222 POLITICAL LIFE-XI 



Connecticut River, I saw mirrored in its waters Arcturus, 

 then fully at the zenith, and 1 thought/' etc., etc.; "but," 

 said Merrill, "some one looked into the matter and found 

 that Everett, before leaving home, had evidently turned 

 the globe in his study wrong side up, for at that time 

 Arcturus was not at the zenith, but at the nadir." 



At the Cornell commencement of this year (1885) I 

 resigned my presidency of the university. It had nomi- 

 nally lasted eighteen years, but really more than twenty, 

 since I had taken the lead in the work of the university 

 even before its charter was granted, twenty years pre- 

 viously, and from that day the main charge of its organi- 

 zation and of everything except providing funds had been 

 intrusted to me. Regarding this part of my life I shall 

 speak more fully in another chapter. 



Shortly after this resignation two opportunities were 

 offered me which caused me considerable thought. 



As to the first, President Cleveland was kind enough 

 to write me an autograph letter asking whether I would 

 accept one of the positions on the new Interstate Railway 

 Commission. I felt it a great honor to br asked to act as 

 colleague with such men as Chief Justice Cooley, Mr. 

 Morrison, and others already upon that board, but I rec- 

 ognized my own incompetence to discharge the duties of 

 such a position properly. Though I had been, some years 

 before, a director in two of the largest railway corpora- 

 tions in the United States, my heart was never in that 

 duty, and I never prepared myself to discharge it. 

 Thinking the matter over fully, I felt obliged to decline 

 the place. My heart was set on finishing the book which 

 I had so long wished to publish, my "History of the 

 "Warfare of Science with Theology, "and in order to 

 cut myself off from other work and get some needed 

 rest I sailed for Kurope on October .'>, 1SS5, but while 

 engaged most delightfully in visits to Oxford, Cam- 

 bridge, and various places on tlu Continent, I received 

 by cable an offer which had also a very tempting side. 

 It was sent by my old friend Mr. Henry Sage of Ithaca, 



