CHAPTER X.

VACATION OUTINGS.

HE botany and geology classes were especially full during the spring term of 1858. The country around Alfred had been thoroughly explored, till the various rocks and the flora were familiar to most of the members. It was decided that a part of the vacation be spent in camping out in some new locality under the leadership of their teacher. Mr. Weston Flint gave such a glowing account of the opportunities for study on the Alleghany River near the Indian Reservation, and of Rock City, that this point was chosen. It seemed at first that the number of students wishing to go was enough to make a small regiment, but the "lions in the way," suggested and discussed by parents and friends, soon sifted the number down to six. These were Elvira Kenyon, Elizabeth Wright, Susan Maxson, and Mr. Flint, beside Mr. Allen and myself. Miss Wright, in her volume of "Lichen Tufts," has a chapter on this vacation ramble, from which but a few extracts can be taken:—

"CAMPING OUT."

"We were tired and wanted a holiday, so we went off into the woods, out of the way of finery and etiquette and conventional rubbish. We left the railroad at Great Valley. The woods and river here are still in possession of the aboriginal inhabitants, the grave and friendly Senecas. They did not take the trouble to stare after us nor to make impertinent inquiries. It was a glorious July day, blue and golden, with the fiery languor of summer's noon quivering in the heated air and only stirred now and then by a cool breeze winding up the river. The old boatman took our baggage and some of us in a skiff half a mile, and landed us in as beautiful a spot as we could hope to find. We encamped on the grass under the foliage of young trees which clothed our side of the stream. We built three driftwood fires in a triangle, and within the area spread

our blankets in groups, and, with a roof of sky and stars above, and walls of green tapestry about us, we lay down safe and happy, and watched the sparks fly up like showers of stars among the leaves, and saw the smoke go rolling upwards like clouds going to seek their kindred above. A grateful content, such as comes to happy children, settled upon us like the dew upon the grass, and those who did not sleep lay listening to the voices of the night. We arose and ate our breakfast and chatted and sang like the other happy creatures about us. The fullest flush of the summer flowers was over, but enough yet blossomed to reward research and continually whet our appetites for more. The seed growth of the deep woods plants, too, was continually a feast of discovery to most of

us."

This was but one day's experience during the short weeks when work and rest, study and play, were so closely connected that the days were marked only by the garnered treasures that came with them. We explored Rock City, where piles of conglomerate tower high above the general surface and extend over miles of territory. We also visited some newly opened coal beds in Pennsylvania, and sent back several well-filled boxes of specimens by rail to Alfred.

Another summer holiday we followed the course of the Genesee River from its source to where it empties into Lake Ontario, gathering specimens, of course, as we progressed in the journey.

TO THE WHITE MOUNTAINS.

During the summer of 1860 Mr. Allen spent some time in special studies at Andover Theological Seminary. We went by steamer through Lake Ontario, then down the St. Lawrence, through the Thousand Isles, stopping at Montreal; thence onward over the White Mountains to Boston. We stopped for two days in the vicinity of Mt. Washington, and spent a night on its summit. Never shall I forget that morning ride on horseback up the mountain. We went on from rocky point to rocky point, till, leaving all vegetation below, we stood alone against the sky, while below, as far as the eye could scan, rolled the great waves of hill and dale, till they mingled with the

clouds in the distance. During the night while I was sleeping, Mr. Allen spent the time out on the great rocks in the moonlight, impressed, he said, with the presence and power of the Deity such as he had not known before, and never expected to experience again. He called me to see the morning sun as it came rolling up from the mists below, and hung, suspended, like a great fire balloon, out to which it seemed we might walk on the thick clouds all around us. The ride down was quiet and pleasant, though it often seemed that the next plunge of the horses must be out into space.

At Andover much of the time was spent in the study of elocution.

LEROY.

One summer we were invited by Leroy friends to bring our working party to their place. We were glad to go, as that section is the principal home of the cornifera and other fine fossils. The whole party was entertained in the pleasant home of our old-time friend, Nicholas Keeney. His son and daughter, with others, joined daily in the excursions, they donating teams to carry the party to and from the points of investigation, from whence we took each night a load of rocks and flowers. Mrs. Stanton, a former teacher, showed keen interest in the work, selecting and giving us from her fine cabinet many rare shells and specimens. Altogether, nearly a ton of specimens was shipped to Alfred as a result of the visit. It was a delightful time spent with friends in the study of science.

These were only a few of the many trips taken during the long holidays, but enough has been said to show that even the time for resting was employed by Mr. Allen in working for the best interests of the Institution he so much loved.

CHAPTER XI.

T

IN MEMORIAM.

students scattered far and wide the news of the many death of Mrs. Melissa Ward Kenyon came as that of a mother. This occurred June 27, 1863, and the commencement of that year opened sadly with her funeral service. During the following years, though no less active in his labors for the school, President Kenyon was gradually failing in health and strength. His struggle against disease was long and heroic, and, after seeking medical aid from various sources, he decided to spend a year abroad. Accordingly, in October, 1866, accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Ida F. Kenyon, he sailed for Europe. After spending the winter with Mrs. Kenyon's friends in Prussia, they started together for the Orient, intending to visit Egypt and Palestine, but were unable to go farther than Geneva, Switzerland, his health causing them to turn back and start homeward; but failing strength compelled them to pause in London. From there he wrote: "I am but a shadow, but hope the shadow will last across the ocean, for I shall so rejoice to reach America. May the Lord bless you all." His friends had hoped the rest and change would bring the needed strength, but in this they were doomed to disappointment, for a sad message from London told that on the morning of June 27, 1867, "he was at rest till the resurrection morn." Again the Commencement exercises were shrouded with the pall of sorrow.

The following extract is taken from the memorial sermon on the life of the first president of the University:

"He devoutly believed that an appetite for work was one of the noblest traits, to be sought after by all men, and one by which all difficulties could be overcome. No ten-hour system for him. No man ever

got on and up in the world who worked only ten, if not at the same kind

of work, at something. He abhorred from the very depths of his soul all dawdlers, all shiftless 'Jack at all trades' and good at none, all seekers after the easy and shady places, all who could lean long on hoe-handles or fences without getting tired, all bottomers of chairs and headers of nail kegs about stores, groceries, and taverns. He enthused his students, more or less, with the same spirit. He impressed upon them the importance, the glory of work. He made them feel that they were in this world for the express purpose of doing something, and that they were in school expressly to get a good ready to do this something.

"One of those slender, compact, nervous men, with a regal dome of skull, filled and dripping with brains as the overflowing honeycomb drips with honey, surcharged with mental magnetism and spiritual electricity, a man very earnest, very incisive, somewhat radical, yet very genuine, he stirred many a young life to the core, dispelling through his fiery energy, drowsiness, stupidity, and quickening them into vitality, awakened their dormant powers, kindling their latent energies into fervor and aspiration, and spurring on to high endeavor and noble achievement. It took no ordinary rein and curb to hold such a fiery nature in check. To him life was a fiery battle, and his voice ever rang out to the young as the battle shout of a leader tried and true. Ever riding earnestly, even furiously ahead, amid flame and smoke, he had words of cheer to those who could spur up to his side or press hard after, but woe to the laggard or the coward. If he descended like a thunderbolt upon the stupid or the lazy, the frivolous or the rowdy, if gloved hands and anointed locks, those symbols of affectation and foppery, found no favor in his eyes, if schoolgirl prim and simper and frippery, those signs of shallow mothers and silly daughters, were an abomination to him, yet the earnest seeker after knowledge, the hard worker, and the needy, found in him the gentleness of the dews of Hermon, the sacrifice and help of a father. Did ever a needy student go to him for aid and not get it, if it was in his power to assist?-Nay, times many has the help been freely, generously offered without the asking, as many a one from a full heart has testified. In short, in most of the essential attributes, his was one of the truest and noblest of natures, ever full to overflowing with generous impulses and sacrificial deeds. He was a man whose life was constantly overleaping the prudential virtues, and taking on the heroic and Christian ones of self-abnegation, with entire consecration to a definite and high purpose, achieving through self-sacrificing endeavor. In teaching, he found his true calling, for teachers, no less than poets, are born, not made. Aptness to teach is an inborn gift, not a manufactured article.