MEMORIAL OF P. H. MELL 45 



r knew him, and I have most grateful recollections of him in that capac- 

 it}^ and of his interested helpfulness to me, a young professor. He was 

 essentially a kindly man in all of his relations, both official and personal, 

 and his courtesy was as great to the humblest member of his faculty as 

 to one of highest rank. 



Doctor and Mrs. Mell were extremely hospitable and their home was 

 the center of all college activities. Doctor Mell possessed to an unusual 

 degree the faculty of leaving his official cares with his desk — a qualitv 

 which enabled his guests to know the man more intimately. 



In 1910 he resigned the presidency of Clemson College and retired to 

 a home in Atlanta, expecting to enjoy a well-earned rest. But even here 

 duties sought him out, and his last years were spent in the service of his 

 church, on the Baptist Home Mission Board. 



In thinking over the events of Doctor MelFs life, one is impressed witJi 

 the fact that he was a pioneer in so many lines. At the time when he 

 began teaching, the realization of tlie necessitv for specialization in dif- 

 ferent branches of science was, especially in the South, just being recog- 

 nized. Instead of expecting a ^^science teacher" to know all branches of 

 science, the colleges were aw^akening to the fact that a man's whole life 

 is too short to master any one. Thus we see Doctor Mell. time after time, 

 at the parting of the ways, when he must choose between two branches 

 of a subject both of which attracted him. He had a part in the growth of 

 mining engineering in the South, in the establishment of State depart- 

 ments of agriculture, of experiment stations, of the TTeather Service, and 

 the important development of the agricultural and mechanical colleges of 

 the South. 



I quote now from a letter to me from Dr. George Petrie, who was 

 closely associated with him at Auburn before I knew him. Doctor Petrie 

 says .- 



''About thirty years ago T arrived in Auburn to begin my work as a teacher 

 in what was then the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama. It 

 was my first job of teaching. I had mv anxious moments and, to tell the truth. 

 I was dreadfully homesick. Out of pure kindness, Professor Mell and his wife 

 took me in their home. It was one of the best things that ever befell me. 

 From that day until he died it was my pl?asure to count him as a personal 

 friend. 



"As I look back over those years of close contact, much of the time as a 

 colleague, T begin to realize M^iat a strong influence he had on all of us who 

 were near him and on the students who were in his classes. Tliat strong per- 

 sonal influence was the key to his success. He was a very modest man. and 

 an extremely courteous one, but his influence was not to be resisted. In this 

 he was a fine type of the Southern professor of the old days. He was not a 

 mere specialist; he M^as a scientist wuth broad sympathies and an attractive 



