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Kansas University Weekly.
of Governor Robinson in his relation to this University. At the outset I may say that Governor Robinson's interest in the University was much older than the University itself. He had a college in his thought long before there was the slightest sign of one on the ground, or even on the statute book. In that perhaps he was not singular. Most of the early settlers of Lawrence regarded a college as one of the things they must aim at in building the town. It was the common thought of them all. This is shown by the fact that there were three separate movements in this direction before the University took form, and the University became the heir of all three. But Governor Robinson was the exponent of this idea more than any other man, and was more steadily and constantly pressing in that direction. He kept the idea alive, and joined effectively in every effort in that line. Very early in the history of the settlement Amos A Lawrence, of Boston, after whom this town was named, set apart $10,000 toward the establishment of a college in Lawrence. This money was loaned out and principal and interest were to be available whenever any project for a college was mature enough to make it certainty. This fund lay as a constant invitation for propositions in this line. Its existence was a large element in every movement made, and a large element in the final location of the State university at this place. Governor Charles Robinson was the custodian of this fund, being a very particular freind of Mr. Lawrence. I never have heard the statement made, but I am very sure I am right when I say that it was Governor Robinson's suggestion and influence which induced Mr. Lawrence to set the fund aside for that purpose. I am all the more sure of this from the fact that Mrs. Robinson belongs to the Lawrence family and was naturally intimate and influential in the Lawrence home.
In every movement toward a college made in Lawrence, Governor Robinson was a prominent actor. There were three such efforts before the State university was suggested. He was active in every one of them. Whether the movement was by the Presbyterians or the Congregationalists or the Episcopalians, he could always be depended upon to cooperate. Though he belonged to neither of these bodies, he cooperated with each one of these in turn, willing to join with any body of men who were aiming to build a worthy college. He was a member of every one of their boards of trustees, and an active sympat thizer with their plans. When the State university was proposed and the other plans all merged in this, it was in full accord with his ideas, and he joined in the effort with great earnestness. He offered to turn over to the state the funds
of which he was the custodian and also to add still larger donations of his own. The beautiful site on which these buildings stand was his gift to the state. If the state were as wise as he was liberal, she would lose no time in securing the entire circle of the hill, and thus come in possession of the most magnificent site of any university in these United States of America. She would thus literally round out the noble gift of the first governor of our state, and do a deed for which all the future would call her blessed. It would be an act whose significance would be more marked with every year that passed
Governor Robinson's interest in the University was not confined, however, to gifts of money or land. He gave it also time and thought. He was always ready to give it his personal service whenever that service was called for. He was a member of the first board of regents, and I am not able to say for how many terms after that he was his own successor. In his capacity as regent he was untiring in his attention. He was not only present at the meetings of the board but he spent time and money and travel in aid of the institution. When the first faculty was chosen he proposed the name and secured the election of a young man in Massachusetts as professor of natural science. Then he used his best arts of persuasion to induce that young man to accept the position offered him. That young man came and entered upon his work and did it so well that he distinguished himself and the institution with which he was connected. So among the contributions of Governor Robinson to Kansas university we may very properly include her honored chancellor, Frank H. Snow.
While the name of Governor Robinson is written upon the early history of this state in letters that can never be effaced, because they penetrate the very substance itself, his thought and life are also wrought into this university in a way that must endure, because they are a part of the very foundation and structure. His name is linked with the very first thought of a college in Lawrence and can be traced down the whole history of its development. He seemed to be following the plain logic of events when he made this institution the final heir of the estate he lost behind him. He showed in his last act where his heart all along had been. He wished his last gift to go where his chief interest had been. He seemed to realize that this was his best monument, and only followed the instinct of his life when he crowned it with his last benefaction.
The day will come when Kansas will build a monument to the man who led her counsels and her hosts in the struggle that made her free; who was her first governor when that struggle ended, and she took her place among the stars; and
who was so important a factor in the founding and unfolding of her chief institution, her great University. Where and what shall that monument be? The place it would seem, should not be a matter of question. It should be, not in the cemetery where his bones are resting, but on the spot where so much of his life and thought were centered, on the piece of ground which his own liberality gave to the state for a noble purpose. Then what shall his monument be? A shaft of marble or a column of brass would be an impertinence in honor of a man so emphatically a man of deeds. Let it be in line with his leading thought, with the work which more than any other will commemorate him. Let it both proclaim and enlarge the work which crowned his life. In closing therefore I would like to suggest a monument by which Kansas could honor herself, and honor him, and at the same time enlarge the institution on which his heart was set. It would be a monument which would express his practical and progressive character; which would express his love of science and of original research, and which would express his interest in higher education. I would suggest that the people of Kansas build on this hill what shall be known in all time to come, as "The Robinson Observatory of Kansas University."
ADDRESS BY HON. E. C. LITTLE.
Me ipse consolor et maxime illo solacio, quod eo errore careo, quo amicorum decessu plerique angi solent. Nihil mali accidisse Scipioni puto: mihi accidit, si guid accidit; suis autem incommodus graviter angi non amicum, sed se insum amantis est.—De Amicitia.
I comfort myself with this solace that I am free from the error by which most people are wont to be grieved at the loss of their friends. I think no evil has befallen Scipio; to me it has happened if any has happened—and to be greatly grieved at one's own misfortune is the part of one who loves not his friend, but himself.
This phrase of Cicero's has received the approbation of twenty centuries of philosophy. The most credulous has inscribed it in his creed. The most sceptical has written it among his axioms. The pessimist, remembering the past, reaches that gloomy conclusion. The optimist, looking into the future, registers that fond hope. Cheered by this doctrine the crusader mounts the walls of Jerusalem inspired by this anticipation the peaceful devotee kneels at the altar. The savage fanatic chants it in his war-song on the upper Nile. The cultured scholar writes it in his thesis by the Isis. Every class, clime and century unite in this belief. Nevertheless its naked statement is an impeachment of the goodness of nature.