Morning journal and courier., 1889-07-02
ANEmINENT CAREER.

e year or two past he has been gradually fall ing. and for the last three months was very feeble. Up to two or three weeks ago he was able to ride out and occasionally to walk out, supported on the arm of an attendant. He died of old age. His age was eighty-eight' His was long life, useful life and an hon. orable life, and for many years had he been an eminent man, an honor to Yale college, this city and his country. His spare, frail within . recent period, and his daily journey to the postoffice for the late forenoon maii or the afternoon mail was rarely omitted except in severe weather. He was reverenced by the public as we'll as by Yale men, and Tn refined scholarly appearance his was an ideal presence. Before his death three mon were living who have held the high position of president of Yale university, a university whose influence for good has been seemingly boundless, whose sons have found influential positions in all the walks of life and whose ideas as enarafted in the minds of many of the country's sblest men have been potent at the nations council board.
 Called to the presidency of Yale college on the resignation of President Day in 1S48 ex- President Woolsey ruled for twenty-hve years the destinies of Yale, period fraught with wonderful prosperity to the institution. A ripe scholar, he set about at once to lm- prove the scholarship of the students and the innovations he introduced looking to this end remain in large measure in full force to the present day. In his early years he had studied law for time and afterward took a partial course in theology at Princeton. Enss Es fifteen years before his elevation to thc-S nrss denoy he had been professor ig Gns m r, appearso e college. Before the comri Sne aSs name ;ss Hh an year of his adWie ps WON NY s"1o pra rnnaenco to the new professorship of moral 1 philosophy and metaphysics. In his inter- esting little book, entitled "The History of Yale University" Professor Dexter says that
 "a great advance took place under Dr. Wool sey in the range and quality of the instruc- tion given, and in the amount and character of study required" During President Woolsey's administration, 1846.71, great impetus was given to build- ing at Yale, and the following buildings were erected: Alumni Hall, the present gymnasium, the Medical school, the Art | school, Farnam domitory, East Divinity Hall, Durfee domitory and Marquand chap- | el. All these notable additions were made in Dr. Woolsey's administration. The force of | instruction under him was also further
 strengthened and the Theological seminary
 received new life by the accession to the chair of Sacred Literature in 1858 of the present president of the university, President Dwight.
 In late years the students of the university were brought into no contact with the ex-president. The last time he addressed the students at any length was when he spoke words of wisdom and sound advice to the class of 'S8 in it's sopomore year, on the day of prayer for colleges. James Pierpont, one of the founders of Yale college, whose daughter was Sarah, great granddaughter of Thomas Hooker, one of the founders of Hartford. Mir. Rockers great. grandson was the celebrated Presi- dent Edwards, that wonderful preacher and theoloaian whose name is to-day most illus- trious in the church history of New England A grandson of his, the younger President Edwards, "enriched New England theology with his unanswerable exposition and de- fense of the atonement." A great grandson
 of this noted man was the elder President Dwight of Yale college, who presided over
 the college for more than twenty years with eminent success and wide renown, and left to all evangelical churches that read or worship In the English language the only system of
 theology that ever has become in two hemi-
 spheres 6 popular religion. President Wool
 sey. endowed with so many gifts of learning,
 of genius and of grace, who so adorned
 the office made illustrious by his predeces-
 sors,, was great-grandson of this
 same James Pierpont. The present presi- dent of Yale college, the younger Timothy Dwight, also descendant of the same stock, presides over university which has grown
 out of the collegiate school founded by his
 ancestor, James Pierpont, a university with
 It's five distinct faculties of instruction, its
 400 students and its 1000 alumni. He IS also great great grandson of the same
 James Pierpont, and all these are thus linked together generation after generation.
 tahk New York city on October 31, 1901. His father was William W. Woolsey, . merchant of that city, and his mother Elizabeth Dwight, sister of the first President Timothy Dwight of Yale. His parents removed to
 New Haven in his boyhood days. He was prepared for college at the Hopkins grammar school here. He graduated from Yale in of Charles Chauncey, an eminent lawyer of
 Philadelphia. A year later he studied the- ology at Princeton, and from 1893 to 1895 he
 was Q tutor at Yale. He was licensed to
 preach in 1895. h 1927 he went to Europe
 to perfect himself in Greek language and
 literature, remaining abroad until 1890,
 studying in Germany, France and Italy.
 From 1881 to 1S46 he was professor of Greek
 at Yale, the presidency of which he held
 from the latter year to 1871. member of
 the American Company of Revisers of the
 New Testament, he was its chairman from
 1871 to 1881. For several years
 he was regent of the Smith sonian institution ut Washington. He was
 also at one time vice president of the Orient.
 al society. In 1S47 Harvard college confer
 red upon him the degree of D. D., and in
 1886 LID. He was regarded as an authori-
 ty on questions of international law. Be-
 sides other literary work he edited the New
 Englander several years after it first appear
 ed in 1S4S; and he wrote for other periodic
 als. He published various Greek works with
 English notes, for the use of college stu- dents, and gave to the Yale library 1000
 volumes in Greek literature. He of International Law, Designed as an Aid in Teaching and in Historical Studies.' Other works of his are Essays on Divorce and Divorce Legislation, with Special Reference to the United States QS6V, Religion of the Present and of the Future, Sermons Preached Chiefly at Yale college 1S7D, Political Science of the State, Theor- volumes, 1877; Communism and Social- ism in their History and theory; a Sketch QS8O; Helpful Thoughts for
 Young Mem Q8S2); new edition of Francis Lieber's Civil Liberty and Self Gov ernment,' edited by him Philadelphia, 1S7l, and Manual of Politic Ethics,' e vols, 1s71).
 As a college instructor Dr. Woolsey in- spired the student with the greatest respect, but his reserved and digniied manners ale low him to become what students call "pupular." He was an earnest preacher, but not an eloquent one, and profound student In each of the branches to which he devoted himself. No president of Yale has left a deeper impression on that institution than he who died yesterday.
 H. c. Kingsley, editor of the New Eng lander, in his admirable Yale book thus sur veys some of the features ot President Wool seys administration;
 "President Woosey entered upon the duties of his office at astime when in consequence Of the in- creased facilities of intercommunicaton between this country and Europe, American scholarship was,begnning to be measured by the best results of the training which was given in European the friends of the college that the new president
 even judged by the highest standards, ranked as
 . ripe and finished scholar.
 The affairs of the institution were administered The whole period from 1916 to 1871 was one of uni
 form prosperity, and was marked by the steady growth and improvement of the college in all It's dspartments Rut it was by.bringing the whole body of students under the influences which pro- ceed from broader culture than any they had been subjected to before, that his administration was Tparticuiarly distinguished. He had at once, after entering upon the duties of his oce assumed
 In accordance with the custom of his predecessors, prominent part In the instruction of the senior history and political science. But the influence of his teaching, and of his example as laborous and
 conscientious scholar was fet throughout the whole community.