94 MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



personal expense was required. I recall on many occasions 

 seeing these dignified gentlemen drawn through a continuous 

 mud hole from Lansing to the College in a farm wagon very 

 poorly provided with elasticity in its springs. These men were 

 domiciled with the various members of the faculty during the 

 periods of their meetings, and in the reports of the auditor- 

 general I notice that in many instances the only bill rendered 

 in the expense account was the railroad fare. It was at no small 

 sacrifice of life comforts that these gentlemen performed the 

 service of managing the College. 



During those early days the students graded higher in age 

 than now, and full-bearded men were common in the student 

 body in the years immediately following the Civil War. I recall 

 an instance when one of the recent appointees upon the faculty 

 mistook a board member for one of these students and the 

 conversation, which was intended to be patronizing, became 

 extremely ridiculous. 



I have been fortunate in having had acquaintance with 

 nearly every member of the Board of Agriculture since it became 

 the controlling body of the College. Of nearly fifty men who 

 have served in this capacity under appointment of the various 

 governors, I can speak of but few and choose them rather be- 

 cause of the impression they made upon my own mind as ac- 

 complishing results in connection with the evolution of the 

 institution of more than ordinary value. 



First of all, towering above his colleagues, is the figure of 

 Judge Hezekiah G. Wells, whose home was in Kalamazoo. He 

 was a man of poise ; he had a wide range of ability and the most 

 courtly manners; he was a natural leader. He came upon the 

 board when his type of character was most needed. He was a 

 fearless advocate of agricultural education when it had no popu- 

 lar favor; he was an earnest and persistent defender of the faith 

 when an agricultural education was sneered at by the educators, 

 and encountered the opposition of a united farm community. 



