CORNELL UNIVERSITY — ELMS. 51 



immortalized in Scripture. John B. Ostrander, a man 

 remarkable for his integrity and humility, after having 

 served me twenty-five years in the forests of Canada and 

 Michigan, returned at the age of seventy to Dryden, 

 his native town, to spend there his declining years. 

 Meeting me one day he said, ' Henry, I have been to 

 the University grounds and seen the work in progress 

 there, and feel as if I want to do something to help it 

 along. Now, I have no money, but I have been think- 

 ing ; I have some fine young elms in my woods, and I 

 can bring down thirty or forty and plant them there. 

 They will make the grounds look better, and will make 

 a shade for somebody after you and I are gone. ' I re- 

 plied : ' They are just what we want, bring them and 

 they shall be known as the ' Ostrander Elms.' Those 

 are the elms on East Avenue, and a stone at each end 

 of the row marks the name of the donor. The shadow 

 of death has rested over his tomb several years, and not 

 long hence will rest over mine, but the elms remain, 

 and a hundred years hence the shadows of their grace- 

 ful foliage will attest the loving gift he made us, — ' will 

 make a shade for somebody. ' ' ' 



Here, perhaps, is the place to say that the thriving 

 elms whose graceful boughs shade the main avenues 

 were given to the University by the late Dr. Fitzhugh 

 of Geneseo, a brother-in-law of Gerrit Smith. 



The President's House was erected by President 

 White in 1 871 at a cost of $50,000 and donated to the 

 University to be ever occupied by the President. It is 

 a large brick structure, in the Swiss Gothic style. 



