l8 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
3. Patience and diligence, that labored for years toward the 
production of this little book, at first gropingly, and then when the 
light shone and the way was clear, going forward by leaps and bounds: 
but whether making visible progress or not—never ceased from 
labor. 
4. Open mindedness and generosity, that gave to the works of 
others always more credit than was their due. 
This morning when I wakened I fell to thinking of years gone by; 
and a burden lay upon me because I feared I had not sensed the true 
significance of this hour. So I wandered up the hill and across the 
quadrangle while the dew sparkled upon the grass, and the outspread 
webs of the spiders lay shimmering in the morning light. And I 
stopped at White Hall and looked up at that east window of the 
upper room, the window through which during so many fruitful 
years, the morning light had flooded in to find the investigator 
already at his tasks, and then I felt I knew why we were impelled to 
this meeting. You all (except those who have come most recently) 
know that window, and the plain but orderly desk that stood behind 
it. Perhaps you recall that there always lay a few prints upon it, 
made from photographs taken to show some fact that had just been 
nailed down. 
It was the investigator who sat through the early morning hours, 
working joyfully at self-appointed tasks. And when the chimes rang 
out their summons to the students, then it was the teacher who went 
out gladly into the laboratory. But between the study and the 
laboratory there was an open door. Each gained inspiration from 
the other. There was nothing too precious in the one for the use of 
the other if the other needed it. The relations between the two were 
ideal. And relations between master and pupils such as have (ini 
America at least) been most productive of valuable educational and 
scientific results. 
But there was another window that looked out eastward from that 
upper room, and there at another desk was a co-laborer, herself a 
graduate of Cornell and a lover of the ways of nature. It would be 
but a poor acknowledgement of our debt that did not mention Mrs. 
Comstock in this hour. Mrs. Comstock mastered the art of wood 
engraving and set a new standard of entomological illustration. To 
the work of founding a great department of entomology Mrs. Com¬ 
stock brought those qualities of mind and heart that sweetened all 
our experiences as students here, and bound us forever to the cause. 
