BARNAS SEARS, D.D. 443 



larger part of the time as its president, and won the enthusiastic love 

 of his pupils as a teacher of singular magnetism and inspiration. 



In 1848 he resigned his position to accept the secretaryship of the 

 Massachusetts Board of Education. It was a critical time in the edu- 

 cational history of the State. The Hon. Horace Mann, his predecessor, 

 had introduced bold and radical changes into the school system, and 

 by energy and decision in pushing the changes had aroused a vigorous 

 opposition. The success of the reforms was in great peril. But Dr. 

 Sears, by his conciliatory spirit, by patience in hearing ol)jections and 

 broad wisdom in answering them, soon silenced opposition, and intro- 

 duced other important changes. 



In 1855 he was elected President of Brown University, and re- 

 moved to Providence to enter on the duties of his new office. The 

 difficulties encountered were many and complicated. His predecessor, 

 Rev. Dr. Wayland, had a national reputation as the most eminent of 

 American presidents, and for nearly thirty years had moulded the 

 character and aims of the college by his energetic will. The Faculty 

 and Corporation were in warm sympathy with his views and methods. 

 Dr. Sears had different views and methods, but could introduce them 

 only slowly, and with wise caution and tact. His administration, how- 

 ever, was eminently successful, and the growth of the college was 

 marked in an increase of students, in a broadening of the range of 

 .-tudy. and in the eidarging of its endowment. Dr. Sears was a popu- 

 lar president in the best sense of the word, beloved by the students 

 as a teacher and as an administrator, and ruling less by prescribed law 

 than by moral force. 



After twelve years of hard labor, in which his health suffered and 

 his voice failed from a severe bronchial trouble, his physician prescribed 

 rest from teaching as an imperative duty. He had intended to spend 

 a year in European travel and study ; but he was urgently requested 

 by Mr. Peabody and the Board of Managers of the Peab'ody Fund to 

 assume the duties of the general agency in administering that great 

 trust. He had previously submitted to the board, at the request of 

 the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, its president, a plan of operation in the 

 Southern States which commanded a unanimous ajjproval, and it was 

 thought he would prove the best executor of his own plan. He ac- 

 cepted the trust, removed to Staunton, Va., and the last thirteen years 

 of life were devoted to the establishment of a system of free schools 

 in the Southern States. This was probably the most useful part of his 

 life. His commanding person and genial manners and high character 

 brought him into pleasant relations with the leaders of Southern 



