C. U. C. p. ALUMNI JOURNAL 



29 



papers, every pharmacist in town loolced 

 three inches taller than he did before. 

 It made a University man out of him. 



What brings me here tonight, is some- 

 thing that happened at a Trustees' meet- 

 ing a little while ago. I understood 

 that the junior students had petitioned 

 to be relieved from the exercises in ac- 

 counting. I said "They do not know 

 what they are doing, because they are 

 young and inexperienced. They are like 

 young bears ; their troubles are still to 

 come. Why, a knowledge of bookkeep- 

 ing has been a trump card with me all 

 my life." 



When I began life, after studying a 

 short time at Harvard University, in 

 1853, there was not much doing in 

 teaching chemistry at that time, so I 

 made diligent inquiries as to how I 

 could advance myself. A man who had 

 spent four years studying in (Germany 

 came into the laboratory one day and 

 I asked him questions, and finally in- 

 duced my father and mother to let me 

 go to Germany to study chemistry. 

 When I returned. Professor Joy, who 

 had steered me to Germany, offered me 

 $400 a year to become his assistant in 

 chemistry at Union College. There was 

 nothing else in sight, so I took it. I 

 might say two or three words here, about 

 taking a position. You know when the 

 students at the School of Mines gradu- 

 ate, they have an idea that they ought 

 to get $2,500 a year to begin with. The 

 greatest mistake in the world to make 

 is to say "What is there in it for me?'' 

 The first thing to consider is whether 

 the place is going to be valuable ; wheth- 

 er it will lead to something better. You 

 \A\\ get what you are worth, and the 

 proper way to do is to get your toes in 



somewhere, and show what you are 

 worth. I took this place at $400 a year 

 and when I got to Union College, I 

 found that this amount had been appro- 

 priated for janitor's services. There 

 was, consequently, no janitor, and it was 

 the coldest winter the oldest inhabitant 

 had ever known. I had to make six 

 anthracite fires every morning, sweej the 

 laboratory, the lecture room and two 

 smaller rooms, wash the bottles, and get 

 the laboratory ready for the students. 

 Of course I had not been there very 

 long before I made the acquaintance of 

 some of the other professors. They 

 laughed at me, and said "Why do you 

 do all this?" Well, you see. Professor 

 Joy had steered me to Germany, had 

 given me my first chance and I was only 

 too glad to help him. 



I had only been at Union College 

 three months when Professor Joy was 

 called to Columbia. As the salary he 

 would receive at Columbia was greatly 

 in excess of what he was getting at 

 Union College, he promptly accepted, 

 and left Union College without a profes- 

 sor of chemistry. The president sent 

 for me. "Well," he said, "Professor 

 Joy's gone, and he has recommended 

 Professor Mallett of the University of 

 Alabama, who is a distinguished chemist 

 and teacher, for the place. But there is 

 a young man who has been here three 

 months, and we like the w^ay he takes 

 hold and does anything to make himself 

 useful. I mean you ! If you think you 

 can lecture to the senior class, you can 

 have the position, and we will call you 

 Professor when you are old enough." T 

 was twenty years old then. There were 

 one hundred and fifty students in the 

 senior class, and when I went into the 

 lecture room, I felt very small. I said, 



