The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-09-06
Dr. Eugene A. Smith; His Work for the State

Mature. to hide him. called him Smith; is a line from the genial phil osopher. Oliver Wendell Holmes. who thus concluded a couplet on his friend, the author of "America.~ On one of the new buildings of the University of Alabama will be carved the words: Smith Hali' The meaning of "Haii' Is clear; but who is Smith?
 Nature did her best to hide him be- heath the name commonest of all since Tubal Cain planted a prolific family tree. But like the Smith who wrote of rocks and rills and templed hills. and whose name will never die so long as -America. is sung. the name of this Smith will never die so long as the rocks and rills and generous hhls of Alabama are needed to give out their benefits to the human family. He has read the stony lips of Nature; he. has unriddled the Alabama sphinx: he has flung open a page in the book of the universe; he has interpreted the will of God. written in the rocks and seal ed against the day of great in- terpreteri That interpreter is smith. known by his classmates as Jack. but named by his parents Eugene A. and officially known as State Geolo- gist" His name will endure longer than Smith Hall. His place among 
 bama Is established forever.
 What manner of man Is her His brown eyes have the quietude given only to those who know their right work in the world. and are doing 1t we'll. The eyes are youthful because they have never been clouded by doubts regarding the thing that they were placed in the world to see and to accomplish. As these eyes shine with a kindly light on students or visitors 1t is difficult to realize that they are the eyes of man who did a mans part in the civil war. In them turks eternal youth ever seeking after new truth and yet content with the limit ations placed upon life by its tipy span. His voice is gentle in the ex- treme. He tells with unconscious hu- nor that he could never use phono- graph for his dictated work. Little wonder. His tones are mot incisive enough to impress anything less sensi-N tive than the human ear. His man. ner Of speaking is peculiar; he seldom closes his lips at the end of a sentence, but holds as 1t were a suspended smile through all his conversation. The eff feet encourages the listener to venture freely into the discussion. His frame is light--a 16-year-old son stands head almost to leanness. He cares but iit- tie about dress. Thus appears the out CT man.
 Secrets of the Hills.
 Conversing of one thing or another as we pass through the geological col- lections .or the library. or the chem teal laboratory, or stand for few moments upon the foundations of Smith Hall. whose roof shall cover the future biological and geological work Of the University and whose museum shall stand as a monument to Profess soT Smiths passion for truth, the mode of his mind stands revealed. With a few sentences and a gesture or two. he covers periods of time reckoned by the millenia. The coal age is barred of its secrets, and we can see rank marsh vegetation waving in the tropic atmos- phere failing to It's destiny, subsid-, dng with the sinking of the earth's solid crust, and lying prone beneath the increasing pressure Of later stra- ta. He makes the nearer or the stu dent "see," and hence his strength in the remarkable and successful trainy ing he has given to generations of stu dents. At another moment he will turn aside in his conversation to point out unique devices in the chem fcal laboratory. many of which orig mated in this brain that can with equal facility read catcylsms or de- wise apparatus. He thus has the rare faculty of thinking in both large terms and small.
 His soul2 It can be interpreted by years he has laid the foundations of riches for others. In making many rich he has yet remained a man on professional salary. The prize of his high calling has been Service to Alahama," and no emolument other than this has ever appealed to him. With unerring instinct he has pointed the golden way for others, but the ways of others were by-ways, not in line, with his life purpose. He has been tempted with offers from other States, but his self-made pledge to give one whole life to one great task has held unbroken. His soul Is clean lived to see his work as a State build CT recognized by all whose high esteem is of any moment to him. He is, therefore "a triumphant soul. For ever and forever his patient researches will form the basis of Alabama's greatness This makes him content. Little wonder that the brown eyes are placid or that smile hovers around his mouth. He is the most success ful man in the whole State; for he has worked out his complete possibilities in a congenial task.
 Interested as a Boy.
 It is intersting to know that bed
 
 County first interested him as a boy. Some of these fossils and a number of Indian relics gathered by him before he was a man now form part of the collection of the State. It is true that aS a boy he could not foresee just how his life would be utilized. However, when the war was over and he had studied for time at the State Univer- sity, his distinct hope as he went to Germany to study was that he should come back and be the State Geologist. This aspiration was gratiied and for more than a generation he has delved and searched and puzzled over the problems presented by the geology of this State. He says that at the begin ming 1t was the challepgenof difficult problems that buoyed him up in his work, and it was not until he had been at york for some years that he real tsed1 thN positively essential relation be tweAn s work and the economic de- vel It of AkaSSnla. J AAea he is ae simple and as
 in professional life. He