Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/131

THE FIRST PRESIDENT 103 him to give them authority to say that he will accept the position they offer him. They have now telegraphed him to come to New York and have sent him passes. He felt that he must go and see them and has gone tonight. Dr. Northrup and I have insisted that he should call on you I hope you will be able to see him and will do us the service to encourage him not to leave the Seminary. We can't afford to let him go, and for this reason, among others, have urged the claims of the University on him. We believe he is the man of all others to save and restore and make it a great institution. This letter explains how Dr. Harper became acquainted with Mr. Rockefeller and how that association of these two men began which was marked by events of such far-reaching consequence. Dr. Harper called on Mr. Rockefeller who wrote to Mr. Goodspeed on April 27: Professor Harper was here yesterday and says he will not reach a final decision until he sees you and the other friends of the Seminary. I said all I could with a view to have him remain with us, and shall regret much if he does not, but I fear he will not. The fear here expressed proved to be well founded. Dr. Harper went to Yale. It was in the early eighties, while Dr. Harper was still at Morgan Park that Dr. John H. Vincent, always on the lookout for efficient teachers for Chautauqua, heard of this young teacher of Hebrew and in the summer of 1883 added him to his corps of instructors. Here, as everywhere, Dr. Harper soon made a great impression. It was not long before he was principal of the College of Liberal Arts. His influence and power in the affairs of Chau- tauqua constantly increased until its whole educational work was in his hands. Bishop Vincent said to the writer, "I had all I could do to keep Dr. Harper from swallowing up the whole thing." But Chautauqua, though he retained his connection with it for many years, was only an incident in his busy life. He did not want it and had no thought of absorbing it. But so extraordinary was his educational insight and imagination, his creative energy, and his organizing genius, that, in every institution of education with which he was closely associated his power was felt immediately and as time went on his influence became more and more dominant. In the autumn of 1886 Dr. Harper went to Yale as professor of Semitic languages in the Graduate Department. He was also made