30 IN AND OUT OF ITHACA. 



Of Mr. Cornell and his labors in connection with lo- 

 cating this land, the Hon. Henry W. Sage, in his address 

 at the inauguration of President Adams, spoke as fol- 

 lows : ' ' His first gift was half a million dollars to secure 

 to Cornell the L,and Grant from the United States to this 

 State ; after that in various ways, half as much more ; 

 and last and greatest, his undertaking with the State to 

 carry for twenty years at his own cost five hundred 

 thousand acres of land for which the scrip was worth but 

 $300,000, to sell the same, and return the net proceeds 

 to the treasury of the State for the benefit of Cornell 

 University. The sum thus to be procured from the 

 lands he estimated at more than $2,000,000. 



He carried his burden eight years, expending for that 

 purpose over $500,000 of his own cash ; but during all 

 that time the total sales of land paid but a fraction of 

 his expenses for carrying. Meantime the misfortune 

 of unavailable investments and failing health rendered 

 him unable longer to carry the lands, and on his death- 

 bed he said in substance to the Trustees : ! I can no 

 longer do this work ; take it and do it for me, but ' (with 

 the old-time invincible courage and faith,) 'don't fear 

 the result, it will be all I ever expected.' And it has 

 been. The Trustees assumed his burden, and with lov- 

 ing hearts and willing hands, saving every farthing for 

 its destined work, without the cost of a dollar for their 

 administration, have already placed in the treasury of 

 the University much more than the largest sum esti- 

 mated by him, and the final outcome will be double 

 that sum." 



