Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/153

THE FIRST PRESIDENT 125 life to go to Chicago and do the work that has been proposed. It will be the sorest disappointment of my life if it should not be found wise for me to do this. While waiting for an answer to this letter Dr. Harper answered Mr. Gates's letter quoted above on a declaration to the public and said: Your long, well-written letter, breathing a spirit and friendliness incom- parable, has been received and read carefully. You put the case strongly and take away a good deal of my standing ground perhaps all of it. I shall consider, and reflect, and meditate. He also wrote to Mr. Goodspeed and sent him a copy of the letter to Mr. Rockefeller and was answered thus: I am very glad to have the letter you sent to Mr. R., though it is not flattering to the September Council. I shall always be ready to stand by the decisions there reached without any reference to Mr. R.'s money. I will not, however, promise to go any farther, and I think we are not unreasonable in insisting that you also shall abide by those decisions and not insist on reopening the case every few weeks I want you to be conservative and reason- able and no trouble can arise The points in which you differ from others are not worth a theological war. In answering this Dr. Harper said : It is an interesting fact that, although I sent my letter to Mr. Rockefeller a week ago yesterday, no answer has been received and no reference made to it. What this means I do not know. We will wait and see. He was compelled to wait more than two weeks longer, although, in the meantime, he had conferred with Dr. Morehouse and sug- gested an interview with Mr. Rockefeller and had written to the latter suggesting an interview with Dr. Morehouse, and had even gone so far as to say in the letter: N.B. I suppose that I must resign my work here this week; the present situation seems to place me in a wrong light with the gentlemen of the faculty. Mr. Rockefeller, however, still took time. It was not until January 31 that Dr. Morehouse wrote this brief note. I suppose you have been wondering why I have not written you. It is because I have been waiting for that contemplated interview with Mr. Rocke- feller. I lunched with him yesterday and am to lunch with him again Monday next, after which I will write you fully and definitely. But I want to say now that, all things considered and duly weighed, it appears that there is but one thing for you to do, namely, to take the presidency of Chicago University.