In the late winter of 1915-16 intimation of failing strength and doctor's recommen- 

 dation had brought Mr. Hazard to Santa Barbara, where his sister, Miss Caroline 

 Hazard, was already resident, and where his father, also Rowland Hazard, had spent 

 the evening of his days. Although Mr. Hazard arrived upon the scene too late to par- 

 ticipate in the actual organizing of the Museum, he made himself known shortly after, 

 and immediately fell to planning one improvement after another. Many were the pleas- 

 ant hours (but all too few!) when this welcome visitor "dropped over" to have a 

 friendly chat with the director, or to gloat over the accumulating treasures. He was 

 deeply impressed with the promise of phylogenetic progress made by our rudimentary 

 beginnings of comparative oology, and he set himself quietly but determinedly to bring' 

 a part of our dream to pass. 



But first, he set his own house in order. For now he saw in his life-long hobby not 

 only delight but promise of usefulness. Oology seemed worth while for its own sake, 

 and to its soothing surcease of care, much prized by an overwrought heart, was added 

 the pleasant conviction that a hobby might be turned to human account. Accordingly, 

 when the writer visited Mr. Hazard in his eastern home,. Peace Dale, R. I., in Novem- 

 ber, 1916, he found him busily engaged in plans for rehousing and rearranging his own 

 very considerable collection of eggs, numbering over 600 species (A. O. U.). The 

 work was completed in the fall of 1917; and, thus, this important accumulation was left 

 in the best possible shape. 



In the early spring of 1917 Mr. Hazard accepted a place on the Board of Trustees 

 of the Museum Of Comparative Oology, and became also our Honorary Curator. He 

 quickly justified both titles, not only by contributing largely to the support of the in- 

 stitution but by interesting others. Not even his friends will ever know how ambitious 

 his designs in this direction were. In July, 1917, Mr. Hazard and Mr. Ripley joined in 

 the purchase of the splendid Willard collection, which was presented to the Museum of 

 Comparative Oology. This was only a beginning; and Mr. Hazard was evidently de- 

 termined to "back his judgment" in spite of the arduous conditions of the war (to 

 whose successful prosecution he was ministering in a hundred other ways). 



Accordingly, when he returned to Santa Barbara late in December, he was sur- 

 rounded by an air of mystery. There was something on; but he took a boyish delight 

 in keeping "the administration" in the dark about it. Builders dropped hints of con- 

 ferences, and real estate men looked wise, but the director got only an enigmatic smile. 

 In a letter to a mutual friend dated January 19, 1918, Mr. Hazard said, "Please keep 

 this dark. I am afraid of letting something out too soon." 



But the death angel came and stopped all this merry planning. Our friend knew 

 that he might come at any time, and he was ready. A shallow piety has sometimes 

 prayed that its hands might be found on the plow handles when the summons came. 

 But a deeper piety, like Mr. Hazard's, is so fortified, so thoroughly at home with its 

 Maker, that it is ready to quit the golf game or the opera with the same quiet smile of 

 confidence that would become the study or the chapel. 



The writer pauses here with bared head. How feeble are our words of appraisal 

 and how futile are all records of achievement. Achievement? There is only one 

 achievement, and that is character. But if character is an achievement, personal charm 

 is a gift. Mr. Hazard had both. Though I speak as one who knew him late in life, 

 and whose privilege was measured by hours instead of years, I cannot but testify that 

 I never knew a man of more thoroughly congenial presence. His was the recognition 

 which is sincerest flattery. Nor was it merely similarity of taste, such as would set 

 up a special current of responsiveness. Mr. Hazard knew how to differ delicately and 

 firmly in opinion, and also he could discourse on matters most distant and recondite. 

 Here was a soul who met you more than half way, who unobtrusively laid gifts at 

 your feet — gifts of imagination, flashes of humor, gifts of experience and ripened judg- 

 ment not less. His "good fellow greetings" were born not alone of recognition, but 

 of an unconquerable joy in life. You were compelled irresistibly to participate in that 

 joy. Life was good, and its very vagaries were things to be conned over and chuckled 

 about. Life was beautiful, and its beauties were worth the attention of princes. Life 

 was wonderful, always wonderful, and the wonder of a child and the wonder of an 

 angel are one. 



He is gone into a world more wonderful, into a world which neither despises nor 

 altogether depends upon our childish efforts. To me it has been an unspeakable privi- 

 lege to have been associated, even so briefly, with such a man. If the institution which 

 I serve can in any way carry out the designs and perpetuate the honor of this esteemed 

 patron and virtual co-founder, it will be an added privilege and a sacred responsibility. 



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