CHAPTER XX. 



RESIGNATION OF PRESIDENT DAY: DOMESTIC AFFLICTION. 



Resignation of President Day. Letter of Chancellor Kent. Visit to 

 Boston: Agassiz. Death of Mr. Elihu Chauncey. Visit from Agas- 

 siz. Birthday Reflections, (1848). Death of Jeremiah Mason. Visit 

 to his Early Home. Proposal to Resign. Death of Mrs. Silliman. 

 Religious Thoughts. Visit to Washington : President Taylor; Secre- 

 tary Clayton. His Consent to withdraw his Resignation. 



WHILE Professor Silliman was engaged in his la- 

 bors abroad, he lost none of his zeal in the work of 

 college instruction. So many years had he taught, 

 that his pupils were now dispersed in every part of 

 the land. On the retirement of Dr. Day from the 

 Presidency, it was natural that some should look to 

 him as a fit successor. His selection for the vacant 

 office was, in fact, urged by a number of distin- 

 guished civilians. This was done the more earnestly, 

 as it was known that Professor Woolsey was unwill- 

 ing to accept the station. But Professor Silliman 

 was only six years younger than the retiring Presi- 

 dent. Giving instruction by lectures, and during 

 only a portion of the year, he was, of course, less at 

 home in the details of college discipline, than if he 

 had been in the habit of meeting the students in 

 daily recitations. Besides, his election would have 

 involved a departure from the uniform precedent, if 

 not the law, of the Institution, according to which 

 the Presidency must be filled by a clergyman. Pro- 



