Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-05-30
DR.. F. B. GUMMERE,
EDUCATOR, DEAD
Distinguished Haverford Pro-
fessor Of English Literature
Expires Suddenly at Home
HAD COME. FROM MEETING

DIR. Francis Barton Gummere. pro-
fessor of English literature at Haver-
ford College. died suddenly at midnight
at his home, I College circle, Haver-
ford He was sixty four years old.
Doctor Gummere appeared to be in
excellent health last night when he at
tended a college committee meeting. he
went to bed at about II o'clock. Near
midnight he called his wife lie was in
pain and could hardly speak. In few
minutes he was dead. Heart disease
is said to have been the cause of death.
The funeral will be held Monday
afternoon at his home.
Professor Gummere was a descendant
Of a long line of prominent educators
and was an authority on the history of
poetry and ballad forms. He wrote ex-
tensively on those subjects.
son, Major Samuel Gummere, who
was on General Pershing's staff, is now
at. sea, homeward bound. Efforts are
being made to communicate with him.
The professor had two other sons, DIR.
Richard NJ. Gummere, headmaster of
Penn Charter School, and Francis b.
Gummere, Jr.
Doctor Gummere's widow. who was
Amelia Smith Mott, of Burlington, n.
j., is an authority on the history of
New Jersey and the history of the
Friends in this country.
Doctor Gummere's Career
DIR. Francis Barton Gummere was
born in Burlington, New Jersey March
8, 1855. He was the son of Samuel
James Gummere, the president of Hav-
erford College 1924, and his child
hood was passed on the college campus
with which his family has been asso-
ciated for sixty years. He graduated
from Haverford College in 1872 and
then spent three years at Harvard
After four years of school teaching in
Providence he studied philology in Ger
many 1S79-S1, the universities of
Leipzig, Berlin, Strassburg and Frei-
burg, taking his doctorate in philosophy
at Freiburg in 1881.
instructor in English at Harvard for
year, and then accepted the head
mastership of the Swain School at New
Bedford. Mass. In 1887 he became
professor of English at Haverford,
which position he held until the time
OF his death.
Although many attempts were made
by larger institutions to secure his
brilliant services, he preferred to re-
main in the quiet little college com
munity where he had grown up. In
1909 Harvard conferred upon him the
honorary degree of Doctor of Letters.
'Inspired at Harvard
1t was as a pupil of the famous
>Francis James Child at Harvard that
Francis Gummere first became an eager
student of the old English ballads and
the communal origins of poetry. field
which he made entirely his own and in
which his brilliant and suggestive
scholarship was unsurpassed Upon
the enthusiasm instilled by Professor
Child he added the severe pathological
exactness of the German universities in
the days when all the world looked tc
those institutions as pioneers in the
sciences of language. But no intensity
of study could quench the unique vi
vacity and charm that made Doctor
Gummere so inspiring teacher. He
was one of those rare scholars who are
able to cast a spell of enchantment
over their pupils-a spell that none
who sat under him will ever forget
His enthusiasm was cast in no narrow
II a 30 H.. H.. L.
dents that Doctor Gummere could hav,
lectured to them on science, history
biology, economics or philosophy ant
made any subject he touched upon seen
for the moment the most interesting il
the world.
Loved by Students
Doctor Gummere's students nevel
knew whether to be more delighted a
the extent of his scholarship and infor
nation or at the radiant charm of tn,
man. His humor and social grace wer,
exceptional and confounding to thos
accustomed to think of great schola
as one buried only in books. He wa
never too busy to spend his time il
helping the humblest student. Himsel
looked up to by scholars all over tn
world as an authority on the deepes
problems Of the history of language an'
literature, he knew how to temper hi
teaching TO the capacity of his hearers
"His appearance on the Chautauqu
platform few summers ago marked tn
introduction of genuine scholarship int
that characteristic American enterprise
and he was always delighted by the re
ception he received from those who lis
tened to him at that time.
Lived Quietly at Haverford
''His quiet home looking over tn
cricket field at Haverford was. a por
of call for distinguished scholars fror
many lands. What marked Doctor Gum
mere among scholars was his abound
ing virility and his rich charm of per
sonality. Those who knew and love