180 
BRONZE OF SPRINGER 
Our old friend, Charles F. Lummis, on the occasion of one of our 
encampments in the Rito de los Frijoles, drew in poetry his portrait, 
than which I have seen nothing finer in color or bronze, and reading 
you will all recognize as a perfect likeness. 
No one will ever know how many have felt the support of his strong, 
kindly hand, always extended in such an unostentatious way that it 
was known only to the one receiving it. If we could assemble here 
the young artists, musicians, scientists, who have been helped to their 
higher opportunities by him, the number would astonish you. And a 
greater effect than the material aid afforded was always the determined 
effort inspired by his faith. It called out the best in you. He has al¬ 
ways absolute faith in the visions of youth. He believed in you, 
trusted you implicitly; you simply had to make good. 
When I was at the head of the Normal University of New Mexico 
and he was president of the Board of Regents, he gave me this admo¬ 
nition: “Mr. Hewett, see that no deserving student ever leaves this 
institution for lack of funds. Always let me know about such cases.” 
I am venturing to tell some things about Mr. Springer that have not 
been told in public before. These were the things that gave him his 
greatest pleasure outside of his family life. 
His home was a sacred precinct that some of us have been privileged 
to enter. Among the greatest of his successes, shared by a wise and 
beautiful wife and mother, has been the rearing of a remarkable fam¬ 
ily. Two things stand out in my mind as I recall what I have seen of 
his family life — the solicitous care for the opportunities of every son 
and daughter, and the veneration in which he always held his fore¬ 
bears. He is the son of a great father, whose memory he holds in 
profound reverence. He is one of those who believe that 
“Whatever is Man in the sons of men, 
Whatever is staunch and true. 
We draw from our sires, and their sires again. 
And mothers of mothers who mated when 
The world and its heart were new.” 
We could speak long of the qualities that have endeared Mr. Sprin¬ 
ger to so many. He is all that has been claimed for him tonight, and 
something greater still. In the mind of every one of you who knows 
him well, he stands out as the incomparable gentleman. He has 
reached that highest of all distinctions through his interest in and 
practice of the finer things of life. The things in which he has taken 
deepest interest, science, art, music, education, public welfare, the 
good name of his state, the destiny of our country, which he has al¬ 
ways staunchly held must be achieved on the lines laid down by the 
founders of our great Republic, make for nobility. It is the highest 
possible ideal of the citizen — nobility in public and private life. 
The friends of Mr. Springer have felt that, at this time, when he has 
reached the fullness of life and is still with us, they would like to do 
