The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-05-24
to spend the week with her son, NJ. N.
Reynolds.
ANDREW DICKSON WHITE.
One Of His Old Pupils, a Newspaper
Woman, Makes Notes Of a
Talk with Him.
From the New York Tribune.

From the New York Tribune.
When the future ambassador extra
ordinary and minister plenipotentiary
of the United States to Germany was
in New York the other day woman
came out of the Waldorf just as he was
passing by. First she thought, Yes,
l will" then she said to herself, "No,
I won't" Finally, she did.
Aren't you ex-President White?"
she asked, trying to feel brave when
she accosted him. 1t did not seem nec-
essary to say to what he was eX-
president.
Yes" he answered.
I'm q Cornell girl" she said simply,
certain that her explanation would win
her the smile that it did. They walked
up Fifth avenue together.
you are the second Cornellian have
greeted within the last few moments"
said President White kindly. Il meet
Cornell graduates everywhere, and
am always pleased to see them"
The girls heart swelled with pride.
You might turn your walk about New
York into triumphal procession" she
thought. Men and women would flock
to you from all quarters, and 1 would
gladly be your standard bearer. Few
have done more than you to help along
the cause of the highter education of
women in America. You do not know
how many pay you allegiance in their
hearts"
But he was seeakng, and she had
to answer.
what are you doing in New York?
All, working on Il newspaper That is
new career for women, one that was
not thought of in my day. 1t must
bring you into contact with many sides
of life. DO you like it? Do they give
you pleasant work to do? 1 wonder
If you were sent to hear the lecture
given the other night by your fellow
Cornellian, Garrett p. Serviss, a re-
markably lucid and beautiful eXposi-
tior of THE evolution of the earth?"
when were you at Cornell?" he ask
i a moment later. 81 left in '94," she
answered. You went to Russia at the
end of my sophomore year, and I was
heartbroken to think l was not to hear
your lectures in European history"
But the girl smiled to herself as she
| thought how we'll acquainted she had
| always felt with the man to whom she
was speaking then for the first time
| in her life. 1t is a feeling that every
| loyal Cornellian knows. Whether he
| be present or absent, the spirit of
| Andrew Dickson White permeates the
| university of which he was the first
| president. If it We're possible for his
| record as statesman and diplomat to
| be forgotten, his memory would be kept
| forever green by those who have known
| him as teacher, and have passed on
| the gospel of a spiritual freedom that
| he taught.
| Had any one asked me if l knew
| President White, 1 would have hesitat-
ed involuntarily before l answered that
| / didn't" thought the girl. "I have
| heard him quoted morning, noon and
night. l have seen his haunts and lived
| in them myself" And then there arose
| before her minds eye the vision of
scenes held and cherished remem-
| brance by many another Cornellian.
She saw the green hills of Ithaca and
| the shifting blues and browns and
| green's of the full-bosomed lake below,
the campus with its great stone build
| ings and it's rows of professional villas
stretched between two rocky gorges,
and on the highest point of land en-
powered in the trees, where live the
squirrels that President White would
never let any one kill, the house that
is called the presidents mansion"
She remembered how full that dear
old house is of association with great
| men. Here General Grant once stood
to receive the citizens of Ithaca. There
| by that fireside Professor Freeman, the
great historian, once sat far into the
night. Every spot, almost every dish
and every picture, has a story She
saw again the merry circle of boys
and girls who used to assemble about
President Whites library fire when
he was far away and, sitting on the
floor in the dim light. used to listen
to a medieval tale told by Professor
Burr, who is as nearly President White
as any one President White can be.
While these thoughts were in her
mind President White suddenly turned
his steps toward book store they were
| passing. In the window was DISPLAYED
the illumined text of an ancient book.
What fine old manuscript" ex-
claimed President White. "You know
that's one of my hobbies" he said, as
he bent down to look more closely at
the text.
Indeed do" she answered. 'I have
spent many happy hours in the Presi-
dent White library at Cornell and |
know of some of it's treasures"
homesick longing came over her
for that quiet Witches alcoye." high
up In the stacks, where glancing up oc-
casionally to look on the lake and VAL
ley below, she had wandered through
the pages of the "Malleus Maleficarum''
and hung over the sad story of Diet
rich Flade."
The rumble Of the Fifth avenue
stages had never seemed so loud as II
did when she thought of that peaceful
corner and "the clOistered virtue" made
possible for women by such men as An
drew d. White
Il am glad you are going to repre-
sent us in German" she said. "When
l was there two years ago they weren't
very friendly to women at the Uniyer-
sity of Berlin"
He smiled and told her how he had
helped Miss Thomas, one of Cornelps
first women graduates, to obtain recog-
milton at Leipsic.
But 1 couldn't hear half he said. "
remarked the girl to a friend later
for the wheels on the Fifth avenue
cobblestones made such clatter! But
his eyes were so kind and his manner
so pleasant that / never in my life was
so glad could say that Cornell is my
alma mater"