The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1909-02-02

has run through three editions and has
been translated into two foreign Ian
guages. Professor Lowell is a warm
friend of Theodore Roosevelt, who has
also written several works on govern
ment and on all other subjects known
to the mind of man.
One of the best things Professor
Lowell ever did was to inaugurate the
merit system in the Boston public
schools. In the old days teachers in
Boston had to have political pull, as
they do in some American cities to
this day. Lowell and some other gen
tlemen organized to end this abuse
Although a Republican in politics,
Professor Lowell had to take a nomi-
nation for member of the school board
from the Democrats. He was elected
and after hard fighting succeeded in
having teachers promoted on merit in
stead of on the recommendation Of
some ward heller. The reform thus
instituted has stood till the present
time, although the man who inaugu-
rated it was sacrificed to the hatred
Of the politicians and was defeated for
reelection.
0utran Every One In Harvard.
Another notable feat of the success
or of President Eliot was in outrun-
ming everybody in Harvard. Lowell
belonged to the class of 1877 and was
the fastest one and two mile sprinter
in the college. He entered several
races and won all of them. He also
slIoi4e ~ nlstory ana took first prize IN
mathemau s. He thus gained the ap-
prevail Of the student body with his
feet and of the faculty with his head.
each extreme of his anatomy creating
/ popularity at the corresponding end of
| the institution. He still believes in
athletics, but also holds to the view
that colleges are intended for brain
culture as we'll as muscular develop
ment
Abbott Lawrence Lowell was born
in Boston Dec. 10. 1856. His father
one of the shrewdest financiers in the
city. The son was educated in pri-
vate schools, spending two years in
/ Paris, and graduating from Harvard
at the age of twenty and from the
Harvard Law school three years later.
He started practice with Francis @.
Lowell. and in 1891 Frederick ]. Slim
son Joined the firm There was enough
business In the family to run several
lawyers, and SO there was not the
usual starvation period waiting for
clients DIR. Lowell never was court
practitioner, most of his business hav.
ing been connected with estates,
stocks and bonds and work in cham.
bers. AS he grew older he Withdrew
more and more from active business
spending much time abroad in the
study of foreign governments, writing
constantly and beginning to lecture in
Harvard in 1897 The year 1900 was
a notable one in his career, as he was
then made trustee of the Institute OF
Technology, managing trustee Of the
Lowell institute and permanent pro
fessor in the science of government in
Harvard. On the death of his father
he also came into the management OF
the Lowell mills and an estate valued
at millions, but the details and drudg
cry of business he delegated to other
hands as speedily as possible.
AT about this time what with his
literary work, his mills, his estate, his
lectures and the three great education
al institutions with which he was con
nected DIR, Lowell was an exceedingly
busy man. OF the Lowell institute he
was and is the actual head, bringing
about reforms that have popularized
Its lecture courses. The Institute OF