JAMES WALKER. 4S9 



of the altar." No other recognition of his services, during his lor.g 

 and honored life, gave Dr. Walker so much satisfaction as the assur- 

 ances which he continued to receive from the young men that his 

 preaching had done them permanent good. His sermons were not of 

 the kind which can be once heard and then forgotten. In every one 

 of them there are characteristic expressions which are remembered and 

 repeated by his hearers after an interval of a quarter of a century. 

 The influence which Dr. Walker exerted from the pulpit did not come 

 exclusively from his sermons. His devotional exercises were brief, 

 without vain repetitions, but deeply impressive. His manner of read- 

 ing the Scriptures was majestic. It may be doubted whether human 

 lips ever gave them greater force and meaning since they have been 

 read in the churches. His commanding presence in the pulpit, the 

 wonderful selections which he made from the Bible, and the strength 

 and feeling with which they were uttered, always made the greatest 

 occasions appear still greater. 



Dr. Walker was admirably qualified by his intellectual preferences, 

 his even temper, and his interest in young men, to teach in the depart- 

 ment to which he had been chosen at Cambridge. His own mind was 

 wedded to no jjarticular school of philosophy, but was essentially 

 eclectic, and ever open to new light from whatever quarter of the 

 intellectual firmament it miirht come. The students soon learned to 

 find in him a friend as well as a teacher, and sought his advice, not 

 only in their studies and their troubles, but in the choice of their 

 career in life. After having discharged the duties of professor, in the 

 most acceptable manner, for nearly fourteen years, he was made Presi- 

 dent of the University in February, 1853, and was welcomed to this 

 oflBce by the unanimous voice of the community. He had already been 

 a Fellow of the Corporation since 1834, and had been Acting President 

 during the interval between the administrations of Mr. Quincy and 

 Mr. Everett. No one understood better than he did the labors and 

 responsibilities of president, or the condition, wants, and prospects of 

 the University; and no one of his illustrious predecessors administered 

 its affairs with greater assiduity and impartiality, or was rewarded by 

 more decided marks of public confidence. The personal attachment 

 which the students had formed for him while he was their teacher 

 made it comparatively easy for him to govern them as president. He 

 had also the hearty and undivided support of all his associates in the 

 various offices of instruction and government. When youthful indis- 

 cretions or grave offences were committed by any of the students, the 

 offenders suffered as much in the consciousness of his dis[)leasure as 



