter
(who was at Bryn Mawr three years) are very pleasant
people, and we are glad to go to see them again.
But you want to know what we did Christmas. We'll
begin the night before, when we went to dinner with our
steamer friends, the K.s. They have an Apartment, and
we four made up the party. We had a nice time, and
at ten o'clock took a carriage to go out to see what the
churches had to show on Christmas eve. We drove
till 12 130 (!) all over town, and not a church we went
to was open! Many people were near them, and espe-
cially peasants, but "no admission." We heard after-
wards of special masses at one or two churches, . . .
open only to tickets. But we saw Rome by night, and it
was certainly the quietest and most orderly of cities, in
every part.
Christmas morning we went to St. Peter's but there
was nothing to see there, save a good many people. There
was music with a service in a chapel, but no grand func-
tion. Then we drove to a church on "the Capitol" (the
old Capitoline Hill), S. Maria Ara Coeli. The long
flight of steps was lined with people selling all kinds of
stuff, toys, cards, &c, among them the "Bambino" I
enclose. In the church were many people of the country,
peasants, who flock here Christmas Day, and many chil-
dren. It is a curious custom here to let the children recite
little "pieces" about the Nativity, in this church, between
Christmas and New Years. A little platform is put up
134 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
near one of the columns, and they seem to go and come
as they choose. We heard quite a number, one cunning
little fellow about five years old, and their little gestures
and speeches^were funny enough. Opposite this column,
in a little side chapel, was the exhibition of the holy bam-
bino, of which I send you a picture. Above it was the
heavenly host, standing by it the mother and Joseph, near
by the shepherds and sheep, and the ass, all in full sized
figures, the scene just as realistic as possible. Crowds
were about it, and as it was illuminated, too, it was
quite a show. The image of the child (bambino) is most
highly esteemed, and I think has been supposed to work
miracles.
In the afternoon we went to one of the great churches,
S. Maria Maggiore. The singing was very fine, and then
there was a great procession of men, priests, an arch-
bishop, bearing candles and in the midst a casket, glass
and gold (?) under a great canopy, and in the casket
pieces of the original manger (!), and some of the
straw, and as it passed many fell on their knees. . . .
But all this was our religious Christmas.
One of the last pleasures in Rome was another trip
with Lanciani.
To Huntington Taylor.
NAPLES, Jan. 5, 1896.
MY DEAR HUNT, . . .
We did not leave Rome till Friday. We had planned
for an excursion Tuesday, but it rained hard, and we
spent another morning in the Vatican, looking at the
pictures. Then New Year's day we packed, expecting to
move on Thursday, but Lanciani suggested that we make
the excursion then, and so we waited over. It was worth
while, in a superlative degree. The morning was crisp,
clear, beautiful. It had been cold enough to form thin
ice on fountains and little ponds we passed. We went
by rail to Albano, passing out between the old via Appia
AN INTERLUDE, 1895-1896 135
and via Latina, by tombs of old Romans, by splendid
ruins of aqueducts (and some new ones), on to the Allan
Lake. Across it was the site of Alba Longa, and hack
of it, towering above the other heights, was the site of
the ancient temple of the Latin Federation, intact till
about 1700, when an English Cardinal pulled it down
to build a convent! I can give you no kind of idea of
the beauty of the scene. The lake lies low in the em-
brace of the hills, which rise, range on range, to the
Apennines, now snowcapped. Looking back you see the
stretch of the Roman Campagna, and before you, miles
away, the sea, and the islands down toward Naples. We
drove from there to Gensano, on Lake Nemi, a smaller
lake, imbedded in the hills. In prehistoric times it was
the place of the worship of Diana, a terrible cult derived
from the Chersonesus (the Crimea, you know). One
became its highpriest only by killing his predecessor. It
was gradually purified of the worst elements, and lasted
down to the extinction of Paganism. Lately they have
discovered a vessel at the bottom of the lake, about 200
ft. long, large, you see, for a little lake. It seems to
date from Caligula's time, and was probably a state
barge used by him in celebrating the rites here. A land-
ing-stage has been partially recovered, under water, and
some fine bronze ornaments from it. The bricks used
have on them the stamp of a maker of Caligula's time.
I tell you all this because it is the last archaeological
excitement, and I advise you to watch the North Amer-
ican Review for an article on it by Lanciani.
We drove on to Fraccati, passing that steep hill on
the Appian Way where Horace says the beggars used
to gather to besiege travellers who could not hurry away
from them there.
Then we went through the grounds of a fine villa at
Frascati. A skim of ice, a foot square, in the middle of a
fountain, and just beyond, in the sun, the roses blooming,
and orange trees in sight, that's Italy just now. I have
worn my overcoat more than at home, i.e., from an
136 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
earlier date, but the sun is warm. We are writing in
a room without fire, but the sun comes in, and I have
been standing sometime on the balcony without hat or
overcoat.
I think I will say no more about Rome, unless to tell
you that we lunched at the American Ambassador's last
Monday. The MacVeaghs are very pleasant people, to
begin with, and they occupy a beautiful new palace. Then
the company was fine, and the day was not wasted, you
can see ! ...
In Naples, descriptions of street scenes, the tarantella
and strolling singers are sent to the children and then the
scene shifts to Cairo and the boat up the Nile.
ON THE NILE, near Minieh,
Jan. 12, '96.
MY DEAR CHILDREN, . . .
We had one day in Cairo. Much of it had to be given
to business arrangements, but we drove to see the howling
dervishes in the afternoon. It is a sorry performance,
because it is an old religious ceremony, bad enough, at
best, turned into a show. I can't describe their bowings
and groanings and snortings and gruntings. It was
enough to make one seasick. The worst of it was that
it was evidently only done for pay, for "baksheesh."
But the sights on every hand! The donkeys, the
camels, the strange dress on these dark men, the women
with veiled faces, the mixture of European dress, like a
coat worn over a nightgown, the fezes, the turbans,
the outrunners before the carriages of the royal house-
hold, the donkeyboys following up your donkey with a
stick, all so picturesque, and so different! And to have
for a waiter an elegant looking black with a long silk
gown gathered at the waist and at the ankles, with a
sash, and a fez! But it will all be Europeanized soon.
We did not come too early. Already the streets are full
AN INTERLUDE, 1895-1896 137
of men in our own dress, and the picturesqueness will
disappear.
But we are out of Cairo now, in real Egypt. We are
seeing the very common people, the till now terribly
oppressed fellaheen. Our boat stops at little towns and
many come on to go to the next place, or some other.
How they huddle them in below I don't see. After the
boat was full today they took on over 200 more. The
large flowing dress is of the commonest, the food is a
piece of bread, an onion, if luxurious a piece of cheese,
and just now sugarcane, which people bring to the boat to
sell, at every station.
We saw one great sight today. A crowd was waiting
at a landing, and back of it, on the sandy hill was a mass
of women, crying, waving their hands in grief, and once
in a while one was throwing sand or mud on her gar-
ments and head, the excessive mourning of the orientals.
It was hideously noisy. The men about paid no attention
to all this, and we wondered what it meant. It seems that
some of the young men are drafted into the army, and
they were leaving to be examined for the service. That
was all, and you would have thought all their men had
died. If you could have seen the confusion at that
dock ! How the women who balanced trays of bread and
eggs on their heads ever got through whole, and how
those who were carrying their babies on one shoulder,
the little hands clasped on the mother's head, ever saved
their children's lives, I could not see. And why they
weren't mostly pushed into the river one cannot tell. It
was a great sight for half an hour, and then we sailed
away.
On the banks you see camels and men and asses and
buffaloes and cows, women coming down for water
with their jars and carrying them away on their heads,
men plowing, villages under great palms, the houses
built of Nile mud, and you pass boats, continually, car-
rying the lanteen sails, so picturesque, and loaded with
sugarcane, or men, or once in a while a little ass, or a
138 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
cow, standing in the center, so demure and expectant. It
is a constant series of interesting pictures, and I wish
I could help you to see them.
The letters from the Nile boat describe a stop at As-
siout, an excursion to a temple at Abydos, a search for a
carved Cleopatra on the temple at Denderah, then four
days at Luxor, with a trip to the temple of Karnak and
a long account of the races at the fourth meet of. the
Luxor Sporting Club "a combination of Europe and
Africa/' with sack race for Bishareens, donkey boys'
race, buffalo race, "gentlemen's Egg-and-Spoon race"
(on donkeys !) and a camel race. Through all these runs
a delightful gaiety of description. A letter which gives
vivid pictures of Egypt, ascent of the pyramids, awed
reflections before the mummies of Thotmes and Rameses,
delight in all the wealth of Egyptian civilization in the
Museum, ends with a few vigorous words of sympathy
and advice to the Yale son looking forward to his future
career.
CAIRO, Feb. 2, '96.
Your suggestion in your last letter about business is
worth thinking of, but let us not hurry. ... I like your
idea of a congenial business, that will encourage your
developing literary tastes, but we must take time to see
where we step. I will not push you out of the nest. I
only wish we were going to have you at home, but that
seems impossible. There is nothing for you to do there,
and you must have a wider range. Look about, talk with
your friends, decide nothing, and don't let any fear for
next year deduct from your enjoyment of this, or from
your good use of it to establish and strengthen your
knowledge and culture.
I like what you say of gathering up the ends, or pieces,
AN INTERLUDE, 1895-1896 139
of your knowledge. Keep at that, formulate and
analyze what you know. Know something well and all
will gather about it. Think clearly: school yourself to
that and to exact expression. That will give you the
best use of yourself, and prove your best weapon in the
conflicts of life. Keep up your health, too, this year. . . .
AT SEA, Feb. 9, '96 (en route to Greece).
MY DEAR CHILDREN, . . .
Let me tell you a little more about Egypt, though we
have now left Africa and our faces are toward Europe
once more. If we only had this Sunday at home with
you! How I should enjoy it! And I do not like the
sea, even at its best. How we do want to see you ! But
the time goes fast, as we travel, and we have been away
a good deal more than half our time, now, indeed almost
four months. We have had "lots of fun" and are greatly
enjoying our great opportunity, but we miss you more
than we can tell you.
Cairo "grew" on us as we waited . . . for our sailing
day, and we had a most pleasant stay there. We made a
number of friends and if we had remained longer should
have found our hours very full. The day before we left
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Watson Gilder came and we were
so sorry we had not been up the Nile together. We had a
nice, but brief time with them.
You don't want me to tell you what I learned one
morning about education in Egypt, what they are trying
to do and have done, but you will be interested to hear
that when I went into the various offices, as the Minister
of Public Instruction, e.g., the first thing was to have
a man bring me a little cup of Turkish coffee. After
two cups at breakfast (full size!) these others were
rather superfluous, but one must not refuse. . . . One
morning we visited a mosque where the socalled Univer-
sity is, a Mohammedan affair, and not under the gov-
ernment. All about the great court, under the rows of
columns, or rather the colonnades, men were sitting on
140 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
the matting spread there, men and boys, learning by
heart lessons from the Koran, or the teachings given
them from it. It is very interesting, but a poor kind of
teaching. This is said to be the oldest of Universi-
ties. . . .
We rode our donkeys to old Cairo, one morning, quite
a long and dusty ride. The original town was there,
and how narrow the streets are, not even lanes, but little
spaces between the houses. We went down one to the
Coptic Church, a very old Christian church, out of which
all vital religion long since departed. It is divided by
wooden screens, open work, into spaces, or courts, for
the men and the women, who may not sit, or stand to-
gether even in church. It is a strange old place, below
the level of the street, with its altars hidden from the
sight of the people, with columns gathered from many
different old buildings, and with priests whose one idea
seemed to be to plunder you if they could.
There is an old mosque over there, too, and in it is a
pillar which transported itself suddenly from Mecca by
order of the Caliph. It would not go at first but he finally-
struck it with his whip and it came. At least they show
you the place on the stone where he laid his hand, and
the print of the whip, in the marble.
I could give you no conception of the wonderful
Egyptian Museum, about three miles from Cairo at Gizeh.
We went out three times, on donkeys, and once in a car-
riage. They have gathered all they could there from
tombs and temples, illustrating the life of the people as
well as the religion and the history of the nation. Even
within the year, in a pyramid at Deshur, they found treas-
ures of jewelry which are a delight to the eyes. The ride
out is a thing to remember, especially where we cross
the great bridge over the Nile. Hundreds of camels with
great loads of grass move in dignified procession, while
others are returning having disposed of their loads. Lit-
tle donkeys crowd along, heavily loaded with bags of
grain, or earth, without bridles, and directed by the
AN INTERLUDE, 1895-1896 141
stick of the donkey-boy. Flocks of goats are coming
across to be milked. The low carts, on which sit half
a dozen veiled women, trundle across, drawn by a horse
or donkey, and crowds of men with all kinds and colors
of gowns and turbans. It is a picture full of life and
color.
There was on :e a great city in Egypt, called Heliopolis,
one of the oldest and most famous of the land. It was
the seat of the early worship. Joseph married his wife
there, the daughter of a priest (On, the place is called in
the Bible). Nothing is left there now but an obelisk,
standing . . . half buried, and it was there before Jo-
seph's time, and doubtless he saw it. It seems strange to
look on it. Near it is a tree which they tell you Mary and
Jesus, and the later Joseph, rested under when they fled
to Egypt. Nearby, too, is the surer ostrich farm, where
a man has about 2000 of the huge birds in great
pens. . . . We saw them from five days old, pretty large
chickens ! to six and ten years, and saw and handled the
eggs, too. Of course the feathers are sold, and a large
income is gathered from tourists like ourselves.
Our dissipation was an Arabian theatre! The men
sat in their fezes, i.e., wore them, and of course no women
were seen except such bold ones as your mother, two, I
think. The rest were behind straight curtains of lace in
which holes were made for them to look through. The
play is interspersed with singing, and the man we heard is
one of the famous singers. It is a weird, nasal, droning,
but it affects the people, and at the end of a passage the
whole audience groans in unison, a sign, I suppose, of
deep approval. The costumes were European (of the
actors), and the play was the story of a prince's love dis-
approved by the King. We shall never know how it
ended. On our way there we saw an interesting sight, a
professional story-teller, seated on his crossed legs on a
high bench, telling his story to an interested crowd below,
who pay him for his work. So the "Arabian Nights"
have been told over and over, I suppose.
142 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE^TAYLOR
In 1872 James Taylor had foregone the opportunity
of a trip to Greece with a young professor of Greek, be-
cause of the extra expense involved and because of his
sense of duty about staying in Germany to master the
language. One of the greatest pleasures of this year's
vacation was the long deferred trip. The letters, like a
diary, mark the course to Brindisi, to Corfu, to Patras,
to the Piraeus (still by boat), and then on the first day in
Athens comes the joy of the Acropolis.
To Huntington Taylor.
ATHENS,
Sunday P. M.
Feb. 1 6, 1896.
MY DEAR BOY, . . .
Our first morning, after the cheer of letters from you
all, we strolled through the city up to the Acropolis. We
were bent on impression ( !) not studying the buildings,
as we hope to. The morning was warm, delicious, and
perfectly clear. As we went we saw a funeral procession,
the Greek priests marching ahead, men bearing the body
on a bier, the face uncovered, a custom dating to Solon's
day, they say, and behind the men (no women), friends,
&c, and then the open hearse, empty, and a lot of empty
carriages. They say that later, after they leave the
church, they put the body in the hearse, and the friends
get into the carriages. It was a grim sight to see the dead
man carried along so openly.
The Acropolis does not disappoint you. It was a great
joy to see it that morning in its bath of warm sunshine.
We sat and feasted our eyes on the splendid ruins, Par-
thenon, Erechtheum, Temple of Victory, on the views
over the city, over Mars Hill (Areopagus) and the
Theseum, over the ^Egean and the islands, the Piraeus
and Salamis. It was a delight indeed.
After lunch the Wheelers came for us and we walked
AN INTERLUDE, 1895-1896 143
about Athens, saw the city, shopped, and so on. Yester-
day they took us to Salamis. We drove out by the place
where Plato's Academy was, by the famous ancient olive
trees, part of the way by the sacred road to Eleusis, and
then to the hill, over against Salamis, where they say
Xerxes watched the battle. We climbed up and there
Prof. Wheeler told us all about the great battle, and we
saw just how it all happened, and how the Greeks won
the victory that settled the issue between European and
Asiatic civilization. It was a great opportunity for us to
have such a friend as Prof. Wheeler "in the business."
We came back by the Piraeus and examined the walls a
little. In the afternoon we went to hear Dr. Dorpfeld, the
great German archaeologist, lecture to the "Schools" on
the "precinct of ^Esculapius" and on the ancient temples
near the theatre of Dionysus. These are on the lower
side of the Acropolis. You walk about and he talks with
the text before him, "sermons in stones." I found I could
understand most of it (German) and we enjoyed the
chance though it lasted three hours !
We finished the day with a dinner party at the Wheel-
ers, and came home after eleven, and so you see why
I say we needed a little rest today. . . .
Now I must add a few words of a more personal na-
ture. Your letter of the 26th Jan. was waiting for us
here, and it interested me very much. You mistake when
you imagine that anything you really experience or feel
is not of fullest interest to us. Nothing pleases me more
than to have you express to me your actual feelings about
yourself, your life, your problems. And this indication
in your letter of an experience of pessimistic feeling, hap-
pily conquered in part, or altogether, appeals especially
to me. I suppose you can see some reasons why at the
ttime you mention such thoughts began to grow. You
did not feel right with yourself, in your own heart, and
that would color all your views whether or not you rec-
ognized the fact. But that is not all. When a young
man begins to wake up and think for himself, he is quite
144 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
sure to find many things awry in life and to begin to
question this and that and to find the ground often un-
steady which he had thought firm. Healthy natures like
yours are sure to come through all this, but often after
experiences of discomfort of heart and unhappiness.
My knowledge of all this has led me to urge you to
think of your relations to God, because I am sure this is
the foundation of a right view of the world, and oneself.
It is the center : "the fear of the Lord is wisdom, and to
seek Him with all the heart is understanding," It is
worth everything to one to know that the foundations are
secure. That does not stop questioning, but it brings
the feeling that underneath all our changes is an un-
changing and eternal Abiding. . . .
But I know you will come out of it all even if you
have not already, healthfully. Do not make the mistake
of fancying that you can push off the questions or feel-
ings which come and face them later. Look truth and
fact squarely in the face and adjust your life to them.
You can never get far astray if you are doing that and
keeping your faith simple and your heart sincere. . . .
ATHENS, Feb. 23, 1896.
MY DEAR CHILDREN,
I think I'll not try to tell you more about the ruins:
it is hard to write about them so that they will not be
dull to you. But I'll tell you that we made a fine day's
excursion to Eleusis where were celebrated some of the
best of the old Greek religious rites, and where are very
extensive ruins of the splendid temples, and such a
view of the bay I On the way there we drove through
the vale of Daphne, and visited ruins of a temple of
Aphrodite, too. We lunched in a warm corner of the
temole of Eleusis, we stopped for coffee at little country
corner inns, and saw the country men and the priest,
who in this country is married and is a man among men.
It was all very interesting, and especially as the Wheelers
AN INTERLUDE, 1895-1896 145
were with us, and his knowledge made things clear, and
their society was delightful.
One day I climbed Lycabettus which towers so over
Athens. It was fine, but how it blew! indeed it blew a
cold into me of no small dimensions. On top is a little
chapel, and in it the priest and two plain men were
chanting the service. One poor woman was the audience,
and a dumb man kept the door. He led me in, showed
me the pictures in the church which he had painted,
meanwhile the chanting going on as if we weren't about.
It was a finer picture than any of the daubs which adorn
the little church. . . .
One more classical allusion. Miss Leach will be glad
to hear I was at the meeting of the American School
when young Mr. Andrews, from Cornell, told about the
inscription on the Parthenon. It was a most interesting
tale. You see that there are holes (like big nail holes)
across the east Parthenon frieze. They must have been
made to hold letters of bronze there : everyone knew that.
This young man tried to read the inscription from the
holes. He had to hang on up there on a rope ladder, get
squeezes of the holes, . . . (We saw Dr. Wheeler get,
two fine inscriptions that way, at Eleusis), then try to
see what Greek letters could fit to the nails. I can't
tell you the whole story, but it was wonderful to see
him work out the result and show that this Parthenon
was really dedicated to Nero, in the year 61. Some day
I may tell you how it was all done. The discovery is a
great triumph for our school here. It has been generally
assumed that no one could ever discover the inscrip-
tion.
We have been gay, too, at dinner at the American
School and the Richardsons. . . . Last night, you see,
was Washington's Birthday, and some seventeen of us
dined at the American Minister's, and a good many more
came in afterward. The Minister, Mr. Alexander, was
professor of Greek at the University of North Carolina.
He is a most agreeable man, with a very charming wife
146 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
and daughter, and of course we had a good time. But
you see how much fuller our time has been because our
friends have been so very kind to us.
The stay in Athens was all too short, but the travelers
had to turn their faces westward again and that begin-
ning of the end had at least the compensation of mean-
ing homeward bound. Olympia was visited, then from
Naples trips were made to Pompeii, and to Capri, and the
wonderful drive to Sorrento, Amalfi, and Salerno was
taken. March saw the Taylors back in Rome making
other classical trips (to Tivoli and Hadrian's villa, to
Ostia with Lanciani).
To Huntington Taylor.
ROME, March 15, '96.
One more excursion I made yesterday, to Ostia. I
went with a small and agreeable party from the American
School, and Lanciani as guide and teacher. Ostia, you
know, was Rome's great port. It is almost deserted,
even by the sea which has moved two miles away. But
there is a fine mediaeval castle there, or Renaissance,
since Julius II built it, and an old church and Bishop's
palace, and a community of socialists from Ravenna,
who have drained the swamps and restored 4000 acres
to cultivation, and are working on a wholly cooperative
socialistic basis. But we went to see old Ostia. There
are ruins of a palace, of houses, of a kind of "lodge"
of the Mithras-cult, rof the barracks of the firemen
about which Lanciani writes so interestingly in his book
on Ancient Rome, of a temple to Vulcan (the great thing
they feared in this busy port, with all its merchandise,
was fire), and of even greater interest there, the storage
houses for grain, very extensive, sometimes great rooms
of brick and stone, sometimes a space full of enormous
AN INTERLUDE, 1895-1896 147
jars, holding each a definite amount. The whole place
brings back a time when large ships stopped there and all
the scenes of a really great port transpired. Ostia, how-
ever, was "early and often" robbed of its mar
columns, &c. Lanciani says a great deal of the beaut i hil
cathedral at Pisa is built of stones (marble) taken bodily
from the building of Ostia. . . . We were at church,
and soon go out to say goodby to the Lancianis, and to
sup with the Hales.
The northward traveling included Orvieto, Florence,
Milan, Como and Lugano, with a reminiscence here of the
earlier trip.
PARIS, March 22.
"Then we went on and up, through the valley we
boys walked up on our young trip, past the towns we
lunched in and slept in, (but there was no railroad
then)." Wasen is revisited, Flueln and Lucerne, then
comes a week in Paris, full of rapid sight-seeing. A let-
ter from lodgings in London, written Easter Sunday, is
more leisurely and personal than those from France.
April 5, '96.
MY DEAR CHILDREN,
I would like to write you a little love-letter this morn-
ing, if there were room and time for both love and
London. But it would be the same old story. What
funny things lovers are, anyway, saying the same things
over and over and fancying there is always something
fresh and new in them! I should tell you again what
dear children you are, the very nicest in the world, and
how good you are, and how we appreciate you and all
your efforts to make us happy. I am thinking it just
as if I were writing it out in full with this blunt old
relic of our Italian pens. I have just been reading over
your last letters : they came to us on Wednesday, which
148 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
shows how much nearer home we are now. All of your
letters have been full of comfort and pleasure for us,
just what we have wanted. . . .
We have been out all day, even at meal-times, and
have been home only half an hour. Foggy, drizzle, mud,
too! But what have we done? Been to church. We
went first to hear Dr. Parker, a celebrated Congrega-
tionalist preacher. He has a great church and a large
audience, and he preached well but if I try to tell you
about the sermons I shall never get through my letter.
I heard him in New York in 1873, and here he is as fresh
as ever, and preaching Thursdays at noon as well as
twice on Sundays. Then we strolled down the street,
past old Newgate Prison, by the church whose bell tolls
for every execution, and where Capt. John Smith (of
Virginia) lies buried, St. Sepulchre, by Bread St. where
Milton was born, and Milk St. where Sir Thos. More
first saw light (and was nourished !), by the church called
St. Mary le Bon ("Bon Bells", all who are born in
sound of them being real Londoners, "Cockneys"), and
by the Christ Church School, I ought to have said sooner,
where the boys still wear the yellow leggings and blue
coats, and never wear hats. Near Bread St. was the
Mermaid Tavern where Shakespeare and Ben Jonson
and others used to gather. So it is at every turn : literary
and historical interests confront one incessantly.
We were on our way to the Palace of Pleasure, or
People's Palace, in the East End. Get Miss Wood to tell
you about Besant's novel which suggested it. We were
disappointed to find it shut. So we came back (by under-
ground Railway) to Westminster Abbey, and as soon as
we could get a cup of coffee and bun, near by, hurried
to the Abbey to get a seat. It was full, 20 minutes
before service. After a long time we went around to
the Poets' Corner and found a place but could not hear
well, though enough to know we were losing a good deal
of an excellent sermon by Canon Gore, on the Resurrec-
tion. I sat within fifty feet of Longfellow's bust, and
AN INTERLUDE, 1895-1896 149
on the wall near me was a tablet to Sir Robert Taylor !
Then we took another walk, by Buckingham Palace
and the parks, and then found a restaurant and took our
dinner and came home. . . .
We struck London at the end of Lent, and the English
are the most religious people in the world. Everything
is closed up Good Friday, and as Monday is a Bank
Holiday there is scarcely any business from Thursday
night to Tuesday morning. So last week our first visit
to the famous and splendid Abbey, at 3 P. M., took us to
a service, and sermon by Canon Northcote, before we
could see the building and the monuments of the great
men of England. Then came Good Friday, and we went
to the Temple first, the old church of the Knights Tem-
plar, Crusaders, and on the floor beside you are the
bronze effigies of several of them. There we heard
Canon Ainger. Then we went to St. Pauls, the Cathe-
dral. Another great audience, and an excellent talk by
Canon Newbolt, on one of the seven words from the
cross, "I thirst." He was holding a three hours service,
12-3, consisting of singing, prayer, and a brief address,
then the same programme and another address. A
similar service was going on at the Abbey where we next
went, conducted by Canon Gore, and again a great audi-
ence. You could not be in London at such a time and not
feel the strength of the English character. It is founded
on the rock. . . .
We hope soon to see you and to tell you all you care
to know of what we've seen and done. Our dearest love
to you and kisses for dear Dick. . . .
Your loving
FATHER.
The months in Europe had been a genuine vacation for
the President because he had wisely resigned during
that period all responsibility for the college. His spirit
of self-control and of confidence in his colleagues is
150 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
shown in a letter sent for the annual meeting of the Asso-
ciate Alumnae :
To Miss Mary L. 'Avery.
ROME, ITALY, Dec. 27, '95.
MY DEAR MlSS AVERY !
It is a long look ahead to the February meeting, but
I must send even now my word of greeting to you and
the friends of Vassar. In a few days we shall sail for
Egypt and almost directly up the Nile, and it would
be too easy to lose track of time amid the scenes of that
almost timeless life.
Even there, however, as here and now, when my
thoughts go back to Vassar, all will seem but a faraway
step in the evolution toward our own great work. Ruins,
temples, triumphs of a Titus or a Rameses, seem lifeless
enough when I am recalled to the actual work of life, and
that phase of it which absorbs so much interest. Yet the
quality of my thought about it all is different from that
which I have known for years. Not a whit less does
Vassar bulk in my horizon: not at all less deep is my
abiding interest in all her daughters, but the care for
the education of others is for a time absorbed in atten-
tion to my own neglected training, and I am thinking of
the college as serenely as if it had no needs, and as con-
tentedly as if it had already realized our ideals. Anxiety
I have transferred to my patient and admirable colleagues
and friends. I know absolutely nothing of the work
which has claimed all my thoughts, save as the new cata-
logue has just brought me information of a few changes.
Best of all, this gives me an opportunity to think of the
larger, happier side of the college, and my joy in it, in
its progress, in its promise, in its membership, in its
Alumnae grows apace.
But one gain of my absence is, or should be, on your
side, and if I write longer, the variety of your anniversary
without a speech from the President will be destroyed.
So let me send you a hearty wish for the prosperity of
AN INTERLUDE, 1895-1896 151
your association, and an assurance of my own deep grati-
tude to you all for encouragement beyond expres
and above all, a hope for the strengthening and the
broadening and the bettering of the college which justly
claims our loyalty and our love.
Faithfully yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR. 1
The Vassar Miscellany' 2 ' records the celebration of
Doctor and Mrs. Taylor's return to the college on April
twenty-third, 1896. At five o'clock the students gathered
on either side of the drive from the lodge to the porte-
cochere and when the carriage appeared, they fell in
behind, and cheering continuously and singing, escorted
it to the door. In the evening at the reception given by
the students, Doctor Taylor told them that "in all his
six months' delightful travel he had experienced no pleas-
ure so great as that which he felt in his hearty welcome
home."
Vassar at last was to give her President and his fam-
ily a real home, for during this year the President's
House was in process of erection, that delightful, low
country house of brown brick, from whose steps Doctor
Taylor was to address so many classes and reunions of
Vassar women. A letter written to Mr. Rossiter, the
architect, before Doctor Taylor had sailed for Europe
(Oct. 9, '95) is peculiarly characteristic of the Presi-
dent's gift for making a business letter genial and con-
veying the disagreeable with disarming courtesy. Mr.
Rossiter had to be told that his first plans, charming in
themselves, involved far too much expense in erection and
1 Vassar Misc. vol. XXV, '95-96, pp. 331-2.
"Vol. XXV. '95-'<)6, pp. 385-6.
152 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
maintenance and that certain cherished features would
probably have to be relinquished. Doctor Taylor shares
the disappointment of the architect, but reminds him
philosophically :
"After all, my dear Mr. Rossiter, we educators are a
humble set, and if we find ourselves living in palatial
residences we may forget the high thinking as well as
the plain living, and give ourselves, if I may mix a figure
or two, to the flesh pots of Egypt."
The beautiful house when finished showed no lack
of charm and the spirit of its open hall and wide porch
expressed fittingly the hospitality that the rooms in the
Main Building had already extended to happy guests.
Another satisfaction for the President on his return to
the college came shortly after when in May Mr. John D.
Rockefeller promised to meet a long-felt need by giving
a recitation hall and the trustees voted to erect a resi-
dence hall, made necessary by growing numbers. With
such practical assurances of confidence and support in
his work, President Taylor again took up the responsi-
bilities of the college.
CHAPTER VI
Work Resumed: The Call to
Brown, 1896-1899
"It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it
is easy in solitude to live after your own; but the
great man is he who, in the midst of the
crowd, keeps with perfect sweetness
the independence of solitude/'
Emerson.
THE next four years of Doctor Taylor's life ended with
so epochal an event that they stand out as a distinct
period culminating in an unusual demonstration of what
his whole activity for the college had signified. Life in
a country college carries the community along usually
in an even tenor with regular schedule of classes, long
hours in the library, free out-door sports, the familiar
college activities dramatics, debating informal enter-
taining and frequent visits from distinguished guests,
the world coming, as Emerson testified for the phi-
losopher, to the Young who stay in their college home
to be educated. No one can tarry in such a college as
Vassar and not feel its spell, its Vergilian quiet of setting
in reducta voile, its free and happy chance of making
friends through bonds of common work and shared
ideals. Everywhere the spirit of youth dominant. Few
old people, little dying. Life and growth in girls and
153
154 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
trees. A certain verve and eagerness in the air. To one
who senses it all such a world can never be dull or
stultifying. And for Doctor Taylor it was life, a new
life after the months away of refreshment and self-
education (as he described his vacation).
One of the most obvious and exacting duties of a
President was public speaking, involving as it did rail-
way journeys and sleeping cars, audiences strange and
familiar, the need of time for preparation when there
was no time, and as accompaniments of speeches for
the traveler, visiting, dinners, receptions. Doctor Tay-
lor's recorded speeches during the four years, '96-' '99,
show such a range as this: at Vassar itself not only cus-
tomary chapel talks, commencement speeches and bac-
calaureate sermons, but speeches before special organiza-
tions, the Teachers' Club, the Hellenic Society; in
Poughkeepsie a public lecture on "Some Lessons from the
Republic across the Sea," a talk on "Egypt" before the
Vassar Students' Aid Society, three lectures before the
Vassar Brothers Institute (on "The Ethics of Politics,"
"The Significance of the Citizens' Union Movement,"
"The War : Profit and Loss"), and an address before the
Daughters of the American Revolution. Talks before
educational institutions include speeches at Lehigh Uni-
versity, at an Oberlin dinner, and before the summer
school of Cornell University ; and speeches at many high
schools and private schools. Educational gatherings in
many cities also claimed his voice, and Vassar alumnae in
many cities held meetings at which the President spoke.
One wonclers how he could have given himself so unre-
mittingly and yet always so acceptably. Few ever went
away from listening to Doctor Taylor without being im-
WORK RESUMED, 1896-1899 155
pressed by a great personality and feeling that he had
said something worth while.
What are some of the things he said which stand out
in this time ? Three themes, all growing out of his con-
ception of the great teacher, seem to dominate his mes-
sage, the teaching of morals in all true education, the
proper place of pedagogy in the teacher's equipment, and
the right of women to a liberal education. In an address
on "Should the State teach Morals?" 1 Doctor Taylor
maintained that the state should not teach religion since
indeed "the one great discovery of America has been
that declaration of our own Constitution of the absolute
separation of church and state," but that the state is in
duty bound to teach morals, directly training its youth
in "fundamental notions of righteousness," for both pri-
vate and public life, and indirectly as well, by the force
of practice and example, and therein lies the secret of
success. "After all, when you think over all the great
teachers you know, and I am sure that all of us have
known some great teachers; when you think over the
greatest teachers that you have known, what will you
say was the abiding force in them, and in their influence
over our lives? I have no hesitation in saying regarding
the two or three greatest teachers whose influence I felt
in my own education, notwithstanding their brilliant in-
tellectual powers and their keenness as mere instructors,
the force which they left upon my own life was the im-
pelling power of their great personalities, the power
which somehow in a man takes hold of the life of another
man and brings him to sight and to insight, which be-
comes an impulsive force in his life, and which brings
1 In "New York Education," May 20, '98.
156 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
into our own lives the joy and the strength of the vision
which he has looked upon. That is the force of the
teacher's life after all, whatever his intellectual keenness
and greatness. That is the secret of the power of
Socrates, of Comenius, Pestalozzi, Wayland, Robinson,
Anderson, or of any of the greatest names that you have
known in your own history or in the general history of
education. It is true of every one of them. It was their
personality, the power of a heart and a soul that believe
in truth and believe in communicating that truth whatever
it was to the hearts of other men. It was not because
Arnold was a great master of Latin that he accomplished
what he did at Rugby; it was because Arnold got into
the hearts of the boys before him that he made them
greatest in church and state in England. Every one of
us feels the impulse of some life that has influenced us
to some extent and made us feel the power of its own
visions and the power of its own truth. Unless lives
have that, whatever may be their intellectual attainment,
they must fail as teachers. No teacher can be great
without this, and no great teacher can fail to communi-
cate part of this to the souls of those to whom he speaks.
No advanced course can take the place of it, and no
pedagogical training, however thorough, can stand in-
stead of it in that great work which it is our highest
privilege to be engaged in, the teaching of the young how
to live.' 1
This vision of a great teacher dominates an address
on "The Place of Pedagogy in the Training of the
Teacher" and another on "The College Graduate before
the Law" in both of which Doctor Taylor takes issue
with the formalism that makes the science of teaching
WORK RESUMED, 1896-1899
157
more essential than knowledge and than spirit. Not be-
littling the well-balanced study of the science and the his-
tory of teaching, he would show their true place in the
teacher's equipment.
Doctor Taylor was never more eloquent than when de-
scribing the true meaning and scope of woman's educa-
tion. In an address delivered at Cooper Union, New
York, Dec. '98, he reviewed the emancipation brought
about for woman by the Civil War and claimed as fun-
damental preparation for woman's broader work in home,
church, and state her "right to full opportunity to enjoy
the privilege of college and university training, unham-
pered in her choice of studies by any consideration of
sex." After urging against the biological point of view
and the practical, that their criticisms might as justly be
hurled against liberal education for men who face father-
hood and support of a home, Doctor Taylor remarked
that "the underestimation of the importance of the work
(woman's education) as compared with man's are due
simply ( i ) to the overweening pride of man in estimat-
ing his part in life; (2) to the forgetfulness of his own
debt to women; (3) to blindness as to the enormous in-
fluence of woman, in home, society, church, and state."
After hearing such utterances, the alumnae of the college
felt that a leader and champion had been found.
As long as he remained at Vassar, Doctor Taylor was
not only President, but Professor, conducting at first
courses in both psychology and ethics, then finally limit-
ing his teaching to one senior course in ethics. With the
modern science of psychology and its laboratory method,
Doctor Taylor had no orientation, wisely relinquishing
the subject when he found a satisfactory professor. But
158 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
ethics, to him the synthesis of education, he retained as
an opportunity for acquaintance with the students
through the class-room and for impressing upon them di-
rectly that "moral law'* which was to him the foundation
and culmination of education. His relation to the stu-
dents in the class-room is mirrored in much light verse,
for it became a happy college custom that each senior
class on the evening after its final examination in ethics
should serenade the President with a humorous Song.
Around the steps of the President's house the seniors
would gather and lustily chant such strains as these :
"Now our Exam is over,
It's not utility
That makes us serenade you,
But Social Sympathy.
The motive that controls us
Is a force that is innate;
It's natural affection
Not pre-ordained by Fate.
That we can now distinguish
Pushpin from Poetry
We owe to you, dear Prexy,
Our Moral Faculty.
Though Hedonists by nature
You and Conscience teach us still
To cultivate our Reason
And Freedom of the Will.
Another class after reviewing learnedly and at length
Aristotle's teachings in rhymed couplets ends sud-
denly :
"But the best of the course, dear Prexy, was YOU."
The same truth about Doctor Taylor's teaching was
voiced in serious words by President Hadley of Yale:
"It has been said that a man's best work is his uncon-
WORK RESUMED, 1896-1899 159
scious work; and I suspect that the best teaching of
psychology and of philosophy which Doctor Taylor ever
did was at times when he least suspected it. He taught
practical psychology by understanding the working of
other people's minds; he taught practical philosophy by
getting the values of different parts of life as nearly
right as he could; and his students learned by example
not only to know these things but to do them." Certainly
many felt that the greatest value of the required course
in ethics was that it gave the students an opportunity
to know the man better, and for those members of the
ethics classes to whom the inherent nature of the sub-
ject, or the constructive method by which it was treated
or their own radicalism were barriers to real understand-
ing, often later reminiscence brought a different view.
A great responsibility was felt by Doctor Taylor
towards the general religious life of the college. How
little this appeared on the surface is shown perhaps by
the fact that few who have written about his work have
stressed his religious leadership. Yet what the wellspring
of his life was has already appeared in many letters, and
those who heard him lead chapel night after night, or
those to whom he delivered his baccalaureate charges,
know how his spiritual sense made the warp of his life's
fabric.
The sermons of these years grow partly out of wars
and rumors of war in the world and give expression to
the inevitable need of the eternal conflict by which the
kingdom of God must be maintained: that strange true
paradox of pure religion, endless warfare, yet peace
that passeth understanding ; the never-concluded struggle,
yet the victory that overcometh the world. As Doctor
160 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
Taylor, knowing his college world and the seniors he
was sending out from it, presented them in baccalaureate
charge with the standards he would have them unfurl,
many a young Joan of Arc heard voices and saw visions
that guided her to the end. Sometimes, too, when con-
flict proved almost disastrous, the young warriors would
go back to their general for new directions in the field.
This power to help the individual was a great part of the
President's work.
Speech-making, teaching, preaching were combined
with detailed business administration, and a college
president of this time had to be a financier and business
manager as well as an educator and spiritual leader. As
chairman of the executive committee of the trustees and
member of their board, Doctor Taylor had a share in
every part of the business management of the college, as
well as in the work of raising educational endowment and
emergency funds. No detail in the intricate organization
escaped his notice. The man in charge of the grounds,
the farmer, the engineer all realized that a piece of work
left undone or executed in a slovenly fashion would soon
meet with kindly but uncompromising criticism. This
was sure to be accompanied by an intelligent suggestion
of remedy, for in any difficulties the President sought
and took expert advice on the matter in question. Noth-
ing was too small for his animadversion, nothing too
large. His eye was on every part of the financial man-
agement, and his ability not only secured thousands for
endowment, but saved thousands.
At the same time the President was of course chairman
of the faculty, presided at all their meetings, acted as
consultant with Heads of Departments on all depart-
WORK RESUMED, 1896-1899 161
mental problems and helped make the new curriculum by
sharing in faculty discussions and by creating new chairs,
thus extending the range of subjects taught. A new inr
structor or professor would rarely be engaged without a
personal interview with the president. Part of his work
at this period was also that of a Dean, interviews witK
parents about students, interviews with students for ad-
vice about their own future or some critical situation in
their college life.
And however graciously a "Lady Principal" at Vassar
might fulfill her social functions, Doctor Taylor was the
head of the social life of the college which centered in
his home. There the visiting preacher was entertained
every Sunday. There lecturer or musician went to talk
after lecture or concert. Faculty took their guests there,
alumnae their children, undergraduates their parents.
And the unfailing hospitality of Mrs. Taylor, the sense
of geniality and leisure which surrounded Doctor Taylor
on his busiest days were convincing proof that the latch-
string was always out.
Of course the President was supported in all his func-
tions by able helpers among trustees, faculty, alumnae,
and students ; but even with such aid he had to meet de-
mands on his time, which were all-comprehensive in char-
acter and without regard for human limitations. As
colleges grew, greater specialization of work was needed,
and eventually the President's responsibilities were in part
distributed among trustee committees, faculty committees,
Treasurer, Dean, Wardens, Honor Court of Students,
but these years of Doctor Taylor's administration (1896-
1899) were before such division of the President's su-
162 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
preme responsibility, and his complex office made the
most exacting demands.
How he had fulfilled these in the eyes of the educa-
tional world and the Vassar constituency is proved by
the events of '99. In December of that year it became
known very suddenly that Doctor Taylor had been elected
President of Brown University. And as the newspapers
of the country generally assumed his acceptance, the Vas-
sar world was in deep distress. 1
The facts about Doctor Taylor's election will be seen
from his letters at the time.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.
Dec. 3ist, '98.
Rev. A. H. Hovey, D.D., LL.D. :
Chairman,
DEAR SIR,
I have concluded to allow your committee to present
my name to the Corporation on the basis of the under-
standing we reached at the meeting of Tuesday evening.
We agreed that my acceptance of this honor from your
committee would be an intimation on my part of a dis-
position to consider favorably an election by the Corpora-
tion, but that it would not be construed as a pledge of a
final affirmative decision, since I am not at liberty, upon
our understanding, to broach the question to my own trus-
tees and alumnae and other friends of Vassar until after
the election. This seemed to you all the better way, as
otherwise public knowledge of the matter would become
almost a certainty before your corporation could meet.
I could wish that I might give you a more definite an-
swer, but none will appreciate more than your able and
courteous committee, how much is due to those here
1 For the history of Brown University at the time see "The His-
tory of Brown University, 1764-1914," by Walter C. Bronson.
WORK RESUMED, 1896-1899 163
whose interests are now my own. To decide such an issue
without full consultation with them would be impossible,
and could not be asked.
With the fullest appreciation of the kindness of your
committee id of the great honor done me, I am, with
high regard,
Very respectfully yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
Within a week after this letter Doctor Taylor received
the following telegram :
Feb. 8, 1899.
Rev. Jos. M. Taylor
You are unanimously and heartily elected by the cor-
poration for President of Brown University. Letter
follows.
ALVAH HOVEY,
Chairman.
On receipt of this news Doctor Taylor sent to Mr.
Hovey a formal and a personal letter.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.,
President's Office.
Feb. n, 1899.
Rev. A. H. Hovey, D.D.,
Chairman :
DEAR SIR,
I have received from you. the official communication
of my election to the presidency of Brown University.
I appreciate most deeply the honor thus conferred upon
me and the confidence expressed by the unanimous vote
of your Corporation. The supremely important deci-
sion of the question of the rival claims of my present
work and of the new field to which I am invited calls for
the fullest consideration and the wisest counsel, but I
164 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
shall try to reach a conclusion as soon as possible, and I
trust that I shall be so guided that the decision may be
for the highest interests of both Vassar and Brown.
Again expressing my appreciation of the great honor
bestowed upon me,
I am
Respectfully yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
February n, 1899.
MY DEAR DR. HOVEY ;
I have your favor of the 8th inst. this morning an-
nouncing my election as President of Brown University.
I deeply feel the honor of the election and the confidence
expressed by the unanimous vote of the Corporation. I
conclude from your letter that the official letter of the
Trustees will be sent to me by the Secretary, Dr. Ander-
son, and that this reply to you is rather personal than an
official recognition of the honor done me. If I am mis-
taken in this and should send my acknowledgment to you
instead of to the Secretary, from whom I have not yet
heard, you will kindly inform me and I will write at once.
And now, my dear Doctor, comes the valley, and it is by
no means a bright and clear one for me. As I told you
in my letter permitting the use of my name, I must hear
from the Vassar side now, and I am beginning to hear
from it in no uncertain tones. The question is seeming
to me to resolve itself into this : can I by going to Brown
University with its larger environment, though not in-
trinsically speaking its larger educational work, perhaps
so develop and broaden my own powers as to enable me
to do a better work for Brown University than I can do
for Vassar College? I am really deeply puzzled, drawn
toward Brown influenced greatly by your own kindness
and by the courtesy of your Committee, by the extremely
kind letters which I am receiving from members of the
Board and of the Faculty, and yet on the other hand
WORK RESUMED, 1896-1899 165
moved greatly by the assurances that come from such
men as Dr. Lathrop and Dr. Elmendorf that my work
seems to them essential at Vassar, and that I shall im-
peril great interests if I leave. I am not convinced of
that, and of course it is the grave question which I am
to settle. I am seeking counsel from a number of friends
in whose judgment I have great confidence, and it is not
impossible that I may decide to go on to Providence be-
fore settling this question, and even to Newton that I
may confer personally with you. I have never been in
a more trying place, you may be sure, nor in one where I
needed more fully the counsel and sympathy and prayer
of my friends. I would be glad to know if anything was
said about the time that I might take in making my deci-
sion or if you have any judgment to offer upon that sub-
ject yourself. For us here, for you emphatically, for my-
self and my family, the question needs to be decided as
soon as possible, but it must not be forgotten that it must
be decided in the midst of a great many duties that are
daily pressing upon me and of engagements already made
that I must fulfill.
Faithfully yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
Doctor Taylor did not indeed lack advice in the deci-
sion that confronted him. The letters of educators from
all over the country that poured in upon him are alike in
only one point, satisfaction in the public recognition of
the high quality of his work. Certain university presi-
dents assured him that he would make the mistake of a
lifetime if he did not accept. Other educators insisted
that he would be deserting the cause of the higher educa-
tion of women. One correspondent oracularly pro-
claimed: "If the call to Brown means promotion, I re-
joice with you. If it means temptation, I pray for
you."
166 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
No such conflicting or doubtful opinions came from
Vassar itself. The trustees sent resolutions to Doctor
Taylor, the faculty sent an appeal to the trustees, the
alumnae appealed by branches to the trustees or to Doc-
tor Taylor himself. The Students' Association and the
Senior Class wrote their desires to him and floods of in-
dividual letters poured in upon the President's delibera-
tions. The intense character of the protests raised can
be appreciated by reading a few of the most signifi-
cant.
NEW YORK, Feb. 24, '99.
At a Special Meeting of the Trustees of Vassar Col-
lege, held in the City of New York, on the 24th day
of February 1899, a quorum being present, the following
resolutions were unanimously adopted.
Resolved, that we have heard with great regret that
Dr. James M. Taylor is considering a call to the Presi-
dency of Brown University, and that it is our earnest
desire that he should remain at Vassar College as its
President, and continue the work in which he has achieved
eminent success; and that it is our profound conviction
that the best interests of the College demand that his
relations to it shall not be severed.
Resolved : that we hereby pledge to President Taylor
our continued confidence, and our cordial co-operation in
seeking to meet the pressing needs of the College, that it
may hold its place as the leading educational institution
for women in our country.
EDWARD ELSWORTH,
Secretary.
Feb. 10, 1899.
To the honorable Board of Trustees,
GENTLEMEN :
We, the undersigned, the Faculty of Vassar College,
while deeply sensible of the honor, richly deserved, that
WORK RESUMED, 1896-1899 167
Brown University has shown Dr. Taylor in offering him
its presidency, believe that Vassar College is thereby
threatened with an irremediable loss. We desire, there-
fore, to express to you our great appreciation of all that
Dr. Taylor has done in the past to further the best in-
terests of the college and our conviction that, under his
administration, its future growth and prosperity are as-
sured. We also wish to express the deep sorrow we
should feel, officially and personally, if we were to lose
a president whose character and attainments have so com-
pletely won our confidence and loyalty. And we venture
to hope that you will use your best endeavors to induce
him to remain in the position that he has filled so for-
tunately for the college and with such honor to him-
self.
The names of 51 members of the faculty follow. Two
letters from individual members of the faculty are signifi-
cant.
OBSERVATORY,
VASSAR COLLEGE,
Feb. 21, 1899.
DEAR DR. TAYLOR,
I have wanted to say something to you about the great
and pressing question awaiting your decision, and yet I
have hesitated, lest my eager devotion to the "cause" of
woman's education might give a bias that was not alto-
gether just, not to your best good (I know that is not the
Burden of your problem) but to the best good. I have
felt the profoundest sympathy for you, while I have felt
the deepest anxiety for Vassar. But as the days go on, I
grow more confident in my view, and I am going to say
my say, knowing you will take it kindly, and will under-
stand that there isn't the least atom of urging or begging
about it.
I believe the success you have brought to Vassar is
something that is peculiarly your own, and is not what
168 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
another could have done, however earnes^and eager the
effort, and I believe it is a larger and more important
work than that represented at Brown because one not
receiving its just attention and what is more important,
not receiving its just estimate even in the minds of many
of its advocates. I have waited for years to hear the
broad opinion which you expressed in New York on Feb.
4, and when I realize how few of even the most advanced
thinkers can give sincere expression to that breadth of
view, I feel there is no other to take your place here.
Brown may need force and devotion, and would secure
them in you. You have given them to Vassar but you
have given it something greater still, that Brown does
not need.
But whatever your decision I shall know that it rests
upon your best interpretation of the tremendous "I
ought," and before that, my New England conscience
will bow without demur, but if my dear cause loses, I shall
be unutterably sorry.
Very sincerely yours
MARY W. WHITNEY.
Feb. n, '99.
MY DEAR PRESIDENT TAYLOR,
The announcement in the daily papers of your call to
Brown was accompanied by the statement of your inten-
tion to consult your friends before reaching a decision.
Counting myself among the number of your friends, and
one most interested in the decision I want to make an
appeal to you not to leave us. I cannot endure the
thought of it. It does not seem as if I could stay here
myself if you were to leave. You must not go. There
is no other way to put it.
So many reasons demand expression that one does not
know where to begin. One I wish especially to press.
You have a very remarkable hold on the college in its
broadest life, a power very unusual in college presidents,
in the cordial loyal support of trustees, faculty, students
WORK RESUMED, 1896-1899 169
and alumnae without exception. However full of criti-
cism the air may be no word of it touches you. All
our petty jealousies and disagreements are harmless be-
cause we have in you a coordinating center in whose wis-
dom and justice and utter reliability we all have absolute
confidence. You belong to us all by right of personal af-
fection. No one else could ever fill this place to the same
extent. It would take years for the worthiest of men
to establish himself in our confidence at all. Now here is
Vassar College, at the head of women's colleges, by virtue
of our history and what you have made us. If we are
to hold this place we must have the same leadership.
There are problems yet to be worked out, . . . and the
friction of adjusting influences which imagine themselves
to be conflicting will never come to the public attention
if you remain at the head. The life of the college is won-
derfully sane and honest because everybody trusts the
honesty of the President. This life must become a tradi-
tion through long years of the same influence and the
same policy which no one but you can give. Your work
here is not completed. It is just fairly begun. . . .
Most cordially yours,
CHAS. W, MOULTON.
The letter from the Boston Branch may stand for the
appeals of the Alumnae.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS,
1 8. February, 1899.
DEAR DR. TAYLOR,
The report that you had been called to the presidency
of Brown University and the confident tone in which
your acceptance of the call was predicted by the press,
brought the New England Alumnae of Vassar together
last Thursday in such numbers as would have convinced
you they were deeply moved by this startling intelligence.
Members came from points as far distant as Concord,
New Hampshire and Providence, Rhode Island. Many
170 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
letters were received from Alumnae who were unable to
be present. Twenty-two classes were represented, either
in person or by letter. It is no exaggeration to say that
the feeling expressed at the meeting was a combination
of grief and dismay. But we were not utterly without
hope, knowing that you are deeply attached to the Col-
lege and that you will not sacrifice its interests, unless
you are convinced you can do more to advance the cause
of education in the new field open to you. . . .
You came at a crisis in its history. Without criticism
of the past or promises for the future, you entered upon
your work and soon reversed the whole policy of the
institution, yet so quietly was this done, that only the
watchful eyes of the alumnae at first detected the change.
Soon, however, the public became aware that radical
changes were taking place in the College ; that its educa-
tional requirements were of higher character; that it was
establishing new departments; that its students were in-
creasing in numbers; that it was receiving new endow-
ments which took form in professorships and scholar-
ships, laboratories and dormitories; that its president
and professors were in demand as experts in meetings of
educators and on important educational committees.
Your work at Vassar has been marked not only by these
notable practical results, but during the twelve years of
your presidency, you have developed and enunciated a
theory of women's education more sane and sound than
any previously held. You have fully realized that in
our sex must be developed that potent influence for the
world's good which can only find its source in a broad
and generous culture. ... In wise pursuance of this
theory you have steadily resisted the temptation to make
Vassar a university. We alumnae believe in this theory ;
we believe also that you are the man to develop it. With
you at its head, there is the possibility of unlimited
growth for the College within the lines which you have
drawn. With another President, Vassar's policy is likely
to be radically changed and the possible result no one likes
WORK RESUMED, 1896-1899 171
to contemplate. You have proven by the remarkable
success you have achieved that you have special fitness
for the work which Vassar offers. Our personal loyalty
to you, which is no mere phrase, our loyalty to our own
highest ideals of fellow-service, both bid us stand back,
if the broader opportunity for you lies elsewhere. That
we cannot think it does, we hope is due to no blind par-
tisanship for our Alma Mater. There you have already
won an enviable reputation, which would, we venture
to think shine all the brighter should you refuse to leave
the institution which you have re-created and which, we
confidently trust may, year by year, become more worthy
to retain you as its chief officer.
In the earnest hope that until the three score years
and ten, or perchance the four score, shall fix the natural
limit to your service, we may not separate your name
from that of Vassar College, we have the honor to sub-
scribe ourselves,
Faithfully yours,
FLORENCE M. GUSHING, '74,
ELLEN M. FOLSOM, '71,
ALLA W. FOSTER, '72,
HELOISE E. HERSEY, '76.
LEONORA HOWE, '94,
Committee from the Boston Branch.
The voice of the students was no less emphatic.
STUDENTS* ASSOCIATION,
VASSAR COLLEGE.
To PRESIDENT TAYLOR:
The call which has come to President Taylor from
Brown University, together with the possibility of his
acceptance, seems of such serious import that the stu-
dents wish unanimously to express their feeling regard-
ing the matter.
We feel that we cannot sufficiently emphasize our ap-
172 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
preciation of the great work which President Taylor has
done for Vassar.
We know that he has not only materially broadened
and advanced the college but that his earnest spirit and
high ideals have so influenced the hundreds of students
who have come into contact with him that they must and
always will identify them with the spirit and ideals of
Vassar.
Moreover, if we should lose one for whom we have so
deep an admiration and affection, we not only feel that
we, the present members of the student body, should suf-
fer a great and personal loss, but we believe also that
the future loss to the college would be one which would
be irreparable.
We cannot, therefore, refrain from expressing our
hope that it may seem right to President Taylor to con-
tinue the great work which he has been doing for Vassar.
Respectfully submitted in behalf of the Students' As-
sociation,
EMMA Lou GARRETT, '99,
MABEL RAY, '99, } Com.
ESTELLB ARMSTRONG, 'oo,
The method by which Doctor Taylor made his decision
is so characteristic of his intellectual honesty and clarity
of thinking that I wish I might print facsimiles of the
memoranda that lie before me. First, a sheet of paper
labeled, "Reasons pro and contra." This memorandum
ends with the question : "Am I called on to believe that
I am so 'essential' here? Can I be, so as to lead me to
disregard considerations of family, larger opportunities,
probabilities of a more expanding work in a surely larger
environment? Selfish considerations should of course
have no weight, but are they selfish, when they bear on
a question of one's possibly larger power and larger
WORK RESUMED, 1896-1899 173
sphere ?" Accompanying this are two large sheets labeled
"V. C. considerations contra," "V. C. From letters and
conversations. Pro." The decision made by this care-
ful balancing was announced in a final letter of declina-
tion.
To the Reverend Alvah Hovey, D.D., Chairman.
March i, '99.
DEAR SIR:
I have given careful consideration to the call extended
to me by the corporation of Brown University, and have
examined both sides of the question suggested to me with
all the wisdom I could.gain. In allowing my name to be
presented to your board we agreed "that my acceptance
of this honor from your committee would be an intima-
tion on my part of a disposition to consider favorably
an election by the corporation but that it would not be
construed as a pledge of a final affirmative decision, since
I am not at liberty, upon my understanding, to broach the
question to my own trustees and alumnae and other
friends of Vassar until after the election." From the
day of my election till now I have therefore sought the
counsel of friends of both institutions, and have at-
tempted with their aid to make clear to myself the path
of duty.
I have most deeply appreciated the honor done me by
the corporation. My very high estimate of the work
and worth of Brown University, and of the possibilities
before it, the cordial assurance of welcome given me by
the trustees and faculty, the alumni and students, and
the rare opportunities of usefulness offered by the situa-
tion and influence of the University, have combined to
attract me to it.
As I have deliberated upon the issues at stake, how-
ever, through these weeks, I have been impressed, with
increasing force, that these conditions are overbalanced
by the interests which would be imperiled by my leaving
174 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
my present office. This conclusion has been reached
slowly under the influence of a weight of assurance from
the trustees, faculty, alumnae, and students of Vassar, and
friends of education unrelated to Vassar, that I cannot
set aside. I have been made to feel that the resignation
of my duties here would be construed by most observers,
despite my own honest protest, as an assertion that the
type of work for which Vassar stands is of less import-
ance than that of a college mainly devoted to men. I have
been convinced, against my earlier judgment, that the
chances of disintegration which come with every change
would be very grave, just now, for Vassar, and that her
work might be hindered for years, at least till a new
leader should have gained the confidence of the College
and its alumnae. I have been persuaded, too, that in the
present juncture, where new problems as to the very na-
ture of woman's education are being raised, the presence
of one here who has had long experience in the work, and
knows its interests and its limitations, may be of grave
importance. It has seemed to me, too, that there are
more men willing to give their best service to the educa-
tion of men than there are to give a like earnest service
for woman's education. I have been convinced, also,
that the position offered me would present no greater op-
portunity for usefulness than that I now hold. The
chance of directly influencing the life of one's time
through the young men of a great college is alluring, but
indirectly, and in an increasing degree directly, the in-
fluence of the educated woman in the home, the school,
the church, the state, and society can hardly be accounted
as holding the second place. In this conclusion I have
been sustained by a large number of men unrelated to
either institution.
The value of a continuous work, and of a tradition
well established, the risks of a change to a college already
beloved and to which the best of my life has been given,
the danger of casting a reflection on a work which I
believe to be of equal worth with the worthiest, the at-
WORK RESUMED, 1896-1899 175
traction of developing plans already formed on the basis
of what has been accomplished, have outweighed the
great attractions of the place tendered me, and the more
than kind assurance of unanimous support from the cor-
poration, faculty, and alumni of Brown. I can never
cease to have a deep affection for the institution which
has so honored me. My only regret is that I have been
compelled by this growing conviction of duty to disap-
point your hope. I anticipate great prosperity for Brown,
and trust that it may soon obtain a president who shall
lead the university more ably and successfully than I could
have hoped to do.
With assurances of highest regard and gratitude, I am
yours respectfully,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
The Miscellany of '98-^99 * tells the way in which the
news was announced at Vassar. "To those who knew of
Dr. Taylor's presence at college it was very significant
that Mrs. Kendrick led chapel Wednesday evening of
March i, and when she stepped forward after the prayer
there was a tense stillness. But her first words, 'It is not
often that one is the bearer of such joyful* were not
out of her mouth before a storm of applause broke forth
which continued for many minutes only ceasing to allow
Mrs. Kendrick to finish her announcement. Then the
whole college left the chapel and hurried over to Dr.
Taylor's house where, in response to renewed applause,
the president spoke a few appropriate words."
Among the voices from the educational world at large
which expressed approval of this decision was that of
Benjamin Ide Wheeler (now President of the University
of California), the friend of Athens days.
'P. 277.
176 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
CORNELL UNIVERSITY,
ITHACA, New York.
MY DEAR FRIEND:
I am greatly disappointed. As a Brown man I wanted
you to say "yes." As your friend, I was less insistent.
As a friend of good education I was on the fence. In
the present tense I am convinced you have done right.
I told you I should be anyway, and I am. The returns
are all in and with settled mind I review the battle-field,
and see this : you have put Vassar some pegs higher in
the scale; you have made an epochemachendes contribu-
tion to woman's education in the roaming consciousness
of the folk, for a woman's college now has a president
that to all certainty is not occupied in woman's education
for the bald reason that he could not be occupied in man's ;
you have proved your loyalty to your college; you have
'inspired its constituency to new and stronger support;
you have identified your life-work with that movement
in education which constitutes America's most distin-
guished contribution to the world's experience. On the
whole the last is the best. Vassar represents the sanest
of educational endeavors for women. . . .
It would be impossible to recount the expressions of
gratification that came to Doctor Taylor. The college
gave vent to its joy in characteristic ways. In Poughkeep-
sie, a dinner was given in his honor by prominent towns-
men. Visible and overwhelming proof of the support
which the alumnae had vowed came in a surprise which
he was able to announce to the college on Founder's
Day, April 29, a promise from two alumnae, Mary Thaw
Thompson, '77, and Mary Seymour Morris Pratt, '80,
to build a chapel on the campus. Another dream of Doc-
tor Taylor's had come true. What the chapel and Doctor
Taylor's voice in it meant to the college found best ex-
a
WORK RESUMED, 1896-1899 177
pression in a poem written for the Vassar Quarterly
many months after his death by an alumna.
A MEMORY
By Harriet Plimpton
Across the damask snow the chimes ring low
And sweet. The winding paths beneath the trees
That sweep their drooping robes about them gleam
And wait alone. The trailing branches sigh
Their soft melodious song. And then a rush
Of pealing laughter and muffled groups
Go quickly on, and nearer sound the bells
Above the cloisters, full of mellow light,
Below the great, rose window. Norman square
The tower stands against the blue-black sky
Where glisten brilliant stars in solemn hosts.
The mighty organ chorus rolls a hymn
Of faith, in grand primeval harmonies
That echo forth the prophecy that burst
From some primordial storm. And then it ends
In one triumphant call. Then slow, the best
Of men, the teacher, Christian, friend to each
Of us arose. He opened slow the Bible on
The carven pulpit. Tears, stinging tears
Across the speeding years, through them, look back!
And may the vision grow still clearer, cut
Into your heart and soul, and always be
A memory with purifying tears.
CHAPTER VII
Education, Finance, and Rest,
1899-1906
Aequam memento rebus in arduis
Servare mentem, non secus in bonis
Ab insolenti temperatam
Laetitia.
Horace C. II. 3.
WHEN Doctor Taylor went on with the work which he
and all now knew was to be the object of his life's devo-
tion, he was faced by many problems. The first pub-
lished Report of the President, 1901, summarizes suc-
cinctly and clearly the needs and the outlook of the col-
lege. After mentioning two new residence halls, one in
process of completion, the other promised, the progress
of the new biological laboratory, and the steady growth
in number of students, Doctor Taylor discussed three
"problems of paramount importance" which the college
was facing. The first was the new curriculum still under
discussion but clearly tending towards a freer elective
system than the college had known in the past and in-
volving inevitably an increased cost in education for the
teaching force. He pointed out that while the college
had "been fairly prospered in material equipments we
are making no adequate corresponding advance in the
endowments which shall better sustain a larger and abler
178
EDUCATION, FINANCE, AND REST, 1899-1906 179
faculty." The second problem, in view of rapid expan-
sion, was "the preservation, with our great numbers, of
the traditional spirit of the college, and the care for the
individual student." To meet this, Doctor Taylor pro-
posed first a committee of Assistants to the Lady Prin-
cipal as heads of halls, Vassar Alumnae "who know the
value of sound social habits, who believe in the need of a
sane and strong religious life, who are sure there is no
higher service in the world than to help young people to
develop healthful and vigorous souls." To preserve the
"sense of common life," he urged the need of a Students'
Building for extra-curriculum activities. The third prob-
lem related to the faculty and was the need of building
for the women in the faculty a few houses and an apart-
ment house where they could live under better conditions
than in the strain of the large college dormitories. The
need for a larger faculty was emphasized as was the
need for other new buildings: an enlargement of the
Gymnasium, an Art Building, a Library, another Resi-
dence Hall. At the end, the growth of the college is
summarized and the need for larger endowment once
more proclaimed. "In conclusion, and as bearing on our
immediate past and our hope for the future, I beg leave
to submit a few facts regarding the last five years of
our history. The growth since '96, when I reviewed the
gains of ten years has been constant and has involved a
heavy strain on every department. 1 . . .
1 "From 538 students we have grown to 700, and had we wished
it and made provision for them we might have had 1,000. Then
we had 20 professors and 35 instructors, now 23 professors and 45
instructors. Then we had just over 24,000 books, now we have
38,000. The funds were then $1,050,000 and now are equally large
180 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
"The whole aspect of the College has been changed;
it is a new campus, and materially speaking, a new in-
stitution. I need only refer to the great expenditure
involved in all this, in enlarging the boiler and gas houses
and laundry, and in all the changes due to connections,
grading, &c. I mention these matters to show that we
should be of good courage and not falter before our pres-
ent large outlay. It is a good business investment.
Every advance has thus far paid its way. Every large
gift, however much it has cost to install and operate it,
has resulted in a larger income and a more successful
college. There is no danger if our policy continues to
be fairly conservative with an emphasis on breadth and
liberality. Separate education for women will abide and
the only question for us is whether we shall keep our
lead.
"My final word, then, at the end of fifteen years of
service, is one of hope and courage, but a clear state-
ment of the fact that we have a great opportunity and
that we must awaken and advance if we are to use it
and profit by it. We are cramped only through lack of
endowments. Our general income from invested funds
is pitifully small, and we are being held back and kept
down in our educational plans. My plea to the trustees
though we have Raymond House beside, built from College funds.
Then the President's house was in process of erection, Rockefeller
and Raymond were pledged but not even planned. Within five
years these buildings were begun and built, beside a new con-
servatory and the Swift Memorial Infirmary, and we have approach-
ing completion two large residence halls and the New England
Building, and we are about to begin a chapel which promises to
be a beautiful and monumental centre for our college life."
EDUCATION, FINANCE, AND REST, 1899-1906 181
today is, endow the College, assure its future : give it
the opportunity it deserves: endow the College!"
How under Doctor Taylor's leadership one by one the
stated needs of the college were met will be shown as
the narrative goes on. A letter to the alumnae also sum-
marizing these needs of the college had been sent out in
May, 1901, but the time for vigorous action and mar-
shaling of forces had not yet come. In the years of
uneventful work preceding 1904, something of the Presi-
dent's educational activities is revealed in letters and
speeches. Selections from the file of letters to the Pro-
fessor of Biology, ranging in subject from the supply
of specimens for scientific purposes to the teaching of
evolution are illustrative of Doctor Taylor's relations'
with individual departments.
To Professor Aaron Treadwell.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
October 17, 1902.
MY DEAR DR. TREADWELL,
Yes, I think you have solved it. But it is this egg
business that causes all the trouble. You remember the
story, don't you, of the darky preacher, who describing
the creation, pictured the Lord as forming Adam out of
the dust of the ground, standing him up against a fence
and breathing into him the breath of life. An impudent
darky in the audience called out, "Say, Massa, how came
dat fence dar?" "Sit down, you nigger," was the courte-
ous reply, "such questions as dat would knock the bot-
tom out of any theology." Now that is the matter of
your egg, nothing else. Somehow or other that egg got
hatched, but what bothers me is how it got in there orig-
inally. I am afraid you and I will have to assume that
there is some higher power necessary to account for an
182 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
evolution which is after all only a method of work and
not in any sense a kind of origin.
By the way, let me recur to Wallace, 1 who of course
lacks balance in some ways, we know, but who in the final
pages of his book on Darwinism makes some very true
remarks from the point of view of a scientist solely, on
the different method which Darwin pursues in these
chapters on The Mental and Moral Life from that which
characterizes his other work. The fact is that if he was
going to account for the higher qualities by natural se-
lection, he had to do something different. The questions
that I want you to answer me are, first, whence came the
egg prior to all life on the earth; and second, is the plain
life that the egg discloses identical with thinking, aspira-
tion and the appreciation of goodness?
Thanking you for the assistance which your letter gives
me, I am
Cordially yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
October 24, 1902.
MY DEAR DR. TREADWELL,
To recur for one moment to the subject of eggs, and
anticipating meanwhile the information which you are
so kindly going to give me when we have a chance to
talk, I want to say that I did notice Wallace's argument
as being especially against the assumption that natural
selection is a factor in the development of ... higher
intellectual faculties. It seems to me that you must ex-
tend his argument at least to the human body from what
*Dr. Taylor had cited Wallace as proving that since the moral
sense could not have evolved by natural selection, it is therefore
not a product of evolution. I had replied that Wallace was almost
alone in believing that natural selection is the sole factor. That
something could not evolve through selection is no argument against
its evolution. Practically all biologists believe that several factors
have cooperated in evolution. A. L. T.
EDUCATION, FINANCE, AND REST, 1899-1906 183
he says of the brain and of the skin and other such
illustrations. But my argument goes back of all that to
the more fundamental question, and in this Wallace cer-
tainly holds substantially what I do, if I understand him,
that the mental processes of men, and mental processes,
also, if they can be clearly shown to exist, in animals,
have another origin than any physical life. Certainly,
if I understand him, the purport of his last chapter in
his "Darwinism" as well as in the last chapter of "Nat-
ural Selection," is to show that there must be a spiritual
as well as a natural order if we are to account for the
double set of facts. Personally I believe that to be good
logic and good philosophy, and I do not believe that all
the arguments of the monist, either materialist or idealist,
will ever get out of the way the fact that there are two
orders and that there is no unity possible unless you get
back into the metaphysical realm and find that unity is
a thought of God.
However, this is just another word. You will be re-
lieved to know that I have taken my class out into an-
other realm. Perhaps some day I will show you one or
two papers that I asked them to prepare for me after
our discussion, summing up in the way of analysis the
points discussed. Some of them have done it very well.
Sincerely yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
One more word on the doctrine of evolution follows,
an amusing suggestion about teaching it.
i
VASSAR COLLEGE,
March 7, 1903.
I think between us we may manage to get in the
"evolution business" separately somewhere or other. If
we can do nothing else, you and I might stand up before
the ethics class and show what beautiful agreement there
is between the real scientist and the blossoming philoso-
pher. ,
184 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
Simultaneously with much care for minutiae and inter-
change of opinion through departmental correspondence
there was continued the traveling and the public speaking
to which the college president was committed. Certain
speeches and essays stand out as indicative of the lines
which his thought was following.
In 1900-01 at the inauguration of President Woolley
of Mount Holyoke College, Doctor Taylor spoke on
"The Missionary Spirit Essential to the Teacher," and
to Smith College at its Quarter Centennial he took as
Vassar's message a plea that Smith with Vassar should
continue to preserve the tradition of the undergraduate
college as a place for liberal education. In an address
the same year before the New York Conference of Re-
ligion on "Education by Church and School in Social
Righteousness," Doctor Taylor defined social righteous-
ness as including "truth, which is the answer of the per-
sonal life in all its relations to fact; fair dealing, which
is the recognition of the rights of others equally with
our own; fraternity, which is the spirit of helpfulness,
of service, of common kindness, and courtesy; purity,
which is the keeping of thought, word, and life in clean-
ness and wholesomeness." The teaching of such right-
eousness demands, he urged, "an emphatic teaching of
the majesty of duty and the inevitability of moral law,"
"the necessity of maintaining one moral life, one ethics
for public and private life," and the creation of moral
enthusiasm for personal righteousness, and he insisted
that such teaching is incumbent on church and school
alike. 1
1 Proceedings of N. Y. Conf. of Relig., 1000, vol. I, p. 132.
On Formal Occasions.
EDUCATION, FINANCE, AND REST, 1899-1906 185
Equally characteristic of Doctor Taylor's fundamental
spiritual attitude is the Annual Oration before the Alumni
of the Rochester Theological Seminary at the Semi-
Centennial, May 9, 1900, "A New World and an Old
Gospel." Compared with fifty years ago, our world is
new, spatially through work of telescope and micro-
scope, temporally through archaeology and geology, in-
dustrially through invention of machinery and telephone,
politically through abolition of slavery and growth of
democracy, philosophically through the doctrine of evo-
lution. But for this new world there is a need, as ever,
of the old Gospel of the reality of man's spiritual life,
a gospel which demands of the temporal world only the
condition of spiritual freedom. This old gospel must
convey to the new world in terms fitting new conditions
and knowledge its eternal message, "the conviction of
the reality, power and necessity of the spiritual life."
The baccalaureate sermon of 1901, "Practical or Ideal,"
shows the same vision in maintaining that "there is really
no practical which is not also ideal and that nothing
ministers to life in any proper sense unless it touches
something deeper than what we generally mean by the
actual and useful." The illustrations are characteristic.
"Home! What is it? House, furniture, certain ac-
customed haunts, a few well-known lives, does that de-
scribe it? What has analysis to do with it? It is a
theme for the poet's insight, or for the noble outpourings
of the organ. It is not the sum of things seen that make
a home, but the unseen which makes it sacred, whatever
the changes of outward conditions, and howsoever many
of its tangible adjuncts be taken away. It is here the
invisible, the ideal, that is the real. . . .
186 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
"Think, for example, what the flag really is, a few
strips of varicolored bunting, a mere fancy of the seam-
stress's art, so many yards of red and white and blue
arranged according to the decision of some legislative
committee. Is that true? That is what we see. But
when men see it in a foreign port, or when its glory-
waves above the field of battle, or when it proudly floats
from the dome of the capital ? If that is all, it is nothing.
When the flag is really a flag it means home and loved
ones, Lares and Penates, a type of government, a world's
hope. Men do not die for a rag, but for this, in what
it embodies, for the everlasting real which is here but the
ideal, they give all they have with regret that they have
but one life to give for their country."
Doctor Taylor's feeling for "social righteousness"
moved him to take up in two papers the cause of certain
feeble and wronged groups of people in the nation. In
a long and well argued paper, "Is it justifiable to break
the treaties with the Indian tribes of New York?" he
pleaded for breaking the treaties in the interest of the
Indians themselves that they might be made, not pau-
perized and demoralized tribes, but self-supporting citi-
zens of the democracy. And in another sociological study
he urged that the nation should share the responsibility
for southern education to relieve a burden that the south
alone could not bear, so helping to solve the race question
by ensuring education to both the illiterate whites and
blacks. Both essays are practical illustrations of the
corollaries of social righteousness.
A recognition given at this time to Doctor Taylor's
work for education was an honorary degree conferred
EDUCATION, FINANCE, AND REST, 1809-1906 187
in 1901 by Yale University which he announces with
pleasure to his Yale son.
To Huntington Taylor.
HOME, June 29, 1901.
MY DEAR BOY,
I sent you a New Haven paper with account of Com-
mencement. Perhaps you have already heard that I was
there that I might be made an honorary alumnus of Yale.
I am sure that will please you. . . .
I went on to New Haven Tuesday p. m. and was guest
at Dr. Wayland's, and had a good time, of course. I
marched in the procession, sat on one of the front seats
of the platform, and in turn got up, was presented, and
received my diploma (D.D.) and was made "a son of
Eli." Then came the dinner and a little speech, and
the evening reception, all sweltering weather, too. . . .
We have been busy as ever, since Commencement,
working most of the time. I think we shall get to the
woods next week. Morgan, you know, is there, taking
care of himself, mostly, and writing postals to his mother
informing her how he has been drowned, blown up by the
stove, &c., as she anticipated.
Doctor Taylor had a short but severe illness in No-
vember of this year, an unusual experience for him. On
the first day of his convalescence, as he sat in his study,
watching the leaves drift down across the lawn outside
the window, he wrote out his mood. Doctor Thelberg
says that her patient read her the lines with amused com-
ments on their Browningesque character. In a letter
to her, May 27, '16, when ill again, he referred to these
lines, saying this time, "I never wrote a word of poetry
nor cracked many smiles, as I did when you shut me up
so long." Although the poem shows only a passing mood
188 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
and not Doctor Taylor's usual or final attitude towards
work and life, it has a special appeal.
A CLEAR VIEW
"Not a light topic," well, I grant you that.
Not just a common view of those who look
Beyond the limits that we set round life.
But one must see what opes to his own eyes,
Not the rapt vision of another's soul
Born of high faith, perhaps, or clearer sight
Into the things invisible to most.
The aged saint looks from a mountain's peak
O'er a long journey done and out beyond
He sees serene the pinnacles and walls
Of the sweet city of his pilgrimage.
But o'er a weary journey has he come,
And rest and peace fullfil his heart's desire.
The invalidf His weakness or his pain
Cries for the succor of a Strong Relief,
Looks up at death as possible release.
And so the fainting soul, broken, cast down,
At life's hard tasks or robbed of hope
By the stern face with which the impatient world
Turns from e'en honest lives that serve it not,
Despairs, and sees in the continuing years
Naught but a bitter mockery of itself,
And so to it death comes as to the rest,
Aged, infirm, discouraged, hopeless ones,
A half desired and a half dreaded friend.
Or once more, weary not, my friend, I preach,
'Tis true, but ex hypothesi you understand,
A limit's set; the benediction's soon.
Let the young life, or old, for that, be snapt
Out of life like the top of the weed stalk there
That carelessly I switch off with my passing cane,
Then, what is it but opening eyes, may hap,
On some world fuller, larger, happier too, than this,
Without the chance to think, or dread, or hope,
No more than lying down to dream and wake again
But this, this is another matter, friend,
EDUCATION, FINANCE, AND REST, 1899-1906 189
To sit here looking out my windows wide
Look! Men are raking up the leaves, you see?
The grass is wondrous green this fall, bat there
Just beyond them, the yellow and the red
Are beauteous setting for the dark brown leaves
That lie in heaps all clustered for the cart
The skeleton elms lift spreading arms above
As if to speak sweet benedictes on
Laborer and grass and leaf that's gathered home
But careless of the beauty of the scene
The men work on, as tranquil, most, as death
And so they'll work a day or two from now
When I who sit here in my manhood's strength,
Without the loss of any power of mine,
Have paid the price of the insidious foe
That works within my veins and claims from me
All that I am, within a week from now.
They rake on, droning as they gather leaves
About the man they worked for yesterweek,
Now dead and gone as surely as the leaves they rake.
And meanwhile I ? O ! that's the other side
I'm seeing clear, and over that's a mist
That only faith can pierce, and faith survive
Let's hold to facts; the understanding is
I'm gone. So are the leaves : they rake them up.
Something like that'll go on with what's left
Of what I've done and been and said and planned.
Here is a work enough to satisfy
Any true soul allowed to bear its part
In fashioning the future of a land or man.
No tree, nor stately building, nor wide lawn,
Whose growth I have not watched, and for it planned.
You see the students o'er the campus stroll,
Groups of fair girls to help whom is a joy.
They've never known another leader here.
Their college memories intertwine with me.
But I am gone. The evening brightness comes
Athwart my windows ; I no longer see ;
I'm out; out of it all, and tree and lawn
And edifice and evening sky, and girl
Look out upon a world of which I'm not.
Of course men talk. They tell of this and that,
190 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
A building there, some plan I carried out,
A larger college, an endowment raised,
One of a dozen things a man may do.
"Yes, he did well"; that is the word of some.
"Yes," others add, "but now new blood we'll have,
New policies, an abler man to shape
Things to the new conditions: men will fall behind
As they grow older, no one's fault, be sure,
But just the new claims of a riper day.
He did his work, and in some fitting way,
The college must commemorate his loss.
But let us not forget the King is dead
And it behoves us to acclaim the coming King."
So they talk on and meanwhile I am out,
Hear not at all, not knowing e'en they talk.
And friends and students? very like they'll think
No other one can take the place of him
Who guided them and cheered them on their way,
And things they'll say to cheer the very dead
If the dead hear, or care for things of earth.
But you know, as do I, that very soon
Like words and love like this will be for him
Who takes my place. My place? I'm out of it.
See there that picture on my bookcase side,
That Lecky photographed, that Hugo by Raj on
That hangs above my fireplace, finely etched,
Or that hooked-nose Erasmus, Holbein made.
There am I, photographed, that's all,
Or lithographed, or from some weekly print,
And there I hang and once in a few days
An eye looks up and sees and thinks,
Then later sees and thinks no more at all.
We know. It's the world's customary way
And well it is, for the world. Yes, for us, too.
We're not complaining, note; just aim to see
What the facts are when we've at last stepped out.
Life is not much, at most, and leaves behind
Few that mourn longer that a twelvemonth space.
Some members of your home, some dearest friends,
Find the world smaller, know an aching void,
But very few, and then do not forget
We seek for a clear vision and a mist
EDUCATION, FINANCE, AND REST, 1899-1906 191
Rises o'er sight when of the few we think.
But for the rest, this is the sum of it,
When you have done your work and gone your way,
Another comes and fills your place and makes his own,
And you, why you're out, and all the busy world
Moves on without you, conscious that you were
Because in its own nerve and sinew you
Wrought your full self and left your heritage
Bone of its bone, flesh of its very flesh.
Therefore what matters it I must go
To-morrow, next day, all the same to me.
Looks queer, I grant, to see them raking leaves
And think they'll rake on just the same when I
Can't look at them and some one else reflects
On the slow calm with which they do their work.
Is it because they know their end has come
And raking leaves and such like they must do
Until they die? Then I, death facing now,
Having no further work, nor care to bear,
Just waiting, though in perfect strength and cheer
For one day, two days, say perhaps a week,
Why shall I not rake on till sunset comes
And the last leaves are gathered in the cart,
And work is over, and the road leads home.
Nov. 27, 1901.
In 1903, the President turned in part from educational
work to that financial effort to which educators are often
doomed in order to carry out their ideals, namely, the
raising of increased educational endowment for the col-
lege. What a personal and heavy burden Doctor Taylor
bore in this campaign may be seen from his circular and
private letters during 1903-1904. A letter to a trustee
shows how the work was to open and the accompanying
statement may well be printed as it was the basis of all
future appeals through the press and to the constituency
of Vassar.
192 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
To Mr. George E. Dimock.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.,
President's Office,
October 27, 1903.
DEAR MR. DIMOCK,
I am proposing to print the circular of which I send
you a copy, in the New York papers. I have already seen
a number of editors and have been advised by some of
them to secure the names of several of our prominent
trustees who would be known in New York City. It is
my plan to publish the circular without my own name
and in the name of the following trustees if it shall seem
wise to them. I shall be glad to have your counsel and
permission to use your signature. . . .
Cordially yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
"Vassar College appeals for an endowment for its
educational work. It needs $1,000,000.00 to carry out it3
plans. It appeals to New York. It is a near neighbor,
it has had a strong and worthy career, it answers every
demand for a broad, liberal, education. Its standards
are as high as the highest, within the range of college
education, to which it confines itself. It aims to make
its work stronger, to put it on permanent foundations,
and it asks the help, at this juncture, of those who ap-
preciate the worth of a work for the education of young
women.
"As an encouragement to immediate effort Mr. John D.
Rockefeller has promised to contribute dollar for dollar
up to $200,000 for all that the College may raise before
June, 1904. His contribution is restricted to general
educational endowment. Up to this time there has been
pledged, mostly through the efforts of the alumnae, about
EDUCATION, FINANCE, AND REST, 1899-1906 193
$50,000. The alumnae of a woman's college are not
likely to number many who control large funds, and
they are not in business and increasing their capital.
The college must appeal to those who are able to give
largely. Before June next we must raise $150,000 to
secure the sum proposed by Mr. Rockefeller.
"We ask for the endowment of professorships. By a
gift of $75,000 an individual may thus perpetuate his
or her name as truly, and as usefully as in a building,
for the catalogue always announces the chair by the
name of the donor. Art, Economics, Philosophy, His-
tory, Biblical Literature, Greek, German, English, Music,
Chemistry, Mathematics, are seeking such permanent
foundations, and there are new chairs to be founded.
"To those unable to give largely, the possibility of
furnishing a permanent memorial is open by the estab-
lishment of funds for the use of the library or for the
purchase of new apparatus for a laboratory.
"The College has not sufficient means to meet the in-
creasing demands upon it. It has erected many buildings
in ten years and even now a large chapel and great library
are being erected. It needs more, residence halls to
care for the large numbers that are obliged to live off the
campus, a fire-proof museum, a laboratory of chemistry,
a building for art, a building for music, but the present
effort is to secure a fund that shall be kept as a perpetual
endowment for educational work. Its fees from tuition
do not meet the salaries for instruction, and the other
needs of the college consume all the available income.
"The assumption that Vassar is well-endowed is en-
tirely unfounded. In 1861 Matthew Vassar founded it
with half his fortune, and at his death gave it the other
194 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
half. The whole sum, almost unparalleled in his day,
amounted to $800,000. Since 1865, when the college was
opened, it has added to buildings and grounds over
$1,000,000.00, and to general endowments over $600,-
ooo.oo. But meanwhile its students have increased to
929, its faculty to upwards of 80, and since 1886 the
salary account in the educational department has ad-
vanced from $43,935.00 to $101,735.00 in 1903-4.
"These statements and figures make amply clear the
need that the college has of large endowments to sustain
its present work and to enable it to meet the demands of
progress. This offer of Mr. Rockefeller's presents the
opportunity that should appeal to the friends of the
College." *
This statement which appeared very widely in the
papers of the country during November was followed
up by circular letters. One addressed to the alumnae in
Feb., 1903, sent out after conference with the alumnae
endowment committee, stated that "a fund whose income
shall be devoted solely to educational ends must be our
immediate concern," and, after showing the specific needs
of the college for salaries, professorships and library,
quoted from President Eliot's annual report : "The two
essential provisions at any seat of learning are teaching
and accumulations of books, and the endowments which
secure these two provisions are the fundamental endow-
ments."
A similar circular letter was sent out in March, 1904,
to the Non-Graduate Students of Vassar.
Another letter shows the strenuous personal efforts
by which the President was approaching individuals.
EDUCATION, FINANCE, AND REST, 1899-1906 195
To Mr. George E. Dimock.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.
President's Office.
January 23, 1904.
MY DEAR MR. DIMOCK,
I hardly need trouble you with a letter after your sac-
rificing and courteous return to your office to see me yes-
terday. I want, however, to formally acknowledge the
check which adds a substantial contribution to the fund.
I called three times to see Mr. S. but he was dining
with some friends at Delmonico's. I shall try him again.
I begin to think that the best chance will be to strike some
new man. I spent the evening with one of the most
benevolent, I suppose, of New Yorkers, Mr. K. But
such men tell me freely that they have all on hand that
they can carry and that my chances must be elsewhere.
I called on Mr. G. but he had just gone to Chicago; on
Mr. P., but he was out of town. . . . Mr. W. was too
busy to see me but I promised to write him. My day
was full till ten o'clock but no very substantial gains have
come out of it as yet. Of course it may result in
something before the season is over. It is a ray of
light in the darkness to meet a man who cheers me on
as you do.
Cordially yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
A general appeal to the people of Poughkeepsie was
made through the town press in Feb., 1904, with a busi-
ness statement which urged support of the endowment
fund in return for the annual income yielded to the city
by the college, a straight from the shoulder, quid pro
quo business proposition planned for the audience ad-
dressed.
196 LIFE^OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
"It may interest our citizens to know in outline some
of the financial returns of the college to the city.
It pays directly to merchants here not less than. .$80,000
It pays to employees, apart from its educational
salaries, over 82,000
Its students boarding in town pay for board and
lodging over 43,000
Its professors' families expend in town, at a very
small estimate 25,000
Its 1,000 people spend for incidentals much more
than 50,000
No one can estimate the amount expended by friends
and parents of students who are constantly visiting the
city.
How much will Poughkeepsie and its neighbors do
for the college ?
In response to this newspaper statement seven leading
business men or firms of the city proposed "a conference
between the College authorities and citizens of Pough-
keepsie" which resulted in a formal dinner at the Nelson
House May 18 at which Doctor Taylor set forth in a
speech the needs of the college and the reasons for ap-
pealing to Poughkeepsie for aid.
On March 24 Doctor Taylor sent a circular letter to the
Trustees of the college, asking for cooperation in the
discouraging work in which he was engaged, and ending
with the appeal :
"Our situation is critical, and our action must be im-
mediate. May I count on your help at this juncture, in
advice, direction, and if possible, in money?"
The result of all these efforts on the part of the presi-
EDUCATION, FINANCE, AND REST, 1899-1906 197
dent and the support they evoked met with success and in
June he was able to announce a total sum of $173,100
which Mr. Rockefeller duplicated. In his annual report
of the year, Doctor Taylor showed that beside the finan-
cial result there had been other great benefits: devotion
and sacrifice on the part of the alumnae, "enough to con-
secrate the college'* and the establishment in the popular
mind of the fact that Vassar is not a rich college. But
after enumerating all this profit, he added :
"Permit me to conclude with the statement of my deep
conviction that the employment of the President of the
College in this kind of labor does not commend itself
to my experience or my judgment. If men are to be
reached effectively it must generally be through gradual
approach, by creating interest and developing that to
which appeals may be fitly made, and a limited effort,
while awakening all true friends of the College, gives no
time for the educative work essential with the indifferent.
That work the President may well undertake, but it is
separated widely from the task of direct solicitation of
funds. The one is fitting, the other exposes him to con-
ditions that are exhausting, depressing, humiliating. . . .
It may be doubted if the dignity of his position can sustain
any long continuance of such labor. I think the ofHce
of College President has been distinctly lowered in the
estimation of our business men by this constant resort to
Wall Street in pursuit of college funds. Times have
changed. The spirit of rich men beset and wearied by
innumerable demands, has grown less patient of the
importunity of the college president, the crowded hurried
hours of business make his presence less welcome, and
the attitude of most has become defensive (when not of-
198 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
fensive). The College should recognize these changed
conditions and make its always necessary appeals through
indirect approach, or after securing the interest and in-
telligent appreciation of those whose help it seeks. Our
experience here justifies this opinion."
Readers may ask at this point why, in a biography, so
many tedious details of finance and money-raising need
be introduced. Unfortunately, for two years such prob-
lems constituted a large part of the thought and work of
James Monroe Taylor and in order to understand the
pressure and strain under which he labored it is neces-
sary to present the problem he met and the trials he
underwent. I have here a memorandum in his own
handwriting labeled
A bsences 1 903-4.
The dates are given and after each the reason for ab-
sence from the college. Three days at Christmas and
one week in April at Old Point are labeled "Pleasure."
The rest of the 69 days of absence are virtually all in the
interests of the endowment fund. That simple memoran-
dum, recorded without comment, bespeaks the strain of
the year. The spirit in which Doctor Taylor met such
exactions both away from the college and in the office
at Vassar is shown in a note to Miss McCaleb.
"Suppose we try to put our minds on the inspiring,
beautiful, side of the work we are permitted to do, and
to crowd out the lower and commoner features. I am
appalled, sometimes, when I think how this exalted side
which appeals to our nobler selves is lost sight of in
the whirl of exacting routine, and in the absorption of
things in the office. Can't we keep our 'windows open to
EDUCATION, FINANCE, AND REST, 1899-1906 199
Jerusalem* a little more? Think of that side a bit, and
cheer up as you face the fall problem. It is worth try-
ing."
The President next centered his attention on new
policies and methods of reorganization which the ex-
pansion of the college demanded. The annual report of
1905, after extolling the normal sanity of the college
in physical being, morale and intellectual work records
the inauguration of three new policies "of signal im-
portance to the development of the College. We have
raised our rates, limited our numbers and made a dis-
tinct step toward encouraging greater permanence of
residence in our various halls." A new plan of business
organization is presented by which the pressure on the
General Superintendent is relieved by a division of re-
sponsibility among five departments of which he is to
be overseer : the care of buildings, the engineer's depart-
ment, the steward's department, the farm, and the gar-
den. In addition to the summaries of the work of the
various academic departments, and the report of the
completion of the two great buildings, the Library and
the Chapel, which were to be mind and soul of the col-
lege, the President discussed more general matters of
educational theory. Of vital interest still are the para-
graphs about the composition of the faculty in women's
colleges.
"Shall the faculty consist chiefly of women, of men
mostly, or is there a fixed, or proper, proportion? In
practice the question has been answered in all these ways.
Here, we have tried to maintain a fair balance, though
without a rigid rule bearing on the matter. It seems'
clear that if the higher education of women is justified,
200 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
women's colleges should offer opportunities to the best
women scholars. Yet it is equally apparent that mere
scholarship is not enough for the teacher's office or the
professor's administrative duties. The discovery of a
well-balanced, humane, skilful, purposeful scholar and
teacher among the hosts of scholarly men is not so fre-
quent as to cause discerning observers to comment on
the difficulty in the case of women.
". . . In every single vacancy all these details must be
considered, and the appointment of a man or woman must
become, in my judgment, and under the general theory
already expressed, a simple matter of expediency and
not of principle."
Again in paragraphs significant for one of Vassar
College's great traditions, he denounces Stanley Hall's
reactionary educational theorem that sex must largely
determine character of education.
"It is worthy of note that the year has been signalized
by a sharp attack from an influential quarter on the
higher education of women. President G. Stanley Hall,
in his work on Adolescence, devotes a long chapter,
really a small volume, to present conditions and dangers
and to a constructive statement of a method to his mind
more fitting for womankind. His whole contention is
based on the assumption that all women must be educated
for motherhood, and that our present intellectual train-
ing is adverse to this, two extreme and unfounded as-
sumptions in the light, in the one case of social limita-
tions, and in the other of what our colleges show as to
the actual results of their training. His constructive
scheme is intended to guard against the 'excessive men-
tality' which he regards as a danger, but which, it may
EDUCATION, FINANCE, AND REST, 1899-1906 201
be suggested, is not a common danger in men and women
of the college age, if at any age whatever. He chal-
lenges the effects of the colleges on the health of women
on assumptions absolutely unwarranted by our experience
here, only to confess at last that his case is not proved,
but leaving suggestions behind which are refuted by our
college life and the careers of our Alumnae. He chal-
lenges the colleges for making against marriage, but neg-
lects the vital consideration that our colleges for men or
women are a very small element in a most serious problem
and that we have causes enough to account for the evil
in our luxury, costliness of living and prevalent self-
indulgence, without assuming an intellectual influ-
ence. . . .
"No one who watches college women for years and
really knows their interests and work will accept con-
clusions which tend to show that their education reduces
or destroys the normal affections, wants and aspirations.
But even this leaves unanswered her claim to decide for
herself as to the using of her mental faculties. Matthew
Vassar's words are still of weight : 'Woman, having
received from her Creator the same intellectual constitu-
tion as man, has the same right as man to intellectual
culture and development.' It may indeed be said for
woman as for all other students, that the assumptions
that she has a special mission and that the teacher knows
what it is, is the pedagogue's fallacy underlying very
much unsound training in our day. Early education
needs to be for life and not for specific work, the training
of the whole individual, cosmopolitan rather than provin-
cial, for wealth of life more than depth of learning."
At the end of the report, Doctor Taylor thanked the
202 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
trustees for permission to be away from the college dur-
ing the following year.
Before the Taylors again sought rest in Italy, Doctor
Taylor was to receive various expressions of apprecia-
tion of his leadership for the college. At the close of
the Commencement exercises, June, 1905, the Chairman
of the Board of Trustees, Doctor Edward Lathrop, arose
and, turning to Doctor Taylor, said : "Mr. President :
The Trustees of Vassar desire me to make announce-
ment of a gift of which you are yet unaware. They de-
sire to present to the Chapel and to the College a rose-
window into whose many-colored glass shall be in-
wrought an encircling legend somewhat like this:
In honorem J. M. Taylor,
viginti annos praesidis,
1906.
They hope that, after your return from beyond the sea,
you may yet for many years have before you this rose-
window as a witness to you of the love and loyalty of
the Trustees of this College. May God have you and
yours in his holy keeping, and bring you back to us in
safety!"
The rose-window then given glows now above the
gallery at the rear end of the chapel, a great blue-petaled
flower, outlined in bright jewels. In the spirit of this
gift came two others from the alumnae, one a Chair to
be called the James Monroe Taylor Professorship of
Philosophy, the other the proposal of a portrait of Doctor
Taylor to be painted by William Chase and presented
as a gift to the college. How humorously he took the
last may be seen from a letter.
EDUCATION, FINANCE, AND REST, 1899-1906 203
To Professor Abby Leach.
Tuesday A. M.
DEAR Miss LEACH, . . .
Anent the portrait! Dear me! And I have no ambi-
tions (unless for the quiet, serenity of mind, deep peace,
which Providence does not seem to have fitted me for!)
and yet you all are giving me honors away beyond my
deserts. You are too good to me !
I don't think I shall make a very nice portrait, but
I think Chase would make me as fine as I can be shown !
Still, I have no choice, and am only overwhelmed at the
thought of all this ! A window, a chair named for me, a
portrait! Don't you think a Monastery, or burial,
should follow soon?
Anyway, I am
Faithfully yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
The Chase portrait now hangs in Taylor Hall. A dig-
nified portrait of the president in his academic robes,
rich in coloring, and skillful in technique, it yet misses
the soul of the man, his vigor, geniality, and humor.
A tiny notebook, kept in Doctor Taylor's exquisitely
neat handwriting, gives the itinerary of 1905-' '06, from
the start from New York on July I2th to the last day
in Liverpool May 23rd, through Holland, Germany,
Italy, Sicily, Capri, Italy again, Switzerland, France and
England. As all the winter from September to May
was spent in Italy and its islands, a few letters will best
picture this vacation.
To Miss Ella McCaleb.
FLORENCE, Oct. 8th, 1905.
MY DEAR MlSS McCALEB,
I have just had such a nice letter from Mrs. Kendrick
which inspires in me a wish to be worthier of my work
204 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
and of my friends. And one from Gran, dear soul, which
I shall also answer after a while. As you see, I have had
some news of the College but I want more. . . . Would
you like to know how we are living? We came down
from Venice last Monday and rather sorry to leave its
charming life. There's so much, you know, of the free
and attractive outdoor life there and one is always drawn
to the Piazza if there is nothing else to do. We walked
about a great deal, I especially, and used gondolas all
we wished to and Florians was our mighty refuge.
Here we are well up the Lungarno toward the Cascine.
We are in a very nice pension the Bellini ... a
palace built by Ristori, and we are on a terrace on the
roof. It is 20 feet broad in front of our windows and
as much on the side with a great parapet. Our windows
open to the floor and we walk out on the well-paved roof
and have before us the view from the Cascine to San
Miniato, and from the side looking back, the whole
panorama of Fiesole and its neighboring heights. We
are settled as nicely as we could wish and will be here at
least until November 1st. . . . We have subscribed at
Vieusseuxs for books and four of us for the reading
room, which is admirably equipped with the English and
American papers, reviews, &c. I began a book on Dante
by Symonds and have already revisited Dante's house.
... I sent to the Art Department from Venice a picture
I want you to see the Assumption of Titian at Verona
which I discovered ten years ago and of which no pho-
tograph was published until now. I wonder the critics
and historians haven't made more of it. ... Such a
good sermon from an old Scotchman this morning (and
such bad singing) I wish I could hear my girls sing
I get homesick for it once in a while. I think of them
all and of you all, often and often, and by no means
banish the College from my mind, but I do banish its
cares most of the time. I mean to go back full of zeal
for it. I wish I could be sure I would serve it as I want
to. But somehow my deeds will not measure up to the
EDUCATION, FINANCE, AND REST, 1899-1906 205
standard of my ambition and my deliberate purposes!
But I hope. The future must surpass the years gone.
Meanwhile I remember your Sundays and your evening
chats with your girls. Bless them ! My heartiest remem-
brances to the faculty friends. All send love.
J. M. TAYLOR.
FLORENCE, Oct. 26, 1905.
MY DEAR MlSS McCALEB,
I can't think just when I wrote you last, but know
I told you we were here. . . .
Are you interested to know your letters have come in
12 days? Do you care to know that M. R. is at your
old pension? ... A word on the Pension, No 1 Curta-
tone. I had been by there before your letter mentioned
it, and have been since, several times. It is only a block
away, on the street at the rear of ours. I can look into
its top windows from our rear terrace. So you see I
know where you lived. I came by from over beyond
there the other day and should certainly have called, had
you been in.
I wondered if you knew the Orti Oricellari, north of
you, of such association with the Platonic Academy, or
if you'd ever discovered, as I did, the beautiful Delia
Robbia over the door of a church (S. Jacobi) just be-
yond, a church disused, closed, barracks, I think. And
did you note, as you walked out of your pretty little
square to the river, the hill of Mt. Oliveto, across the
river, with its cypresses reaching up above the secular-
ized convent? (from which I had a beautiful view Sun-
day p. m.). If you were about now I might substitute
a walk there for our annual climb of Richmond! I
wonder how much you could see from your windows.
We take in everything! It is really superb.
I have made a little trip away, one night. First,
Mr. Gosse and I went to Prato for an afternoon. How
wonderful any little Italian town is ! Then I went alone,
one afternoon, to Pistoja, saw its buildings and sculp-
206 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
tures, and its amazing hospital frieze of Delia Robbia's,
and then on to Lucca for the night. A day there would
not be too much. It quite fascinated me, especially, of
buildings, the Cathedral and S. Frediano, with their
great treasures, and then the town! It was market
day, and market is in the old circle of a Roman amphi-
theatre! And the walls, which are kept and made into
a great park, from which you look across a beautiful
garden spot to the grand mountains. My family went
to Pisa that morning, and I joined them in the afternoon,
and we saw the great buildings there. . . .
The weather is not proper for October in Italy. It
is cold. Yesterday it poured and blew, and your little
Arno, in whose bed men have been digging gravel, just
here, is now a raging flood. We have had fires a good
many times. It has been really November weather (or
later). Steamer blankets o' nights!
Our library and reading room have been a delight.
We have three books at a time, and the newspapers
galore, English reviews, &c. It is a great place to drop
in when all else has done its most for you. I have
read Symonds Life (and wish I had time to write you a
little on it) and of course "a lot'* on our daily sights
or on our plans of travel. I've enjoyed every minute of
Florence and am sorry it is about time to leave. We
shall go next Wednesday, I think. Morgan left yester-
day, is to have a week in Rome, and one in Naples, and
back again for a few days with us before he sails on the
1 7th from Naples. . . .
I haven't told you half I'd like to: in half the time
I could tell you more if you were in your old pension,
or I in my old office. How about that though? Office
any longer? Tell me all about the new one. I could
write, among other things, of my new friend Mr. Ed-
mund Gosse, who was a delight to us, of my joy in
the art I have seen, the books I have read, the un-
responsible life I've led for much of the time. But I
forbear. I started to tell you, half an hour ago, that I
EDUCATION, FINANCE, AND REST, 1899-1906 207
want a "cat" sent to Edmund Gosse, 17 Hanover Terrace,
Regents Park, N. W. London (a new catalogue) and
a report if you have one to spare. Let that be my ex-
cuse for inflicting so long a screed upon you ! My most
cordial remembrances to all.
Sincerely yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
Mr. Edmund Gosse has written a happy reminiscence
of these days in Italy:
To Miss E. H. Haight.
17 Hanover Terrace,
REGENTS PARK, N. W. I.
LONDON,
Nov. 5, 1918.
It gives me, and all my family, great pain to learn
from your kind letter of the I4th of October, that Mr.
James Taylor is dead. We were looking forward to
the great pleasure of seeing him soon again, and had not
heard of his even being ill.
My wife and I made the acquaintance of Mr. Taylor
and his family in October 1905, when we were staying
in an Italian pension on the Lungarno. We were first
attracted to Mr. Taylor by his voice, which reminded us
both to an extraordinary degree, of the intonation and ex-
pression of our very dear old friend, Mr. W. D. Howells.
We became intimate almost at once with the Taylors.
In the letter I enclose he speaks of the little excursions
which he and I took. In particular he mentions our visit
to Prato, which I shall never forget. It was at a moment
when the railway-system of Italy was in chaos, and any
excursion was perilous. He and I, however, were de-
termined to see Prato, and we did, though the little
adventure was attended with ludicrous delay and dis-
comfort, which Mr. Taylor turned into pleasure by his
unfailing good nature and gaiety. I remember that in
208 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
the Cathedral he was most persistent about a holy girdle
which was said to be in the pulpit (of all places!).
Neither of us was a good Italian speaker, and the officials
in the Duomo could not, or would not, understand what
we wanted. Mr. Taylor firmly said "I'm not going back
to Poughkeepsie without having seen that Girdle !" but
I am afraid he had to do so. The officials were very
kind, and showed us Fillippo Lippi's great frescoes be-
hind the high-altar. Mr. Taylor admitted that they were
very fine, but they did not make up to him for not having
seen the Girdle. I don't know whose girdle it was sup-
posed to be.
I remember, too, with singular pleasure, a day that
he and I spent at Fiesole, and in the vague pastoral
country behind it, where tourists rarely penetrate. But
all this lives in my memory merely because it brings back
to me his charm, his curious combination of earnestness
and gaiety, of reasonableness and whim. He was the
most delightful, the least fatiguing, the most various of
companions. It is a great sorrow to me that I shall
see him no more.
To Miss Ella McCaleb.
ROME, Dec. 3, 1905 (Sunday)
MY DEAR MlSS McCALEB,
There is ever so much to write about and it would be
no hardship to write you oftener if time were more
abundant. Indeed it has been on my mind to do it for
days but the chance hasn't come. A trip, some call to
town, a morning in the library of the American School,
various interruptions of all sorts, and the quiet times
one looks for to write don't readily come. I told you,
didn't I? that we have a little sitting room, with our
books, a writing desk, a table (on which beautiful roses
are arranged), lounges and easy chairs, good pictures,
(Dick has just hung one of his own, the castle by
Bozen, in oils, on canvas, and the boy shows real
sense of distance and color), ... all very pretty, with
EDUCATION, FINANCE, AND REST, 1899-1906 209
heavy silken hangings (plush?) all of reddish hue (dark,
of course, and probably not red!), and best of all, a
beautiful view over the Irish Franciscans of St. Isidore, -
away to the Campagna. I amused myself last Sunday by
an excursion to the "terrass" on our roof, where I saw
how readily two sisters of Trinita di Monte could
spy on the Franciscans from their garden. They are
really too near for propriety! But the view from the
"terrass," in every direction is superb. And now just
to suggest another reason for envy, our windows are
open, my wife is sitting in one with her back in the
lovely sun, reading, and all promises a beautiful day,
a cool, fine air, a warm sun, a cheering sky.
We haven't had too much of that. Really, the month
of November has been almost all wet, rain at some time
on most of the days, and several days all the time. If one
were making a mere trip it would be discouraging enough
but we get along as we can take our time, and then
we do go out and get wet, wandering about often in
the rain and drying up when we come in. But we have
good days too, and how beautiful they are. It isn't a
very cold country where the oranges are seen in the gar-
dens in December, and the great cactuses hang over the
walls and the palms abound. But how I go on ! I wish
we could talk it over today instead of my writing what
will infallibly awaken memories of your own visits and
make you an envious woman. I don't know where your
Sistina home was, but I go through that street every day
to the "Stairs" and down to the Piazza, and back again.
We go to Piale's, you see, for books, and now to Miss
Wilson's, also, having abundant privileges thus and
all we can use, though we can't get every book we want.
Wasn't it singular that I couldn't find the "Casa Guida
Windows" in Florence, e.g.? And here I look in vain
for translations of the classics. Still, I am not famishing
for literature! I have just finished Zola's Rome, a
heavy, long-drawn-out book, very realistic, revealing
the awful involvements of papal diplomacy and chicanery,
210 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
even to the use of poison, abounding in descriptions,
long-winded and accurate, of modern Rome, with a mild
little story attached. Have you ever read Pliny's Let-
ters? Get them from the library. They are the most
modern things you ever saw! I have been running
through them again, for the nth time. Then I get excited
over some artist and have to look up his pictures (Mor-
elli's work, just now), or the Forum beckons, and I
spend hours reading up what I spent hours seeing. Twice,
last week, I heard Mr. Norton lecture there, once on the
Temple of Castor and Pollux, once on the Basilicas,
and both times (he finished at n) I remained alone and
went over the details of the forum till 12.30, espe-
cially the parts, so important and interesting, that have
been opened up since I was last here. And I have met
and talked with Signor Boni !
Now I'm off for church I wish I could worship wittt
you all today. But this is the 3d! No service, . . .
To Mr. George E. Dimock.
EDEN HOTEL,
ROME,
Dec. 19, 1905
MY DEAR MR. DIMOCK,
Yes, this is where we are, and it is the only gorgeous
and dubious thing about the house, this paper. They are
liberal, set a good table, . . . have music three evenings
in the week, draw a very nice kind of people, and have
one of the best and most convenient situations in Rome.
We are on the top floor and can see over a great part
of the city and out to the country beyond. We have
been here five or six weeks, and, as is natural, life gets
fuller and fuller as the time goes on. We know a great
many people already and "the season" is beginning, and
one may have all the "teas" and dinner-parties for which
he has time. This social side has thus far given us a
good deal of varied pleasure, for through it we have met
many people we are all glad to know.
EDUCATION, FINANCE, AND REST, 1899-1906 211
And the rest, who can tell about Rome? Its inter-
ests are so manifold, and so intense that life is kept full
whether one will or not. One must read, anywhere, and
we have books in abundance, but the art and archaeology,
churches and galleries and museums, old Italy and the
new, form here such an attractive conglomeration as one
finds in no other place.
I have gained great profit from our American School
and my wife and myself have enjoyed the Nor tons* hos-
pitality repeatedly. We have been on excursions with
"the school," to Ostia, to old Veii, to Horace's farm,
and more is in store. I am booked for a day's trip with
Lanciani tomorrow. And so the days go not enough
of them in any week.
It is a disappointment to learn that Commendatore
Lanciani has not kept any of his letters from Doctor
Taylor. He writes:
24 PIAZZA SALLUSTIO, ROMA,
Dec. 26, 1918.
My dear wife and I did receive a few letters from
President Taylor; but, after the death of Mme. Lan-
ciani, I am afraid that all her correspondence was burnt.
I am very sorry not to be able to contribute to your inter-
esting work, as I have a deep veneration for the memory
of the President, one of the best and perfect men I
have known in my long life.
To Miss Ella McCaleb.
EDEN HOTEL, ROME.
MY DEAR MlSS McCALEB, . . .
After standing an hour in the Colosseum, hearing Mr.
Norton, I met my wife and M. and gave them, in an hour
and a quarter, the benefit of my lectures from N., on the
Palatine, my wife and I go from ruin to church (quite
appropriate!) and from "teas" to luncheons and dinners,
and just now we all shop more or less for the Christmas
212 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
coming. The days are full and the time too short! I
have been following Norton twice a week, and last week
began with Moore on Roman Life as illustrated in the
Museums. I am due for that tomorrow, but Lanciani
asks me to go on a trip with him and an English friend,
and I shall go if our splendid weather holds. But there
are some bad portents, though I hope. It has been a
superb December.
I wish you could have been to two places weVe seen
this past week, as they would have given you great joy.
One was a palace on the theatre of Marcellus. I never
knew that it was there till we were asked to call on the
Gays, at the Orsini Palace. Think of it on the top, inside
surrounded by that old theatre wall with its shops and
dwellings. It was most interesting. Still more so was
the studio of the sculptor Ezekiel, in the baths of Dio-
cletian. His studio proper occupies a great room of the
old thermae, next to S. Maria degli Angeli, and his
upper rooms, reached by a charming little outdoor stair-
way, covered with vines, leading to a little bowered bal-
cony, where are doves, a fountain, and many a bit of
Roman ruins, are in another great room of the thermae,
furnished with the skill of a true artist and unique in
arrangement and attractiveness. Think of having your
tea on a polished slab of ... gialla antica (?) fifteen
feet long, 3 or 4 broad, supported by marble griffins!
It was an experience. And such beautiful work as he
showed us! He is a Virginian and a charming man.
And now we are asked to Elihu Vedder's studio, and
to Franklin Simmons's. . . .
EDEN HOTEL MOLARO
ANACAPRI
(He de Capri)
March 9, 1906.
MY DEAR MlSS McCALEB,
With a half hour before luncheon I will at least make
a start. I have just come in from a walk of two hours
EDUCATION, FINANCE, AND REST, 1899-1906 213
and a half, in the course of which I might easily have told
you more than I can write of us and our doings. But
if I tell you of my walk you will excuse my delay in
writing ? You see it was hardly time to write while we
were in Palermo. . . . And since we've been moving.
Another hard voyage brought us to Naples Sunday a. m.
and we were there, and quite busy, till Wednesday
A. M. . . .
I often think of you all, if I don't often write, and
of the men, Flagler, Law, and all the old "stand bys."
Of course Mr. Flagler got his ice-crop. What could
he say to me next summer if he hadn't, when I trusted
him to do it?
But now that walk. Why didn't you take it with me ?
I started out to look around little Anacapri and soon
found myself in a little lane, paved, with high walls
either side, and I followed on from one to another,
now with a view through a gate into a court, now into
a vineyard, now into a house. It is the most oriental
thing since Cairo, low houses, roof flat or slightly
rounded, scenes on the roof, a woman washing,
repairing clothes, whitewashed walls everywhere, and
glimpses over the walls of olives, or oranges, vines,
flowers. It is not a pretty village, but it is interesting,
and I wandered 'round and 'round (literally, I think)
till I came out at the other end and started for the Blue
Grotto on foot. They assured me it was "cattivo," the
way, but I was out for a walk ! So I wandered on through
the tiniest paths, between walls always, but walls lower
now and giving chance for views over vineyards and
groves and out to the beautiful blue sea. I went on in-
definitely, and at last, as I couldn't find the grotto, and
for near an hour didn't see a soul as I turned and wan-
dered on through private grounds, vineyards and olive
groves, I gave up my quest and was contented with hav-
ing been for so long in the companionship of the lovely
sea, and the beauteous land so rich and attractive under
this Italian cultivation. ... It is certainly charming,
214 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
and I don't wonder that idlers stay here, when they come
only for a week. . . .
I shall soon be back. ... I hope and pray that our
work may tell more than ever for the lifting up of all
the lives on which we have so much influence. It is a
tremendous trust and a wonderful opportunity, and a
blessed work. If only I can do my part! Two months
or so ago I felt great courage, but latterly I haven't been
sure of my nerve-recuperation, but I mean to rest more,
and, if I can, get more peace into my soul. . . .
I wish you could have walked down to the Piccola
Marina with me yesterday. It is down one of those
wonderful roads hewn out of the side of the cliff, which
one grows used to here, and I came back up the old
steps. Such views! The sea in afternoon light, the
Faraglioni rocks below, so often painted and photo-
graphed, the splendid cliffs of Capri to right and left!
And then our family met the Burnhams at the Hidde-
geigei, a beer and tea room, at 5, and we had a jolly hour
of tea, pfannenkiichen and talk.
I haven't written you about Sicily, since Taormina
(lovely place!) but I fancy you don't care. I want to
assure you, though, in response to a suggestion in your
letter, that the Girgenti temples are splendid, and the
situation far finer than Paestum. But I mean to visit the
latter place again, just the same. One temple at Gir-
genti is remarkably complete, as is one, I think, at
Paestum. But at Girgenti the temples all stood along a
high ridge (the south wall of the city) with a splendid
view over the country and the sea. I also saw Segesta
the great lovely unfinished temple to the west of Palermo,
as deserted as Paestum, but on a great eminence over-
looking the land. It was most impressive. Syracuse
was most interesting in other ways, theatre, latomia,
the great fort from which one looks over all the site
of ancient and modern Syracuse, the harbors, the sea,
and away back to Etna, which looks even bigger from so
far away.
EDUCATION, FINANCE, AND REST, 1899-1906 215
Now a truce to travel. Let my thoughts travel to
Vassar before I bid you goodbye again. . . . Once in a
while how I wish I could slip into chapel and hear the
girls sing!
I don't know that we shall stay here many days, but
from here we mean to go for a rest to Ravello, and
thence (after Psestum) to Rome and Florence (perhaps
a week in each.) . . .
My kindest remembrances to all the faculty. (Love to
Gran, tell her).
Sincerely yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
VILLA CERCOLA, CAPRI,
March 16, 1906.
MY DEAR MlSS McCALEB,
We have a lovely garden and we look over it into the
sea. From another window we look over the village,
five or ten minutes off, and up the whole profile of the
mountain, where the wonderful road runs, toward Ana-
capri. . . . We took the rooms for a week, and extended
that a couple of days. The rooms are rented and we
have to go then, next Wednesday p. m., and we hope,
after a night in Sorrento to get a week in Ravello.
It is charming here, the walks splendid, the town
interesting, the views inspiring. Do you know the
place ? I forget whether you came. You know the little
town lies between the enormous mass which shuts out
Anacapri from our view and the "Villa of Tiberius" and
the other peaks to the east. Though very high this point
between seems low comparatively, and you can see both
seas from near the town, and from here, for that mat-
ter, toward the Marina Grande and what on my map is
called the Sirena di Mulo (Piccola Marina).
Let me tell you about one day, yesterday. ... I started,
after coffee in the garden, to find a sheltered nook
and think about my baccalaureate. I wandered over
toward the splendid Faraglione Rocks that rise so ma-
216 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
jestically from the sea, just off shore, and found a man
waiting there to convince me that it was the day to row
around the island. I hurried back and found my wife
and M. (D. had been meanwhile caught for a like trip
by some friends) and we went off, to the splendid
Green Grotto, and the socalled Red one, back through
the arch of the Faraglione Rock, around under the splen-
did towering crags and cliffs, on to the White Grotto
(most interesting) and under the crag of Tiberius around
to the Grotto Bovine, and so to the Marina Grande
(We haft previoiisly been to the Blue Grotto). Then,
by cab, we were back here for a late luncheon. I wrote
you awhile, and we then walked from here to the Hotel
Eden, . . . enjoyed the sunset, and walked back. After
a good dinner we walked to town and spent the evening
at the Hiddegeigei, where the Tarantella was performed
again and again. Wasn't that innocent? Great fun!
Now I am starting again (have had breakfast among the
flowers again) to see if I can get anything out of my
brains for a baccalaureate. I haven't been in the way of
much constructive spiritual influence for months and have
done no thinking. I am beginning to wonder if I can't
turn over a new leaf, and do a little Bible reading and re-
flection every morning, a quiet, thoughtful, start. We
hurry so much! And we should do as much if we took
a little time for ourselves at each end of the day. . . .
You would enjoy the garden so, and the huge cliffs,
and the walks, and the splendid views and even the
quaint little town. Here's to you! Kindest remem-
brances to all
Sincerely yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
SALERNO,
April 5th, 1906.
MY DEAR MlSS McCALEB,
When I wrote you my business letter from Capri about
the middle of March I meant to write the ist of this
EDUCATION, FINANCE, AND REST, 1899-1906 217
month and from Rome. You know how all my plans
went astray. Doubtless Mrs. K. has told you all that I
said of my illness. ... It was very nice just as we were
leaving Ravello to get your letter as well as one from
Mrs. K. For I did get to Ravello though it was only
but a sight of that we had planned to know so well. We
came from Capri Monday; I was allowed to go for a
little walk Sunday ; we stopped a night in Sorrento, drove
to Amalfi for luncheon and then to Ravello, and found
that Mme. Palumbo had no rooms for us ! We got on
pretty well in a little pension where we were "the
whole thing" but it was cold and in my condition we
didn't dare stay there. We are missing our steam-heated
Eden. You ask about that "condition." I have been
pretty weak from fever and fasting but am quite strong
again now, and am trying to be very cautious. It was
a hard experience and after such good health and such
a delightful fortnight in Capri. But how glad I was to
get off the island safely ! And I have stood all the driv-
ing we have done very well. It is you know a most
beautiful trip. Ravello was lovely. My plan for a
week there was no mistake. The views are superb and
the gardens splendid, and I know the walks about there
must be most interesting. But to stop there now, even
if we had secured the rooms, wouldn't have been what
we planned; unless you are robust you had better not
try the mountain tops ! I am now wondering what I shall
do about that sermon, and am thinking of Como for a
few days. We shall see. My point now is to get to
Rome, stay there for a few days, get fully rested, spend
a few days in Florence and push to Milan and Como . . .
get a glimpse of Switzerland and then have a few days
in Paris. I want all the time I can squeeze out in London
before we sail the last week in May from Liverpool.
You see how radically our plans have changed. We have
seen so much of this tempestuous Mediterranean that 4
days on it from Genoa to Gibraltar no longer appealed
to us. Of course I am disappointed. I had meant to see
218 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
southern France ("I never shall see Carcasonne"), but
now it looks as if the above plan would be wise. Anyway
we are going to try to get to Rome tomorrow. It seems
like rest and comfort to think of the Eden again. . . .
We have been to Pzestum today We had a nice day,
though the railway does all it can to make the trip
impossible. We were there from 10 130 to 2 :3<D not a
minute too long, and saw the walls, basked in the temples,
took the best view of the temples and the line of the
walls, &c., and saw Vesuvius shoot out vast columns of
smoke into a sort of cone and pine-tree shape suggested
by Pliny in his account of the eruption of '79. It didn't
continue very long, an hour or so but it was a re-
markable sight. ... I am sending you the wish that
the coming year may be your best and bring the most
real and abiding satisfaction to you. A half century is
a good time to begin on the best life I don't recall that
I did, but I hope that you may ! Remember me to Miss
G., Miss C, R, etc I will not enumerate but I think
of them all. ... I have written as long as I ought to-
night. You must take a better will for a poor deed.
One often has to! The splendid opportunities of our
work grow on me and I hope to go back to a higher,
worthier, stronger, more helpful life than I have ever
lived at Vassar. But who can tell? Just now I do not
feel "up to" much, but I shall do better soon. All good
to you!
Sincerely yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
It is delightful to remember that Italy did again bring
restoration and happiness to Doctor Taylor, as she has
many times to many of her lovers.
CHAPTER VIII
Years of Growth and Success,
1907-1911
"Take pleasure in one thing and rest in it, passing from one
social act to another, thinking of God."
Marcus Aurelius.
THE next five years of Doctor Taylor's work at Vassar,
ending in the twenty-fifth anniversary of his coming to
the college, were a period of expansion and assured suc-
cess, veritably golden years. As cycle after cycle in a
college president's life repeats itself, it may be well to
drop chronology for the record of this quinquennial and
summarize more generally Doctor Taylor's life to view
in retrospect the president and his administrative work,
the educator and his theories, the preacher and his talks,
and the man, unofficial.
In proposing further reorganization of the business
departments in his report of 1909, Doctor Taylor de-
scribed the range of his own functions. "The college
has become so large that this burden is at times too in-
sistent for any man to carry who has as well the re-
sponsibility for the relations of the college to its patrons,
the gaining of new friends for our work, a large corre-
spondence, and the headship of a faculty of about one
hundred, dealing with all the questions of education im-
plied in a college organization, and with all the complica-
219
220 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
tions arising in every large institution." The size of
"the great business corporation" of the college is shown
in another report (1908) in convincing figures. 1
To relieve the president of direct responsibility for all
this "business corporation" the trustees in 1910, in ac-
cordance with Doctor's Taylor's suggestion, made the
treasurer the business manager of the college, but the
president still remained chairman of the executive com-
mittee of the trustees. Among the business problems of
the college in these years were the improvement of the
grounds under the plans of Mr. Samuel Parsons and the
urgent necessity in the near future of establishing a new
lighting and heating system for the enlarged college.
The President's reports on the educational problems of
the college deal with changing conditions of admission,
new courses in the curriculum, the work of the faculty
and honors received by them, the departmental clubs,
new appointments. In what close personal touch Doctor
Taylor kept with the last is shown in the report of 1905,
where he speaks of "the letters, journeys, interviews,
and fallibility of judgment involved in the 222 nomina-
1 "The College operates six fair sized hotels, ministering to a popu-
lation of upwards of a thousand souls. It employs 330 people, out-
side the educational departments, and operates a farm, including
the campus, of 720 acres. The farm uses 20 horses and sustains
120 milch cows. It supplied last year 201,430 quarts of milk, it
raised 104 pigs, had 12 acres in potatoes, 40 in ensilage corn, 200 in
pasture, 100 in meadow. Its yield, in meat was $1,084.49, of milk
$8,313.72, of vegetables $6,862.09. The steam, gas and water works
use twelve 125 horse power boilers, 112,000 gallons of water are
pumped into the tank every twenty-four hours, and there has been
manufactured during the college year 3,232,000 cubic feet of gas.
We purchased 7,338 tons of coal, of all kinds, at $29,600.05 The
laundry turns out per week 26,600 pieces. The yearly harvest of
ice is 1,400 tons."
YEARS OF GROWTH AND SUCCESS, 1907-1911 221
tions" he had made for places in the faculty in nineteen
years. All the aspects of student government too came
under his eye, the desires of young people for more
power, the need to protect them from their own zeal in
assuming administrative burdens, their high sense of
responsibility towards the college.
Various educational policies for the college are an-
nounced : that the meaning of the college as a place of
liberal study for education in living and serving must be
maintained ; that the undergraduate college has no place
for propaganda from without, but all room for free dis-
cussion within its walls; that academic freedom must be
preserved as a condition for all search for truth and teach-
ing of it, but that in regard to the Christian character
of a college, "it may be suggested as a general truth,
that whatever the rights of personal opinion, the right
to antagonize directly the standard which an institution
professes to uphold may be questioned as a matter of
taste and as a matter of justice."
Repeatedly the needs of the college are stated music
building, art building, a students' club house, professors'
houses, an apartment house for women on the faculty,
a light and heat plant, and with satisfaction gifts meet-
ing long-felt needs are recorded : the admirable chemical
laboratory, the gift of a Trustee, Doctor Henry M. San-
ders, and the Olivia Josselyn Hall for residence, the gift
of Mrs. Russell Sage.
Formal presidential reports, however, give little idea
of the President at work, and of that rare characteristic
which infused geniality into the daily routine. Some of
his business letters show how far a light this quality
222 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
shed. The first is a letter to President Marion Leroy
Burton on the assumption of his duties at Smith College.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.
September 19, 1910.
MY DEAR PRESIDENT BURTON,
In addition to the formal statements which I am filling
out for the Dean's Office this morning, I want to send
you one personal word of hearty greeting and the assur-
ance of my very deepest wish for your great success in
your new work. Like every important responsibility it
will carry its full amount of vexation, care, and possible
worry, but also its exceeding great reward, and I trust
that all that is happiest and best in the work may be
so prominent in your mind continually that the necessary
care and burden may not bulk heavily in your vision. I
trust that our own acquaintance may ripen into a closer
friendship, and I am sending this word at the beginning
of my own work this morning just as an informal and
hearty greeting.
Cordially yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
In the midst of many business letters to trustees, two
may show the friendship between president and members
of his board a New Year's and a birthday letter.
To Mr. George E. Dimock.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.
Jan. 5, 1909.
MY DEAR MR. DIMOCK,
You can't surprise me ; you can only keep up my feel-
ing that you are one of the best of men ! I am grateful
to you, just the same, as I find your generous check on
my desk this morning, on my return from "a week off."
YEARS OF GROWTH AND SUCCESS, 1907-1911 223
I shall think up some good thing : I have already in mind
a poor minister (salary $700) who is trying to educate
two children, one here. And he is succeeding, with your
help! . . .
Our love to you and your wife, and the best of New
Years.
Sincerely yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
To Mr. George E. Dimock
On his birthday.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.
March 9, 1911.
MY DEAR MR. DIMOCK,
I'm sorry for you ! Sorry enough to be brief, and you
know how that hurts !
But bless you ! how young you are ! A mere boy to
my years, and giving to us all the joy and tonic and
spirit and fun that a real boy should. All blessings on
you, and a long life full of the same things that bind
your friends to you with stronger bonds than "hooks
of steel."
Faithfully yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
The following letters to a Benefactor of the college
are part of the history of Josselyn Hall.
To Mrs. Russell Sage.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.
April 21, 1908.
MY DEAR MRS. SAGE,
Is there any time in the next fortnight when you
would be willing to let me talk to you about Vassar?
I have been unwilling to thrust myself, or the claims
224 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
of the college on you, and I am still so. I am rejoicing
heartily in your large and wisely-directed gifts and shall
do so even if your mind does not turn to us at all. But
if it does, or when it does, I shall be glad to call on you.
I have not wished to add to what I know must often
be an almost unbearable burden.
Hoping that you are well and happy and that you know
daily the joy that is due the generous giver,
I am,
Sincerely yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.
October, 1910.
MY DEAR MRS. SAGE,
Cannot we have a hall here in your name and your
husband's? Since the day we dedicated the Russell Sage
Building at Troy, and the monument to your great
teacher, I have connected the names of all three closely
in my memory and honor.
We have kept down our numbers for five years, and
mean to limit them, but we have even now a hundred
girls living away from the campus. What can we do?
We want them here, for their sakes. We could put up
a fireproof residence hall for them for about $150,000.
Will you not build it and name it?
If only you would accept my invitation to be our guest
and see our college ! My hearty wishes for your health
and happiness!
Sincerely yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
On Nov. 28, '10, Doctor Taylor was able to write to
the trustees:
"I take great pleasure in informing you that Mrs. Rus-
seil Sage, of New York, has promised to Vassar College
YEARS OF GROWTH AND SUCCESS, 1907-1911 223
$150,000 for the erection of the residence hall that we so
much need."
The correspondence with Mrs. Sage continues.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.
June 17, 1911.
MY DEAR MRS. SAGE,
Commencement is over but not the busy days for the
few survivors of us who are still meeting the responsi-
bilities, and they are very heavy yet, of this work. I
do not wish to delay, however, writing to you even if
it only turns out to be a report of progress. . . .
I want chiefly to tell you just why the building is still
delayed and how hopeful I am that we are about settled
on the plan. We have been trying to get something not
only attractive and right but with some fresh features
of interest in it, and Mrs. Thompson and Miss Cushing
of Boston, who is an Alumna Trustee, have been our
advisory committee throughout, They have earnestly
urged a recreation room and therefore a dining room
and kitchen on the second floor, and in trying to make
this adjustment and a number of others that will con-
tribute to the greater convenience of this building and
its attractiveness, we have been obliged to send back our
plans several times to the architects. Then the fact
that the committee is widely scattered has caused further
delay, and I cannot think that the architects are quite
blameless. However, everything has gone forward now
successfully, and I am hoping to submit to the Executive
Committee some time within ten days, or two weeks at
the latest, the plans of the building in such condition as
to gain their approval. Then it only remains for us to
have the specifications figured upon and the contracts
made unless, indeed, we have to write the architects again
that they must cut down somewhere when we get the
actual figures.
226 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
Mr. Allen is proposing to make out a set of plans for
you, he tells me, so that I will not try to describe the
building as it will be.
I had thought seriously about asking you to come up
here for Commencement and then I decided that at that
very busy time when there are such crowds here and
when we are so overbusy, it would not be possible for
me to show you the personal attention that I should like
to, nor would you see the college so well as at some time
in the spring or fall when all the girls are here. A great
proportion of them leave before Commencement. I do
hope, however, that we shall be able to get you up here
for a little visit at some time in the fall if that should
prove convenient for you. Then, too, we should have the
building in process.
I hope to get away by the Fourth of July for a very
much needed rest. I learn that you are soon to move
to your summer home, and I am wishing for you the
best of health and much happiness.
Believe me, with grateful appreciation of what you are
doing for Vassar,
Sincerely yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.
Dec. 23, 1911.
DEAR MRS. SAGE,
I cannot let these days of joy come and go without
sending you a word of greeting. I am thinking of you
with gratitude for your goodness to Vassar, and with
hope that these days are bringing to you the joy and
peace that belong to one who has given so largely and
so cheerfully.
I trust that your health has improved and that comfort
of body and spirit are vouchsafed to you. I am wishing
for you the happiest of New Years, full of content and
blessing and peace.
YEARS OF GROWTH AND SUCCESS, 1907-1911 227
The Olivia Josselyn Hall grows, after some of the
usual delays, and the assurance is still given us that it
shall be ready next fall. Then we shall hope to have
you see it.
Believe me
Sincerely yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
A few letters to members of the faculty show the
same personal feeling, and also indicate the variety of
themes on which Doctor Taylor corresponded to save
the time of interviews for both parties.
To Professor Aaron Tread-well.
February n, 1907.
DEAR DR. TREADWELL,
I was unable to stop in or to make any inquiries
that would be of the slightest help regarding your nomi-
nees. I must have a further talk with you before we go
on with the matter. I am sure that we can arrange some
way of getting at these people and I am very unwilling
to do it without a chance of personal interviews. Should
that prove impossible then we must get the fullest knowl-
edge we can of the details of their personality and their
personal influence as well as of their scholarship and
teaching ability. Every time that I go out and meet
outsiders and the criticisms that are bound to come from
one source or another regarding the spirit of the college
and the influence on the students, I am more and more
convinced that we owe it to these young people to see
that they not only have good instructors but instructors
with influence that will make for the better life in every
respect. It increases our difficulty but it is simple justice
to them, and I may say to the college, that we take the
trouble. ,
228 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
VASSAR COLLEGE,
March 8, 1910.
DEAR DR. TREADWELL,
I return the "Science" and thank you for calling my
attention to the article * which I read with much pleasure
this morning. I do not subscribe to the idea that the
humanities appeal to the feeling and science to the reason
as in any way an exclusive statement of facts. I doubt
whether there is more exactness in the elementary sciences
of observations than in the elementary study of Latin, but
I will not urge that point, being always filled with regret
that I was not myself led into a larger study of the
sciences. I should say, however, that science is certainly
not harder than Latin and Greek, and Professor Ganong
seems to be looking in that portion of his speech for
something hard.
I have been a good deal puzzled myself over the lack
of following for the sciences as compared with history
and economics in our day. Of course I know that the
latter subjects touch all of the concerns of_ our daily
life far more vitally, but so much effort has been made
on behalf of science, and so many of us who were not
trained in it are so earnestly in favor of having young
people study it, and so much has been spent for it in
every direction in high schools and in colleges, that I
have been puzzled in common with many others situated
as I am, to explain what Dr. Ganong tried to explain in
one part of his paper. I doubt whether "natural taste"
explains it, and yet I sometimes wonder whether in the
investigations even in elementary science there is not
often a feeling on the part of the student that he is not
getting anywhere; that is, he does not see the end of the
investigation, and too often, I fear, in scientific training
there is a lack of anything like synthesis. I do most
highly value scientific study because of the very things
Mr. Ganong claims for it, but I have always felt a lack
1 Some Reflections upon Botanical Education in America, by Prof.
W. F. Ganong, "Science," March 4, 1910.
YEARS OF GROWTH AND SUCCESS, 1907-1911 229
in this direction, and a great many far abler men than
I have indicated their belief that scientific study does
tend to a lack cf conclusion, if I may so say, the rea-
soning to an end in the way we have to reason in life,
etc., not upon exact bases as in mathematics or in dealing
with the facts 6f a natural science. In spite, for ex-
ample, of all that is said about the help of mathematics
to reasoners, I think we must all feel that mathematical
reasoning has extremely little to do in directing the kind
of logic that we have to use in the uncertain and ill-
defined factors of life.
Don't you think he runs dangerously near the sort of
"interest" that I often talk about and that some of you
are always ready to condemn in me?! I don't believe
we are any of us far apart on that matter, by the way,
and in claiming that the presentation of a subject should
be made "humanistic" he certainly holds close to nature
and close to psychology. His suggestion of the "dramatic
phases" of science is in the same direction.
I enjoyed it all but I think nothing better than his dis-
tinction between the college teacher and the university
teacher, between the actual research of the latter and the
spirit of the research which ought to characterize the
former, whether he teaches science or Greek.
Again thank you for calling my attention to the arti-
cle, and believe me Sincerely yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
To Professor J. Lever ett Moore.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
MY DEAR MOORE, March 24 > X 99-
You remember,, do you not, that Huelsen is to come?
I have not heard a word from him yet, and I wonder,
for I expressly told him that I wanted to arrange for his
entertainment. I think I will venture to write him again
now.'
Do you chance to know the estimate in which Ferrero
230 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
is held as a historian ? I read his article on Nero in the
McClure just now, and it does not give me a feeling that
I am reading a historian who is basing his investigations
on facts, but rather one who is working out a psychologi-
cal theory. I wonder if I am right. When he throws
down Tacitus and Suetonius, what does he base his
opinions upon? I had intended to buy Ferrero, and in
fact once ordered it and found it out of print, but if he
is simply an interesting speculator in history, or a man
who stood as Froude did, as an advocate, I don't know
that I care much about buying it.
Very truly yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
To Professor Abby Leach.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
November 27, 1907.
MY DEAR Miss LEACH, . . .
A word as to Mr. Eliot's speech. It is certainly con-
servative, but if this is a fair report it hardly justifies
the violent outbursts I have heard reported, especially
from our friend Miss T. To be sure, Mr. Eliot would
have hard work to establish his thesis, that the majority
of women take up the occupation of training children
in some way or other and, even if it be their normal occu-
pation, as the report suggests, it is hardly one that main-
tains people. It does not meet the bread and butter
problem surely, and far and away beyond that, if this
is a fair report, it in no way touches the enormous value
to all life, whether in the training of children or in other
ways of intellectual training and culture. The talk of
education as an imitation of that of men, I must say
I think very little of, though it is common talk now.
I am impressed all the time with the fact that most
people who talk about the early years of women's educa-
tion do not seem to be at all familiar with the grave con-
sideration given to this whole matter when Vassar was
founded and by men who understood the education of
YEARS OF GROWTH AND SUCCESS, 1907-1911 231
men and were looking for something different, but in
vain.
I can hardly think that Mr. Eliot could have said, as
this report states, that it was intended, when higher
education was first advocated, that the chief end of a
woman's life was to enter man's occupation. If he did,
it is certainly contrary to the facts as borne out in our
early history. I think I shall have to begin and talk a
little about the education of women from 1865 to 1880.
Sincerely yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
What ready sympathy went out to ill health appears
in the next letters.
To Professor Mary Whitney.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
March 18, 1910.
MY DEAR Miss WHITNEY,
This is not with my own hand, you see, and just to
show you that I am thinking of you and have had your
letter. Perhaps also it is to set you an example, so that
you shall not write another letter Vith your own hand
until you get well and strong again! Haven't they for-
bidden you to make any of these efforts? Just be the
queen you really are, and let other people do your writing
and your "walking/' and everything but your thinking,
and don't do too much of that ! Really rest is the thing
until you get completely strong, and we are very happy
to know that you are approaching that day by day.
Faithfully yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
To Mrs. L Ryland Kendrick.
Sunday Night,
Oct. I, 'II.
DEAR. MRS. KENDRICK,
It is "taking time by the forelock," decidedly, to begin
a letter to you tonight which I expect you to read only
232 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
after our shores have faded from your view. But I
cannot tell what a busy Monday may bring, and you
might get away Tuesday before I could write.
And I must put down a few words of appreciation for
you to read. One can't be saying such things all the time
in the midst of one's daily occupations, and yet one
should now and then make evident that he appreciates
such work as yours and knows what he is losing when
you go away !
I have told you more than once what I have thought
of your work as Lady Principal, of its breadth and depth
and unique power. No one can ever tell you all it has
meant to Vassar and to the individual girls you have
influenced and directed. You know I thought your
equipment for your duties unrivalled twenty years ago,
and I have never changed my mind about it. ...
We have worked together through many a trying ex-
perience, and I think we agree that the whole spirit of
these later days is tending to make them harder for any
administration than our earlier years together were, but
you have kept your hand and head and heart in a won-
derful way on all the changes of spirit and life, and your
directing influence has continued patient and effectual.
. . . You have held a firm and "human" hold on the
entire social life of a college, and you have done it by
keeping your own spirit from the slavery to routine
and the destruction of general interests which so com-
monly results in an office calling constantly for "rules"
and denials of "exceptional" and "necessary" requests.
I shall never be able to tell you how high an estimate I
put upon your twenty years of work, and how much it
has meant to Vassar, and may I add, as certainly a lesser
thing, how much it has done toward enabling me to do
my work and meet my responsibilities. And so, though
I am tired tonight, and know my mind is slow and my
expression inadequate, I am writing to thank you, to
assure you of our unending interest in you and of our
hearty hope that the year will make all over your weary
YEARS OF GROWTH AND SUCCESS, 1907-1911 233
mind and heart and bring you back to us vigorous and
refreshed in spirit and courage. I am so glad you can
go ! But I shall miss you greatly, though I shall never
bring to you a question or discuss with you one of our
trying problems. I am wishing you a complete rest, and
a return of joy to you, and a lifting up of the whole aspect
of life for you, and a return of opportunity, so deserved,
to feed your own soul a while, without thinking con-
stantly of all you must do for others.
Let me add a more personal word, for our work has
not wholly obscured our friendship! We shall miss you
personally, and we shall think of you constantly and af-
fectionately, and when you turn your face homeward
again we shall be waiting with a hearty welcome to both
work and home.
Faithfully yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
All these letters, mere selections as they are from vo-
luminous correspondence, show the president himself and
the permeating humanity in his administrative work.
Perhaps it is an artificial distinction to separate the
educator and his theories from the president and his
work, but where so much the larger proportion of annual
reports must be concerned with details of administration,
purely educational addresses and articles give a clearer
picture of the theories and the visions underlying the
work of administration. Such material is not wanting
in this period. Historical and religious addresses inter-
mingle with the educational : "South American Republi-
canism : Its Achievements and Its Failures" ; "The Hud-
son-Fulton Celebration"; "Calvin as a Municipal Re-
former"; "The Tercentenary of the English Bible."
More significant for us now are purely educational utter-
ances. Before the Association of Colleges and Pre-
234 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
paratory Schools of the Middle States and Maryland in
1906, Doctor Taylor affirmed "The Responsibility of the
College for the Moral Conduct of the Student" in the
institution and the community and in illustration urged
the enforcement of law and equity in regard to hazing,
the eradication of cheating, and the control of athletics.
This theme of education for morals as well as culture was
amplified in an address at Carnegie Hall, 1907, wherein
Doctor Taylor set forth what the aims of true education
should be : to teach every student "to see straight, to think
accurately, to speak exactly"; to arouse his intellectual
curiosity; to "awaken taste, love of good books, art,
music, and so furnish resources for after life" ; and "to
create, awaken, and intensify moral purpose, with its
conviction of responsibility to society, and of duty to use
all developed power and intelligence for the service of
the world." In a talk to the Head Masters Association
in New York, in 1909, on "Some Conservative Tenden-
cies in Education," Doctor Taylor found reassuring signs
in several recent inaugural addresses of college presi-
dents : their insistence on the mission of the college for
liberal education, not the so-called practical ; the reaction
against the free elective system with the recognition that
young people need more guidance; emphasis on the de-
sirability of the greater care of the undergraduate boy;
and belief in the need of religious culture and care for
the spiritual life.
Doctor Taylor's position as educator had become one
of great distinction, bringing him such recognition as the
election to a trusteeship of the Carnegie Foundation for
the Advancement of Teaching and appointment as a dele-
gate by the governor of the State to the conference of the
YEARS OF GROWTH AND SUCCESS, 1907-1911 235
American Society for Judicial Settlements of Interna-
tional Disputes in Washington (both in IQIO-'II). His
work in these years was exacting, arduous, varied, but his
buoyant power overflowed in a geniality that imparted
stimulus to fellow-workers in public service and the larger
world of education. President Hadley of Yale has given
fine expression to this reaction :
"Besides his integrity and his intellectual honesty,
President Taylor had a quality of responsive sympathy
that does not always go with them. When you talked
with him you did not feel that he was merely listening
to your ideas. He was listening to you. He was actively
and sympathetically interested in getting at your point of
view ; the things that you cannot put into words quite as
much as those you can. One day not long ago when
Doctor Taylor left a meeting the presiding officer said,
What a good fellow Taylor is I' And this sentiment was
echoed by every other man in the room. Yet when we
came to inquire what had called forth this sentiment on
this particular occasion, we could not remember anything
specific which he had said or done to evoke it. In fact,
he had probably said less than any other man in the
meeting. But he had made every one feel that he was
listening, in a way that helped each of us to say what
he wanted, and made us feel sure that he understood it
and understood us." 1
Such understanding of people was conveyed also in
Doctor Taylor's preaching. Certain themes, as in his
educational writings, are recurrent in varied guises,
the battle against the world, the duty of the individual
1 Sup. to Vassar Quart. Feb. '17, vol. II, no. 2.
236 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
to society, the primacy of the spiritual, the seeing of
visions, and optimistic inspiration to action is the key-
note of the sermons of this period.
A sermon, planned in Capri, shows the effect of Doc-
tor Taylor's year in Italy, 1906, for to illustrate his text
"I have overcome the world" he shows first how the old
Roman Empire with all its corruption had its men of
vision, and then recalls the message that St. Francis of
Assisi brought to the commercialism, materialism and
pleasure-seeking of his day.
"The wealth of the world lay at the feet of Rome and
the temptation had proved too great for a people whose
life had been restrained, temperate, and decent. Corrup-
tion honeycombed its politics, wastefulness and vulgarity
marked its public and private expenditures, its art became
careless and slipshod, and already the marks were noted
at the beginning of the second century, of the degenera-
tion and destruction of all intellectual values which is the
inevitable result of a widespread materialism of life.
Worst of all, its domestic and social life was blighted
with the disease of sensualism. We have been familiar-
ized with the pictures by satirist, historian, Christian
apologist, and even modern novelist. But the better side
of it has been too often neglected in the effort to show
the hopelessness and helplessness of the world when the
Saviour came, in singular forgetfulness that human as-
piration witnesses to God as truly as humanism. Sup-
pose that one should sketch our time from the daily
sensational journals, and from the professional satirists.
Is there an evil of ancient Rome that we cannot parallel
in our great cities ? And there was a Trajan as well as
a Nero, a Virgil as well as a Martial, if a gossiping Sue-
YEARS OF GROWTH AND SUCCESS, 1907-1911 237
tonius, also a Tacitus, preacher of civic righteousness,
and the younger Pliny, refined, public spirited, revealing
in his letters whole companies of men and women of like
spirit. Seneca preached as earnestly as a Christian
teacher against the bondage of the temporal and warned
his time of its lost condition. And who can forget the
great sad Emperor who stood for simplicity and right-
eousness against his generation? But most impressive
of all was the growth of the new religions which swept
over the Empire from the east and Egypt and made Isis
and Mithras as familiar as Jupiter and Mars, and which
grew and throve not just because men were lost, but
because they would be saved, and yearned with unsatis-
fied and unresting souls for the faiths which gave them
hope of the future and the sense of a God near to them.
We must learn this lesson if we learn the rest, that the
Roman world, satiated with all that wealth and pleasure
could supply, cast down and verily destroyed, cried for
God in its distress and would not and could not be satis-
fied without the higher vision. . . ."
While praising all the spiritual vision of St. Francis,
Doctor Taylor rejects the asceticism of both his vows,
poverty and chastity.
" 'Blessed is he to whom all his earthenware is as
silver, but no less blessed is he to whom his silver is as
earthenware.' That is the point to make clear. St.
Francis was wrong in statement but right in spirit.
Wealth is opportunity and poverty is obligation, and
opportunity and obligation are never far apart for the
spiritual soul. Nothing in themselves, they are what their
possessors make them. Wealth may be a privilege, an
honor, a divine power, or it may be a disgrace, a vul-
238 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
garity, a travesty on all true worth. Poverty may be
a cramping, confining, narrowing necessity, or it may be
a limitation serving to bring out the essential greatness
of a true life. Wealth may be a Midas, with asses' ears,
and Poverty a Diogenes, whining and snarling like a dog.
Or Wealth may be a St. Elizabeth whose common bread
turns to beautiful flowers, and Poverty, a Francis, the
sweetness of whose life and sacrifices sanctifies genera-
tions of mankind. The secret is not in garb or doctrine
but in the real aim in life, in the underlying estimate we
put on things. . . .
"And his second vow was chastity. St. Francis inter-
preted this in the spirit of the church of his time and we
take it in its broader, truer meaning One word on his
mistake. It seems to me a dire error, while insisting
splendidly on the sacrament of marriage, as the Roman
Church does, to so exalt celibacy as to create the sus-
picion that it is a holier state which often seems a slur
on marriage and creates almost inevitably a false estimate
of woman. Francis* thought was broader. He was
preaching purity to a sensual generation, and his vow is
a protest against the overzealous spirit of our pleasure-
seeking. As an end and aim pleasure-seeking is debas-
ing and insidiously destructive; which led an apostle to
say, 'She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.'
To be really strong we must subordinate pleasure, and be
temperate in recreation. Must so orient our minds that
our pleasures cannot rule us, absorb us, or give character
to life."
No sermon is more typical of Doctor Taylor than this,
with its insistence on the spiritual and its rejection of the
ascetic, the true Greek aw^poo^. As this sermon
YEARS OF GROWTH AND SUCCESS, 1907-1911 239
was made in Italy, another, full of mountain imagery,
might have been made in the hills from whence cometh
our help. To see things sub specie aeternitatis, that is
its message.
"When one fastens one's attention on a mountain at
the horizon, the intervening scene, forest and field, tree
and rock and stream, up to the very fence and road near
by, is painted on the retina of the eye, but one sees
the mountain. It would be a mistake to say that the
details are not in view because attention is focussed on
the particular object. Yet something like that is experi-
enced in almost every discussion of great themes. . , .
"It is the vision of the spirit that brings all to propor-
tion in a larger view. We know in life how the great
issues lift us above minor differences. We are hope-
lessly divided on a tariff, for example, and we talk bit-
terly, and with reason, of the way the dominant party in
Congress is playing with its pledges, and with the in-
terests of the people at large, but if an immediate danger
strikes at the nation's life, our differences disappear in a
great and uniting love of country. How frictions and
disputes and partial estrangements sink out of sight in
the presence of deeper trouble and sickness and death!
In the larger interest we gain wholeness. So the spir-
itual absorptions of life lift out of physical and intel-
lectual provincialism, till we see things in their larger
and more enduring relationships. Have you never car-
ried your weariness and depression and repulsion to the
frictions and littlenesses of life to some mountain-top,
and in its rarer atmosphere found all adjusted, till the
small, things became really small, and the large things
important again, and your broken life was healed,
240 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
made whole? . . . Because I am God's child, all things
are mine, and I see myself related to eternal destinies,
and breathe already the atmosphere of an infinite life,
and the proportions of life are enlarged, and the little
is no longer the big, and the spirit sways my deepest in-
terest. There is a vision in sincere prayer that is not in
the intellect. The best men always seem the wisest too/
Euripides said. It is the highest philosophy as well as
the truest religion which declares that the pure in heart
shall see God."
Of course, in regard to all preaching before a college
audience, it must be remembered that to many, either
reared in ritualistic service or alienated temporarily or
permanently by a radicalism of thought that finds no com-
fort in revealed religion, sermons have little message.
But the sincerity and earnestness of Doctor Taylor him-
self carried meaning to all, and to some his spoken words
were no less inspiring than his life. One night, near the
end of his stay, when talking with some alumnae, Doctor
Taylor mentioned that he was about to burn all his ser-
mons. One alumna wrote afterwards and asked if she
might not have the manuscript of her own baccalaureate.
Doctor Taylor's letter in reply shows his feeling about
the significance of the spoken message.
To Miss H. Velma Turner.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.
November 10, 1913.
MY DEAR Miss TURNER :
Well, now, your letter is refreshing and suggestive.
I am even willing to do what you suggest, though I know
you will be disappointed. One of my reasons for not
YEARS OF GROWTH AND SUCCESS, 1907-1911 241
thinking well of published sermons is the fact that they
are written for a specific purpose and everything depends
upon the occasion and the delivery of them. In the case
of your own baccalaureate, 1899, it would not even be
true, as has been true of the last five or six, I think,
that the notes were written out in final form, and no
one, perhaps, but the speaker, knows how varied is the
actual delivery from even fully written notes if he has
studied the matter and has the subject wholly in his
head.
I have no sort of idea that I shall ever make the slight-
est use of these sermons but if there should be any occa-
sion for my needing the notes in the extremely unlikely,
and to me quite impossible, consideration of printing any
baccalaureates, then I should feel that I might call upon
you for the return of the notes. . . .
I cannot tell you how deeply I appreciate your very
kind words and how much they mean to me, nor can I
say how much it is to me to feel that I have helped such
a life as yours.
With great appreciation of your friendship, I am,
Sincerely yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
Not only in sermons, but in chapel speeches did Doctor
Taylor convey his message to the college. Here is a
package of literally hundreds of little slips of paper cov-
ered with fine notes in his clear hand, outlines of his
Sunday evening talks, a revelation of how carefully he
planned everything which he said to the young women
for whose spiritual education he had so profound a re-
gard. As in the sermons, the message is of vision,
growth, prayerfulness, faith, service, sanity. In the regu-
lar evening chapel, Doctor Taylor seldom departed
from the usual simple service: the opening anthem,
the reading of scripture, hymn, prayer, organ Reces-
242 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
sional but when some special event had stirred the col-
lege (secular or spiritual) he would give direction to
public opinion there or he would report some educational
gathering which he had attended, such as President
Lowell's inauguration, the Indian Conference at Lake
Mohonk, or would review the history of the early edu-
cation of women in America. These speeches were al-
ways brief, clear-cut, of interest. The usual chapel serv-
ice was very impressive, both because of the dignity
and beauty of the building with its harmonious shades of
browns and bronze, its high-beamed roof, its flowered
and angel windows, its organ music, and because Doctor
Taylor's peculiarly rich and appealing voice gave fitting
expression to his deep, religious sincerity. Two notable
instances of his changing public feeling by chapel talks
come to mind. When the little old brick lodge, so long
the entrance to the college and endeared to all by asso-
ciations, was being removed to make way for a new
building which none of us had seen, the love of the
familiar and dear found vent in many complaints and
groans about campus. One night Doctor Taylor began a
talk with quotations of these remarks : "It's too bad !"
"To think no one has any respect for landmarks!" "I
don't know what the Alumnae will say." And as the
college good-humoredly smiled, recognizing its own ex-
pressions, Doctor Taylor went on to relate how his dream
was to be fulfilled in the majestic art building which was
to rise at the entrance to the college, as beautiful as
library and chapel and fitting link between them, stately
and noble approach to the college. He told, too, how
for town visitors who would be welcomed to loan ex-
hibits the situation at the entrance seemed most appro-
YEARS OF GROWTH AND SUCCESS, 1907-1911 243
priate, but more than that, for so stately an entering por-
tal for all future generations, it was inevitable and de-
sirable that the little old building, cherished for no beauty,
but only for association, should give way. I heard no
more lamentations for the lodge at college after that
talk.
Another memorable occasion was at a time of deep dis-
tress for the college. A very popular upper classman,
a girl all charm, verve, and life, had remained at home
ill after a short vacation. Suddenly the shocking and
incredible news came that she was dead, by her own
hand. One family as we were, even those who did not
know her felt the horror and grief of her friends. That
night at chapel, Doctor Taylor faced the mystery of it
with us, speaking of the mental tragedy that must have
swept across that young life to plunge it forward by so
terrible a way into the unknown, and then, around the
mystery for us, the struggle for her, he wrapped a mes-
sage of the tenderness and understanding of a heavenly
Father who pitieth his children, and who knoweth our
frame, and as he talked, he enfolded us in the sense
of the unseen world where vision is clear and the lost
are found again. And listening, a whole body of people
was lifted from gloom to the dawn of light.
President, Educator, Preacher. What of the man un-
official? Perhaps it would be better to say the man in
lighter moments, for as Doctor Taylor's home was in
the center of the campus he could virtually never be out
of office. No social occasion was complete without him :
at reception in the Senior Parlor, interclass debate, Hall
Play, ice carnival, his presence was expected and accepted
244 LIFE OF JAMBS MONROE TAYLOR
as essential to the general happiness, and his hearty laugh
from the front seat at dramatics was the best applause.
Two Founder's Days, anniversaries of the Founder's
birthday celebrated by the students from the beginnings
of the college, may picture how Doctor Taylor entered
into such celebrations. The first is described in a letter.
To his Daughter, Mary Taylor.
May 4, 1907.
DEAR M.,
It is the morning after the ball and you will expect
from your Daddy about the kind of letter that ought to
be written by the last man on deck. It was half past
one when I turned in to my little couch and I have been
awake since six this morning but I am by no means re-
duced to nothingness. . . . Your mother received for an
hour and a half, ... went home at some reasonable
hour, and seems to be all right this morning. . . .
Mr. William T. Stead gave the address and it was
very interesting, very earnest and very sincere, and was
listened to with excellent attention by a full house. I
am bound to say that I do not believe one thing in ten
that he said, but that doesn't matter. He is a very inter-
esting man, as we found at dinner afterward, but when
he started in on his spiritualism after dinner and told us
about the fair Julia that uses his hand to write with, I
draw the line. It is all right to dictate letters in this
world but when it comes to taking the actual hand of a
man to write out what you are thinking of in the next,
I think a line ought to be drawn. I ought to tell you that
he gave a good deal of good advice to young women and
I think puffed them up mightily, a thing that they do not
much need, by his assertions of their equal rights to
everything on the planet with a leaning toward that
mercy which that sort of speaker indulges in, which
means robbing my weaker sex of a fair portion of its
privileges.
X
>>
YEARS OF GROWTH AND SUCCESS, 1907-1911 245
Mr. Stead was very jolly afterward and throughout
the reception and kept indulging in confidences of all
sorts with the ladies, young and old, and really made
himself very entertaining. Your mother will give you
some sort of sharp judgment about him, though she en-
joyed his society, but he certainly is not the most bal-
anced man in the world. . . .
The girls enjoyed their dance and had an apparently
nice set of men here and the girls themselves looked as
well as possible, which is saying a good deal. . . .
I went to New York last Wednesday night and spoke
to a splendid audience in Carnegie Hall, an educational
meeting. Hamilton Mabie and I were the speakers and
we had a good time and afterward a nice long visit to-
gether in my parlor at the Murray Hill. . . .
Stay just as long as you want to and make all you
can out of this visit now that you are away. A few days
more than you planned, if they enable you to accomplish
something you really want to do, will hardly count, but
there is a great welcome for you when you do come in
our home and in our hearts.
Your loving father,
J. M. T.
Another Founder's Day, unique in character because
it was made a sort of Old Home Day for trustees and
alumnae in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the grant-
ing of the charter, was opened by Doctor Taylor with
the morning speech from the steps of his house which
had become a regular feature of the anniversary. The
entire body of students, dressed in white, marched, sing-
ing, to the president's house and there, joined by alumnae
and faculty, "they were given," says the account in the
Miscellany, 1 "the hearty welcome which only our Presi-
*Vol. XL, 1910-1911, p. 580.
246 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
dent can give. In his genial and tactful way he im-
parted to us the delightful feeling that we were again
a vital part of the actual college." On such Founder's
mornings, Doctor Taylor always sketched the life and
character of Matthew Vassar, and on this morning he
told of his one glimpse of Matthew Vassar. When he
was a small boy, his father had taken him on a drive
up the river to "Springside," the Founder's country
home, to see this wonderful man who was founding a
college for women. In the evening, Doctor Taylor
in a formal address on "The Founder and the College,"
added to these light anecdotes a serious review of the
great heritage of the college and its great traditions.
Among the happiest memories is the President at
home. Letters have already shown how generously the
Taylors devoted their Sundays to hospitality, and it was
their regular custom to end the day by entertaining at
informal Sunday night suppers members of the faculty,
visiting alumnae, the minister and the evening speaker.
Four or five small tables were set through the long living-
room and sometimes during the supper Doctor Taylor
would move from one table to another that he might
have an opportunity for conversation with a greater num-
ber of the guests. On Wednesday evenings, Mrs. Taylor
was at home to the faculty and week after week during
the winter a semicircle gathered around the open fire,
chatting over coffee and doughnuts. About nine, Doctor
Taylor, coming in from office or study, would join the
circle and soon by his genial conversation draw all into
one animated group. Then there were luncheons and
dinner-parties for distinguished guests which all of us
YEARS OF GROWTH AND SUCCESS, 1907-1911 247
shared from time to time, so that among my most golden
memories is sitting opposite Gilbert Murray, with the
happy consciousness of the presence of two very great and
simple gentlemen.
Of the significance of the Taylors' home a frequent
guest, Mrs. William T. Thompson, writes:
"Mrs. Taylor cjuietly filled one of the most important
chairs in the college economy: hostess to hundreds.
During more than a quarter of a century, amid all the
changes of family life, her simple unaffected hospitality
to the growing circle of faculty and students. was offered
freely. . . . The President's fireside and table were the
hub binding many centrifugal forces. There the college
community brought members of their family and friends,
there they frequently met strangers from overseas, and
men and women well known in public life, and best of
all there the students met the teaching forces ex cathedra
in their habit as they lived. Doctor Taylor had a com-
fortable creed that care could be left in the office when
the time came around to go home to his dinner. He
knew when to drop his pack. That hour he enjoyed
at the head of his table, entertaining and entertained.
... In his house, he relaxed and wore his dignity with
a difference. He knew by experience what home really
means. Outside it may be like Joseph's coat, inside it
fits the owner, gives human warmth, and keeps secrets in
deep pockets."
President Taylor's work in these years was so multi-
plex and exacting that it is pleasant to find occasional
references to such outings as a fishing trip at Mr. S. D.
Coykendall's mountain home.
248 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
To Mr. George E. Dimock.
VASSAR COLLEGE, POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.,
President's Office, July 8, 1909.
MY DEAR MR. DIMOCK,
I have your telegram and you know how very cordially
I appreciate the effort you have been making on our
behalf. We are going over to Mohonk for Sunday, I
think, and then next week we may decide to go up to
Saranac where Mr. M. has offered us his cottage, and
stay there a week or ten days before going in to our own
club. We hope, unless there should be a further develop-
ment there, that it will be safe to do it by the twenty-first
or twenty-second. . . .
I wish you had been with us fishing. I am just back.
The fish were not as eager as usual so that Mr. Smiley
and I took only about twenty-five each evening in our
boat, but I think about a hundred fish were taken out of
the lake there yesterday. We had a good time, and it
would have been better yet if you had been with us. The
ride up on the pony-engine, and up the mountains in an
auto, and the day and a half there in the mountains were
altogether delightful.
Faithfully yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
Months out of the country meant the most complete
rest and the summer of 1910 was spent in travel in Eng-
land and Scotland.
To Miss Ella McCaleb.
PRINCE OF WALES' LAKE HOTEL GRASMERE,
7/ii/icx
MY DEAR MlSS McCALEB,
I think I'd better begin a letter to you when I can,
while I am waiting a few minutes for breakfast. How
one does "fall in"! Breakfast at 9 seemed to me im-
YEARS OF GROWTH AND SUCCESS, 1907-1911 249
possible, and yet this is the first time I have been down
even fifteen minutes too early! But dinner is late, and
it keeps light so long (we saw good reflections of horses
in the lake at 10 last night!), that it is eleven, and later,
before one remembers to go to bed. It is altogether a
charming place, on the lake, beautiful lawns and flowers,
and the delightful "planting out" that makes even a little
English spot a delight. It is the place for us, but a short
walk to the village, a few hundred feet from Dove Cot-
tage, wellkept and most comfortable. I have the great
fourposter to sleep in, in which the Prince of Wales was
less comfortable when he ("the late King") was sixteen!
We came here last Tuesday afternoon, and shall stay
out our week. When I said that all the talk about stay-
ing very long in one place is moonshine, I knew I was
right. No one, unless myself, wishes to settle down
long, and there's sense in it, but I could enjoy a few
quiet days now, reading, and a long walk, each day.
But all goes well. It has been a charming week.
It rained our first day, but we donned our new rain
coats and "did" the village, and had good fun. Since
that till now it has been delightful, but the mists are
gathering this Monday morning.
We, wife andl, have climbed a mountain, and D. and
K. did unheard of climbing yesterday, and we have had
several beautiful walks, such as the lovely one about this
lake, on the hills, which I have enjoyed twice, so far.
Saturday I added to it a long extension, walking the
highway to Nab Cottage, where Hartley Coleridge and
De Quincey lived, a cunning little cottage (stone of
course) directly on the road, and then on to Rydal
Mount where W. W. lived after leaving Dove Cottage.
Such walks and such views would delight your soul
and I wish I could help you to the delight.
We drove in an auto one day to Furness Abbey, great
ruins of one of the largest and richest of the old abbeys,
about 30 miles from here. The country down there is
nothing like so beautiful, but we came back by Coniston
250 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
(Ruskin's home) where the lake and mountains are most
beautiful.
Our great event (because so unusual) was a sheep-
shearing 400 sheep, and some 16 to 18 shearers. We
drove through a magnificent country, past Arnold of
Rugby's home ("Fox How"), near Harriet Martineau's
"Knoll," through a long valley, by tarns and a great
stream to Dungeon Ghyll, where our host has another
hotel and a farm. There is a famous fall there which
we saw. The shearing was under great trees by the
barn, the benches in half an ellipse, and a man shears a
sheep in about five minutes. The seizing the sheep in
the pen and getting him to the bench, the rapid work
and constant click of the shears, the great pelts (?) of
wool, for they come off as a whole, the marking of the
sheep, and the wandering off into the yard of the plucked
creatures, the lambs searching for their mothers whom
they can't recognize (!), the little boys active as they
can be, carrying the wool, invading the pens to bring
out the lambs (one youngster was but three, and work-
ing like a man), the little girls distributing bands to bind
the sheep's feet, the gathering of a great flock with the
help of the excited dogs and driving them down to a
field, the gathering of another lot to shear, all was a
sight to see. Then tea in the garden meanwhile, and
the walk to the falls, and waiting and watching till din-
ner, and then till the shepherds and lassies (separately)
had dined, and then the dance in the barn, the old shep-
herd's song, the vaudeville performer (a friend of mine
host) and so on till we had to leave them after n. The
drive home (never dark, you know) toward midnight,
over the wonderful hills and through the deep valleys,
was also a treat. It was a great half day for us.
No plans today, but always plenty to do. We go
to Keswick Wednesday and hope to spend Sunday in
the Trossachs.
... I hope you are keeping up your best strength
and cheer. I think of you very often. Hope the work
YEARS OF GROWTH AND SUCCESS, 1907-1911 251
isn't too much. Kindest remembrances to Z. T. and M.
B. . . . from Grasmere. It has cleared beautifully.
Yours sincerely,
J. M. T.
What pure fun Doctor Taylor sometimes had with his
pen is seen in a poem, jocosely Wordsworthian, written
at Grasmere July 13, 1910, after a fly besieged walk.
THE WAY TO EASDALE TARN
To W. W.
Oh! fie!
Now tell me why
Wordsworth, all nature's poet,
And he himself did know it!
Nowhere invokes his muse
To praise or to abuse
The common fly.
I do not mean the fly called "deer"
Which buzzes in a way so queer
And makes our woods at times so drear.
Nor yet the "moose"
Whose wretched use
It is to bite a hole in us
Without the least apparent fuss.
Nor yet the common fly
Which makes our housewives sigh.
I mean the fly of Wordsworthshire
And what I charge is that the seer
With his all seeing eye
Neglected the omniscient fly.
So sing him, trot him out,
Muses hymn his powers about!
Oh! persistent fly
Searching ear and eye
Careless of our wish
Despising our swish
Oh! loud buzzing fly
252 LIFE OP JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
Heard above the high
Bleat of lamb and cry of bird
Such a buzz as defies word
Dulling even the torrent's loud roar!
(Not so do the waters come down at Lodore).
Oh ! Sticking fly
That hand, or cane, or handkerchief defi'st
And, save through lucky stroke that never diest.
And the buzz and whiz and hum and stroke
And the dart and fling and whirl and poke
The rush, the whirr, the sting, the bustle
The beat, the wrath, the smite, the hustle,
Patience at times, at times a darn?
Ah ! but good luck ! there's Easdale tarn !
It was not like Wordsworth, if he wrote of a daisy,
To leave you O reader in an attitude hazy
Concerning his meaning. He painted a moral.
So if I do likewise with me you'll not quarrel.
If "beauty is its own excuse for being"
It yet requires a fitted mind for seeing.
It's hard to follow crag or fell or meer
And keep the poise of a poetic seer
And catch the note of harmony in nature
When pesky pests are trying for to ate y'r.
Life is a mixture and the pure aesthetic
Is not in vales nor on the hills majestic,
'Tis in the mind's pure contemplative eye;
Apart from that all ointment has its fly.
Then take life as it comes, its pests and pleasures,
Its tarns and vales, its worries and its leisures.
Don't hate life's flies, don't utter e'en a darn.
That lesson's from the walk to Easdale tarn."
To Miss Ella McCaleb.
LYNTON, NORTH DEVON,
Sunday night, 10:20,
Aug. 21, 1910.
MY DEAR MlSS McCALEB,
I fancy I wrote you just before we left London, and
leisure has not been my chief asset since, leisure for
YEARS OF GROWTH AND SUCCESS, 1907-1911 253
letters, that is. We had about a week in Oxford, and I
saw the colleges as I never did before, and especially the
lovely gardens, but I had next to no time to sit down
and read in them. One should do that get the sense of
loafing about and dawdling in those charming retreats.
We are too many (a nice many) for that. On the other
hand we got much into our week. . . . We drove an
auto one day to Warwick, Kenilworth and Stratford.
Another day we coached to Blenheim, and saw the famous
palace, garden, and park, another to Iffley with its wonder-
ful old church, and Dorchester with its ancient abbey
church, a great drive. Best of all, I think I hear you
say, we had twenty miles on the Thames, a charming
idyllic voyage. Of course the best is from Henley of
Windsor, but it was sweet and lovely by Oxford.
Then we came here, a fair day's journey, and a very
pleasant one, and we shall make near a fortnight's stay,
as we plan it. I am to have my chance now to block
out two speeches, and make a sermon, this week! I
have inspiration enough in nature. My room has a
bowed front, three windows, commanding the sea and
the highlands and the cliffs. It is a beautiful country,
the heath and heather and gorse and ferns carpeting the
hills, sometimes like a huge rug, sometimes like a mosaic,
and often clinging in clumps of loveliness to the gray
rocks.
The walks are superb, along the cliffs, or through the
narrow lanes down the hills, the high walls draped in
vines and flowers, a most luxuriant growth. We have
had two or three drives in our own hired char-a-banc,
over the most wonderful hills and through the loveliest
valleys. Our rule, for two days, was a walk in the morn-
ing, a long drive filling the afternoon, but yesterday a
rain broke our plans to drive out to the meet of the stag-
hounds, and we went down several hundred feet to Lyn-
mouth, to see them launch and try the lifeboat, and then
wandered up by one of the great rushing streams. It is
a country to be enthusiastic about. . . .
254 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
After this summer in the British Isles, Doctor Taylor
returned to Vassar for his twenty-fifth year of service.
This anniversary of his coming to the college did not
pass unnoticed. The senior annual, the Vassarion, of the
year, is dedicated to the President with the inscription :
"Dedicated by the Class of 1911
to
James Monroe Taylor
Twenty-five years
President of Vassar College,
Scholar, Philosopher, Friend."
The whole book, indeed, was planned as a Festa on this
happy occasion and on the title-page against a green
tree is set this legend:
"All hail ye people one and all
The University
Doth hereby set apart this week
For Festal Jubilee
Which marketh for our President
His Anniversary."
Then the thoughts of many friends turned towards the
Taylors and found expression in such letters as these.
SPARKILL, NEW YORK,
September 22nd, 1911.
MY DEAR FRIENDS,
I am only one of many who are thinking of your com-
ing to the College twenty-five years ago this month, when
Vassar was a young thing. There is a choir invisible of
old girls thinking tonight of your constant devotion,
ready to sing of Prexie and the lady behind her miracu-
lous cruse of welcome. I wish it were possible to pass
under the yoke, with the lodge-clock above it and join
the white processional of undergraduates tonight. But
YEARS OF GROWTH AND SUCCESS, 1907-1911 253
. . . from Sparkill I send you both many thoughts, grate-
ful for the past, wishing you joy in your present and
the happy tomorrows. This is a day of our beautiful
September weather, with river, sky and trees under the
spell of mellow autumn. I can see the campus trees,
sunset light on the old brick front and my dear friends
facing the long year together.
Always faithfully yours,
MARY THAW THOMPSON.
In this September the Trustees of the College sent to
Doctor and Mrs. Taylor a silver tea-service bearing
the inscription
"From the Trustees of Vassar College
as an expression of personal friendship
and of appreciation of their quarter
century of devoted service,"
a peculiarly happy form of recognition of the hospitality
which so many friends had received at the Taylors'
hands. A joint letter of thanks expresses their happi-
ness at the end of the twenty-five years.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.,
Sept. 26, 1911.
Rev. H. M. Sanders, D.D.
Chairman :
DEAR DR. SANDERS,
I have been wondering for two days how my wife and
I can best express our grateful appreciation of the beau-
tiful and to us priceless gift which has come to us
anonymously, but inscribed as from 'The Trustees."
There has been no question in our minds as to our grati-
tude, and our hearts are deeply moved by the gift and
by its inscription.
We have gladly given our best to the college, and our
256 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
hands have been held up and made strong by the un-
ceasing friendship and confidence of the trustees, and we
have had our abundant reward in our knowledge of their
approval. And now comes this beautiful tea-service,
with the precious words engraven on it, to keep always
in our sight and thought the assurance that those whom
we have most gladly served and with whom we have
been proud to work, are with us in friendship and cheer.
We cannot too heartily assure you all of our thankful-
ness, and of our wish to be worthy of the inscription
on your gift.
Faithfully yours,
KATE H. TAYLOR,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
CHAPTER IX
Last Days at Vassar, 1911-1914
"/ am near the end: but still not at the end;
All to the very end being trial in life.
At this stage is the trial of my soul."
Browning, "The Ring and the Book."
LITTLE has been said of the Adirondack League Club
where for twenty-five years the Taylors spent part of
nearly every summer. Here they owned their own
camp, a typical log house with broad porches which con-
stituted a far more popular living room than the one
indoors. A short, heavily wooded trail led to the club-
house, where the family took their meals. Another short
trail in the opposite direction went to Doctor Taylor's
study, a tent set among the trees, looking out across
the broad lake to the mountains. There he spent his
mornings reading and writing, undisturbed. The after-
noons were usually occupied in long tramps through the
woods or in rowing about the beautiful lake.
An amusing episode in the Adirondacks is recorded
in a letter.
To Huntington Taylor.
THE WOODS,
TV,- Sept. 8, IQOI.
MY DEAR BOY,
It is Sunday P. M. about 4:30. ... A good fire is
burning on the hearth, and outside it is crisp and cold,
257
258 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
about 55, and a great change from yesterday which
was warm for us.
We have had our hunting, as you have heard in part.
My exploit pleased me as the fruition of a long promise
to you boys to show you how to do it. We went to
Proctor's camp, the loveliest part of our preserve, I
think, and never before visited by me. I wonder if
you've been there. It had been raining hard for a day
or two and we found it a wet way. . . . We didn't get
to camp till about 4:30 P. M. The boys were fooling
with a partridge and Uncle C. was chopping wood, and
M. and I were alone. Quoth the old man, "Whence
goes that trail?" "To the upper Stillwater." "How
far?" "A good strong J4 of a mile." "I'll just wander
up that way," said the old man, carelessly, and taking
his gun sauntered off. It was a lovely trail, and he kept
his eye open for deer on the river and especially above
on the Stillwater. He was passing by a rapid and the
waters were noisy among the rocks, when turning his
head to the hill he spied a fine deer thirty or forty feet
away. He raised his rifle, covered the poor deer, waited
a minute, fired, and the little thing fell in its tracks,
dead as a hammer. It was only a few minutes before
M. came rushing down the trail, then P., then the others,
all amazed though I had been saying just this for nine
years ! And I hadn't shot a gun in years, I think ! Well,
the Dr. Philip soon had the beast skillfully cleaned, and
in about 24 of an hour from the time we arrived in
camp we had a deer hanging up.
We had liver for supper, and chops the next night,
but the rest fed the club house, save for a little to the
Parkhurst.
We were in camp till Wednesday, and home that noon,
but we did no more hunting.
. . . My reputation was made at once, as everyone
knows I never hunt or fish. Certainly 7 want no more.
... It has made a good deal of fun here, as you can
imagine. . . .
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 259
In the woods, the President could be metamorphosed
not only into hunter, but into poet, or at least maker
of rhymes.
How to tell a Bear from a Squirrel.
To M. T., who fears she will not know when she meets one in the
woods.
But how to decide
When a bear you've espied,
And your word's been decried,
When they say it's a squirrel,
And your mind's in a whirl,
And the noise and the rustle
They say was just hustle
The jump of a squirrel:
And their lips give a curl,
A sarcastic air,
As you talk of the bear
You saw near his lair.
Now how to decide
The young maiden cried
To the man at her side,
And thus he replied:
It's as easy to see as the leaf on a tree
Why confusion of these could easily be.
The points of resemblance are many, and such
As to awaken doubt and to puzzle one much.
For instance, both fatten on berries and nuts,
And both have a habit of avoiding ruts.
If a lake or a creek or a river they're in,
The bear and the squirrel are alike in the swim.
Neither sits on his tail, and though one is but wee
And the other so great, they can both climb a tree
But then if it's made a question of size,
The philosophers tell us that's all in your eyes.
If you really would know, then I recommend,
When you meet in the wood, you put out your hand,
If he gives it a paw
It's undoubtedly bear:
260 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
If simply a twirl
It's probably squirrel.
There's no other way,
When your mind's in a whirl
And your head's in the air,
To distinguish a squirrel
From a frolicsome bear.
So wise! said the maiden, you certainly can
Now tell me the difference twixt a fool and a man.
There in the woods the summer of 1912 was spent in
vigorous out-door activity and much reading in the tent
study. It was Doctor Taylor's habit to keep a memo-
randum of his summer reading and the one for this
year is interesting, as a revelation of range and taste.
Reading July 5 to Sept. 8th, 1912.
History of New College Oxford Rashdall and Rait.
Cribble's Romance of Oxford Colleges.
The Great Analysis.
Thayer's Cavour vol. I.
Caico (Louise) Sicilian Days and Ways.
F. Abbott Society and Politics in Ancient Rome
(almost all of it).
Thayer Cavour vol 2.
Andreyev. Seven who were Hanged.
Stewart. Bergson's Philosophy (crit. exam.)
Halevy Life of Friedrich Nietzsche.
Percy Gardner Religious Experience of St. Paul.
Bent. The Sixth Sense.
Mommsen vol. III. Large part of it.
F. Abbott. Common People of Rome (most of it).
Mommsen vol. IV. almost all.
From Oman's Seven Roman Statesmen, essay on
Cas&r and looked through the rest.
Victor Clark. Labor Movement in Australasia.
Sachs. The American Secondary School.
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 261
Jane Addams. A New Conscience and an Old Evil.
Ed. Hutton. Life of Boccaccio.
Cicero's Letters vol. III.
Trollope Eustace Diamonds, vol I. vol. 2.
Hauptmann Narr in Christo Part.
Black Monk, etc.
Elaine and from Ring and Book.
Eliz. Woodbridge. Jonathan Papers.
Her Roman Lover Frothingham.
Wrote chapter for Hist, of V. C.
A sermon an address for Mt. Holyoke 75th.
Some of this reading is reflected in a letter at the end
of the summer.
To Mr. Charles M. Pratt.
CAMP, Sept. 7th, 1912.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
Your much-appreciated letter came to me over a week
ago, I should think : anyway, I have meant to reply
ever since. Writing out notes of a sermon and a speech,
and various little suggestions of talks during the opening
days, have occupied my week rather than books. I have
run over my syllabus of ethics, too, and tried in other ways
to get ready for the return to my work. We propose to
be at home a week from tonight, Saturday.
I shall hope to see you Wednesday the i8th, for which
day, in view of your engagements, I have asked to have
our committee called. There will be a good deal for
us to review, about all of it, this time, from the busi-
ness offices. The educational side will not have had
time to say much. Five people were at work in my
offices, at last report, and two in the Lady Principal's,
but I have kept myself out of the details successfully,
and am acting much as if I were not responsible for a
big machine. But my eye is on the glass and I shall
be able to act quickly if I see the water falling or rising.
Meanwhile we have had a refreshing summer and are
262 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
readier for work than if our hands had been steadily
at it. We greatly enjoyed our relations with you and
your dear wife, and the knitting closer of the bonds
of our friendship. . . . We have gone on with our life
much as you knew it, but the weather has interfered
with pleasant tramps. Yet we went to Lake Hannedaga,
as you know, and though I was alone (for the first time)
to do the man's work of my party, we came through
that Monday happily and well, notwithstanding a consid-
erable wetting from a hard storm and the wettest of
trails. . . .
One book I've read would interest you, though five
or six years old, "The Labor Movement in Australasia,"
Victor Clark. It will be good to see some of the theories
you have discussed working out in a large and interest-
ing way. It does not decrease one's skepticism as to
the new panaceas, so many of them just reiterated at
Syracuse, and the minimum wage passed in Ohio.
I have enjoyed more, for literary interest, Cicero's
Letters, and a new, and too large, life of Boccaccio, and
Dr. Sachs' admirable book on The American Secondary
School. If you get a chance, too, run through Jane
Addams' last book, A New Conscience and an Old
Evil. We must face that problem! Do you ever read
your relative, Elizabeth Woodbridge? I occasionally
run through an essay in her Jonathan Papers. She has
the art, and the interest, and I greatly enjoy her work.
But abas literature! I wish I could be sure to go to
Amherst, largely because it is your Amherst and I want
to see your building to the dear boy. Why didn't they
put it the week with Holyoke? Whether I dare cut
classes two weeks in succession, I doubt. And our N. Y.
State Educational Building is dedicated that week, too.
We shall see !
. . . Hoping that you are well and not working hard,
and that all is prosperous with you, I am, with our love
to you both, Faithfully yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 263
Two letters written after the President returned to
the college show how keenly he was watching every
detail.
To Mr. George E. Dimock.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.,
September 19, 1912.
MY DEAR MR. DIMOCK,
I was very sorry to get your letter yesterday, not only
because I had anticipated seeing you again but because
your letter makes it clear to me that you have not been
entirely well. I had heard nothing for some time and
hoped that you were in your best condition. I cannot
bear to think of you as anything less than that. I am
hoping, however, that another month will bring you
around so that we can have you with us, and if you would
just plan to come up and stay all night with us instead
of hurrying back and forth in a single day, you would
give us a great deal of pleasure. We are very fond of
you, my dear friend, and you can't trouble us, you may
be sure, by coming to see us at any time.
We came home Saturday night. We are ready for
the start and indeed are admitting students now, and I
have been chatting with parents for the last hour. . . .
The electricity is all in. ... The steam work in
Main is all finished and so are the elevators with the
exception of the glass in the Main elevator. We are
therefore ready to run notwithstanding the fact that we
have a good deal to finish up. . . . The new hall
is ready for occupancy, and Friday night we expect
to serve dinner there as in all the other halls. You see
that we are ready for business as usual at the same old
stand, and barring the fact that our men are still clean-
ing. up instead of being in the background, I think that
the new-comers would consider us in fine shape. The
grass is thoroughly green and the campus looks beauti-
264 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
ful. Mr. Pratt's new work about the upper lake is finely
carried out, and his new lake by Sunset is rapidly filling
up. You will be interested also to know that the new
post-office boxes are in place, and ... I fancy that
they are about ready for business there too.
We all send love to you and yours. Believe me
Faithfully yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
To Mrs. Russell Sage.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.,
Sept. 27, 1912.
DEAR MRS. SAGE,
At last college is running as if it had never stopped,
only that we are better equipped than ever before. Your
"hall" is beautiful, good to look at, good in equipment,
fine in the size of its rooms, well-furnished, and oc-
cupied by 118 people who vie with one another in their
delight and praise. "Olivia Josselyn" is now a name to
conjure with, and her face looks out from the fire-place
(or over it!), benignant and lovely to see, over a body
of lovely girls who "rise up and call you blessed."
I am not going to write you a description of it, cer-
tainly not till I have to give up hope that you will soon
see it for yourself.
Would it tax you, or overtax you, if you came up here
. . . and were our personal guest in our home?
I would not urge you, you know, against your wishes or
your interests, but it would give us very great pleasure
to have you come to us, and to have you see the beauti-
ful work of your hands. We would make any suggested
arrangement for your comfort and your pleasure.
I am intending to send you a picture of the Hall as
soon as I can get a good one. Do we say Josselyn with
the hard S f as I suppose, or with the soft, like Z, as I
find myself tending to? And could you have your sec-
retary write out her direct descent from Standish,
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 265
and your direct line from her? Possibly we have it
in your Sage-Slocum book, which we have ?
We are invoking blessings on you, and we are con-
tinually and increasingly grateful to you.
Sincerely yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
Doctor Taylor's twenty-sixth year at Vassar brought
familiar routine and ever-increasing demands on the
president's time. The past had its claims and called for
addresses at Old Home Week at Marlborough and the
dedication of a church in Providence. The outside world
summoned him in the interests of education or national
life to meetings of Carnegie Foundation, Armstrong
Association, Arbitration Conference at Lake Mohonk.
The annual report announces no unusual changes in
the college regime except a plan for the improvement of
the material equipment by constructing a new lighting
and heating system, at last an urgent necessity, whatever
the expense. The report looks forward to future poli-
cies of the college and urges first more rapid promotions
in the faculty and the acquisition of a large educational
endowment for the increase in salary budget involved;
a reconsideration of entrance requirements that will
make it possible for students to enter college at an earlier
age; the maintenance of the distinction between the col-
lege of liberal education and the vocational school.
Doctor Taylor spent much time during the year along
the line of reorganization. The new business adminis-
tration, proposed before in 1909, had been achieved by
the appointment of a new treasurer as the business head
of the college "with responsibility to the Executive Com-
266 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
mittee and in its absence to the president. 1 Under him
was appointed a superintendent, who was at once buyer
for the College of all its enormous supplies, and direct
head, with report to the treasurer, of the various busi-
ness departments. An assistant treasurer had control
of the business of the financial office. A director of halls
of residence was supervisor of the work of the house-
keepers, and reported to the superintendent." 2
Doctor Taylor, also, working with a large committee
of the trustees on reorganization and a special sub-com-
mittee of this, formed a plan for the reorganization
of the administrative side of the academic and social life
of the college. The correspondence shows with what
thought and with what advice from educators the final
plan was formed. This is stated briefly in the history
of Vassar. 3
"As early as 1901 a plan was suggested for the social
organization of the College, which was more than
realized in the legislation of 1913. By action of the
trustees in that year the lady principalship gave way to
a head warden and wardens, with the duties and responsi-
bilities of the older office, constituting a committee of
which the head warden was chairman. The duties for-
merly centering in a single office were divided according
to residence halls, unity of action being secured by confer-
ence of the committee. The duties and influence which
had gone far beyond the endurance or power of any
individual could in this way be maintained and the in-
estimable value of the older office in shaping the social
*"As ex officio chairman of the Executive Committee."
'"Vassar," pp. 153-4-
"P. 153. for full plan see "Vassar" Appendix III, pp. 219-223.
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 267
ideals of the College continued. With a view to further
perfecting the form of the new administration, the secre-
taryship, a term nowhere used to designate the duties
performed by this office, which were substantially those
of a dean, was constituted a deanship, the nature of the
work remaining what it had been for many years."
Another plan of organization which Doctor Taylor
made at this time has wide possibilities of usefulness and
success since it solves a problem which not only Vassar,
but many American colleges must inevitably face. To
the experienced educator, the Scylla and Charybdis of
the undergraduate college were, on the one hand, over-
growth in old colleges, with failure to care for the
individual student, and on the other hand, mushroom
growth of new institutions, started to fulfill educational
needs without adequate roots or traditions. To meet
both problems, Doctor Taylor suggested that in Amer-
ica we might well adopt a modified form of the English
college system, that is, the American college might be
developed into a group of two or more small colleges
which should be under one president and business man-
agement, sharing experience, ideals and traditions, but
each developing separately a vigorous individual life
with a distinct equipment, social organization and faculty.
Such a system preserves every advantage of a small in-
stitution, yet permits growth of numbers for institutions
of tested ideals, and by such affiliation a new college
could be quickly started (granted endowment) without
suffering a crude period of experimentation and strug-
gle. This plan, which was published in The Educational
Review, June, 1911, received favorable notice, and Doc-
tor Taylor himself was so convinced of its wisdom that
268 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
he reported to his trustees l that a gift of three millions
of dollars would enable him to realize his vision of es-
tablishing a second college at Vassar and declared,
"Were I ten years younger I should ask your leave to
realize this dream."
In the spring of 1912, Doctor Taylor had been asked
by Professor George Philip Krapp, editor of the Ameri-
can College and University Series of the Oxford Uni-
versity Press to prepare a volume on "Vassar" for the
series. Under the pressure of administrative work,
Doctor Taylor felt unable to undertake so heavy a liter-
ary task, and asked the editor of these letters if she would
write the history. Instead, I urged a second plan, pro-
posed by Professor Krapp, collaboration, assuring Doc-
tor Taylor that I should be honored to relieve him in
every way possible in the work. This plan proved
acceptable and was carried out. Collaboration could not
have been more delightful, Doctor Taylor insisting on
our sharing alike in the work of drudgery and of writ-
ing, bestowing much time on the discussion of the book
as it grew, and giving new inspiration in the association
of such joint work. Much of our discussion of the his-
tory was by correspondence and as the file of letters
shows the making of the book, perhaps a few of them
will have interest.
A. L. CLUB,
OLD FORGE, N. Y.,
MY DEAR Miss HAIGHT, Au S- IO > 1 9 12 -
I have just finished nearly eleven pages of this size
and "type" as a tentative first chapter of our book,
"Earlier College Education for Girls." It is reduced
from two articles the proof of which I have just returned
1 1911.
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 269
to N. Y. which are to appear in the Educational Review
for October and November. . . .
I have no other material here, or I would write a short
chapter on the reception of Mr. Vassar's plan. After all
the history, it does seem to have been novel and original,
and the way the world took it is a most interesting thing.
I will work it up after we get back.
I foresee a great deal of counsel together, which will
be pleasant, and a good deal of work to bring out the
great salient lines of "our" development. . . .
I have been working rather steadily, but have had
less time than usual. Thayer's Cavour (a huge book!),
Halevy's Nietzsche, some Bergson, a little literature,
German and English, some of Abbott's capital Roman
essays, a volume on Sicily, are the chief things.
I am sending you the New College volume, by mail.
All well. Sincerely Yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
September 30, 1912.
DEAR Miss HAIGHT,
I shall be glad indeed to meet you and think it time that
we should get at this. I want to say to you that I am be-
coming increasingly embarrassed as I think of co-operat-
ing in a book which purports to be a history of a college
over which I myself have presided for more than half
its life. I had hardly taken into account what that may
involve, but it at least will give me the opportunity of
seeing that there is no undue exaltation of what has been
accomplished in these years of great growth. I am par-
ticularly interested, however, to point out to you what I
regard as three or four very fundamental stages of prog-
ress which bear most closely on the academic life in
which, notwithstanding the material growth, I am and
always have been more deeply interested. . . .
Sincerely yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
270 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
VASSAR COLLEGE,
MY DEAR Miss HAIGHT, November 22, 1912.
At present with this attempt to finish up the Jewett
portion of our history and the preparation for my class
work, and with the general filling up of my hours with
interviews and correspondence, I find myself very hard
driven. I am reading nothing almost, though I ought
to except Jastrow's cantankerous article, and am grind-
ing every hour I can. I worked an hour before break-
fast this morning and an hour and a half afterward, and
have got my history down to a study of Jewett's plans
for the college. I think I shall boil it down into brief
space. . . .
The back of the task will be broken when we get
Dr. Raymond's administration in shape. Dr. Caldwell's
is somewhat difficult but not a long task, and we can boil
down the last twenty-seven years into succinct form. I
will furnish the bones of the educational development, at
least, and you can boil out the marrow. How is that
for a fine figure!
You will be immensely interested in a copy of a letter
that I received this morning on Mr. Vassar's view on
the suffrage. I will show you the correspondence. . . .
Sincerely yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
As Doctor Taylor worked on the History of Vassar,
he found so much new material in regard to the educa-
tion of women before Vassar opened, the inception of
Matthew Vassar's plan and the hitherto unrecognized
influence of Milo P. Jewett, the first president, that he
decided to publish a separate volume, "Before Vassar
Opened," treating this at greater length than the one
volume history could.
The difficulties under which Doctor Taylor wrote both
these books are shown in another letter.
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 271
To Miss E. H. Haight.
January 12, 1914.
I will try to see you before long but I am asking when.
This week seems to me banked up with requirements.
I am just now getting the reports from the departments
and trying to get them in shape for the Committee on
Faculty and Studies, and I have the Executive Commit-
tee all day Wednesday, appointments tomorrow, and
three dinner parties this week, two at my house. That
looks rather black when I think of doing the work that
I ought to do, but I will try to fill in the chinks.
Sincerely yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
That our work was one of real collaboration is
shown in two letters where Doctor Taylor speaks of the
welding together of our separate writing.
Now as to your letters: I hope you really liked my
joining process, for this is really a joint work (see
Preface!). You are to say freely all that is in your
mind. But you are also to help protect me from seem-
ing, at any point, to blow my own horn. That criti-
cism I couldn't stand!
That chapter is well "mingled." Have I seen it since
it was finished ? I found myself wondering if you wrote
this, or I that! Or which wrote which! Funny, isn't
it? Did you see the article on Hay, in Harpers, one
of his letters to Lodge, where he anticipates their meet-
ing in Washington, "Where Hay unto Lodge uttereth
speech and Lodge unto Hay showeth knowledge?"
After the book was finished, Doctor Taylor wrote :
July 12, 1915.
I had no intention of reading the book again ( !)
but after your letter came I ran it through. It is ready
for the critics and you and I haven't much to say, but
272 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
I will confide to you that I think it a good book, well-
proportioned and in the main well-written. I should
think it might prove interesting. . . .
Now I must stop, "collab"! We have enjoyed our
task, most of it. Now we "sit tight," and wait and hope
for a kindly public judgment, knowing, at least, that
the definitive history of Vassar for some time, is in
print. It will not be time for twenty-five years more to
"size up" the past twenty-five. That is the weak point,
a necessary one, in our book as history.
"Vassar" was issued for the Fiftieth Anniversary of
the college, October 9, 1915. On the fly leaf of the
copy given to his wife Doctor Taylor wrote this in-
scription :
"To my wife whose name appears nowhere in these
pages, but who was an essential feature of Vassar' s life
for nearly 28 years, I present this first copy of the book.
To Kate Huntington Taylor, New York, July 10, 1915."
In Mrs. Taylor's copy of "Before Vassar Opened,"
Doctor Taylor had inscribed :
"Our friendship began 'before Vassar opened* and we
have shared happily more than half its entire history
to our leave taking in Feb. 1914.
To my wife, this first copy of the book.
J. M. T.
Received in San Francisco, May I2th, 1914."
During this half year Doctor Taylor's mind, unknown
to his colleagues, was working on a problem of vital
importance to himself and to the college. His final
decision was announced in the following letter of resig-
nation.
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 273
To the Trustees of Vassar College.
February 18, 1913.
MY DEAR FRIENDS,
I wish to consult with you regarding my resignation
of the great trust committed to me by the Board in 1886.
Our relations have been so unbroken in cooperation and
friendship that I cannot send you a merely formal re-
nunciation of my privileges and powers.
My desire is to give up my duties permanently within
a year. If for reasons I shall suggest you find it desir-
able that I remain so long, I shall ask you to consider
my labors ended with the first semester, February 2d,
1914. If you can make suitable arrangements sooner,
and find it expedient to do so, I shall wish to place my
resignation in your hands to take effect at an earlier date.
My reasons for this step and the grounds of my judgment
that I should take it now, are as follows :
By the first week in March I shall have had forty
years of public service. All of it has been arduous,
thirteen years in two pastorates, twenty seven years,
June first, in my present position. I need not tell you
that these college years have involved incessant strain,
and exacting and exhausting care. Beside the responsi-
bility involved in the transition from a small college
to a large one, 1 business, financial, educational, admin-
1 In his administration of twenty-seven and a half years the college
expanded from a small institution inadequately equipped to a college
for i,ooo students, all housed on the campus. The material expan-
sion in that time included, besides the erection of six dormitories,
the building of a recitation hall, laboratories for biology and chem-
istry, a library, a chapel, an infirmary, a gymnasium and a students'
building. The library grew from about 12,000 to 80,000 volumes.
Five hundred thousand dollars were added to the general endow-
ment, and the inner growth of the college was far more significant
since it involved the abolition of a preparatory department and of
the admission of poorly prepared special students in music and art;
one epochal revision of the curriculum; the establishment of twelve
new chairs in the faculty, including those of history, biology, eco-
nomics, psychology, Biblical literature and political science. With
274 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
istrative, social, I have had charge of its religious
interests, and have held a professorship from the begin-
ning until now. The demands upon us from without, I
need not tell you, have grown steadily with the years.
May I not be excused for shrinking from the extension
or continuance of the responsibility?
To my own mind it seems better for the college and
for me that I resign before the years become oppressive,
or before it is thought that my age is rendering me less
responsive to my duties and opportunities.
I remind you also that the matter of a year or two
more cannot make any vital difference to Vassar, and
may make much to me. When the time came the diffi-
culties would be the same as now unless, indeed, I had
overstayed my time.
The advantages to the college in a change are that a
new regime, if a wise one, will bring fresh impulse to our
work, that the president will travel more, will visit
oftener the associations of the alumnx and the schools,
will awaken fresh interests, and bring increased and
much needed endowments to the college.
The foundations are sound : we have labored together
always to make our work honest, real, enduring, not
courting the praise that comes from sensational display :
the organization is good, and we have been planning
it together in view of such a change, with purpose to
make it independent of any single head. New adjust-
ments will be easy if the task is approached with balance
and unselfish purpose.
I have thought much over the question of my remain-
ing, should you wish it, till the fiftieth anniversary, in
the fall of 1915, but my reflection has only confirmed
my judgment that I should terminate my service within
a year unless I am willing to assume the responsibility
for the preparations for what should be a great occasion.
these factual changes, moreover, there was maintained in the col-
lege a high ideal of what a liberal education should signify and
an inspiring standard of college life and college work.
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 275
The plans should be formed by those who are to carry
them through. The effort for enlarged endowments
should be part of the scheme and I do not find myself
willing to assume the burden of that. Moreover, it
would seem to me disadvantageous for the college and
the new administration if I should continue in office and
resign synchronously with the celebration. The new
administration would itself acquire great advantages by
the large acquaintance with visiting colleges gained at
that time and the exaltation of the anniversary would
react for its good.
It has even occurred to me that a year's leave of
absence might bring a fresh perspective and enable me
to give the college a little longer service. Apart how-
ever from the fact that such an absence generally involves
a large additional burden the following year, the objec-
tions to my responsibility for the fiftieth anniversary
would still hold.
This review of the case makes clear to me that the
interests of the college call for my resignation, and my
own inclination to gain a little rest and leisure after
forty years of active service, supports the claim. I re-
peat therefore my wish to resign, but if my leaving
earlier would embarrass your plans, either because you
wish my experience in introducing our new scheme of
social and educational administration, or because in case
of my going sooner you would have no provision for
carrying the course of ethics with the seniors next year,
I shall adapt my plans to meet your wishes, and not
retire till February 2d, 1914. I shall need to know your
decision by Commencement of this year.
I need say nothing to you of what this step must mean
to me. Though only two or three of the present Board
were members of it when I took office, we have all been
closely associated in a great work, and through all these
years no friction has worried us and no sharp differences
of policy have divided us. It has been my singular hap-
piness to work with a body of men and women who
276 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
have always set the interests of the college above every
personal consideration, and who have therefore worked
together harmoniously and successfully. I congratulate
you on the largeness of the opportunity given to you.
No other can ever be so near my own heart or so move
my prayers on its behalf.
I accepted your invitation to become President on
the twenty-first of April, 1886. I made no promises and
no prophecies beyond my simple pledge to give to this
work all the powers I possessed. I have endeavored
to fulfil that pledge and I return to you the trust with
every hope that you may secure a successor worthy of
your cooperation in advancing the interests of Vassar
College.
With affection and respect,
I am
Faithfully yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
As Doctor Taylor seemed to all who knew him in the
prime of healthful vigor and intellectual power, his
resignation produced an outburst of regret. Letters
from trustees, college presidents and clergymen show
with what concern the news was received beyond the
walls of Vassar.
Redlands, California.
February I7th, 1913.
MY DEAR FRIEND :
Your letter of the I2th came last evening. As a
trustee of the college I regard your decision as a calam-
ity. As your friend I am glad. Reflection over night
leaves me in no doubt. Life is more than meat. Men
are more important than things. You need, and have
well earned, a time of leisure. More than thirty years
ago when fitting for a life of teaching it was firmly fixed
in my mind that twenty to twenty five years of it was
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 277
enough in the life of any man. Observation since has
in no way modified the opinion. You have done better
than that. As trustees, whatever we may wish, we have
no right to ask for more. You have worked hard, have
been wonderfully successful, and made it certain that in
the future your administration will be regarded as a pat-
tern for others. Without you at its head the college can
never be quite the same to me. There will be lacking an
element of personal, loving friendship which has meant
a vast deal to me. Never the less you are right. No one
supposes that you mean to stop work. You may easily
be busy nearly as many hours of the day as now, but,
situated as I am today, it is perfectly easy to understand
the desire, the necessity even, to be freed from anxiety
and perplexing cares. I trust you will not be far from
us, and that in the years ahead of us we may waste many
happy days together.
With abounding love from me and mine to thee and all
thy dear ones,
Ever affectionately thy friend,
DANIEL SMILEY.
17 SIBLEY PLACE,
ROCHESTER,
Jan. 27, 1914.
DEAR DR. TAYLOR :
My daughter K. has told me about the alumnae ban-
quet in New York, and the glorious sending-off they
gave you. I was able to give her some information
even more flattering to you, at which she was rejoiced. I
wish to add my personal congratulations, and to say that
nothing that has been done or will be done for you will
ever repay the debt the College owes you for the rare
wisdom and poise and ability and good nature you have
shown in its administration for these many years. We
who have so often visited the College cherish the warm-
est memories of your own and of Mrs. Taylor's charm-
ing hospitality, and will keep it as one of the best treas-
278 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
ures of our lives. My only regret is that you retire so
soon, and that no satisfactory name is yet presented for
your successor. There were brave men before Agamem-
non, and there must be some left in the world yet. May
the Lord show them to us ! As for yourself, I do not fear
that you will <not> be useful and honored wherever you
may be. I wish I were President Wilson ! I know where
I would put you ! It would be where I could see you at
least once a year. Give my best regards to Mrs. Taylor,
and believe me ever
Affectionately Yours,
AUGUSTUS H. STRONG.
BROAD BROOK FARM,
BEDFORD HILLS, New York,
June 7th, 1913.
MY DEAR PRESIDENT TAYLOR,
I am not quite sure whether or not I wrote to you when
I first read that you were about to retire from the Presi-
dency of Vassar College; but reading the other day of
the Commencement of Vassar I am moved to express to
you my sympathy in all the experiences which are the
incident of such a retirement, and to say to you how
much, as a fellow citizen and a fellow college president I
have valued the splendid work which you have done dur-
ing all these years as the President of Vassar College. I
hope that in retiring you will find life so full of other
interests, as I have done, and so full of opportunity to
be of service in other ways, that you will never have
cause to regret the decision which you made when you
offered your resignation. I hope that among the happy
effects to follow will be the opportunity for us to meet
each other more often, and to talk over the things in
which we have a mutual interest. When I retired from
the Mayor's office of the City of New York, John Hay
wrote to me that he knew of no man so well able to
enjoy freedom from irksome care as one who had long
borne it; and that he thought such a man who had within
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 279
himself many resources ought to be among the happiest
of men. I sincerely hope that this will be your own ex-
perience, as it has been mine, in the years since I have
been free to shape my own life, free from controlling
obligations which shaped them for me.
Mrs. Low joins with me in wishing to be remembered
to Mrs. Taylor and your Daughter, as well as to yourself,
and in the wish that every possible happiness may come
to you all.
Sincerely yours,
SETH Low.
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT,
CORNELL UNIVERSITY,
ITHACA, New York,
Feb. 26, 1913.
MY DEAR PRESIDENT TAYLOR :
When you wrote to me some weeks ago that you were
teaching Ethics I said to myself that you could not con-
scientiously long remain a college president, and so I
was not surprised to learn that you had resigned the
office. . . .
Can we not arrange to go to Rome (I take it Rome
is the only place a retired president will care to live in)
on the same steamer next September !
But seriously, you are to be congratulated and envied ;
congratulated that you have completed the first and most
difficult part of a great work, and envied because in laying
down your office you will have the affectionate regret and
esteem of a great body of alumnae all over the world.
How great a work you have done you yourself can
not properly estimate but it will clearly appear in the
future histories of American Education. I am looking
forward to my own release and it will be additionally
grateful if it gives me an opportunity to see more of you
in the future.
Sincerely yours,
T. F. CRANE.
280 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY,
in the City of New York,
February 18, 1913.
DEAR PRESIDENT TAYLOR :
While I am writing the news reaches me of your resig-
nation from the Presidency of Vassar. I cannot tell
you how deeply I regret that you have finally thought it
best to take this step. You have spoken once or twice
as if you had it in mind, but I had hoped that the time
was far off. You cannot really be spared from the ac-
tive work, for your full quarter century of service at
Vassar has been one of the greatest possible service to
the cause of college education in this country. Your
clear head and firm hand have kept Vassar in the paths
of genuine progress and advance without surrendering
well-established principles for the pursuit and applica-
tion of much-vaunted panaceas. Moreover, I shall miss
you personally in all our little academic bypaths and asso-
ciations. I am profoundly sorry and wish there were
some way to get you to recall the fateful word.
Always sincerely yours,
NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER.
BRYN MAWR COLLEGE,
BRYN MAWR,
Penna.
PRESIDENT'S OFFICE
April 19, 1913
DEAR PRESIDENT TAYLOR
I have not written to you before about your resigna-
tion because I did not believe it for a long time, and
after I realized that it was really true I was in bed with
my ankle and found it difficult to write. It makes me
feel sad both on Vassar's account and my own because
when you leave Vassar you leave me the president of a
women's college who has been longest in office and your
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 281
resignation makes me wonder whether in nine more years
I too shall feel as you do and wish to give it all up.
I cannot imagine Vassar College without you in the
future but I can imagine you enjoying yourself im-
mensely without Vassar. On the whole I offer my con-
dolences to the College and my congratulations to you.
I am sure that you have chosen the better part.
With my kind regards and the pleasantest anticipa-
tions of seeing you next week,
Sincerely yours,
M. CAREY THOMAS.
THE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE,
HOB ART COLLEGE,
GENEVA, N. Y.
November 12, 1913.
MY DEAR PRESIDENT TAYLOR :
One so seldom has an excuse to write out of the heart
that I am making the most of this and telling you how
one, out of countless thousands whom you will never
know, has been inspired by your great work at Vassar.
While I never dreamed that I should in a smaller field
be called to the same responsibilities, I have often said
to my dearest friends that you were the kind of a Col-
lege President I should like to be; which is now before
me to realize in actuality.
Ever faithfully yours,
LYMAN P. POWELL.
THE BROADWAY TABERNACLE,
Broadway and 56th Street,
Feb. 18, 1913.
MY DEAR DR. TAYLOR :
I have read with regret of your resignation. I am
not resigned. The fool reporters are talking about fric-
tion and trouble with your trustees and I don't know what
all. Tomorrow they will probably say that the girls
282 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
petitioned you to resign. Before the end of the week
they may say that you have been in the habit of beating
your wife. If they do, I shall come right out in a public
letter defending you. It makes me feel lonesome when
I look up the Hudson and think of Vassar without you.
So long as you were in Vassar and I was in the Taber-
nacle I could feel that the world was measurably safe.
I now have my doubts.
Cordially yours,
CHARLES E. JEFFERSON.
Significant are a few extracts from letters of his
colleagues on the Vassar faculty.
"I would like to say a word, too, to tell you with what
satisfaction I look back on the years in which I was
privileged to help in your office. Your consideration
for us, and the spirit of good cheer in which you always
met us made the work a pleasure. I often recall your
thought fulness for us in coming in to tell us of your ex-
periences on your return from an interesting trip, the
inauguration of a new president at Yale, perhaps, or
the excursion with Mr. Ogden and the Southern Edu-
cation Board."
"I wish I could tell you how one dumb old New Eng-
lander feels about your going away. I have tried to
speak to you and to write to you and given it up in
despair. The most consoling thing about it is that so
much of you is built into Vassar that you can't take
yourself entirely away and that leaving so much of your-
self with us you will surely often feel called home."
"And believe me, however opposed I may have seemed
to you in certain details, the disagreement has always
been intellectual merely, and I have always been able to
see your courteous forbearance towards me, and to be
grateful for your justice and honorable dealing."
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 283
"But we of the college household know in addition
that no officer of an institution ever gave himself more
unsparingly in service. And surely you know that you
have won the love of all associated with you, even of
those, if any, who may at times differ from you in judg-
ment."
Most illuminating about Doctor Taylor's true work
as a great educator is the enormous pile of letters from
alumnae that came to him then. One day when we
were working on the History of Vassar Doctor Taylor
opened a drawer in an office desk and said with genial
humor in his eyes: "I'm not going to keep many let-
ters but there's a bundle from alumnae that will show
people I was not such a bad fellow after all !"
Of the three letters following, the first is from a mem-
ber of the class of '67, the first to be graduated from
Vassar, the second from the wife of a college president.
DETROIT,
8 1 Alfred Street,
February 21, 1913.
MY PRESIDENT:
For a week persons have been speaking to me of
reading in newspapers of your having done a horrible
and unbelievable thing: and just now there has come
... a clipping from The Times, February i8th, saying
that you have resigned the presidency of Vassar Col-
lege. It is too hard to believe. Actually, such a possi-
bility seems to me quite the end of my Vassar. You
simply must stand by until after the fiftieth anniver-
sary; and then two years after that, and if you then
think you must go, I shall still regret it, but will never-
theless give you my blessing.
In all sincerity, affectionately yours,
MARIA L. McGRAW.
284 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
February 18, 1913.
MY DEAR DR. TAYLOR
The announcement of your resignation which I see in
today's "Sun" quite appals me, as it must every Vassar
woman who cares for sound education. It seems too
great a calamity to be true a calamity not only to Vas-
sar but to the whole cause of women's education. You
seem the only barrier between us and the rising sea of
fads and follies that pass for education in these icono-
clastic days, and what will happen now if Vassar too
goes over to the Philistines, one hates to think. You
must forgive my writing, but to me you have always
stood for the humanities, for sanity, for the real things
of the spirit, and there is nothing in my life except my
husband which is of such daily help and sustenance to
me as the stimulus that I have derived from you.
ii June, 1914.
DEAR DOCTOR TAYLOR
Do you remember Stevenson's saying "when you're
ashamed to speak, always speak"? I have a dread of
sentimentality, because it's so easy, so when I'm ashamed
to speak I always write and expurgate.
Your going to Rome how fitting it seems. Nothing
more provocative and appropriate could happen to the
Taylor family. It is like Byron in Greece or Stevenson
in Samoa. . . .
Of course you will always be there, at the college,
and wherever Vassar women gather, a presence and a
symbol of the strong and sane: and the deep personal
affection that Vassar women feel for you, must remain
a living, saving thing. But I'm some how, like the poor
little girl who was told that God was with her "I
know", she said, "but I like something with skin on it."
A few quotations from many other letters show his
hold upon the students.
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 285
"I want to thank you for something you told us once
in Ethics. You said truth was not in a compromise
between two apparently opposing truths, but in the join-
ing of them. I think the knowledge of that, crystallized
to my realization by your expressing it, was one of the
best things college gave me. It is what you stand for to
me."
"You can never know how I have always valued your
interest and friendship, especially during my Senior
year when I count the added duties that brought me more
into contact with you as one of the most precious things
in all my college life. And I am only one of many,
many more who feel the same way, whether they express
it or not To me you weren't just the president of the
college, but a sort of father- friend whom I love and
honor more than I can say."
"Every alumna since '87 knows and has told you, or
should rejoice to tell you, that you have made the college
almost all that it is today. I wish that I had words to
tell it as it should be told. Since I have not, may I, like
countless others, say something more personal?
"When the relation between president and student was
closer than it can be again you, who talk so wisely
about the value of discipline, gave a girl who knew no
authority higher than her own will a consideration that
was in no way her due but the lack of which would have
done only harm. Year by year I agree with you more
fully on the value of discipline. But I hope that I may
develop even a little of the bigness and the patience that
made it possible for you to be so tolerant with a pupil and
to show so grave a courtesy that she did not suspect the
tolerance."
"There is something more. These later years since I
have known you better, I have just believed that in times
of great stress, if ever problems got too much for me,
286 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
I could count on your wisdom to help out my own and
the thought of your strength and balance have been a
sort of citadel on which I have counted although I have
not yet been driven to it from the field. Don't go too
far away!"
It was a unique and happy reward that Doctor Taylor
in his life-time was allowed to hear words that are said
of most men, if at all, only after life is over. A few of
his answers to these various letters show the spirit in
which he received them and shed some side-lights on his
resignation.
COLLEGE,
March 4, 1913.
MY DEAR Miss -
I cannot reply to your personal letter with any more
than a deep thankfulness. If I have been able to mean
so much to you and to others who have been writing me,
I ought to be and am grateful beyond words. It has
been a high privilege to serve here and nobody knows
what it is costing me to look forward to the break, but
it must come, and in any case it must have come within
two or three years in the nature of things, and I am sure
that it is better now while things are prosperous and
before I begin to drop a little in power and efficiency, as
I surely am in administrative interests. Of that side of
my life I am getting tired, and of course no man has a
right to stand in such a place unless he can give his whole
self to it. But I must not go on. I shall see you often
and talk with you. I doubt if I shall leave before the
middle of next year as things look now, ... so I only
want to thank you now for words which are very grateful
to my spirit. . . .
Sincerely yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 287
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.,
February 22, 1913.
MY DEAR DR. FlNLEY, . . .
It is a dreadful wrench and I think it more than likely
that I shall not leave in the fall as is reported, but I think
I shall get off by the middle of next year. The "ad-
vanced Age" the papers refer to, I am not feeling, but I
have been thinking for several years that I must not wait
until people begin to say that I am waning in power and
influence. I think I am not as yet but I cannot take the
risk. I have been really very heavily burdened and have
carried more details than anybody can know who is not
in such a place, and I really feel the need of rest.
Faithfully yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
March i, 1913.
MY DEAR MRS. B. ,
I appreciate very deeply such letters as yours. Of
course nothing can be more precious to one of my time
of life than the assurance that he has in some degree
accomplished what he has been so anxious to. If I
have helped any of you to higher ideals and to a stronger
grip on life, I ask nothing better. I have always said
that just what you do is not really my concern but the
spirit in which you do it is vital . . .
February 22, 1913.
MY DEAR MRS. S. ,
I am deeply touched by your letter and grateful for it.
There is no reason whatever for my going, . . . save
that I believe it a good thing for the break to come while
I am fresh and vigorous and know enough to go. The
college will soon be settled again, I hope, with a good
leader, and with the splendid support which has meant
so much to me it will go on to better and better things.
288 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
The newspapers have been very misleading as usual.
There is no friction, no Ambassadorships, nothing but
my own desire and my judgment as to my going.
Sincerely yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
Ks a result, in part, of the fact of his resignation, vari-
ous new and signal honors came to Doctor Taylor, one
at the very trustee meeting at which he resigned in the
immediate gratification of a wish there expressed. The
surprise is described in a letter.
To Mr. Charles M. Pratt.
February 18, 1913.
MY DEAR MR. PRATT,
We had a good meeting in New York, a large attend-
ance, eighteen indeed, and a very delightful spirit
throughout. . . . We recommended the Board to declare
its desire to establish a professorship of Political Science
for the grounding of our young people in the science
and philosophy of government, the study of the history
of institutions, and the foundations of law and juris-
prudence, etc. I have been thinking over this for a long
time but with our present poverty did not see any way
to procure the foundation, and it seemed to me wise at
least to express ourselves as in sympathy with this point
of view which secures for all of our young people a bet-
ter grounding in the history and philosophy of govern-
ment. I am persuaded that it will do more than anything
else to save us from the prevalent lawlessness and the
wild adoption of panaceas. The Board voted for this
very heartily and a few minutes later to my own surprise,
and of course to that of everyone else, Mrs. Frederick F.
Thompson handed me a card, telling me not to make any
announcement until she had left the room, on which she
pledged $75,000 to endow the chair.
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 289
A recognition that came from outside Vassar walls
was the bestowal of an honorary degree upon Doctor
Taylor by Smith College in June, thus acknowledged :
To President Marion LeRoy Burton.
April 23, 1913.
MY DEAR PRESIDENT BURTON,
I am deeply moved by your letter and by the proposi-
tion of your trustees to confer an honorary degree upon
me at your Commencement. I am not only highly ap-
preciative of the great honor but I shall bend my plans
if it is a possible thing toward being present with you
on the 1 7th of June that I may receive it at your hands.
It seems a bit ungracious after saying that to add that
I do not see how I can deliver the Phi Beta Kappa ad-
dress on the day preceding. ... As I approach Com-
mencement now with the thought of the addresses that
will be expected of me and my baccalaureate sermon to
prepare and perhaps some rather unusual exactions on
mind and heart in connection with what I expect to be my
last Commencement, I do not feel able to even contem-
plate the preparation of a new address and one worthy of
such an audience and such an occasion as you suggest. I
must not allow myself to think of it. The day or two
after Commencement will find me well exhausted and
may even bring some unusual demands this year, and it
will be all that I can do to gather myself together, I am
sure, and present myself in proper form for the great
honor you offer me.
I am sure that you will understand this condition
and will believe me with most cordial regard,
Sincerely yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
In this last letter Doctor Taylor refers to the strain
of his approaching "last commencement." What that
meant to him few could realize unless they understood
290 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
the feeling back of the restraint he displayed. Doctor
Augustus Strong commented to him the next day by let-
ter : "I admired your reticence at commencement, when
you might have made a fuss at your departure. Well,
other people sorrowed all the more!" Another letter
expresses the same feeling more fully.
WASHINGTON, D. C,
MY DEAR PRESIDENT TAYLOR: J une * 5 ' I9I3>
I regret increasingly that I was obliged to arrive late
and leave early and had no time for any personal talk
with you. At any rate I want to thank you for the
exquisite control with which you conducted the functions
of Commencement. No one will ever reckon adequately
Vassar's debt to you; but the example of perfect manner
last week was not the least of your gifts. It was the fine
flower of culture. It will not cease to mean both manners
and morals to me, for me, and I cannot let the occasion
slip without saying so.
My love to Mrs. Taylor and your daughter. Do not
answer, but believe me
Yours gratefully,
JULIA C. LATHROP.
The restraint which President Taylor showed in public
gave way somewhat in letters. He had the privilege of
announcing to the commencement audience the gift of
a new art building bestowed upon the college in his honor
and how deeply that tribute moved him is shown in let-
ters to the donors.
To Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Pratt.
-^ .~ Saturday evening.
DEAR FRIENDS,
You must not think that I am taking that Art Build-
ing "as a matter of course" because I have said so little
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 291
in praise of your great and generous purpose. Until
very lately, when Mr. Pratt 's letters have practically re-
vealed your intent, I have not allowed myself to assume
it, though I have been deeply appreciative of all the in-
terest you have taken in working toward a definite plan.
Now I am more appreciative of you than I can say, and
the plan seems to be working toward the substantiating
of one of my dearest visions. I appreciate all your
thought, your putting yourselves into this, . . . and I
want you to have this just as you want it. You must be
sure of that, whenever we talk of our various views.
But one great thing I found no chance to talk of with
you, though it has been very much on my mind, you
may be sure. Mr. Pratt's letter contained a suggestion
of a name that took my breath away. I am deeply,
humbly, grateful, but name it "Pratt" for me, and
all my affection will go into the name, so deserved and
so deserving.
It is supper time now and then chapel, which so
continually brings you back to us. I am always so glad
when I see you in it ! . . .
Faithfully yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
To Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Pratt.
June 12, 1913.
DEAR FRIENDS,
I could never tell you, if I should try, how I appre-
ciate your honoring me as you have. I have no sense
of desert, but my sense of gratitude, my recognition of
your goodness and affection, and my earnest wish that
I could say something worthy of it, are very strong.
I wish you could have heard the audience : I read amid
their strained and enthusiastic attention, till I reached
the name of Taylor Hall, when they broke out into long-
continued applause. You know I was afraid my voice
would break then over the precious praise of your next
sentence: I did not dare try to read it. So when the
292 LIFE [OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
applause ceased, I said calmly, Your applause has saved
me from reading the remainder of the sentence, or
something to that effect. How curious they were ! but I
didn't dare try.
We had a fine Commencement, an enthusiastic lunch-
eon, and I even got through my hard task of a few
concluding words.
Then the Hills took us out at 6, and we drove many
miles, till 7:30, and had a nice dinner with them, and
by bed-time Commencement was far away. Now, at 5
p. m., I close the work of another busy day, for the
office doesn't close up yet!
Faithfully, and affectionately yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
To Mr. Charles M. Pratt.
Nov. 22. '13.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
I am very, very, grateful! I can hardly tell you all
this means to me, the realization of so many plans and
hopes and aspirations. This side of education is very
near my heart. How I rejoice with Tonks, and envy
him his opportunity!
It is costing more than I expected, a good deal more,
but your generosity meets the extra tax. I hope it will
work out so that you and your dear wife will have your
large share of pleasure in it.
But you have put the honor on me. I am supremely
grateful.
Faithfully yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
Doctor Taylor was honored also by various class gifts :
an entrance gate to the campus from the class of '87, his
first graduating class; a library fund from the class of
1913 by which he was to select books for the general
LAST DAYS' AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 293
reading of the college; and from the class of '90 a purse
containing ninety gold pieces with the following poem :
Our ain kind Dr. Taylor, frien*
Sin' auld lang syne,
Wilt gie a thoch't to '90 yet
For auld lang syne?
We twa hae entered Vassar's wa's
Thegither Do ye min'?
What matter whaur we've wandered wide
Sin* auld lang syne?
We twa hae read in scholars' books
Frae morn in* sun till dine.
Seas canna part sic luving thoch'ts
O' auld lang syne.
Sae here's our hand, our trusted f rien'.
Wilt gie's a hand o' thine
An* keep the ties o' f rien'ship strong
Wi* us o' ten times nine?
And wilt, in bonnie distant haunts,
Juist get thee summat fine
Wi' ninety bits o' 'po's luve
For thee an' auld lang syne?
The last gift was acknowledged by a letter to the Presi-
dent of the class.
To Miss Emily E. Morris.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.,
MY DEAR Miss MORRIS, ^ u
It would be utterly vain for me to try to express to
you my very deep appreciation of the gift of your class,
and of the sentiments in the letter which accompanied
it. ... I have thought of it every day, and I have reread
your letter more than once, waiting till I could fitly
answer it.
294 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
I never can! Its sympathy, its appreciation, the note
of affection running through the words you quote from
members of the class, are inexpressibly precious to me.
It is not a feeling of desert that brings to me such deep
satisfaction, but the knowledge that you all have so
kindly interpreted my wishes and my purposes as if I
had really carried them out. My interest in you and all
that concerns you, and my genuine affection for you all,
have been accepted by you at face value. I have indeed
meant it all, and tried to do all you say, but how it
heartens one to feel that he has been measured up to his
best! I once had a friend who said, after his marriage,
"It is so fine to have some one look at you not as you are
but as you ought to be," and somehow I am reminded of
that!
The gift is very precious, and I shall put it away safely
till I get to Italy and then buy my "remembrance'* of
a class I could not forget! But it will be an addi-
tional reminder of you. What a privilege for one to
work amid such friends and to have assurance of a
friendship that will last!
Faithfully yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
The faculty, too, expressed their appreciation of Doc-
tor Taylor's work in a gift accompanied by this letter:
James M. Taylor, D.D. f LL.D.,
President of Vassar College.
We, the members of the Faculty of Vassar College,
in asking you to accept this token of our appreciation
and goodwill, desire at the time to express to you our
sense of personal loss and regret at your departure from
the College. We shall always recall with affection the
courtesy, consideration and loyalty which you have ever
maintained towards your associates in the administra-
tion of this College and particularly that spirit of tolera-
tion so often lacking in the executive mind.
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 295
We trust that to you may be continued in the future
the happiness and success so richly merited in the past
and we hope that in selecting for yourself some personal
gift you will choose something which you may value not
only for itself, but also as a reminder of those once your
colleagues in Vassar College.
On commencement day, Doctor Taylor took time to
write a letter to his oldest son about his feeling.
To Huntington Taylor.
June 12, 1913.
MY DEAR HUNT :
I have but a minute to write to you, but it has oc-
curred to me that perhaps you would like to see the letter
which I wrote to the Trustees in February, offering my
resignation. It may be, considering all that you have
heard of various reasons for my leaving, interesting to
see an exact statement. The substance of it will be pub-
lished now as the Trustees have consented to that.
We shall stay here until the first of February, appar-
ently, as no choice has been made.
We had a very fine Commencement and a great deal
of enthusiasm, and you may imagine that a great deal
of sentiment expressed was trying to our feelings, though
very gratifying. To have so much love and loyalty ex-
pressed is perhaps more than one man's share!
Your mother will write you, or M. will, and tell
you some more personal incidents perhaps, including a
beautiful present made to your mother in memory of all
her hospitality, that came from what is called the "Col-
lege Family/' . . .
I shall be sending you copies of the Eagle, I hope,
shortly but I will tell you now that donors who do not
wish their names mentioned, at present, presented us
with what I have so long asked for, an Art Gallery, fire-
proof, and to be very beautiful, which will span the gate
and be a splendid entrance to the college, between the
296 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
Library and the Chapel : but I must say no more ; only
let me add they call it 'Taylor Hall"!
This letter, written on one of the busiest days of the
year, suggests the close relationship which existed be-
tween Doctor Taylor and his sons. The next was writ-
ten to his youngest son, who at this time was en route
as a Lieutenant to his first post in Hawaii.
To Richard T. Taylor, U. S. A.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.
MY DEAR BOY, A P- 20 ' I 9 I 3-
Sunday morning is here and the hour (waiting for
breakfast) when I hoped I might get a chance to write
you. You have been on my mind and heart ever since
I said good-bye to you, hopefully, happily, and with
constant prayer for your well-being. I knew it was best
for you to go, and it was no gain to wait and wait,
with no regular occupation. You were going, I knew,
to the very thing you wished to do, and all seemed bright
and good. But just the same I hated to have you go and
it was hard to part with you. I sat for awhile thinking
of you and all the years since you came to us so happily
for us. At least you were really off for your own life,
not like going to school and college. All that we could
do had been done, in training and direction, and you were
striking out for yourself. Only the old influences, the
old precepts and counsels and ideals of your home could
go with you, and the old love which is always with you.
But I knew these had all made for a strong, high-toned
and manly life and one which takes a larger view than
for this world alone. And so I had full confidence in
you while I felt it hard to have you go and knew it was
altogether right and best.
Keep your ideals bright, my boy, do service for men
and God, and to all that stands in the name "Our Coun-
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 297
try." Be sure that all the time we are thinking of you,
loving you, and trusting you.
We have followed you across the continent, and your
cards and letters have brought us great pleasure. . . .
Your last letter left you still in the plains, and you were
yet to see the great mountains. We shall be so interested
to know how they impressed you! Don't forget that
everything you do now will interest us, all your routine
and companionships, and all that enters into your new
world.
I want you to cut off from your accounts all that
stands in my name. . . . You owe me nothing but love,
and that debt I can't let lapse. . . .
We had the coming English poet here Friday, a very
interesting young man (32) who read us his poems,
Alfred Noyes. He had a little reception in Senior Parlor,
but went away at six. The Pratts were here and stayed
over night, a nice visit. ...
We expect Dr. S tires of New York this A. M. and
Pres. Howard Bliss, Beirut, Syria, is to speak for me
tonight. . . .
Blessings on you, my boy! "Watch and pray that
ye enter not into temptation!" Your loving
FATHER.
This comradeship of the boys with their father is
again expressed in some birthday verses from his son,
Morgan.
August 5, 1913
Here's the First of a Year, tho' belike it seems near
To the middle of summer 'tis hung.
But there's many a creature, I'm thinking will feature
The Day that you're Sixty-five Young.
'Tis little I have but a wish for to send
(As much as you'd pile on a tongue).
But I'll bundle it off to me dear Father-Friend,
Who is just Sixty-five Years Young.
298 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
'Tis proud, so I am, that you reared me, dear Man,
In the joys that to others you've brung.
And I'm pledging a cup, to the Lad who's grown up
To be just Sixty-five Years Young.
Doctor Taylor received this poem while he was spend-
ing six weeks of the summer in the Canadian Rockies
with his friends, the Pratts, and the acknowledgment
shows how happy vacation there was.
To Morgan P. Taylor.
CHATEAU LAKE LOUISE
LAGGAN, ALTA., CANADA.
DEAR MORTIE, Au ^ 7 ' '^
Your verses came and brought me much joy, especially
for the true ring of love and friendship in their fun. I
seem to have been especially remembered this year, be-
cause of our situation. Mardie had a birthday three
weeks ago, and we had a dinner, with wine, to celebrate.
It was then that M. wickedly gave away Aug. 5, as an-
other chance for such an orgy. So we all dressed up,
and they arranged the dinner behind screens so that we
were by ourselves. I found on my chair a big leather
jacket and the half trousers of leather the cowboys wear.
. . . There was a huge cake (excellent!) inscribed "Heap
big Vassar Chief," and a lot of postcards of the region
on which the various ones had written clever verses.
They made of the leather they got at the barn, and brown
paper, a book in which they put a set of the fine Kodaks
they've made (which you will be glad to see), and M.
gave me an old picture of her with a witty verse, begin-
ning
"This is the Ape that climbed your tree
And mussed up all the Family T"
and a box of candy with another more intimate verse.
M. and D. were exceedingly funny in their sallies at one
another. It was a great celebration.
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 299
I wonder if they've written you about our Field Lake
Emerald Yoho Pass Burgess Pass trip. Probably
they have. . . .It was a great excursion. Those of us
who rode . . . had the chance of sitting our horses
while the steady beasts wound their way along a narrow
ledge, just wide enough for them, the mountains slop-
ing back above us, and sharply below for thousands of
feet. The views were wonderful, but somehow one didn't
care to tarry on "Surprise Point," where the trail turns
around a corner, and the great Bow Valley is suddenly
revealed, thousands of feet below. The trail may be
two feet broad in a kind of clay, but there's plenty of
room up and down! The Dr. and Dick P., I being last,
stopped their horses and said, for my benefit, "Let's take
a picture here!" But one didn't tarry! The views
on the trip, the glaciers, the falls, beggar descrip-
tion. . . .
Of course you'll take possession of the camp. We'll
be there the 2oth p. m. If you can get Mr. F. to send a
man down he might put up my tent, but don't bother. It
doesn't matter. . . . You'll manage about the boats as
you choose. Mr. F. has the keys. ... Be comfortable.
A great deal of love. Kate P. was just in and sends
her love.
Your loving
FATHER.
Another letter from Lake Louise shows the richness
of this out-door life for Doctor Taylor, also how his
thoughts continually hark back to the college.
To Mrs. Frederick F. Thompson.
CHATEAU LAKE LOUISE,
LAGGAN, ALTA., CANADA.
July 29, '13.
MY DEAR MRS. THOMPSON,
I am always glad to hear from you, but I never forget
that you have a great deal to do and I never want to
300 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
add to your burden. Just the same I did wish to know
how you were and if your homecoming had been pros-
perous !
I have thought of you in your lovely home. It would
have been "very nice" if we could have gone there, but I
am glad we have been. It is a spot to remember, always
and everywhere. . . .
We are having a very good time and a quiet one.
We have been here ten days (after five at Banff) and
are likely to spend most of another fortnight here. Mr.
P. ... planned the trip with a view rather to rest than
work. We can get enough of the latter, in appropriate
ways here. Our young people . . . were on top of Mt.
Temple yesterday, 11,600 ft., capped with a glacier.
Many of our mountains have been snowcapped since we
have been here, and the lesser ones, down to 7000 to
8000 ft. were sprinkled with snow yesterday. A glacier
comes down to near the head of our lake. We ride,
climb, drive, walk, fish as tastes incline and opportunity
offers.
Several times this morning I have thought of a card
you sent me from Darjeeling (I am not at all sure of
the spelling). Of course there's no comparison in alti-
tude, or in magnificence, but these mountains and valleys
are beautifully grouped. We are 5600 ft. up at Lake
Louise. . . .
You asked about the payment for the Library work
you authorized. . . . The work has not been done yet
and the bills aren't in. As I recall it, this was all to be
done this summer, Mr. Allen having approved all plans.
Did I tell you that a graduate whose name I don't know,
erected two beautiful lamp-posts in front, in place of our
plain ones, Mr. Allen designing the same. A. & C. also
designed the '87 gate, given in my name, and near Jos-
selyn. . . .
And now a happy time to you and your sisters (espe-
cially) and to all your large party, for all your stay.
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 301
We all send our love to you and every wish for all pos-
sible blessings for you. ' Faithfully yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
As no president had been found for the college by fall,
Doctor Taylor, in accordance with his promise, returned
for the first half of the year and another letter tells of
the opening.
To Mrs. Frederick F. Thompson.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.
MY DEAR MRS. THOMPSON, Se P t J 9 I 9 I 3-
I had intended to write you long ago, and not wait
three whole weeks after your good letter came. I read
and wrote a good deal, though, at the camp, and had many
letters to write, and so pushed off my real friendship
letters till I came home and found myself busy!
I sold my camp the day we left it, furniture, boats, and
all. As I tell them, I do not want to own real-estate in
the woods after I become a pilgrim and a stranger, and
I do want the interest instead of paying it out in taxes,
insurance, and dues.
We are opening college this morning, and have had
numbers coming for two days. Everybody is busy but
the president, and even he has had many odd jobs to do.
I am thinking, at every step, of the knitting together
of all ends, so that all will go on well after I go, espe-
cially if they do not settle on a successor. It will be, in
many ways, a rather hard half year, but it can't be long.
When one is known to be going well, he doesn't gain
by staying. Yet my heart is rather warmed as they
keep telling me how glad they are to see me back and
to have me awhile longer. . . .
I have to preach once more, Sunday, and no one ever
had a better audience. Then I must wake myself up
again to teach on Monday, which is the best of it all, and
302 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
to make countless small addresses of advice and inspira-
tion! I had hoped not to start the college again, and
yet it brings great privileges!
You are wholly right as to our needing to go out for
large endowments. I have been telling the Board for two
or three years that we must have another million. All of
these colleges are rich beside ours! . . . Smith has just
raised $ i, 000,000. But / couldn't do it again. . . .
Your gift enabled us to do a great thing. I am very
hopeful that our <new chair > is going to prove a fine ad-
dition to our force. As to your payment, you must con-
sult your convenience and not burden yourself. . . . We
are everlastingly grateful to you. The gift has brought
immense approval and your way of doing it well, it was
yours !
Everything looks fine here. About Mrs. Sage's build-
ing they finished up the grounds admirably, and around
the new Students' building, and the new lake has been
immensely improved. It is all a beautiful place. You
should see the Library under the moon-light ! You have
done so much for us !
We think we shall get everything packed (of course
we shall be having senior parties almost to the end),
by Feb. 1st, and leave at once, going, after a few days
in New York, for two or three visits in California (and
Colorado?) and then sailing to Hawaii. My wife thinks
we should go on that way to Italy, but I incline to come
back and cross from here. A short stay in Japan, China,
India, doesn't much attract me. But that's a long way
off!
I think of you in your very lovely home and wish
we could see you there. But one must work now ! Our
very kind remembrances to your sisters. I hope they
are well. All would gladly unite with me in my special
remembrance to you.
I am
Always faithfully yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 303
The satisfaction of having Doctor Taylor back at the
college for six months was indeed to his friends a joy
mixed with sadness, for though little was said, there
was in the thought of many people on many an occasion :
"This is the last time we shall have him here." How
that "last time" echoed in Doctor Taylor's own mind
comes out again in a letter in regard to faculty meeting.
To Professor Marian P. Whitney.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
January 22, 1914.
MY DEAR Miss WHITNEY,
Your final words are very pleasant to me. It was hard
to say anything at the last faculty meeting and I thought
that the less said the better, under the circumstances. I
am inclined to think our faculty meetings have been better
as a whole than those which we hear of in other institu-
tions. In any case, though there have been many trials
and an occasional very hard one, for me, my whole
feeling is one of gratification that I have had so many
admirable friends and that I have been able to do my life
work under such delightful auspices. One ought to be
grateful, as I told the trustees in my last report, for the
opportunity of working in such surroundings and toward
such ends.
Assuring you of my great pleasure in our own friend-
ship in these years, I am
Sincerely yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
Probably no president ever had warmer friends among
his colleagues, and this in spite of the occasional natural
differences to which the preceding letter refers. Vassar
shared in the general movement in colleges for more inter-
304 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
relation between trustees, faculty, and alumnae. And at
times efforts to establish joint committees of conference
between the different parts of the college revealed dif-
ferences of opinion on college organization existing be-
tween the administration and the faculty. This was only
a natural part of the development of the college organism
as Doctor Taylor realized.
Doctor Taylor's close personal relation to members
of the faculty, his interest in their work, his sympathy
may be read through a few letters, printed as typical of
many to other colleagues.
To Professor Oliver S. Tonks.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
March 6, 1913.
DEAR DR. TONKS,
I sat down after breakfast this morning and read your
lecture before I came to my office. I want to thank you
very heartily for giving me the volume. I shall prob-
ably go on and read the rest of it because the subjects
interest me, but I shall not have in any of it, I know,
the interest that yours has awakened. It is a thoroughly
alive and useful lecture. I wish that all of our classical
teachers here might read it, although I hope most of them
are alive to its general principles.
. . . You do these things so well that I am glad when-
ever you do them, and it is a joy to see your own broad
training and culture come out in such practical ways, and
I say that when understood to fight shy of the practical
in education! You don't know how glad I am that
you are here, and I hope to see you getting more and
more of what you want to make your department satis-
factory to your own ideals.
Sincerely yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 305
To Professor George C. Gow.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
March 25, 1913.
DEAR DR. Gow,
I tried to see you after the music on Sunday night.
I enjoyed it very much and I meant to speak to you about
both the music and the poetry, one part of which I espe-
cially appreciated and enjoyed. You certainly have the
versatile gift. But I am writing only to tell you that I
wanted to express my appreciation of all that you did.
I was caught after the close by some people who wanted
me to meet their friends, and you passed out while I
was doing it.
Sincerely yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
To Doctor Elizabeth B. Thelberg.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.
Oct. 20, 1913.
DEAR DOCTOR,
I was sorry to miss you, but these everlasting questions
of student government compelled a committee meeting
this afternoon.
There isn't much that is new to say in my wish to
you for the happiest of voyages. You know I think
you deserve it. ... Your devotion to the interests of
the college, your cheer, your courage, your intellectual
ability, where that counts for so much (!), . . . have
added all one could ask to your professional skill. . . .
But the personal note leads to this letter. You have
meant a great deal ... in our family and to us all.
Not only have you been a "beloved physician" on whose
counsel we have leaned, to our great blessing, but we have
valued you among our most treasured friends.
We shall miss you, but we are so glad you are able
to go. May it make you over, for ten more fresh and
306 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
refreshing years. May every day of your trip be full of
pleasure, and no serious check come to your happiness
in it all. May the sea be good to you, and every land
give you its best! When you have had all that it wi!l
be but part of what I am wishing for you. . . .
. . . Again, goodbye, God-be-with-you !
Faithfully yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
To Professor Marian P. Whitney.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
November 6, 1913.
MY DEAR Miss WHITNEY, . . .
I read your little paper that you sent me this morning
and am much impressed by it. It is a capital talk. I
thought that what you had to say about the reading in
distinction from the speaking a language, was excellently
put, and your point about translation as contrasted with
reading the language had in it fresh force to me, though
in a way I have thought over it before. I have myself
been weakened always in my effort to read a new lan-
guage by my old classical training and my feeling of
unwillingness to do the reasonable thing; that is, to read
along whether I understand or not with the sure knowl-
edge that in time I shall. For months in Germany I read
German with all the thoroughness that I applied to Latin,
looking up every word I did not understand. It was a
habit more than a theory, but I well remember when I
began to learn better as I journeyed from place to place
and could not carry my dictionary with me and had to
read for hours on a train. But even yet that old bug-
bear of thoroughness limits me every time I start in to
learn anything or read anything in a foreign language.
I somehow feel as if I were being led around in the right
way by reading this talk of yours.
Sincerely yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 307
To Doctor Jane Baldwin.
VASSAR COLLEGE,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.,
Dec. 20, 1907.
DEAR DR. BALDWIN,
I heard last night of your mother's death. I have no
idea that I can say a word of real comfort, but I know
you will appreciate an expression of sympathy from your
friends, and we wish to be counted in the number. I
know what it means, the break, the loss, the sorrow,
but there is also the hope, the healing, the reunion to
remember. May the comfort of our faith be yours and
may it rob the shadow of its real darkness !
Sincerely yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
How another member of the faculty valued his work
is shown in a letter, written after Doctor Taylor's death.
106 ACADEMY ST.,
POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.,
December 28, 1916.
MY DEAR MRS. TAYLOR : ...
All the men who were at the college when I came in
1890 have passed away Ritter, Van Ingen, D wight,
Drennan, Cooley and now Dr. Taylor. Among those on
the business and employee staff Dean, Maxon, Wheeler,
Van Vliet, Norris and others are gone. So it behooves
those of us who stand next in line to be up and doing.
To me who had known him fairly well for over twenty-
five years your husband's supreme characteristic was his
earnestness and seriousness of purpose in an age which
is sadly lacking in them. These were, I think, largely
the explanation of the remarkable loyalty the alumnae
felt for him, for he never thought of the college and its
work, nor of them and their lives, in a trivial way. In
308 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
chapel, in class room, in alumnae gatherings, in his writ-
ing there was always this emphasis upon the importance
of woman's education, upon Vassar as its representative,
and upon their own moral and intellectual responsibility.
In an age which lays so much stress on system, machinery,
organization, he dwelt upon that which is likely to be
overlooked, namely, the power and moral strength of the
individual. His guiding principle not only in religion
but in the intellectual life was: "The Kingdom of God
is within you." This was also his belief as to the true
source of power for the college that its strength and
influence would come from the life and spirit within it
rather than from the distracting connection with the
outer world. I hope this will not be forgotten.
Far more than the differences in our ages would seem
to account for, Dr. Taylor and I were brought up in
different generations of thought. We did not agree on
theology, religion, politics, the means of social progress,
college government, although rather strangely we were
amazingly of the same mind on educational policies. But
our differences of belief did not interfere with our
friendly relations. It is a source of great satisfaction
to me that despite our divergent views, he made me to-
gether with Mrs. Kendrick and Mary Whitney a confi-
dential committee to exercise authority in case of emer-
gency during his last year's leave of absence, and that,
when he finally retired, he thought me the one who should
preside over the Faculty in the interim.
I cannot express to you my sympathy and sorrow over
our loss. Half my life nearly, three fourths of my life
after arriving at manhood, has been spent in the college
of James M. Taylor to which I had become adjusted.
In the different college which is now evolving I feel at
times lost and out of place; but we must try to keep it
as wholesome and inspiring an influence in the future as
it has been in the past. . . .
Sincerely yours,
HERBERT E. MILLS.
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 309
Professor Margaret F. Washburn, in retrospect, sum-
marized for us all the fundamental qualities in Doctor
Taylor's relations with his faculty. 1
"There were three qualities which no colleague of Dr.
Taylor's, however differing from him in opinions, could
possibly or conceivably associate with him, and these
were vacillation, underhandedness, or egotism.
"His was a mind of great clarity and definiteness.
When I say that he did not vacillate, I do not mean that
he was impulsive, or that he could not suspend judgment
when deliberation was in his opinion necessary. But he
always understood his own position; the moment of de-
cision was a sharply defined one with him, and once hav-
ing reached a determination, he did not readily change
his opinion. With this intellectual quality the moral
quality of his straightforwardness was closely associated.
No member of the Vassar faculty was ever in doubt as
to Dr. Taylor's policy on a matter which he had time to
consider. The conjectures and rumors which are rife
in some institutions as to the presidential attitude would
have been ludicrously misplaced in the atmosphere which
he created; plots and schemes and suspicions could not
flourish in relation to his office. So marked was this
transparent honesty and outspokenness of his that I
believe it was the chief characteristic associated with the
thought of him in the minds of the academic world at
large. Decision and straightforwardness had their roots
in the nature of his thinking processes; the third quality
T have named, the absence of egotism, had a deeper
basis in his character. Dr. Taylor was intensely human.
He desired intensely the things he desired ; he had strong
1 Vassar Miscellany Weekly, Jan. 12, '17.
310 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
personal likes and dislikes. He was, I feel sure, sensitive
to the joy of seeing his plans succeed and realizing that
it was his own power which had thus found expression.
But he was not interested in himself. The world around
him and the people around him were so intensely inter-
esting to him that he had no attention to bestow on him-
self as a spectacle. Hence, while he was vulnerable
through his feelings, he could not be reached through
vanity. This objectivity, helped by his steady sense of
humor, was a happy trait rarely found in a personality
with so much reason to find itself interesting, with a
temperament of so much vigor and fire, and an achieve-
ment so notable. It does not often happen that so pow-
erful a will is associated with 'a heart at leisure from
itself/ "
The last annual alumnae meeting which Dr. Taylor was
to attend as president was on Jan. 24, in New York, and
all sadness was concealed by a determined spirit of hap-
piness.
The regard of alumnae and friends found expression
on this occasion in the gift of a "Good Time Fund" and
of a beautiful watch, bearing about the face the in-
scription monumentum et pignns amoris and on its ob-
verse the design of the rose window in the chapel, given
in honor of Doctor Taylor. To accompany the watch
the students later presented Doctor Taylor with a fob
on which were engraved views of the library and Sunset
Hill. A secret spring opened to the inscription :
rov 5 J ofa
76
uolaiv juercw.J
I shall not forget as long as I am among the living.
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 311
To J. M. T. from
1914, 1915,
1916, 1917
Doctor Taylor's later letter to the President of the
Associate Alumnae perpetuated his thanks.
To Mrs. Harlan W. Cooley.
January 27, 1914.
DEAR MRS. COOLEY:
You gave me no opportunity after your most gracious
address on Saturday, to thank you for your kindness
which was at once so laudatory and so protective. I can-
not tell you how deeply I appreciate the way in which
you bade me goodbye, you the great body of alumnae
gathered there.
I needed no proof of your loyal affection since you
all have so held up my hands and made it possible for
me to do my work. I needed no evidence of your con-
sideration and tactfulness which I have learned to know
so well in your gatherings and in many of your homes.
And I needed no witness of that regard for me which
has been the great treasure of all these years.
But you have enriched me by your gifts and made
more possible for me and mine a larger comfort for our
later years, and you have gathered all your gifts, beside,
into a symbol that shall be with me every hour, and
which, as it marks the time, will tell me of the place
where we have gathered daily and thought of the un-
seen and eternal. The image of "my window" will
always remind me of the great college in which we have
worked together, and of the happy relations which have
bound me to trustees, faculty, alumnae and students.
I cannot express my gratitude. The goodness and love
of years you have crowned with this great evidence of
abiding loyalty and affection. I can only acknowledge
your generosity with deep gratitude to you for judging
me and my work not so much by the result as by the
312 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
spirit and purpose and desire I have tried to put into
it.
With affectionate remembrance of you all and with
deepest wish for your future blessing,
I am,
Faithfully yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
The fund, in which trustees and friends had delighted
to share, was accompanied by this letter, which was not
read until later.
NEW YORK,
DEAR DR. TAYLOR: 24 January > I9 ' 4 '
As a pledge of our friendship and affection, we, trus-
tees, alumnae and friends of Vassar, have this day de-
posited in your name at the First National Bank of New
York the securities represented by the enclosed receipt
We beg you to accept the same in token of our en-
during gratitude for the years of service you have given
to Vassar College and to the world.
Signed,
MRS. RUSSELL SAGE.
MRS. FREDERICK F. THOMPSON.
CHARLES M. PRATT.
MARY THAW THOMPSON.
THE ASSOCIATE ALUMNA,
FLORENCE M. CUSHING.
One of Doctor Taylor's letters of acknowledgment
was written on his first day as "Ex-President."
UNIVERSITY CLUB,
FIFTH AVENUE AND 54 STREET,
DEAR MRS. SAGE, Februar y l > l ^
Only last night, from our common friend Mrs. Thomp-
son, did I learn of the part you had in the more than
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 313
kind "testimonial" which came to me from "trustees and
friends."
I am overwhelmed with gratitude these days, as from
one and another comes some expression of recognition
of service done, of loyalty, of friendship, of apprecia-
tion. I have felt no sense of desert, for through all these
many years my friends have given me so much of fellow-
ship that I have had more than my reward. But now,
as the day of my retirement has come, to receive such
a gift from such friends moves my heart to its depths.
I have enjoyed a long acquaintance with you ever since
we dedicated the Emma Willard monument and it has
always been a pleasure to meet you and talk with you.
You have also enriched our Vassar, where my whole
heart has been for nigh twenty-eight years. But all this
had not prepared me for the great surprise. My grati-
tude to you is deep, my appreciation of your kindness
and generosity beyond my power of expression.
You may be interested to know that we go to Cali-
fornia Tuesday (this is my first day as an Ejr-president !),
that we plan to go on to Honolulu to see our youngest
boy, and to return to hand the diplomas to my class in
June, and then away for a time of residence in Rome.
We are wishing for you every blessing that life can
bring, health and strength, the assurance of His pres-
ence and peace. I should have called to say this, but I
have been sure that would be less kind than the writing.
Sincerely, and very gratefully yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
On Friday night, Jan. 29, 1914, Doctor Taylor led
chapel for the last time, reading from the Epistle to the
Philippians certain memorable verses :
"Forgetting those things which are behind, and reach-
ing forth unto those things which are before, I press
toward the mark for the prize of the calling of God in
Christ Jesus."
314 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
"Let your moderation be known unto all men."
"The peace of God which passeth all understanding,'*
"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true"
The hymn sung was
"In heavenly love abiding
No change my heart can fear."
Doctor Taylor prayed that we might remember the
beautiful things in life and its blessings, especially the
bonds of friendship, and that we might press onward
always. When the students had marched out as usual to
the strains of the great organ, they did not scatter but
formed in two solid lines on either side of the walk
leading from the chapel to the president's house so that
when Doctor and Mrs. Taylor left the cloisters, after
stopping to speak to the faculty, they walked between two
lines of white-clad girls who were bravely trying to sing
their farewell song.
One of the last letters which Doctor Taylor wrote as
President of Vassar was a farewell to the employees of
the college.
To All Employees of the College:
January 30, 1914.
I am unwilling to retire from the position I have held
here so long without a word of good-by to all of the
helpers of the college, men and women, who are doing
so much to contribute to its comfort and well-being.
With many I have had an acquaintance of long years,
and although as the college has grown it has been less
possible for me to know the employees, I have remem-
bered them, and been interested in them, and cannot
leave without expressing a wish for their welfare. For
LAST DAYS AT VASSAR, 1911-1914 315
all of you I hope that life will hold great blessings and
much happiness.
JAMES M. TAYLOR,
President.
It was on this day, Saturday, January 30, 1914, be-
tween semesters, that the Taylors quietly left the presi-
dent's house and the college.
CHAPTER X
Vacation Days and Happy Re-
turns, 1914-1915
*7 could not go to Carcassonne"
Gustave Nadaud.
IN Maitland's life of Leslie Stephen, the biographer
quotes two of Stephen's own dicta "Nobody ever wrote
a dull autobiography" and "The biographer can never
quite equal the autobiographer, but with a sufficient sup-
ply of letters he may approximate very closely to the
same result." It is good fortune that from this time
on there are enough letters to make virtually an auto-
biography of Doctor Taylor's vacation days and they
may be left almost alone to tell the story of his wan-
derings, his reading, his writing, of the people he met
and the places he saw.
When Doctor and Mrs. Taylor started west the first
of February, many good wishes went with them.
Two EAST NINETY-FIRST STREET,
NEW YORK,
Feby 2d, 1914.
DEAR MR. TAYLOR :
I hasten to acknowledge receit of your kind note and
wish you and yours many years of happy life which you
have so nobly earned. We shall hope to meet you and
yours upon your return. Hope your wife accompanies
316
VACATION DAYS AND HAPPY RETURNS 317
you. It is the Wife that enables us to abandon the old
form "Heaven our Home'* for Home our Heaven, one
world at a time.
Such notes as yours give me my greatest of all satis-
factions, making others happy.
Ever Yours
ANDREW CARNEGIE.
The letters begin from Redlands, California, Feb. 14.
To Miss E. H. Haight.
We had a pleasant trip out, two happy days in Colorado
Springs, where by the way the mercury dropped one night
to 1 6 below, two wonderful days at the amazing and
indescribable Grand Canyon, and we have had two de-
lightful ones here already, and have over a week more
in prospect. . . .
It is so charming here ! All the country is wonderful,
not least so the barren, strong, unproductive land lying
against the wonderfully fertile and beautifully planted
acres that looked just like it two or three years since,
till it was irrigated. It would delight your soul to walk
down one of the broad avenues of one of these towns,
planted with pepper trees and palms, the spaces filled in
occasionally, for effect, with great cactuses, the gardens,
golden with the beautiful orange trees. But none of
it is so wonderful as this great estate, from whose crest
we look away in every direction to mountains and through
great canyons, all about us showing the wonderful re-
sult of the Smiley taste and love of trees and flowers com-
bined with a kindly climate. It is indescribably beau-
tiful.
We drove a long way yesterday, up canyons and over
plains, through orange orchards beautiful enough to be
ravishing and abundant enough, one would think, to
overfeed the world, and lunched in the barren wild, under
cotton wood trees, fifty miles away. One hundred and
four miles of delight in one day, balmy and beautiful.
318 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
To Morgan P. Taylor.
HONOLULU, HAWAII,
March 27, 1914 (evening).
DEAR MORTIE,
You see we've changed our hotel. . . . Here we are
in town, ten minutes by car from the station a great
gain for us, ... an easy walk to shops and bank, &c,
yet in a great "yard," or park. It is an old mansion sur-
rounded now by scattered cottages, though the front is
free, and the lawn and great trees are very fine. Man-
goes, lemons, bread fruit, papaia (the "melon" tree that
furnishes fruit for breakfast), cocoanuts, figs, a num-
ber of flowering trees, and a huge central tree like an
acacia are about us. M. has a tiny cottage, her room
about ten feet square, with a screened piazza, all her
own, her table and chairs, &c, all on the veranda. It
is near us, and we have a private entrance into our pala-
tial room in the old mansion. It is 30 x 25, and off
from it a dressing room and two closets and bath fully
ten ft. by 20. It is huge and wasteful for the hotel but
fine for us. ... We couldn't have better accommoda-
tions, and we are paying little more than $6 a day for
us all. The dining room is a very long veranda open on
three sides. Here we plan to stay. . . .
I wish you and I could go about here together. It's
of unending interest. On the trip to the barracks, e.g.
you pass rice fields where the Chinamen are working
just as they do in China, great duck farms, with lanes
of water separated by lines of grass with sometimes
banana trees growing on them, little villages where Japs
and Chinese (and for all I know, Koreans) sit in their
open shops, playing with the funny babies that look like
the dolls on fourteenth St., or bartering with one an-
other, here and there Hawaiians, and everywhere
mixed breeds. The lines of crossing are innumerable:
they tell me of a school here where they count upwards
of twenty races Japs, Chinese, Koreans, Hawaiians,
Portuguese, English, Americans, Germans, a few Span-
VACATION DAYS AND HAPPY RETURNS 319
iards, Filippinos, and every possible crossing of these
and others. At the school just above us I talked with
some neat little Portuguese girls, well dressed, but with-
out shoes or stockings. With them was a little Hawaiian
who told me she was half Chinese, but her grandfather
full Chinese. They tell me the Chinese-Hawaiian mixture
makes excellent citizens, particularly.
It's fun to see them in the market, bartering, all kinds
of orientals and islanders and Europeans, and to look
over the new vegetables and fruits, papaia (melons from
trees), water-lemons (a queer yellow shell which you
break, like an egg, and peel off from an inner skin like
the inner white one of a lemon, and then you suck out
the contents, seeds and all : very good, and a wild growth,
I am told), breadfruit (not tried yet), several varieties
of bananas, some only good for cooking and excellent
thus, taro (a root which bakes like a mealy potato and
from which they make the famous poi), guavas, man-
goes, figs, (a little girl threw me down some beans from
a tree and they tell me they are tamarinds) : and the fish !
Well your imagination can't take them in : their coloring
and shapes would drive the cubists to despair: they'd
hang their heads and say "It's no use," like the skunks
which sat on the fence when the first auto passed. Per-
haps we'll get a few postcards off to you, but they can't
do the fish justice. Think of a dark lady, with a white
tail fringed with pink, with a bright red spot underneath,
and little side fins of brilliant yellow! That's in the
aquarium ! And a dark blue one with a head like a par-
rot, fish that sit on their tails in the aquarium, or lounge
about on the rocks as if exertion were useless in such a
pleasant ocean ! And a lot of these are on sale and are
to eat! Of course we aren't playing with these all the
time. We had a delicious luncheon, e.g. at the Castles',
Saturday, then drove up and up to a high point where
their summer home is, and it reminds me of all I have
read of Stevenson's at Samoa, magnificent views of the
ocean between the great headlands, and views into the
320 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
canyons and valleys that are beautiful in their blend of
color, from the dark greens of the trees to the brilliant
brightness of the sugar cane and the gray of the acres
of pineapple. Then we dined at the Country Club (Capt.
and Mrs. Scherer, she Laura Harris of '90) and met
. . . Major Gen. Carter and wife, and Brig. Gen. Ed-
wards and aid, in beautiful surroundings, among the
hills and looking to the sea. I also attended (and D.)
the farewell dinner of the University Club to Gen. Ma-
comb. At our Country Club dinner we met the McCand-
lesses, old residents, and they take us ... to Haleiwa,
a hotel at the north end of the Island, about ten miles
from D.'s camp, on the ocean. . . .
Your loving
FATHER.
To Morgan P. Taylor.
HALEIWA HOTEL,
HALEIWA (HAWAII),
Sunday, Ap. 12, 1914, 7:20 A. M.
DEAR MORTIE,
It is odd enough to be away out here in the Pacific,
but we are used to our little city of Honolulu, and it is
stranger now to be off here on the northern shore, in the
country, at a pretty little hotel, with a long veranda . . .
and the tables for meals on another veranda, and a fine
openness all about, and this large room hung with pieces
of tapa cloth, here and there, and open all around to
the country and the sea. Just in front of the little lawn
and the trees and shrubbery is a beautiful little river
flowing across the front between us and the sea, and
turning suddenly just beyond, and emptying into the bay.
That is a real surprise, the river ! There are Jap boats
on it, fishing boats, and we cross it on a pretty arching
bridge that is more like Japan than America. Japs are
sweeping up about me, and a Chinaman waited on us at
dinner, and Hawaiians greeted us just before as we
strolled along the road, waiting for D. and M.
VACATION DAYS AND HAPPY RETURNS 321
For you see we came up by rail, around the shore, on
the very borders of it, and they came over from the
barracks, in the center of the island, eight or ten miles
by auto. D. had had a hard day, morning and afternoon
in the rifle pits, up at 5 130, took retreat, dressed and
hurried over here. We left at 3 :2O, travelled half an
hour or so over the road to the barracks, but kept on then
along the shore till our arrival about six. . . .
Our journey was an unceasing delight. The mountains
were glorious in color, often pelted with rain, and once
glorified with a wonderful rainbow, and then beautiful
in contrasted sunlights. Until we turned the sharp corner
at the Northwest point, Kaena, ... we looked up into
the mountains, into valleys closed at the back, just as is
true of our views about Honolulu, into the other range.
Then a large part of the way, on the other side, we
looked over the boundless sea, often down on a breaking
surf, all beautiful and absorbing.
The villages weren't many, but there were one or
two big sugar factories and their surrounding towns,
or hamlets, occasional ranches for cattle, gardens, honey
ranches, wood farms, &c. . . .
All last week I spent my mornings working on a
chapter of the larger history of Vassar. My own ad-
ministration is the job, and I am doing it! I shall be
glad when I am through with it, and I am working now
so that when we sail next August I can cast off my past!
I am really tired of re-confronting its problems ! Brings
up too much!
But we do a little new day after day. One afternoon
we went to the Museum, immensely interesting and de-
voted to the illustrations of the life of the Polynesians,
and particularly these islands. It is admirably arranged,
designed, set up. Dr. Brigham, who showed me around
has been here and about some fifty years and remembers
Honolulu when it was largely grass houses. He knows
all his collections as Lanciani knows Rome, and interests
you in them all. . . . We drove to the Pali (I mail you
322 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
a picture!) last Sunday p. m. It poured and we couldn't
see the startling precipice. But we did see the amazing
waterfalls pouring from the cliffs as we drove along, and
I counted 17 in sight on one side of the auto. We shall
go again by sunlight.
We had part of one morning at the Mid-Pacific Insti-
tute, devoted to islanders and foreigners, and they
saluted the flag for us in turn, Japs, Koreans, Chinese,
Hawaiians, and I forget how many others. It was an
interesting sight, 8 distinct races, and 18 mixtures, as my
photograph of them will show you. Of course I had to
speak.
One night I talked for the Y. M. C. A. on Sicily, as-
suming man, and really interested them. The mixture
of races there has rivalled this, Greek, Carthaginian,
Roman, Vandal, Goth, Saracen, Norman, French, Span-
iard.
We are to go to the island of Hawaii and see the
volcano, this week, latter part. It will take three nights,
two days (only one night there). Then we have the re-
ception of the college club, Tuesday p. m. and Wednes-
day evening dinner at George Carter's (He ex. gov. a
Yale man, she niece of Dr. Strong, of Rochester). . . .
So it goes, and time is full. . . .
A great deal of love from us all.
Next steamer goes Tuesday, so this is in time!
Your loving
FATH]
To Morgan P. Taylor.
VOLCANO HOUSE, HAWAII, Ap. 19 (Sunday), 1914*
DEAR MORTIE,
I wish you were with us on this trip: incidentally
this is your mother's birthday, and it is just 7 a. m.
I wished for you on the trip over and you would have
enjoyed it all with us, though you will agree, as you
read on, that it has not been unqualifiedly successful.
Our boat was a day late at port, and so we are here
VACATION DAYS AND HAPPY RETURNS 323
today instead of in Honolulu. We left Honolulu Friday,
5 p. m. i.e. instead of Thursday. At first we skirted the
south end of Oahu, a beautiful sea, and scene, the
rough, jagged, mountains, reaching up to 4000 ft. making
a fine picture, and all the shore now quite familiar to
us. We crossed the straits to Molokai, but it was dark
when we began coasting along it (it is quite a long island,
I think 30 miles). There were three light houses, and it
gave one a sense of home-iness that the sea always lacks
for me, to see even a dark shore line and a light ! Near
the end of the island the land rose abruptly, and over
the other side was the famous leper settlement. Then
we coasted along another little island, Lanai, on the
other side of us, and before we turned in had sighted
the great lights of the big sugar factory at Maui. We
were at Hilo early and had breakfast about 6. It looked
beautiful, and over across from us was a lovely little
Cocoanut island, and the ground rose rapidly to a great
height, but rounded off, never abrupt, and yet with its
two mountains Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, 13,825 ft.
and 13,675 ft. respectively. Clouds were over the tops
and we couldn't see the snow. The former is an extinct
volcano: the latter poured out rivers of lava in 1881
which almost reached Hilo. Our volcano, Kilauea, is
another one, though looking like a small mountain on
the side of the other. It is only 4000 ft.
But we aren't there yet! We started on an auto for
a little drive. People had been asked to meet us, the
heads of the Hilo Boarding School which is said to have
given Gen. Armstrong his first plan for Hampton. . . .
Then a Mr. Scott, head of a big sugar mill, asked us
to his house, and we were glad we went. It was a simple
frame house, large rooms, in beautiful and extensive
grounds, and the rooms were full of nice things, the
Koa furniture, pictures, statuettes, books. It is "a long
way off," but they have to travel !
About 9 we started on a railroad trip, a wonder.
Mr. Dillingham, a friend in Honolulu, arranged the
324 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
trip over his road. It is the one on the map running
northward. It crosses immense chasms, runs on shelves
that have been excavated around the mountains, twists
and turns continually, and keeps you in sight of the
ocean. It was a wonderful scenic trip. Then we re-
turned to take another road, to Glenwood (I enclose
map) and there caught our auto for the volcano. It
rained a good deal of the way up.
We got our rooms and drove at once in our auto
to the crater, a wonderful drive, seven miles, I think
. . . around by an extinct crater, pretty large, and very
deep, with a great, black, rough, solid, lava floor, then
for miles through ferns, small and large, tree ferns run-
ning up twenty feet of trunk, ferns with occasional bright
red leaves (soon to setttle into green, of course), of every
shade of green, ... as your mother said, like a drive
through a huge conservatory. Then out over sand and
lava almost to the brink of the present crater. There we
stayed till half past seven, so as to watch it by night.
It is not very active, but down 650 ft. below us we saw
every now and then the brilliant boiling lava, not in
large volume, and then the steam and clouds would blow
across and obscure it. All about the rough lava, now
and then the slide from across the volcano of a shelf of
lava, and then the snort, like a bull, as the volcano began
again to boil up. ...
I don't know that I can give you any idea of this
cra ter, but fancy a huge hole, with fairly precipitous
sides some 400 to 500 ft. high, here and there broken
into by tongues of land, the floor black, rough lava, with
occasional fissures one of which, on the foot ^ trail, is
crossed by a bridge that, from above, I would judge to
be 10 or 12 ft. long. It is seven miles walk around the
edge of it, from the hotel. In this oW crater, about three
miles in straight line from the hotel, is the active crater,
and that, as I said, is 650 ft. below the other. You see
it is somewhat stupendous. This small crater is, as I
understand the talk, about three quarters of a mile
VACATION DAYS AND HAPPY RETURNS 325
around. I talked with men who have seen the boiling
lava fill it, and rise to within fifty feet of the top, at
times lashed like sea waves. That is the kind of a
Kilauea I had read of, and I am sorry not to have
seen it, but it hasn't been that way for two or three
years. Once, I think forty years ago, the floor of the
whole big old crater dropped a long way! . . .
We took our auto at 9 a. m. By the way, our host,
Demosthenes Lycurgus, collects "$6 per" for a full day,
from each innocent, and he doesn't profess any elegance
either, though he's entertaining and bright, for a Spar-
tan!
We went down the road to Glenwood . . . and on
to Olaa (vowels oil pronounced and a la Italian), then
turned south toward Pahoa, then east to Kapoho, where
Miss Beckwith, who was a teacher at Vassar, and is now
seeking material for the folk-lore of the Hawaiians (she
was born in Maui), was waiting luncheon for us. I say
waiting, for on our way, long before we reached Olaa, in
turning a corner we met another machine. The road
was narrow, the Jap driving the other wasn't quick
enough, and it struck our fore-wheel and shattered it to
bits. No one hurt, let us say thankfully. It delayed
us an hour while our man got to a telephone and ordered
another car from Hilo, 15 miles away.
We had a very informal luncheon, and a neighbor,
Henry Lyman, grandson of a missionary, but half
Hawaiian, a sugar planter (three brothers Westpointers)
came over, and took us in his machine, at a smashing
rate, over a road where grass filled the center, through
a country of black lava of ages since, now mostly grown
over with trees and shrubs, to a little hamlet called Po-
hoiki. There was a real Hawaiian family. A mother sat
with her babe and they had crowned her (the mother)
with a beautiful lei (the flower-wreath), other women
and children were about, the men were on the ground
near by about a big bowl (probably poi), and the sea
was just there dashing on their rocks. In a recent erup-
326 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
tion (40 years?) the shore suffered a subsidence, and
the result is seen in the little bay where we halted, and
in stumps of trees out in the salt water. Then we went
into a yard of a little house all done up in ancient style,
the lava blocks forming an entrance path, and then near
the house a large platform, all around it, of round paving-
stones of black lava. I never saw anything like that.
One other thing we saw, to note, on our way home,
lava trees, where lava had caught large trees, sur-
rounded them and cooled off in their shape, quite re-
markable, I fancy, even in volcanic regions!
Then we sped to our ship and sailed at 5 p. m. It is
rolling a bit, but I think we are all weathering it, and
we must soon be under the lea of Maui, and I think we
shall be in Honolulu by 7 A. M. We have two weeks
more, and a good many things we wish to do yet. . . .
We send a great deal of love to you and enjoy your
letters greatly.
Your loving
FATHER.
To Morgan P. Taylor.
HONOLULU, HAWAII, Ap. 28, 1914.
DEAR MORTIE,
I may go to sleep over this letter, since I have just
had dinner, and am by myself, and haven't been in bed
since one o'clock a. m. It is now 7 .-30 p. m. I will tell
you about it, though I thought I should have no more
special tales to tell you from here. . . .
Our friend Capt. Scherer . . . told me a few days
ago that his troop would be ordered out for a night march
on the night of the 27th, the direction to be settled by
orders at the hour of going. He asked if I wouldn't like
to try it, a ride of twenty miles, between one a. m. and
ten or eleven. I agreed it would be fun and I would
stand the consequences. So yesterday we all went out.
. . . Just for a test, and to try my horse, Captain said
we'd better have a little ride in the afternoon and we rode
VACATION DAYS AND HAPPY RETURNS 327
four miles. Then we had a nice dinner, D. and M. were
there, and the Colonel of the post, and as soon
as they left we "turned in." At one we were called,
dressed and went to the stables where the men were sad-
dling, packing, &c., for they were ordered to go full-
armed. Before two we were winding up dark pathways
toward the great Kaala Pass, a hundred and more of
us, in uniform all, brown shirts, slouch hats, riding
breeches of khaki, &c., and all armed with sabres, rifles,
&c., &c. We also had a small pack team. Two ser-
geants went ahead and one carried a lantern, then
came the Capt. and I, and then, with a lantern here and
there, the troop, two by two. We rode in that way to
the top, seeing nothing but a narrow road and the stars,
though the country was all open on that side. Then we
dismounted and led our horses down the pass in single
file. It was narrow, rough, often very stony, sometimes
muddy, . . . and how steep it was, and how very beauti-
ful we only learned as we came back. It was all roman-
tic, the kind of thing you'd like, if you liked a horse.
Then we reached a road where two or three of us
could ride together and talk, and some went on, in a
rapid walk, till we reached Waianae (west coast) where
there's a sugar mill. We found a large field, (it was yet
so dark that I thought it bare, but it was in brown grass)
and the men ran out a long rope at either end and tethered
their horses, unsaddled, pitched tents, and there we
were!
Captain and I sat on a broken box and saw the sun
rise very slowly, in the foreground the horses and
men, at the borders of the field a row of cocoanuts, of
various heights, a great feathered palm the graceful
algerobas at the side, and through the trees we looked
on the great mountains, jagged, irregular, deeply cut,
curiously beautiful in a mossy effect on the brown lava-
stone, which comes, much of it, from the abundant cac-
tus. Then we wandered over to the little bay nearby,
Pokoi, and saw the fishermen, Hawaiian and Japs, and
328 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
watched the sea brighten up as it caught the beautiful
sunrise above the mountains. Then we descended to a
simple breakfast.
I started back, with a trooper, at 7 130, and the troop
came at 8. That gave me my own time and gait, and
I trotted and walked, and dismounted at good points,
and rested. It is a great pass, and the mountains rise
all about you, often in sheer precipices. When I reached
the top I dismounted and waited and we all rode down
together, trotting part of the time, the Captain and I in
the lead. And so to the stables, and a bath, and a fine
luncheon, and a sight of the house they'd made very
pretty for the tea, and home. . . .
Your loving
FATHER.
As this wonderful spring in Hawaii drew to a close,
Doctor Taylor wrote to Mr. Pratt of a promise to present
the diplomas at the Vassar commencement April 29, '14.
Engagements increase as our time for sailing is draw-
ing near. We have had a very happy time and should lin-
ger on, I think, if I hadn't half-promised to go to Com-
mencement. I begin to think I made a mistake in this,
that it will mean more farewells and a hard day or two.
But ! My chief and only regret at my action really
grows out of what I have put on you and other tried
friends.
To Mr. diaries M. Pratt.
May 23, '14.
As to my membership in the Board, I am a. member,
by election, not ex-officio, but I sent a formal resignation
to long ago. ... I will jog his memory. It has
seemed to me wise to sever all connection with the Col-
lege. I think I will not risk a feeling on my successor's
part that I am in the way. ... I think I would better
play the part of a mere guest, and I shall like it. I will
VACATION DAYS AND HAPPY RETURNS 329
tell them my position is not due to lack of interest. But
no one must think now that my hand is on the helm in
any degree.
Before Doctor Taylor returned to the east, he was
honored in the west by the presentation of the degree of
Doctor of Laws by the University of California.
To Mr. Charles M. Pratt.
CLOQUET, MINN.,
May 23, '14.
We had a good quiet uneventful journey here, after a
Yosemite trip and the Mariposa trees, and Commence-
ment at the University of California. Did anyone tell
you they gave me another honorary degree? It was a
fine day and interesting to me to see how Wheeler did it.
The great open theatre was fine . . . and the luncheon
under the trees very interesting.
The words which President Benjamin Ide Wheeler
used of Doctor Taylor when he conferred the degree are
notable :
"Contulit ad quaestionum difficilium solutionem in arte
docendi fidem profundam, animum bonum, mentem for-
tem robustamque."
The alumnae record of the forty-ninth commencement
at Vassar states that the reunion classes "all sent back
an unusually large proportion of their numbers to greet
the new era and to say farewell to Dr. Taylor at his last
official appearance/' Certainly the alumnae procession
that marched about the campus Monday afternoon to the
strains of band music, bespoke their hearty greeting of
their Ex-President as class after class was reviewed by
him from the steps of Josselyn Hall and in turn sang
him greeting. In his speech at the commencement din-
330 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
ner, Doctor Taylor "explained that his resignation from
the Board of Trustees, which followed his resignation
from the presidency, was dictated by no desire to lose
touch with the place and the body of people he loved
best of any in the world, but by a strong sense that his
successor must be left entirely free to shape an inde-
pendent policy and to make his own connections with
college problems." * Then he paid rich tribute to the
work of the alumnae, their sanity and their devotion.
The speaker who followed, Mr. Charles Evans Hughes,
gave fitting expression to the thought of every one when,
after describing the inspiration which he had received
from a few great teachers, he declared that Vassar Col-
lege had been peculiarly fortunate in having so great a
leader and one who had infused his noble ideals into the
whole life of the college.
The Taylors were now looking forward to sailing for
Italy on August thirteenth and their trunks indeed had
already started for Rome when the terrible news of the
Great War broke upon a peaceful world. How this
cataclysm affected Doctor Taylor's plans is briefly told
in letters.
To Mrs. Frederick F. Thompson.
UNIVERSITY CLUB,
FIFTH AVENUE AND 54TH STREET.
DEAR MRS. THOMPSON,
I determined that even if Italy kept out of
war it would be too uncomfortable to be there. Who
knows what may come, financial, from epidemics, famine,
riot, besides the horrors of this most inexcusable of
wars? Its horrors surpass any possible words of ours.
What next for us ? Of course it's a woful (or woeful,
*Vass. Misc. 1913-14, p. 650.
VACATION DAYS AND HAPPY RETURNS 331
as you choose!) disappointment, but we shall adjust our-
selves to the facts. Now, I think, we may go to the
Adirondacks for a few weeks, and then settle down in
New York, or near by, till say January first. We have
no wish to spend a winter up north, but Florida and
California are open, and Honolulu!
To Miss H. Velma Turner.
MARLBORO',
DEAR Miss TURNER, Aug ' l6 ' ' I4>
It is very good of you to write me a word of praise
about that little book of mine. 1 I thought I owed it to
the college to write it, and expect no returns beyond
the satisfaction of that conviction and the pleasure of
some of you who read it. I doubt if that will be a very
large number, even of the Alumnae, but it seems a pity
for them not to know their beginnings !
Yes, our well-made plans are scattered and destroyed.
We were to have sailed last Thursday! We have had
no time yet to adjust ourselves, but I think we shall
take refuge in the Adirondacks for a few weeks, and
then possibly settle in or near New York, till we can go
abroad. I must be where I can do some systematic
reading and study.
Our keen disappointment is nothing in the light of
the incredible horror in Europe, but it shows how world-
wide is the influence of the event, reaching to seemingly
most distant and most unimportant concerns. . . .
Sincerely yours*
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
To Doctor Elizabeth B. Thelberg.
Aug. 13, 1914.
MY DEAR DOCTOR and I might add FRIEND !
My wife has just sent me your letter of the 7th, with
your characteristically generous offer of your house to
1 Before Vassar Opened.
332 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
us. It is certainly a very attractive suggestion, but one
I cannot take up definitely yet. You see we don't just
know "Where we are at,'* and must hold a family council
when M. gets back from an auto trip. We have been
at my sister's at Marlboro for a fortnight and mean
now to go to the Adirondacks for a time. I set that
plan in motion just as soon as we discovered that there
was no Europe for us. I think we may stay, if all goes
well, till past the middle of September. But I shall keep
your beautiful, bountiful plan in sight and see what
we can do. I rather think a settlement in, or near New
York till about New Years will be the outcome.
What an unspeakable horror this war is! What a
slight veneer has been applied to brute man by science,
experience, art, religion !
We were booked for today, and M. for Saturday last !
I was sorry not to see you when you came over; and
what a wealth of experience you must have brought! I
want to hear you talk about it. Really ! ! I am not one
of the travelers who can't bear to hear others tell about
their own experiences! . . .
I go back to Marlboro' Saturday. Nothing else seems
sure! . . .
I am always
Faithfully yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
Plans were soon readjusted and September was spent
at the Adirondack League Club.
To his Sister, Doctor Mary Bissell.
LITTLE MOOSE LAKE,
Sept. 1 6, 1914.
We are just living happily, reading, writing, walking
in the woods, enjoying these rarely beautiful days since
Saturday. There haven't been too many of them here
this summer, they say, a good deal of rain and many
VACATION DAYS AND HAPPY RETURNS 333
threatening days. These now are ideal, just as we could
wish as we recall how we've felt as we've left here at just
this time for twenty years or more! The sense of lib-
erty is intensified as we know college is opening now
without us, and it hasn't done that for twenty-eight
years !
To Miss E. H. Haight.
LITTLE MOOSE LAKE,
Sept. 18, 1914
You are probably thinking little of the book these
"opening days," and I have been doing very little. The
days are supremely beautiful and my wife and M. have
lured me several times to whole days in the woods. I
must refer to one of them before I turn to "business."
We went three miles away through the forest to a
river and rowed down a couple of miles to a spot where
the shallows, rocks and stones, stop navigation. We
thought we would work through the rocks to a nice spot
on the bank for luncheon. Soon we were on a small
rock. I took an oar to push, slipped, and fell into the
river, but standing, when the slimy rocks did their part
and I was sitting in the river, up to my shoulders, an
oar drifting away, and my hat. I soon recovered these,
but I was wet! About a half a mile away was a little
club camp, in the woods, and we hurried to it, built a
fire, and soon I might have been seen wrapped in blankets,
seated in a rocker, in the open filled with warm sunshine,
smoking a cigarette (I never do it!) . . . reading an
ode of Horace from a precious copy you know (the other
lovely volume is in my trunk in Rome, which I am order-
ing back!). What did I read (aloud to my family!)?
Aequam animam &c., "arduis" &c. ! And then the little
ode to Pyrrha which tells how his wet clothes hung in the
sacred fane an offering to the river-god ! And mine were
in the sunshine and the oven! And there we sat and
lunched and rested. / never had a quieter time in the
woods!
334 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
But business, business ! Only, when I read an ode now
and then I wish I knew Latin. I was thought a good
scholar, O ye gods ! But I must ask you about some con-
struction where the sense is manifest! But the volume
is upstairs and now business! . . .
Well, I am enjoying my sense of un-responsibility
while college opens! But the Lord bless you all, as you
begin your splendid work ! May it be the best of all years
for Vassar! . . .
That international complication at Vassar (and other
colleges) may have more effect than we have
thought, so high is feeling running. But who can read
the White Books, and note the assumptions, too, under-
neath all the German talk of Pan Slavism, &c., and not
know that German Militarism has planned all this and
forced it? It is unspeakably terrible! And very painful
must it be for our fine Germans to see how the military
ideals (which have touched them all) are corrupting all
their moral ideals (witness Belgium) and destroying all
notions of human brotherhood and the federation of the
world.
Have you seen Prof. Usher's Pan-Germanism? It
ought to be read for one side.
We shall be here till October first, we think. My re-
membrances to so many!
Sincerely yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
November found Doctor Taylor in New York where
he wrote:
Nov. 20, 1914.
I am doing nothing these days in my studies. Let-
ters are many, and the Academy, the Immortals,
occupy mornings (two) and one afternoon. But life,
though so strenuous ( !), is interesting. However, it
hurries me a bit! I laugh when I think how really busy
I once was ! .
VACATION DAYS AND HAPPY RETURNS 335
It was from New York that Doctor Taylor wrote his
good wishes to his recently appointed successor, Henry
Noble MacCracken.
December 24, 1914.
DEAR DR. MACCRACKEN,
I was very sorry to miss your call, and I did not get
"home" till after the hour you suggested on your card.
You will be sure that I am intensely interested in your
going to Vassar and in your fullest success. If I ever
seem to have withdrawn wholly from the blessed scenes
of my long service, I should like to have you know that
my action has been deliberate, in thought of my successor
and the interests of Vassar. Nothing is likely, at my
time of life, to drive from my heart the paramount inter-
est for its well-being, but I have withdrawn from the
board and from every local attachment as deliberately as
I laid down my presidency. I want you to know that, if
ever you hear intimations that I have cast off my old
love!
For the rest, my abundant wish and prayer is for
your fullest success through a long administration. There
is no more blessed service offered a man than that
you are taking up, and few more arduous. But a
young man has no fear of the arduous, and should not
have. I congratulate you on your youth and your splen-
did opportunity. May you have as hearty a support as
I have had and as loyal a friendship as that which has
sustained me with students, alumnae, faculty and trus-
tees ! And / was some months short of thirty eight when
I began, and entered on a work much broken and dis-
tracted by unhappy schism. You, happily, will find a
united and well-founded college. And it will be against
my very freely imparted advice if you ever have thrown
at you the statement that "Dr. Taylor did so and so"!
May your work be blessed, may your household be as
happily situated as was ours, and may you have years
336 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
many of them of greater fulness even than has been
our portion !
It is not an anticlimax to add our wish for you and
yours for a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New
Year.
Very cordially yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
A month later Doctor Taylor sent another greeting to
President MacCracken on his entering into office.
DAYTONA, FLORIDA,
Jan. 30, 1915.
MY DEAR DR. MACCRACKEN,
I have thought of you fifty times today and as many
times have determined to send you a word of greeting
and good cheer. Now the day is over, the mail is about
to leave, and my first real opportunity is here.
It is not that I have any particular word to say: I
only want you to know I am thinking of you, as you
have met the alumnae today, as you will go into the office
Monday morning, and from the bottom of my heart
am sending you my "God bless you !"
One year ago this morning I left Vassar, and one year
tomorrow, Sunday, ceased to be president. I am sure
I was right; I have never doubted it one moment. But
I have been anxious as the college has gone on so long
without a head. Now I am glad it has one, and I am
wishing with all my heart that your paths may be pleas-
antness and peace. Power to your arm, Patience to your
spirit, Courage to your heart! Time will do the rest
for you. It is no easy task you have, but it has the prom-
ise of a great reward, far greater than most such posi-
tions really yield to men. May you reap all that it can
possibly give you!
We unite in greetings and good wishes to your wife.
May the home also be blessed in what I pray may be
many years of happy service! Do not feel called upon
VACATION DAYS AND HAPPY RETURNS 337
to answer this : you are, I know, very busy. It is just a
word of cheer to you.
Sincerely yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
The last part of the winter was spent in Florida and
again the letters tell the story of happy days outdoors
with golden leisure, old books, old friends.
To Mr. Charles M. Pratt.
DAYTONA, FLORIDA,
Feb. 5, 1915.
DEAR FRIEND,
I have in mind to send you a book I have just finished,
by Prof. Bacon of Yale. You may not care for it, but
I think the chapter on Eliot's "new religion," entitled
"Nineteenth Century*' &c. will interest you anyway.
Bacon accepts a quite extreme view of the age of the
documents, but it will interest you to see how with
even the little he has left of contemporary documents
he constructs a picture of Jesus sufficient to sustain the
Faith. Personally I, no scholar, but a reader of these
things for many years, incline to believe these critics too
cocksure of themselves in their criticism of documents
so old. They can tell too surely how one verse is con-
temporary and the next a century later, &c., &c. But it
is something to have the essentials left to us ! The book
has very much of interest for us. I deserve no thanks
for sending it, and it lays no obligation on you to read
it, for I buy and scatter now, as I go along. I have
no place for books, but I must have them for a while !
I have enjoyed some reading in our between three and
four weeks here, this book I send, Ross's book on Im-
migration, which I am nearly through and find very in-
structive and suggestive, Kinglake's old, old book,
Eothen, which I have read over for eastern travel in the
forties, two or three things on the war ( I've written some,
too!), pamphlets, reports, &c., and, just to give me
338 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
pleasure while waiting for breakfast, the second book of
the ^Eneid. It has been a delight, and the fall of Troy
is almost as real as the sack of Lou vain. And I am read-
ing Julius Caesar again (the play) with joy and fresh
appreciation. But my chief time has gone into writing.
My work of the past few months has been boiled down
and worked into shape, not final, but material for an
address or essay (which may never see light). It has
been good to do it and I feel on much sounder ground
than heretofore, regarding the making of our Constitu-
tion. The fathers knew something. Most fathers do!
though it sometimes takes their children a century to dis-
cover it!
I have made a rough sketch for a speech at our Fif-
tieth, on the contributions of Vassar to Educational
theory, or something of that sort. And I have sketched
quite fully a chapter for a little volume "To Japan,"
which chapter I am asked to write and may never send !
This is a good deal about me, but I want you to know
what I'm at. I insisted on a month here so that I could
get something done.
Of course we have walked and driven and loafed, and
enjoyed ourselves every day. One all-day excursion we
made on a boat up one of the little tributaries of the
Halifax. Daytona is a long city on the river, one fine
street, shores and an esplanade, along the water, and two
more fine avenues parallel, and streets running across
these to the river, abounding in trees, with hanging
moss; the avenue we are on is one of the loveliest
I ever saw. Bridges cross the river, near a mile, and
half a mile further is the wonderful beach of twenty
five miles, a great drive or walk. Of course we often
walk over and along the sea. We have been happily
well. . . .
We plan to take a motor boat that runs once a week
to Palm Beach, putting up nights at hotels. It is a three
days trip down this shallow river and we think it will
be "fun." We must see Palm Beach, since we are here,
VACATION DAYS AND HAPPY RETURNS 339
and Miami. . f . A few days will do. ... Then we
hope to work up, via the river from Sanford, to Man-
darin and visit our relatives for a time. . . .
Are you well and content and fairly free in mind?
I hope so. You should be, now. May the lovely valley
and the perfect house bring peace to your soul, and the
roses give you their bloom ! Our love to you and your
dear wife, always. Faithfully yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
The following letter was written from Mandarin,
where many years before Mrs. Taylor's father and an
interesting circle of friends, among them Harriet Beecher
Stowe, had made their winter homes. The cottage
stands on the banks of the St. John's River, the orange
groves behind it, the great live oaks around it, and from
the porch, fragrant with climbing roses and jasmine, one
looks down across the garden to the blue river, to the
cypress trees standing with their grotesque roots in the
water, to the cattle wading along the shore, the occasional
boat, the flying cranes and ducks. In this country of live
oaks, trailing moss, and orange groves, Doctor Taylor
enjoyed the leisure of the spring.
To Miss E. H. Haight.
HUNTINGTON COTTAGE,
MANDARIN, FLA.,
March 4, 1915.
... It is charming here, a beautiful little spot on the
river bank, and the nicest people. . . . The voyage down
was great fun, Palm Beach is beautiful and most enjoy-
able, and though the vanities are there so is much else,
beside the great ocean to see and to bathe in! It is
really a charming spot. And Miami, if one is down by
the great bay, is very fine. It was really warm there,
and it was a constant reminder of Honolulu with its
340 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
fruits, vines, shrubs, and flowering trees. Both of these
places are well worth visiting. At St. Augustine, as we
came north, we had a nice visit and drive with Mrs.
Kendrick. We were there two days only, our oldest,
and here and there quaintest city, interesting, but to me
not as attractive for a stay as the other places we have
visited. At all the others the ocean counts for so much
more. . . .
Doctor Taylor had accepted invitations to make two
speeches in May, one at Williams College, for the pres-
entation of a portrait of Mr. Frederick F. Thompson,
a generous benefactor of both Williams and Vassar, the
other at Vassar on the dedication of Taylor Hall.
The following references are to these speeches.
To Miss E. H. Haight.
MANDARIN, FLA.,
March 27.
You would have enjoyed such a day as this now end-
ing, not a usual one even here, reading a while, writ-
ing an hour or two on my Williamstown speech, then a
walk with my wife of two and a half miles to a lovely
spot on the river, among great trees, where the others
joined us (in a wagon) for a picnic, another trip to
a beautiful point beyond, a longer walk home alone,
time to ... read the papers, and then supper under the
trees, next door, wonderful great oaks with hanging moss,
with four great bonfires and a splendid moon, a really
remarkable sight, weird and beautiful.
To Mr. Charles M. Pratt.
MANDARIN, FLA.,
March 3, '15.
My interest in all you say and send me of the Art
building is supreme. . . . And now I hear from the
Founder's Day Committee, telling their plans, and asking
VACATION DAYS AND HAPPY RETURNS 341
me to give a brief, historical account of the Art De-
partment and especially of Prof. Van Ingen. Of course
I cannot say nay to such a gracious request, but I would
like to say, instead, what Art means to a College Course,
and what the Pratts have done for Vassar, and how they
are the modestest-est-est (aroma of Italian Vintage!) giv-
ers that ever gave themselves in their gifts. But I sup-
pose I must do as I am told and I have said I would try
to meet their wishes if they would tell me how long they
were ! So to speak !
To his Sister, Doctor Mary T. Bissell.
MANDARIN, FLA.
We have had a very nice time here. It has been a
charming home for us, good company, good cheer, good
food, a quiet place with a few very nice people. We
came for a fortnight and have remained six weeks!
Our daily orange "debauch," about eleven A. M.,
under the trees, has kept up till now, and I have never
felt the slightest ill-consequence of indulgence from
three to six at a time.
My addresses and sermons have given me more than
a little to do, and I have read a good deal, and walked
quite a little every day, and these latter days have added
a swim in Mr. Crane's charming pool which you may
recall, with its fine setting.
To Miss E. H. Haight.
NEW YORK,
April 26, 1915.
Your letter came to me at Old Point. We were there
two days, and were persuaded to make our necessary
trip to Washington at once and return for their anniver-
sary at Hampton, Thursday and Friday. We had a
fine time and came north Saturday with the special train
which always carries an unusual party. We got here
Saturday night. . . .
I have plenty to do for the present, my Williams and
342 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
Vassar speeches to finish, then my baccalaureate, Mo-
honk Conference, and a <i>BK address for Kenyon, in
June. And I was not to talk any more ! They die hard !
For those of us who were at Vassar May 7, 1915, the
day will always have doubly poignant memories. The
ceremonies of the dedication of Taylor Hall began out-
side the building where a platform had been erected on
the east, and against the golden granite of the Gothic
hall, in mid-afternoon sunshine, architect, President and
donor did honor to Doctor Taylor.
The presentation of the keys and the speeches by
President MacCracken and Mr. Charles M. Pratt were
followed by Doctor Taylor's address on the place of art
in a liberal education and at Vassar itself. In closing
he told with deep feeling how one of his greatest dreams
was that day more than realized in the beautiful Gothic
hall into every part of which had gone the thought, taste
and "the rare concentrated interest of the most modest
of givers" and how profoundly he appreciated the honor
done him and his.
A reception in the art gallery concluded the dedicatory
exercises. In that beautiful hall of browns and golds,
where high beams support lofty ceiling, old pictures hang
against silk tapestry, and long seats invite to quiet en-
joyment of beauty, there we first heard the appalling
news that the Lusitania had been sunk without warning
by a German submarine.
Various letters of this time reflect Doctor Taylor's
opinions on this most vital subject of the war. April 3,
'15 : "How terrible the savagery of the German subma-
rines! Dernburg is smooth, Jesuitical, here for a pur-
pose, but he shows the barbarism to which the blind hate
VACATION DAYS AND HAPPY RETURNS 343
of England has driven the German leaders." Again,
July 7, '15, he wrote : "Ah ! how sound of you to go back
to the Greeks! Sanity! Sanity! The world has never
been so mad, politically, socially, economically. / am
thinking if I can get a little time, of reading over the
break-up of the Roman Empire, and the conditions of
civilization in Gaul, after the incursions, just to see how
it parallels the Hunnish invasions of today." Aug. 27,
'15: "Poor English people, just now! All-absorbed in
the awful war, grim as of old, and as of old not
ready for the fray! Heaven help them through! And
us, too! What we are coming to only Heaven knows.
Our need of 'preparedness* threatens to make us a mili-
tary people, and there is no room for lovers of peace
just now. But it does look, alas! as if we must get
ready. What an awfully changed world since I formed
my plans for a few years of peace !"
To Mrs. James B. Mennell, (Elisabeth Allen, Vassar t
' 4) - Aug. 6, '15.
I can't tell you how often we think of you in these
dreadful times, and have, since your escape from Ger-
many, about which we were long anxious. Now, worse
than ever are our anxieties for your cause and ours, as
Warsaw falls. When will the turn come as it must
come? . . . We keep thinking of you and praying for
the war to end (in the right way, of course). When
shall we ever cross in peace again ?
To Mrs. James B. Mennell. Sunday evening>
May 14, 1916.
Our sympathy goes out to you in these dark days of
constant suspense in which you must all be living. We
often think of you. Be sure that though our country
344 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
is coming to be judged rather bitterly, I fear, by both
sides to the war, there can be no question as to the real
direction of its sympathies. Our people are overwhelm-
ingly for the Allies, and the feeling for England seems
stronger to me than I remember to have noted before.
It is a hard road that a neutral must tread whose sym-
pathies are so pronounced but whose responsibilities are
so intricate and so definite. We certainly pray for the
ending of the war, but as certainly we pray that it may
end for our side which is yours. Meanwhile we wait,
glad when we can note a British victory by land or sea,
and sorry whenever misfortune follows the "Union
Jack."
To Mr. Edmund Gosse.
THE RIDGEWOOD,
DAYTONA, FLORIDA,
MY DEAR MR. GOSSE, J an - 1 7, I 9 l $-
I should be able, had you your deserts, to say "my
dear Sir Edmund"! I like that! Not having heard of
it, and knowing you have retired from the Lords, I am
ignorant of your proper title, but I am always assuring
friends that "Mister" is good enough for me! With
Gosse after it, it means more to me than you perhaps
imagine. It brings back happy hours in Florence and
Prato, and the delightful hospitality of your home, Mrs.
Gosse, and your daughter, and delightful hours over-
stayed always by the conscienceless and beguiled Taylors.
I am fulfilling an old and neglected impulse in writing
you. I meant to do it, and to tell you of our sympathy,
when the terrible war came out of an almost cloudless
sky. We had hoped to call on you, were booked to sail
August 1 3th, on our way to Italy where we were to
establish ourselves (in Rome) for two years or so. You
know I resigned on the first of February 1914, and we
went at once to California and then to Honolulu, my
baby boy, Richard, being at an army post in the latter
place. He would be a soldier, though I held him back
VACATION DAYS AND HAPPY RETURNS 345
till he had tried one year in college. He is a second
Lieutenant, married and with a baby! It is a small
thing, in the terror of what has come, to refer to one's
personal disappointment, but it has been very keen, for
all my plans of study, reading, writing, gathered about
Italy. Now I am waiting, studying in other lines, en-
joying New York till a few days since, when my wife
and daughter and I came to this sunny land of flowers to
escape the rigors of our northern winter.
There has been no doubt here as to the right in the
war. With remarkable unanimity our people have seen
through Germany's self-deception and the hypocrisies
of the war-party. Here and there I know a professor
whose sympathy with Germany has led him to blindness
to all but German claims, but in the Century Club, where
I have been much for three months, the sentiment is
all but unanimous against the German purpose and in
condemnation of Teutonic methods of carrying on war.
I have not seen our public sentiment so strongly united
since the Spanish war.
Oh! but how terrible it all is, even so far away!
And to you whose friends are at the front, already
gone beyond war's terrors, perhaps, it must be well,
I can recall our own civil war, but I was a young boy.
I want you to know our hearts are with you and we long
for your complete success.
My wife and daughter join me in greetings to Mrs.
and Miss Gosse as well as yourself. May all blessings
abide upon you, and may life give you your heart's
desire ! Faithfully yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
From Mr. Edmund Gosse.
17 HANOVER TERRACE,
REGENT'S PARK, N. W.,
MY DEAR MR. TAYLOR: March 2O > I 9 I 5-
We were very much delighted to get your kind and
loyal letter. You do not know 'how much, in this
346 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
grave and tremendous crisis, we value the sympathy of
American friends. We hear so much in the newspapers
of American "hostility" to us, that we get discouraged,
and come to believe that our oldest and nearest kinsmen
fail to understand us. But beautiful letters like yours
delightfully assure us that we still may count on hearts
beyond the Atlantic.
We often talk of those old times in Florence, in a
Golden Age that seems quite fabulous now. Shall we
ever meet in Italy again, I wonder, and what sort of a
desolated Europe will be left when all is over? Our
son got a commission in the Army as soon as the war
broke out. His mother and I have schooled ourselves
to bear with fortitude whatever God has in store for us.
The united energy of this nation is magnificent, and
there are no political and social dissensions. It is won-
derful how everybody is holding together, and what
cheerful sacrifices everybody is making for what the
undivided country believes is our righteous cause. And
there is happiness in that unity.
Thank you once more for your letter, which we ap-
preciated deeply, and do write to me soon again. We
unite in kindest messages to you all, and I am very
faithfully yours always,
EDMUND GOSSE.
In a letter to the Editor of "The New York Times"
(reprinted in "Sixty American Opinions on the War")
Jan. 23, '15, Doctor Taylor denounced Herman Bidder's
appeal "to our fellow-citizens of German descent to com-
bine for the furtherance of German ideals of power and
'culture' among Americans" as "pure alienism." In "The
Evening Post," Oct. 30, '15, in a letter on "The German
Mind and the Armenian Atrocities," signed "Humanity,"
he wrote: "It is one of the dreadful results of this
''reign of terror' 'frightfulness' do we call it? that we
VACATION DAYS AND HAPPY RETURNS 347
who have lived in Germany and loved her and her people
are coming to know that for decades the savagery of
Armenia and Belgium and the broken faith and disre-
gard of international law and comity will be associated
with the German Government." Again in the volume
"America to Japan A Symposium of Papers by Repre-
sentative Citizens of the United States on the Relations
between Japan and America and on the Common Inter-
ests of the Two Countries," he had a short essay on
"Public Opinion" in which he urged the Japanese not
to consider that the sensational journalism of certain
sectional or unbalanced papers represented the true senti-
ment of the American democracy towards the Japanese
people, and made a timely appeal for the preservation
of the international friendship between the two nations.
Doctor Taylor with many other American educators
received a copy of the famous letter sent out Aug. 31,
1914, by the Deutscher Akademischer Bund to the Uni-
versities of America, signed by Rudolf Eucken and
Ernst Haeckel, and in reply he sent to the Executive
Secretary of the League the following letter.
Mr. O. J. Merkel, Ex. Sec.
Jan. 26, 1915.
DEAR SIR,
I had determined not to reply to the circular letter of
Drs. Eucken and Haeckel, but a re-perusal of your own
letter of Dec. 26 leads me to say briefly :
ist, that I am not of those who lack "goodwill" "toward
the Germans." I have lived in Germany and have pre-
served a deep affection for its people, though not for
its war party, notwithstanding the fact that since 1871-
2, when I resided in Berlin and Munich, I have sadly seen
348 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
the growth of a touch of assumption and arrogance that
naturally grew up after the Franco-Prussian War.
2d, The circular letter of the two professors pains me,
on re-reading, as it did on its first appearance. Where
is the academic spirit, the fairness and breadth and calm
of speech one expects from the cultured teacher? Where
a scientific examination of facts? Where a familiarity
with the documents already published at the date of their
letter?
I enter on no discussion of the causes of the war,
though in the light of a careful study of the documents,
including Germany's statement which so unhappily omits
the vital communications with Austria and Russia and
substitutes dogmatic, official statements instead, I cannot
agree with these eminent professors. But when urging
England's sins against "culture" what will they now
say of the alliance with Turkey and deliberate efforts to
rouse a "holy war" against the Christians?
3d, In referring to "Japanese robbery an act of war,"
have they sufficiently remembered the unexcusable rob-
bery of that great province of China by Germany under
a flimsy assertion of injury? Have "the precious inter-
ests of Western culture" been sacrificed by the Japanese
to the extent that they had been annihilated in Belgium ?
4th, In the interests of science, history, and common
humanity and morality, I protest against the assumption
that German invasion of that neutral land was justified
by anything Germany knew or Belgium had done. The
mode of her conquest of that unhappy land even if the
proclamations of some of her own generals are alone
considered, have led many to ask if Germany's Kultur
can include policies inhumane, barbaric, and utterly re-
gardless of individual rights and sufferings. Nothing
in modern times, among civilized peoples, approaches the
tragedy of this policy of inspiring fear and creating de-
spair among those who have dared to maintain their
national rights. That such men as Professors Eucken
and Haeckel can defend this conduct fills us with sur-
VACATION DAYS AND HAPPY RETURNS 349
prise and indignation. The whole world outside of Ger-
many is mourning for Belgium and the American Univer-
sities will furnish few sympathizers with those who con-
done the crime of her destruction. I write for myself
alone as one of those addressed. I pass over other mat-
ters of dissent from the letter you sent. I am filled with
regret that written in such a spirit it is subscribed by such
honored names.
Respectfully yours,
JAMES MONROE TAYLOR,
President Emeritus Vassar College.
One can not but wish Doctor Taylor might have been
able longer to use his clear vision and able pen for the
cause of the Allies.
May and June of this year, 1915, found Doctor Taylor
in educational work, preaching the baccalaureate sermon
at Columbia University, giving a Phi Beta Kappa address
at Denison and delivering the commencement address at
Kenyon College. Summer was spent in the woods and
at Doctor Thelberg's cottage in Maine and in the fall
he returned to Vassar for the fiftieth anniversary of the
opening of the college, Oct. 10-13. It is doubtful whether
Doctor Taylor ever realized more fully what he meant to
Vassar College than during those four days when, as
President Emeritus, he was the most honored of dis-
tinguished guests. The welcome home given him the
first evening when the alumnae in their rally marched with
bright Japanese lanterns to the steps of Josselyn Hall to
serenade once more their President, was overwhelming.
In responding to their greetings, Doctor Taylor dwelt
upon what it meant to him to come back to the place
where he had done his life-work, where his children
had grown up, where his strongest ties were. Then
350 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
quickly putting aside personal feeling, he took the thought
of the college and with his fervent idealism illuminated
it for the future as he had kindled it for the past, until
he sent his audience away with renewed loyalty and de-
votion to their Alma Mater.
During the following days of the celebration, at edu-
cational meetings, informal out-door luncheon, afternoon
reception, formal dinner, dramatics, Doctor Taylor was
sought out by hundreds of friends, many of whom had
come to the college to see him once more. With his un-
failing memory for names and faces, he greeted one
after another, never seeming wearied, always interested
and happy in resuming old connections.
At the Academic Commemoration in the chapel on
October twelfth Doctor Taylor made an address on
"Vassar's Contribution to Educational Theory and
Practice," a typical noble utterance, fruit of his own
long and devoted labors for the college. "On such a
day as this," he began, "one can almost hear the roll-call
of the heroes of the faith, who through long years
watched and prayed and waited for the deliverance of
women from the shackles of tradition which bound their
minds to narrow limits and feared the dawning of a freer
day." As Vassar's contribution to the coming of that
day, Doctor Taylor cited the scope of Matthew Vassar's
plan for his great foundation; the fact that the first
trustees of Vassar, "confronting the prejudices of the
day, . . . declared that women should have here the op-
portunity of broad and liberal training, leaving the
question of its specific use for their own determination
in maturer years"; that in its first ten years, Vassar
demonstrated to the world that "a woman's college, well
VACATION DAYS AND HAPPY RETURNS 351
equipped and well officered, could maintain high col-
legiate standards, could train women intellectually as
well as their brothers were trained, and could fit them
for life, in public or private service"; that the under-
graduate college should not establish and maintain gradu-
ate work, for which it could not have adequate resources;
that the women's college, standing in loco parentis to its
students, should give them personal counsel and care as
Vassar had done ; and that to the students of the college
may well be entrusted much responsibility for its morale
and welfare, but never to the detriment of their work
should they be burdened with excessive administrative
responsibilities. Doctor Taylor's deepest beliefs about
women's education found final expression there. Those
who saw him in full vigor and voice and listened once
more to his high faith and staunch idealism little realized
that this was to be his last address at Vassar College.
CHAPTER XI
The Last Vacation and the Last
Return 1915-1916
"Others mistrust and say, 'But time escapes!
Live now or never!'
He said, 'What's time ? Leave Now for dogs and apes !
Man has Forever !' "
Browning, "The Grammarian's Funeral."
AFTER the Fiftieth Anniversary of Vassar was over,
Italy still being impossible, Doctor and Mrs. Taylor
with their daughter again set their faces westward and
after visiting their oldest son at Coeur d'Alene and the
San Francisco Exposition, they sailed for Honolulu.
The first letter on the Exposition is particularly interest-
ing in view of Doctor Taylor's lifelong interest in art
and his delight in the old masters, since it reveals a sur-
prising toleration and fair judgment of the moderns, so
repellent to many whose taste has been set by the touch-
stone of the classical schools.
To Morgan P. Taylor.
SAN FRANCISCO,
Dec. 4, 1915-
DEAR MORTIE,
The people are at the Exposition, but I am waiting to
join them till night, and it is now only noon. There is
to be a great blowout, guns, fireworks, speeches, all
you can imagine, today and tonight. I think I would
avoid it all were it not for them, for it will be a dreadful
352
THE LAST VACATION AND THE LAST RETURN 353
crowd at the last. It is to end up with a bang at mid-
night, but they say they will come back about 10 or
10:30 (?)....
M. and I have been here near a fortnight and the
ground is familiar if not more! It isn't a great show :
how could it be with the war on ? Great Britain, France,
Germany, practically Italy, out, officially, which means
that instead of an intelligent display of resources, prod-
ucts, methods, &c., you have display of goods by firms -
for sale. But Australia has done finely, though its ap-
propriation was cut in half by the war, and shows the
splendid chances, resources, products, achievements of
that great Commonwealth. Canada also has made a
fine exhibit, Argentine has many excellent displays, and
some of our own states, notably California. New York
(except for the independent city exhibit) is slim enough,
but has a great, over-ornamented, extravagant expensive
building, with a good restaurant ! . . .
The general aspect of the Exposition is fine, attractive
and beautiful. The setting of the fine arts building is
especially so. When the lights are on at night and the
vari-colored flash-lights are played over the scene, and
fire-works of unusual beauty are exploding, the place is
really very interesting.
Your mother, who to our joy came to us Wednesday
evening, and M. will give you their general impressions.
I will say a few things about art, as I see it here, and
your friends whom I have looked up. You'd think from
much you read that it is a great exhibition. It isn't, I
think, though having so much that is excellent. E. g.
such an exhibition should have shown American Art in
its progressive periods, arranged historically, as was
so splendidly done at Paris for France, in 1900. But
the effort, though made, is badly and confusedly and
very incompletely worked out. I doubt if anyone would
recognize an effort, even, unless he were looking for it,
as I was. They have done much in grouping artists, a
whole room e.g. to Chase, to Sargent (small), to Mel-
354 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
chers, to Childe Hassam, &c. but the omissions are
quite remarkable, too, and one asks on what basis the
juries were formed and acted. Certainly the new paint-
ers and the futurists, and the cubists, have had full recog-
nition. A great room is given to the Italian fakirs (I
must cut you out some titles from my catalogue), a dis-
grace really to an art committee, misleading the unwary
and unaccustomed public. You should have heard one
lecturer explain to an audience of credulous women the
merits of a Hungarian futurist portrait, cut off at angles
(i.e., the head) (Reminded me, at magnificent distances
of the way they cut off the Naples Psyche, the
beauty!) . . .
I have been watching the merits of the new technique
of painting in comparison with the old, and more and
more, while I recognize a Master in any method, I am
persuaded that the joy of art is enhanced by finish,
enough at least to allow you to see a picture within rea-
sonable range. I have seen no modern man, whatever
his skill with the trowel, produce a more brilliant, spark-
ling, deep effect than Homer Martin has in an amaz-
ingly beautiful painting of Saranac, and you can see it
nearby without crossing the room. The "Grand Prize"
is awarded to Frieseke, for a picture called "Sum-
mer," a nude woman reclining in an orchard, corals
and rings on neck and fingers, a clothed sitting woman
near her holding a parasol, the leaves or fruit (I really
don't know which, and it may not be an orchard; per-
haps it's a crazy quilt!) reflecting on her in the sunshine.
She has an unattractive greenish unhealthy flesh-tint,
pale, no life or ruddiness or living color. She needs
distance, as such a nude should, unlike the cubist nude,
dynamism of, Form : Color, Italian, who would not ex-*
cite remark in a pure monk.
I hunted up four fine Dougherty marines, Lawson's
three (one a gold medal), excellent, May Preston's
bright sketches, James P.'s etchings (Paris) (only four,
missed some two sold!), Henri's strong work, six at
THE LAST VACATION AND THE LAST RETURN 355
least (his old men and women and his dark figures are
much more interesting to me than his bold naked "Odal-
isque" . . . against a blue background), Rudie Dirks
(four in one room, of which I think the "old Dutch-
man" got a medal, best of all of them, to me, all and
another I found yesterday, more markedly, suffering
from the modern mode so that I found it difficult to
really see what the last, especially, was all about though
a pleasing assemblage of color), Glackens "Chez Mou-
quin" a rather more finished Mouquin than I know but of
course interesting to us, then his whole family circle (is
there a second sister to his wife, and a young boy?),
a large strongly painted piece, then a Nude with an
apple (so homely a picture in form and color-tone as to
make you wonder why he didn't dress her). Chase has
a number of fine portraits and other scenes (only two
of fish!), Cecilia Beaux several fine portraits, Sargent
a splendid John Hay, also Henry James, and a dozen
general pictures. But enough: you don't want a cata-
logue. . . .
Sunday a. m.
. . . We were there till 10:30, the bang was at 12.
We were through the crowds of the Joy-Zone in a motor-
train by night, for your mother's sake, hunted the whole
Fair for a morsel of supper, dragged persistent Aunt S.
through masses, thousands and thousands of people, saw
the fine fireworks, and when we got back here and it
was all over, / was profoundly grateful. . . .
Your loving
FATHER.
To Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Pratt.
CORONADO BEACH, CALIFORNIA,
MY DEAR FRIENDS, Dec * IJ > *9 1 S' 8 P- m '
For a long time I have meant to write you but since
we reached San Francisco our time has been quite full.
We were with Hunt in Cceur D'Alene for a week, a
beautiful situation, a busy man with his responsibili-
356 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
ties, building a large mill and organizing his forces to
operate it. ...
It certainly was not a great exposition, though in its
buildings and setting and planting it was most attractive
day and night, and we saw it thoroughly both night and
day.
We came away, gladly, Tuesday night and were here
Wednesday night. I am sure you know this place and
its great charm. The court of this house reminds us of
our Palermo hotel, and we love the views of the sea,
and Point Loma, and the great distant mountains of
Mexico.
We have had a good part of one day at the little
San Diego Exposition. How exquisite the planting
and how wonderful the resources of Southern California !
And away out here, near the Mexican border, I saw and
heard this afternoon, Forbes Robertson in Hamlet! I
had never had the chance and could not forego it, and
great is my reward! Meanwhile my wife and M. did
a little Christmas shopping, for we shall be far away
at Christmas and what we do must be done at once.
We sail from San Pedro (Los Angeles) on Friday,
1 7th. We had expected to take the ship at San Fran-
cisco, but the saving of a day of coasting appealed to
us and the need of spending a week or more somewhere,
waiting, combined to lead us into this rather extravagant
trip.
We leave here early Monday for Redlands, to spend
two days with the Smiley s before we sail. . . .
Our love to you, with best wishes for a Merry Christ-
mas, and a very Happy New Year, free from anxiety
and special pressure !
Faithfully Yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
Christmas at an army post, twenty miles from Hono-
lulu (with Lieutenant Richard Taylor and family) is de-
scribed in the next letter.
THE LAST VACATION AND THE LAST RETURN 357
To his Sister, Doctor Mary T. Bissell.
SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, HONOLULU,
Dec. 25, 1915.
DEAR M.,
It is getting late to wish you a Merry Christmas,
2 130 p. m. and late evening now with you. Yet we have
wished it, and our Christmas has been the jollier for your
cards and rhymes and presents. The children met us at
our steamer Thursday a. m. (23d), and brought us out
here at once. We had determined not to come, but to
rest a day at a good hotel, then to have this festive day
here, but they had planned it so and were so determined
that it wouldn't "be Christmas at all" unless we were
here for the Eve and the tree-trimming, &c., that we
came at once. We drove into the city yesterday to finish
up our Christmas shopping and have luncheon (as in old
time, a la Smith Bros. "on the old man"), and drove
back in a rain. It eventuated in a tremendous tropical
downpour in the night and most of today, so far, with
some thunder and lightning, uncommon here, but we
have been merry within though no bands have been
playing and it has been "as quiet as the country." We
had the tree trimmed and the greens up before we went
to bed and the presents soon after breakfast. Of course
"little Mary" was the center of attention, and she was
very cunning and intelligent. She found her things and
pulled them out from the tree and was absorbed in each
in turn, till a nice doll came to her. It was fun to
watch her: she couldn't be separated from the doll she
hugged and dragged about, whatever else arrested her
interest. But she was absorbed in everything and wild in
her fun. . . .
You can easily picture the whole scene within, but
perhaps not so readily the little shack with outlook over
plain and mountains, and military post, simple in con-
struction as an Adirondack Camp, but burlapped within,
and comfortably furnished. My room is the servants'
358 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
room (unused by one as yet), rough boards and quite
susceptible to such a storm as this.
We went to luncheon at the Company's Quarters,
with the Captain, first Lieut, wife and child, 2d Lieut,
ditto. The hall was set for the company (150) but we
officers ate and cleared out before the men came, an
excellent dinner, where we had to refrain from in-
dulgence because we have our dinner tonight. We came
back in a car and it is too stormy to try out-of-
doors. . . .
Our trip was as fair a one as one could ask, though
the ship was light and rolled a great deal. . . . We were
out five nights, four days, when we arrived at Hilo.
We had a nice two or three hours there and then drove
to the Volcano. It was very active and we could appre-
ciate much better than before the descriptions of the
lake of fire, as we watched the fiery outbursts of lava
and the breaking of the liquid waves of flame against the
lava shore. It was an amazingly impressive sight. Then
we dined up there and drove down some thirty five miles
in alternate moonshine and shower and were at the ship
soon after ten p. m. A quiet night, and at ten a. m.
we were in Honolulu. . . .
More when I get settled and down to work. We hope
for a really delightful winter. . . .
Much love,
Yours
JAMES.
Life in Honolulu is clearly sketched in several delight-
ful and leisurely letters.
To Miss E. H. Haight.
1641 NUUANU AVE.,
HONOLULU,
Jan. 5, 1916.
Just as I was about to begin this letter, and wonder-
ing where I would begin, Matsumato came to my study
THE LAST VACATION AND THE LAST RETURN 359
door and remarked, "Mrs. Taylor order meat for stew
curry no come late," &c., &c. and suggested a few
onions, too! I have just telephoned C. Q. Zee Hop and
Co. and asked them to hurry it up. May and Co. ( Eng-
lish firm) I find have sent the groceries. My wife is
out with M. :md D. and M. and cunning little Mary,
and Matsumaio and his wife Shiyo (Shee-yo) are sup-
posed to be on deck. Yet once I have been to the door
(no one else went) and found an agent for pictures there !
Short course, little time wasted ! But so do the ends of
the world meet here. A Chinaman brings the vegetables,
a Hawaiian the ice, and within a short radius the peoples
of the world are speaking in their own tongues (not,
I fear, "the manifold works of God").
All this means that we are on our third day of
housekeeping. My wife wanted to take a house and
we have found one of moderate rent, pretty well fur-
nished, great piazzas (lanais), which are the essential
thing, large and comfortable rooms, a look toward the
great mountains, and a wind down from them which is
said to make this a cool neighborhood. It is an ex-
periment, but we hope less costly and more comfortable
than a hotel. It is in itself a really delightful house.
I hope to get down to some work now : I am very
impatient over the obstacles that have kept me so long
from it, but one can't get out notes and write on im-
portant questions as one travels from hotel to hotel.
If I were original, now, and found it worth while to
write "out of my own head," the case might be different.
I surely have enough to do! I think by tomorrow I can
begin. This morning it was too late and beside I
wanted to answer some of these neglected letters by
today's steamer if I could. It is odd to depend thus on
boats, a transport and a Japanese boat today, an Ameri-
can yesterday, perhaps not another for several days to
come. . . .
Your letters have been very interesting to us and
most welcome. Your gossip amuses me, the Kennedys,
360 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
Slabsides all interesting, and now in the letter just re-
ceived, (New York, Dec. 23 Honolulu Jan. 3) the
blizzard. . . . And thank you for the charming pictures
of the storm. It does bring back '88, but we were all
in one building then, every soul of us, for we had
gathered in Miss Whitney from the Observatory the night
before. And we opened the big kitchen and turned
the college loose there at night, to make candy, while
the storm drove on! Oh! but these pictures are
lovely! . . .
Well, Zee Hop is a deceiver. Matsumato shows me
some meat he had cooking away, but he and Shiyo and
I laugh, and I say "All right," and think of D.'s appe-
tite! But it's too late for anything else now. If only
I had a monkey to throw down two or three of those ripe
cocoanuts from my trees! But I haven't and they are
too high for us. That's a mystery I have yet to solve!
Plenty of them on the place, and a bridge over a stream
a la Japonaise ! and tropical growths that would do your
heart good. And such a sweet cool breeze from our
mountains. . . . Sincerely yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
To his Sister, Doctor Mary T. Bissell.
1641 NUUANU AVE.,
HONOLULU,
Jan. n, '16.
DEAR M.,
There is a steamer tomorrow, the first in several days,
and I have intended to have a letter ready for you on
it. But last night, when I was to write, I went off to
an entertainment, a man's Social Science Club, where
we had a scholarly and interesting paper on the prayers
(incantations) of the Kahunas, the priests who super-
intend these efforts as I understand it, and these spe-
cific prayers are for the death of some undesirable friend
or foe! And refreshments, of course, a number of
fine men. Then this morning I sat down to work, writ-
THE LAST VACATION AND THE LAST RETURN 361
ing and reading, till D. came in, with M. and cunning
little Mary, and his first lieutenant and wife and five
weeks' baby, all to luncheon! And now the children
have gone shopping and Mrs. Hay and her baby are
asleep, and K. has little Mary for a nap, and here's my
one chance ! . . .
We have joined the Country Club, a lovely spot above
us, by trolley, have a card at the library, and I have one
at the University Club, and we are in the church, so
you see we feel settled. So far we have been little with
the army, but I believe we go out to Gen. Strong's re-
ception and a dance, this week. Gen. and Mrs. S. are
old friends from Fort Monroe days.
I try to work every morning, and we are all living
a quite normal life, one week, and one day of it! ...
To Mr. Alonzo K. Parker.
1641 NUUANU AVE.,
HONOLULU, H. I.,
Jan. 1 6, '16.
I have begun to write, at last, and to read a little, but
not yet much of a really literary sort, as I always mean
to, no Latin, of late, precious little poetry. I am ex-
panding my address on the Fears of the Fathers into
what may turn out a book though no one will read
it, not as many as have read my Vassar books! Per-
haps it will never see print, anyway, but it is amusing
me and perhaps clarifying my views on some current
issues. It occupies much of my morning, it and col-
lateral reading. Of course I have registered at our public
library. . . .
To his Sister, Doctor Mary T. Bissell.
1641 NUUANU AVE.,
HONOLULU,
DEAR M., . . . Feb - ?> 1916.
K. and M. have gone to the opera, Thais. As I went
to La Boheme Saturday night I thought I couldn't go so
362 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
soon again. We have a De Folco troup here, really
quite good, though an orchestra of a dozen pieces looks
odd enough to a New Yorker, and a ballet of three
couples, remarkably good! But they've had all sorts
of troubles, legal attachments, &c., and at last people
are trying to help them out. Two or three of them
are excellent singers. I have seen Faust, with the family,
and K. and M. have seen one or two others. The chil-
dren have been with us, two Saturday nights, and be-
side have had two operas Sunday nights at Schofield.
We went down, we three, one night, and found everything
closed up, a sudden seizure of costumes, box office
funds, &c. ! They've been gone an hour so I think they
are holding forth tonight!
All is going smoothly with us, to date. We are re-
newing a few friendships, making a few new friends,
entertaining little, so far, save the children who come
in Saturday p. m. for twenty-four hours. The baby is
a cunning little thing, quick as can be, intelligent, full of
fun, and every week now develops some new trick of man-
ner. She is making a few noises that sound like words,
and I am sure she will talk soon. She delights in our
great rooms and "careers" about them to her delight.
She brings a good deal of variety to us. . . .
We were at a dinner party a week ago, and have a
luncheon engagement tomorrow, and today made calls,
including a little "tea," and for variety I have ad-
dressed the college girls club, and am to speak at the
church this week, one of a series of talks, on the
Stoics. But we are generally quiet and are at home a
great deal, including evenings. I have read a good deal,
lives of Jefferson, Marshall, Hamilton, Jackson, Cal-
houn, while I have been relieving my arm from the
strain of writing, but my "rheumatism" is about gone
and this morning I resumed my writing. I want to
finish a first draft, at least, while I am here, and easily
can if we keep well. K. and M. want us to go on to
Japan but I am not much disposed to, especially in these
THE LAST VACATION AND THE LAST RETURN
war times. The sea doesn't seem a desirable place, espe-
cially when the ships aren't neutral.
For recreation we walk, take the street cars to the
Country Club, where the view of mountains and sea is
glorious (an easy half hour walk back), or go out to the
beach and swim. K. and I took a good walk Saturday
up Punchbowl, the extinct volcano just behind the town
and on which we look out, quite near, from our side
porch or windows. One sees the whole town, harbor,
and the ocean and all the valleys on this side of the
island, a really striking view and very interesting. Sun-
day afternoons we generally have an hour or more of
riding with D., in his little car and so see much of this
end of our island. . . .
To Mr. Charles M. Pratt.
1641 NUUANU AVE.,
HONOLULU,
MY DEAR FRIEND, Feb - I2 X 9 l6
No mail will leave here till the 1 5th: that must be
why I've written I2th when it is only the night of the
nth! But we are planning an outing tomorrow and
Sunday, at D.'s suggestion, and I may not get the time
for a letter to you which I wish to have go next Tues-
day. Not that I have anything specific in mind ! I only
want you to keep knowing that our hearts are with
you all the time. What was that old poem the Brooklyn
School Board elided years ago from your curriculum,
"our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee" ? That isn't
exactly it, but it was just as "improper" as that ! ! . . .
No, this isn't Venice, but it is a fine place for a little
while, and full of fine people. I wish you could come
over, but I suppose rest and your own fig-tree (we have
fig-trees, but I haven't found figs yet) are more desir-
able than further journeying. If, however, you repent
and come with the Hadleys be sure of a welcome to our
seven foot four poster. We are quite excited about the
Hadleys and are getting a fresh blue on all our Yale
364 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
colors. I said to a Yale man that I heard there was a
possibility. "But he is coming" was the answer. There
will be great doings. Yale will try hard to show Harvard
what's what! And as a Yale D.D., I shall be on deck!
What a thing college is! I went down today to see
a few friends off for Japan, Dr. and Mrs. Francis Clark
(Christian Endeavor founder) and N. W. Harris, the
banker (Chicago) and his son, a professor at North-
western, himself of Yale. I met one of our girls, from
North Dakota, whom I met in the sea a few days ago,
and she told me another one, from Kansas City was on
the ship en route to Japan, so we looked her up, and
had a little jubilation. ... I think we have six of our
girls in town at this minute.
We are enjoying our experiment, so far. Matsumato
is capable, and a month has shown us we can do it all
without any extravagance, and for far less than we
could live at a first rate hotel. The children come
in for Saturday nights and till Sunday about 5. The
baby is as "cute" as can be, bright and quick and jolly,
and enjoys everything and misses nothing.
We plan a trip tomorrow and Sunday, luncheon at
the north end of the island, to which my wife and I
make a wonderful railway journey. Thence we go by
auto twenty miles or more to a little hotel near the sea
and in the mountains, by some wonderful scenery and
some old Hawaiian houses we are told. The family
wants a change!
I am quite content with my routine, working mornings,
then loafing, walking, occasionally swimming. We break
our habits for an occasional luncheon or dinner, and I
have even made a speech or two.
To Miss E. H. Haight.
1641 NUUANU AVE.,
HONOLULU, Feb. 18, 1916.
This paper! They tell me they haven't any writing
paper, just as I sit down to get off a letter to you by the
THE LAST VACATION AND THE LAST RETURN 305
next ship, the 23d ! And this is my book, or essay, or
wliat-not stuff. I could fold it like a nice lady-like sheet,
but I am accustomed to this shape, mornings. It is night
now, full moon, magnificent soft light over the moun-
tains we see from our side porch and over our lawn,
shimmering among our palms and mangoes and pome-
granates. It all reminds me of your wish that our house
were nearer, and these lovely porches, but if you were
nearer, here indeed, wouldn't that meet the wish as well ?
And we wish that, as we sit here about our great lamp
a shame when the moon is so magnificent ! But it is after
nine and one mustn't idle all the evening, even here, es-
pecially if one wishes to get more letters!
Your letter of the 25th January, was most "welcome"
(that is a phrase, or word, I always balk at, and yet a-
sume to be good English!), and its delightful gossip
cheered the family and we laugh yet over some of it.
. . . But keep on giving us the fun ! However your let-
ter brought the sad side of the illnesses, of which we've
thought with great sympathy, as well as the jolly side
of your guests (like Mr. Taft, and his cruel unfeeling
girl interviewers.) Would one believe it? What hard
hearted things girls can be! ...
How do I dare write another book? Perhaps I
daren't. But I have over eighty of these pages written
and am on my last "lap," enough for a small volume,
125 to 150 pp. I have been hindered and wrote nothing
for near a fortnight because of an aching arm, rheu-
matic, I think. But I read hard, biographies of states-
men, a few Hawaiian books, a novel, magazines and re-
views galore. Now that I am writing mornings I am
reading less, but have been through most of Faust,
in German of course. Singularly, I haven't got back to
my Latin : perhaps an ode of Horace, no more. But
I shall: my ideals of reading for a retired man I have
not even yet approached : I mean to enjoy literature, art,
&c, as I know how to. Somehow, though, I have felt
impelled to write, very unexpectedly, and this winter
366 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
about all my reading has gone into it. But "there's a
hull day yet that ain't bin teched."
We were all "off" last Sunday, went Saturday to a
little place on the coast, like one of our better old Adiron-
dack inns. In the evening we were about the only white
people at a crowded "Chinese School House," filled with
Hawaiians, and we heard singing and playing (N. B.
for a Hawaiian audience ! ) , then saw a tableau, or page-
ant, representing old royalty and the approach to it of
various petitioners of differing ranks, and the famous
and questionable old Hawaiian dance. And we learned
it was for the benefit of their Mormon settlement!
And such a tramp, wet and hard, up the valley,
Sacred Valley and falls, with sheer walls stretching to
heaven, up which climb all the way most wondrous ferns.
I mustn't stop to tell you why "sacred," but they say
the people are even yet superstitious about it and use
certain old signs and offerings when they go up.
The children and their very cunning baby girl are to
be with us a week now for the great carnival. The
town is to be full of tourists : hundreds arrive in a few
days. Military parade, Hawaiian -scenes, balls, fire-
works, Japanese lantern parades, &c., &c., &c.
People pass through, Prof Jenks I met en route to
Japan, Prof Harris, of Northwestern, also. Plenty
to see and do, abundance of social life, lovely weather,
a beautiful fairy isle, and an environment as foreign
as the orient. Our love to you all.
Sincerely yours,
J. M. TAYLOR.
To Miss E. H. Haight. HONOLULU,
March 20, 1916.
... I have written and written, finished a draft of
my "book," written thirty pages on the Campus, your
old suggestion, why it is what it is, a sketch of a his-
tory, and an article apropos of General Chittenden's
"Manifest Destiny" (January Atlantic), a contribution
THE LAST VACATION AND THE LAST RETURN :i07
to a monthly paper here, "the oldest newspaper west of
the Rockies." It will appear in April. Of course you
will have to read it. I have really kept busy, working a
good part of every day. A few days ago I found in
the Oahu College Library, Zimmern's Greek Common-
wealth, a book I have wanted all winter and never went
up there to look for it! I am engrossed in it. What
fine scholarship, and how admirably handled ! I have also
begun Miss Ellery's Brissot and read a quarter of it.
And Stevenson ! I have renewed my youth with his In-
land Voyage, and Travels with a Donkey. It was a great
test of old views, as I read much of the former sitting
up all night with a tooth-ache, and it bore the test!
And have I told you of my recent reading of Faust, and
of Davidson's Philosophy of Faust? Have you seen
the recent Atlantic article on "The Forsaken God"?
Apt true as much as it is, I sympathize with a reaction
against Goethe, and Faust ddes not find me in any as-
pect, as it "found" our fathers. I opine that the fine
spun philosophic study of it in German classes is over-
done, and that the time would be better spent on more
objective literature where the temptation is less than
here to interpret the universe into it. . . .
Several of the letters have referred to Doctor Taylor's
work on the manuscript "The Fears of the Fathers," an
expansion of the Phi Beta Kappa Oration delivered at
Kenyon College the preceding June. This was finished
finally in March and sent to his son, with a letter which
outlines the plan and states the object of the book.
To Morgan P. Taylor.
1641 NUUANU AVE.,
HONOLULU,
DEAR MORTIE, March 2 *> T 9 l6 '
This is a business letter, so you need not stop your
work to read it : put it aside till lunch-time. It concerns
368 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
my manuscript. ... It is on "The Fears of the Fathers :
How far Justified," or "The Foresight of the Fathers/'
or "What the Fathers feared for the Republic." I
rather like the last, but the first expresses what I am
after. (You know I used the outline as a Phi Beta Kappa
address at Kenyon College and was urged to print it.)
There is a good introduction on the Constitution, the men
who made it, the praise of it till now and the recent criti-
cism and muckraking. Then, referring only to the va-
riety of minor fears that were current, I take up four
principal and vital ones;
I, The fear for the States, and the correlative fear for the
Union ;
II, The fear of usurpation of powers, presidential, sen-
ate, house, judiciary;
III, The fear of Militarism ("Preparedness") ;
IV, The fear of the people themselves, democracy it-
self.
You see these are all "live issues." States-rights and
Centralization are under I, the presidential ambition and
second term under II, III is a present issue, and IV
discusses representative as against direct democracy, with
all the threat the latter holds for us today.
But my method is what I "bank" on. Others have
discussed the issues today, but I know no book that has
gone back and asked, first, What were the fathers afraid
of when they put into the constitution the limitations
they formulated? I have not only given the opinions
of the "Convention" but also of the outside critics,
and of the State conventions, and then I have asked,
"Were they right" ? and have shown how they were. . . .
It is most unfortunate that a piece of work as scholarly
and interesting as this manuscript from Doctor Taylor's
pen could not have been published before we entered the
war. "The Fears of the Fathers" had a definite message,
THE LAST VACATION AND THE LAST RETURN 369
and the value of its historical background remains un-
changed. But in the light of the rapidly moving events
of the Great War, his opinions like those of the rest of
the world would necessarily have been so modified as to
make him unwilling that the manuscript should be pub-
lished in its present form.
To Miss E. H. Haight.
HONOLULU, Ap. 18, 1916.
. . . We've lived very steadily and dissipated very lit-
tle. I kept up my work vigorously till April 1st. Since
then I've been out more in the morning, and have been
looking up some social and political problems here and
making some notes. I've written a little, a review of
Wake Up, America, a letter to the morning paper on
a social issue, one rather agrarian, I may say, and
I'm writing a review of Japanese Expansion and Ameri-
can Problems, by Prof. Abbott. And I preached Sun-
day ! I think my article on "Manifest Destiny" will come
out this week in The Friend. What I wrote on the Vas-
sar Campus ('86-' 14), at your suggestion they will take,
probably two articles, in the Quarterly. . . .
Did I tell you I'd read Brissot, a capital and schol-
arly bit of work, and Plutarch's Pericles, and now
Thucydides (what a book that 7th is, on the Syracuse
campaign! Those awful quarries!), and Japanese Prob-
lems? And Owen Wister's Pentecostal Calamity, and
Wake Up, America. But other things have come into
life, a great drive around the island, and excursion to
the "coral gardens," where you look down into the sea,
at corals and at the wonderful fish. And such a delightful
family luncheon on the ocean shore !
Then we of course are semi-military and must go to the
great review at Schofield, and have more or less of the
social side of its life. And we also entertain ! .
370 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
To Mr. Alonzo K. Parker.
SAN FRANCISCO,
May 10, 1916.
DEAR LON, 9 p ' m '
I meant to write you from Honolulu before I sailed
but I didn't. We left there May 3d and got in yester-
day morning and are "resting up" before starting out
again. . . . We've decided to go to Monterey, to the
Del Monte, on Friday and stay till Wednesday, I7th.
Then we'll go to Seattle for Sunday the 2ist, and take
time to look about Puget Sound a while, and then go to
Hunt's Cceur d'Alene, Idaho. I think we should get
there about the 25th. After a week or ten days we will
go on to New York, and see you en route for a few hours,
if you are in C. We go via Ogden and Denver and
Council Bluffs. Let us know, at Hunt's, if you mean
to stay on in C. after June 1st.
We have had a most satisfactory and happy winter,
to the very end, and have seen so much of our children
in our home that we have had a good "family time."
Little Mary has been a joy. I had a "wireless" (odious
word!) from Rhees, 1 telling me I was the choice of the
Com. for alumni orator this year, but it was too late,
and I will not bind myself to go east till I wish to. ...
I have just telegraphed my refusal to make the final
address at a school now closing-up, which has been one
of our best friends, but I am not going to be bound
this year for anything till K. P.'s wedding day. We
mean to be in New York about June loth, "more or less" !
Faithfully yours,
JAMES.
It was in Seattle that Doctor Taylor became suddenly
ill so that his trip eastward was delayed for several weeks.
His mind kept turning toward Vassar, and two letters
show how warmly he thought of alumnae and colleagues.
1 Rush Rhees, President of the University of Rochester.
THE LAST VACATION AND THE LAST RETURN 371
To Mrs. Margaret Jackson Allen.
SPOKANE,
June 21, 1916.
MY DEAR MRS. ALLEN,
If you only knew how your telegram for 1901 warmed
my heart and has cheered me since it came! But you
could not guess where it found me !
I had just had an operation in the hospital at Seattle,
and had urged my doctor, who was going east, to take
me to Spokane that we might be near my son. So we
came on here, by ambulance, "shutter," car-window and
sleeper, and reached here Sunday morning, June 4. Here
your telegram was brought to me and ever since I have
meant to tell you how it cheered me. But I haven't
taken up my pen much (I am still in the hospital, but
have hope that I may go to the hotel tomorrow and soon
be out of my good doctor's hands) and have indulged
my lazy weakness.
It was so good of you to miss me! How I wish I
could be there at some reunion of your class and tell
you in person how your friendship has cheered me and
your loyalty sustained me. I am glad to be missed!
But no one is happier than I am in all that denotes prog-
ress and prosperity for Vassar! She is more than all
of us.
Thanking you and sending my choicest greetings to
you all,
I am faithfully yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
To Professor Emeritus Le Roy C. Cooley.
THE DAVENPORT, SPOKANE,
June 25, 1916.
DEAR DR. COOLEY,
A letter came to me the other day which told me you
were not well and were in bed. At once I thought I would
send you a word of fellowship and affection but I didn't.
I have been ill myself, indeed since May 16, an in fee-
372 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
tion and blood-poisoning that led at last to an operation
on June 1st, in Seattle, and a hospital experience of
three weeks, most of it here. I was released on the 22d,
but am still waiting for the doctor to release me. Then
we go to Hunt's at Cceur d'Alene, about thirty miles
away, for a short visit before we start east. Of course
we meant to have been there long ago. We are all well,
and my strength is increasing every day.
I am thinking of you, my dear friend, and of the
strong, admirable, highly useful life you have impressed
on generations of youth. I am thinking, too, of the
tower of strength you have been to the administrations
in which you have shared, of your precious friendship
and counsel, of your steady balance and wisdom. You
have deserved the absolutely high regard you have had
from all your colleagues. And I think, too, of your
service as a citizen, and in the church, and I "rise up"
and "call you blessed." On your sick bed though I hope
you have risen from it refreshed and strong again you
have a right to be cheered by the thought that our Heav-
enly Father has vouchsafed to you the great privilege
of such a service and such honor from your fellows.
But my note is one of cheer and affection from a long-
time friend and co-worker. God bless you, and cheer
you and keep you!
My kindest remembrances to Mrs. Cooley, and to any
of the children who are with you.
Affectionately yours,
JAMES M. TAYLOR.
Doctor Taylor was in New York by July and full of
his usual interests, attending Gilbert Murray's lectures at
Columbia University, finding a renewed pleasure in his
association of many years with the Century and Uni-
versity Clubs and happily visiting again with old friends
in and about New York.
A quiet week was spent in the home of Mr. Charles
THE LAST VACATION AND THE LAST RETURN 373
M. Pratt at Glen Cove and Doctor Taylor's happiness
there may be read in one of the many verses which he
left at different times in Mrs. Pratt's guest book.
"'Sing us a song' they said in Babylon
To captive, homeless, prisoners.
'How can we?' cried the mourning ones,
And down they sat neath willow trees and wept.
And I could weep this morn, a homeless one.
And friendship's captive, as I'm leaving here
The love, the fellowship, a beauteous home,
To wander in the great and homeless world.
A song? How can I now? Let me come back
And then like Browning's thrush I'll sing
My 'song twice over' glad in my memories,
Gladder in joys renewed and love refreshed."
After the stay at Glen Cove, the Taylors sought their
old resting place in the Adirondacks, and from Little
Moose Lake Doctor Taylor wrote to his sister, just after
his birthday.
Aug. 7, 1916.
DEAREST SISTER,
It is surely good to "be here, though we have not yet
seen any of the weather we call Adirondack. It is
"humide," as you quote! no clear views yet, a hot sun
(very generally obscured), a threat of rain and dry as
a bean. But Morgan (here for a week) and K. have
gone to the falls, and to fish a little, and there is breeze
enough to save them. I have not ambition enough yet
to venture on any efforts: I am waiting for "the tonic
effect." Of course that shows degeneracy for me, but
I have had no chance to get back my full strength and
robustness, and am just waiting till I feel like being
active.
I started to acknowledge your fine birth-day letter,
very cheering from its specific wishes as well as its af-
fection. I heard from C. (a nice letter . . . ), and from
374 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
M., and Miss McC. sent a little red notebook such as she
has given me for years, and dearest K. (when I gave
her your letter to read) exclaimed, "Why it isn't the 5th,
is it? I thought it the 6th, and I didn't forget it!" Yet
why should anyone be good enough to remember it at
all! But I am very grateful and I am glad you had
nothing to send but your nice greetings.
Your life up there sounds "good" the family life
(I am so glad you are having that) and the hills and the
berrying (always seems nice to have somebody else doing
that) and the golf, and the work for the soldiers. Alas!
work for others has not seemed to be as essential a part
of our life as it used to be! ...
Now I am going to walk to the Club house to dinner
(12:30) and be rowed back. We get our breakfasts
down here : it gives so much more time ! A great deal
of love to you from us all.
As ever, yours,
JAMES.
The woods did not restore Doctor Taylor's strength,
and in September it was considered necessary to consult
doctors in Baltimore. There finally he spent several weeks
of illness.
To Doctor Mary T. Bissell.
BALTIMORE,
Sept. 3, '16.
DEAREST SISTER,
Your sweet letter came to me last night. ... It lias
been rather a dreary break that has so quickly turned
us out of all our traditional channels to say nothing of
turning health and vigor so suddenly into semi-invalidism.
But of course all that we expect to be temporary, though
it has been very real. There were days at Little Moose
when I read and wrote and enjoyed the quiet camp, but
days also when I couldn't even write a letter or read a
THE LAST VACATION AND THE LAST RETURN
book, and just sat there with the sole gladness that we
were surrounded by peace and beauty. . . . Meanwhile
K. and M. are angels, doing all they can think of for
this worthless old thing who is quite ashamed of himself
and is wondering where all the stores of grace are he has
tried to lay up these many years. . . .
After a while we will all be in N. Y. together, and all
well, let us hope. Anyway it will be good to see you.
Yours ever,
JAMES.
From Baltimore, also, Doctor Taylor wrote a letter to
Doctor Parker, planning happily for a proposed meeting
of the quartette. This was the last letter written by him
in the correspondence begun in 1864.
To Mr. Alonzo K. Parker.
Sunday A. M., Oct. I.
DEAR LON,
Your letter gave me joy and your suggestion of a
possible meet here is noble of you. I am sure I can
arrange my end of it. ... I am sorry to have delayed
this writing, but well I'm not up to the line, and I
haven't written a letter, even like this, for weeks. A
postal a day, for three days past, is my epistolary record.
It will be fine if you can come, but you dear fellows
mustn't impose too heavy a financial burden on your-
selves. I need not tell you I shall be delighted if you
can come and that I am sure that after a few days I shall
be able to spend some hours with you and to drive at
least an hour, and perhaps two. For two days I have
walked a little in the grounds, and for three or four have
taken an hour's drive.
Am going out now, and dine out! Leave of absence
restricted to three hours! Love to you and the "fel-
lows." As ever, affectionately yours,
JAMES.
376 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
To Mrs. Huntington Taylor.
HOTEL BELMONT,
NEW YORK,
October 29, 1916.
DEAR J.,
Your dear letter of the 2Oth inst. gave me great
pleasure. It came just as I was getting up and about
after a two days' "slump," due to nothing in particular
but just poisons that seep in (I don't know how to spell
that word: never saw it in print!) . . . and that will
give me no trouble when I get stronger. It was a day of
fever, &c., and then a quick recovery, and then your
letter came and helped me on. Ever since I have thought
I would answer at once, and tell you how I appreciate
you, but I was getting up, then being told I must report
for an examination, and then, Friday p. m., that I
couldn't have any more treatments for six weeks, so
Saturday A. M. we started for New York and glad we
are to be here.
We have no plans, save that we must go to Poughkeep-
sie to vote, and spend a day or two. The "ladies" are
about ready to seek dressmakers and $hoe stores, &c.
having spent all their time looking after me. Poor
things ! More hospital-chasing ( I was incarcerated four
weeks!) and then beside a continual care and such good
care! of me, day and night. Oh! but they've been
angels! . . .
We were in Baltimore two months : we had visits from
Uncle Lee. Aunt Mary, the Pratts, Morgan, and Drs.
Parker and Rhoades. Nothing like my friends! But
it wasn't altogether a hilarious life!
I am getting stronger and am much better. I walked
a mile this afternoon, the most yet. Another week
ought to show much progress. The doctor says I may
do what I like and eat what I like, but not to get over-
tired. And M. watches me ! I have to lie down a good
deal and sit about most of the remaining time. Here I
shall have my clubs where I can amuse myself and read
THE LAST VACATION AND THE LAST RETURN 377
and write and meet friends and still be able to lie
down and rest, if need be.
We are mightily interested in the new house and your
settlement in it. Many a time I have wished I could sit
down on your piazza with you.
I have sent out a little Christmas present, by express,
charges all prepaid. We found it in Baltimore and
couldn't wait! But you must! Put the box away till
Christmas !
We are much interested in your Spokane dissipations !
Keep it up and broaden out your social friendships thus.
Nice people are the nicest things there are.
Don't think of the jelly again, thank you. I hope to
have a normal appetite before long and one beyond the
need of allurements!
My wife, M., Aunt Mary, the Jessups, went below that
I might rest awhile, but they would all join me in
dearest love to Hunt, the children (wish I could see
them!) and your own dear selfl
Your loving
PAPA TAYLOR.
Doctor Taylor, after his return to New York, mar-
shaled his strength towards the object to which character-
istically his sense of duty directed him, the casting his
vote for President in the November elections. This
brought him to the college to vote in the township of
Arlington, so that with Mrs. Taylor and his daughter
he spent several days at the home of Doctor and Mrs.
William Bancroft Hill. Thin, not vigorous, but with
his usual power of personality and warmth of feeling,
he was able to greet a number of his friends and to
visit again the various offices, the library and his be-
loved Taylor Hall.
Those of us who saw him at Vassar were not pre-
378 LIFE OF JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
pared, even by the word of returning illness, for the news
that was telephoned from New York to the college on
the evening of December nineteenth. I can hardly write
of how great the general feeling of bereavement was.
Yet to his friends then and since, as countless letters
prove, the joy in his life dominates over the shock and
pain of the loss, and, as he would have wished, a spirit of
quiet peace and beauty prevailed in the services on De-
cember twenty-first in the chapel at Vassar. The campus
was white in deep snow, but its many pines and spruces
stood, as always, evergreen. All the morning alumnae
kept coming, carrying flowers for their classes and
branches, and these beautiful remembrances and others
like them lay, "a light of laughing flowers," across the
chapel platform, a symbol of the loving thoughts of
alumnae all over the world. One felt as the organ played
solemnly that the great room was filled with friends, all
brought together by a common feeling and common bond.
And indeed all were friends who took part in the service,
Doctor Henry M. Sanders, a trustee, reading the pas-
sages of scripture, 1 Doctor Lyman Abbott uttering words
of high inspiration from the noble life, of serene hope for
the future, and the college choir singing at the end
the familiar chant: "Peace I leave with you, my peace
I give unto you. Not as the world giveth give I unto
you. Let not your hearts be troubled. Neither let them
be afraid." At the Poughkeepsie Cemetery, the few
last words of the burial service were spoken by the de-
voted friends, Doctor Alonzo K. Parker and the Reverend
James M. Bruce. The grave, which lies on a high knoll
1 Psalm XXIII, John XIV. 1-6, Rom. VIII. 31-9; II Cor. V. i-io,
Thess. IV. 13-18, Rev. XXI. 1-5.
THE LAST VACATION AND THE LAST RETURN
under a great spreading tree, is near that of Matthew
Vassar, the Founder of the college, near, too, the beau-
tiful Hudson river by which Doctor Taylor spent so
many years. For such a life there should be no obituary,
"too glorious the fate and fair the doom; his grave
an altar; instead of lamentation endless fame; his dirge
a chant of praise." Death's illumination was not needed
to give any new revelation of Doctor Taylor's life. In
the ordinary light of everyday association he had stood
forth a great man. Beyond the hopes of most men, his
dreams had come true in his life-work for the education
of women and for the growth of Vassar College. He
had received in his life-time the loving appreciation of
hundreds of women and men whom he had inspired and
he had seen with humility monument after monument
erected in honor of his work and of himself. The old
Greek encomium might be engraved on tablets as a memo-
rial for James Monroe Taylor :
"Hard is it to find a man truly noble, four-
square in hand, foot, and mind, wrought with-
out reproach, a blameless man. So I, having
found one, proclaim him, and praise him and
cherish him, one who voluntarily did nothing
base."
Yet he has received a monument more lasting than bronze,
the living inspiration of his life in hundreds of other
lives.
APPENDIX
PARTIAL LIST OF WRITINGS OF JAMES MONROE
TAYLOR
i. PUBLISHED.
The Catechumenate.
(In Baptist Quarterly, v. 8, p. 412-426.)
Hints on How to Read the Bible.
(Clipping, unidentified. Reverse lists the officers of the
Central Baptist Church, Providence, R. I., probably between
1879 and 1889.)
The Education We Need.
(Apparently a clipping from a Baptist magazine about
November, 1879.)
The Place of Preaching in the Plan of God.
(In Baptist Review, 1881, v. 3, p. 366-378.)
Inaugural Address at Vassar College, June 9, 1886.
(In Scrapbook, Vassar College, v. I, p. 169. Undated news-
paper clipping.)
Future of the Woman's College.
(In Vassar College. Addresses at the celebration of the
completion of the 25th academic year of Vassar College,
1890, p. 65-96.)
Statements to the Board of Trustees of Vassar College
Concerning the Need for a Residence Hall for Students
and a Building for Lecture and Recitation Purposes.
Poughkeepsie, 1891.
(In Vassar College. Documentary History, v. 2, no. 55.)
Elements of Psychology.
(Privately printed for the use of college classes. Pough-
keepsie, 1892.)
381
382 APPENDIX
To What Extent is Student Government Available as
a Means of College Discipline?
(In Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of
the Middle States and Maryland. Proceedings of the
Annual Convention, 1892, v. 4, p. 75-78.)
Report for a Committee Appointed by the Board of Trus-
tees of Vassar College to Investigate the Practicability of
Grading Prices for Students' Rooms, by J. M. Taylor and
Helen Backus for the Committee, November, 1892.
(In Vassar College. Documentary History, v. 2, no. 48.)
Neglect of the Student in Recent Educational Theory.
(Address before the Association of Colleges and Prepara-
tory Schools of the Middle States and Maryland, 1893.)
Speech at the Luncheon at the Centennial Anniversary
of the Founding of Williams College, October 10, 1893.
(In Williams College. Record of the Commemoration.
1894, p. 292-297.)
To the Alumnae of Vassar College: A Statement of the
Condition of the College as Regards Its Accommodations
for the Residence and Class-room Work of Students, Oc-
tober 30, 1894.
(In Vassar College. Documentary History, v. 2, no. 53.)
The Report of the Committee of Ten.
(In School Review, 1894, v. 2, p. 193-199.)
Graduate Work in the College.
(In Educational Review, 1894, v. 8, p. 62-74.)
Dr. Robinson as a Trustee and Friend.
(In Robinson, E. G. Autobiography, 1896, p. 337-345-)
Change in Entrance Requirements to Vassar College.
(In School Review, April 1897, v. 5, p. 242-243.)
Address of Welcome.
(In Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the
Middle States and Maryland. Proceedings of the nth An-
nual Convention held at Vassar College, November 26-27,
1897, P. 31-33.)
APPENDIX 3S.J
Address.
(In Union College, 1795-1895. A Record of the Commemo-
ration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Founding,
1897, p. 198-212.)
Address.
(In Smith College. Celebration of the Quarter-Centenary,
1900, p. 166-178.)
Education by Church and School in Social Righteousness :
Address.
(In New York State Conference of Religion. Proceedings,
1900, v. i, p. 132-137.)
A New World and an Old Gospel. Philadelphia, 1901,
44 p.
(Annual Oration before the Alumni of the Rochester Theo-
logical Seminary, May 9, 1900.)
Report of the President of Vassar College, 1901, 1904-
05, 1908-13.
(1902, 1903, 1906, 1907 not printed.)
Is It Justifiable to Break the Treaties with the Indian
Tribes of New York?
(In Lake Mohonk Conference. Proceedings of the I9th
Annual Meeting, 1901, p. 126-128.)
Practical or Ideal? New York, 1901, 28 p.
(What Is Worth While Series.)
Relative Functions and Powers of President, Trustees
and Faculty: A Summary.
(In Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the
Middle States and Maryland. Proceedings 1902, v. 16, p.
80-83.)
Shall We Send Our Girl to Boarding-school?
(In the Sunday School Times, August 16, 1902, vol. 44, no.
33-)
Letter to the Alumnae of Vassar with Reference to the
Pressing Need for a Fund whose Income Shall Be De-
voted Solely to Educational Ends. February, 1903.
(In Vassar College. Documentary History, v. 2, no. 59.)
384 APPENDIX
The Education of Women.
(In World's Work, August, 1903, v. 6, p. 3751-3753.)
What Should Be the Length of the College Course?
(In Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the
Middle States and Maryland. Proceedings, 1903, v. 17, p.
64-72.)
The Aim of Education and the Purpose of the Church.
(Clipping from Herald of Gospel Liberty, December 3,
1903.)
The Responsibility of the College for the Moral Conduct
of the Student.
(In Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of
the Middle States and Maryland. Proceedings, 1906, v. 20,
p. 102-108.)
What College Does for Girls.
(Dipping from The Youth's Companion about 1906.)
Vassar.
(In Scrapbook. Vassar College, v. 3, p. 191-192. Clipping
from Sunday Magazine, May, 1908: The College Girl.)
The Limitation of Subjects.
(In World's Work, July, 1908, v. 16, p. 10458.)
Address.
(In Bryn Mawr College, Twenty-fifth Anniversary, 1910,
p. 9-1 I.)
The Problem of the Larger College.
(In Educational Review, 1911, v. 42, p. 79-84.)
College Education for Girls in America Prior to the
Opening of Vassar College.
(In Educational Review, 1912, v. 44, p. 217-233, 325-347-)
Comments on Miss Rickert's Article "Fraternities in
Women's Colleges."
(In Century Magazine, February, 1913, v. 85, n.s., v. 63,
p. 526-527.)
APPENDIX 385
The Future College.
(In Mount Holyoke College; the Seventy-fifth Anniversary,
1913, p. 115-118.)
Before Vassar Opened: A Contribution to the History
of the Higher Education of Women in America.
(Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin Co., 1914.)
Address at the Dedication of Taylor Hall, May 7, 1915.
(In Vassar Miscellany, June 15, 1915, v. 44, p. 665-670.)
The Baccalaureate Sermon, Columbia University, May
30, 1915-
(New York, Columbia University, 1915.)
Vassar.
(By James Monroe Taylor and Elizabeth Hazelton Haight.
New York, ^ Oxford University Press, American Branch,
1915. American College and University Series.)
Vassar's Contribution to Educational Theory and Prac-
tice.
(In Vassar College. The Fiftieth Anniversary of the
Opening, October 10-13, ^S- 1916, p. 19-46.)
Letter to the Editor of the New York Times.
(In Sixty American Opinions on the War, 1915, p. 151-153.
Reprinted from the New York Times, January 23, 1915.)
The German Mind and the Armenian Atrocities.
(Letter to the Editor of the Evening Post, October 28,
1915* signed Humanity. In Evening Post, October 30, 1915,
p. 8, col. 6-7.)
Public Opinion.
(In Russell, L., ed. America to Japan, 1915, p. 150-154.)
The Ethics of Manifest Destiny.
(In The Friend, Honolulu, Hawaii, April, 1916, v. Ixxiv,
no. 4.)
The Vassar Campus: A History, 1886-1914.
(In Vassar Quarterly, July, 1916, v. I, p. 159-173.)
386 APPENDIX
ii. MANUSCRIPTS.
The Power of a Controlling Thought.
(Commencement Oration, July 8, 1868.)
Three Early Sermons.
(Written in 1869.)
Baccalaureate Sermons and Charges, 1887-1913.
(Full reports of the Sermons for 1895, 1896, 1898, 1899,
1901-1913 and brief reports of those for 1897 and 1900 ap-
peared in the Poughkeepsie newspapers and are preserved
in the scrapbooks of Vassar College Library.)
Emma Willard.
(Address at the Unveiling of the Statue of Emma Willard,
Troy, May 16, 1895.)
A Talk on Mediaeval Universities, 1895.
Woman's Education.
(An Address at Cooper Union, New York, December, 1898.)
The College Graduate Before the Law.
(Address at the Cornell University Summer School, 1899.)
The Place of the Study of Education in the Training
of a Teacher.
(Address at Cincinnati, 1899.)
Democracy.
(Address at Vassar Institute, January, 1900. A brief re-
port of this address is in the Scrapbook, Vassar College,
v. 2, p. 213, a clipping from Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle,
January 17, 1900.)
Southern Education. A National Responsibility.
(Chicago, November, 1903.)
President Stanley Hall on Women's Education. 1904.
A Roman Bath and What Has Become of It. 1906.
APPENDIX 387
The Cultural Value of College Education.
(Address before the Brown University Teachers' Associa-
tion, 1907.)
The Ministry of Education to Life.
(Address at Carnegie Hall, New York, May I, 1907.)
South American Republicanism: Its Achievements and
Failures, Its Origins and Its Outlook. 1907.
The Hudson-Fulton Celebration.
(Address at College Hill, Poughkeepsie, October 3, 1909.)
Some Conservative Tendencies in Education.
(Address before the Head Masters' Association, New York,
December 28, 1909.)
Liberal and Vocational Training.
(Address at Rochester, December 27, 1910.)
Vocational Training and Our, Women's Colleges. 1912.
).
The Fears of the Fathers: How Far Justified. 1916.
INDEX
Abbott, Lyman, 378
Allen, Francis R., 226, 300
Allen, Mrs. Margaret Jackson, 371
Alpha Delta Phi, 31, 32, 92
Amherst College, 262
Anderson, Martin Brewer, 22-25, 26,
27, 28-29, 56, pif 93, 156
Andrews, Eugene, 145
B
Baldwin, Dr. Jane, 307
Bissell, Dr. Mary Taylor, 8, 17, 89,
332, 341, 357, 360, 373, 374, 376,
Bliss, Howard, 297
Boni, G., 210
Brown University, 162-176
Bruce, James M., 36, 37, 47, 55, 378
Buckingham, S. M., 91
Burr, C. E., 86
Burton, Marion Leroy, 222, 289
Butler, Nicholas Murray, 280
Bryn Mawr College, 133
Caldwell, Samuel L., 90, 270
Carnegie, Andrew, 316-317
Chase, William, 202-203
Clubs: Century Club, 37, 345, 372;
Poughkeepsie, 114-115; South Nor-
walk, 83-84; University Club, 373
Columbia University, 349
Cooley, Le Roy C., 307, 371
Coykendall, S. D., 247
Cornell University, 101
Crane, T. F., 279
Craufurd, Gen. R. B., 83
Gushing, Florence M., 171, 225, 312
Denison University, 349
Depew, Chauncey, 114
Dimock, George E., 192, 195, 210,
222, 223, 248, 263
Dorpfeld, Wilhelm, 143
Dutton, Samuel T., 77
Eliot, Charles N., 194, 230-231
Ellery, Eloise, 367, 369
Elmendorf, J., 165
Elswprth, Edward. TOO, 112, 166
Ezekiel, Moses, a T *
Field, Cyrus, 13-14
Finley, John, 88, 287
Gilder, Richard Watson, 139
Gosse, Edmund, 205-208, 344-346
Govr, George C. f 87
Hadley, Arthur T., 158, 235, 363-364
Haight, Elizabeth Hazelton, 207,
268-272, 317, 333, 339, 341, 358,
364, 366, 369
Hale, William G., 147
Hall, Stanley G., 200
Harvard University, 101
Hill, David Jayne, 23
Hill, William Bancroft, 292, 377
Hovey, Alvah H., 162, 163-165
Huelsen, Ch., 229
Hughes, Charles Evans, 330
Huntington, Elon, 32-34, 339
Huntington, Frank, 32, 59
Huntington, Kate, See Taylor, Mrs.
Kate H., 32-34, 46, 50, 57-62, 63-
64, 68-69, 7*. 78-79
Jefferson, Charles E., 281-282
Tewett, Milo P., 270
Johns Hopkins University, 101
Kendrick, Asahel Clark, 24, 25, 26,
27. 29, 30
Kendrick, J. Ryland, 52, 90, 91, 115
Kendrick, Mrs. J. Ryland, 119, 124,
175, 231-233, 308, 340
Kenyon College, 342, 349, 367, 368
Lanciani, R., 129, 131, 134-135, 146-
147, 211, 212, 321
Lathrop, Edward, 165, 202
Lathrop, Julia C., 290
Leach, Abby, 145, 203, 230
Low, Seth, 278-279
Lowell, A. Lawrence, 242
M
Mabie, Hamilton, 245
McCaleb, Ella, 123-125, 198, 203, 205,
208, 211, 212, 215, 216, 248, 252
390
INDEX
MacCracken, Henry Noble, 335, 336,
McGraw, Mrs. Maria L., 283
MacVeagh, Wayne, 133, 136
Mennell, Mrs. Elizabeth Allen, 343
Mills, Herbert E., 307-308
Mitchell, Maria, 96
Montague, Richard, 92
Moore, J. Leverett, 124-125, 212, 229
Morris, Mrs. Elizabeth Woodbridge,
262
Morris, Emily E., 293
Moulton, Charles W., 168-169
Mount Holyoke College, 184, 262
Murray, Gilbert, 247, 372
N
Norton, Richard, 210, 211, 212
Noyes, Alfred, 297
Orton, James, 30
Parker, Alonzo K., 20, 21, 25-31, 34,
35-56, 63, 64-67, 69, 70-71. 72-76,
78-82, in, 361, 370, 375, 376, 378
Parker, E. H., 115
Parsons, Samuel, 220
Pelton, H. V., 115
Perkins, Aaron, grandfather of J. M.
Taylor, 5-6
Perkins, Mrs. Deborah Smith, grand-
mother of J. M. Taylor, 5-6
Perkins, Mary Jane, see Taylor,
Mrs. Mary Jane Perkins, 7. 17,
42, 45, 50
Plimpton, Harriet, 177
Powell, Lyman P., 281
Pratt, Charles M., 261, 264, 288,
290, 291, 292, 312, 328, 329, 337,
340, 342, 355, 363, 373, 376
Pratt, Mrs. Charles M., 176, 262,
290, 291, 339, 355, 373
Raymond, John H., 270
Rhees, Rush, 370
Rhoades, W. C. P., 36-37. 39, 376
Richardson, James, 83
Richardson, Rufus, 145
Robinson, Ezekiel Gilman, 20, 24, 33,
34, 35, 41, 67, 84, 87-88, 91, 156
Rochester Theological Seminary, 36-
46, 185
Rochester, University of, 20, 21, 22-
35, 370
Rockefeller, John D., 152, 192, 193,
194, 197
Rossiter, E. K., 151-153
Sage, Mrs. Russell, 221, 223-227, 264,
312
Sanders, Henry M., 221, 255, 378
Scherer, Capt. L. C., 320, 326-328
Scherer, Mrs. Laura Harris, 320
fimmons, Franklin, 212
miley, Daniel, 248, 276-277, 356
Smith College, 184, 222
Stead, William T., 244-245
Stevenson, W. G., 115
Stowe, Mrs. Harriet Beecher, 339
Strong, Augustus H., 277-278, 290,
T
Taylor, Albert, brother of J. M., n,
38-48, 70
Taylor, Charles, brother of J. M.,
8-9, n, 15-16
Taylor, Electus, brother of J. M.,
46, 48, 59, 64, 376
Taylor, Elisha E. L., father of J. M.,
2-5, 6, 8, 10, 39, 54, 65, 67-68, 73
Taylor, Huntington, 81-82, 104-114,
121, 125, 128, 130-132, 134-136,
142-144, 146, 257, 295, 355, 370,
Taylor, Mrs. Huntington, 376
Taylor, James Monroe, ancestry, i;
parentage, 7; Brooklyn home, 9-
10 ; education: at Mr. Baldwin's
school, 10-11; at Essex, Conn., n-
16; at University of Rochester, 20-
2i, 22-35; at Rochester Theolog-
ical Seminary, 36-46; Alpha Delta
Phi fraternity, 31, 32; farming
experience, 16; Marlborough home,
17-21, 37, 43, 7i; ministry, 27-28,
64-68, 72; ministry, in South Nor-
walk, 73-86; ministry, in Provi-
dence, 84-87; marriage, 78; travel
in Europe, 46-71, 117-151, 248-254;
call to Brown University, 162-176;
Presidency of Vassar College, 91-
315; administrative duties, 160-
161, 199, 219-220, 265^-266; atti-
tude towards curriculum, 98-99,
234; attitude towards denomina^
tional control of colleges, 100-101;
attitude towards endowments, 100,
115-116, 180-181, 191-198, 265, 275,
302; attitude towards World War,
330, 33i, 334, 342-349; educational
policies, 94-95, 155-157, 199-200,
221, 234, 265, 267-268, 350-351; re-
lations with alumnae, 150-151, 169-
171, 197, 202, 283-286, 292-294,
310-312, 329-330, 349-350, 378; re-
lations with employees, 119, 120,
213, 314; relations with faculty,
166-169, 179, 199-200, 227, 265,
282-283, 294, 303-304, 308-309; re-
lation with students, 97-98, 117,
125, 151, 171-172, 254, 310-311; re-
lations with trustees, 166, 196, 202,
222-223, 255-256, 273-276, 312, 328;
religious teachings, 65-66, 101-102,
143-144, 159-160, 235-241; teach-
ing, 157-159; resignation from
presidency of Vassar, 273-290;
death, 378; interest in art, 29, 47,
54, 56-57, 291, 340-341, 342, 352-
355; interest in Classics, 15, 29,
30, 129, 130-131, 134-135, 142-143,
144-147, 21 1-2 12, 229-230, 236-237,
INDEX
891
333; love of nature, 52, 57-63, 78,
89, 213, 249, 253, 317; love of read-
ing, 20, 27, 31, 42, 76-77, 108, 124.
206, 2O9-2IO, 211, 26O-26l t 262,
269, 337-338, 365-366, 367, 369
Taylor, John W.,
M., 5
great-uncle of J.
Taylor, Mrs. Kate H., 32-34. 46, 50,
57-62, 63-64, 68-69, 71, 78-79, 81,
103, 104-105, 117, 121, 128, 132,
161, 216, 246-247, 254, 255-256,
272, 277, 278, 279, 302, 324, 333,
345, 353, 355, 359, 361-363, 373-
374, 375, 377
Taylor, Mary, 82, 118-120, 128, 244,
279, 345, 352, 375, 377
Taylor, Mrs. Wary Jane Perkins, 7,
Taylor, Morgan, brother of J. M.,
n, 107, 109-110
Taylor, Morgan P., son of J. M.,
106, 128, 206, 297, 298, 318, 320,
322, 326, 352, 367, 373, 376
Taylor, Nelson, 83
Taylor, Mrs. Phebe, grandmother of
J. M., 2, 4-5
Taylor, Richard, grandfather of J.
M., 2-4
Taylor, Richard T., son of J. M.,
103, 104-105, 113, 122, 130, 149,
208, 296, 313, 321, 344-345, 356-
358
Taylor Hall, 57, 290-292, 295-296,
340-341, 342, 377
Thelberg, Dr. Elizabeth B., 187, 305,
Thomas, M. Carey, 280-281
Thompson, Frederick F., 340
Thompson, Mrs. Frederick F., 288,
299, 301, 312, 330
Thompson, Mrs. William T., 176,
225, 247, 254-255, 312
Tonks, Oliver S., 292, 304
Treadwell, Aaron, 181-183, 227, 228
Turner, H. Velma, 240, 331
Vassar College: 24, 30, 33, 34, 57,
87, 90; administration, 160, 179-
180, 220, 265-266; alumnae, 95-96,
149-151, 169-171, 283-286, 310-312,
329-330, 349, 378; buildings, 93,
116, 151, 176, 179-180, 193, 199,
221, 223-226, 273, 290-292, 342;
critical period, 90; curriculum, 99,
273, 288; employees, 119-120, 213,
307, 314-315; endowments, 93, 100,
115-116, 180-181, 191-198, 265, 273,
275, 302; faculty, 166-167, 179,
194, 199-200, 273, 282-283, 294,
303-304, 307; founder, 24, 90, 193,
201, 246, 269, 270, 350, 379; pres-
idents, 90, 91, 270, 335-336; stu-
dents, 93-94, 97-98, 116, 171-172,
179, 194, 310-311; trustees, 166,
196, 202, 255, 275-276, 304, 312,
328
Vedder, Elihu, aia
W
War, the World War, 64, 330, 33 1.
334, 342-349, 369
Washburn, Margaret F., 309
Wheeler, Benjamin Ide, 142-143, 144-
145, 175-176, 329
Whitney, Marian P.. 303, 306
Whitney, Mary W., 167-168, 231,
308, 360
Wilder, Burt, 88
Willard, Emma, 96, 114, 313
Williams College, 30, 340
Wood, Frances, 113, 118, 119, 120,
148, 204, 215
Wooley, Mary, 184
Yale University, 101. 104-108, 131,
132, 187, 363-364
Van Ingen, Henry, 307, 34*
Vassar, Matthew, 24, 90, 193, xoz,
246, 269, 270, 350, 379
Ziegenfuss, H. L., 115
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