316 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -II 



have not invited you to see a university finished, but to see 

 one begun.&quot; 



The opening day seemed a success, but this very suc 

 cess stirred up the enemy. A bitter letter from Ithaca 

 to a leading denominational organ in New York gave the 

 signal, and soon the whole sectarian press was in full cry, 

 steadily pressing upon Mr. Cornell and those who stood 

 near him. Very many of the secular presses also thought 

 it wise to join in the attack, and it was quickly extended 

 from his ideas to his honor, and even to his honesty. It 

 seemed beyond the conception of many of these gentlemen 

 that a Hicksite Quaker, who, if he gave any thought at 

 all to this or that creed, or this or that &quot;plan of salva 

 tion, 9 passed it all by as utterly irrelevant and inadequate, 

 could be a religious man ; and a far greater number seemed 

 to find it just as difficult to believe that a man could sacri 

 fice his comfort and risk his fortune in managing so great 

 a landed property for the public interest without any 

 concealed scheme of plunder. 



But he bore all this with his usual stoicism. It seemed 

 to increase his devotion to the institution, rather than to di 

 minish it. When the receipts from the endowment fell 

 short or were delayed, he continued to advance money 

 freely to meet the salaries of the professors ; and for ap 

 paratus, books, and equipment of every sort his purse 

 was constantly opened. 



Yet, in those days of toil and care and obloquy, there 

 were some things which encouraged him much. At that 

 period all patriotic Americans felt deep gratitude to Gold- 

 win Smith for his courage and eloquence in standing by 

 our country during the Civil War, and great admiration for 

 his profound and brilliant historical lectures at Oxford. 

 Naturally, on arriving in London, I sought to engage him 

 for the new university, and was authorized by Mr. Cornell 

 to make him large pecuniary offers. Professor Smith en 

 tered at once into our plans heartily; wrote to encourage 

 us ; came to us ; lived with us amid what, to him, must have 

 been great privations; lectured for us year after year as 



