The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-04-11

ArtaCIe on NhG SeI3faM 1HtOhOSlNh H
 the Present Issue of s.The Congrega.
 ttonaI,st-His Long and Bri!iian,
 Connection With Yale.
 The following article on Professor
 George F. Fisher, dean of the Yale
 Theological seminary, is written by
 Howard A. Brldgman, and appears ir
 "The Congregationalist" of April 9th:
 When at the close of the Yale Bt-
 centennial, next October, Prof. George
 F, Fisher having taken a prominent
 part in those proceedings, will retire
 from the chair of ecclesiastical history
 and from the deanshlp of the Divinity
 school, he will have completed a career
 as professor in active service than
 which there has been only one longer
 in the entire history of the university,
 that of Benjamin Silliman. Dr. Fish
 CTS relation to the institution has con-
 tinued without break for forty-six years, seven of which were in the pas torate of the college church, and the re-
 rnaining thirty-nine in the department
 of church history. The length of this long connection with Yale is matched by it's brilliancy and worth. In Eng
 land, Scotland and Germany, as well as in America Dr. Fisher is recognized as one of the most distinguished scholars and teachers whom this country has ever produced.
 The time, let us trust, is far distant when it will be proper to put the final appraisement upon this notable career and to sum up the achievements of a wonderfully productive life. But now that he is on the eve of a coveted re- lease from routine labors and at the zenith of his fame, it may not be amiss { for an old pupil to draw little picture of this serene Christian gentleman and scholar, as he still moves to and fro, up and down the streets of his beloved New Haven; as he still labors at the lit- tie desk on which thousands of his printed pages were written as from the pinnacle of the wisdom accumulated through many industrious years he still looks forth upon his felowmen and passes kind, but positive, judgment on what is going on in the world of schol- arship and affairs.
 The first Impression which Professor Fisher has always given is that of man of genuine culture. America has never been too rich in men to whom this word ftly applies. It stands for the scholar plus the gentleman, and the scholar and the gentleman plus the ad- vantages of travel and contact with the great centers of human enrichment on both sides of the Atlantic. It presup- poses cosmopolitan tastes and refined instincts, as we'll as great ariginal abil- ities, In Professor Fisher the academic life of this country has lowered into one of it's fairest embodiments Condi- tons have favored this ripening pro- cess. He has lived during most of his New Haven life on stately Hillhouse avenue in a mansion which he himself built. The late Noah Porter, former president of Yale, was his nearest neighbur for many years, while not far away have lived other illustrious Yalen- sians.
 Professor Fishers home breathes an atmosphere of quiet elegance and sub stantial comfort. Books! books! books! That is your first exclamation as you enter the spacious, room on the lower floor, which has always been his study. The shelves reach to the ceiling, but they do not suffice, and all the availa- ble lodges have to be utilized. The pictures accord with and minister to the taste that selected them and put them in their positions. Surely if one wants to know what is the natural fruition of the scholarly life rightly pursued in the midst of the traditions and opportuni- ties of great university, one has only to look at Professor Fisher.
 But even thoroughly cultured men sometimes have scant supply of the milk of human kindness This is not the case with Professor Fisher. Second only to the impression created by his learning and, suavity is that of his wide and deep interest in human be- ings If list had been kept of the guests who have tarried under his hos pitable roof during these last forty years, it would have included many l that deserved to be double starred on the roll of the famous. His has been | the home to which distinguished for eigners visiting New Haven have nat urally drifted. Dean Stanley, James | Bryce, Dr. Fairbairn, Tan Maclaren," George Adam Smith, Dr. R. w. Dale, | Dean Freemantle are only a few repre- | 6entatiwes of this company. The Amer | jean list is naturally much longer and | hardly less notable In this very | study Dr. Bushnell read his famous es- say on Forgiveness and Law before it saw the light of publication. Phillips Brooks always appreciated an opportu- nity of meeting pr. Fisher, and in the years when he lectured frequently at Yale was generally entertained by him.
 If Ia further evidence of this desire and capacity for fellowship with the best minds were wanted, one need only glance over a few of the numerous let ters from distinguished men, which Dr. Fisher prizes and can occasionally be induced to exhibit. It has fallen to his lot to conduct the correspondence re- l uuisite to arranging for the successive Lyman Beecher lectureships, and thus every year a number of letters have possed between Dr. Fisher and the per son sought for this important service. This correspondence has been on both sides something more than tht formal question and answer, and in almost every case conventional expressions nave been supplemented with much that revealed the inner life
 But it should not be thought that Dr. Fishers friendship has been only with he great and wise of the earth Many