CONCLUSION 135 



took a lively interest in their varying fortunes, and the same 

 spirit was extended to the students of his own college both 

 before and after graduation. The bright boy struggling for 

 an education could have no better friend than the presi- 

 dent, and the drain on his resources was sometimes very 

 great. There is always a liability of pecuniary loss in such 

 cases, which he could ill afford to bear; but like all generous 

 men, he never learned anything by his own experience or 

 the experience of others. When the student had gone out 

 into the world, he was still an object of personal interest. 

 President Goodell often did, to help others, what very few 

 men even of a generous nature would have done, especially 

 if they had a reasonable excuse for taking no interest in 

 the matter. 



Reference has already been made to the effort to estab- 

 lish schools of mines and mining in connection with the 

 land-grant colleges. Of President Goodell's part in this 

 undertaking it has been said: "Nothing, perhaps, better 

 shows President Goodell's conscientious devotion to the 

 duties of his office, regardless of the interest to him per- 

 sonally and to his institution, than his persistent efforts, as 

 chairman of the executive committee, to secure the passage 

 of a bill to provide a school of mines in connection with the 

 land-grant colleges. This was a matter in which most of the 

 institutions represented by the Association were greatly 

 interested, and President Goodell worked long and faith- 

 fully in its interests, although knowing full well that the 

 school if provided would become a part of the Massachu- 

 setts Institute of Technology. It never seemed to occur to 

 him to labor less diligently on that account, and he spent 

 weeks in Washington during the sessions of Congress, 



