DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 65 



REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND MODERN 



LANGUAGES. 



To the President • 



The report submitted by me June 30, 1905, might well serve as the 

 report for the present year, and I respectfully refer you to said report 

 for further consideration of the recommendations therein contained. 

 They still hold and the need for them has been emphasized by the events 

 of the year now closing. 



On May 17 I sent to the Board of Agriculture the following paper 

 which explains itself: 



Agricultural College, Mich., May 17, 1906. 

 To the Board of Agriculture, Michigan Agricultural College: 



Gentlemen — I hereby tender to you my resignation as Professor of 

 English and Modern Languages at this institution, to take effect at the 

 end of the school year September 1, 1906. 



In laying down the work, which for sixteen years has absorbed my 

 every energy, I desire to express my deep regret at breaking ties that 

 bind me to this place more strongly than to any other on earth. It is 

 here that my children have grown up and one, alas, has passed away. 

 It is here that day after day the best of my life has flowed into the 

 young spirits that were taking form and coherency around me, and 

 I have found my one inspiration in the thought that they not only 

 would not but could not forget the lessons learned from me. For 

 sixteen years no one has passed out from any of the courses of this 

 institution without having come under my direct personal influence 

 and in them at any rate I ''have become a part of all that I have met," 

 in them, I humbly hope for good and not for evil, I shall live on and on, 

 perhaps unconsciously to them but none the less really. 



You will not therefore wonder that, although I and my work may 

 be unknown to you, I have been unable, in formally relinquishing my 

 position, to confine myself to the bare and cold announcement of the 

 fact, or to refrain from adding an expression of my deep and abiding 

 interest in the future of the institution and a fervent wish for its pros- 

 perity in all good work. 



Very respectfully, 



HOWARD EDWARDS. 



In taking final leave of the work, I desire to express to the members 

 of the department my high sense of the loyalty they have shown me 

 in aiding and supporting to the full measure of their strength all my 

 plans and efforts for the efficiency of the departmental work. In tt|,e 

 counsel and sympathy of the departmental meetings, I have found 

 much of wisdom and help. 



To students and faculty and board of the college, my best and warm- 

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