338 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



character, he was, especially as he grew old, generally 

 disposed to lenient measures against offenders. But 

 incivility of manners towards a superior, insult and 

 injury offered to younger students, and falsehood, he 

 was prompt to punish. For, though so amiable in 

 temper, he was a high-spirited man, quick to perceive 

 and to resent every sort of meanness. He was hon- 

 ored and loved by his pupils to the end. One of the 

 younger graduates of the College, a candid and dis- 

 cerning judge, after adverting to his " too genial dis- 

 cipline and his discursiveness at times in lectures," 

 adds the remark, " there was among all of us a 

 very deep feeling of love and admiration for him, and 

 of pride in him." * 



Two gentlemen who were associated with Profes- 

 sor Silliman, both in the relation of pupils and of 

 colleagues in the College Faculty, have kindly com- 

 municated their impressions of him as a College 

 officer. 



PROFESSOR T. A. THACHER TO G. P. FISHER. 



MY DEAR PROFESSOR FISHER, The first time I re- 

 member to have seen Professor Silliman was the morning 

 of the 13th of September, the day before Commencement 

 in 1831. He was presiding at the examination of candi- 

 dates for admission to College, and I was one of the can- 

 didates. The impression which he made on me then as to 

 his personal and social traits, respecting which you inquire, 

 was never essentially changed during the long period of 

 our personal and official intercourse. He seemed to wear 

 with perfect naturalness and ease the character of a gentle- 

 man. He showed the same urbanity, the same considerate- 



* From a letter of Hon. Andrew D. White, of Syracuse, N. Y., to G. P. 

 Fisher, September 8, 1865. 



