New-York tribune., 1910-06-08

DR.. Smith was unconscious practically all
Of to-day, following d serious turn in his
condition last night. With him when the
end came late in the afternoon, were only
his physician, Dr.. Grassett, and Arnold
Haultfn. his secretary.
DR. Smith early in February slipped on
the polished floor Of the hall in his home
and fell, fracturing his thigh bone. It was
thought at the time that owing TO his ad-
vanced age (he was eighty-seven years
Old he could not survive beyond a day or
two, but he fingered, and as spring came
he began to gain some strength.
AT times he suffered intense pain from
the broken bone, which did not knit
Within the last month he was taken to the
library of The Grange. which had been
transformed into a bedroom, and there
among his books the distinguished scholar
spent the closing hours of his life. =
Or. Smith first visited America during
the Civil War and received an enthui-
astic reception as a champion of the cause
of the North. In 1856 he again came to
the United States and became professor of
English and constitutional history at Cor
nell University. He had many loyal friends
and admirers IN Canada. President Fal-
coner Of Toronto University said upon
learning Of his death: DIR. Smith, as a su-
perb embodiment of the highest academic
culture, has left an enduring impression
upon our educational ideals
Secretary Sinclair Of the Labor Council
said: He was man who at all times
was close to the heart of the common peo-
pie for whom he did so much"
Godwin Smith, for forty years in the
front rank Of North American scholars and
thinkers. was the subject OF estimates
widely diverse. To some he was "Canada's
Grand Old Man" His associates in his
native England, where he first won dis
tinction. TO the last referred TO him as
England's foremost writer Of vigorous
prose But his refusal TO take active part
in the public affairs of his adopted land of
Canada his Indifference to party lines and
his trenchant criticisms Of many popular
men and policies none the less cutting be-
cause 'unfailingly couched in terms the
most refned) won him many enemies. A
spokesman for his critics once referred
to Professor Smith as that hybrid Anglo
Yankee-Canadian who ssttled in our midst
10 teach US his ideas Of what we ought TO
do"
Indeed, in his own personality he pre-
sented something Of a paradox AS a pro-
ence he became too iconoclastic Of con-
servative Institutions longer to remain in
his native land. Turning to America. he
found her democratic atmosphere too ex-
trene for his British training He COM
rronlised on Canada. where to the last
he antagonized many Of his adopted fellow
countrymen by <his pronounced British
views Of things On the one hand. and on
the other by his admiration for American
institutions and persistent advocacy OF
union between the United States and
Canada
Professor Smiths intellectual powers
be Inherited from his father a practising
,lvsician OF high standing in Reading
,,,bAre the son was born in 1923. Eton pre-
nsred him for oxford, and at the univer-
sit, he won the Hertford and Ireland
lsrships and prizes for English prose
end Latin prose and verse. He was gradu-
ated in 1915 with first-class honors in
classics. Turning first TO the law for an
,,,cunatiou. he was called to the English
bar in ls47. But the life OF a barrister
sa,lad IN offer a broad enough field In
stead he soon turned to pedagogical and
&C.,, work. Nevertheless. he put his
legal training to good use IN his ex-
,Ns',-.t,,e studies Of English constitutional
,-s-,or, .The Saturday Review" was
-s+sbIisbed about this time. and the young
scholsr became one of it's regular contribu-
Worked at Oxford.
:, u,as during this period that, at the age
-.,.-seven he had already become
oI-s.,c,ous at oxford as the assistant
CoIl1i,, rlta~,, with Arthur Stanley. afterward
80 as secretary Of the royal commits