The Days of a Man 1868 



student were encouraged to work at grading and the digging 

 employ o f ditches for fifteen cents an hour. Most of us 

 menl proved to be fairly good at our jobs, though some 

 found that they involved too great a draft on time 

 and strength. A certain number, however, persisted, 

 and so carried themselves through college, and the 

 report that a student without money could pay his 

 way soon brought to the new institution very many 

 extremely able men. There higher education was 

 no longer an expensive luxury, a privilege of the 

 rich; nor yet a matter of charity, a dole to the 

 poor. 



Digging for the foundation of the McGraw Build- 

 ing, we pioneers often saw Mr. Cornell, a tall, spare 

 man, grave and kindly, with characteristic dry 

 humor a Lincolnish sort, "paring down his speech 

 to keep a reserve of force and meaning," as Thoreau 

 said of John Brown. 



Democracy At the outset Cornell had declared: "I would 

 of the found an institution in which any person can find 

 instruction in any study ;" this revolution in higher 

 education it was White's duty to carry into effect. 

 Not that the university could or did teach literally 

 everything, for no institution has ever yet been 

 rich enough to undertake such a task. The important 

 thing was the recognition of "the democracy of 

 intellect," the solid basis of the elective system. 

 Then for the first time in the history of education, 

 perhaps, the aristocracy of discipline was officially 

 and successfully challenged. The student was not 

 to be driven over a prearranged curriculum, or 

 "little race course," which should entitle him at the 

 finish to a time-honored badge of culture. On the 

 contrary he was to have access to that particular 



C 80] 



