406 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT -VII 



done more for me, and, judging from the numbers who 

 have thronged the chapel, there has heen a constant good 

 influence upon the faculty and students. 



In connection with the chapel may be mentioned the de- 

 velopment of various religious associations, the first of 

 these being the Young Men 's Christian Association. Feel- 

 ing the importance of this, although never a member of it, 

 I entered heartily into its plan, and fitted up a hall for its 

 purposes. As this hall had to serve also, during certain 

 evenings in the week, for literary societies, I took pains 

 to secure a series of large and fine historical engravings 

 from England, France, and Germany, among them some 

 of a decidedly religious cast, brought together after a 

 decidedly Broad-church fashion. Of these, two, adjoining 

 each other, represented the one, Luther discussing with 

 his associates his translation of the Bible, and the other, 

 St. Vincent de Paul comforting the poor and the afflicted ; 

 and it was my hope that the juxtaposition of these two 

 pictures might suggest ideas of toleration in its best sense 

 to the young men and women who were to sit beneath 

 them. About the room, between these engravings, I placed 

 some bronze statuettes, obtained in Europe, representing 

 men who had done noble work in the world; so that it 

 was for some years one of the attractions of the university. 



Some years later came a gift very advantageous to this 

 side of university life. A gentleman whom I had known 

 but slightly Mr. Alfred S. Barnes of Brooklyn, a trustee 

 of the university dropped in at my house one morning, 

 and seemed to have something on his mind. By and by he 

 very modestly asked what I thought of his putting up a 

 building for the religious purposes of the students. I 

 welcomed the idea joyfully; only expressing the hope that 

 it would not be tied up in any way, but open to all forms 

 of religious effort. In this idea he heartily concurred, and 

 the beautiful building which bears his honored name was 

 the result, one of the most perfect for its purposes that 

 can be imagined, and as he asked me to write an inscrip- 

 tion for the corner-stone, I placed on it the words: "For 



