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Cornell University Library 
 BV1085.R79 H63 
 
 Memorial of Horace William Rose by Harr 
 
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 3 1924 029 336 710 
 
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 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92402933671 
 
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H nOemortal of 
 Iborace MtUiam IRose 
 
 ■fcarrg TlCla5e ibicfts 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THE mTERHATIONAL COMMITTEE OP 
 
 TODKG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS 
 
 1904 
 
 ,(., 
 
/\. I ^XO bL^- 
 
 Copyright, 1904, 
 
 By 
 
 The Inthrnational Committee of 
 
 Young Men's Christian Associations 
 
 Stanbopc press 
 
 p. H. QILSON COMPANY 
 BOSTON, U.S. A. 
 
Zo Ibie HDotber 
 
preface 
 
 Three years and more have passed since the 
 subject of this brief memorial was called from 
 service by death. While his work was done before 
 he had reached the age of twenty-seven, the record 
 contains the story of a finished life. Only the 
 repeated requests of friends in and out of college, 
 and within Association circles, that a story of his 
 life be written, has led the author finally to prepare 
 what is here given to the public. 
 
 Not all students choose the best in college. 
 Some choose for themselves habits of life which 
 forever after are like millstones about their necks. 
 This simple narrative tells of one who chose wisely 
 and redeemed the time. 
 
 Encouragement can be taken in reading this 
 book because Horace W. Rose was an ordinary 
 man. In one point only did he greatly excel other 
 men, and that was his devotioiji to Jesus Christ. If 
 any reader is led to wage a stronger fight against 
 sin, or give himself with greater abandonment to 
 Christian service, the mission of the book will be 
 fulfilled. 
 
 Acknowledgment is here made for kind aid ren- 
 dered by many who have furnished material for the 
 memorial. 
 
 H. W. H. 
 
 Boston, June lo, 1904. 
 
Untrobuction 
 
 " It is a glorious thing," said Disraeli, " to see a 
 nation saved by its youth." As go the colleges, so 
 goes the nation. In seeking to purify and enrich 
 the student communities, therefore, one is influen- 
 cing the very springs of the national life. For over 
 ten years, either as student or as worker among 
 students, chiefly in the Upper Mississippi Valley, 
 that region where our higher educational institu- 
 tions are most plastic, and also expanding most 
 rapidly, Horace William Rose lived out a life and 
 wrought a work which will never die. No patriot, 
 statesman, teacher, preacher or philanthropist in all 
 that section has more truly advanced the best life of 
 the country and the Kingdom of Christ. 
 
 This man afforded and made attractive an ex- 
 ample of the highest type of Christian student life. 
 He furnished the students of our day a working 
 model in character, in faith, and in service. He 
 was a man of reality ; intolerant of all pretence and 
 hypocrisy. While ever preserving an open mind to 
 all truth and maintaining the power of growth, he 
 was firmly established in the fundamental points of 
 the Christian faith. In the midst of college life. 
 
fntro5uction 
 
 which is more characterized by selfishness, clannish- 
 ness and class spirit than is usually supposed, he 
 abounded with unselfish love and kept in sympa- 
 thetic and helpful touch with all kinds of students, 
 the rich and the poor, the brilliant and the dull, 
 the popular and the unpopular. His cheerfulness 
 and optimism were the strength of his life. His 
 physical and moral courage were splendid, ena- 
 bling him to wage triumphant warfare against every 
 enemy of college life. His zeal to have Christ's 
 reign made co-extensive with the whole world was 
 consuming. His steadfast loyalty to Christ and his 
 absorbing passion to make Him known, constituted 
 the crown of his life. 
 
 It is a distinguishing merit of this Memorial that 
 the author has so presented these traits that they 
 seem compelling and capable of imitation. In thus 
 making the subject of the book actually live before 
 us, and in stimulating the will to emulate his life 
 and works, the best offices of true biography are 
 served. One cannot resist the conclusion that, if 
 the spirit which characterizes Horace Rose became 
 more general among the Christian students of our 
 day, the moral and religious life of the colleges and 
 universities would be transformed. 
 
 It is well that this Memorial appears after suffi- 
 cient time has elapsed to admit of assembling so 
 much valuable material. Moreover, it affords op- 
 portunity to see the life of Rose in better perspec- 
 
IFntroOuction 
 
 tive and to estimate more accurately his influence. 
 It also introduces to a new generation of students 
 a life which has its message for every Christian col- 
 lege man in these days. Just as Sinker's " Memo- 
 rials of Ion Keith-Falconer " greatly influenced 
 students three or four student generations ago, and 
 Speer's " Record of the Life of Hugh Beaver " ren- 
 dered a similar service' a few years since, Mr. 
 Hicks' work, which has been done with marked dis- 
 cernment, fidelity and sympathy, will come with 
 helpful force to the present generation of students 
 of this and other lands. 
 
 The consideration of such a career may well lead 
 us to reappraise life values. Wherein lies the cause 
 of the true success of the life of Horace Rose? 
 Not in the length of life, for his career was termi- 
 nated when he was considerably less than thirty 
 years of age. Not in his activity and intensity, al- 
 though he was remarkable in both of these respects. 
 Not in his fame, for from the point of view of the 
 world he was comparatively little known. In his 
 full-orbed, symmetrical character, in his Christ-like 
 service of his fellows, in his absolute abandon to 
 know and to do the will of God, we find the source of 
 his enduring and fruitful influence. The sentence 
 which best epitomizes his ambition and life-work is 
 the longing he himself voiced, and which he most 
 certainly realized, " Oh, for the power to bum a 
 path of light in these colleges for Christ ! " 
 
 John R. Mott. 
 
Contents 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 Early Life 9 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 At Beloit 17 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 At Iowa and Michigan State Universities 35 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 A Fall Term among the Colleges of the 53 
 West 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 Winter and Spring among the Colleges 
 OF the West , 70 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 At Cornell 85 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Cornell Memorial Service 100 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Geneva Memorial Service 116 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Other Tributes 128 
 
 APPENDIX 143 
 
 7 
 
a flDemorial to 
 
 Iborace MtlUam IRose 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 EARLY LIFE 
 
 IT rarely happens that a young man less than 
 twenty-seven years of age exerts a positive re- 
 ligious influence on an entire generation of 
 college students throughout the United States and 
 Canada. Pilkinton of Uganda died before his life- 
 work was actually begun, but his written biography 
 has stirred the spiritual life of multitudes. Other 
 foreign missionaries have spent their life force be- 
 fore the age of thirty-five, and have merited the 
 " Well done, good and faithful servant." The sub- 
 ject of this brief life story finished his work before 
 he had reached the age of twenty-seven, and left an 
 indelible impression on the lives of thousands of 
 college men whom he met, and multitudes of others 
 through his indirect influence. 
 
 Horace William Rose was born September 19, 
 1874, in Rockford, Illinois. The years of his child- 
 hood and early young manhood were spent in the 
 
 9 
 
■ffn /iDemoriam 
 
 home at the two towns of Rockford and Pittsfield in 
 Ilhnois, until, in 1887, the family moved to Fort At- 
 kinson, Wisconsin. From this place of residence 
 Horace entered college. He died of typhoid fever in 
 the city hospital at Ithaca, New York, where he was en- 
 gaged as General Secretary of the Christian Associa- 
 tion of Cornell University, on January 10, 1901, aged 
 twenty-six years, three months, and twenty-two days. 
 His father was William Wilberforce Rose, a Con- 
 gregational clergyman of unusual power, and pastor 
 of the Congregational churches in the towns where 
 the family resided. The father was mourned at 
 the time of his death by a multitude of friends to 
 whom he had ministered throughout several long 
 pastorates. His mother, who still survives although 
 in broken health, entered no less into the affections 
 of the people to whom the father ministered. The 
 graces and virtues of both parents seem to have 
 been inherited by Horace, and it was due to their 
 devotion and training that he became early in life a 
 most efficient worker in the church and a leader 
 inspired with lofty Christian principles. 
 
 There were four boys in the family, — Horace, 
 Frank, Richard, and Sidney. During his early 
 years there was strong manifestation of the traits of 
 character which marked his service of later years. 
 His mother in writing since his death said : — 
 
 He was often referred to as " the minister," not altogether 
 on account of his serious demeanor, for he was bubbhng over 
 10 
 
Earls 2Life 
 
 with fvm, but more because he was always ready to turn his 
 thoughts to serious subjects, and because of his extremely 
 conscientious adherence to duty. I have always said that 
 Horace preached his first sermon when he was three years 
 old during a lively agitation on the temperance question in 
 the community. Standing upon a chair with book in hand 
 he proclaimed to an imaginary audience, " Don't 'e dink any 
 more fisky ; it dunks you ; it burns you so you can't see ; it 
 deads you. Don't 'e do it, for Christ's sake." 
 
 A companion of his childhood days who lived in 
 a neighboring house from 1874 to 1884 tells how 
 they marvelled that Horace never forgot to say " if 
 you please," " thank you," and such things as the 
 rest usually omitted to say. " He was always 
 scrupulously polite. My brother used to persuade 
 the four Rose boys to help him fill the woodbox. 
 Horace always stopped at the door, and, no mat- 
 ter how full his arms were of wood, managed in 
 some way to get his hat off before he entered. 
 He was fond of music, and seemed to revel in the 
 neighborhood concerts. The song he used to 
 sing with greatest enthusiasm was ' Roll, Jordan, 
 Roll.' " 
 
 Another intimate friend writes regarding the spirit 
 of his early life : — 
 
 He was so full of buoyant life and fun that his mates 
 were glad to follow whether it were to a prayer-meeting or a 
 ball game. When he was fifteen years of age it was my good 
 fortune to visit his home. His father was a boy with his 
 sons, and merry were the days with picnics and boat-rides. 
 II 
 
f n /D)emotiam 
 
 Once when eating radishes Horace remarked, " When you 
 eat radishes you go to the root of the matter." One day a 
 party of us were out in the boat, when Sidney and Horace 
 began rocking. I was timid, and their father, seeing my fear, 
 assured me they would take no risk. But as I still seemed 
 nervous he spoke a low word to the boys. Instantly the boat 
 was quiet, and Horace earnestly begged my pardon, and ex- 
 pressed regret that they had caused me a moment of discom- 
 fort. 
 
 On another occasion, in the evening, he came home after 
 I had retired. I heard him stop at his mother's door and 
 talk in excited whispers. It alarmed me somewhat, for fear 
 that an accident had occurred on the water. When I inquired 
 next morning, Mrs. Rose said, " Oh, no I not any difficulty. It 
 is Horace's custom to stop at my door and confide in me the 
 events of the evening, and he spoke last night in whispers for 
 fear of disturbing you. 
 
 A lifelong friend who knew Horace well when he 
 was thirteen years old has written of his manly char- 
 acter manifesting itself in a full and enthusiastic 
 life interested in all boyish sports. " He was one 
 of those boys who was ever ready to do boyish 
 things, but never mean tricks of any kind. He 
 seemed to have an inborn spirit of manliness which 
 made him above these things. At an early period 
 in life he became an active Christian worker in 
 departments of church life where he could be help- 
 ful, and his enthusiasm was contagious." 
 
 Horace's love for his home was a safeguard 
 against the evils of boyhood and early young man- 
 hood to which many succumb. He had great rev- 
 
Barli? Xifc 
 
 erence for his father, and the breach which so often 
 exists between father and son did not exist between 
 them. The nobility of his father's life and service 
 undoubtedly influenced Horace greatly to undertake 
 direct Christian work. 
 
 His affection for his mother was manifested from 
 earliest years, and continued to mark him as an un- 
 usual son until the time of his death. The spirit of 
 fun in the home is shown by a story told by W. B. 
 Van Akin, a Beloit classmate : — 
 
 I knew every member of his family, and spent very many 
 days visiting with them. There was a personal freedom in 
 the family relationship which to me bordered on the ludi- 
 crous. The boys all called their father " Elder," and their 
 mother they all called " Lizzie," and they had many differ- 
 ent epithets for the different members of the family. One 
 morning they were all gathered together at family worship. 
 Mrs. Rose bad been troubled for some time with an illness 
 which made stooping and rising difficult. After Mr. Rose 
 had finished offering prayer, two of the boys took hold of 
 their mother, one on each side, and shouted, " We'll lift the 
 band-wagon up 1 " and lifted their mother to her feet. 
 
 Another friend of his early childhood says, — 
 " To show the loyalty of his nature, he never out- 
 grew his yearning to visit ' the old home ; ' and when 
 one of his chums started for Europe, he said, ' I 
 would rather go to Pittsfield than to Europe.' " 
 
 His respectful love for his father and his tender 
 chivalry toward his mother were among the most 
 beautiful traits of his character. In a letter written 
 13 
 
■ffn /iDemoriam 
 
 after the death of his father, he said, " Mother is the 
 truest, bravest woman who ever cared for sons." 
 
 The testimony of his brothers to his influence on 
 them is marked by tender affection, showing that 
 Horace was a counsellor to them as he was to hun- 
 dreds of other young men during the last five or six 
 years of his life. Richard wrote two years after 
 Horace's death, from Carleton College, describing 
 this relationship : — 
 
 Horace was a great lover of his home. He spent much, 
 of his time there. It was a delight to him, after a swim with 
 the boys in the summer time or a coast in the winter time, to 
 get back to the place where his dear ones were. His even- 
 ings were largely spent in the home circle. The devotion to 
 his mother, so strong in later years, was strongly marked at 
 this time. He was obedient and respectful to her, and was 
 glad to be where she was. He had great admiration for his 
 father, and trusted his judgment unreservedly in all things. 
 Horace endeavored to do that which would gain the approval 
 of his father, and was very happy when this was accomplished. 
 
 He was a great boy for fun. He joined in all the sports, 
 and soon became a leader in them. It is in this relation that 
 his brothers best knew him. If it was in football, he was in 
 the midst of the scrimmage ; if in baseball, he was behind 
 the bat. The intensity of his later life was developed from 
 the intensity with which he entered into things when a boy. 
 He enjoyed most thoroughly the game of marbles, but would 
 never " hunch " to win a game. His love for fairness was 
 such that his fellows came to him as arbiter of disputes. 
 The boys liked to hear Holly's merry, loud laugh, and wanted 
 him on their side in the different contests. He had a great de- 
 sire for winning, and would strive the utmost to win, but never 
 
 14 
 
Eatli? Xife 
 
 did so unless fairly. He was helpful and loving to his brothers, 
 and entered heartily into their joys and disappointments. 
 
 A quotation from a memorial work to his father 
 is appropriate to Horace, illustrating the purity of 
 his childhood life. 
 
 He was especially beloved by the children. He had no 
 airs, no pretensions, and was genuinely the friend of every- 
 body. He was sincere, kind, and had the spirit of a child. 
 He could carry no grudge. He was gentle and chivalrous to 
 all women. Mothers felt that he was ever a safe and trusty 
 companion for their children, and one to be relied upon. 
 
 Those who knew Horace will recognize in this 
 early characteristic a virtue which in his last years 
 controlled his whole being. Those who heard him 
 speak and mingled with him in the sports of sum- 
 mer conferences and in the serious discussions of 
 religious meetings were thrilled by it. 
 
 During the opening years of his young manhood 
 he enlisted as a member of Company B in the first 
 regiment of Wisconsin National Guard, commonly 
 called " The Hoard Rifles." In this company he 
 served five years. As a soldier he was conscien- 
 tious in his duties. Many who served with him and 
 who knew his connection with this regiment speak 
 of the remarkable influence he exerted among the 
 soldiers of his company, especially in purifying the 
 conversation of camp life and in organizing the men 
 to do religious work. " He was all things to all 
 IS 
 
Vn /Dcmoriam 
 
 men," said a lifelong companion and friend. " He 
 joined the Fort Atkinson Guards that he might go 
 ■with them to Camp Douglas on their annual outing 
 and drill. Several boys who were members of that 
 regiment have told me how they were led to take up 
 a different way of living because of the influence of 
 his quiet hour of meditation and Bible study, and his 
 talks with them about Christ, accompanied by his 
 hearty entry into all the fun and sport of the camp." 
 
 16 
 
Ht Beloit 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 AT BELOIT 
 
 IN the year 1891, at the age of seventeen, 
 Horace left home to enter upon his academy 
 and college life. The natural Christian train- 
 ing which he had received had fitted him well for the 
 environment in which he found himself at the begin- 
 ning of his academy course at Beloit. Not many 
 weeks passed before his ability as a leader was 
 recognized by his classmates. There are practically 
 no records of his life at the academy as far as his 
 scholarship is concerned. But the letters gathered 
 from his college classmates throw some light upon 
 his religious experience during the first year of his 
 academy training. A member of the class of '96 
 at Beloit speaks at length of his zeal in Christian 
 Endeavor work in the Congregational Church with 
 which he connected himself as a member shortly 
 after the beginning of his residence at Beloit : — 
 
 He was the first man to get me deeply interested in the 
 Christian Endeavor work. Suzetta Rosenblatt, who after- 
 wards became Mrs. Horace Rose, was very much interested 
 in the Christian Endeavor Society, and was a member of the 
 Social Committee. Rose and I went together to one of 
 the fall socials. A feature of the evening's entertainment was 
 to work out a life motto from the letters Y. P. S. C. E., and 
 the prize offered for the best motto was a big pumpkin pie. 
 
 17 
 
•ffn /Remoriam 
 
 I became very much interested in the pumpkin pie, and con- 
 sequently worked hard on the motto and won the pnze. 
 Rose, Miss Rosenblatt, and I enjoyed the pie together, and 
 I have often thought that my real interest in Christian work 
 dated from that time. I think I can honestly say that I owe 
 more to Rose's influence over me than I do to any other per- 
 son living, outside of my mother, for we used to talk over 
 together all the problems in our individual Uves, and I never 
 failed to receive much help from him. The motto worked 
 out was, " Your Prayers Should Consecrate Everything." 
 
 In the practical, every-day affairs of student life 
 Horace appeared at his best. The letters written 
 by his father to friends contain many references to 
 his development, not only as a result of his study, 
 but through his intimate association with men in 
 the various activities of college life : — 
 
 October, 189 1. Horace is improving in his singing. The 
 boys' quartet is quite a success. 
 
 November, 1891. Holly is doing finely at Beloit. He is 
 a big fellow, very forceful and independent, and very consci- 
 entious. He is in his work with all his heart, and seems to be 
 making an excellent beginning. He seems to be a popular 
 fellow with the boys, and the professor who is chiefly respon- 
 sible for him speaks of him in the most complimentary 
 manner. 
 
 January, 1892. It is rather noticeable how that boy makes 
 everything go. 
 
 May, 1892. He was chosen on the college baseball nine 
 and the Glee Club, but does not go into either, as he thinks 
 the absence would interfere with his studies. For the same 
 reason he declined an offer to play the organ in the Metho- 
 dist Episcopal Church. 
 
 18 
 
Ht Beloit 
 
 These records indicate an unwillingness to enter 
 into other forms of student activity during academy 
 days. But the time soon came when he labored 
 constantly to induce Christian men to enter athlet- 
 ics and the Glee Club in order that their influ- 
 ence might be greater. One of the most notable 
 factors in his success among men of prominence in 
 universities and colleges was his ability to get at the 
 captains of teams and the leading debaters of col- 
 lege life, and draw them into organized Christian 
 work. 
 
 In the fall of 1892 Horace entered Beloit Col- 
 lege, destined to graduate with the class of '96. 
 This period was one of the richest in his personal 
 experience, for it was here that his rapid develop- 
 ment as a man among men, and a Christian leader, 
 was achieved. As a student Horace did not rank 
 high. He was entirely capable of taking high rank, 
 but he seems to have chosen conscientiously a 
 middle course, between those who " grind " and 
 those who go to college merely because they are 
 sent and desire to have a good time. 
 
 It is apparent from his own letters, and those 
 gathered from among his classmates, that he chose 
 his policy well aware of the consequences. From 
 the beginning of his college course he realized that 
 never again would he be placed in an environment 
 where his Christian influence would count for as 
 much as in college. He therefore regulated his 
 19 
 
IFn /iDemoriam 
 
 program with Christian work accorded a prominent 
 place in his daily schedule. As soon as he was re- 
 leased from the routine of college life and had en- 
 tered upon his work as a Christian leader in other 
 institutions, he applied himself strenuously to ad- 
 vance studies. He seemed relieved to feel that the 
 obligations of the college curriculum had been re- 
 moved, and that now he could use his available 
 time for study Ln a manner which would fit him for 
 the peculiar work which he had undertaken. This 
 enthusiasm for study resulted in his qualification for 
 a Master's degree among the very first of his class. 
 
 Other letters written by his father during his 
 college course reveal other characteristics : — 
 
 April, 1893. He is into everything — study, music, athlet- 
 ics, and religion. 
 
 August., 1894. Horace is doing Sunday-school mission- 
 ary work. Nine new schools started with 450 boys and girls 
 who were not in school before. A good summer's work. 
 
 July, 1895. I think his success in the oratorical contest of 
 his class was entirely unexpected by him, although I thought 
 he was likely to win. There are two or three of his class- 
 mates who seem as likely as he to come out ahead in a 
 contest of that kind. 
 
 As a leader of his college class he was elected as 
 vice-president during the years 1892 and '93, and 
 as president in 1895. 
 
 During the year 1895-96, Horace acted as busi- 
 ness manager of The Round Table, the college 
 
Ht Beloit 
 
 paper published at Beloit. He became a member 
 of the football team in 1893, and continued to play 
 the game not only while at Beloit, but during the 
 next three years, while he served as General Secre- 
 tary at two of the largest universities of the coun- 
 try. His influence on the football team was like 
 that exerted in the " Hoard Rifles." An incident 
 illustrating the boldness of his Christian character 
 is given by W. B. Van Akin, who was a member of 
 the football eleven with him : — 
 
 I well remember one football team on which Rose and I 
 played in our early college days. Nine men out of the eleven 
 were sons of preachers, and during one of the football games 
 some one of the opposing team was swearing in a most shock- 
 ing manner. During a lull after one of the scrimmages, Rose 
 went up to him and said in substance, " You are dragging in 
 the dust the name of my best friend, and it hurts me every 
 time you do it. I wish you would quit I " That stopped the 
 swearing for the game. 
 
 During the years '9 1 and '93 Rose was a member 
 of the college baseball team. He became one of 
 the best catchers in the Middle West, and the ex- 
 perience gained was always valuable to him in after 
 years, when at Summer Conferences, Bible Institutes, 
 and Presidents' Conferences, teams from among the 
 delegates were organized to play other teams. 
 Rose was always chosen as captain of the " Asso- 
 ciation Team," and his coaching will always be 
 remembered by those who had the good fortune to 
 
Hn /Demoriam 
 
 be within range of his voice. He could play in any 
 position, and was considered a strong batter. 
 
 During the second year of his college course he 
 became a member of the College Glee Club. 
 
 " I bought my dress suit -while I was in college," he told a 
 friend afterwards, " though I was working my way mostly, 
 and did not have much money to spare. I wanted to get 
 on to the management of the Glee Club for certain reasons, 
 and needed a dress suit, so I put in some extra work to earn 
 money for it." 
 
 As a debater his skill steadily developed. Dur- 
 ing his freshman year he won first prize in the 
 declamation contest. In extempore speaking dur- 
 ing his junior year he took first place. Later he 
 was selected as a prize speaker in the home oratori- 
 cal contest, and won the first place in the Interstate 
 Oratorical Contest, much to the surprise and grati- 
 fication of all his friends, the winning colleges of 
 ten States competing for the honor. The readiness 
 of speech which gave him these honors was used 
 by him as an exponent of a manly Christian life 
 during the years of his travel when he stirred the 
 Christian life of a hundred or more colleges west of 
 the Mississippi as far as the coast. 
 
 His chief religious work was done in the Student 
 Young Men's Christian Association of Beloit College, 
 as treasurer during the year beginning 1893, as 
 vice-president during 1894, and as president by a 
 unanimous vote during his senior year. His associ- 
 22 
 
Ht Beloit 
 
 ate in religious work, Mr. C. B. Olds, now a missionary 
 in Japan, describes his religious service as follows: — 
 
 I must speak of the kind of work that he did. In the 
 first place he regarded it as his duty to be interested, heart 
 and soul, in everything that was best in the life about him, 
 both for the sake of personal culture and for the sake of in- 
 fluence. There was nothing good going on in college or 
 church or home that he was not actively in it. In athletics 
 he was an all-round man — he was on the " nine," on the 
 " eleven," on the track team, and was interested in every other 
 sport. He was on the Glee Club, in the college choir, and the 
 church choir. He was in the church Young People's Society 
 of Christian Endeavor as chairman of the Lookout Committee, 
 or some other important committee. He was leader of the 
 Boys' Brigade, which also he organized, and he met with the 
 boys weekly. He was a faithful member of his fraternity, 
 and he was at one time business manager of the college paper, 
 which meant a great amount of work. He did not neglect 
 social duties, and he was a welcome visitor in many homes. 
 
 All these things and many other occasional duties were 
 part of his daily life, and they took time. But his work was 
 in the Young Men's Christian Association, impressing with 
 noble ideals many of the otherwise neglected young men. 
 From the beginning of his life in college he had his part in 
 this work. He rarely missed a prayer-meeting ; and his words, 
 which he seldom failed in expressing, were spoken with great 
 earnestness and directness that kindled response in all of us. 
 
 Horace was remarkable as a constantly growing man, and 
 it was in this ability to approach and impress men that his 
 greatest growth was seen. When he reached his senior year 
 and the Young Men's Christian Association election ap- 
 proached, there was no question as to the one who should 
 be elected president, though there were other strong men in 
 the class. He had shown himself to be head and shoulders 
 23 
 
f n /©emoriam 
 
 above all the rest in this field, and when he found himself at 
 the head of the work he devoted his very life to it. He dis- 
 played a wonderful power to bring and hold men together in 
 the work. He never was an autocrat. He sought and 
 received advice and suggestions from all, so that the humblest 
 of those he gathered about him felt that they were comrades 
 together. Yet his personality dominated all. He was in 
 close fellowship with the Master, and through his personality 
 he brought all who were with him into the same fellowship. 
 
 His constant passion was to win men to Christ. He 
 prepared for the Day of Prayer weeks and even months 
 beforehand. He gathered his workers about him for daily 
 prayer for success in winning men. And so in the old music- 
 room a dozen or more of the fellows met together in the 
 gloom of the early evening, to pray with one accord for the 
 conversion of men. We prayed not for ourselves, but for 
 individuals by name, whom we also talked over together as 
 brothers. And the work did not end with prayers. If no 
 one else followed the men up, Horace did, with a persistence 
 that never let go. He saw these men personally, again and 
 again, and not only invited them to meetings, but had inter- 
 views with them, seeking to win them to Christ. 
 
 Such work was bound to tell ; and many a man may date 
 the beginning of his Christian life to the earnest appeal 
 of Horace Rose, made to him in his room while he was a 
 student at Beloit College. It was not an uncommon thing, 
 on the day of an important Young Men's Christian Associa- 
 tion prayer-meeting, for him to go through the dormitory and 
 invite personally every one of the sixty or seventy men in the 
 hall to attend the meeting, and frequently he had interviews 
 with a dozen or more men in a single day regarding the duty 
 of deciding for Christ. 
 
 On the eve of the Day of Prayer, I remember, he and two 
 others of us got together and planned the campaign for the 
 long awaited day. We agreed, I recollect, to pray for three 
 24 
 
at Beloit 
 
 definite things. I forget the third, but two things were to 
 pray for a renewed interest in the work on the part of some 
 of the Christian men who had become indifferent, and the 
 conversion of at least a dozen men as a result of the day's 
 work. We talked over freely the conditions of prayer, and 
 asked ourselves if our faith was equal to such petitions. 
 Having decided that it was, we prayed with an intensity 
 of conviction. Going out from that little meeting, Horace 
 went to work, and that with all his might. Well, it was 
 a wonderful day. I remember, at its close, Horace came to 
 me and said, " Well, I guess our prayer was answered," and 
 surely so it seemed. 
 
 Rose belonged to the Beloit chapter of Beta 
 Theta Pi. There is every evidence that he con- 
 sidered his connection with the fraternity both as 
 a great opportunity and as something of an impedi- 
 ment to his freedom in doing personal work with 
 men outside of fraternities who were in need of 
 help. Mr. Olds says, "He was a fraternity man, 
 and the fraternity men liked him, but he was none 
 the less, however, just as much a friend of the man 
 who was ' out of things.' He made special efforts 
 to make the lonesome men feel that they were 
 somebody. Once, at his suggestion, two or three 
 of us went around with him to some of the best 
 houses in town, suggesting that the good people 
 invite a few of the lonesome fellows to spend 
 Thanksgiving Day with them. This resulted in a 
 happy day for many, both entertainers and enter- 
 tained." 
 
 25 
 
fn ^emorfam 
 
 Still another classmate writes : " It was through 
 Rose's personal influence that I joined Beta Theta 
 Pi fraternity," which shows that he entered heartily 
 into the life of the chapter. 
 
 A classmate, who was a constant associate not 
 only in studies but in his religious work, says : — 
 
 Horace was a member of the college fraternity, but was 
 not what is generally known as a fraternity man. I think no 
 man of Betas of his time was so loved and respected by Beta 
 men. Fear lest his fraternity connection might " queer " him 
 with the rest of the boys made him think more about them 
 and give more attention to the unpopular, green, unsought 
 and unknown young " preps " than he did to more popular 
 men. 
 
 Mr. W. J. Parker, Secretary of the Student De- 
 partment of the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
 tions of Chicago, writes : " My first meeting with 
 Rose was at the Student Summer Conference' at 
 Lake Geneva during the summer of 1896. We 
 were fraternity brothers, and about the first ques- 
 tion he asked me was, ' What do the Beta boys in 
 your college do for Jesus Christ ? ' Every relation- 
 ship in life became to him an opportunity for 
 spreading the knowledge of Jesus." 
 
 It is unfortunately true that in some institutions 
 now, as at the time when Rose was actively at work, 
 fraternity life is supposed to be antagonistic to 
 activity in organized religious work. But Rose con- 
 stantly asserted his faith that men would respond to 
 26 
 
Ht 3Beloit 
 
 appeals to enter active religious service in college, 
 ■whether inside or outside of fraternity houses. It 
 was this conviction that led him into great dormi- 
 tories, laboratories, and chapter houses where he 
 could come into touch with the strong as well as the 
 weak, and exalt the character of the life of Christ. 
 In many an institution, fraternities among whose 
 members there were no active religious leaders 
 became strongholds of religious influence. And it 
 is a fact of great significance that during the year 
 1903-4 more than a dozen fraternities in the Uni- 
 versity of Michigan, where Rose served as General 
 Secretary for two years, have agreed to organize 
 fraternity Bible classes, and have been instrumen- 
 tal in securing the co-operation of many promi- 
 nent men in the university in the organized work of 
 the student Young Men's Christian Association. 
 
 Rose's habits of work were systematic of neces- 
 sity, because of the large number of interests to 
 which he gave himself. Mr. Olds says of this 
 characteristic : — 
 
 I remember his telling me at one time that he had over 
 forty different engagements for the week ahead of him, out- 
 side of his regular college work. Of such engagements he 
 had an abundance commensurate with his intensity. It was 
 a source of wonder that he was able to stand such an amount 
 of work and yet keep so vigorously well, for his health was 
 so robust as to be contagious, and none were more jovial on 
 all occasions than he. 
 
 Throughout his whole life he was conscientious to the 
 
 27 
 
II n /iDemortam 
 
 last degree in the care of his health. It was only by a 
 scrupulous regard for his bodily condition that he was able 
 to do what he did. He made vigorous daily exercise a 
 religious duty, and his cold morning bath was as regular as 
 his Bible study. 
 
 For want of dumb-bells during his travels, he 
 used his walking-shoes, but he much preferred out- 
 door exercise to the modem systems of muscular 
 contractions and relaxations. 
 
 The characteristic of cheerfulness which was a 
 prominent factor in his success at Beloit, is thus 
 described : — 
 
 His college life was characterized by an unfailing cheer- 
 fulness and a buoyant optimism. He had high ideals, and 
 believed in the triumph of the best things. He had a cheery 
 word for every one at all times, whether he was personally 
 acquainted with them or not. The rawest country boy in the 
 junior preparatory soon came to accost him familiarly as 
 " Horace " or " Holly," and he never did anything to make any 
 one feel uncomfortable in his presence. He was afraid of no 
 one, and spoke his mind freely. Yet he never expressed him- 
 self as strongly on any matter to any one as to the person 
 whom he felt to be doing an injustice. If he disapproved of 
 any policy of any of the professors or of any action, he went 
 to them and told them so, and he generally succeeded in 
 making them see things as he did. 
 
 He enjoyed good times, and when off with young people 
 he was sometimes a perfect clown, as though his natural 
 exuberance of spirits compelled him to effervesce. Even 
 into social meetings he carried his seeming lightness, so 
 that he sometimes shocked the more conventional ones. 
 But in the midst of it all, he could stop and offer up a prayer 
 that touched the hearts of us all. 
 28 
 
at Belott 
 
 Throughout his college course he devoted him- 
 self to preaching and speaking in churches, not 
 only in the college town, but in the surrounding 
 country. Professor Blaisdell, under whom he did 
 much of his work in his senior year, remonstrated 
 with him over the amount of time devoted to this 
 outside preaching. Since he could not decide to 
 relinquish any of his religious work, he gave himself 
 the more thoroughly to his studies in order to justify 
 his position. During his vacations he served as a 
 Sunday-school missionary in the employ of the State 
 Sunday-school Association. 
 
 In the midst of one of these vacation periods 
 spent in organizing Sunday schools, after a hard 
 day's work on his wheel, he wished to spend the 
 night on the other side of the river, to be ready 
 for work the next morning. He persuaded a young 
 farmer at work in the field to take him and his wheel 
 across in a boat. The tall rushes prevented their 
 reaching the opposite shore by some little distance. 
 Nothing daunted, he rolled up his trousers, stepped 
 out into the water, took his wheel on his shoulders, 
 his shoes and bag of literature under his arm, and 
 waded ashore. He went to the nearest farmhouse, 
 told his errand, and asked for entertainment over 
 night. The farmer answered him gruffly, saying, 
 "We don't want any Sunday school in these parts, 
 and you couldn't find children enough to make a 
 Sunday school, and you can't stay over night." 
 29 
 
fln ^emoriam 
 
 Horace asked if he might stay and rest a while, 
 and have a bowl of bread and miUc. Consent being 
 given, he interested himself in the stock while the 
 farmer went about doing his chores. This being 
 accomplished, he invited him in to supper. Here 
 Horace so won his way to the hearts of the children 
 and their parents that he was not only invited to 
 stay all night, but the children were promised to 
 him for his Sunday school. 
 
 It was when he was nineteen years of age, or 
 early in his college course, that he made his first 
 public address after a summer vacation spent in the 
 organization of Sunday schools. All the churches 
 of his home town united to listen to him. He 
 greatly prized the commendation of the managers 
 of Sunday-school work in Philadelphia, who compli- 
 mented him for his unexcelled record in organizing 
 schools. During one of the summers in which he 
 acted as Sunday-school missionary, he sprained his 
 ankle playing baseball with the children in the 
 neighborhood where he was laboring. While he 
 was temporarily incapacitated for his travelling-work, 
 he withdrew to his father's church and organized a 
 Bible class among the Christian Endeavorers. In 
 that Bible class, short in actual duration, he created 
 in the lives of the young people such a love for the 
 study, that they have continued it to the present 
 time as a regular feature of their devotional ex- 
 ercises. 
 
 3° 
 
Ht Beloit 
 
 He was a man of very ready speech, and could fit 
 himself into occasions quickly. One who joined 
 him in his preaching tours has said : — 
 
 He frequently went out to a schoolhouse in a neighbor- 
 ing town and made a powerful gospel appeal, not without vis- 
 ible results. On one occasion several of us were to go out 
 to a schoolhouse with him to sing at a meeting, and Horace's 
 father was to go with us to preach. We went in two convey- 
 ances, Horace and another friend in the first one, and Mr. 
 Rose and myself in the other. They went ahead as they 
 knew the road, and as we were not acquainted with it we 
 followed. By some chance the carriages became separated, 
 and we made the wrong turn and so lost our way. We 
 drove a considerable distance out of the way, with the result 
 that we did not reach the school until an hour after the ap- 
 pointed time. But we learned that the people had not suf- 
 fered by our absence, for, though all unprepared, the son, 
 after waiting a few minutes, had taken the matter into his 
 own hands, and had given the people such a talk as the father 
 never could have done. I beUeve there were several con- 
 fessed conversions that night. Everywhere he went he 
 showed the same power. During a considerable period of 
 his junior and senior years he went out regularly every Sun- 
 day to a point about thirty miles distant and preached twice, 
 to two different congregations. 
 
 Perhaps the most prominent characteristic of his 
 life and influence at Beloit was his power to " mix " 
 with people. Mr. Olds finishes his letter with the 
 following reference : — 
 
 There was something surprising about his power over 
 men. This developed very much after he left college, but 
 
 31 
 
Hn /IDemoriam 
 
 even in those earlier days I remember that I never had a 
 good conversation with him without feeling big inside, with- 
 out feeling more courageous, more determined to make the 
 most of myself, more alive to the possibilities of life. He 
 impressed one always, that it was a good thing to live and be 
 a man among men. He was a great commoner. Like almost 
 no other man in the college he was the friend of all classes, 
 intimate with all. 
 
 The Round Table of Beloit College printed an 
 article after his death, of which the following is an 
 extract : — 
 
 There are very few college men who are able to be as 
 active in all lines of student life as was Mr. Rose. Few have 
 the capability, few the physique, to undertake such manifold 
 responsibilities. A careful student, a prominent literary man, 
 a conspicuous athlete, a prize orator — in all he proved him- 
 self to be of great abUity and a natural leader. It was, how- 
 ever, as President of the Young Men's Christian Association 
 that he worked hardest and accomplished most. Under his 
 leadership the Association was brought to a more thorough 
 organization than it had ever known before ; it gained a 
 standard of effective service and an impetus for work that 
 has ever since been felt. He led the men in personal work ; 
 by doing so he showed the men how to perform this most im- 
 portant service. He never asked another man to do what 
 he himself refused to perform, thus proving himself a true 
 and worthy leader. By his enthusiasm and earnestness he in- 
 spired men for Christian work. He was the first to call to- 
 gether the men for the daily prayer-meetings ; he maintained 
 them by his loyalty and faith. Every man was made to feel 
 a responsibility for the religious and moral tone of the col- 
 lege. Mr. Rose did one of the hardest things in the world ; 
 .i2 
 
Ht 3Beloit 
 
 he lived a blameless life in every particular, before his fel- 
 lows. He was the beau ideal of many an under-class man. 
 
 For some years Mr. Rose had been looking toward the min- 
 istry as the place where he wished to serve his Master and his 
 fellowmen. His life in college was so directed that every ex- 
 perience might avail to make him strong in this lifework. 
 During a part of his senior year in college he preached every 
 Sunday in two small villages in the northern part of this 
 county He secured a wonderful hold upon the lives of 
 these country people, leading them to higher planes of living 
 and thinking, just as he had led his associates in college. 
 No little child was ever passed unnoticed ; no unbeliever ever 
 spoke slightingly of him ; many became better men and 
 women because of this preacher's interest and constant solici- 
 tude about their soul's salvation. 
 
 Toward the end of his course at Beloit, Rose 
 began to think seriously of the character of his lite- 
 work and the place where it should be spent. Al- 
 ready he had left his impression upon the entire 
 student body at Beloit, At the close of one of his 
 evangelistic tours among the country towns about 
 Beloit, in which Rose had done most of the speak- 
 ing while four other members of the Beloit Associa- 
 tion had furnished the music, he remarked to one of 
 his companions as they were discussing what had 
 been accomplished, " Bill, the thing that bothers 
 me more than anything else is, are we giving to the 
 people the real gospel ? " The man with whom he 
 had this conversation said, " I well remember dur- 
 ing his senior year in college, how the cabinet used 
 to meet every morning at ten minutes before eight for 
 33 
 
Hn /IDemortam 
 
 a little session of prayer, and how, as a result of that 
 year's work, we saw fifty men won to Christ by the 
 time the Day of Prayer for colleges came around." 
 
 It was at Beloit also that his appreciation of the 
 value of time and his accountability to his Lord 
 for its use was formed. In his work of visiting in 
 the rooms of college men he systematized his calls 
 carefully. But his official duties in the Association 
 were so heavy that he was obliged to curtail his ef- 
 forts in this direction. " There was an expression 
 he often used," says a classmate, " as he excused him- 
 self after a jolly chat. ' No, fellows, this is mighty 
 fine, but I must be doing something profitable.' " 
 
 He had now reached the point where he was 
 able to differentiate between the things that were of 
 greatest importance and those which were only of 
 second importance. This spirit he carried with him 
 to the end. 
 
 34 
 
Iowa an& /iDicbigan mntversfties 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 AT IOWA AND MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITIES 
 
 WHAT the pastor of a church is to his 
 people, the general secretary of a stu- 
 dent Young Men's Christian Associa- 
 tion is to the students of a college or university. It 
 is doubtful whether any position has ever been created 
 in any branch of student life which, when properly 
 filled, is of such value to student life as the general 
 secretaryship. The secretary is not only a pastor, 
 but he is in a very real sense a general and director 
 of large forces of organized Christian workers in a 
 field whose needs are peculiarly great, and in which 
 results are promptly achieved. 
 
 It was natural that Rose should be considered a 
 candidate for the office of general secretary in some 
 institution, since his leadership as president of the 
 Beloit Association had been attended with such 
 marked success. He possessed the qualifications of 
 zeal and enthusiasm in spiritual things. He was 
 distinguished as a personal worker, and was able to 
 raise the standard of Christian ideals in an institu- 
 tion by winning athletes and other leaders of student 
 life first to himself and then to Christian work. 
 
 He was called during the summer of 1896 to be 
 35 
 
■ffn /roemoriam 
 
 general secretary of the Association at the State 
 University of Iowa at Iowa City. The call forced 
 him to reconsider the question of his lifework. 
 Hitherto he had been leaning in his thought toward 
 the Christian ministry, but his observation of the op- 
 portunities afforded a pastor for actual evangelistic 
 work, whether by address or by personal interview, 
 had led him to feel that his ministry would be larger 
 and more effective if it could be rendered as a lay- 
 man in some religious organization where a layman's 
 training could be used to advantage. He called 
 upon many of his friends for counsel before accept- 
 ing the call as general secretary. After protesting 
 that he was not fitted to take upon himself such a 
 responsible work, he accepted, believing that the 
 experience of one year in the office would be help- 
 ful in reaching his final conclusion regarding his 
 lifework. 
 
 Professor Isaac A. Loos, holding the chair of 
 political economy in the college of liberal arts at the 
 University of Iowa, was chairman of the committee 
 responsible for his call. He writes : — 
 
 In the summer of 1896 the officers and advisory commit- 
 tee of the Young Men's Christian Association were looking 
 about for a secretary who could bring the Christian organiza- 
 tions of the University into more immediate touch with the 
 personnel of the entire University. The Christian Associa- 
 tion, a number of us felt, had become isolated. It had 
 come to be an institution that stood by itself rather than for 
 the entire University. To accomplish the specific work in 
 36 
 
Howa an& /iDicbigan "Clniversltfes 
 
 hand, Mr. C. C. Michener and John R. Mott, then actively 
 connected with the general direction of the Young Men's 
 Christian Association work in the colleges, recommended 
 Horace W. Rose of Beloit College, "Wisconsin. Mr. Rose 
 came among us and took hold of the work with intelligence, 
 sympathy, and vigor, and accomplished for the association the 
 very thing we had hoped for in the course of a year. Mr. 
 Rose was possessed of the spirit of what is sometimes called 
 the new humanity. To him all men were worthy and worth 
 while. Personal differences and selfish interests were by him 
 easily subordinated to a general interest. He was devoted to 
 the spiritual and moral welfare of men as well as to their 
 social pleasures and intellectual development. He had a fine 
 sense of the relative value of all of these qualities. He met 
 men readily, easily, and effectively. No one doubted his sin- 
 cerity and his breadth of sympathy. He always thought of 
 himself last and of his work first. He is remembered as an 
 effective administrator, genial friend, and true man. 
 
 The Round Table at Beloit commented upon 
 his decision to enter association work as follows : — 
 
 The perfection of the organization of the Young Men's 
 Christian Association and its deep spiritual work came to the 
 knowledge of the International Committee. These things 
 and in addition the remarkable personality of Mr. Rose as 
 shown at the summer conference at Lake Geneva, led the 
 committee to look upon him as an invaluable man for broader 
 work in this field. Consequently, after his graduation in 
 1896, he was asked to take charge of the College Association 
 of the State University of Iowa at Iowa City. After carefully 
 considering the call, and deciding that for the present his minis- 
 try must be to college men, he accepted. 
 
 The records of his work at the University of Iowa 
 37 
 
Hn /iDemortam 
 
 are few. They are sufficient, however, to show that 
 the same characteristics which made him effective 
 at Beloit, were fitting him for the difficult task of 
 general secretary in this great university. 
 
 The following letter from Professor J. J. Louis, 
 Superintendent of the Public Schools at Harlan, 
 Iowa, and a prominent leader in Christian work at 
 the university during the period of Rose's service, 
 describes the character of his work well : — 
 
 The first I knew of Rose was when I entered the Asso- 
 ciation building on my return at the beginning of my sopho- 
 more year. I was not a stranger there. Mr. Rose saw me 
 enter the door, and knowing that he had not seen me before, 
 he came toward me with extended hand to grasp mine as he 
 said in his rich bass voice, " My name is Rose. I'm very glad 
 to meet you. I hope to see a great deal of you around the 
 Association headquarters." 
 
 He began a social campaign, and won a majority of the 
 students to himself and the Association by his Christian 
 spirit of good fellowship and magnanimity. He was 
 broad, - — not in a sense that he would accept any or all opin- 
 ions, but in that he would not allow differences over non-es- 
 sentials to mar his work. 
 
 He occupied a large place in the affections of the fellows. 
 He sang in the Glee Club and one of the choirs, was manager 
 of the track team — in fact, he came nearer touching the life 
 of the student body than any man who has been general sec- 
 retary before or since his time. He inaugurated the giving 
 of socials to classes and to colleges, and brought all depart- 
 ments in close touch with each other. 
 
 His year was one of preparation rather than of special 
 results. Had he remained, he would have changed the 
 38 
 
•ffowa an& /iDicbfgan xanivecsities 
 
 Greek-letter fraternities from their attitude of opposing the 
 Association to that of thorough support and co-operation. 
 He was a Greek, and had the tact to win them completely 
 without antagonizing them. Thoroughly religious, he realized 
 and asserted that college men were not to be won by " Salva- 
 tion Army methods." 
 
 He was quite what was needed at Iowa, — a social force 
 respected by all, broader than any clique or society. There 
 were several conversions during his administration, but the 
 uplift that was greatest was in the general spirit of confidence 
 and hopefulness which his leadership, religious faith, and fer- 
 vor inspired. 
 
 Late in the spring of 1897, Rose took up again 
 the consideration of his lifework. He formed the 
 ambition to enter upon the work of a foreign mis- 
 sionary as an Association secretary in some non- 
 Christian land, with India as his choice. On sev- 
 eral occasions he went over the ground with his 
 father, as well as with other friends. The humihty 
 of his daily life is shown by the strong feeling which 
 he had of his disqualification, a feeling which found 
 expression in such words as, " I am not fit to be a 
 minister." His fear that he would be limited in his 
 personal approach to men by a theological training 
 and the standards of pulpit work, had much to do 
 with his final choice. To him the most effective 
 way of leading people into the Christian life was not 
 public address or platform work, but rather personal 
 interviews on occasions which he himself purposely 
 made. He was strongly attracted by Association 
 39 
 
Hn /iDemorfam 
 
 work, since in it great emphasis was laid upon per- 
 sonal work and the organization of classes to train 
 men for such service. 
 
 He shared the belief held by Henry Clay Trum- 
 bull, expressed in his book entitled " Individual 
 Work for Individuals," that personal work was the 
 best method of leading a large number into Chris- 
 tian life and the church. " Reaching one person at 
 a time is the best way of reaching all the world in 
 time. Reaching one person at a time is the best 
 way of reaching a single individual. Therefore, 
 seeking a single individual is the best way of win- 
 ning one person or a multitude to Christ. The world 
 is made up of individuals. Christ longs for individ- 
 uals to be in his service, therefore he who considers 
 Christ's love or the world's needs will think most of 
 individuals and will do most for individuals." He 
 often said, however, that he wanted to get closer to 
 men than the pulpit ; but while he believed in this 
 principle, he did not neglect public work or prepara- 
 tion for it, for it was through his addresses that he 
 gained a hearing which made his personal work 
 effective. He had already learned at Beloit and 
 the University of Iowa, the truth in the statement 
 by Bossuet, the great French preacher, quoted in 
 Trumbull's book : " It requires more faith and cour- 
 age to say two words face to face with one single 
 sinner than from the pulpit to rebuke two or three 
 thousand persons ready to listen to everything on 
 40 
 
Iowa anO /iDicbigan mntverstties 
 
 condition of forgetting all." His decision to enter 
 upon Association work was reached prayerfully ; but 
 when he had once recorded his purpose, he ex- 
 pressed a joy which sent him into his next year of 
 service with abounding vigor and consecration. 
 
 Before the close of the spring term at the Univer- 
 sity of Iowa he was called to be general secretary 
 of the newly organized Young Men's Christian 
 Association at the University of Michigan. The 
 circumstances attending the call to the work in 
 Michigan caused him to consider the field with care 
 before accepting. For many years the Students' 
 Christian Association of the University of Michigan 
 had existed as the only voluntary religious organi- 
 zation doing work among students. It had with- 
 in its membership both young men and young 
 women, and was not affiliated with the International 
 Committee of the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
 tion. 
 
 The position to which he was called was that of 
 leader of a small group of men who had withdrawn 
 from the older society and had organized a Young 
 Men's Christian Association to be affiliated with the 
 International and State Associations. The decision 
 to start a separate organization was reached only 
 after hours, if not days and months, of prayerful de- 
 liberation. But the determination of a few men was 
 so strong that nothing short of a large effort was 
 deemed feasible. They therefore called Rose as 
 41 
 
tn /IDemoriam 
 
 their general secretary, and invited him to visit the 
 University to review the situation. 
 
 It is said that on the occasion of his first visit 
 there were a score or more of faithful men on whom 
 chief reliance was to be placed in developing the 
 new work. A certain element of persecution had 
 entered into their plans which forced them to much 
 prayer. This was the salvation of their enterprise. 
 These men met Rose in a room, and for many hours 
 consulted with him over the outlook. There seemed 
 still to be some doubt regarding the wisdom of cer- 
 tain steps to be taken. It was proposed that those 
 who favored advance should assemble on one side 
 of the room, and those who favored giving up the 
 effort should remain on the other side. All but one 
 or two agreed to undertake the new work, and from 
 that day the Association grew in spiritual power and 
 in numbers rapidly. 
 
 Judge V. H. Lane, of the Law Department of the 
 University of Michigan, who for many years has 
 been a counsellor of the Association at the Univer- 
 sity of Michigan, writes as follows regarding his first 
 acquaintance with Rose and his work during the 
 two years of his general secretaryship : — 
 
 I knew Mr. Rose but a short time, having found him 
 here as genera] secretary when I came to connect myself with 
 the teaching force of the University, in October, 1897. He 
 was struggling with great wisdom and most deeply conse- 
 crated zeal and industry to build up the University Associa- 
 42 
 
•ffowa an5 ^icbigan XDlniversttfes 
 
 tion then recently started. As I think of it now, I do not 
 recall that I have ever known a man so successful as a worker 
 in such a field. His sweet spirit, real manliness and earnest 
 sympathy, bound men to him till he led them to his Master or 
 gave them a better conception of life. 
 
 The secret of his power (but it was no secret, for he in 
 season and out of season was continually acknowledging that 
 it was not he who wrought, but Christ which strengthened 
 him) was first his rare modesty which obtruded never, and 
 never held him from any path of Christ ; and second, the 
 complete consecration of the great gifts God had given him, 
 to the service of the Giver. Few men have ever lived nearer 
 to God than he. You ask for " striking incidents," if any I 
 recall in his work among us here. Doubtless there are many, 
 hut the ^ariicu/ar incident of his Christian work was lost in 
 his continuous, fersisttnt 2caA faithful service with individuals 
 and groups of individuals which knew no particular hour or 
 place, but only an opportunity, and which was likely never to 
 be known save over yonder, except as it shone out from lives 
 here. Would that the world had many more like Horace W. 
 Rose! 
 
 The rapid growth of the Association at the Uni- 
 versity was observed first in the Bible study depart- 
 ment. Not only were larger numbers being enrolled 
 month by month, but the system of Bible study was 
 being perfected so that there was continuity and pro- 
 gression. Mission study was started and developed, 
 and within a short time after Rose left the Univer- 
 sity, practically all the men volunteers in the Univer- 
 sity were members of the Young Men's Christian 
 Association. Personal Workers classes were organ- 
 ized, and many men were led into the Christian life 
 43 
 
•ffn ^emortam 
 
 as a result of the new spirit of aggression engen- 
 dered. 
 
 Professor George P. Coler, holding one of the 
 Bible Chairs at the University of Michigan, 
 writes : — 
 
 I am very glad to express my appreciation of tiie ciiar- 
 acter of Mr. Rose and of the great work he did among stu- 
 dents at Ann Arbor. He was a man of good ability, choice 
 spirit, and strong character. The most marked characteristic 
 of his Christian life was his complete consecration to the 
 work of Christ. His personal work among students of the 
 University of Michigan was intelligent, untiring, and very ef- 
 fective. I have been in Ann Arbor for nine years, and dur- 
 ing that time no other Christian worker among the students 
 has accomplished so much by personal work. By his work 
 and his life, he had the power of inspiring all who came in 
 touch with him, and the University Young Men's Christian 
 Association, under his leadership, became a great source of 
 Christian activity and social, moral, and spiritual influence. 
 
 In the early days of the student movement the 
 Association was viewed with solicitude by some 
 pastors who felt that it would result in drawing men 
 from church work. While this feeling has been dis- 
 pelled very largely in recent years and the position 
 of the Association as a remarkably powerful arm of 
 the church has been demonstrated, the following 
 letter from Rev. J. W. Bradshaw, now pastor of the 
 First Congregational Church at Oberlin, Ohio, but 
 then at Ann Arbor, Michigan, will be read with 
 interest : — 
 
 44 
 
irowa an& /IDicbigan Tflniversftfes 
 
 The coming of Mr. Rose to Ann Arbor marked an epoch 
 in the religious life of the University of Michigan. Under 
 his leadership, the Young Men's Christian Association, which 
 had been organized some time before, but was still in feeble 
 condition, soon developed a vigorous life. This was not 
 without its wholesome effect upon the other religious organi- 
 zations of the University. 
 
 Through his personal relations with the student body in 
 general, Mr. Rose also exerted an influence which was far- 
 reaching and powerful. By his geniality of spirit, his genuine 
 manliness, his interest in athletics and his own attainments as 
 an athlete, he won the good-will of the University men, and 
 by his outspoken but simple and unaffected loyalty to his 
 Master, he commanded their respect both for himself and for 
 that Christian discipleship which he represented. 
 
 Aggressive in spirit, fertile in resource, interested in pro- 
 moting the kingdom of Christ in the community at large, as 
 well as within student circles, and yet modest and unassum- 
 ing, he soon won for himself the esteem and affectionate re- 
 gard of the pastors of Ann Arbor, with some of whom his 
 relations speedily developed into those of warm friendship. 
 
 It was with regret that we parted with him as he was 
 called to another field of work, and with sorrow inexpressible 
 that we learned of the sudden termination of his so useful 
 and promising career. 
 
 Mr. H. J. McCreary, who succeeded Rose as 
 general secretary in the fall of 1899, wrote a letter 
 to Horace in October of that year, describing the 
 opening of the fall session. His reference to Bible 
 study proves how effective Rose had been in laying 
 foundations. 
 
 God is good to us here at Ann Arbor in blessing our 
 efforts. We now have one hundred and three men enrolled 
 
 45 
 
•ffn /iDemoriam 
 
 in Bible study, seventy in tlie Life of Christ, nineteen in the 
 Acts and Epistles, five in Old Testament, and nine in John, 
 exclusive of leaders. Last Thursday one hundred and sixty- 
 four men were voted into membership. At the meeting yes- 
 terday (Helm, speaker), ;j!i6o.85 were pledged for Beals' out- 
 fit. We hope by personal effort to double that amount. 
 
 That the work at Iowa City was not forgotten is 
 shown by many letters to friends while Rose was at 
 the University of Michigan. Mr. J. C. Prall had 
 become the leader at Iowa City. Rose in the mean- 
 time had become not only general secretary of the 
 University of Michigan, but also a special field agent 
 for the Michigan State Committee. During one of 
 his trips away from Ann Arbor he wrote the follow- 
 ing letter : — 
 
 My dear Johnny : 
 
 You have been in my thoughts a good deal lately, and 
 here goes for an Hello I I hope that you fellows are 
 getting on splendidly and flying colors at top mast. I shall 
 always feel that a large part of my life and energy was left at 
 Iowa City. It has often seemed to me that if I had some 
 " dough " I should like nothing better than to get the work at 
 S. U. I. well established. . . . Johnny, I tell you that mar- 
 ried life is a great thing, if you get a woman with her heart 
 set on the best things. My wife is the most consecrated being 
 I have ever known, and we are just going to grow more and 
 more in grace as the days and weeks pass. . . . 
 
 Well, old fellow, I wish the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
 ciation every possible blessing, and you too. Remember me 
 to Call and Fred Bailey. Speak a kind word to any of the 
 46 
 
ITowa an5 /iDicblgan "dnivetsities 
 
 old friends, but most of all to Mrs. Brown. She is a whole- 
 hearted, kind, helpful woman. 
 
 Good-bye, Johnny, 
 
 ROSE. 
 
 It was during his service at Ann Arbor that he 
 developed thoroughly his system of personal work. 
 The basis of his scheme was his own personal re- 
 lationship with men. The next most important 
 factor was a system of grouping a few men for prayer 
 and the study of the Bible. The secret of his 
 powei in getting men to do personal work was his 
 own implicit obedience to the claims of Christ, and 
 his sense of obligation to tell other men about 
 Him. " He showed the same enterprise," says a 
 Michigan man, " while about his Father's business 
 that the most successful man gives to his personal 
 affairs. It was this diligence in his business of 
 serving the Lord that shamed and at the same time 
 inspired me." 
 
 Undoubtedly also, his genuine cheerfulness was a 
 large factor in his influence on his associates in 
 Christian work and those for whom they labored. 
 Another student who had known him at the Summer 
 Conference at Lake Geneva says : — 
 
 I might mention his spirit shown in our camping at Lake 
 Geneva. He was always the warm-hearted, big-hearted com- 
 panion, ready to jump in swimming, ready to take his Bible 
 and sit with you for a warm heart-to-heart talk on " better 
 things." His hearty laugh sounded from the ball field, from 
 47 
 
Hn nDemorfam 
 
 the terraces, from the tent, everywhere, and the fellows knew 
 that Rose was there, and where he was there was something 
 " doing." 
 
 His ability to approach men was often noticed by 
 those who coveted the same power. By making it 
 his business to call on many men each week in their 
 rooms for a chat of a few minutes' duration, this 
 characteristic of his work became natural to him. 
 He went even into places commonly closed to other 
 men, as to the laboratories during class hours, and 
 into shops and other places where students congre- 
 gated. This privilege was extended even to the dis- 
 secting rooms of the medical school, and it was not 
 uncommon for him to look for his man there when 
 he could not find him elsewhere. 
 
 The administrative side of the Association claimed 
 much of his attention, but he constantly sought to 
 diminish the number of demands upon his time 
 within the ofiice, outside of his regular ofiice hours, 
 in order that he might give the more time to his per- 
 sonal work, which had now become systematic. Fre- 
 quently he had as many as forty extra engagements 
 a week, not counting the personal interviews by 
 appointment. His sympathy and wisdom as a coun- 
 sellor became so well known that students sought 
 him for interviews when they were in trouble over 
 many questions. A fellow secretary writes : — 
 
 He was possessed in large measure of that rare grace 
 of the Spirit, a genuine love for souls. When he became 
 48 
 
IFowa an5 /iDfcbigan TUniversitles 
 
 general secretary of the Association at the University of 
 Michigan, the rooms were soon filled with men who came to 
 him to talk about the problem of personal righteousness. 
 One day, being very tired, he left word at the Association 
 Rooms that he would take a day off for rest. He went to 
 his room and prepared for a quiet afternoon. Soon the door- 
 bell rang and, one after another, twenty-two men called, hav- 
 ing searched him out that they might talk with him about 
 Christ. I asked him how he accounted for this unusual 
 occurrence. " O I the fellows know that I am interested in 
 them. I have called on all of them in their rooms and 
 opened up the subject, and now when they are in trouble 
 they come to me." 
 
 He was the most constant personal worker I had ever 
 known. He did not suddenly become interested in a man's 
 welfare when some special meeting was approaching, but he 
 was always at it. It was a principle of his life. 
 
 At the University of Michigan he set aside the hours be- 
 tween I and 6 P.M. for social intercourse, which with him 
 always led up to direct personal work. I once stopped with 
 him at a large summer hotel. The first night he put him- 
 self on speaking terms with the colored bell boys. The next 
 day I saw him in a secluded comer with them singing a 
 lively song and dancing a jig. Afterwards he talked with 
 each one of them regarding his relation to Christ ; and when 
 he left, you should have seen Rose's face as each boy clam- 
 bered on the platform of the train to bid him an affectionate 
 farewell 1 
 
 His responsibility for the men that he helped did 
 not end with the first conversation, for he kept a little 
 note book in which he entered the names of those 
 with whom he had interviews. To these he wrote 
 letters if he was so situated that he could not call 
 49 
 
■ffn /iDemortam 
 
 upon them. Early in the fall of the year when he 
 was at Cornell, he said, " Those last days in Michi- 
 gan were crowded so full of other things that I 
 could not get time to see all the fellows who had 
 left their names with me, saying that they would 
 call at any time, day or night, week days or Sun- 
 days, to talk over religious matters. There were 
 about twenty such on my list when I left. I have 
 tried to keep track of them, and am still corre- 
 sponding with them." 
 
 During the week of illness before he was re- 
 moved to the hospital, he said to one of the students 
 at Cornell, " My work is not finished up yet. There 
 are those twenty men who wanted interviews at 
 Michigan. I have not seen them all come to Christ 
 yet." 
 
 In making his reports to the International Com- 
 mittee, of work done under the Michigan State 
 Committee, there was constantly kept in the fore- 
 ground his ambition to lead young men to an inti- 
 mate relationship with Jesus Christ. In one of 
 these reports he wrote, " I wish that the leading of 
 the Lord's hand might be seen as it was by me 
 going among the colleges of the state. I wish that 
 scores of men pledged to the Morning Watch and 
 daily Bible study, increased numbers for Lake 
 Geneva, two men won to Christ, and many asking 
 " Lord, what wilt Thou have me do ? " might speak 
 for the work of this visit, rather than the facts as 
 5° 
 
Howa an& /iDicbigan mniversities 
 
 they are laid before you. Without exception, the 
 committee men, chairman, officers, and members are 
 crying, " Come over to Macedonia and help us to be 
 more skilful in doing the Master's work." 
 
 His ability to discern real conditions and to dis- 
 tinguish them from pretensions, is shown by the 
 report of a visit during May, 1898, to one of the 
 large state universities in the Middle West. Under 
 the section of the report entitled " Meetings held," 
 he said : 
 
 No. 2. The president was sore and sat on nearly every- 
 thing, but we got them committed to organize committee 
 work, regular cabinet meetings, and more of God and prayer, 
 and less of man and "what I think" in the work. 
 
 No. 3. Conference with chairman to outline work and 
 with to cheer him up and call him down. 
 
 The trouble here is that everything else comes before the 
 Ixird's work. The men do not feel any responsibihty. I 
 asked the president to go to the men and pray with them 
 over it. He said, " I'U think about it." 
 
 Rose was married to Miss Suzetta Rosenblatt on 
 January 3, 1898, during his first year at the Uni- 
 versity of Michigan. He describes the first sight of 
 his future wife in the following language : — 
 
 " The first time I ever saw Mrs. Rose was out 
 in one of the poorest sections of Beloit. I was 
 walking out that way and saw a neat little cart 
 in front of an old house or shanty. Wondering 
 what that smart turn-out was doing at such a place, 
 SI 
 
Un /iDemortam 
 
 I went up to the window and looked in, and there 
 was ' Zet ' down on the floor in the midst of a lot of 
 children, rolling the oranges around that she had 
 brought them. I thought to myself that I would 
 like to know that girl, and sought an opportunity to 
 get acquainted with her." Throughout the few 
 years of married life, even during the months of 
 most serious illness of his wife, near the time of his 
 death, the deepest affection marked their life to- 
 gether. Mrs. Rose entered most heartUy and 
 prayerfully into the inner life of his work, and ac- 
 companied him many times on his tours, going even 
 so far as to the Pacific Coast. His letters, written 
 during the years of travel as an International Secre- 
 tary, are filled with most tender references to her 
 great devotion to him and his work. 
 
 52 
 
ifall Uerm among XHIlestern Collefles 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 A FALL TERM AMONG THE COLLEGES OF 
 THE WEST 
 
 THE call from the General Secretaryship at 
 the University of Michigan to the position 
 of Student Secretary of the International 
 Committee for the West, came as a natural con- 
 sequence of Rose's work. At no point in his life 
 did his spirit of humility shine more brilliantly than 
 now, when he was confronted with the largest 
 opportunity for Christian service which could be 
 afforded to any man. In a letter addressed to one 
 of his fellow-secretaries, he said : " The Inter- 
 national Committee must be hard up for men. It 
 is a big come-down from Michener to common clay 
 like me." The February issue of The IntercoUegian 
 for 1901, commenting on his death, says: "The 
 place of responsibility, which to some might have 
 been cause for pride, was to him a source of con- 
 stant humility, because he thought he had so little 
 to offer for so large a work." 
 
 Nevertheless his personal characteristics and his 
 peculiarly valuable training as General Secretary for 
 three years at two large state universities, fitted him 
 preeminently for the important post of travelling 
 secretary. Henceforth he was to be an apostle to 
 
ITn /IDemoriam 
 
 the colleges and universities of the Western States, 
 between the Mississippi and the Pacific Coast. 
 Little did he, or those who took the responsibility of 
 calling him, realize at the beginning of the year the 
 providential character of the call or the stored-up 
 spiritual energies which were to be released through- 
 out the student life of the West. Much of the 
 material which follows has been taken from the 
 letters addressed by Rose to his fellow-secretaries 
 in the office of the International Committee, or to 
 those who, like himself, were privileged to travel 
 among the colleges of other sections of the North 
 American continent. 
 
 To a friend who had given his life to foreign 
 missions in Africa, he sends the following note 
 early in his first month of service: 
 
 September i, 1899, on the train. 
 My dear Wilmer : 
 
 It has been some time since your good letter came. I pray 
 that the dear Father may have His way in your life, and that 
 through your devotion and consecration, many of the precious 
 souls in dark Africa may be won to Jesus Christ as their 
 Saviour and Lord. May these last few months of this 
 century witness a marvelous manifestation of the King's 
 power throughout the world. He grows dearer every day as 
 he leads us through privileges and difficulties. Following 
 Him, we go in and out and find pasture. How we long for 
 power to present the claims of the dear Master in such a way 
 as to influence those whom we meet. I feel very needy 
 myself. Surely in this great Western College field there is 
 need of a man through whom the spirit of God has free 
 
 54 
 
ifall Zcxm among Mestern Colleges 
 
 course. I must be very humble and cultivate a more inti- 
 mate acquaintance with Himself. . . . Charles Tompkins is 
 President of the Band (at the University of Michigan), and 
 so we can be sure of good work there this year. Jno. Raab 
 is making a fine President for the Association. We feel that 
 he and McCreary will make a good team. After all, the only 
 good teams are those that lean heavily on the everlasting 
 arms. 
 
 This fall we are laying special stress on the need of 
 spiritual awakenings in our colleges. The Lord give me 
 grace to speak and counsel with awful power. Oh, that these 
 students may be won to own Him Lord of Lords. My heart 
 is almost breaking over these lost sheep, but His grace is 
 sufficient even for these. 
 
 Come in and see us. We are a long ways apart, but it is 
 only a little way "by the throne." Remember the words of 
 the I^rd Jesus, how he said, " Peace I leave with you, my 
 peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto 
 you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid." 
 Prayerfully and earnestly, 
 
 ROSE. 
 
 From September 20 to 22 he visited the State 
 University of Kansas at Lawrence. In making his 
 report to Mr. H. P. Andersen, at the office of the 
 International Committee in New York, he names as 
 the result of his visit : 
 
 Started union Bible classes. 
 
 Got Advisory Board to raise needed money. 
 
 Got several men to make a scientific fight to overcome. 
 
 It is the custom of the Executive Secretary at 
 the office of the International Committee to write 
 letters introducing travelling secretaries to the 
 
 55 
 
■ffn /iDemoriam 
 
 officers of the associations to be visited. Mr. An- 
 dersen wrote to Rose early in September, submitting 
 to him a copy of the proposed letter. The follow- 
 ing reply was sent : 
 
 On the train, Champaign to Chicago, 
 September 25. 
 My dear Andersen : 
 
 Glad to get your letter. In regard to the office announce- 
 ment, — that's all right. I suppose the "favored in securing" 
 and " successful experience " go with the job, and so I regis- 
 ter no protest. We had a marked blessing at Champaign, 
 6 or 7 men owning Christ as Saviour and Lord for the 
 first time. Dillon is a brick, — General Secretary there. 
 They're counting upon about 350 intercollegians, 125 men in 
 Bible study, and an " aggressive, progressive, intelligent, 
 habitual, personal work. Go to now ! " 
 
 This will be a week of great privilege and great responsi- 
 bihty. Come, spirit, come. 
 
 His comment on his visit to the Agricultural 
 College at Lansing, Michigan, September 27-28, is : 
 " Helped to clean out some lives." From this point 
 he proceeded on his westward tour. At his own 
 college at Beloit, Wisconsin, he writes : " Stirred up 
 a hornets' nest in one of the fraternities, which is 
 having the effect of cleaning things out." He 
 speaks further of this visit in the following letter to 
 Mr. Andersen; 
 
 Lincoln, Nebraska, October 16, '99. 
 You need not be told that your letter was welcome. . . . 
 Since I have seen you, have been in Beloit. Three men 
 
 56 
 
ffall trerm among Mestecn Colleges 
 
 accepted Christ there. Bible study has more than doubled 
 over last year. 
 
 At Madison Sunday, two men accepted Christ, and nearly 
 fifty enlisted for Bible study. 
 
 The progress here at the University (Lincoln) has been 
 very marked, and we have more than loo men in Bible 
 classes, and are still enroUing them. To-morrow we have a 
 committeemen's tea and a gospel service. Haven't had 
 time to play marbles yet, and so my reports are still back. 
 Ask White to remember me in prayer. 
 Cordially, 
 
 ROSE. 
 
 Rose spent the days from October 23 to 25 at the 
 State University of Missouri, situated at Columbia. 
 This visit seems to have taken strong hold on his 
 sympathies, for he wrote an unusually full report 
 and accompanied it by a long letter : 
 
 Columbia, October 25. 
 My dear Andersen : 
 
 Wish we could be together for an afternoon about now. 
 Would like a good long talk with you. How one craves 
 power in the face of all this indifference and willfulness and 
 selfishness and sin, — and yet at the same time such ready 
 response to the claims of the Master. Oh for power to hold 
 up the Christ with living power 1 Oh that this work may be 
 done in the knowledge of the Eternal One I We crave the 
 free course of the Holy Spirit through us. Have just come 
 from the local chapter of our fraternity — good fellows — but 
 without much care for the Will of God concerning their 
 lives. The hope is that the presentation of higher ideals may 
 drive them to sober reflection. 
 
 There has been such an impetus given to the work out 
 
 57 
 
fln /Remoriam 
 
 here that it is steadily advancing this year. Surely Mich, 
 did a wonderful work. All these men out here love him. I 
 am thankful, 'though, that they seem to have hearts large 
 enough to take in two. 
 
 Surely this work is one of great privilege. It is rich in 
 opportunities to talk with men about the mission -field, perhaps 
 not in a set address, but in every school there is a chance to 
 present some striking evidence of missionary work, and its 
 claims on college men. We meet to-night some earnest men 
 who want to be willing to go, and do, and be what He would 
 have them be. 
 
 To-night we have a Gospel service. It looks like rain, 
 but my faith is strong that some men will be saved. 
 
 This work surely calls for a man of power and grace. 
 Pray God that I may be such a man. It has never for 
 a moment ceased to seem strange to me that such a trust has 
 been given to me. Sometimes when I see the greatness of 
 the opportunity I could wish myself back at Arm Arbor, 
 but I am sure that God will give needed grace. How 
 I long to burn for Him so brightly that men cannot resist 
 His claim. " Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit." 
 
 Cordially, 
 
 ROSE. 
 
 His report of the results of these three visits 
 illustrates some of the obstacles which he en- 
 countered day by day, as he went from college to 
 college : " Notable answer to prayer. Meeting was 
 called for seven to eight o'clock. At six it began to 
 rain and kept it up. Half-past six to seven a meet- 
 ing of Dormitory Club of one hundred and fifty was 
 called, and to cap the climax a football demonstra- 
 S8 
 
ffall TLcxm among Mestern Colleges 
 
 tion, on account of a great victory, was announced 
 in the same room in which the meeting was to be 
 held. Yet men came — one hundred — and five or 
 six made Jesus King." He then wrote : 
 
 1. Interested some athletes in the Y. M. C. A. 
 
 2. Talked Association work to Beta Theta Pi Fraternity. 
 
 3. Removed opposition to General Secretary's playing 
 football. 
 
 4. Some men quit profanity. This was very common 
 here. 
 
 5. A doubter joined the church. 
 
 6. A man thought to be an infidel comes out clear cut for 
 Christ, not one of the five or six before mentioned. 
 
 From Columbia he went to Westminster College 
 at Fulton, Mo., where he spent October 26th and 
 27th. It is apparent that on this occasion his knowl- 
 edge of fraternity life was enabling him to come into 
 social relationship with many men who were not 
 associated with the leaders of Christian work. His 
 comments on this visit were : 
 
 Helped some men to begin to struggle. 
 Spent much time in interview with fraternity men. 
 Two out of three fraternities here want their men to be 
 Christians. 
 
 From Fulton he went to Fayette, Missouri, the 
 seat of Central College. At this point the religious 
 work seems to have been in fairly good condition, 
 for he closes with this characteristic thought. " An 
 Association with a good record. Every year they 
 59 
 
•ffn /iDemortam 
 
 lead several to Christ. Though the organization is 
 not the best, they get things done. They're praying 
 men." 
 
 On October 30th he visited Warrensburg Normal 
 School at Warrensburg, Missouri, where as a result 
 of his work eleven men professed conversion. His 
 comment is, " The Lord blessed us richly here. 
 Eleven men made their first confession ; some other 
 men have decided to be clean men. God worked 
 in mighty power and kindled the purpose of aggres- 
 sive work." 
 
 KiRKSViLLE, Mo., November i. 
 My dear Andersen : 
 
 It is always a privilege to find a few minutes which can be 
 used in writing letters, and especially when a fellow's heart is 
 filled with longings. This morning my heart reaches out 
 with great yearning for these college men here in the West. 
 Oh for the power of God with great fullness I 
 
 This campaign of ten days has been a " fright " for heavy 
 work. Late nights and night riding because of long distances 
 to travel have characterized the trip, but surely God has been 
 blessing the feeble efforts. How it overwhelms one — the 
 great sense of need. Oh to be nothing, in the sense of being 
 humble, that the dear Christ may be all. I pray that this 
 hated self may be crucified with Christ, that there may be a 
 new power in His service. Surely I have great cause for lov- 
 ing Him, more than ever before, for during these days three 
 Associations have taken up the cycle of Bible study for the 
 first time and each has begun with a good number. Mem- 
 bership work has received an impetus and some new members 
 secured ; larger policies have been adopted. Associations are 
 to be represented at the Convention, even though it's a long 
 60 
 
jfall Uerm among Western Colleges 
 
 way off from most of the colleges ; much interest has been 
 manifested in the missionary work, and several men are just 
 ready to give themselves. Several have dropped profanity 
 and dishonesty, and scores, I believe, impurity. Some have 
 taken up the quiet hour observance, and best of all, a score 
 of men have made Jesus king. I tremble almost when I 
 think of the possibilities. Have I done what I could ? We 
 lost some anxious men at Columbia and also at Warrensburg 
 through pressure of other engagements, and also through 
 lack of organized personal work. I covet more and more a 
 place in the prayers of those who live close to God. Enlist 
 some of the men now as I go to these conventions. 
 
 On the train, November il. 
 My dear Andersen : 
 
 Letters from " The Office " always bring renewed courage. 
 To say I am glad to hear from you is putting it mildly. 
 
 These few days since last Saturday have been very busy, 
 yet very full of blessed experiences. Sunday night at Ames, 
 fourteen men accepted Christ, and many more dropped some- 
 thing from their life, and still others began to fight. These 
 days were full of interviews, and surely this is a fruitful part of 
 the work. The General Secretary has the confidence of the 
 men and is very much esteemed and loved. They need such 
 men at Ames, for gambling, profanity and other evils are 
 there, not open as they have been, for the boys are making a 
 heroic fight. Just think of boosting the membership from 
 seventy to two hundred and thirty in one year. It is the 
 Lord's work and marvellous in our eyes. I neglected to say 
 that during Monday three more accepted Christ. 
 
 Tuesday I went to Grinnell. That night we dwelt on 
 personal problems and two more men accepted Christ, and a 
 large number of whipped men declared that by the grace of 
 God they would be free. I was flooded with interviews, and 
 compelled to stay over till Thursday evening. Some of it 
 6i 
 
Hn ^emoriam 
 
 was heart-touching. Oh for the mind of Christ I How his 
 loving heart must long for these fellows who have been fight- 
 ing losing battles. Oh for the energy of Paul, the fearlessness 
 of Isaiah, and the love of John ! 
 
 These deep experiences through which he had 
 been passing in his evangelistic work led him to a 
 most serious self-examination. Rose did not spare 
 himself in these hours when he brought into review 
 his own ambitions and the state of his own heart, 
 for he realized that virtue must go out of the man 
 who was to lead others to a Saviour Who could 
 break the power of sin. After spending three days 
 from the 24th to the 26th of November at the State 
 University of Iowa, where he had formerly served as 
 General Secretary and where eight or nine were con- 
 verted, " one not clean cut," he sent his report to 
 the office in New York with this footnote : 
 
 One marked result of this visit is the consciousness that 
 I've a battle on. I have got to be more humble. I must get 
 low at the foot of the Cross. 
 
 On the day following this visit he wrote to a trav- 
 elling secretary in the East : 
 
 I pray that through you he will bum a path of light in 
 the Eastern colleges. It is a great privilege to remember 
 each other before God in prayer. If there is any one thing I 
 covet from my friends it is that they will make mention of my 
 needs before the Heavenly Father. The mean little tempta- 
 tions, insidious, get hold on a fellow before he knows it, pride 
 and vainglory and satisfaction over things accomplished. 
 Some way these things eat their way in, and we are prone to 
 62 
 
Ifall trerm among Mestern Colleges 
 
 covet the praise of men rather than the praise of God. Oh 
 for grace to keep very low at the foot of the cross 1 We 
 meet these dear struggling fellows so often, men who admit 
 that what they are working for is the approval of man. 
 Rather may we hear His " Well done " when we have finished 
 the work in the different colleges. Oh to be a blessing to 
 Him I Oh that from our lives He may get glory I Oh that 
 you even more than heretofore may be His messenger among 
 the more indifferent Eastern schools, empowered by the Holy 
 Spirit to do the " greater things than these." 
 
 God has been very gracious to me. It seems wonderful 
 that He will use such poor, weak service in saving men and 
 building them up. 
 
 It was very kind of you to remember my mother in your 
 letter. But Mrs. Rose, my Mrs. Rose, does not gain as fast 
 as we had thought she would. She is very brave and cheery 
 though. 
 
 Cordially and lovingly, 
 
 ROSE. 
 
 So Stirred was he by this visit at Iowa City, that 
 he wrote also to Mr. Andersen in New York on the 
 same date : 
 
 One stubborn fellow promised to accept Christ inside of 
 the next few days. And now for the power of God here. Oh 
 that He would save some I I find a peculiar joy in reporting 
 things accomplished. I want you to pray that I may care 
 nothing for the praise of men, only by their advice to be led 
 to serve Him better. I am determined that my life may con- 
 stantly grow brighter and deeper, that through me He may 
 be glorified. How much help it would give me if I could be 
 with you and Mott, and Taylor, and Beaver, and Hicks for a 
 few days I Yet I can be with Him who is not very far at any 
 
 63 
 
Hn /IDemortam 
 
 time from those who love Him. " With Thee Is the fountain 
 of life : in Thy hght shall we see light." 
 Cordially, 
 
 ROSE. 
 
 It pained Rose to find in a college that a " gap " 
 existed between the Christian and the non-Christian 
 men. So much did he believe that the Christian 
 men should mix up in student life that a favorite 
 subject of discussion in Cabinet meeting was how 
 the Christian men might be induced to enter ath- 
 letics. 
 
 On the 8th of December he visited a college in 
 South Dakota and reported his observations in a 
 note to a friend : 
 
 Here in the face of unfavorable conditions, we men are 
 praying for the power of God to do His work to-day. There 
 is a great gap between the Christians and those who are not 
 Christians, and they don't get near each other, but we are 
 trusting Him and fully believing that He will break the barrier 
 away to-day and get glory to Himself. We have a men's 
 meeting this evening, and it is around this that our prayers are 
 gathering. I trust there will be joy among the angels to- 
 night, because of some who are saved from sin through 
 Jesus Christ. How wonderful is His working I 
 
 While serving men so constantly as he was able 
 to do through his travelling work, Rose was quick 
 to recognize the value of a friend's counsel, espe- 
 cially if it was sincerely expressed and intended to 
 make him more efficient as an advocate in Christian 
 work. Rose counted as one of his dearest friends 
 64 
 
3fall xrerm among Mestern Colleges 
 
 Mr. S. M. Sayford, who for many years had been en- 
 gaged in evangelistic work among the college men 
 of the North American continent. On the 8th of 
 December, while at Huron, South Dakota, he sent 
 a letter to Sayford : 
 
 My dear Uncle Sam : 
 
 Let me call you Uncle Sam, or if you won't let me, I can 
 do it anyway with all this distance between us. Your photo- 
 graph has called up a great many happy experiences, and one 
 in particular which I shall always prize, — the time you 
 warned me so carefully at Geneva, and then told me that 
 you loved me. Your heart is large enough to take in a great 
 many men, but I am mighty glad that I am one who is in it. 
 ... I covet a place in your prayer life. How we need 
 power 1 Cordially, 
 
 H. W. ROSE. 
 
 Rose found it increasingly difficult to report the 
 facts about his own work to the office in New York, 
 for just making the record seemed to bring tempta- 
 tion to pride into his life. After his work on the 
 gth and loth of December at the South Dakota 
 Agricultural College, Brookings, South Dakota, where 
 ten men accepted Christ, he wrote : " I always hate 
 to report numbers, because it gives me a sense of 
 satisfaction which I wish was not in my life. I had 
 almost said I wouldn't for a time." 
 
 December nth and 12th were spent at Dakota 
 University, with these results : 
 
 I. Nine men became Christians. One of these is a 
 " backslider reclaimed." God's grace is wonderful. 
 
 65 
 
ITn /IDemoriam 
 
 2. Some men gave in their names as purposing to join 
 
 the church. 
 
 3. Some, about eight, joined the Association. 
 
 4. Fifteen pledged to join Bible study. 
 
 5. Several Christian men began to fight against besetting 
 
 sin. 
 
 6. Personal workers enthused. 
 
 7. I am tired after such a siege. 
 
 Following this fruitful visit, he wrote on the 13th 
 of December from Sioux Falls : 
 
 My dear Andersen : 
 
 I think my report says enough to show the condition here, 
 but it does not show the joy and gratitude in my own life 
 which I want to express to you. During these days He has 
 been teaching me some great lessons, and I am sure my life 
 has deepened during the times we have met in communion 
 and prayer this fall. In some way the King and the beauty 
 of his life are coming to mean more to me. Oh for the mind 
 which was in Christ Jesus I I have prayed Him that this 
 trip might bum a path of light in these colleges out here, and 
 I feel that He has heard my prayer and the prayers of others 
 who have been waiting on Him. 
 
 The thermometer is way, way down, but the love of 
 God still melts men's hearts. 
 
 Cordially and prayerfully, 
 
 ROSE. 
 
 His enthusiasm for his work seemed to have no 
 bounds, for on the 14th and 15th of December he 
 visited another large college in South Dakota, and 
 reports five conversions. " I hope these men will 
 hold out. They are the ' best ones ' of the college, 
 swell, and even ' sporty,' but they seem to mean 
 66 
 
jfall JLcxm among TKHestern Colleges 
 
 business. The line of cleavage has been very dis- 
 tinct here, and we praise God for the breaking 
 down of the barrier. We interested the athletes 
 surely in the work." 
 
 Again, on the i6th and 17th he visited the State 
 University of South Dakota at Vermillion, and re- 
 ported : 
 
 Seven conversions. Hope they will stick. Some were 
 football men. It was a manifestation of divine power. 
 Some men joined Bible study. 
 One or two pledged to join the church. 
 I hope our meetings resulted in 
 
 (a) More Sabbath observance. 
 
 (b) Less profanity. 
 
 (c) Less gambling. 
 
 Urge to see that these men are taken care of. 
 
 The fellows, our Christian men, have Uttle conception 
 of the worth of saving a soul. It is so in half of the 
 colleges. 
 
 The Stupendous work of the fall was now near at 
 an end. He had returned to his home at Evanston, 
 Illinois, when he wrote for tickets to be used on his 
 next trip, and apologized for adding the burden of 
 procuring them to the force in the office : 
 
 Evanston, December zi, '99. 
 My dear Andersen : 
 
 Sorry to put this burden on you, but I am unequal to it 
 
 just now because there are two Jumbos on my hands : one, 
 
 an examination for a degree from Beloit (don't mention this), 
 
 and another, the effort to fill our house with sunshine. Mrs. 
 
 67 
 
fln ^emoriam 
 
 Rose was on her back when I reached home, but is better 
 now, and to-night we have had a very pleasant evening to- 
 gether. So I have had to be housemaid, nurse, and cook, 
 also a student at the same time. 
 
 This critical condition of his wife's health, dis- 
 covered on his return from the long trip of the fall, 
 led him to consider a new policy for the winter. 
 The life of a travelling secretary is a militant life, 
 making serious demands on physical strength. But 
 his personal physical condition seems not to have 
 been considered by him. His whole thought was 
 for his wife. The strain upon her caused by the 
 long absence, led him to write to New York as 
 follows : 
 
 EvANSTON, December 23. 
 My dear Andersen : 
 
 The writing of this letter is costing me no little pain. I 
 have thought it over, and talked it over with the doctor and 
 with friends, and prayed over it, and always arrive at the one 
 decision, that under the circumstances, a trip of more than 
 eight or ten days is impossible for the present Mrs. Rose 
 was on her back when I reached home last Tuesday, and is 
 practically there still. Leaving her for a period of three 
 weeks or more is out of the question just now. 
 
 It takes courage to write these facts, knowing well as I 
 do how much is lacking in me as a secretary of the committee, 
 this happening as it does thus early in my work, but it is a 
 duty and I must be true to it. I am asking the Lord to 
 make it up by the gift of special power, ... It takes lots of 
 faith and courage when the sky is so dark, but underneath 
 are the everlasting arms. 
 
 Cordially and prayerfully, 
 
 ROSE. 
 68 
 
3Fall Uerm among XKHestern Colleges 
 
 His last letter to New York was addressed to 
 Mr. Henry White, Secretary in charge of the 
 office: 
 
 Chicago, December 23, 1899. 
 My dear white Henry White : 
 
 We want you to do up a job lot of business for us. We 
 want to wish everybody in the office a Merry Christmas that 
 we ought to wish a Merry Christmas. That includes Mott, 
 Andersen, yourself, Fahs, and Turner, and anybody else who 
 ought to come in with this job lot. Now be sure and do it 
 up brown for us. A warm Merry Christmas for you all. 
 Cordially yours, 
 
 ROSE. 
 
 69 
 
ITn /©emorfam 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 WINTER AND SPRING AMONG THE COLLEGES OF 
 THE WEST 
 
 A 
 
 FTER a few days of rest with his wife at 
 his home in Evanston, Rose started out 
 with fresh vigor for the campaign of the 
 winter. He proceeded at once to North Dakota, 
 and began work at Fargo College, January 5 to 
 8, from which point he reported seven conver- 
 sions of men who " told me they would be Chris- 
 tians, and they all intend to be, but two are nearly 
 giving out. The devil is at work there." 
 
 The consciousness that the devil was not only 
 aggressive, but persistent, in his efforts to command 
 the thoughts and time of college men, led him to 
 dedicate his life anew to the work of breaking down 
 the power of evil in the colleges which he was to 
 visit. This conviction gave a ring, and an attack 
 to his addresses, and a sincerity to his personal 
 interviews, which continued to result in large ac- 
 cessions to the churches of college towns, and the 
 beginning of a winning battle in the heart of many 
 men. He comments on the fact that three men 
 who accepted Christ at the North Dakota State 
 University, during January 8-10, did so in personal 
 interview, since no opportunity could be found for 
 70 
 
TDQllnter an& Spring 
 
 a decision meeting. At this point he said also, 
 that eleven men publicly resolved to join the church 
 immediately, and adds the significant phrase, " some 
 will." " This is surely a fertile field, and it seems 
 to me a very important one. They need much 
 help. They begged me, really begged me, to hurry 
 back." 
 
 At Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois, he spent 
 January 13-15, and in writing, commented on the 
 great blessing which God had given him, in bring- 
 ing five or six men into the Christian life, and two 
 into church membership. " Many men have said, 
 ' By the grace of God I will be a pure man.' The 
 members of the Beta Fraternity have knocked down 
 old traditions, and come up higher. There are 
 practically no difficulties here, if the men will work 
 and pray. Lack of concern for fellow-students is 
 the great hindrance. Nobody cares much how 
 these men are living. The men have been im- 
 pressed by the way God used our humble efforts." 
 
 His righteous indignation was aroused after one 
 of these visits, regarding which he wrote : 
 
 Three or four men accepted Christ, in the meetings of Jan- 
 uary 19-20. The leaders have been stirred up; some have 
 begun to fight. It wore me out, such self-satisfaction and 
 esteem, and such indifference. They need an Isaiah or an 
 Apostle Paul to get them to doing something. The mem- 
 bership is very unsatisfactory, fifty in all ; should be one hun- 
 dred. We started a campaign. Regarding religious 
 meetings, he said, " Weak here too ; average attendance 
 
 71 
 
IFn /iDemorfam 
 
 about twenty, and the same twenty all the time. We recom- 
 mend ' work.' " 
 
 In a letter written on the train, January 27, to 
 Mr. Andersen, he describes a college, where he was 
 entertained in one of the leading fraternities, and 
 where, as a result of the splendid fellowship had 
 with one of the men, the entire chapter was stirred 
 to its depths. One of the men, who was the best 
 athlete in the State Athletic Association, and another 
 led into the Christian life during his stay there, 
 laid siege to the others after he had gone. He 
 says : " One night they talked and prayed with three 
 of the fellows until i o'clock, when all three ac- 
 cepted Christ, At Lincoln, too, a couple of ath- 
 letes said, ' I will try to be a Christian.' Four 
 entered Bible study, and some have had their con- 
 science quickened to the need of the battle. Surely 
 God is good. How ready to answer prayer." "And 
 
 then at we were absolutely helpless in the 
 
 face of the indifference and selfishness, the will- 
 fulness and ' bravado.' It was heart-breaking. One 
 realized in a small way, the compassion in the heart 
 of the loving Christ, as He looked upon the multi- 
 tudes scattered abroad without a shepherd. Three 
 
 men at and two at ■ said they would be 
 
 Christian men, and about two in each place entered 
 Bible study. It was sad to talk to a hundred men 
 earnestly, and then find only two for Bible study." 
 
 At this point in his travel, he recorded in his note 
 72 
 
Minter anb Spring 
 
 book this prayer : " Dear Father, may there be no 
 moment to-day in my life in which Thy love shall 
 not be evident. Help me to-day to do what Thou 
 wouldst have me. Oh, help me to follow on closely 
 and energetically, with Thy love radiant in my life. 
 
 Amen." 
 
 After a visit to Purdue University at Lafayette, 
 Illinois, on the 2gth of January, he wrote on board 
 the train, that eight men, " some seniors among 
 them," had accepted Christ, and two men who had 
 lost their faith had been brought back. " Oh for 
 power to burn a path of light in these colleges for 
 Christ. I am very grateful for the way He gave me 
 the hearts of the men at Purdue. I shall hold up 
 the Kingdom in its beauty with all the grace and 
 power which He shall supply. How weak we are, 
 and yet how mightily He works. My heart is filled 
 with gratitude." 
 
 At the next college, the only man led into the 
 Christian life he characterized as " the captain of 
 both the football and the baseball teams. He is 
 a very influential man." His method of following up 
 his evangelistic meetings is demonstrated by a re- 
 mark contained in his report of a visit to the State 
 University of Indiana, at Bloomington, on Febru- 
 ary 2-4: "Several, perhaps ten or twelve, were 
 converted. These men were anchored in personal 
 work, after the meeting. There will be more. 
 Surely these men are rejoicing." 
 73 
 
Hn /iDemoriam 
 
 The deficiencies in the lives of Christian men 
 were observed by Rose, with discernment. Espe- 
 cially acute was he in interpreting the causes of indif- 
 ference, and vigorous in pleading with Christian 
 men to study the Bible, in order that the mind of 
 Christ might take possession of them. After the 
 visit at Bloomington, where a dozen had accepted 
 Christ, and one or two fraternities had given him a 
 welcome with beneficial results, he wrote a letter ex- 
 pressing the thoughts of his heart : 
 
 Saturday morning, February 3, Bloomington. 
 
 My dear Andersen : 
 
 Surely this is blessed work. How hungry it makes a man 
 to help the needy college men. We need Jesus Christ, and 
 then we need Him more and more still. In some way, these 
 college men who bear His name must be stirred up to put 
 their heart in love alongside the heart of the student given 
 up to sin. We must find more men who will live so near to 
 Christ that to invite other men to accept him will seem 
 natural, not only to the man who does the inviting, but also 
 to the man who is invited. By this I mean that a man 
 should walk so closely with Christ that it will seem natural to 
 both men concerned that the matter of confessing the Sav- 
 iour should be brought up. 
 
 He rejoiced exceedingly at the word from Cor- 
 nell University, that seventy-six men had been led 
 into the Christian life in three days, and his joy 
 found expression in the wish that all the secretaries 
 of the International Committee might try to rejoice 
 over each one, and thank God for each one. 
 74 
 
Minter an5 Spring 
 
 At a State Convention which he visited, Rose had 
 been assigned for entertainment to one of the best 
 hotels in the city. The convention was being held 
 in a college town. On a previous visit to the same 
 place Rose had become acquainted with a group of 
 athletic men in the institution who had been greatly 
 taken with his spirit in spite of their unclean lives. 
 As soon as they learned that he was in town they 
 invited him to share their rooms during the conven- 
 tion. He referred the matter to one or two secre- 
 taries who were with him. They opposed accepting 
 the invitation because they knew how heavy a strain 
 would be put upon him by the work of the conven- 
 tion. Their advice was that he go to the hotel 
 where he could take care of himself. In spite of 
 this opposition he accepted, saying, "If I can get 
 down and help those men I am going to do it." 
 
 When he entered the rooms to which he was invited, he 
 found on the walls some pictures that offended his sense of 
 propriety, and rebuked the fellows by saying that those would 
 have to come down if he was going to stay there. They 
 retorted that " he would have to take them down first." At 
 college, Rose was a famous wrestler. He immediately ac- 
 cepted their challenge, and one at a time threw the four men 
 in succession, although two of them were much larger men. 
 After the wrestling bout, he saw a baseball on the table, and 
 said, " Do you men play ball ? " And they replied, " Yes, a 
 little." Rose said, " I used to do some of it myself. Come 
 out in the yard and I will play burn with you." And the old 
 'Varsity catcher used his strong arm for the glory of God, 
 and soon retired the group with puffed hands. When they 
 
 75 
 
Vn /IDemorfam 
 
 came back into the house, Rose said, " Now you can see that 
 you are not the whole thing, what do you say about those 
 pictures?" Without any other words, the men took the 
 offensive decorations down, and before the convention closed 
 they were led into the kingdom. 
 
 Another incident which shows his great hold on 
 college men is told by Mr. E. T. Colton, who suc- 
 ceeded Rose as the traveling secretary of the 
 student department in the West : " He worked at a 
 pace which added ten years of age to his appear- 
 ance. His mother and wife at home were invalids, 
 the latter only shortly surviving him. Under the 
 most rigid economy and self-denial his finances 
 were straightened, yet I heard a man in Knox 
 College say of him, when I knew half of his nights 
 were sleepless and he himself suffering an acute 
 physical affliction, ' He is the first Christian I ever 
 saw who seemed to me to be happy.' " 
 
 About the middle of April the state of Mrs. Rose's 
 health led him to consider seriously giving up travel- 
 ing work for a position as general secretary in some 
 college or city association. He wrote the New York 
 office from Boulder, Colorado, in the midst of a trip 
 on which Mrs. Rose accompanied him, that there 
 was much to encourage him and also " much to 
 almost break my heart." He hoped that the con- 
 templated trip among the colleges of California 
 would be of benefit to her. 
 
 It was at this time that the Board of Trustees of 
 76 
 
Minter an& Spring 
 
 the Cornell University Christian Association decided 
 to look for a man who might become general secre- 
 tary, devoting all his time to the work. Friends 
 who knew of the desire that Rose had for a perma- 
 nent residence to aid his wife in her recovery 
 suggested his name to the Cornell leaders. In 
 expressing his willingness to go to Ithaca and the 
 reluctance which he felt in relinquishing his travel- 
 ing work, he said: "How my heart yearns for an- 
 other year in this Western field ! So little has been 
 done, and yet God has manifested His power. But 
 His will is sweet and it is our happy privilege to 
 keep humble before it." At the close of another 
 letter written on the 27th of April, in referring 
 again to his work for the next year, he says : " The 
 thing that I feel keenly at this time is the desire 
 that the dear Father will show us His plan not only 
 for Mrs. Rose and me, but also for my successor." 
 
 The part that prayer played in this year of 
 abounding fruitage was most significant. Enough 
 reference to the place of prayer in Rose's daily life 
 has been made to show that his faith in the answer 
 to prayer was without qualification. He gave 
 special thought to his public prayers, especially 
 those which opened and closed the meetings in 
 which he made addresses. The one which follows 
 was evidently used by him at the close of an evan- 
 gelistic address on the occasion of some visit in a 
 college. 
 
 77 
 
Hn jflDemoriam 
 
 My dear Father in Heaven, I pray Thee that the past 
 may be forgotten in the vast significance of this present hour. 
 We see these needy men, sinful and rebellious, without 
 Christ in this present world or the world to come, and are 
 moved to ask great things from Thee. Forbid that we should 
 limit the power of the Holy Spirit by asking for small gifts. 
 Our Father, we ask Thee that men may be led to make Jesus 
 King of their lives to-day, that their wills may be broken 
 down and their hearts filled with love. Save some and get 
 glory to Thyself. Save them for their sakes, for all that it 
 will mean to them and theirs now and in years to come ; save 
 them for the sake of Thy dear Kingdom which we are long- 
 ing for in its fulness ; save them for the sake of the Dear 
 Savior who gave Himself for them ; and save them that Thou 
 mayst get glory to Thyself. And there are some Christian 
 men, Dear Father, who ought to be in Bible study classes. 
 Show them the power of Thy word in their struggle to do 
 Thy will. May they be led to give it a place in the work of 
 each day. And there are some men. Father, who have evils 
 hanging to their lives. By Thy grace and saving power, set 
 them free. And there are many who have no burden for 
 serving Thee now — here in College. Father, show them the 
 beauty of the life of service and give them grace to say, 
 Here am I, send me. May this be a day of victories. May 
 we Thy children come to love Thee more. May we be 
 humble. May men be saved. May Christ be lifted up. 
 May Thy name get glory. For Christ's sake. Amen. 
 
 This form, appearing in four sections, was used 
 when he appealed to men to make decisions : 
 
 (Bowed in prayer.) 
 
 When I reflect on the meaning and the beauty and the 
 significance of the Christian life, and the claim of Christ on 
 our lives and what the Bible says about being Christian men, 
 78 
 
XKflinter an& Spring 
 
 I am constrained to ask you men to get a victory by His 
 grace. 
 
 And when I think of the power of the word of God to 
 transform and beautify men's lives and equip men for lives 
 of usefulness and service, and help them over besetting sins, 
 I am constrained to ask you to get a victory in regard to 
 Bible study. 
 
 And when I think of how much we young men need the 
 strong arm of the church to help us to be God's kind of a 
 man, and what great opportunities the Church affords for 
 Christian growth and service, I am constrained to ask you if 
 there are not some whose battle lies right here. 
 
 And when I think of the awful ravages of sin in our lives, 
 some besetting sin, I am constrained to ask whether or not 
 victory is ours along this line. 
 
 The importance of personal work as a means of 
 making the religious meetings of college associations 
 effective was constantly emphasized by Rose in his 
 travels, and also in papers prepared by him to be 
 read at conferences of general secretaries and associ- 
 ation presidents. One such paper has been found, 
 of which the following is a part : 
 
 Under the first head, the remark was made that it is 
 desirable to have the large meeting of the Association often 
 lead up to decision. It hardly seems wise that every meeting, 
 or that more than one in three of the meetings, should be 
 decision meetings, yet where the atmosphere is warm, and 
 there is the need for victory, it is surely unwise to let go the 
 opportunity of bringing men to decision. Not all men can 
 lead a decision meeting. Men should be chosen partially 
 with reference to this gift. How get decision? Not very 
 often by a show of the hand, or by aslung men to rise to their 
 
 79 
 
Hn ^emoriam 
 
 feet, but more often, in quiet, thoughtful prayer, with their 
 heads bowed, urge men before God to say, " by His grace, I'll 
 overcome." 
 
 Still other men may be led to decision by the diligent 
 work of the Committee and other active men at the close of 
 the meeting. Once in a while we meet a man of God who is 
 on his feet the moment the closing prayer is offered, asking 
 one friend and another if the victory for which he has been 
 hungry has at last come into his life. We have seen skillful, 
 earnest, personal workers at the close of an ordinary meeting, 
 lead three or four different students to a definite decision 
 along definite lines. 
 
 In regard to the work of the religious meetings, this is the 
 neglected field. I carry a great burden for the ten minutes 
 following the regular meeting of the Association. This regu- 
 lar meeting should open numerous avenues for personal work. 
 If the Committee has the subject well in hand, and if 
 their hearts are aflame for victories along the line of the sub- 
 ject, it is a very simple and natural thing for them to do, to 
 personally talk with men at the close of the meeting in regard 
 to the theme of the hour. I believe that one of the greatest 
 weaknesses of our Christian work is that we fail to conserve 
 the results of the regular religious meeting of the Young 
 Men's Christian Association. 
 
 Another most interesting paper was prepared by 
 him on " How to get hold of men not interested in 
 Association work." In most college associations a 
 successful special attempt is made to lead the men 
 of the freshman class into the helpful associations of 
 Christian work, but it is commonly recognized that 
 after this special effort is finished, there still remain 
 many who have not identified themselves with Chris- 
 80 
 
"CQltnter an& Spring 
 
 tian churches or associations. Rose constantly im- 
 pressed upon student leaders the importance of a 
 continuous aggressive campaign to reach these un- 
 interested men. There are five main divisions to 
 the paper, the last three being : " The men's social," 
 " The judicious use of the employment bureau," and 
 " Using available methods of making sentiment in 
 favor of the Association." Under the last topic he 
 had seven sub-divisions : 
 
 1. Chapel talk. 
 
 2. Use of college paper. 
 
 3. Judicious use of Intercollegian and much other Associ- 
 ation literature. 
 
 4. Visit of deputation men or secretary. 
 
 5. Keeping reports before student body. 
 
 6. Actually doing an earnest, wide-awake, aggressive work. 
 
 7. Policy sympathetic with other college organizations. 
 
 The chief emphasis, however, in this excellent 
 paper was laid on the first two topics, which are as 
 follows : 
 
 I. Through the medium of the Bible Study Class. 
 
 The effort to enlist men in Bible study is one of the surest 
 ways to win the uninterested. Have you tried it? Several 
 weeks of study together with the earnest Association men 
 will overcome prejudice. May only get a few this way. But 
 to win one of these cold fellows is a great victory. Here is 
 an opportunity which is not used from the standpoint of the 
 great problem, " How break down prejudice against organized 
 Christian work ? " The battering ram process is the process 
 which must be used to enlist these indifferent men. (Enlarge) 
 Again, men not interested may be grouped about one or two i^ien 
 81 
 
Hn /iDemoriam 
 
 of God, men who clique together, men who are in athletics to- 
 gether, fraternity men together. Here the vital difficulty is to 
 find the man of God who is acceptable to all these men, and 
 too much care and study cannot be expended upon this 
 problem. In fact, if this group plan is to be worked, it seems 
 desirable that the field should be carefully studied with refer- 
 ence to supplying the man of God for any one of two or three 
 groups of men who are not interested, before the men are 
 consulted personally. 
 
 II. The Visitation Work. 
 
 (i) All college men are either hungry for or appreciate 
 kindnesses shown to them in the way of calling upon them. 
 
 (2) An immense amount of ground can be covered and an 
 immense amount of work done which pays large dividends. 
 
 (3) A committee of ten earnest men led by a consecrated 
 chairman, each making two calls a week, will visit eighty men 
 a month. These eighty men should be seen again and again 
 until they feel friendly, not only to the men who are calling 
 upon them, but also to the Association. Changing of visiting 
 lists from time to time will give the uninterested men more 
 chance to make friends, that is, different Association men will 
 thus be given a chance to call upon them and get acquainted 
 with them. We have been talking long enough about solu- 
 tions to some of these questions. This matter of visitation 
 has been often spoken of, but for some reason or other, not 
 many'lAssociations have taken it into their policy. Where it 
 has been tried it pays very large dividends. 
 
 (4) The objects of this visitation work may be numerous. 
 
 The regular work of the committee would better be con- 
 fined to enlisting the sympathy of men who are uninterested. 
 Each man would visit and talk in a different way, but such 
 themes as athletics, college activities in general, and the more 
 recent developments of the student movement should be at 
 the tongue's end of the visitor. Any recent thrilling develop- 
 ment of the work in India, China, Ceylon, Japan, Scandina- 
 
 82 
 
Mintet ant> Spring 
 
 via, Italy, France, Russia, — these are topics of great interest, 
 and furnish the wedge for winning the man's sympathy to the 
 local work. Dropping into the room soon after supper, or on 
 a holiday, or in the P. M. for a short time for just a social 
 visit, letting this ripen as fast as possible into a rich friend- 
 ship and a relation of confidence ; this is the spirit of the visi- 
 tation work, always hoping that the way will open for an 
 earnest talk in regard to the Christian life. Or the further 
 object of the visitation work may be to have a committee 
 available who shall, through direct work themselves — but 
 more especially through stirring up the members to a need of 
 it — promote this habit of cultivating and developing more 
 friends. " I would rather have a man tie up to me than a 
 movement." The habit on the part of the members of just 
 getting with another for encouragement and cheer for a few 
 minutes makes the whole Association more compact. Through 
 the visitation work it will also be desirable from time to time 
 to round up the members on Bible study, on prayer, on the 
 besetting sins, and on the matter of faithfulness to duty in 
 Christian activity. 
 
 The significance of student association work had 
 grown on him steadily during the severe campaigns 
 of the winter, and he voices his thought in the fol- 
 lowing letter on the 8th of May, dated from Chaffey 
 College, Ontario, Cahfornia. 
 
 Down here in Ontario I have been thinking just a little, 
 while waiting to see the men about leaving this work. I had 
 hardly realized how its significance had taken hold on me, 
 but it has been a very happy and pleasant year, and I am sure 
 it has been for some of the needy men whom I have had the 
 privilege of knowing. I had hoped earlier in the year that in 
 a humble way I might call hundreds of college men to give 
 time and energy to doing the will of God as personal workers. 
 
 83 
 
ITn /IDemoriam 
 
 We can be very happy, however, in the thought that God has 
 power to raise up and equip men for His work whenever there 
 is need. How I love these hungry college men, 
 As ever, 
 
 ROSE. 
 
 In a letter bearing date of May 19th, to a friend 
 in the East, he said : " It pulls my heartstrings to 
 have to leave this traveling work, it's full of so 
 many opportunities." 
 
 The decision had been definitely made to go to 
 Cornell University as general secretary. Hence- 
 forth, even during the busy days of the Pacific Coast 
 and Lake Geneva Summer Conference, his thought 
 turned toward the new field. He had entered the 
 year of service with the International Committee 
 with the intention " to leave a trail of light " behind 
 him, and he did it. TTie Intercollegian says of 
 his work : "In sixty of the eighty colleges visited, 
 men were converted during his stay. During the 
 year he was the means of winning, personally, more 
 than four hundred students to Christ. He led about 
 twenty-five men to give their lives to foreign missions 
 and a larger number besides to enter other forms of 
 Christian work. He led over six hundred men into 
 Bible study as a result of personal interviews. Ev- 
 ery conversation entered into and every letter he 
 wrote was inbreathed with his longing for the spirit- 
 ual uplifting of college men. The whole student 
 movement felt the thrill of his triumphant faith and 
 ceaseless activity." 
 
 84 
 
at Cornell 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 AT CORNELL 
 
 THE decision to accept tiie call of the Cornell 
 Association came so late in the spring that 
 Rose had barely time to reach the Northfield 
 Student Conference late in June. About ten Cornell 
 men were present as delegates, and Rose entered at 
 once into intimate relationship with them all. At 
 this time plans were laid for the opening of the work 
 in the fall. While his chief purpose was to study 
 his prospective field in company with the small hand- 
 ful of leaders present at the Conference, nevertheless 
 he was very largely used during the ten days among 
 other delegations on the grounds. 
 
 Throughout his life he had the habit of recording 
 his prayerful meditations in writing. Robert E. Speer, 
 in an article on the life of Rose printed in Forward, 
 a paper widely circulated among Presbyterian young 
 people, makes reference to one of his written prayers 
 entered in his note book at Northfield. 
 
 July I. 
 Father, Thou hast led me into places of large privilege 
 lately. I thank Thee that Thou hast counted me worthy of so 
 much trust. But this morning, Father, I am conscious of the 
 fact that under all this pressure which has been upon me, I 
 have not found the quiet watchings with Thee. Give me a 
 place in the company of those who know Thee very intimately. 
 
 8S 
 
Un /iDemorfam 
 
 And eight days later, as the conference closed, 
 Horace wrote again : 
 
 July 9. 
 The Northfield Conference is almost over. God has spoken 
 here. I have been on the Mount of Vision, and I pledge God 
 to be tnie to the vision. But perhaps tvfo things more than 
 others are stirring the very depths of my heart. I must win 
 more souls. I must be instrumental in starting some revivals. 
 With God's grace I will. The second is this : I have heard, 
 as never before, the cry of the Indian student, of the students 
 of Japan and China and Australia. 
 
 The summer months were spent with his wife, his 
 time being occupied in making her comfortable and 
 in preparing for his work at Cornell. On the twenty- 
 second of August he wrote to a friend from Chicago — 
 "I am anticipating the work at Cornell with much 
 more enthusiasm than I supposed I could under the 
 circumstances. Surely, Mrs. Rose will like it as soon 
 as she gets stronger." 
 
 He had been asked to spend a few days in early 
 September in conference with the Student Secretaries 
 of the International Committee at Long Beach, on 
 Long Island. He felt, however, that it would not be 
 wise to leave his new position so soon after under- 
 taking his work at Cornell, and as a consequence, 
 wrote as follows : 
 
 Of course the Conference at Long Beach would be a source 
 of great inspiration to me, but that is valuable time just then 
 and I must give the Cornell Association first claim. Don't 
 86 
 
at Cornell 
 
 forget to enlist prayer for the work there. God is very dear 
 these days. Lovingly yours, 
 
 ROSE. 
 
 Still again, two days later, he wrote to the same 
 friend : " I shall miss the fellowship and inspiration 
 of the Conference at Long Beach much." He referred 
 then to Mrs. Rose's condition, and stated that she 
 had improved scarcely at all during the closing days 
 of August. At this time he decided not to take her 
 to Cornell with him, but to find a private sanitarium 
 in the East where she might receive the best of care. 
 His closing words of this letter were, " Be sure to 
 ask lots of the men at the Conference to remember 
 Mrs. Rose. The Lord will hear us tho' He tarry 
 long. And have them remember me. He is very 
 near to me during these days." 
 
 In his travels Horace had spent many hours in 
 the office of the Student Department at the Young 
 Men's Christian Association Building of Chicago, 
 especially in conference with his friend William J. 
 Parker, the secretary in charge of student work. 
 He writes : 
 
 " In his tender care for his aged mother and in 
 his tireless search for a cure for his invalid wife, 
 Rose showed qualities that but few saw. Once when 
 it was urged upon him that his health required that 
 he take time for exercise, he said, ' Yes, I know I 
 ought to, but Sue takes a nap every afternoon and I 
 can't bear to have her wake up and find me gone.' 
 87 
 
Iln /IDemoriam 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Rose spent the last few days before 
 going to Cornell at our home. He was worn out 
 physically and the future was uncertain. ' I don't 
 quite know why I'm going to Cornell,' he said, ' but 
 I guess it's all right. God seems to be leading me 
 just a step at a time lately, and I can't see very far 
 into the future. I am willing to leave it to Him.' 
 And he did." 
 
 Rose was finally induced to attend the Long Beach 
 Conference, after taking up his work on September 
 first. His wife had found a comfortable place as a 
 home in the East During the days spent at Long 
 Beach Rose seemed almost broken in health and 
 very low spirited. The burden of care and anxiety 
 for his mother and wife weighed on him greatly. It 
 was strange to see him wander off up the beach alone 
 brushing the flowing tears from his face. In asking 
 a friend at the close of each day to pray for Mrs. 
 Rose, he said, " You know, old fellow, that I can't 
 say much to the other men about it, but I do covet 
 your prayer and sympathy, and the same from the 
 other men also." 
 
 After his return to Cornell at the end of the second 
 week in September, he began to master the details 
 of the office and get his bearings among difficult and 
 sometimes discouraging circumstances and surround- 
 ings. His health began to improve immediately as 
 a result of steady hours and regular exercise out of 
 doors and in the gymnasium. For a few weeks his 
 88 
 
at Cornell 
 
 physical improvement continued and he seemed to 
 be himself again in spirit and in his work. 
 
 At Cornell the same habits of his spiritual life 
 which had made him such a flaming torch in the 
 colleges of the West were adopted. It was his cus- 
 tom to give a full hour each day to the study of the 
 Bible, and oftentimes this hour was multiplied by 
 three. The presence of difficulties in his work 
 seemed to drive him more and more to his room in 
 the tower of Barnes Hall, the Association Build- 
 ing, for secret prayer and further study of his Bible. 
 On one occasion the former secretary, who had occu- 
 pied the room for several years in which he slept, 
 found him at a late hour in the morning with his 
 coat off and his note book and Bible spread out on 
 the bed. He then said, " I would not think of enter- 
 ing the day here without spending at least an hour 
 over my Bible and with Christ in prayer. It is hard 
 to keep sweet and yet do all that must be done. 
 They don't understand me yet, I fear." 
 
 It was not strange that he found himself in a 
 difficult position. His heart longed for the speedy 
 introduction of those methods of Christian work 
 which were designed to bring young men in large 
 numbers into the Christian life and into the Chris- 
 tian church. It was natural also, that time should 
 have been required for the officers of the Associa- 
 tion, who had not worked with him at the Northfield 
 Student Conference, to learn of his desires and 
 
Hn /iDemoriam 
 
 methods, and reconstruct plans under his adminis- 
 tration. 
 
 Early progress was noted, however, in the work 
 which he did. To a fellow secretary he wrote, on 
 October ist: "Last evening we had our decision 
 meeting, and so near as I could find out, there were 
 only two men in the room who were not Christians. 
 They both made the confession of Christ. Never- 
 theless, even though the numbers were small, the 
 meeting was a blessing to us all. The fall work 
 has thus far been quite successful. About one hun- 
 dred and twenty-five new men have joined, and the 
 canvass is still spreading. . . . There is nothing 
 to write regarding Mrs. Rose. I hardly know my- 
 self how she is. I think we are justified in feeling 
 encouraged. You do not know how much your love 
 and sympathy mean to me." 
 
 Writing to the New York office during the next 
 three weeks, he said: 
 
 H came two hours ago, and you can bet your last 
 
 copper that I am mighty glad to see him. We are looking 
 for a good day to-morrow. Our greatest snag is a very at- 
 tractive vesper service in the chapel at 3.15, on Sunday. It 
 is absolutely impossible for us to do what most Associations 
 do through meetings. I have been very happy here. We 
 must get some large victories in His Name. 
 
 Yours as ever, 
 
 ROSE. 
 
 October 8, 1900. 
 Yesterday was a blessed day with us. More than a hun- 
 90 
 
at Cornell 
 
 dred have enlisted for Bible study, — the exact number is one 
 hundred and eight. This number will be very substantially 
 enlarged, surely beyond one hundred and fifty. A blessing 
 on the workers at headquarters I 
 
 October 20, 1 900. 
 
 Must do this little piece of work in just a minute. One 
 of our good men wants to make a very thorough and critical 
 study of the Parables of Jesus. What are some of the best 
 books, and the price of them ? By the way, who is the ency- 
 clopaedia who answers such questions from the office ? 
 
 God's blessing still rests with us. 
 
 On October 29th, he wrote to the friend who had 
 visited the Association to aid in starting the Bible 
 study classes : 
 
 By the time this reaches you, I believe we shall have two 
 hundred new members, practically all freshmen. Surely, God 
 has made them willing. The Bible study is growing steadily, 
 — enrollment now is one hundred and ninety-three. Good 
 solid work in every class too. We are still hustling for more 
 men. Our greatest problem in the Bible study department 
 is to get leaders. We can't find the men we ought to have. 
 Surely, they are here. In time we vrill get them. Personal 
 workers' class started Sunday. Will start another in about 
 ten days. 
 
 At about this time he was endeavoring to lead the 
 members of the Executive Committee of the Associ- 
 ation to adopt a strong policy regarding evangelistic 
 meetings and personal work, and in his letters he 
 frequently dwelt on the great importance of using 
 the regular meetings of the Association to lead 
 students to a decision for Christ. On the twenty- 
 91 
 
IFn ^emoriam 
 
 fifth of October he wrote to a secretary whom he 
 had known for many years : 
 
 It would do me a world of good to have a visit with you 
 just now. There are some obstacles here which are difficult 
 to overcome. The Executive Committee is opposed to 
 evangelistic meetings, but we will win them yet. This is a 
 sore disappointment to me, for I thought that they were 
 anxious to have the evangelistic effort characterize their work. 
 But God is blessing us and I believe He is glorifying Himself 
 here. The Bible study enrollment is j ust about two hundred, 
 and still growing. We have the largest freshmen member- 
 ship ever recorded here. 
 
 They were talking about Bible study in the 
 Executive Committee meeting one evening. Rose 
 wanted to have a strong meeting in which men 
 could be invited to take a definite stand for Christ, 
 but the others wanted to push Bible study instead. 
 Finally they came to his view when he quoted to 
 them a verse in Luke, making it apply to Bible 
 study : " Even so shall there be joy in heaven over 
 one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and 
 nine righteous persons that are brought into Bible 
 Study classes." 
 
 The afifection so constantly shown by his mother 
 to him during the illness of his wife is well expressed 
 by a note written with a trembling hand on October 
 
 twenty-ninth : 
 
 Dear Boy : 
 
 Your letters are very precious to me. May the Lord keep 
 
 92 
 
Ht Cornell 
 
 your faith firm and bright. . . . May the compassionate Mas- 
 ter pity and bless our little Sue. 
 
 Your loving 
 
 MOTHER. 
 
 During the month of November steady progress 
 was made in all departments of the Association work 
 at Cornell. It encouraged Rose much to know that 
 the two personal workers' classes had been used to 
 lead several young men to Christ. Among the num- 
 ber was a Japanese student in the graduate depart- 
 ment. This particular event cheered Rose greatly. 
 The leading officers and the committee men of the 
 Association had rallied to his support with greatest 
 fidelity and devotion, and the prospect for the future 
 was bright. The disappointment which he had felt 
 during the opening weeks had begun to give way in 
 the face of actual accomplishments. But he missed 
 the fellowship of those who had been his most in- 
 timate friends during the previous four years. This 
 feeling was experienced in a note to a former asso- 
 ciate : 
 
 Barnes Hall, November 30. 
 It is borne in upon me more and more how much I owe to 
 the sympathy and prayers of friends. Your letters are always 
 helpful. Wish I could see you and just unconsciously un- 
 burden myself — not that I feel especially burdened, and yet 
 I have a real feeling of longing for the men whom I have 
 known and loved. . . . Mrs. Rose doesn't gain as yet. The 
 doctor advised me to bring her back here, because he thought 
 our being together is essential to her recovery. And so we 
 have been together for a few days . 
 
 93 
 
Hn /iDemoriam 
 
 A personal letter, bearing date of December 30, 
 1900, which was never delivered to him, was sent 
 by a companion of childhood and college days. In 
 it great joy was expressed by the young people, be- 
 cause of his message sent to the Christian Endeavor 
 Society of the church at Beloit, Wisconsin, on the 
 occasion of their consecration meeting. "I am sure 
 that the Endeavorers of the First Church were as 
 glad to get your thoughtful and inspiring words as the 
 Endeavorers of the dear old Fort Atkinson Church 
 used to be. Ever so many came up at the close of the 
 service and spoke of you and told how glad they 
 were that you still thought of us." This communi- 
 cation must have been sent but a few hours before 
 he was removed to the hospital. 
 
 His last letter to the friend with whom he had 
 been in constant correspondence during the fall of 
 1900, was dated December 7th : 
 
 Your letter, full of cheer, came yesterday. Mrs. Rose 
 doesn't seem to change much, one way or another. But we 
 know Whom we have believed, and He knows that we have 
 believed. 
 
 From this time on, Rose busied himself with the 
 work involved in the closing weeks of the fall term. 
 Aside from the administrative work of the Associa- 
 tion, his chief service was pastoral in character. 
 The old custom of visiting men in their rooms had 
 been resumed, and already his note book in which 
 94 
 
Ht Cornell 
 
 he entered dates for personal interviews, was well 
 filled with engagements. 
 
 On December fifteenth, he seemed to be suffering 
 with " grip." A physician treated him accordingly, 
 while he still continued to do his regular work. On 
 the twenty-second of December, another physician 
 was called, who discovered a system run down, ac- 
 companied by a high fever, with Rose still at his 
 work. His case was pronounced to be typhoid of a 
 week's duration, and he was ordered removed at 
 once to the city hospital. 
 
 The consciousness of danger does not seem to 
 have dawned upon him, but the officers of the As- 
 sociation, and many friends who were accustomed to 
 meet him daily at Barnes Hall, became alarmed. 
 The best possible care was summoned, and two 
 nurses attended him constantly until his death. 
 More than ordinary hospital attention was given 
 him. His relatives were notified of his condition, 
 and one of his brothers started for Ithaca. 
 
 Early in the fall, Harlan P. Beach, the educa- 
 tional secretary of the Student Volunteer Movement, 
 had visited Cornell, to aid the Association in start- 
 ing its mission study classes. The news of Rose's 
 illness was promptly sent to the New York office. 
 On December twenty-ninth, Mr. Beach sent the fol- 
 lowing letter, addressing it to the city hospital : 
 
 Dear Mr. Rose : 
 
 We at the office have been greatly saddened at this Christ- 
 PS 
 
ITn /iDemoriam 
 
 mas season by hearing through Mr. Walter of your illness. 
 I do not know Mr. Hicks' holiday address, and Mott is on 
 the Pacific Coast, but they will be informed as soon as pos- 
 sible concerning your illness. 
 
 I am not surprised that one so wholly given up to the work 
 of the Lord should find himseK in condition to fall before the 
 onset of typhoid fever, but I remember that your Master is 
 all-loving, and regards the value of his workers' service as 
 well as their life. I am sure that the consolations of God are 
 not small with you and that the very consciousness of this 
 Christmas season will make sickness easier to endure. Walter 
 tells me that Mrs. Rose is bearing up splendidly, and I am 
 sure that all is being done for the best. You have the deep- 
 est sympathy and the prayers of all in the office, and we hope 
 to hear of your speedy convalescence. 
 
 Very sympathetically yours, 
 
 H. P. BEACH. 
 
 The fever had, however, secured a strong hold on 
 his system, and on the night of Friday, January 4th, it 
 was feared that a severe sinking spell would bring the 
 end. He rallied, however, and on the sixth of Jan- 
 uary was cheered by the arrival of his brother 
 Frank, and one of his most intimate friends from 
 New York. The fever continued to develop, and 
 in spite of the best treatment, resulted fatally on 
 Thursday, January the tenth. 
 
 Few realized at the time of his death how great an 
 influence he had exerted already throughout the Uni- 
 versity. Many letters of sympathy were addressed to 
 Mrs. Rose at Ithaca, and the officers of the Association. 
 The following extract of a letter written by Louis C. 
 96 
 
Bt Cornell 
 
 Karpinski, the champion chess player of the Univer- 
 sity at that time, characterizes well the devotion of 
 a large number of students as a result of his short 
 service : 
 
 The inspiring thing to me about his hfe was his tremen- 
 dous enthusiasm, power, and cheer under his sad circum- 
 stances. He gave an example of how to treat discourage- 
 ments. 
 
 Rose walked right into a man's life with his first greeting. 
 There was perfect sincerity in it, and when he said, " I am 
 glad to meet you," he meant it, and you knew at once that he 
 meant it. Although I was then unconscious of it, I now see 
 that he had taken a strong hold on my life, and by association 
 with him I was being directed into a higher plane of Christian 
 living. Rose was an uncompromising fighter against sin. 
 " We will cut it out of our lives, fellows," he said, and cut it 
 out he did, and led others to do so. He was able to bring 
 Christ near in prayer, as only those can who are much in 
 prayer. 
 
 Another Cornell student wrote soon after his 
 death : 
 
 One Sunday morning in his office he spoke to me about 
 some work. There were several extra meetings that day, and 
 I replied that if I undertook the work, it would be necessary 
 to give up my extra Sunday hour for Bible study and medita- 
 tion. " Are you going to chapel ? " he asked. I told him, yes. 
 "Cut that out," he said, "rather than give up the time you 
 spend alone with God. It will pay. I feel," he continued, 
 " that I must get more power into my own life, and I am 
 planning, therefore, to take some day this week and spend it 
 all alone by myself somewhere with God and my Bible. I 
 haven't had such a day for some time, but I must get my life 
 
 97 
 
Ifn /iDemoriam 
 
 all straightened out." Here lay one of the secrets of his 
 strong, happy life. 
 
 On the day following his death, the Cornell 
 Daily Sun printed a review of his life and work, 
 which ended with these words : 
 
 After he assumed his position in Barnes Hall on September 
 1st, he at once entered into the work, and although he has 
 been here but four months, he has made hosts of friends and 
 has endeared himself not only to the members of the Associa- 
 tion but to the entire body of undergraduates. He was a 
 member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. 
 
 The body was accompanied to Beloit, Wisconsin, 
 for burial by Mr. R. O. Walter, a prominent officer 
 of the Cornell Association and the one who was 
 with him most closely, not only during the fall as an 
 associate secretary, but also during the days at the 
 hospital. The burial was from the college chapel 
 of Beloit College, in which as a student he had 
 attended so many services. Those who spoke were 
 President Eaton of the college, R. O. Walter of 
 Cornell University, and Rev. George R. Leavitt, who 
 was Mr. Rose's pastor during his last year in college. 
 
 The pall-bearers were four senior members of the 
 Beta fraternity, Ralph A. Buell, L. W. Ensign, J. E. 
 Simmons and William C. Wheeler ; the present 
 president of the College Association, Norman W. 
 Hollenbeck ; and Mr. Walter of Cornell. The hon- 
 orary pall-bearers were classmates of the deceased : 
 98 
 
Ht Cornell 
 
 Messrs. E. J. Reitler and John A. White, of Beloit, 
 and Rev. Arthur A. Amy, of Oregon, Illinois. 
 
 Only a few months after this, word was received 
 of the sudden death of his wife at her home in 
 Beloit. Both had suffered much during their mar- 
 ried life, but they had faith in a common Master. 
 A prayer written by Mrs. Rose during the year 
 spent by her husband in travel has fortunately been 
 preserved. It shows the intensity of her love for 
 Christ and the work they had been permitted to do. 
 
 Heavenly Father, to be Thy child, to be Thy handmaiden 
 ready to run any errand for Thee, to touch but the hem of 
 Thy garment, no joy can be so great. Fill my heart with Thy 
 Holy Spirit, give me strength — physical and mental and 
 spiritual — to live to Thy glory. Thou keepest me close to 
 Thee, but Oh I may it be for Thy glory, O Christ. Give me 
 the strength always to say, " Thy will, not mine, be done." 
 Bless Thy children in all the world. Bless Thy " little ones " 
 everywhere, and Oh, may we have a small part in telling them 
 of Thee. Bless the college young men, and may the meet- 
 ings to-morrow be full of Thee. I thank Thee for this Sab- 
 bath day — bringing so much of rest and light and peace. 
 I thank Thee for Thy presence. Abide with me. 
 
 The closing words of the article in TTie Inter- 
 collegian of February, 1901, are fittingly used at 
 this point of Rose's life story : " Such a life is not 
 measured by years. One thinks again of the words 
 on the tombstone of D. L. Moody, ' He that doeth 
 the will of God abideth forever.' " 
 
 99 
 
fln /Remortam 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 CORNELL MEMORIAL SERVICE 
 
 IT is difficult to describe the feeling of loss sus- 
 tained by the Cornell Association and the 
 most interested friends in the faculty and 
 among the graduates. The hopes of those who 
 had gone to great sacrifice in order that a full-time 
 secretary might be employed, had seemingly been 
 entirely dashed to the ground. The leaders of the 
 Association themselves found it difficult to recover 
 from the blow. The officers, however, quickly ral- 
 lied and made temporary provision by putting one 
 of their own number, Mr. Benjamin R. Andrews, 
 into the office as general secretary. Under his able 
 leadership a most successful year of work was com- 
 pleted. 
 
 Small informal meetings were held in Barnes 
 Hall, attended by those who desired to give ex- 
 pression to their gratitude for the influence which 
 Rose had exerted over them. The idea was con- 
 ceived at once of having a memorial service, to 
 which the students of the University and the mem- 
 bers of the faculty should be invited. The date 
 chosen was Sunday, February 3, 1901. 
 
 About six hundred students were present at this 
 meeting, over which Mr. Andrews presided. The 
 
Cornell /iDemorial Service 
 
 spirit of the occasion while tempered by a feeling of 
 sorrow because of the great loss sustained, was 
 marked by elements of joy and triumphant faith. 
 The four addresses are given here in full : 
 
 BENJAMIN R. ANDREWS 
 
 On behalf of the Cornell University Christia?i 
 
 Association 
 
 The purpose of this meeting I need scarcely state. 
 We are met to pay a tribute of respect and love to 
 a friend who has gone out from our midst. 
 
 When Mr. Rose came among us at the beginning 
 of the fall term, he came as the graduate of a West- 
 ern college and one four years removed from under- 
 graduate days. Could there have been any question 
 as to whether he would " take " with Cornell under- 
 graduates, it was swept away, as one by one we met 
 him. He was a man so open-hearted, that to meet 
 him once was to know him ever afterward as a 
 friend, so much was there about the man to endear 
 him to those with whom he mingled. He was an 
 athlete of giant frame, but as gentle as a child. 
 Keen of intellect, and of no mean mental parts, he 
 possessed the traits that mark the real man. He 
 was frank, fearless and sincere. His was a life 
 pure without and within, a life aggressively right- 
 eous, one that held itself to the right and the pure 
 and the true, and that brought others to its own 
 
ITn /©emoriam 
 
 high standards. He was a man of wonderful one- 
 ness of aim. His whole life and energies were 
 given to the glorifying of God and the helping of 
 others to glorify him. His two maxims, had he 
 lived by maxims, might well have been these, " This 
 one thing I do" and "seek first the kingdom of 
 God and his righteousness." But he lived by more 
 than maxims, and this leads me to speak of his re- 
 ligious life. 
 
 It was no dry creed, no mere principles of theol- 
 ogy, but a wonderful transference of the life of 
 the Master into the life of a college man of to-day. 
 It was because he lived as he believed, and put into 
 action the principles he professed, that Rose gained 
 such a hold on us and on our lives. In his living 
 there was emphasized the importance of each ele- 
 ment of the trinity of body, mind, and spirit ; but 
 the deeper things of the spirit ever held their proper 
 primacy. He had time each day for Bible study 
 and for communion with his Heavenly Father; 
 indeed, he seemed ever in touch with a Power be- 
 yond the natural. And here it was that he gained 
 that which bore him up in his dealings with men, 
 that strength of conviction, that invariable cheerful- 
 ness, that eagerness to sacrifice and to serve. " Tell 
 the friends back at Cornell that, after all, it is service 
 that counts," was the message his aged mother sent 
 to us ; and service it was more than anything else 
 perhaps, which marked the life of our friend — ser- 
 
Cornell /Bbemortal Service 
 
 vice dignified and glorified in that it was inspired by 
 the love which he who served bore for the Christ. 
 
 A word as to Mr. Rose's relations to the Chris- 
 tian Association. In all our councils and com- 
 mittees, his thought was ever for the success of 
 efforts which would help men and women to adjust 
 their relations with their Heavenly Father, and to 
 measure their lives by His standards. He intro- 
 duced methods of work, and above all a spirit of 
 work which will continue of deep import to student 
 religious activities at Cornell. The loss which the 
 Association sustains in the death of Mr. Rose is not 
 to be measured in words. Our only consolation is 
 to be found in his practiced belief that God rules 
 and overrules for the best in all the affairs of men. 
 
 As we look over his relations to the Association, 
 we feel that we of the Association can pay no higher 
 tribute to his life, that we can raise him no more 
 fitting memorial than this, — that we consecrate 
 ourselves with new vigor to the work which he so 
 well began, and that we build upon the foundations 
 which he laid, a superstructure as fair and noble as 
 it may be given us to build. As we think of his life, 
 so pure, so helpful, so manly, so Christlike, 
 each man and woman of us, whether Association 
 members or not, joins, I am sure, in the determina- 
 tion to raise himself nearer to those standards which 
 Rose set and to be guided by that Life which kept 
 his life aright. So shall he find his true memorial, 
 103 
 
■ffn /IDemoriam 
 
 one within our hearts, and one that passeth not 
 away. 
 
 PRESIDENT J. G. SCHURMAN 
 On behalf of the Faculty 
 
 We find ourselves this afternoon in front of the 
 most impressive fact that we ever face in our ex- 
 perience. It is an old saying that life is a prepara- 
 tion for death. I do not know that this is the whole 
 truth or the happiest way of saying it, but your 
 hearts bear witness, I think, that there is no other 
 fact which is so momentous or that makes so great 
 an impression as the fact of death, especially of a 
 young man. 
 
 All I shall try to do in speaking of Mr. Rose will 
 be to record as I recall them, two or three impres- 
 sions which our intercourse left vividly upon my 
 mind. It is difficult to describe facts, and perhaps 
 the simpler the facts the harder it is to describe 
 them, and when emotions get the better of us we 
 perhaps indulge in exaggerations, but I shall en- 
 deavor to avoid them and try to describe as accu- 
 rately as I can these impressions to which I refer. 
 
 Mr. Rose came to my office soon after reaching 
 the University, to talk with me about the work of the 
 Association. I was very much interested in him. 
 I found him an energetic leader in the work. I 
 thought, as I recalled the man within the last twenty- 
 four hours, that he had conspicuous organizing 
 104 
 
Cornell /iDemorial Service 
 
 abilities. As the conversation is recalled, I remem- 
 ber how he was throwing out this suggestion or that, 
 that he would probe this idea and that, move in this 
 direction and then another, and get my judgment 
 on these various plans. Well, that is leadership, 
 that is organizing talent ; and I think he had it in 
 a very remarkable degree. 
 
 The second thought which I recall was the intense 
 earnestness of the man. I doubt if we had any man 
 or woman in our University community who was so 
 much in earnest as Mr. Rose was. He may have 
 had humor, he may have had joviality, but he acted 
 as though life was a probation and the problems 
 with which he had to grapple were awfully vital. 
 
 The third thing that I should recall was the 
 pronounced Christian character of the man. I do 
 not think we nowadays distinguish between those 
 who are professedly Christians and those who are 
 not, as was done a generation ago, but we cer- 
 tainly recognize that there are different types even 
 of Christians. There are men who are like Nicode- 
 mus and come to the Lord by night. They act sus- 
 piciously, perhaps do not want it known. There are 
 those who, if they are not morally cowardly, at any 
 rate do not disturb themselves much about Chris- 
 tianity. Their religion is unpronounced. 
 
 Now you can supply in your own consciousness 
 what I have not time to say. I mention only the 
 marked features of Mr. Rose's character. It has 
 i°5 
 
Hn ^emoriam 
 
 been already alluded to by Mr. Andrews when he 
 spoke of his aggressiveness. I should say he was 
 the champion of pronounced aggressive Christianity. 
 He had it in himself, and was anxious, desperately 
 anxious, that every one else should enjoy the same 
 great truth. 
 
 I think I have recalled without exaggeration, be- 
 cause I am not capable of exaggerating, these three 
 characteristics of the man whom we now mourn and 
 the character which I think we all revere. I cer- 
 tainly hope there are others who may rise up here 
 and take the place which Mr. Rose has left vacant, 
 and, as those who know his work best will bear me 
 out in saying, to fill the place which he has left 
 vacant will be a matter of very great difficulty. 
 What is death ? Well, what is life ? Perhaps, after 
 all, the most we can say is this : that our friends have 
 gone from the mystery of life and nature into the 
 other mystery of eternity, and one is scarcely less or 
 more mysterious than the other. 
 
 PROFESSOR CHARLES MELLEN TYLER 
 
 On behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Association 
 
 The Board of Trustees have feelingly requested 
 me to express their sorrow. They expected with 
 ardent hope the arrival of Mr. Rose, and the vigor 
 of his service, his sympathetic interest in the stu- 
 dents, his sagacity in the management of the some- 
 io6 
 
Cornell Memorial Service 
 
 what intricate affairs of the Association, amply 
 vindicated our expectations. 
 
 Certainly, after the words of our honored Presi- 
 dent of the University and the President of the As- 
 sociation, little remains to be said. I think at first 
 a certain confusion comes into even pious thought 
 in face of the mystery of a young man being taken 
 away who is on the threshold, or has just crossed 
 the threshold of life. It is a great mystery, but per- 
 haps we regain the poise of our faith and judgment 
 when we take the larger view and realize, as has 
 just been intimated, that life is but a part of the 
 great whole, that it is but the vestibule of the 
 mansion of God which extends into infinity. It is 
 the training place of character for an eternity of 
 communion with God and His saints. Death is al- 
 ways a sad event for the old as well as the young, 
 but death has its radiant aspect Death, after all, 
 is rest and peace. It is a deliverance of the finite 
 self, the minute self into the larger self which awaits 
 us in communion with God above. It is the freeing 
 of a soul into infinite liberty. The righteous are 
 with God, and their souls can feel no touch of evil. 
 
 I early discerned in Mr. Rose a remarkable in- 
 telligence. I think the tribute which has been paid 
 to his intelligence is not exaggerated, and the tribute 
 which has been paid to his goodness, I think is not 
 exaggerated. The old maxim is sometimes uttered : 
 " No man is as good as we think he is or as bad as 
 107 
 
IFtt ^emortam 
 
 we think he is." If I were to make an exception to 
 that maxim, it would be in the case of our brother, 
 who seems to have been almost if not quite as good 
 as I thought he was. That for me is his eulogy. 
 Mr. Rose, as has been intimated, did not desire to 
 penetrate into the depths of theology. After all, the 
 knowledge of character consists not so much in 
 knowledge of the niceties of doctrine as in a pure 
 and holy life. I remember that the omission in the 
 New Testament of all those opinions and proposi- 
 tions which are held essential to our Christian faith 
 are very remarkable, and lead us to the inevitable con- 
 clusion that the Master thought more of him who 
 gave a cup of cold water to a disciple or who ac- 
 cepted the kingdom of God in a childlike spirit. 
 Sometimes one may become greater in the moral and 
 spiritual realm of effort than in an academic sphere. 
 Mr. Rose might have chosen any other vocation, 
 and I think he would have shone in any department 
 of thought and action, in any profession, but he 
 chose the more concrete and practical course of life, 
 and who shall say he did not choose the better 
 part ? It seems to me his administration has been 
 one of a fundamental character and has a quality of 
 permanence, that he has left a legacy which shall 
 remain to us. I think he felt that the great object of 
 Christian eflfort and the object of all institutions of 
 religion and of religion itself is to make men good, and 
 that the surest discipline and education in that direc- 
 io8 
 
Cornell /iDemortal Service 
 
 tion is the contention with the sin which easily 
 besets us and which by the grace and strength of 
 God we may overcome. Mr. Russell Lowell has 
 said somewhere that there is more knowledge to be 
 gained in the struggle with one temptation than in 
 all books of metaphysics. 
 
 And now we must say farewell to our friend. We 
 have felt the electrical touch of his life upon our 
 own, and I hope that we may take from his bright 
 example encouragement and inspiration for the 
 work of each of us for the life that is left to us. 
 
 HARRY WADE HICKS' 
 For the Graduates of the University 
 
 The personal characteristics and habits of a 
 successful man will ever be the most inspiring sub- 
 jects of study and meditation. Horace W. Rose 
 was a success in the highest understanding of the 
 term, because he used his brief life for the service 
 of his King, and counted everything which did not 
 offer him opportunity to represent his Lord to young 
 men as of little account for him. He believed that 
 to be a Christian was the greatest fact in life. 
 Therefore he lived among college men as a glorious, 
 natural and conspicuously effective exponent of 
 Christian manhood. 
 
 > As revised and printed in The IntercolUgian, February, 1903, under 
 the title " Horace W. Rose, Ambassador of Jesus Christ to the Court of 
 the Individual Heart." 
 
 109 
 
Hn /IDemortam 
 
 The causes for the influence exerted by Rose are 
 not unknown. But the spirit in which he constantly- 
 worked, and the habits of religious service formed, 
 are not common among Christian students. His 
 was a life of reality. He made it a practice to do 
 everything as he believed his Lord would if He 
 were in his place. This reality of Christian living 
 accounts for his increasingly victorious battle with 
 his own sins. He knew the battlegrounds of col- 
 lege men, for he had won victories on them. It 
 is not strange, therefore, that men listened to his 
 testimony and acted on his recommendation when, 
 as was his custom, he asked them to become dis- 
 ciples of his Lord. 
 
 Rose had a keen appreciation of the polluting 
 and destructive power of sin. Every form of sin 
 prevailing among college men he knew, for their 
 blighting and corroding effects he had had exposed 
 to his gaze hundreds of times through the voluntary 
 confession of men fettered by sinful habits. No sin 
 escaped his treatment. As his letters and papers 
 are reviewed, it is apparent that he called for a 
 whole abandonment of sin when a man became a 
 Christian. After one visit to a college he wrote, 
 "I'm tired after such a siege of personal interview. 
 Some men were helped to degin to struggle. Others 
 are entirely cleaned up." In another college he 
 " got several men to make a scientific fight to over- 
 come." His letters abound with phrases, in which 
 
 I lO 
 
Cornell /iDemorial Service 
 
 the word " fire " and " bum " are used, showing that 
 he longed to be pure himself, and to have the last 
 traces of sin obliterated from men's lives. Without 
 such an attitude toward impurity, selfishness, pride, 
 drinking, gambling, and the other temptations of 
 college life, no man can expect to be successful in 
 relating men to Jesus Christ in any sense that may 
 be called effectual and complete. It is chiefly 
 because men fail to recognize the completeness of 
 the claims of Christ that so many efforts to prepare 
 for personal work end before the interview is begun 
 and the contact formed. 
 
 In all his work with men Rose manifested sym- 
 pathy and love. These virtues he ever sought to 
 make more constant. His power to make men at 
 ease in his presence when the secrets of the heart 
 were laid bare, grew year by year. Many a man 
 went to him as did one who said, " You helped my 
 chum so much that I've come too." This fixed 
 attitude was hard to hold, for at first he felt little 
 love for certain types of men, shrinking more from 
 the scoffer and would-be infidel than the man who 
 had gone into the grossest forms of sin. The secret 
 of his growth in this respect is found in his desire to 
 be as near like his Lord as the study of His life and 
 time for practice of His virtues would make him. 
 He therefore spent much time in Bible study and 
 prayer. His private papers are full of written 
 prayers revealing the most intimate fellowship with 
 
ITn ^emoriam 
 
 the Master he served. Hundreds of men to-day out 
 of college strive to love men as Rose did, which was 
 as his Lord loved. 
 
 A sense of opportunity in doing personal work is 
 essential. Rose made opportunities. In four days 
 at Leland Stanford he had four hundred conversa- 
 tions with as many men alone. He talked with men 
 in the shops, the laboratory, the dormitory, on the 
 athletic field, and on the street. His work he con- 
 sidered to be of the supremest importance. And 
 because he lived among men engaging in every 
 legitimate enterprise of college life, he was always 
 natural in his approach to the consideration of their 
 personal relationship to Jesus Christ. The high 
 valuation placed by him on time gave him his acute 
 sense of opportunity, and because of this also he 
 was frank, quick to hear and sympathize, most direct 
 in his dealing, and therefore most faithful to his 
 friend with whom he talked. It required confidence 
 to work in this way, but the confidence was not of 
 human origin. Rose knew Christ well enough to 
 realize that the message he was giving to college 
 men was the word they themselves wanted in the 
 depths of their desires to hear. 
 
 Another characteristic of Rose in his personal 
 work was his glorification of righteous living. There 
 was exhilaration in his public address and private 
 conversation, created by the reality of his message 
 and the intensity of his personal friendship with 
 
Cornell /Memorial Service 
 
 Jesus. He had ever before him the vision of a col- 
 lege where all the men were fighting winning battles 
 with sin. In a measure, he had come into posses- 
 sion of the enthusiasm for his work which sustained 
 Jesus in the days when His world-wide conception 
 of the Kingdom was rejected by the people of His 
 own country, and imperfectly understood by His dis- 
 ciples. Rose was jealous of his Lord's rights. It 
 grieved him deeply when men uttered words profan- 
 ing the Master whom he served and whose character 
 he held up for men to copy. To him the topic of 
 conversation of supreme importance was the char- 
 acter of his " King." " Make Jesus King " was a 
 phrase which rang out in nearly every address. 
 Because he lived what he professed, men listened 
 and yielded to his invitation to become disciples of 
 Christ. 
 
 But the secret of his power was in his complete 
 self negation and the presence in a real sense of his 
 Lord's spirit. To his God he ascribed all the power 
 and glory. " It was a manifestation of divine 
 power," he wrote when ten men accepted Christ in 
 personal interviews after a meeting. In another let- 
 ter he said, " We praise God for the breaking down 
 of barriers," where hard feeling between several 
 fraternities had kept men hitherto from participation 
 in religious work. Men often have said since his 
 death that they were not able to resist his invitation 
 to be Christians because of the appeal made by his 
 "3 
 
Hn flDemoriam 
 
 character and spirit. They recognized that he, too, 
 had been with Jesus. 
 
 In the face of successes which would have led 
 many men to defeat through pride, he grew in 
 humility and child-like faith. After a campaign of 
 personal work in a western university when many 
 men had confessed faith in Christ for the first time, 
 he wrote, " One marked result of this visit is the 
 consciousness of the fact that I've a battle on. I've 
 got to be more humble." In another letter he said 
 that merely reporting the number of men who be- 
 came active Christians caused serious temptation to 
 be self-satisfied. In a private letter shortly before 
 he died, when illness of his sainted mother and his 
 wife weighed heavily on his heart, he wrote, "If 
 there is one thing I covet from my friends, it is 
 that they will make mention of my need before the 
 Heavenly Father. The mean little temptations get 
 a hold on a fellow before he knows it, insidious 
 pride, vainglory and satisfaction over things accom- 
 plished. Some way these things eat their way in, 
 and we are prone to covet the praise of men rather 
 than the praise of God. O ! for grace to keep very 
 low at the foot of the cross." 
 
 What Horace Rose was, other men may become. 
 His greatest ambition was " to burn a path of light " 
 through the colleges of his field. He led hundreds 
 of college men to Christ in one year. Many more 
 were induced to join the Church. Bible classes 
 114 
 
Cornell /IDemortal Service 
 
 were everywhere reinforced by men whose spiritual 
 habits he had quickened. Through his influence 
 organized personal work became prevalent through- 
 out the colleges from the bounds of Illinois to the 
 Pacific. Hundreds of men date the beginning of a 
 victorious life from private talks with him. Men in 
 large numbers are now preparing for missionary 
 work or other religious callings whose choice of life 
 work was guided by his counsels. " He went about 
 doing good, for the Lord was with him." He recog- 
 nized that in every college the devil is consistent 
 and aggressive in his warfare against the best in 
 men's lives. This fact, coupled with the belief that 
 Christ had commissioned him an ambassador to the 
 court of every troubled heart, made him redeem the 
 hours lest his Lord come and find him idle. May 
 his life become an inspiration to an army of men to 
 follow in his footsteps ! 
 
 "S 
 
Hn /iDemotiam 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 GENEVA MEMORIAL SERVICE 
 
 THE spirit of the Lake Geneva Summer 
 Conference of 1901 was deeply enriched 
 by frequent references to Rose and his 
 work. No longer was his merry laugh to be heard 
 among the tents along the shore. While the red 
 settees near " Faculty Row " were occupied each 
 afternoon by other counsellors, the memory of him 
 added new solemnity to the interviews on lifework. 
 
 On the first Sunday evening of the Conference, 
 June 23, a memorial service was held, over which 
 Mr. John R. Mott, Senior Student Secretary of the 
 International Committee, presided. Several dele- 
 gates spoke who had known Rose well during his 
 eight years of active service in the College Associa- 
 tion field.^ These addresses are given here in 
 full. 
 
 LEROY B. SMITH 
 
 General Secretary-elect^ University of Wisconsin 
 
 I speak thoughtfully when I say that it is one of the 
 greatest blessings of my life that I was able to associate with 
 Horace Rose for three months. He came to Cornell in 
 September, and died on the tenth of January. But in those 
 
 1 The positions filled by the speakers whose names are given are those 
 held by them during the summer of 1901. 
 
 116 
 
(Beneva Memorial Service 
 
 short weeks we at Cornell learned the true meaning of " I am 
 glad to see you." When that was quoted first, I thought of 
 an incident that occurred last fall at one of the football 
 games. A man who was not identified with the Association 
 and was not a Christian went to the game with another friend 
 of mine. They were looking over the bleachers for a seat 
 when he saw Rose, and said, " Let's go down and sit with 
 him." Men were attracted to him, for he always had a smiling 
 countenance and a good word. He was not a long-faced, 
 sober Christian, but a happy Christian every week and every 
 day of the week. What impressed me most was his great 
 interest in individual men. He did not organize highly 
 developed religious machinery. But his first thought was to 
 reach men. 
 
 I attended five or six sessions of his personal workers 
 class which met once a week in his office. Rose knew the 
 Scriptures, and knew what it meant to be in union with 
 God. The memorial services which were held at Cornell in 
 February I shall never forget. Different men paid their 
 tributes of loving words, but better than this was a meeting 
 held a few days later where seventy-five of the men who had 
 known him best and who had been helped by him in some 
 little way met to express informally their tribute of love. 
 These and scores of others thanked God that Rose had been 
 called to Cornell. 
 
 CHARLES J. EWALD 
 
 General Secretary, University of Michigan 
 
 It is one of the blessed privileges of my life to have 
 known Rose well and to have served for a year under his 
 leadership. I shall never forget the first time I met him. 
 It was on the day when I entered the University as a fresh- 
 man. As I went into the Association Building he reached 
 out his hand and gave me that shake which only you who 
 117 
 
Hn /iDemociam 
 
 have had it appreciate. " Ewald, I am glad to see you." By 
 his manner of saying it I knew that from that time forth I 
 possessed a friend. He was the biggest-hearted man I 
 ever knew. He had more love for men, however deep they may 
 have been in sin, than any other I have ever met. I have 
 often seen him go into the laboratory and spend a moment 
 with each man. How glad we were when we saw Rose 
 coming our way I 
 
 During his second year as Secretary at the University 
 sixteen men were led to Christ, and over sixty men were led 
 to clean up their lives from profanity and other sins. His 
 work was a quiet one, — one that profoundly impressed stu- 
 dents and faculty alike. He was unselfish, humble, sincere, 
 and had intense love for souls. He made Jesus Christ King, 
 and allowed the Holy Spirit to take complete possession of 
 his Ufa. 
 
 GEORGE W. LEAVITT 
 
 Travelling Secretary, Student Volunteer Movement 
 
 When the news of the death of Rose reached me, I knew 
 that I had lost 'a friend who did more to inspire me to per- 
 sonal work than any other living person. When I first came 
 to college, a friend of mine brought Rose to meet me in my 
 room. As he came in he said, " Well, old fellow, I am glad 
 to see you. Do you sing ? We have a Glee Club here, and if 
 you don't play football we have a good track team." When 
 I learned later that he was president of the Young Men's 
 Christian Association, a permanent friend had been won to 
 the organization. 
 
 After a short time I heard that twenty-two men had been 
 won to Christ. I asked my friend how it had happened. It 
 was learned that night after night he had taken men in groups 
 of two or three, out of town into the country under the trees 
 by the roadside, and had talked with them of Christ. Of 
 ii8 
 
Geneva /iDemorfal Service 
 
 the twenty-five men thus interviewed, twenty-two began the 
 Christian life on the Day of Prayer for Colleges. 
 
 This story is told of an effort made by Rose to lead a 
 prominent athlete into the Christian life. The man had re- 
 fused to talk with him about the Bible. Rose said, " If I can 
 beat you in a race, will you let me talk about it ? " The 
 challenge having been accepted, Rose set the day, and then 
 proceeded to train for the event throughout two weeks, in 
 the gymnasium. " We ran the first quarter at a clip I had 
 never known. The second was still faster. My distance in 
 college was only a quarter, but the third lap was run at a pace 
 to kill. When we finished, I only knew that I had won." 
 As a result of the talk won in this practical way, the athlete 
 entered the Christian life. 
 
 " Have you had a vision of the King in his beauty ? " he 
 asked of this athlete. Rose had had this vision, and it was 
 the secret of his life. 
 
 JOHN C. PRALL 
 State College Secretary of Iowa 
 
 I met Mr. Rose for the first time at this Conference in '95, 
 while he was a student at Beloit. There was nothing special 
 by which I remembered him. In fact, I did not remember him 
 at all. From here, I went back to the University of Iowa, 
 as a new student, and for one reason or another, being 
 a freshman, I became indifferent to the claims of Christ. 
 The next year was a fruitless one, so far sis God's Kingdom 
 was concerned in my own life. 
 
 During the next summer, unknown to me. Rose was called 
 to be the General Secretary of the Association at Iowa. As 
 I entered the University the next fall, and came into the As- 
 sociation Building, there came the hearty greeting which 
 many of you are familiar with, " Hello, old fellow, I am glad 
 119 
 
Hn /IDemoriam 
 
 to see you." It struck me forcibly that he remembered me 
 during the year which had elapsed since we met. 
 
 It was Rose's chief joy to be among men as one that 
 served, not among the ones who were easily won. Again 
 and again he expressed bis regret that the details of the As- 
 sociation kept him from being used in winning men to Christ. 
 The Association called me to a position which I refused 
 because of an inconsistent life. It was Rose who asked me 
 to be fitted for the position, and it was only after weeks that 
 I decided to accept. I suppose there is no man who has ever 
 been in the University of Iowa so well remembered as Mr. 
 Rose. This is so not because of his enthusiasm in athletics, or 
 in the work of the Glee Club, but because of their personal 
 relations with him. 
 
 Recently I was talking with a man in the city of Des 
 Moines, one of the most godless men of the institution. 
 When I said, " Rose is dead," he was as shocked as we have 
 been. Rose had invited this man to give up his sinful life, 
 and he had refused. He gave this testimony, however, that 
 Rose had been to him the closest friend he had ever known. 
 
 WILLIAM B. PETTUS 
 General Secretary^ University of Missouri 
 
 In the fall of 1S98 I went down to our State Convention 
 at Kansas City not a Christian. The first man to impress me 
 was Rose. He led the college session the first morning. 
 That afternoon (it was the twelfth of November) he came to 
 me privately and told me something about the Christian life 
 and about Christ as he knew Him. He asked me if I did 
 not want Him, and I told him promptly " No." But I did. 
 No man ever knew Rose without wanting to know his 
 Master. 
 
 About a month after that I accepted Christ, and wrote to 
 Rose about it. The letter he wrote back had more love in it 
 120 
 
Geneva /iDemorfal Setvicc 
 
 than any I had ever received. I could not understand why a 
 man should care for one ■whom he had seen but once. Now 
 I know that the reason was the presence of Christ's spirit in 
 Rose. 
 
 The next fall when he was making a tour among the col- 
 leges, he came to our institution. I was then working in the 
 Association, had heard about personal work, and knew a little 
 of what it was. I had gotten the courage to go to three or 
 four of my personal friends and speak to them about Christ. 
 But the idea of being interested in every man just because he 
 was a. man, and because he did not know Christ and it was 
 possible for me to present Christ to him, had never occurred 
 to me. While Rose was there I " got conviction." During 
 the three days of his visit he talked personally with over two 
 hundred men about the Master. You might wonder how he 
 could speak to so many without offending some. But men 
 never got offended when Rose spoke, and twenty accepted 
 Christ during his visit. 
 
 At our next State Convention, on the twelfth of November, 
 1899, I went to Rose and told him that I w^as facing the 
 question of going to the foreign field. It was natural for any 
 man to go to Rose when he was facing a question. I did 
 not know what to do. He said, " Do just what God wants 
 you to." And that was the natural thing. It had power 
 with me because that was what Rose was doing. So I de- 
 cided to go to the foreign field. 
 
 Rose helped me three times, and then he died. But his life 
 has helped me since, especially during the times when I have 
 been tempted and tried. The thought of him and what he 
 would do under similar circumstances led me to know what 
 Christ wanted me to do. Rose did the will of God through 
 the strength which God gave him, and thereafter I knew that 
 it was possible for me to have the same strength. 
 
Hn /iDemoriam 
 
 L. E. HARTER 
 General Secretary, Stanford University 
 
 The first International Secretary whom I ever met was 
 Mr. Rose. So deep and clear is the impression of the spirit 
 and method of work for college men which he left upon me 
 at that time, that, notwithstanding subsequent experience and 
 instruction, it remains to this day the ideal of all my work 
 and ambition, because it is the spirit and method of Christ. 
 
 Mr. Rose studied to make his presence bear the impress 
 of Christ rather than his own personality. So nearly was the 
 mind in him that was in Jesus Christ, that to know him was 
 to have a new vision of the Master. His power lay in his 
 ability to translate Christ into terms of human experience. 
 This explains why the impress he left upon men was so deep 
 and lasting, why to be with him was so inspiring. 
 
 It was my fortune to meet Mr. Rose upon his arrival at 
 our University. I had never seen him previous to this. 
 Before going to the depot I was a little anxious for fear I 
 should miss him. So I went to one of the boys who knew 
 him in order to get a description of the visitor. "Well," 
 said my friend, " pick out the biggest man with the biggest 
 smile." I expressed myself as trusting I should find him. 
 " Yes, you'll have no trouble," chipped in the man on whom 
 Rose had left his impression as he did on every man he 
 met : " he'll know you, if you don't recognize him. He has 
 an instinct for Association men I " 
 
 At the Pacific Grove Conference of May, 1900, he was the 
 centre of the jollity and the inspiration of the spiritual life. 
 At the Association sessions, when Mr. Rose presented the 
 methods of work for students, and especially that subject 
 which was ever nearest to his heart, personal work, there 
 seemed to be an almost sensible presence of the Holy Spirit 
 brooding over the men. This at least was the way that the 
 122 
 
©eneva /IDemorial Service 
 
 men who were close to Christ and close to Rose accounted for 
 the power of that hour. An outsider said of one of these 
 sessions, " His words rose nearer pure oratory than anything 
 I have heard for many a year." To us who knew Mr. Rose, 
 his rare power was not unaccounted for, for even in the 
 midst of the large responsibilities of the summer conference 
 he found two and even three hours a day to be alone with 
 God in prayer and the study of His Word. 
 
 While at Stanford University, Mr. Rose, in company with 
 various meu of the Association, visited during his four days' 
 stay over four hundred men personally in their rooms, in the 
 laboratories, on the baseball field, in the gymnasium, in the 
 fraternity houses, and, in fact, every place where men were to 
 be found. The beginning of the change of sentiment on the 
 part of the student body, which before this time had been an 
 avowed hostility towards the Association, is marked very 
 distinctly by this visit. Men caught a glimpse of the kind of 
 manhood the Young Men's Christian Association stands for, 
 and it could not but appeal strongly to them. 
 
 During the time that Mr. Rose was at the University, it 
 was my privilege to accompany him on his tours through the 
 men's rooms at night. On the way back to the lodge where 
 he was staying, and after the night's work, we never failed to 
 stop at the gymnasium steps for prayer. It was Saturday 
 night. The next evening Mr. Rose was to address the men 
 and women in the chapel. We were in great need of money 
 to send men to the summer conference. Just as we ap- 
 proached the gymnasium he said, " Harter, old fellow, how 
 much money have you faith for to-night ? " — " Not very much," 
 I replied. " Well, I have faith for $30," he said assuredly. 
 " I admire your faith. Rose, but you don't know the close, 
 fistedness of our students and their hardness to such appeals." 
 He prayed for $30. I couldn't. The next evening after his 
 talk he asked for subscriptions. My heart was heavy with 
 the rebuke, " Oh ye of little faith," when I counted up ^42, 
 123 
 
In /»emoriam 
 
 as the slips came in. " According to your faith be it done 
 unto you " has lived for me since that night. 
 
 E. T. COLTON 
 International Student Secretary for the West 
 
 The feature of this service that has been impressing me 
 most, is that no word of eulogy has been pronounced. We 
 have been hearing the story of life. It has not been neces- 
 sary to raise the voice, but of the heart vre have been able to 
 hear and be stirred. His life has weighed with us because of 
 his union with Christ. 
 
 Any one who heard his addresses must have been im- 
 pressed with the constant reference to Jesus Christ. Since 
 we have every reason to believe that he never got any farther 
 away from Christ than he was in his addresses, we must be 
 led to see why the same impressions are burning in the 
 hearts of men here. The universal testimony to his life is 
 that men all over his trail were shamed by him into being 
 servants of Christ. His life was one of tirelessness and utter 
 absence of self-satisfaction. I happen to know that his 
 policy as he entered the work of the secretaryship the past 
 year was that one man a day might be led to Christ through- 
 out his entire service with the Committee. His expectation 
 was fulfilled. On one occasion I met him as he was starting 
 out on a trip. He said, " I have asked the Lord for twenty 
 men." When he returned later he carried the names of 
 twenty men in his note-book. 
 
 At one of the State Conventions an incident occurred which 
 showed how he always sought opportunities to teach a lesson 
 in the Christian life. It was Sunday after the quiet-hour 
 meeting in the lobby of the Association Building. The dele- 
 gates were scattered about conversing, A little fellow from 
 the street came into the room selling carnations. Several 
 124 
 
Geneva /iDemorial Servtce 
 
 men were buying flowers, but Rose did not. As the lad came 
 up to him he said, " What would yon think of me if I should 
 go out on the street to-day and buy a horse ? " The boy 
 looked up in surprise, and Rose saw that he did not under- 
 stand. Quickly he said, " What do you do with your 
 money ? " The little fellow replied, " I give it to my mother." 
 " All right," he said ; " here is your money, but I don't want 
 your flowers." He was always seeking opportunities to teach 
 such lessons. 
 
 In one institution he went into a room and found a Bible 
 spread apart and nailed through with a great spike as a dec- 
 oration. To the man who occupied the room he said, " The 
 first thing I am going to do, old fellow, is to take that Bible 
 down." To which came the reply, " You will have to take 
 me down first." Rose said, " I can take down any man who 
 has not more manhood than to do a thing like that," and in 
 his good-natured way he threw him. The man got up, and of 
 his own accord took the Bible down. 
 
 Another characteristic that impressed me was the joy of 
 his life. Always he seemed to be seeking for burdens. It 
 did not make any difference where he was, for he was always 
 helping men. As we rode up on the train one day we passed 
 a funeral procession. Rose said, " It always depresses me 
 when I see a funeral until I know whether the deceased was 
 saved." 
 
 A year ago at the lifework meeting with the Student Vol- 
 unteers he said, " My reason for wishing to go to the foreign 
 field is because the burdens and difficulties will drive me 
 nearer Jesus." Burdens added ten years to his life. Never- 
 theless one student said, " This is the first time I ever saw a 
 Christian who was happy." 
 
 The last trait of his life about which I wish to speak is his 
 humility. One of our vritnesses this afternoon has spoken of 
 the reports which he sent in giving the number of men won 
 to Christ. In a conversation with him he said once, " I do not 
 
 125 
 
Tin /IDemorlam 
 
 ■want to put those things in. I am not in this work to have 
 
 results counted." 
 
 And so we find ourselves wondering again that the life was 
 
 cut off so soon in its usefulness. Yet it was a finished work, 
 and I know that the message he would give us if he were 
 here to-day would be that we should not glorify men, but that 
 we should go out from here as did those men who went from 
 the Mount after the vision of Christ, " seeing no man save 
 Jesus only." 
 
 JOHN R. MOTT 
 
 About the hardest experience I have ever had in college 
 work was resigning myself to the withdrawal of Rose from 
 our ranks. It was only when it became absolutely necessary 
 because of the state of his wife's health that he gave up the 
 travelling-work, and I yielded to the inevitable. There was 
 some compensation in that he went to my old university, — 
 Cornell. 
 
 I do not trust myself to add any personal testimony after 
 what we have heard to-day. I am constrained to give what 
 seems to me the result of all to which we have listened. It 
 is not the magnitude of man's service which is to count at the 
 last day. It is not the length of his life nor the reputation 
 that he has acquired which will tell at that time. The im- 
 portant fact will be whether he has finished the work to which 
 God has called hira, or not. Christ was able to say at the 
 end of his life at the age of thirty-three, " I have glorified Thee 
 on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou gavest 
 me to do." David Brainerd left as deep a mark on this world 
 as any man that ever lived, and he died at thirty-three. Henry 
 Martyn has left a blessed mark on India and Persia. Near 
 the close of his short life he said, " Now let me bum out for 
 God," and he did so at almost identically the same age, — 
 thirty-three. Rose was another young man that died at about 
 126 
 
Geneva /iDemorial Service 
 
 the age of twenty-seven. After what has been said to-day 
 does any one question that Colton is right when he says, " He 
 lived a finished life " ? May the ambition take strong hold of 
 us to finish the work that God has called us into the world 
 to do I 
 
 127 
 
■ffn ^emortam 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 OTHER TRIBUTES 
 
 MANY who belonged to Rose's innermost 
 circle of friends have written letters con- 
 taining their expression of sorrow at his 
 death. Mr. Am. S. Allen, who had met Rose at 
 the Pacific Grove Student Conference during his 
 year of service as International Secretary, writes : 
 
 We were together for the better part of twenty days, that's 
 all, and yet no man I ever met either for a longer or for a 
 shorter period influenced me more. Just why I cannot tell. 
 I am sure it was not because of anything he said to me. It 
 was his general attitude towards me. Since meeting him he 
 has been my ideal of a Christian man. There was no halo 
 on his head, and nothing that awed me. I hadn't known him 
 for an hour when he tried to put me into a dark closet in the 
 San Francisco Association Building. One of my most vivid 
 mental pictures is of him standing in the coacher's box in a 
 game of ball which the faculty had with the students, yelling 
 like a Comanche Indian, and a smile so broad that he could 
 whisper in each ear. He was a great mixer, but his life was 
 shot through and through with the spirit of the Master. One 
 came away from association with him conscious that he had 
 been with Jesus and learned of Him. 
 
 No feature of his service among the college men 
 of the Pacific Coast left so deep an impression as 
 his work at the Pacific Coast Conference. His 
 128 
 
©tber XCdbutes 
 
 talks on personal work, given on several occasions 
 throughout the gathering, seem to have won for him 
 the devotion of all the men. " I can see him still," 
 says Reno Hutchinson, a well-known athlete on the 
 coast, " with the characteristic sidewise shake of the 
 head as he drove home the responsibility that each 
 man had for helping his neighbor." 
 
 Ivan B. Rhodes, General Secretary of the Asso- 
 ciation at the "University of California during 1903, 
 writes of this same Conference : 
 
 He left the stamp of his life upon the students of the 
 Pacific Coast as no other man has done. At the Conference 
 conducted in May, 1900, his intense earnestness and his deep 
 love for men awakened the representatives of the Pacific 
 Coast colleges to a new sense of their responsibility as stew- 
 ards of the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 A number of the students were obliged to leave the Con- 
 ference a few days before its close to take the Federal census 
 in the slums of San Francisco. Rose was especially anxious 
 that the sudden change from the high plane of living which 
 we had been enjoying to the unpleasant and degrading sur- 
 roundings of the city should not weaken the spiritual uplift 
 of the Conference. A group of men who were leaving in- 
 vited Rose to meet with them in prayer to this end. It was 
 one of the most impressive meetings it has been my privilege 
 to be in. As Rose prayed, every man seemed to realize the 
 presence of a living God, — Rose's God. Many of the men 
 had tears in their eyes as they arose from their knees. 
 I had been a Christian but a short time when I first met 
 Rose, and was very much amazed and interested to find a 
 man who could talk so earnestly about his Master one min- 
 ute, and be the leader in a " rough house " the next. 
 129 
 
Hn /iDemoriam 
 
 The following testimonial was received from H. J. 
 McCoy, General Secretary of the San Francisco 
 Young Men's Christian Association : 
 
 It was my very good fortune to have the personal friend- 
 ship of Horace W. Rose for several years, and to learn by 
 personal contact of his intense passion for souls. No joy 
 could come into his life so great as that of leading a man into 
 the Kingdom of God. He touched for righteousness the stu- 
 dent life of this country, and nowhere was he more successful 
 in the winning of men than on the Pacific Coast. His manly, 
 self-sacrificing, and uncompromising Christian life made him a 
 power in the hands of God in the presentation of a personal 
 Saviour. The absolute necessity of regeneration was the all- 
 absorbing question of his life, and God honored his faith and 
 consecration in permitting him to be a master workman in 
 things divine. The influence of his life and words upon the 
 student body of California's two great universities, the Uni- 
 versity of California, and Stanford, will continue as long as 
 there are men to be won for Christ. In his death I feel 
 keenly my personal loss, as he was much to me, and the in- 
 spiration of his life and work was an incentive to effort for 
 larger things in the extension of the Kingdom of Christ 
 among young men. 
 
 Mention has already been made of Rose's study 
 carried on voluntarily after his graduation, which 
 was rewarded by action of the faculty of Beloit Col- 
 lege in conferring upon him the degree of M. A. His 
 mother wrote, at about commencement time : 
 
 I referred in one letter to the thesis Horace wrote and sub- 
 mitted for examination. Last evening his diploma reached 
 me with a letter from Professor Chapin, saying : " The thesis 
 represents good, faithful work on the part of Horace which it 
 130 
 
©tber XTrtbutes 
 
 was fitting to recognize, and wliich would have been recog- 
 nized in the same way if he had lived." The conferring of 
 the degree gives me satisfaction because I know his faithful 
 work was worthy of it, and yet it is a tame sort of pleasure 
 with what it was to have been. His wife, who was so eager 
 to help him in his work, was looking forward with great an- 
 ticipation for this result, and we were to rejoice together at 
 this token of appreciation of Horace's literary effort. The 
 thesis was along sociological lines, its subject being " Friendly 
 Visiting " 
 
 Professor Robert C. Chapin writes in the same 
 connection : 
 
 In the course of the summer before he died, he came to 
 me for an examination on some graduate work that he had 
 been doing. I was greatly interested to see the signs of his 
 development. He had been studying the broader social 
 mission of Christianity, and the manner in which he com- 
 bined an intelligent appreciation of this aspect of the King- 
 dom of God with a belief in the necessity for such hand-to- 
 hand personal work as he was so successful in doing, was 
 very suggestive. Some men have no thought of anything but 
 the immediate grappling with individuals ; others are im- 
 patient of anything short of wholesale social change. Rose, 
 while devoted heart and soul to the work in which he was en- 
 gaged, showed also the most sympathetic appreciation of the 
 advances of the Kingdom in the forms of law and industrial 
 organization. 
 
 Charles E. Tompkins, a graduate of the Univer- 
 sity of Michigan, was General Secretary of the 
 University Association at Ann Arbor two years 
 after Rose left the position. In a letter addressed 
 to Rose's wife shortly after his death he says : 
 131 
 
IFn /IDemoriam 
 
 I hardly know what to say, but! do want you to know that 
 my heart is full of sympathy, because it has been saddened so. 
 For I loved Holly. No man ever won a place so high In my 
 heart as Horace. I looked up to him, and he helped me. 
 All that I have done as General Secretary of our Association 
 was based on what Horace had done previously. 
 
 And I must confess, that when word came that he had 
 gone on home, a fierce, wicked spirit possessed me ; but the 
 Master has led me to see that Horace had increased the 
 talents God had g^ven him more than the hundred-fold, and 
 that he must needs be made " ruler over many things " in the 
 Kingdom of our God. 
 
 The State Secretary of Michigan during the years 
 of Rose's service in the Middle West was C. M. 
 Copeland. He writes : 
 
 That which impressed me most in Rose's life was his man- 
 liness, his even temper under all circumstances, and the un- 
 affected naturalness of the man. . . . Religion with him 
 was not a matter of moods, or forms of speech, or change of 
 expression. It was a thing of every-day life, and entered 
 into all that he did. I spent a Sunday with him in one 
 of the larger educational institutions in Michigan, in which 
 many of the students live in residences. In the morning we 
 were occupied with other matters, but after dinner I noticed 
 him moving from room to room, and wondered what he was 
 doing. He did not say, but I have no manner of question 
 now, that he was interviewing individual students with a view 
 of bringing them into, or developing them in, the Christian 
 life, helping them to overcome some easily besetting sin, or 
 see more clearly the path of duty. 
 
 As a student secretary Rose had made a careful 
 study of the Student Volunteer Movement, its declar- 
 132 
 
©tber XCrtbutes 
 
 ation and its watchword, " The Evangelization of the 
 World in This Generation." The attention that he 
 gave to personal interviews with men who were quali- 
 fied to become foreign missionaries proved that he 
 believed thoroughly in the fundamental principles of 
 this movement. Rev. Harlan P. Beach, the Educa- 
 tional Secretary, has written this testimonial : 
 
 Among the delightful memories of the past are the occa- 
 sional visits made by Mr. Rose to the office of the Student 
 Volunteer Movement in New York. If one had seen him 
 only on such occasions the dominant impression gained would 
 be, that of a man whose Christianity was of the radiant type 
 and whose life was made sunny from centre to circumference 
 because of his abiding faith. I recall especially the one or two 
 occasions when he led the devotional service at noon. The 
 passages of Scripture were brief and virile, while his prayers 
 were as if one were talking with God, and they never failed to 
 uplift those who were privileged to join in them. 
 
 At the various summer schools, which it has been my privi- 
 lege to attend with Mr. Rose, there has been no one man who 
 made the same impression that his work brought to the students 
 gathered there, so far as I could judge of his influence. He 
 was marvellously winsome in his way of approaching a new 
 man, and it was rarely the case that he knew one intimately 
 that he did not show something akin to genuine affection for 
 him. At Geneva and elsewhere I have seen him, not button- 
 hole his man, but draw him aside and with hand upon his 
 shoulder walk off into the woods for one of those delightful 
 talks which many a seeker after truth and life will always 
 remember. As compared with other workers, he seemed to 
 possess a magnetism which attracted and held men close to 
 himself, just as the material magnet attracts its piece of metal. 
 The general work at these summer schools was aided by his 
 
 133 
 
1fn /iDemoriam 
 
 great genuineness and a corresponding earnestness of expres- 
 sion when he spoke or otherwise participated in the exercises. 
 
 Only once has it been my privilege to watch Rose in his 
 college work, and that was at Cornell a month or two before 
 his passing. Private conversation with him showed how 
 heavily he was burdened, not only by certain conditions in 
 the Association, but because of family complications. One 
 would have expected a person who was thus handicapped to 
 be abstracted from his main work. Instead, he seemed to 
 throw himself into it with the greater earnestness, as if a pre- 
 monition of the shortness of his day were even then upon him. 
 I well recall how he had won in the brief period of his service 
 at Cornell a number of men, some of them critical cases. It 
 was remarkable to notice how much he was accomplishing 
 hour by hour. No moment of his day seemed to be without 
 its duty ; and while he had many general interests to care for, 
 even under those circumstances the congenial task seemed to 
 be that of getting a personal hold upon the students man by 
 man. 
 
 If I were to put in a word the impression made by his life, 
 it would be as follows : Rose was differentiated from the 
 great mass of Christian workers by his fundamental faith in 
 God, which constituted the rock foundation of his life and 
 activities. With this as a basis he went out into life, eager to 
 buy up every opportunity, and anxious not merely to use time 
 well, but to regard each day and hour as a talent for invest- 
 ment. He realized that before men could be won they must 
 be attracted, and that no power was more likely to win students 
 than the genuineness of a deep spiritual life combined with 
 the cheer of a strong and healthy manhood. Having attracted 
 them to himself he did not lose any chances, but laid siege to 
 men, not the mass, but one by one, adapting his mode of 
 approach to the character of the individual to be won. A 
 single attempt never sufficed unless it were successful, for Rose 
 had the wisdom to cling to a man like Jacob of old until he 
 134 
 
©tbet XTrtbutes 
 
 had taken him captive. Such results as crowned his brief life 
 would not have been possible had he not been at once physi- 
 cally strong, intellectually attractive, and powerful spiritually. 
 
 During the summer of 1900, several students 
 from foreign lands were visiting the Student Asso- 
 ciations of the United States. Among them were 
 three Europeans from Sweden, Holland, and Den- 
 mark. They met Rose frequently during their visit 
 in this country. As soon as news of his death 
 reached them, an article was printed in Excelsior, 
 the organ of the Scandinavian Student Movement, 
 in the issue of March, 190 1, of which the following 
 is a translation made by Mr. Hans P. Andersen : 
 
 Horace Rose, one of the most promising and active stu- 
 dent workers of North America, was called home by the Lord 
 after a few days' sickness. He was a " jolly fellow," a type 
 of the best Western American students, warm-hearted, fresh 
 and jovial, but wholesome and Christian. It was observed 
 one day when Mott unexpectedly requested him and two 
 others to lead the meeting in prayer. The deep, clear way 
 in which he spoke to God, and with perfect simplicity peti- 
 tioned for definite things, showed clearly that he was a man 
 who lived in the place of secret prayer. He showed us 
 Europeans, Bjbrk from Sweden, Brandt from Holland, and 
 Ricard from Denmark, great kindness. After the Student 
 Conference at Northfield of 1899, he became travelling 
 secretary among the universities of the West, and was here 
 the means of leading several hundreds of his younger com- 
 panions to Jesus Christ. He was for the students of the 
 West what Hugh Beaver had been for those of the East. 
 
 It is strange to think how quickly the Lord can complete 
 the work of his young servants. At the age of only twenty- 
 
 13s 
 
In ^emoriam 
 
 seven Rose went forth, and what a fine work does he not 
 leave behind him ? What have we accomplished ? 
 
 In an age v\rhen many Christian leaders shrink from 
 evangelistic methods, the Student Christian Move- 
 ment has constantly emphasized the importance of 
 special religious awakenings as a means of arrest- 
 ing the attention of men, and fastening it upon the 
 claims of Christ. Had Rose lived he would have 
 been in constant demand for special meetings of 
 evangelistic character in the colleges and universities 
 of the United States and Canada. Mr. Fred B. 
 Smith, a secretary of the International Committee, 
 devoting much of his time to evangelistic work among 
 the city associations, speaks in most appreciative 
 terms of Rose, and his love for meetings which led 
 men to Christian decision : 
 
 Horace Rose's memory abides with me in increasing 
 power. The lapse of years only makes more real his influ- 
 ence. I owe much to him. The chiefest thing to me of all 
 his splendid life was the manifest genuineness of his passion 
 for winning men to the Christian life. I never discovered for 
 one moment anything that could have been interpreted as an 
 ulterior motive for his service. It was with him any way, by 
 any voice, by any method to win men. 
 
 One incident lives with me as an index to the real Rose. 
 At a State Convention of the Associations where we were 
 participating, a misunderstanding with the local committee 
 seemed to have barred the way for an evangelistic service on 
 Sunday. He did not arrive until Saturday morning, but 
 when he heard of the condition, although he was not publicly 
 136 
 
©tber Urtbutes 
 
 to participate in the meeting at all, and it was not at a place 
 with a Student Association, he went zealously at work to ad- 
 just the difficulty, and kept It up till eleven o'clock Saturday 
 night. We won the day and a goodly number of men. I 
 well remember when he came to my room to learn why the 
 meeting was not to be held, and I tried to persuade him not 
 to attempt to press the question. He paced the floor and 
 said, " Smith, God will hold us to account for this failure. 
 That meeting must be held." And it was. 
 
 Several times during his life, I said to friends that I would 
 rather have him in the audience in an evangelistic meeting 
 tdan any other man I had ever known j and there is no 
 man living now, of whom I know, that could fill his place 
 in such a gathering. A look from his eye at such a time was 
 like a wireless message of " victory." In common with hun- 
 dreds, I have a sense of deep gratitude for his incessant, sin- 
 cere devotion to the cause of God. 
 
 The following was written by Bishop William 
 F. McDowell, a frequent speaker at the Lake 
 Geneva Student Conferences, and a wise counsellor 
 of student association leaders : 
 
 I was with Rose at one Student Conference at Lake Ge- 
 neva, and was profoundly impressed with his influence over 
 men. He appeared to live the life of the spirit so naturally 
 that many of the men got a new understanding of what such 
 a life actually meant. His life seemed to be all of one piece. 
 The presence of Christ in it was constantly manifest. 
 
 Several years after this Lake Geneva experience I spent a 
 week in Cornell University as Sage Chapel preacher. It was 
 just after Rose's death. All through that great institution 
 his name was as an ointment poured forth. He left upon the 
 studei ts with whom he came in contact there an impression 
 which I think will never be effaced. It was said to me freely 
 
 137 
 
Hn fflJemoriam 
 
 that many of the Cornell men had privately and publicly testi- 
 fied that they found their old lives impossible in Rose's pres- 
 ence, and were drawn to a new life by the beauty and holiness 
 of his life. I was struck with the fact that his influence in 
 Cornell was both direct and indirect. He tried continually 
 to lead men to Christ, and did it. But many men were also 
 led to Christ just by reason of his presence there. Interested 
 he was in everything that pertained to the life of the men, 
 but always interested in that high and splendid way that 
 made him such a force for righteousness. I count it one of 
 the joys of my life to have known him. 
 
 Mr. Walter M. Parsons, formerly a secretary on 
 the Pacific Coast, and now connected as a secretary 
 with the International Committee, pays his tribute 
 in the following language : 
 
 I have known many men whose acquaintance I enjoyed 
 and whose comradeship I highly prized, but of all whom I 
 have met, not one did I ever like more than Horace Rose. 
 I shall never forget our first meeting. He rushed into my 
 office in San Francisco, and in his big-hearted way exclaimed, 
 " Hello, Parsons, I am mighty glad to meet you ! I need yoiu" 
 help." His face beamed like the morning, and I'll confess 
 that he captured me in five minutes. After chatting for a 
 time about mutual friends, and going over plans for the 
 Pacific Coast Student Conference, to direct which he had 
 come West, he remarked, " Parsons, I have a hard task 
 ahead. Mich (Mr. C. C. Michener) has a great hold on the 
 college men here, and I wish to see the splendid standard set 
 up here maintained. Let's have a word of prayer together. 
 We can't make this go vpithout His help." 
 
 For three weeks following we were closely associated. At 
 the Student Conference he soon won the hearts of the men ; 
 and while Michener had been peculiarly honored, all agreed 
 138 
 
©tber tributes 
 
 that in Rose a worthy successor had been found. His ad- 
 dresses, full of searching questions, cut to the inner life of 
 men. His implicit faith in Jesus Christ as the helper of men 
 in " putting up a winning fight against sin in their lives " in- 
 spired confidence in faltering men, and lukewarm students 
 soon felt the contagion of his faith and enthusiasm. " Put- 
 ting up a winning fight through faith in Jesus Christ " was a 
 common expression, and he led many a student to demon- 
 strate the reality of it in his own life. 
 
 Each day after lunch he csdled together the " faculty," as 
 he jokingly termed the group of leaders, and I am sure those 
 present will never forget his eager " Now, men, what can we 
 do to make the next session count ? " or, " Will you see 
 Mr. A. of the Stanford delegation and brace him up on that 
 point ? " etc., etc. After discussion and special prayer for the 
 success of plans agreed upon by aU, he would go to his room, 
 don an old suit, and join the boys for the afternoon sports, 
 the most frolicsome boy in the whole bunch. He was a veri- 
 table reservoir of fun and as good a man behind the bat as 
 he was in leading a meeting. His enthusiasm in athletics 
 helped him to get a grip on some men otherwise hard to 
 reach, and he made the most of it in enlisting those men in 
 an enthusiastic service for the Master. 
 
 As I think of his work among students on the Pacific 
 Coast, permanent results at every point are readily recalled. 
 New life and activity invariably followed his visit to colleges 
 or universities. His talks to students may not have abounded 
 in " rounded periods," but they had points. He generally 
 struck ten. He compelled men to think, and led them to act. 
 He would not counsel a man " to go home and think it over," 
 but rather to say, " If it is right to be a Christian, if it is right 
 to live a clean life, begin it now." 
 
 Quickness and thoroughness characterized his work, and his 
 untiring zeal and enthusiasm in personal work bore fruitage 
 in changed lives wherever he went. He believed in conver- 
 139 
 
Hn /IDemorfam 
 
 sion definite, clear-cut, sudden if you ciioose, because he wit- 
 nessed the fact in scores of young lives. 
 
 During his last trip to the Coast and at the Student Con- 
 ference he worked under a burden that would have crushed 
 most men. Yet not for a moment did any one see in 
 Rose aught but the man of courage and faith. Standing 
 on the promises of his Lord he murmured not. His life at 
 this time was a striking testimony to the reality of the joy of 
 Christian service which he so earnestly advocated. He was 
 forceful and resourceftd, aggressive yet tactful, strong and 
 virile, yet tender and trustful as a little child. 
 
 Rose's own estimate of himself was far different 
 from that of his friends regarding him. It is well 
 illustrated by the following little schedule which he 
 had copied in his note-book, and which he examined 
 frequently before entering a religious meeting : 
 
 CHRISTIAN ZEAL, IOO% 
 
 For the organization I am representing . . 20% 
 For the reputation of other men .... 15% 
 For the personal satisfaction of doing as well 
 
 as I did before 25% 
 
 For the glory of God 4°% 
 
 When will the glory of God be my only ambition ? 
 
 He was constantly challenging his motives, not 
 only as he entered meetings, but hour by hour 
 throughout all the days. Such a spiritual exercise 
 naturally resulted in a growing consecration of 
 himself to the service of other people. 
 
 In Dr. James Stalker's " Imago Christi " there is 
 a striking characterization of Jesus' influence over 
 140 
 
©tber Utibutes 
 
 men, which applies in large measure to Rose. 
 " The passing of Jesus through the country was 
 like the passing of a magnet over a floor where 
 there are pieces of iron : it drew the souls which 
 had affinity for the divine life to itself. And in 
 all Christian communities there are some who, in 
 greater or less degree, discharge the same function. 
 They are known to possess the secret of life ; those 
 passing through the deepest experiences of the soul 
 are confident that they will understand them ; bur- 
 dened consciences seek their sympathy. Surely this 
 is the most precious privilege of the soul-winner : 
 he is never so effectively seeking the lost as when 
 the lost seek him." In view of this qualification for 
 helping men, and his estimate of the value of time, 
 no more fitting way can be found to close this 
 memorial than to quote the following, written by 
 Rose at the close of a busy day while in college : 
 
 Meditation and Prayer 
 
 " The day has gone. In the quiet of the evening 
 hour sit a moment with thy better self and think. 
 I began the day early with Him. Since then have 
 passed fifteen golden hours. Each minute has been 
 fraught with privilege and responsibility. Oh, what 
 a day of privilege ! But now I pause as the night 
 comes on, and ask if what Moses and Aaron could 
 say is true of this day just passing out of my grasp, 
 ' The God of the Hebrews hath met us.' In the 
 141 
 
Un /iDemoriam 
 
 busy ways, in the studies, in the laboratory, on the 
 campus, in the closet, is it true ? Has the God of 
 the Hebrews met me ? 
 
 " Thou God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I sub- 
 mit to Thee this day, its successes and failures. 
 Use both to Thy glory. Give me forgiveness in 
 Jesus Christ ; and while I sleep to-night, O 1 may 
 my heart be on the watch for new revelations of 
 Thee, and when the morning dawns and the night 
 winds and dews are gone, O I God of the Hebrews, 
 meet me and keep me near Thee throughout each 
 hour. May this present minute be a Bethel for my 
 soul — the place where I meet the God of the 
 Hebrews I " 
 
 142 
 
Hppen5ir 
 
 In view of the prominent place given by Horace 
 W. Rose to personal work as the most successful 
 method of leading men to belief in Christ, his notes 
 on the subject may be helpful to those who have 
 read this memorial. What follows here served as 
 the basis for the discussion led by him at the Pacific 
 Grove Student Conference (California) during the 
 spring of 1899. 
 
 Personal Work. 
 
 I. What is it ? Individual effort to touch another life (for 
 Christ's sake), that it may be helped into conformity to 
 the teachings of Jesus Christ. 
 I. Scripture examples. 
 
 John iii. Nicodemus and Christ. 
 
 John iv. 5-29. Christ and the woman. 
 
 Acts viii. 27-39. Philip and the eunuch. 
 
 John i. 40-42. Andrew and Peter. 
 
 John i. 43-46. Philip and Nathaniel. 
 
 Read James i. 27. Pure religion and undefiled. 
 
 2, Three propositions. 
 
 (l) It is not hard. The difficulty is, we are not 
 prepared. It's natural to approach men in 
 conversation. 
 
 (a) Commercial traveller a good p. w. 
 
 (b) Personal work to get men for lodges. 
 
 (c) Personal work in politics. 
 
 (d) The " personal element " is the fundamental 
 
 argument in favor of smaller colleges. 
 
 143 
 
Hppen&li 
 
 (2) Every man is under obligation to do p. w. 
 
 (a) It is enjoined in the scriptures, ex- 
 
 ample and teaching. 
 
 (b) Characteristic of new birth. Reach 
 
 out after others. 
 
 (c) My brother's condition rightly de- 
 
 mands it. 
 
 (3) It's the greatest privilege in life. (Angels be 
 
 glad of that chance.) 
 
 (a) It made up a large part of Christ's life. 
 
 (b) James v. 20. Let Him know that he, 
 
 etc. 
 
 (c) Dan'l xii. 3. They that be wise shall 
 
 shine as the brightness of the firma- 
 ment, etc. 
 
 II. The need. 
 
 I. Other agencies insufficient unless supplemented by 
 this. 
 (How many members won by p. w. ?) 
 2 Notwithstanding importance few accept responsi- 
 bility. 
 A cry for workers in churches and everywhere I 
 
 3. Men around us are hungry and thirsty for light and 
 
 help. 
 
 4. They fight shy of organized movements. 
 
 5. Men love this method. 
 
 6. The Holy Spirit convicts in different ways and 
 
 places. 
 Various opportunities. 
 
 III. Qualifications of worker. 
 
 1. A man of character. High standard — no cribbing 
 
 — no dishonesty, gambling, or vulgarity — coarse- 
 ness, cigarettes. Have men believe in you. 
 
 2. A longing to help men, 
 
 144 
 
appenbii 
 
 3. Personality — shrewdness — capacity — address. 
 
 4. Anchored in belief. Born again. " Morality is 
 
 human nature dressed up." God doesn't teach 
 that. He teaches the new man. 
 
 5. Knowledge of Bible. 
 
 6. A man of prayer. 
 
 7. Patient and persistent. 
 
 IV. The class. 
 
 1. Object, to enable Christians by the use of special 
 
 Bible studies and by actual participation in per- 
 sonal work to lead others, one by one, to Christ. 
 
 2. Members, qualified men who long to lead others to 
 
 Christ, and are willing to give time and energy. 
 Avoid enlisting men who have not the confi- 
 dence of the class. 6-1 o men who will 
 
 (a) Engage in definite personal work. 
 
 (b) Give 20 minutes a day in preparation. 
 
 (c) Attend class regularly and promptly. 
 
 3. Leader, man of God with heart aflame, an aggres- 
 
 sive worker, soul-winner if possible, who will 
 count this his large work. Send leader to 
 Conference. 
 
 4. Use of class hour. 
 
 (1) Heart-searching questions. 
 
 (2) Development of Bible topic. 
 
 (3) Discussion of recent experience in work. 
 
 (4) Report of work done. 
 
 (5) Use of key passages assigned by leader. 
 
 (6) Much prayer. 
 
 5. Helpful outlines. 
 
 (i) Dr. Johnson's book. 
 
 (2) S. M. Sayford's book. 
 
 (3) Personal work — how organized and accom- 
 
 plished. 
 
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Hppen&ix 
 
 (4) Christ among men. 
 
 (5) Dyson Hague's " Ways to Win." 
 
 (6) Torrey's " How to Bring Men to Christ." 
 Read Life of Hugh Beaver — Memorial of a True 
 
 Life. 
 
 V. Suggested kinds of personal work. 
 
 1. Restraining men from indulgence. 
 
 2. Visiting men with idea of helping and cheering and 
 
 comforting them. 
 
 3. Leading men to take up means of growth. 
 
 4. Leading men to give up definite sins. 
 
 5. Leading men to accept Christ and publicly confess 
 
 Him. 
 
 VI. Suggestions. 
 
 1. Keep very humble. 
 
 2. Pray for and use opportunities. 
 
 3. Don't argue or debate in class or out. 
 
 4. Love men and make them love you. 
 
 5. Get parts of Bible well in hand. 
 
 6. Meet men alone. 
 
 7. Meet objections lovingly, present real Gospel. 
 
 8. Study specific sins. 
 
 9. Be constant in prayer — rely upon the Holy Spirit. 
 
 10. Be willing to make mistakes for Christ's sake. 
 
 1 1. Be tactful — study the man and your ability to 
 
 help. 
 
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