296 WILLIAM AUGUSTUS STEARNS. 



of so important a positiou was naturally gratifying to him as a testi- 

 mony of the most eminent men in his denomination to their belief in 

 his qualifications for such a post, but its consideration could not be 

 entertained without a painful conflict of contending personal feelings 

 and professional duties. The unwillingness of the congregation he 

 had so successfully built up to part with him, and his own reluctance 

 to leave a scene where he had done and enjoyed so much, for a new 

 and untried field of labor, embarrassed the decision of a question so 

 material to his future with many conflicting emotions and considera- 

 tions. Happily for himself and the college, his deliberate judgment 

 was in favor of the acceptance of the Presidency, and he entered upon 

 its duties in November, 1854. If the governing authorities of the 

 college had ever doubted Dr. Stearns's eminent qualifications for the 

 wider field of activity they had opened to him, they very soon learned 

 from his otficial conduct how wise and fortunate their choice had been. 

 By nature, by education, and by experience of men, he was eminently 

 fitted for the oversight and direction of an institution for the higher 

 education of youth. Learned, and a lover of sound learning, standing 

 by preference upon the ancient ways of academic teaching, but not 

 stubbornly tenacious of them, he was ready to consider and accept the 

 newer ideas and methods which European influences and the growing 

 claims of the physical sciences are urging upon the educators of the 

 day, to the degree and in the manner that seemed to him best adapted 

 to the present condition of education in this country. 



While he was thus at once wisely conservative and judiciously pro- 

 gressive in his dealings with the more recent theories of academic 

 instruction, his personal and official relations with the undergraduates 

 were of the most kindly and paternal description. His native courtesy 

 and winning suavity of manners won for him their afiection and confi- 

 dence whenever they came into personal contact with him. His weight 

 of character and sound judgment impressed them with a sense of his 

 sagacity and wisdom in all his counsels and suggestions. His very 

 presence bore the stamp of perfect uprightness and absolute truthful- 

 ness. He held that to be the best government which governs the 

 least, and his endeavor was to make his students a law unto them- 

 selves and to teach them to rule their spirits and their lives by the laws 

 of self-respect and right reason. But when discipline was needed to 

 maintain the good order or the good reputation of the college, he could 

 be as stern and severe as Justice herself. The transgressor found that 

 his way was hard when he had incurred the just displeasure and judicial 

 censure of the President. His heart's desire was to prevent misrule 



