CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
LA228 P3 ™" ""'™"">' '■"'™^ 
 
 Daniel K.Pearsons, 
 
 |_olin 
 
 3 1924 030 555 555 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030555555 
 
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DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 HIS LIFE AND WORKS 
 
 Consisting of a Record of Th.ose Princely 
 Acts of Benevolence and Sayings Which 
 Caused Philanthropy in Others :: :: 
 
 Which Entitle Him to 
 
 The Love, Admiration, Gratitude, and Esteem 
 
 of the People of This and All the Coming 
 
 Centuries. 
 
 *' There is thai maketh himself rich, yet hath 
 nothing; there is that maketh himself poor, yet 
 hath great riches, " 
 
 By DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 Author of "Two of the Same Name'' and "My Uncle 
 and Myself." 
 
 ELGIN. ILLINOIS 
 
 BRETHREN PUBLISHING HOUSE 
 
 1912 
 
Copyright, 1912, 
 
 The Daniel K. Pearsons Publishing Co., 
 Hinsdale, 111. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 I shall pass through this world but once. Any good, 
 therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show 
 to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer 
 or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. 
 
 To 
 
 All lovers of human kind; to all those, who, like God, 
 
 love a cheerful giver, this record 
 
 is affectionately offered. 
 
Introduction 
 
 The author, being the nephew and namesake of the 
 illustrious man whose name appears on the title page of 
 this loving biography, had unlimited opportunity in forty 
 years of intimate intercourse with Dr. Pearsons to gather 
 authentic and reliable statistics concerning his life work 
 and characteristics, that marked him the greatest and 
 most far-reaching philanthropist of the age. These 
 chances were supplemented by manuscript which his lov- 
 ing hand passed over, by word of mouth and by what the 
 ear heard and marveled at, through many years, during 
 which this " Prince of Givers " steadily mounted in long 
 spirals, — like the air-men, to a zone of calm thought and 
 contentment far above the heads of his fellow men on the 
 earth below. Here he floated serenely along, dropping 
 bombs, not filled with destruction for the human race, 
 but sacks of gold which burst when they struck the earthy 
 into atoms that enriched the soil of knowledge and right- 
 eous living wherever they struck. From his giddy 
 height of unselfishness and benevolence for humanity, 
 he put his finger unerringly upon the spots in our fair 
 country where his money would do the most good and 
 strengthen deserving institutions about to die, or linger 
 along as invalids for lack of his reviving oxygen tank. 
 
 Until her death, his wife was the safe and trusty pas- 
 
6 INTRODUCTION 
 
 senger in the aeroplane of life. Often he relinquished 
 the levers and seat of honor into her frail hands and pos- 
 session while he solicitously watched her as they glided 
 to the aid of the Armenians and the Board of Foreign 
 Missions. 
 
 As sure as they volplaned to the earth, she sent him 
 back aloft to earn money for their beloved children, 
 whom they had adopted into their gentle hearts and 
 loving embrace. Of the myriad of human beings that 
 enact the drama of life and flit before the human vision, 
 they alone guided their ship without mishap and without 
 regret into a safe haven of perfect contentment and end. 
 They raised high the standard of attainment for thou- 
 sands of seeking beings by basing the purposes of life 
 upon bright thoughts and powerful aspirations, and then 
 gathered the finished product and expanding energies of 
 the soul into a nucleus that enriched the coming cen- 
 turies. They talked it over so much between themselves 
 in everyday life, and thought of their " life work " so 
 continuously, that one could not help getting plenty of 
 material, and it was impossible that the eye should fol- 
 low their unique careers without the heart wishing to 
 herald and reveal their noble deeds and unselfish life liv- 
 ing to the gaze and thoughts of a benefited and thankful 
 people in a loving biography. The secret of their success 
 was clearness of perception, fixedness of effort, fine 
 mental endowment, frugality, energy, strength of will, 
 perseverance, and oneness of purpose. These mutual 
 helpers always pointed to each other as a shining example 
 for others to pattern after. 
 
 He often said of her : " Yes, I owe everything to her. 
 She led me on the paths by the still waters of perfect 
 
INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 happiness. Her wealth, discernment and goodness were 
 the wellspring from which came all I ever accomplished 
 in the world. Certainly she should get equal credit here 
 on earth and in heaven, a seat close up to the angel choir 
 and near the throne of God." 
 
 On a certain day, while the balmy odor of the lordly 
 pines and the sweet singing of the birds came through 
 the open window of Daniel K. Pearsons' den on the 
 second floor of his great mansion, set high on a hill above 
 Hinsdale, 111., in its spacious grounds, beautiful with 
 ornamental shrubbery, flowers arid long stretches of 
 grassy lawn, two men, of marked facial resemblance, sat 
 talking, reminiscently. Uncle and nephew were they, 
 and in addition to having similar characteristics, their 
 names were identically the same. One was the namesake 
 of the other. The younger man was to learn what dis- 
 position was to be made of the remnants of the great 
 fortune; the spacious acres and princely home of this 
 great man and philanthropist. The elder was the aged 
 owner of all these evidences of wealth. He was the man 
 who had made the name immortal by princely benefac- 
 tions ; the man who from poor youthful surroundings had 
 carved out from the New West his mighty fortune and 
 spent the last quarter of a century of his life in giving 
 away his many millions for higher education and the bet- 
 terment of humanity, as he saw it. He signed fifty and 
 hundred thousand dollar checks to colleges with great 
 equanimity, delight and sang-froid. He gave to Beloit 
 College alone, four hundred and ninety-one thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 When asked if the spirit never moved him to make out 
 one of those justly famous checks in favor of the younger 
 
8 INTRODUCTION 
 
 man, he shook his leonine head emphatically and said 
 convincingly : " For many long years I have watched 
 you. I have seen your ups and downs. You have 
 weathered the storms and survived the tempests of life 
 in a manner reflecting credit upon the unwavering spirit 
 that brought you safely in. 
 
 " Young man, I fully realize your lot has not been 
 easy, nor your pathway strewn with roses, but God has 
 given you what no man on earth could. Muscle, stability 
 and perseverance in a man are what the coming ages 
 look forward to. A sound mind and body are worth 
 more to you than all the money I could give you. 
 
 " Like myself, you had hard work to get an education, 
 but what you have come through life with makes your 
 education worth something. Hard knocks and lack of 
 money are what you have experienced. It has made you 
 what you are and if you want any more money, it will do 
 you good to work for it. Hustle ! 
 
 " After you graduated, those six years you spent in 
 Montana on a cattle ranch were hot in vain. It took all 
 the boyish nonsense out of you ; it gave you time to 
 reason and taught you how to think clearly. God does 
 not scatter pleasures in the wind, but helps them that 
 help themselves. You now have one of the greatest 
 pleasures that man can have on earth — your two chil- 
 dren. I know it means work, worry, great anxiety and 
 all that, but it is very little we get in this world unless 
 we work for it. Now go to work and make your mark. 
 
 " In 1890 I advised you to go on a farm to get a good 
 constitution, a good understanding, and to become well 
 read so that at forty you would be capable of fighting 
 your own way. Now do it ! " 
 
INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 The boy, having unlimited opportunity to watch the 
 workings of his wonderful mind, here endeavors to obey 
 his commands and record his deeds and sayings. His 
 favorite mottoes were : " Our fathers caught the blended 
 lights of liberty, religion and education from the skies. 
 Long did they watch the rising, their widening, their 
 brightening. Long may it be our happy lot to walk in 
 the beams of their effulgence, till the night of time shall 
 settle upon the world and the lights of liberty and re- 
 ligion and education are lost in the blaze of eternity." 
 Also: " I intend to die as poor as I came into the world." 
 
 Forty-seven colleges, which he called " his children," 
 received all his vast fortune and he fulfilled his first 
 motto by faithfully carrying out his second. Was he not 
 a Lion, who lived in and for his children for forty years ; 
 whose only thought was to provide forever for them and 
 further their attainments ; who electrified the community 
 with a new banner of opinion and action; whose deep 
 religious character and the broadening tendency of his 
 mind and inquiry carried him beyond the dogmas of 
 sects and restraint in love and aid to them all, and whose 
 moral value to the nation was beyond all computation? 
 Was he not a Hero, who tore consanguinary love and 
 interest from his heart by bestowing every dollar of his 
 great fortune upon the outside public, but still provided 
 for his namesake's future by giving him the enclosed 
 data to present to the public, thus making him work for 
 it? Was he not a Conqueror, who achieved conquests 
 and won victories in a lifelong warfare to benefit man- 
 kind ; to help the poor ; to aid the wounded and to carry 
 the effulgent light that shines from the cross, to foreign 
 lands? Was he not a Giant, who, standing on an emi- 
 
10 INTRODUCTION 
 
 nence attained by few, devoted his bright mind and in" 
 domitable will for nearly a century to getting and giving 
 and then voluntarily descended the mountain of affluence 
 to mingle with his fellow-men at its foot, stripped of all 
 his earthly possessions and glorying in the fact that he 
 had joined the ranks of the poor and lowly before the 
 earthly end came; that at last he belonged to the true 
 Brotherhood of Man? Was he not a Revelator, who, 
 frugal from necessity in early life, still remained frugal — 
 so far as his own tastes were concerned — through life; 
 who broke the chain of luxurious and sensuous thraldom 
 to doff the mantle — in the struggle of life, of true 
 impulses to elevate man and womanhood ; who came like 
 a brilliant meteor dashing across the heavens to shed a 
 light before men and blaze the way for them to reveal 
 their own goodness of heart ; who shot above the horizon 
 of time like a radiant star, clothed in mystery, majesty 
 and awe as it sends its rays of light into the endless 
 depths of space to write upon the azure blue walls of 
 heaven, the evidence of eternal life ; who among a myriad 
 of men born to flit across the stage of life* held aloft a 
 torch of unselfish benevolence to strengthen the hearts 
 and lead the way of the money-burdened, world-weary 
 and knowledge-seeking millionaire of the future? Was 
 he not an Example, whom fathers and mothers could 
 commend to their sons with confidence; whose force of 
 example was so far-reaching that Andrew Carnegie en- 
 rolled beneath his banner as his " Humble Disciple " and 
 " Younger Brother ;" whose twenty years of seniority 
 and experience in giving caused John D. Rockefeller to 
 style him " Senior Partner " and " Paternal Guide "? 
 We pray God that this book may circulate among the 
 
INTRODUCTION II 
 
 teeming millions of the coming ages to aid in the good 
 work of influencing the rich men of the future to follow 
 his shining and unforgettable example as humbly tran- 
 scribed within these covers and we will offer thanks if 
 his great works can be continued by these means.. 
 
Contents 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 All for the Endowment. Humanity's Record of Achieve- 
 ments. His Motto 17 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 His Family and Ancestors, 25 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Short Biography of His Wife, Marietta Chapin Pear- 
 sons, 33 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Dr. Pearsons' Lecture to Young Men 37 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 His Lecture on the Fresh Water College 47 
 
 13 
 
14 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Thoughts on His Philanthropy. His Lecture on In- 
 stitutions of Learning SS 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 He Tells How to Get and Keep Money. A Tribute. Let- 
 ters to Mount Holyoke 65 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 His Home and Boyhood. His Fight with a Rebellious 
 Pupil and His Exoneration. His Struggle to Secure 
 an Education. As a Doctor of Medicine. Mary Lyon 
 and Her Influence on His Future. He Goes West. 
 Early History of Chicago, 71 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Thoughts on His Character and Personality. Early 
 Gifts. Trouble with Tax Reviewers. His Purpose 
 and Influence. He Talks of Tainted Money and 
 Carnegie and Rockefeller. 101 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Early Business Life. His Love of Children 117 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 His Lecture on the Colleges, 127 
 
CONTENTS 15 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 His Political Life. Chicago Fire and Charities. Lecture 
 at Lake Forest University. He Tells Us How to 
 " Know Thyself." How He Made His Fortune and 
 Why He Gave It Away, 137 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 His Honorary Degrees and How He Got Them. Saves 
 Chicago from Financial Ruin. He Tells How to En- 
 joy Life. He Talks on Theological Seminaries and 
 the Ministry. On Individuality. On Woman Suf- 
 frage. On Panics, 179 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 He Gives a Lecture on Knowledge. His Essay on the 
 High Cost of Living. His Prescription for Rich 
 Patients. Gift to Chicago Theological Seminary. 
 His Essay on the Voice. Begins His Long Talk on 
 What to Do with Money and How to Use It. Dona- 
 tions to Beloit College. Aphorisms of Dr. Pearsons. 
 Stability. Whitman Gifts. How to Live a Hundred 
 \ears, 215 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Colorado College. Poem to Dr. Pearsons. Solution of 
 the Servant Problem. His Censor. Speech at Be- 
 loit, 273 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Drury College. Address on the Secret of Success. 
 Talk on Giving. Address to Knox College Alumni. 
 His Experience. Berea College 295 
 
16 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 More Rules. Montpelier. Some Small Children. Forest 
 Grove. Yankton. Marietta. Sheridan. His Grow- 
 ing Family. Grant University 341 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 His Ninetieth Birthday. Foreign Missions. His Rela- 
 tions, 363 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 His Fifty-four Children. He Retires to Private Life 
 a Poor Man. His Last Days 385 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 " Lemonade, three cents a glass, — for the eftdowment." 
 The above sign, displayed on a tree, around which 
 clustered a bevy of pretty girls, dispensing the temper- 
 ance beverage, expressed to the visitors at the Mount 
 Holyoke College field what was the underlying principle 
 of about everything that was done, outside of study for 
 a long time, at the institution. The athletic champions 
 of the several classes in the fields struggled, but they all 
 united again soon after the events to drink in aid of the 
 endowment. In the afternoon, an ice cream and straw- 
 berry booth tempted sedate alumnse beyond all discre- 
 tion, but they were cheerfully reminded, as they ex- 
 pressed fear of the consequences, " It's all for the endow- 
 ment, you know." And so, little by little, the fund 
 swelled. 
 
 " Remember the Maine " gave way to " Remember the 
 endowment. " So eager were the girls to raise the 
 amount necessary to bring forth that $50,000 from Dr. 
 Pearsons, that it became the principal object in life to 
 add a penny to the endowment. The girls lived on en- 
 dowment. They talked of it in the dormitories, on the 
 campus, in the recitation rooms, and even in morning 
 chapel, they talked of the magic key that would open the 
 
 17 
 
18 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 doctor's strong box. The ever-popular junior " prom," 
 with its attendant train of new gowns, gloves, slippers 
 and flowers has been given up, all for the endowment 
 and there will be less commencement finery, all to the end 
 that Dr. Pearsons shall write one more of his justly 
 famous $50,000 checks. 
 
 Humanity's record of achievement since the day that 
 Eve ate of the forbidden fruit is emblazoned with heroic 
 feats and strange life purposes. In all the 6,000 years 
 of history, however, there never lived a man of more 
 exalted deeds or with a stranger occupation than one 
 whom the twentieth century has produced, — a man who 
 stands alone in his class ; an original man, without a pred- 
 ecessor and probably without a successor; a man who 
 lived simply and solely for the purpose of giving away 
 money. 
 
 There have been great philanthropists, but their phil- 
 anthropy has been incidental to their main object of life. 
 While they have bestowed the incalculable blessings of 
 benefaction with one hand, they have piled up more mil- 
 lions for themselves with the other. But this man, who 
 lived to give away his money, had only one string to his 
 bow. His work and his employes' work was to see that 
 the donations fell into the hands of those that deserved' 
 assistance. Does the name of Andrew Carnegie arise as 
 that of the man who wishes to die poor? He has given 
 away millions. But this twentieth century paradox is 
 not Mr. Carnegie. Does the name of Mrs. Russell Sage 
 occur to you ? She, to be sure, is giving away millions, 
 but meantime she has those millions so hedged about that 
 they are earning more. The strangest of all. philan- 
 thropists has not made -a dollar since he was 70 years 
 old. He accumulated his vast wealth before that age, 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 19 
 
 and since then has been giving it away. He has not even 
 seen fit to place it in the hands of others, so that it would 
 earn more money for himself. If it has made earnings, 
 those who have the use of it have received what it 
 earned. What seemed stranger than anything else was the 
 fact that, in all the twenty-one years in which he strove 
 with might and main to give away his money, he kept 
 such perfect control of his millions that he could con- 
 vert his entire immense fortune into cash within fifteen 
 minutes at any instant he chose to give the word. 
 
 He also occupied the unique position, unparalleled in 
 the solemn history of the world, of a great philanthropist 
 who did not give his blood relations — near or distant, 
 high or low, rich or poor, deserving or undeserving — a 
 red cent. For Christ's great paradox, " Whosoever will 
 save his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life 
 for my sake'and the Gospel's, the same shall save it," 
 runs into every realm and is true at every point, and 
 about every faculty and gift we possess. Selfishness 
 means eternal loss. We hold every possession on terms 
 of sacrifice. To keep is to lose; to give is to gain 
 eternally. 
 
 Money may be made ^n eternal possession, but it be- 
 comes that only when we link it to some great unselfish 
 use. What is the best invested coin in all history? It 
 was the poor widow's half-farthing. Had she kept it, 
 who would ever have heard of it ? She cast it into God's 
 treasury ; and the music of that tiny coin will ring in the 
 world's ear for all ages. What is the most fragrant per- 
 fume a woman's hand ever held? It was Mary's ala- 
 baster box of spikenard. If Mary had poured it upon 
 her own hair, the perfume would have died in a few 
 
20 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 seconds. She poured it on her Lord's feet and its 
 fragrance will make the air of the world sweet for un- 
 counted centuries. The name of this record-breaking 
 benefactor was Daniel Kimball Pearsons. His motto 
 was : " The lights of liberty, religion and education are 
 kindred fires, kindled at the same celestial altar. To- 
 gether they were born and together they must expire." 
 
 What a life his was! Steadily following, during the 
 business part, the one aim to obtain wealth to help young 
 people. Then to confine his giving to one channel; to 
 institutions whose future usefulness seemed assured. 
 He founded no colleges to be called after his name. A 
 few buildings bear his or his wife's name. He sought 
 to aid those colleges which deserved to live. He could 
 say : "This one thing I do and do well for all time." 
 
 We become immortal at the point at which we touch 
 Christ. Any gift put into His hands becomes an undy- 
 ing possession. And Christ's words, " Inasmuch as ye 
 have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done 
 it unto me," extend the spiritual law of reward over the 
 whole world. 
 
 A hundred years from now, when our history is being 
 recounted, it will fall to the lot of few within our borders 
 to receive such acknowledgment of a large part in bring- 
 ing within the pale of Christian education the youth of 
 America as he will. This will be, also, because his mil- 
 lions and method of giving multiplied by the force of 
 example into millions beyond computation for benev- 
 olence. 
 
 He was one man in a million. He could accumulate 
 without losing the grace of giving. He found the way 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 21 
 
 to be happy. When one ceases to do for others and lives 
 only by receiving the sun of his happiness has set. He 
 gave himself with his gifts. 
 
 When he made a gift it carried with it personal and 
 intimate knowledge of the institution as a guarantee to 
 other givers. As in his younger days, when practicing 
 medicine, he diagnosed the case before applying the pre- 
 scription. Notwithstanding he gave millions to colleges, 
 only the interest of the money could be used ; the principal 
 must remain intact to the end of time. He called this 
 investing his money, and not benevolence. He lived as 
 simply as the average wage-earner. That was the kind 
 of life he liked. No frivolities or shams appealed to him 
 and he was, as he styled himself, " A tight-fisted, hard- 
 hearted old curmudgeon of a Puritan." 
 
 ■Men and women who laid educational foundations in 
 the newer portions of our land were the heirs of a great 
 privilege. To a fortunate few, only, it can be given to 
 stand at or near the beginnings which vitally touch the 
 plastic life of forming communities and states and which 
 are reasonably sure of enlarged usefulness and work for 
 centuries to come. 
 
 Yet such burdens as came to all the colleges in the 
 newer commonwealths were but for the moment; be- 
 yond, in those rich valleys of the Missouri, the Missis- 
 sippi, and the Columbia, whose fatness rivaled the Nile 
 and the Danube, and whose vast spaces, now scantily 
 filled, are to be crowded with multiplying millions, there 
 dawns a swiftly-approaching day, — not of feeble begin- 
 nings, but growth, power and commanding service, — 
 which are not the ceaseless dreams of enthusiasts, but the 
 certainty of coming years. 
 
22 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 It is also to be observed that Dr. Pearsons was a man 
 of genius. He was preeminently a man who saw things, 
 who saw the time and the way to do things. When the 
 time came for a thing he did not wait. He believed in 
 providence, but never trifled with its teachings. He 
 possessed in the highest degree the priceless gift of 
 disciplined imagination. This enabled him to realize and 
 see things in their widest possible relations. 
 
 There was nothing about his work more worthy of 
 consideration than the glorious exhilaration with which 
 it was done. He was a " cheerful," a " hilarious " giver. 
 He felt a kind of awe of himself. He wondered how he 
 could have made so much money. Still more, he 
 wondered at the peculiar way he was led to devote him- 
 self to the studious giving of it all away. For no Puri- 
 tan had a profounder sense of providence than this gen- 
 erous giver. While to the last degree business-like and 
 pragmatical, insisting in every instance on the most exact 
 and business methods on the part of all aided by him, 
 nothing was more notable than the degree to which he 
 was a visionary. To no poet has the imagination been 
 of greater or finer use than to this large-seeing philan- 
 thropist. To any one who knew him, it was a constant 
 surprise to note how he saw things ; the crooks and turns 
 and sacred places, his mind's eye put the blessed fruitage 
 of his millions in the making of men. In his dreaming, 
 he saw the endless processions of the youth of the land 
 go by one after the other, for uncounted ages, or as long 
 as the world stands, and he saw instantly and vividly how 
 immense his work had been for eternity. The facts were 
 right there before him and with what a " realizing sense" 
 of human sympathy ! 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 23 
 
 He knew each one of his forty-seven " children " all 
 by heart. He kept all of them in his mind's eye, and was 
 full of the thoughts as to what they would be doing in 
 the years and generations to come. He sowed the harvest 
 and every grain will come back multiplied a hundred 
 fold. The money cast into the soil of God's field is seed 
 which will yield immortal harvests. What can measure 
 the harvests which will spring up to bless the memory 
 of this Christian gentlemen and giver when he plants at 
 Christ's bidding? 
 
 " Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter : 
 Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the 
 whole duty of man." Eccles. 12 : 13. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 The father of Daniel Kimball Pearsons was John, of 
 venerated memory. He was an honest man; simple- 
 hearted and loving as a child. Kings are lifted up and 
 overthrown; nations rise and fall; republics flourish and 
 wither ; races of people pass away ; and time rolls on ; but 
 the memory of a good man lasts forever. The deeds of 
 such are governed, as well as judged, by the decrees of 
 eternity. Every thought and action of a God-fearing 
 man bring forth ripe seeds, which, when sown, bring 
 forth for the following centuries the perfected flower, 
 with aroma, that delights the senses of untold multitudes, 
 and with a beauty that intoxi.cates and enthralls the gaze 
 of the admiring ages. 
 
 In the man, a just and good idea of the art of living 
 brings life, progress, honor and glory ; a false one brings 
 death, disaster, dishonor and shame. In all the walks 
 of life and dealings with men, his course was straight 
 in righteousness, and his ideas were correct through his 
 faith in God. Three other boys and a daughter he reared 
 to maturity. He showed them the path to follow, and 
 led them by the still waters of usefulness. They were 
 John, William, George and Elizabeth. In addition to 
 raising and providing for this large family, he performed 
 a prodigious work when he created Daniel, the net 
 results of which can only be measured by the revelations 
 
 25 
 
26 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 of eternity, but the fruits of which will be forever appar- 
 ent in the impress his son has left in the minds and lives 
 of countless people. 
 
 Thousands there are who shall rise and call him 
 blessed, and their children's children to the remotest 
 generation, for the noble work his second son accom- 
 plished in the world. 
 
 Father Pearsons belonged to a generation of stal- 
 warts ; to a strong race of men whom neither hardships, 
 nor the allurements of the world could turn from their 
 sense of duty. His life, though short, was lengthened in 
 enjoyment and peace by the loving care of his family. 
 
 He fought for his country, valiantly, throughout the 
 war of 1812, and when the war was over, the disease 
 and danger of life of that conflict escaped, he returned 
 to the peaceful pursuits of farming and cutting trees for 
 lumber, timber and spars, that entered into the building 
 of men-of-war and ships of commerce. The keels of 
 vessels built from logs cut by him, have pressed the 
 shores of every continent ; they have kissed the waters of 
 many countries ; they have traversed all the seas, loaded 
 with the merchandise and produce of every clime. In 
 after years and far toward the setting sun, his illustrious 
 son, — through these inherited traits and lust of the 
 woods, — reproduced the actions of his sire in the pine 
 woods of Michigan. 
 
 These logs Father Pearsons and his help hauled to the 
 Connecticut River ; they were bound together into a raft, 
 and embarked on the swollen currents during the spring 
 floods. Floating peacefully and slowly down this pic- 
 turesque river, frequent stops would be made at the vil- 
 lages to trade and barter among the inhabitants, the deck 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 27 
 
 load of vegetables, pork and poultry, brought from home. 
 
 How mean a thing were man, if there were not that 
 within him which is higher than himself ; if he could not 
 master the illusions of sense and discern the connections 
 of events by the superior light that comes from God ! 
 
 During one of his river trips to salt water, in the 
 course of human events and divine providence, at the 
 moment of the height of his manhood, — to which his 
 humility and bashfulness added charms, — he fell a victim 
 to Cupid's bow, when he encountered Hannah Putnam, 
 a native of Francestown, New Hampshire. 
 
 History does not say, and mortals know not, of the 
 arguments he used in inducing this fair daughter of the 
 Revolution to leave her comfortable home; to go with 
 him into the wilderness and endure the untold priva- 
 tions of the unbroken frontier. Perhaps some " Divine 
 Providence " opened her eyes to the path of duty, or that 
 Almighty Being in whom she always relied, pointed the 
 way to her assured destiny. 
 
 Under her auspices the vine of fruitfulness took deep 
 root and filled the land. The fame of the progeny of this 
 daughter of warriors extends from ocean to ocean; nay, 
 it reaches around the world. 
 
 John Pearsons was a direct descendant of another 
 John Pearsons, who emigrated from Yorkshire, England, 
 in 1643 on the good ship " Elizabeth." He settled at 
 Rowley, Mass. He located at Bradford, Vt., at the age 
 of twelve, and in after years kept the tavern called the 
 " Mann House." His mother was Elizabeth Kimball. 
 
 On his frequent visits to Europe, Daniel delighted in 
 nothing so much as rummaging through old archives and 
 parish registers, for the records of his ancestors. He 
 
28 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 was proud of his blood and family tree, and delighted to 
 recount the discoveries he had made. He looked up and 
 examined only the direct line, that had his father at the 
 apex, and followed it up on the male side as far as pos- 
 sible. His father was descended and derived his angli- 
 cized name, — according to this many-branched limb of 
 the family tree, — from a long line of Norman barons 
 who ruled their principalities in the olden time. They 
 were known for ages, as the Marquises and Barons de 
 Pierresonds. The ancient chateau bearing the name 
 stands today at Compiegne, Northern France. The name 
 through the centuries since the Norman Conquest has 
 been anglicized so much, that the present spelling was 
 attained about the time of Cromwell, " the Old Iron- 
 side," who would allow no prefixes of nobility in his 
 train, and who had more* influence in changing ancient 
 foreign names than kings or parliament. Then came a 
 certain belted knight who embai^ked with William of 
 Normandy for the shores of Britain, to raise a new stand- 
 ard and establish a new throne and dynasty. Through 
 the bloody conflicts of that historic struggle, he was ever 
 close to his chief, and at its close, received rewards in 
 grants and lands that had been confiscated from the 
 conquered Saxons. Descendants of this knight can now 
 be found in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, England. The 
 name is borne today by a baronet of England, and other 
 descendants of this valiant Norman are scattered through 
 the British Isles. History repeats, that one of the 
 branches was a Crusader, who journeyed to the Holy 
 Land with Richard the " Lion Hearted," to save the 
 " Holy Grail " and wrest the seat of Christendom 
 from the grasp of the followers of the Prophet. His 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 29 
 
 dust and bones lie there to this day. Another, a branch- 
 let on the same limb, commanded a ship that sailed with 
 Francis Drake, and fought his guns so well, with his 
 fellow-commanders, that, assisted by the elements, the 
 mighty Spanish Armada was scattered and destroyed on 
 the face of the deep. In this battle, England wrested the 
 control of the seas from her ancient and powerful enemy. 
 Another spur fought, bled, and died at Bunker Hill, until 
 at the farthermost tip we come to the fragrant bud that 
 has so lately faded and died. The place where this 
 magnificent branch should grow from the bud, is vacant ; 
 the leaves emerged from the bud, they were shed in the 
 shape of dollars to the people, and that particular one 
 stopped and is dead forever. Daniel has gone to his 
 father. 
 
 John Pearsons died on Oct. 7, 1857, at the age of 65. 
 He lies buried at Bradford, Vt., in sight of the home he 
 loved so well. It has been said that " the sweetest words 
 of our language are Heaven, Home and Mother." One 
 can almost say that the last embraces all three. One 
 always associates home with the mother ; without her no 
 home is complete, and to our wakening vision the uni- 
 versal conception of heaven is the eternal home, where 
 life everlasting reigns supreme. 
 
 The mother, Hannah Putnam Pearsons, was a member 
 of that famous family of which General Israel Putnam 
 was such a distinguished member. Of mixed Puritan 
 and Huguenot descent was she, framed in the giant mold 
 of her ancestors ; she bequeathed to her children the mass- 
 ive frame, the bright mind, the great length of life and 
 the puritanical precepts with which providence had 
 endowed her. The most potent influence which human- 
 
30 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 ity acknowledges is that of woman, and the most power- 
 ful director of childhood is the mother. We are to 
 a great extent what our mothers make us. The les- 
 sons we learn from their loving lips are the ones we carry 
 to the grave. All the great men of history became so 
 from the maternal impressions implanted in their recep- 
 tive brains. 
 
 She was the daughter of John Putnam and Olive Bar- 
 ron. Her father was descended from John Porter, 
 Governor John Endicott, and was the great-grandson of 
 that John Putnam who was born at Aston-Abbots, 
 Bucks, England, in 1580, and emigrated from there in 
 1634 to settle at Salem, Mass. His wife was Priscilla 
 Gould. Her father was first cousin of Israel and served 
 seven years in the Continental Army. He was a member 
 of Gen. Washington's life-guard. He afterwards became 
 an adjutant of the Vermont militia, and with two sons 
 participated in the War of 1812. In later life he lived at 
 Bradford. His wife, Olive Barron, lived to the age of 
 ninety-three. 
 
 Mrs. Hannah Pearsons followed her husband to the 
 extremest adverse chances of the demands of fortune ; of 
 spirit and energy equal to her faith and charity ; of pride 
 and unselfishness equal to her love and helpfulness. She 
 gave to her children a goodly portion from the treasures 
 of her mind. She cultivated in her children tenderness 
 of conscience ; a deep sense of accountability to God for 
 the riches of earth; a conviction that their journey 
 through life must be governed by duty instead of inclina- 
 tion. She lived to see all her children prosperous and 
 men of affairs in their respective communities. She laid 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 31 
 
 down the burden of life at Holyoke, Mass., at the age of 
 ninety-three and went to rejoin her husband in that 
 haven of rest. 
 
 " For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of 
 my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I 
 have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Hence- 
 forth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, 
 which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at 
 that day: And not to me only, but unto all them also 
 that love his appearing." 2 Tim. 4 : 6-8. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 A good wife is heaven's last, best gift to man, his 
 angel of mercy ; minister of graces innumerable ; his gem 
 of many virtues. Her economy his safest steward; her 
 lips his faithful counselors; and her prayers the ablest 
 advocate of heaven's blessings on his head. 
 
 Mrs. Marietta Chapin Pearsons, beloved wife and 
 companion of D. K. Pearsons for fifty-nine years, was 
 the oldest of seven children. She was born at Spring- 
 field, Mass., on Aug 21, 1819, and was very fortunate in 
 her ancestry and home life. She traced her lineage to 
 Deacon Samuel Chapin, magistrate of Springfield, Mass., 
 in 1652. His image, done in bronze, stands looking with 
 unseeing eyes, in the main corridor of the Chicago Art 
 Institute. Her father, Giles Chapin, descended from an 
 old Huguenot family; was a man of sterling integrity; 
 of religious zeal; of readiness to throw the weight of 
 his influence and character into the reforms of the times. 
 A man of means was he, far beyond the average of those 
 primitive times, and when he died an ample estate was 
 divided among his heirs. 
 
 It is a fact that the character of one's birthplace; the 
 scene within the view of its daily life and daily associa- 
 tions have a great effect on the manners, dispositions, 
 and happiness of future life. Brought up in such a family 
 and surroundings Mrs. Pearsons was early filled with 
 
 33 
 
34 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 that philanthropic and missionary zeal that actuated 
 her in the disposal of her wealth for the good of man- 
 kind. She was ever foremost in her love and devo- 
 tion to the lowly and always anxious to carry the Word 
 of God to those that needed its blessedness. And when 
 she married on August 17, 1847, the struggling young 
 doctor of medicine, she used her inherited wealth to aid 
 her husband. They became mutual helpers to make a 
 fortune, and when achieved, they strengthened and en- 
 couraged each other in its disposal, and in aiding what 
 to them seemed noblest and best. As life flawed happily 
 on, she embarked in the cause of missionary work and 
 Christian education. Ample means rolled into her lap, 
 and she was able to gratify, to the full, that desire to help 
 worthy students, colleges and foreign missions. 
 
 For many years, beginning in 1855, and at frequent 
 intervals afterwards, she gratified her love of travel by 
 visiting, with her husband, all the known countries of 
 the world. Even while so engaged she thought of the 
 general good, and the immense collections of art and pic- 
 tures collected on these voyages were given to the Chi- 
 cago Art Institute. From her private means she estab- 
 lished a home mission for the Chinese in Chicago, and 
 was its teacher for many years. She erected buildings 
 for missions in foreign lands, and supported the mission- 
 aries. She heavily endowed Anatolia College, in farther 
 Turkey. There now stands on its campus a stately 
 monument erected to her memory. Hers was the chief 
 influence and guiding hand that caused her husband to 
 aid so many struggling colleges throughout the country. 
 She founded the Chapin chair of mathematics at Carle- 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 35 
 
 ton College, Minn. ;, she gave $30,000 to provide profes- 
 sors in the Danish-Norwegian Institute of the Chicago 
 Theological Seminary ; she built a woman's dormitory at 
 Marsovan, Turkey, and called it the Hannah Pearsons 
 Home, in honor of her husband's mother. To conclude 
 her gifts to this college, to place it out of debt, and on a 
 firm footing she endowed it a few years before her death 
 with $50,000. She was a member for twenty-five years 
 of the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, where her 
 purse was ever open to build it up. Foundling and 
 orphan asylums received a measure of her wealth, and 
 no worthy or meritorious institution, if backed by a 
 religious denomination, was ever repulsed or turned 
 away. 
 
 During her later years, Mrs. Pearsons suffered untold 
 agonies from the pangs of inflammatory rheumatism. 
 Through these trials, her happy and quiet disposition 
 carried her without complaint. At Biloxi, Miss., the ill- 
 ness attacked her, which she knew to be the last; al- 
 though very ill she kept up the brave fight for over a 
 year; then the summons came to her in the beautiful 
 home at Hinsdale, 111., on the 30th day of March, 1906. 
 This day grows larger as you leave it. It is one of the 
 mysteries of existence that hearts and lives which have 
 grown increasingly together in bonds of attachment and 
 affection by the tests of time are sundered by what we 
 call death. That mystery will not wholly disappear, until 
 that which is perfect will come. It is certain that such a 
 life abides, that forces have been set to work that shall 
 continue on and on while time endures; two tides of 
 tender human love, united in one strong, smooth stream 
 of unrippled fellowship and in a gulf stream of blessings 
 for the world. 
 
36 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 Here were two persons of abundant means for the 
 gratification of every desire, sitting down together every 
 day and evening for a quarter of a century to ask each 
 other how best to use their money for the good of hu- 
 manity, for a Hfe of service of the largest and best kind. 
 
 For a full year her loving husband watched by her 
 bedside, awaiting the hour both knew must come, when 
 she must enter the valley of the shadow of death. With- 
 out a fear she listened for the summons of the Master, in 
 the firm faith that He would welcome her into His joy. 
 
 On the campus of Anatolia College, Turkey, stands a 
 great monument of Vermont granite to recall to the 
 students and people the memory of that great woman 
 who endowed the world with so many evidences of her 
 universal bve of all children of God. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Who can say that human glory is but dust and ashes ; 
 that the deeds of men die when they do ; that mortal man 
 is no more than a shadow in pursuit of a shadow; that 
 the light that comes from God does not show the con- 
 nection of the two ends of eternity, in shaping the lives 
 of good men? The sayings of eternal wisdom have no 
 date, but echo through the ages to come with strong 
 force and gather in their wake the strength of other 
 echoes, which are but a repetition of their own. 
 
 The men through whose efforts and labor of love the 
 world has become better, humanity raised to a higher 
 level and beacons of religious and educational light 
 reared for this and succeeding ages, are worthy of 
 remembrance, and somewhere in stately halls, in the 
 minds of himian kind or transcribed in the bounds of a 
 loving biography the image of their life accomplishments 
 should be preserved in some a*iche of fame. 
 
 Surely, beyond the pearly gates of heaven they will 
 dwell in mansions prepared there for them, and the echo 
 of their praise, sung by angel choir, will roll forever 
 through an eternity of time. 
 
 The beautiful lines quoted below prompted Dr. Pear- 
 sons to write a sermon, with them as the text. The sub- 
 stance of this text was a great guide to him through life. 
 
 Young men, let the nobleness of your mind impel you to 
 
 37 
 
38 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 its improvement. You are too strong to be defeated save by 
 yourself. Refuse to live merely to eat and sleep. Brutes can 
 do these, but you are men. Act the part of men. Resolve to 
 rise. You have but to resolve. Nothing can hinder your 
 success, if you determine to succeed. — Howard. 
 
 " What a glorious sight is a young man starting out 
 in life ! There is a hidden potency within his breast, that 
 charms and thrills us. Buoyed up by the sacred hopes, 
 with which the Creator has endowed all mankind, he 
 enters into life's struggles, resolved to create a heaven 
 on earth. As we gaze upon the brow of youth, meet the 
 glance of his eye, seek to scan his thoughts and penetrate 
 his destiny, our interest deepens to thoughtfulness ; 
 sometimes to sadness. He is an immortal being, 
 approaching and unconsciously standing upon the thresh- 
 old of his destiny. He is a pilgrim, lingering at the gate 
 of life, to attain glory and honor there, or be banished 
 thence to the shades of unending night. 
 
 " What greater reward or glorious reputation could be 
 coveted by anyone, than the thought that he had aided 
 such and pointed the way to Christian education; that 
 thousands of homes throughout this broad land had been 
 created, multiplied, and preserved in sanctity by the 
 largess of his hands ; that thousands of frail barks, on the 
 sea of temptation and strife, have been directed in a 
 better way and saved from the deluge of sin ? Our chari- 
 table and benevolent societies" come from and are engen- 
 dered, and the kind feelings that are the embodiment of 
 philanthropy come from these homes, cultivated and 
 helped by the ten thousand rivulets of his affection and 
 love. He feels that all these were a part of himself. He 
 loves to provide for their wants. Sacrifice after sacri- 
 fice he makes for their benefit; he enters into their sor- 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 39 
 
 rows ; participates in their joys ; and makes their welfare 
 his principal object in Hfe. What is so calculated to 
 bring out the strongest energy of his soul as the praise- 
 worthy desire of placing the objects of his love in peace 
 and affluence? 
 
 " It is this motive that impels him to seek success, and 
 hurries him along the road of industry. The happiness 
 of others intrusted to his keeping by a divine providence 
 forces him to high and arduous exertion. The end is 
 worthy; for this he toils on to accummulate his wealth. 
 The knowledge that all is for those he loves renders his 
 spirit cheerful, his brain diligent, and his hands liberal. 
 
 " The best philanthropy comes from the love of homes ; 
 those little oases are the germ of all public affection; 
 from this little central spot the human sympathies extend 
 in an ever-widening circle until the world is embraced. 
 
 " All true philanthropy, like charity, does not end 
 within the four walls of home. If the son of pious 
 parents, guided to their sanctified life by these benefac- 
 tors of mankind, is out upon the broad ocean of life, he 
 will carry with him the remembrances of his Christian 
 home. The Bible in his trunk will remind him of his 
 parents' tender care and pious counsels ; it will recall to 
 mind the school or college to which he went; the church 
 in which he worshiped; the pew in which he sat; the 
 Sabbath-school with its hallowed associations, and the 
 very sound of the church bells ringing out in clarion 
 peals the call to worship. 
 
 "At this hour how many youths there are in our cities ; 
 upon the broad ocean; in our legislative halls; in the 
 family circles ; upon every sea in this and foreign climes, 
 who are daily feeling the influences, that flow from early 
 culture and knowledge, none can tell. 
 
40 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 " None can tell how often the commission of crime is 
 prevented by such memories and the abhorrence of 
 wrong doing taught by these refining influences. Youth, 
 embowered in the careful and religious retreats of re- 
 finement, both in school, academy, college and seminary, 
 are sheltered from the snares of the world, and are pro- 
 tected from the fierce blasts of the tempest, as the young 
 undergrowth of the forest by the stately pines and broad- 
 armed oaks. The little girl you fondle on your knee and 
 who gambols, so full of life, about your feet, has entered 
 a world where temptations are thick about. Guide her 
 steps carefully, O ye parents, until a refining and 
 religious education has ripened her mind in thoughts of 
 God, home and sacred motherhood. What will enable 
 her to overcome these temptations, but pious thoughts, 
 coming from the church, and strength but from the 
 Christian college? Do not neglect, by the force of your 
 example, to keep her in the first place and also, if pos- 
 sible, to lead her to the second place. 
 
 " And ponder, also, upon another great responsibility 
 resting upon your shoulders. That boy you dandle upon 
 your knee — do you know that child is an immortal being, 
 destined to carry the seeds of perfect manhood to pos- 
 terity? He was created in the image of his Maker to 
 have everlasting life. He is the heir of the heavens and 
 mansions in the skies ; the fruit erf his loins is destined 
 to repeople and replenish the earth. His undoing in the 
 paths of sin will bring untold misery to future genera=- 
 tions. Watch him ! O ye guardians of his career ! Place 
 your ear at his side, and listen to the beat of the little 
 heart, forcing the blood through the frail body. Shall 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 41 
 
 it work for joy in the enlightenment of the world, or for 
 woe in degradation and depths of the dregs? Think of 
 it! You may and can prevent him from being a b!"- 
 phemer, a tramp, a liar, a drunkard, a wife-berter, 
 thief, a murderer, an unbeliever in God, a denizen of h !': 
 on earth and in the hereafter. Warn, teach and disci- 
 pline him in the teachings of Christ, and in the knowl- 
 edge of Christian education. Pray for him ! 
 
 " No one, therefore, can attain to the proper dignity 
 of man, whose motives and principles are drawn only 
 from the present life, and whose views are limited to the 
 present world. But by an association with interminable 
 ages, in which he may live, and boundless space, in which 
 he may expatiate, man loses his character of decay and 
 feebleness and attaches to himself the grandeur of im- 
 mortality. 
 
 " Happily for us, a celestial light shines around us, 
 dispersing the mists of error and disclosing the form of 
 truth. 
 
 " Through the infinite grace and mercy of God, a shin- 
 ing example was given us in his martyred Son, and a 
 complete way to acquire knowledge was opened to us. 
 
 " The advantages, derived from the cultivation of the 
 arts, and sciences, and the importance of universal knowl- 
 edge for the good of the state, are very important. 
 
 " Eminence in knowledge has ever been deemed an 
 honorable distinction. It was not the design of the 
 Creator that the wonderful powers of the mind should 
 sleep, unawakened by the light of truth, feeble because 
 unemployed, and dormant for lack of opportunity. In a 
 state of nature and of ignorance, man is some wiser than 
 
42 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 the beasts of the field; but he is not so much elevated 
 above them as he may be raised above his natural, un- 
 improved condition by the acquisition of knowledge and 
 the enlargement of his mind. Let the miserable being, 
 who is aroused to action only by hunger, and who finds 
 no higher pleasure than the gratification of his appetite, 
 — let this man feel the influence of education ; let his 
 mind be brightened by science and its faculties disci- 
 plined and gradually matured; let subjects of thought 
 be presented to him and let him be taught to think ; then 
 what a wonderful change is produced in his character ! 
 His vacant eye is lit up with conscious dignity, and he 
 walks abroad in the world, filled with delightful objects 
 of contemplation, each of which speaks to him of the 
 mighty hand which formed it. His brain is the store- 
 house of innumerable facts and sources of thought. His 
 fancy, penetrating to the heavens and the flying planets, 
 gives him a new world of thought. With prophetic eye 
 he reads the mystery of the future. 
 
 " Such is the wonderful transformation, produced by 
 the increase of knowledge and the improvement of the 
 mind. But the acquisition of moral and religious truths 
 leads to still higher results. The man once ignorant of 
 himself and of his relations with other beings meditates 
 on his duties and reponsibilities ; on the fearful punish- 
 ments and the rich rewards of the invisible world ; on the 
 destiny which waits him, when his soul is separated from 
 the earthly clay. When he catches a glimpse of the glory 
 of God he becomes holy and benevolent, like his Father 
 in heaven. 
 
 " As knowledge is power, not only are the dignity and 
 happiness of man increased by his progress in literature 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 43 
 
 and science, but his capabilities for good are multiplied, 
 his sphere of usefulness is enlarged, and he wields a new 
 and wider influence. The love of virtue, the zeal of 
 benevolence, will strengthen the desire of intellectual 
 greatness. To seize the most difficult and important 
 subjects and to bring them down to the comprehension 
 of the unlettered; to penetrate as with a ray of light the 
 darkest and most involved questions, which concern the 
 duties or welfare of men ; to vanquish error by invincible 
 force of argument; to shame vice by the reproofs of 
 wisdom, or by hurling the bolts of indignant satire and 
 overwhelming denunciation ; to strengthen the principles 
 of wavering virtue; to charm the ear of prejudice, and 
 to infuse life and activity in the spirit of sluggishness; 
 to expand the narrow views of the covetous and selfish 
 into generous and exalted purposes — this is a kind of 
 power more honorable and elevated than the dominion 
 of arms or the authority of kings. 
 
 " When God works any great effect in the world, he 
 employs instruments adapted to his purpose. If, then, 
 we would be the benefactors of the human race, we 
 should add to the benevolence, which prompts us to 
 exertion, the acquisitions, the cultivation, the intellectual 
 habits which are necessary to expand our influence and 
 enlarge our powers of doing good. The arts and 
 sciences, besides conducing in a high degree to individual 
 happiness, exert an important influence on society in 
 general. Agriculture, the father of all arts, the support 
 of all science, the original source of wealth and strength, 
 was first adopted in the progress of civilization. 
 
 " The experience of ages will almost necessarily add 
 something to agricultural skill, even when the mind re- 
 
44 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 mains uncultivated; but rapid and grand improvements 
 are the result of science and knowledge. 
 
 " The general diffusion of knowledge, teaching their 
 rights, as well as their duties, has a most powerful in- 
 fluence on government in correcting its abuses and caus- 
 ing it to observe the design for which it was instituted 
 by heaven. Hence it is, that despots, — from him who 
 rules over millions down to him who owns a dozen 
 slaves, — are anxious to keep their subjects in ignorance, 
 that the yoke of bondage may sit the more lightly. Un- 
 doubtedly the tendency of increased knowledge is to pro- 
 mote the interests of liberty. 
 
 "As the oultivation of the inind and the diffusion of 
 knowledge facilitates the triumphs of religion, so religion 
 also contributes to the progress of learning and to the 
 highest efforts of the intellect. There is no knowledge 
 as powerful as that of the Gospel in civilizing savage 
 man and subduing his passions. In the enlargement of 
 his views he anticipates everlasting acquisitions of 
 knowledge. This brief survey of the advantages de- 
 rived from intellectual improvement and general dif- 
 fusion of knowledge may temd to illustrate the impor- 
 tance in a free state of free schools and colleges. 
 
 " But perhaps some caution is necessary, lest we at- 
 tach to mere learning a greater value than it really pos- 
 sesses. In a calm state of mind, the objects of literary 
 and scientific contemplation, it cannot be denied, are in- 
 teresting and delightful. But let this state of mind be 
 changed, and the pleasure will vanish. Liable to the in- 
 cursion of disappointments and afflictions, one needs 
 other resources to uphold him in the right course. So we 
 see the importance of colleges fostered and backed by 
 some religious denomination. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 45 
 
 " No man knows what he can do until he really tries, 
 up to the full limits of his opportunities and capacities. 
 It is he who is always trying to do something greater and 
 better who always achieves wonders. Man was placed 
 at the outset at the bottom of the scale of intelligence 
 and development and taught to look ever upward. 
 Voices from above are perpetually calling in love to him, 
 ' Come up higher ! ' 
 
 " All sciences and all branches of knowledge have been 
 interwoven with each other into a beauteous garment of 
 praise to their great Author ; which, like a royal robe of 
 many colors, he has dropped, as if with purposed careless- 
 ness, among his earthly children, that they might in disen- 
 tangling its materials learn to know him in the greatness 
 of his power and the good of his love. 
 
 " Let the people, therefore, recognize their indebted- 
 ness to Christianity, for all the glory of living in the light 
 of this enlightened age, and the benefits of refined cul- 
 ture grafted on the tree of benefits, by education and 
 knowledge. If they wish to wreathe their memories with 
 grateful thoughts of their descendants and posterity; if 
 they wish to bring the untold multitudes of the future 
 to understanding, let them be careful to leave as large 
 a legacy as possible of permanent endowments of 
 thoughts and influences. If their worldly goods are 
 great, let them add. the prop of their dollars to support 
 this edifice that has been built up by the brawn of their 
 forebears and given for all time to the service of the 
 Master." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 DR. Pearsons' lecture on the " freshwater " college. 
 
 " The greatest educational institution in America, aside 
 xrom the common school, is the ' freshwater ' college. 
 My faith in this agent of civilization is strong, and it is 
 in no boastful sense that I point to the fact that it has 
 been the chief joy of a long and happy life to prove that 
 faith by my works — ^by giving to seventeen colleges of 
 this kind two and a half million dollars. This will indi- 
 cate to the business man that my enthusiasm on the sub- 
 ject of ' freshwater ' colleges is not an idle sentiment, and 
 that I must be able to give a substantial reason for the 
 faith that is in me. 
 
 " First, let us define the term ' freshwater.' I under- 
 stand it to mean, as applied to an institution for instruc- 
 tion in the higher branches of learning, that such estab- 
 lishment is laid out upon collegiate lines, but is far more 
 unpretending than the big university or the large college. 
 It may, according to my understanding, be located on the 
 seacoast or be dignified by the name of university and 
 still be a ' freshwater ' college. Therefore, let us take 
 this term — very likely first applied in a contemptuous 
 sense — to mean a college that lacks the proportions and 
 pretensions of those great institutions of higher educa- 
 tion to which those who can have the pick of the land are 
 sent. 
 
 47 
 
48 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 " The big colleges and universities with world-wide 
 reputations are all right ; I have no quarrel whatever with 
 them. They are fulfilling their own purpose well; but 
 I believe that this country could better afford to see them 
 wiped off the list of her educational facilities than to 
 have the struggling ' freshwater ' colleges that dot the 
 West and South removed from the reach of the common 
 people. 
 
 " Why ? Because these humble institutions are direct 
 products of the true American pioneer spirit, and still 
 have in them the vital breath of high moral purpose 
 breathed into them by their founders ; because the foun- 
 dation of every ' freshwater ' college in the land is laid 
 deep in the rock of sound, practical Christianity; be- 
 cause these are the only schools of higher education 
 within the reach of a very large and a very representa- 
 tive class of young men and women — those who make up 
 the moral backbone of this nation. 
 
 " Examine this last consideration and its force will in- 
 stantly become clear, so it seems to me. To a very great 
 extent this is merely a question of geography. Almost 
 invariably the ' freshwater ' colleges have been estab- 
 lished to meet local needs. Generally speaking, so far 
 as the West is concerned, they are remote from liie big 
 centers of civilization where the great universities are 
 located. They were started because they were needed by 
 the inhabitants of the surrounding country. Take, for 
 example, one of the numerous ' freshwater ' colleges in 
 Iowa. When that splendid prairie began to ' settle up ' 
 and the virgin soil was turned into marvelously-prodnc- 
 tive fields, which yielded the settler a rich return for his 
 hard labor, the pioneer faced this situation: his older 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 49 
 
 children had exhausted the resources of the district and 
 the village school ; they were eager to get a fair start in 
 life, a better equipment than the town high school could 
 afford them; their hopes and ambitions turned towards 
 the college; but this goal seemed hopelessly remote, for 
 the nearest colleges was hundreds of miles away and the 
 expense of railroad fare seemed more than could be 
 managed, to say nothing of the outlay for tuition, books 
 and living expenses — not an encouraging prospect for a 
 farmer boy with a slender purse and the knowledge that 
 he must make his own way, and that he could have only 
 two or three years of college life, at most. 
 
 " Nor was the outlook any brighter for the conscien- 
 tious father of a growing family, who longed to give his 
 boys and girls the advantages of a far better education 
 than had come within his own grasp. Many a sturdy 
 settler has nursed a protracted heartache because his 
 struggle to get his farm clear from debt compelled him 
 to deny his children this precious boon. Hundreds of 
 pioneers have counted this among the greatest of their 
 griefs; and in every pioneer community hundreds of 
 young men and women went out into the battle of life 
 with a deep and abiding hunger for a better education 
 — a craving that could not be satisfied because the near- 
 est college was beyond their reach. Had there been an 
 institution of higher education within a hundred, or even 
 three hundred miles from their home town, they could 
 have overcome the other obstacles standing between them 
 and. the benefits of an education. This intervening dis- 
 tance, however, became the ' great gulf fixed ' that ef- 
 fectually separated them from the realization of their 
 ambition. 
 
so DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 " Heartaches of this kind in the breasts of both parents 
 and children were the springs in which the ' freshwater ' 
 college movement had its rise. This condition at last 
 richly prepared the ground for the coming of the fore- 
 runner of the college. Often he was a missionary of the 
 Gospel, who saw this hunger for intellectual food in the 
 minds of the pioneer population and determined that he 
 would dedicate himself to the work of satisfying it. He 
 also perceived the opportunity to teach the principles of 
 Christianity along with secular learning. Here was set 
 before him the double joy of laboring for both the spirit- 
 ual elevation and the intellectual freedom of a people 
 eager to make the most of their opportunities. 
 
 " No wonder this kind of a field called out the best 
 talents of the pioneer ministry and inspired a devotion 
 and a self-sacrifice which shame most of the heroic per- 
 formances of the characters pictured by the professional 
 romancers! There have been hundreds of instances of 
 this kind, but a single one will do by way of illustration. 
 
 " Out in Colorado Springs is a college to which hun- 
 dreds of students flock with a consuming thirst for an 
 education. Ah ! What a sturdy set those fellows are ! 
 The gathering of the clans at Colorado Springs College 
 is one of the most inspiring sights that any true Ameri- 
 can can wish to look upon. Why, those boys stalk into 
 that town, with their ' duds ' rolled into little bundles 
 that they have ' packed ' on their own shoulders, from 
 ranches and mining camps two hundred and even three 
 hundred miles away ! If there is a millionaire's son 
 among them you can't pick him out by the cut of his 
 clothes. They are men — not dudes ! I guess about half 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS SI 
 
 of them could brand a steer or tend a sluice with better 
 grace than they could appear at a full-dress party. But 
 how they do study ! 
 
 " This college is an example of what I have said is the 
 typical history of the ' freshwater ' college. From the 
 start it trained men — good, sound men who became 
 the preachers, lawyers, merchants, editors, school teach- 
 ers, school commissioners, and legislators of that coun- 
 try. 
 
 " But the haste to get rich and pile up money with 
 which to spoil sons and daughters is just as common a 
 failing of men in that part of the country as elsewhere, 
 and the missionary found this out, to his grief. It was 
 hard sledding for him to keep the pioneer college going. 
 Finally it passed into the hands of a young man named, 
 Slocum. He was full of good business snap, and I saw 
 he was the man to make the thing go as the missionary 
 had not been able to make it. I said to him : ' I will 
 build you a good big Science Hall.' 
 
 " To emphasize and enforce the statement that sound 
 Christianity and genuine pioneer pluck have gone into 
 the making of almost every ' freshwater ' college, let me 
 give you another illustration just as typical as that which 
 I have already cited. Almost in the heart of the Ozark 
 Mountains, in Missouri, is another college which I found 
 in the same situation as the one at Colorado Springs. 
 Years before, a courageous missionary who had received 
 his education at Olivet — another ' freshwater ' institution 
 — came into that region and beheld the identical outlook 
 which had ins.pired the ' gospel scout ' to build a college 
 where I had camped with the Utes. 
 
 " The fact that Missouri had been a border State and 
 
52 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 a slave State made the situation woefully disheartening, 
 to say the least. Education had not been fashionable 
 there and it took courage for this man, Drury, to under- 
 take the building of a college in the shadow of the 
 Ozarks. But he finally succeeded and I am glad his 
 name has been given the institution. Although scores 
 of young men and women there secured an excellent 
 education the inhabitants were slow to wake up to the 
 value of a college and open their pockets for its sup- 
 port. At length it became impossible to pay the salaries 
 of the small force of teachers with promptness and regu- 
 larity — indeed, it required very skillful begging to pay 
 them all. Afifairs were in this condition when I made the 
 management the same proposal which Mr. Slocum had 
 received. The whole faculty and leading men of the 
 community took hold and hustled and I had the pleasure 
 of adding $50,000 to an endowment fund of $150,000. 
 What was the result? More students than they knew 
 what to do with ! 
 
 " No consideration with reference to the ' freshwater ' 
 college is of greater weight than that which makes ac- 
 count of the timber that goes into institutions of this 
 order. With rare exceptions the pupils have their own 
 way to make and are absolutely dependent upon their 
 earnings for all their college money. In hundreds of in- 
 stances young men are compelled to contribute to the 
 support of their families while working their way 
 through college. This is severe experience, but it helps 
 to grow sound timber as nothing else can. 
 
 " Not the least important thing about the ' freshwater ' 
 college is the fact that it affords opportunity for a closer 
 relationship between instructor and pupil than is possible 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 53 
 
 in the larger institutions where the number of pupils is so 
 much larger. This ministers to both the moral and intel- 
 lectual progress of the pupil. Each student receives a 
 larger share of individual attention from the teacher, and 
 the latter has a more intimate knowledge of the conduct 
 and the character of each of his students than he could 
 have in the big institutions. The intimacy of this rela- 
 tionship naturally acts as a wholesome restraint and 
 keeps many a young man from getting into mischief, bad 
 habits andibiad associations. As it looks to me, the 'fresh- 
 water ' student does more studying, has more pleasure, 
 is closer to his teachers and his mates, and suffers less 
 from high pressure athletic distractions than does the 
 student at the big institution. For these and many other 
 reasons I believe that no educatonal work of advanced 
 kind is being done in America today equal to that of the 
 ' freshwater ' college. 
 
 " But now comes a matter upon which I want to put 
 the greatest emphasis — the matter of endowment. Too 
 many trustees do not know what endowment means. It 
 does not mean apparatus, equipment, libraries, wild land, 
 or pledges of money which bear no interest. Nothing is 
 endowment but a productive fund. A dollar which 
 brings in its six or seven per cent interest to pay the 
 expenses of the college is endowment, but Mr. Blank's 
 note for $1,000, payable five years hence without interest, 
 is not endowment. In that five years the professor could 
 starve and the president fret himself to death. When I 
 promise $250,000 on condition that $150,000 be raised, 
 • I want every dollar of it to be productive fund. I don't 
 want any stuffing or padding, and I could tell you some 
 surprising things about that kind of work " — and here 
 
54 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 the Doctor did tell some of them. But let us pass on. 
 " Nothing ought to be more sacred in the eyes of college 
 trustees than endowment money. The principal should 
 never be touched. 
 
 " Another thing : I prefer to help an institution which 
 is under the care of a denomination. When a man comes 
 in and tells me in bland and soothing tones that his col- 
 lege is non-sectarian and all that kind of thing, I don't 
 want to have anything to do with him. It is all humbug. 
 Men are one thing or the other, and if they do not make 
 a college a religious institution they soon make it the 
 other thing. No, we want Christian, not rationalistic 
 schools ; and we must try to keep the country rooted and 
 grounded in the old religious convictions. Besides, 
 every college must have a constituency, and as the re- 
 ligious work and life of the country are now organized 
 under denominational systems, it is difficult for a college, 
 relying upon voluntary support, to maintain itself in an 
 isolated position." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 This is but a preamble in bringing to the notice of 
 the public the biography of a great and noble man, whose 
 beneficence has enriched the struggling colleges, the 
 theological seminaries, the hospitals, and the missions of 
 this, our country. The benefits of his wealth have also 
 extended to foreign countries. The strength derived 
 from his money has carried the Word of God to the 
 benighted denizens of the Dark Continent. The mis- 
 sions among the heathen and in the slums of the orient, 
 have felt the enlivening stimulus of his purse and also 
 his personal supervision. A life far beyond the allotted 
 threescore and ten was granted him in carrying out 
 these useful givings. Nearly a century of earnest work 
 was used by him in accumulating and dispensing an im- 
 mense fortune for the best good as he saw it. His life 
 was extended from the period of hardships and lack of 
 comfort and luxury, to the present one of gilded baubles 
 and selfish pleasure. It was lived in the purity and 
 simplicity of the Pilgrim Fathers. He surrendered to 
 none of those allurements and temptations to wander 
 from the straight path of their example, and remained 
 throughout life the same simple gentleman and traveled 
 the road in rectitude and standfastness of character that 
 betokened his puritanical ancestors. Especially was he 
 fortunate in his parents. They imparted elements of 
 
 55 
 
56 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 force and aggressiveness, tempered with beneficence, that 
 has been a source of vast good, in its never-failing min- 
 istrations to the support of colleges, from which the 
 youth of the land are led to better precepts of living, and 
 go forth fully equipped for the battle of life. It is a 
 singular fact and illustrates the goodness of God's fore- 
 sight, that, in his early manhood was given to him as a 
 helpmate and companion through life, the noble woman 
 who aided him in collecting and giving away his vast 
 fortune. She was in every way fitted to stand strongly 
 by his side ; in adversity, if need be, and also in the lofty 
 mission which Providence placed in their hands to per- 
 form. Singularly, she was endowed with all those noble 
 and elevating traits. She brought to his aid the luster 
 of a famous name, and also the aid of her paternal for- 
 tune. From her heart and hand, ever extended to her 
 loving husband, with advice and help, has flowed the 
 steady stream of princely gifts that have influenced so 
 many other wealthy persons to give away at least a part 
 of their wealth to the public. They were the embodi- 
 ment of the kind feeling for striving humanity that is 
 cherished in a multitude of Christian homes. They have 
 led ten thousand rivulets of love and affection to the fire- 
 sides of the oppressed and needy; they have provided 
 houses for the poor, asylums for the unfortunate, hospi- 
 tals for the sick and maimed ; they have caused the Bible 
 to be printed in many languages; they have sent mis- 
 sionaries of the church to barren places in this, " our 
 country," and also embraced, within their far-reaching 
 charity, the naked and ignorant swarms of people on 
 distant continents and islands of the sea. 
 Ort this day and hour how many youths, also men and 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 57 
 
 women grown, are there in our cities, towns and 
 country ; on our broad lakes and oceans ; in foreign lands 
 and climes, who are daily and hourly feeling the results 
 of their philanthropy; whose refinements, culture, and 
 interests have been bettered by the redeeming grace of 
 their transcendent piety and liberality? They have lit 
 the match that 'has lighted the way of multitudes to a 
 better life ; they have kindled the fires that have warmed 
 vast numbers of men and women in the sacred halls of 
 Christianity; they have dispelled the thoughts of the 
 skeptic and scoflfer in the temple; they have strength- 
 ened the faith of the faithful that the world is getting 
 better through the schools and colleges which were con- 
 ceived, aided and strengthened by our men of millions. 
 
 There are but few persons who have not some object 
 in life. Some strive for money ; some renown ; some for 
 present distinction. Few have the power or inclination 
 to add to these by looking on into future ages. Few care 
 to leave enduring monuments to their memories in the 
 shape of colleges, dormitories, science halls and other ob- 
 jects of good, where the poor as well as the rich can get 
 knowledge, live cheaply, and where researches are going 
 on to better and lengthen human life. All these, in ad- 
 dition to their vast endowing of hospitals, missions and 
 churches, were the objects of living and striving for Mr. 
 and Mrs. Daniel K. Pearsons, of Hinsdale, 111. Their 
 monuments stand about us and can be looked upon : 
 
 " Give : All giving is noble and holy." 
 
 Their countrymen are thrilled with instant, profound 
 and universal interest and admiration for this admirable 
 couple ; they become the center of a world's love and are 
 sanctified by the prayers of all the people. But all the 
 
58 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 love and prayers lavished could not assuage and help the 
 sorrows of this noble man, when his life's helpmate died. 
 About every fireside in the land ; in the conversation be- 
 tween friends and neighbors ; and deeper still in the mil- 
 lions of human hearts is enshrined the knowledge of the 
 great good this God-fearing couple has accomplished in 
 the world. They stand foremost in the great influence 
 exerted on other men of wealth to do likewise. 
 
 We thank God, that among the millions of earth, 
 among the almost universal selfishness of this age, they 
 were raised to be leaders in this great work. We also 
 give thanks, that there was given to us this honest 
 couple, simple-hearted and loving as children, to increase 
 the weight of their influence among men. We give 
 thanks that the severity of their early struggles so disci- 
 plined their minds that when, in after years, great wealth 
 and prosperity came to them, their discerning minds 
 could grasp and their hands endow the persons and 
 places which came within their light, and supply the 
 things that would ease those struggles in others. Thanks 
 be to God that through their rugged strength and right 
 living these rigid observers of the ten commandments 
 were granted such a long and successful career by the 
 Creator of all good. 
 
 What a dififerent world this would be if the persons 
 to whom are committed so much wealth, talent, strength 
 and power, were disciples of Christ! How would the 
 Sabbaths be hallowed, our temples crowded, our pulpits 
 filled with zeal and talent, our homes strengthened, our 
 halls of Christian education filled, and millions poured 
 into the treasury of the Lord! How many young men 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 59 
 
 preserved from vice and sin; how many young women 
 encouraged to more zeal in searching for the light and 
 the blessings of motherhood ! 
 
 We thank divine Providence that the guidance, protec- 
 tion, and money furnished by them has been spread so 
 lavishly over the land for Christian liberty, schools and 
 colleges, carrying with them all the blessings of civiliza- 
 tion. We also thank Providence that there were put 
 forward two people of such force of character, of such 
 an influential career, that millions upon millions rolled 
 into the lap of benevolence from other men of wealth, 
 influenced by them. We think of them as the leaders 
 of the age in this line of work ; as pointing their fingers 
 to the fast approaching ages of .the future and the cumu- 
 lative benefits of philanthropy. 
 
 The real riches of any life to mankind consist in the 
 contribution that it makes, directly or indirectly, to the 
 common store of human knowledge, human comfort and 
 human goodness. 
 
 How inevitably the law of the wise becomes a foun- 
 tain of life ! No man can, however unostentatiously, set 
 this high standard, without becoming an inspiration and 
 guide to all who know him and have studied his career. 
 
 Opportunities to perpetuate one's name in the erection 
 of a building devoted to some philanthropic purpose are 
 numerous, and it is evident from the multitude of halls, 
 hospitals and chapels erected in this way, bearing the 
 donor's names and dedicated to some high and noble 
 purpose, that these opportunities are not wholly unap- 
 preciated. In these days of rapid and vast accumula- 
 tions of wealth it is not strange that here and there 
 should be found one who is willing to use a small portion 
 
60 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 of that wealth, in permanently linking his name with 
 some institution, which will stand out before the world 
 for generations to come as a public benefaction, thus 
 continuing in loving remembrance a name which other- 
 wise might soon pass into oblivion. The wonder is, 
 rather, since it is coming to be a generally-recognized 
 fact, that inherited wealth proves more often a curse than 
 a blessing to the inheritors, that every such opportunity 
 for investment is not eagerly seized. All this from self- 
 ish, or at the most, philanthropic motives merely; what 
 is to be expected, when, on the one hand, the individual 
 whom God has made steward of a considerable amount 
 of goods, has by his church membership, publicly recc^- 
 nized this relation between himself and God, and when, 
 on the other hand, the institution is distinctively Chris- 
 tian in its conception, aim, and management? Or, to 
 bring the opportunity still nearer the vision, so that the 
 most short-sighted can behold it, we will suppose this 
 consecrated wealth and this struggling academy, college 
 or Christian institution of whatever sort, are walking 
 and working together in Christian fellowship. 
 Dr. Pearsons said in one of his lectures: 
 " With the exception of three great institutions, there 
 were no seats of learning until the Light came at Jerusa- 
 lem. Those at Athens, Rome and Alexandria could 
 hardly be called universities, — though they had lectures, 
 — ^but more resembled museums with libraries attached. 
 The one at Alexandria flourished for a thousand years, 
 and its works of art and science, together with nearly a 
 million volumes, disappeared in the flames kindled by the 
 Saracens. Athens was the seat of learning from time 
 unsung. The young men came from all the known 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 61 
 
 worlds to listen to the lectures of its learned men. Then 
 the pillars of learning, the accumulations of centuries, 
 crumbled away and disappeared before the invasion of 
 the barbarians from the northern lands. 
 
 " ' Eternal Rome ' — look at her wonderful works ; at 
 the Palatine Hill, penetrated, traversed, cased with brick ; 
 upon the miles of ruins ; of the causeways leading to the 
 end of the world ; aqueducts made for the Imperial City ; 
 the mighty Coliseum; its population of six million, and 
 answer the question, How was this force and power, — 
 which embraces all the known world, — to be overcome? 
 First came the Goth, then the Hun, and then the Barbar- 
 ian. The Goth took possession and soon lost his national 
 characteristics; the Hun was irreclaimable and did not 
 stay; the Barbarian kept both his savageness and the 
 land. In his dark presence the remains of Greek and 
 Roman splendor died away and the world went to ruin, 
 material and moral. She who was once mistress of the 
 world, and thought to be invincible, went the way of 
 all things; her people put to the sword, her temples and 
 statues, — erected to the fabled gods, — overthrown, her 
 seats of learning and her museums destroyed. 
 
 " There never was, perhaps, in the history of this 
 tumultuous world, prosperity so great, so far-reaching 
 and seemingly so lasting, as that of the Roman Empire, 
 when the ' Prince of Peace' was born. He was the 
 founder of the first seminary and his^ disciples were the 
 teachers. They spread out from Jersualem to all the 
 lands, and the Romans, in their great prosperity and hap- 
 piness, began a cruel persecution of their followers. The 
 sufferings of a whole world fell and were concentrated 
 on them, and the children of heaven were burned on the 
 
62 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 cross during the national games, to afford enjoyment to 
 the sons of men. They felt themselves bound by the im- 
 mortal memories of their forefathers, their heathen gods, 
 their traditions of state and their duty to posterity, to 
 spit upon and stifle the teachings of the ' enemy of the 
 human race ' which was destined to mold a new world. 
 
 " There is great resemblance in the respective his- 
 tories of Christianity and education. We are acctB- 
 tomed to point to the rise and spread of Christianity as 
 a miraculous fact on account of the weakness of its in- 
 struments and the appalling, obstacles which confronted 
 it. These, education also met .in the destruction of the 
 accumulated elements of knowledge, wantonly destroyed 
 by the torch and lever of barbarians and infidels. They 
 kept company in the preaching of the Gospel. Both were 
 carried to the ends of the earth by the Apostles and 
 Evangelists. From Rome as a center, as the Apostles 
 from Jerusalem, went forth the missionaries of knowl- 
 edge. They grounded their teachings upon the longing 
 for happiness, natural to man, and rested their cause on 
 the natural thirst for knowledge. No two institutions are 
 more distinct from each other in character, than uni- 
 versities and seminaries ; the latter are for the education 
 of the clergy; the former for the layman. Universities 
 grew out of the Episcopal schools, and gradually drained 
 away the life of the institutions which gave them birth. 
 Universities are the bulwarks of religion ; but seminaries 
 are essential to its purity and efficiency. As seminaries 
 were so necessary, they were one of the first appoint- 
 ments of the church. St. John is recorded as having 
 about him a number of students whom he familiarly in- 
 structed, besides the public assemblies of the faithful, 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 63 
 
 and as time went on and Christianity grew in strength, 
 this school for ecclesiastical learning was placed under 
 a separate roof. Thus they grew and multiplied until 
 the century when Europe lay submerged under the wa- 
 ters of a deluge of barbarians, who, coveting the riches 
 and better climate of the more-favored countries, quit the 
 ice-bound crags, the desolate steppes, or the swamps, for 
 the alluring fields and palaces of the wealthy. And when 
 the barbarian had become a fixture in his new abode, 
 what was the incentive of his conquest became the in- 
 strument of his education. Thus the Northman threw 
 the cloak of Christianity over his natural qualities, — 
 cruelty, cunning and ambition, — ^to become its most de- 
 voted adherent when, they came in contact with the 
 teachings of the seminaries. 
 
 " Seminaries, then, were founded long before uni- 
 versities were imagined and grew out of them. A uni- 
 versity could be called a ' School of Universal Learning,' 
 which implies the assemblage of strangers from all parts 
 to one spot. Also it is a school of knowledge of every 
 kind, consisting of teachers and learners from every 
 quarter, for the communication and circulation of 
 thought, by means of personal intercourse. 
 
 " Mutual education is one of the great and incessant 
 occupations of human kind. One generation forms an- 
 other; and the present generation is ever acting upon 
 itself through its members. 
 
 " The university is a place of concourse, where stu- 
 dents come from every quarter, for every kind of knowl- 
 edge. It is a seat of wisdom, a light to the world, a minis- 
 ter of the faith, and Alma Mater of the rising genera- 
 tion. 
 
64 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 " A college means, not merely a body of men living 
 together in one dwelling, but belonging to one establish- 
 ment. The word suggests position, authority and stabili- 
 ty ; and these bespeak a foundation, which must be public 
 recognition, money or other advantages. Two or three 
 persons living together would not be a college, unless a 
 charter was granted for that purpose by the legal authori- 
 ties. It is a household and offers shelter and sustenance 
 to its members. As no family can subsist without main- 
 tenance, and as children are dependent, it seems that the 
 college must be carried on by endowments to erect its 
 dwelling and official buildings and pay the teachers. The 
 college may be a part of and attached to the university 
 and also fulfill its function of home for its inmates. We 
 may consider, historically, that the colleges are but the 
 continuation of the schools which preceded the universi- 
 ties. A university embodies the principle of progress, 
 and a college that of stability ; the one is the sail, the other 
 the ballast, and each is useful to the other. A university 
 is the scene of display; the college of order, fulfillment, 
 diligence, and fraternal attachments. One is for the 
 world; the other for the nation. One is for the profes- 
 sor; the other the tutor. One is for the three learned 
 professions ; the other for forming character and mind." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 BY DR. PEARSONS. 
 
 " The ability to get and keep money honorably is a 
 gift. Men are born with that faculty as much as with 
 other particular endowments. Time and experience will 
 improve it, as it will any other attribute, but it must be 
 inherent. If we were to ask any unsuccessful man of 
 middle or advanced years why he had not been a great 
 writer, an eminent painter, a grand singer, a gifted 
 statesman, or a distinguished general, he would say: 
 ' How could I with none of the gifts necessary ? ' Ask 
 the same man why he hasn't become rich and he will 
 reply in effect that luck was ever against him: that he 
 'didn't have a chance,' or, maybe, that he was 'always too 
 honest.' He can not or will not see that he was deficient 
 from the outset in the requisite special faculties, and, 
 therefore, failed, just as he would have failed in oratorio 
 had he tried to sing without a voice. 
 
 " No conceit on the part of the millionaire can be in- 
 volved in this truth, for being a gift, money-making is 
 no more to his life's credit than being six feet tall would 
 have been. It was something he could hardly help from 
 the outset. But if he has honorably fulfilled his steward- 
 ship, used and improved his gift along the right channel, 
 as God has given him to see the right, and tried to add, 
 
 65 
 
66 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 as it were, fair interest to the original principal of ability 
 with which he was endowed, then he has done well and 
 may await the end with confidence. 
 
 " All of this latter any young man, in his always-laud- 
 able desire to become rich, may essay. He can be pru- 
 dent, patient, persistent, and straightforward. With 
 these qualities he will find out in time, if he also pos- 
 sesses the skill and foresight necessary to the attainment 
 of great wealth; or if, having them only in a moderate 
 degree, a fact in itself in no way discreditable to him, he 
 must needs be contented with lesser final results. He 
 certainly will not accumulate great riches unless it is ' in 
 him ' to do so from the start, but he will hardly fail to 
 end his life in better material condition than he began 
 it, which is a duty incumbent upon all. 
 
 " It is given to but few to ' die rich,' but to any young 
 man who will work cheerfully and courageously, ' heart 
 within and God o'erhead,' spending less than he earns, 
 helping others a bit, fighting even the appearance of evil, 
 and, in short, doing his utmost best, some measure of 
 success will surely come. He will be at least in a fair 
 way to attain a competency and an honorable old age, 
 something just as good as being a millionaire. This 
 question seems particularly applicable to the young man 
 whom we are discussing. 
 
 " I am particularly interested in poor boys and girls ; 
 in boys who have to hustle. I had to hustle. I went to 
 a medical school three years, and during that time cooked 
 my meals on a Jittle sheet-iron stove just large enough 
 to hold one flapjack. I got part of my education that 
 Way ; the rest I got by observation. 
 
 " Some say there are too many people going to college. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 67 
 
 It is true that two-thirds of the boys who go to college 
 in Eastern States are rich men's sons, who spend from 
 $1,500 to $2,000 a year. Nevertheless there is a great 
 call for educated men and women. Not money, but 
 brains count. Nearly every man of influence in Chicago 
 was once a poor boy. 
 
 " I have a right to consider myself a western man, 
 since I have been here thirty-two years and made all I 
 have in the West. I tell you the ' crudeness and unset- 
 tled conditions of society ' are due to young blood that 
 has push in it. Without having the culture of the East 
 we crowd it — ^giving the same advantages in learning 
 with our superior enterprise and — ! That's just the 
 point. The West is old enough now and has rich men 
 enough to endow colleges of its own. It takes a good 
 deal of assurance for an eastern university to come beg- 
 ging western capital with which to glorify itself. They 
 want to perpetuate the false idea that brain comes from 
 the East and brawn from the West. That's a laudable 
 feeling for them, but it does not get substantial support 
 from me. My money stays here, and I'm going to see 
 that a good deal more of the same kind does likewise, by 
 giving a stimulus to capital in that direction. One dol- 
 lar attracts another inevitably, just as a ball once started 
 rolling gathers snow. I am using what I have to give as 
 a lever to pry money out of other men's pockets. 
 
 " It works to a charm. Two hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand dollars of my money has resulted in $800,000 being 
 donated to promote learning in western institutions just 
 this spring. I give mine on conditions that another sum 
 be raised. These specified sums have always been raised. 
 One half I have given has gone to endow chairs in col- 
 
68 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 leges, and the other half to assist poor young men to 
 obtain an education. No college to which I have made 
 a donation has solicted a cent from me. I have watched 
 the methods and results of certain universities for years, 
 and when satisfied as to which one would subserve the 
 interests of learning best I have written, making my 
 offer. I am trying to bestow my money while alive 
 where it will do the most good and be sure it will be de- 
 voted to the purposes intended." 
 
 A TRIBUTE: 
 "D. K. Pearsons" — shall this humble name 
 
 E'er come to fill the speaking trump of fame? 
 
 Yes — Such ambition fires his youthful breast. 
 
 So! he assaults the "wild and woolly West." 
 
 With insight then and action swift and bold, 
 
 His Midas-touch turns vacant lots to gold! 
 
 When afHuence crowns this whilom friendless boy. 
 
 Yet not content till others share his joy — 
 
 What worthy scheme shall this shrewd Yankee find 
 
 At once to gain renown and bless mankind? 
 
 He'll pour his wealth at Learning's Stately Portal, 
 
 Thus link his name to Youth and be Immortal! 
 
 " Chicago, Oct. 31, 1891. 
 
 " I am getting interested in Mt. Holyoke College. I 
 think it the model college of this country, and it is time 
 for a good, generous endowment. A college that has 
 kept free from debt and has made her expenses fit her 
 scant income is an object lesson, shortly to be imitated. 
 I hope you will call for my $50,000 in a short time. If 
 you get more than $150,000 to meet my offer you can 
 keep right on getting and for every ($3) three dollars 
 I will give you one dollar, or in other words, I will dupli- 
 cate the first offer and give you time to get it. I feel that 
 Mt. Holyoke can be trusted with a generous endowment. 
 Her past hisory indicates it. 
 
 " Truly, 
 
 " D. K. Pearsons." 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 69 
 
 " Chicago, Oct. 2, 1896. 
 " Mrs. Moses Smith : 
 
 " Some six months ago the Mt. Holyoke people wrote 
 me they had in bank $20,000 for the purpose of building 
 the Memorial Building. I wrote them I would give the 
 last $10,000 for the building. Now, in addition to the 
 $10,000, I will give $40,000 to the trustees to use in the 
 general building fund as they deem best. 
 " Truly yours, 
 
 " D. K. Pearsons." 
 " Barron Hay, Esq. : 
 
 " I am thinking of giving the Congregational and 
 Methodist churches in Bradford, Vermont, $5,000 each 
 for perpetual endowment for current expenses. If it is not 
 wanted for current expenses, then the income to be used 
 for Home Missions. I shall only ask that the Methodist 
 church shall, for all time to come, keep noxious weeds 
 from growing on my father's and mother's graves, and 
 the Congregational church shall do the same for my 
 Grandfather and Grandmother Putnam's graves. My 
 grandmother used to come from Fairlee Pond on horse- 
 back to hear Priest McKeen preach, when I was a small 
 boy. I can see her now going to church. It made an 
 impression on my mind. Please see the officers and 
 ministers, and, if they are willing to receive my money, 
 I will tell them what to do with it, and give them some 
 advice. 
 
 " Truly, 
 
 " D. K. Pearsons." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " Home, sweet home ! " How like a peal of sweetest 
 music these words fall upon our ears ! The sacred place 
 where our infant eyes opened to the light of this weary, 
 tear-stained world ; the spot where we first felt the strong 
 heart-beats of parental love; the refuge of our early 
 years; where life appeared the sweetest; where the sun 
 shone the clearest; the flowers were the fairest; where 
 love, joy, and peace were mingled in the most perfect 
 harmony that earth combines ; where life was the purest ; 
 hopes the brightest and earth seemed nearer heaven. 
 
 The home of childhood! How sweet are the fond 
 recollections that cluster around it! how dear to the 
 heart are the memories that come! how sweet to the 
 thoughts of the wandering soul are the visions of the 
 haunts of his boyhood home, though enwrapped in the 
 dimness of fleeting years ! How, when the vision of see- 
 ing the old home is blessed with fulfillment, the fasci- 
 nated eyes again behold the house in which he was born ; 
 the place consecrated by parental and filial aiifection, the 
 innocent sports and joys of boyhood. These emotions 
 cannot be felt anywhere on earth than at his first home, 
 whose very name engenders thoughts no tongue can tell. 
 Dim recollections of bygone days are brightened to his 
 view when he, perchance, with features lined with care, 
 his hairs whitened by the snows of many winters, his 
 
 71 
 
72 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 heart hardened by ceaseless strife with the business 
 world, leans his bowed head against the lintels of home 
 and allows the scalding tears to fall unheeded, as he 
 thinks of the dear departed ; of his brothers and sisters, 
 perhaps gone away forever; of his parents, lying there 
 in the village churchyard, asleep. 
 
 There is no sweeter, sadder place in all the world than 
 this, and here man casts aside the sword, pride, and 
 wealth as earthly dross. Here he realizes that all world- 
 ly honors are but conceit, hard to attain and of little 
 value when achieved, and here he thinks of the ground 
 where he must surely lie. 
 
 A home reposing amid the bleak and rocky hills of old 
 Vermont, on the banks of the beautiful Connecticut 
 which meanders its tortuous way through a land of ro- 
 mance and enchantment. From the early days of dis- 
 covery its hills and forests echoed to the war cries of the 
 savages and the shrill screams of settlers who were being 
 massacred; its roads and paths were traveled by the 
 early French troops in the efforts to conquer the English 
 colonies. From the depths of its hidden recesses came 
 the " Green Mountain Boys," who, under Ethan Allen, 
 captured Ticonderoga, the first stronghold of the British 
 to fall in the Revolution. The munitions of war, guns 
 and supplies were distributed among the poorly-sup- 
 plied troops, and, no doubt, at this critical period had 
 great influence in deciding that great struggle. Its for- 
 est-crowned hills and narrow valleys were peopled from 
 that hardy Puritan stock, whose forbears came on the 
 " Elizabeth " in search of a place in which to worship 
 God, as conscience dictated, and to escape the poverty- 
 ridden shores of their native land. 
 
HIS LiFE AND WORKS 73 
 
 Beautiful old Green Mountain State ! From thy granite- 
 ribbed mountains, from thy timber-clad hills and shel- 
 tered valleys have sprung a gigantic race of men and wo- 
 men. Their descendants have ever been pioneers in the 
 race of mankind. They have builded cities, laid the 
 gleaming rails from ocean to ocean; conquered the seas 
 and built monuments in every land. 
 
 From mountain peak to mountain peak the waving sea 
 of timbered hills succeed each other into the dim distance, 
 broken here and there by clearing and perchance the 
 dwellings of the barren hillside farms, where in poverty 
 were fostered the spirits that subdued a continent. In 
 the silence and solitude of the isolated valleys, the eco- 
 nomical traits that have founded great fortunes were 
 strengthened by hardships. There a hardy race sprang 
 up, their austerity of character augmented by the hard 
 struggle for a livelihood from the barren, rocky and un- 
 fertile soil ; their religious feelings increased by their un- 
 inviting surroundings and past traditions of a puritanical 
 race; their acuteness in trading and money getting in- 
 flated by money's scarcity. The home life of these 
 pioneers was filled with hardships and heart-breaking 
 labor from the rising of the sun to well into the night. 
 They wrestled with the worn-out soil to eke out a scanty 
 existence. The grain was garnered by the sweat of the 
 man and the labor of scythe-armed hands. No beasts of 
 burden dragged through the ripened grain that greatest 
 wonder and labor-saver of modern times, — the harvester. 
 No model of the mowing machine had emerged from the 
 inventor's brain, to gamer the grass. Oxen were princi- 
 pally used for heavy work and hauling logs, which two 
 men, one above and one beilow, whipsawed into the 
 
74 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 boards that have withstood the time and storms of a 
 century. 
 
 In the valley ran clear and pellucid streams, their 
 waters churned to white amid the rocks, or lying in dark 
 and sheltered pools, where the speckled mountain trout 
 disported in his beauty. 
 
 It was a State in the early days of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury, of small farms, villages, taverns and of stagecoaches. 
 No iron horse thundered through its valleys or awoke 
 the echoes among its pine-clad heights. No large cities, 
 except a few on the seaboard or large rivers, — favored by 
 location, in acquiring maritime commerce, had come into 
 existence. Electricity was unknown; neither telegraph 
 nor telephone flashed its invisible waves through space. 
 The earth of the United States had not yet given up its 
 hidden wealth of gold, silver, copper, coal, oil or natural 
 gas. The people used candles or tallow dips for illumina- 
 tion, and ignited the flame with flint and steel. They 
 took to bed, — as security against the frost bite, — a mag- 
 nified covered dipper, filled with hot embers. They 
 wove their own clothes. Their hotels were taverns, con- 
 veniently located on the stage routes. Here the relay 
 of horses was changed, and the tired pilgrims secured 
 shelter and refreshments. Judicious imbibing was not 
 frowned upon as it is today. In the front room of the 
 taverns, which constituted the office, bar, and loafing 
 place, all, from the dominie to the grave-digger, could 
 quaff the delusive toddy, and alcoholic enemies of civiliza- 
 tion were freely sold. 
 
 In a large tavern on the turnpike running along the 
 Connecticut River, in the town of Bradford, Vermont, 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 75 
 
 among these surroundings, in a building which, in those 
 days, was considered sumptuous and the acme of luxury, 
 was bom on the 14th day of April, 1820, the child who 
 was christened Daniel Kimball Pearsons. There he early 
 drank in that intense hatred of rum and became cogni- 
 zant of the evils of its results. He also absorbed thrift 
 and the value of money. He was named " Kimball " 
 from the family name of his grandmother, on his father's 
 side. 
 
 Just as the twig is bent so grows the tree, boys' natures 
 are unrolled by watching their parents. His thoughts 
 became brighter and cleaner as he realized the intense 
 savings of his mother. He early learned to clean his 
 plate before asking for other fobd and his favorite ex- 
 pression in after years was, " Clean up your plate or 
 you'll never be rich." 
 
 Early in boyhood came that book lust and desire to 
 learn that was so hard to satisfy in those days, when 
 books and newspapers were so scarce; so he became a 
 student of the Bible. Schools were few and far between ; 
 the poor boys could get only an education meager com- 
 pared with that of the present time of enlightenment and 
 culture, when free schooling is given to the laborer's 
 as well as the millionaire's children. Indeed, in some 
 States, they are forced by law to attend school. When 
 the gifts of knowledge have been brought to all that 
 desire them; when intelligence is no longer for the fa- 
 vored few alone, but is scattered broadcast over our land 
 in free schools and colleges and in the open libraries, 
 where thirst for reading the best books can be satisfied 
 without cost, he bitterly thought of his hardships in 
 acquiring an education ; his bright mind could appreciate 
 
76 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 the shortcomings of the period in education, and early 
 in boyhood he formed the resolution, " to help the cause, 
 if he was ever able." Bright castles floated in his mind 
 and filled his vision for the betterment of future ages. 
 He possessed the will and found the way. He had a tacit 
 understanding with himself that he was bound to rise ; to 
 sometime make his mark in the world. While his broth- 
 ers were performing the duties of choring about the 
 home, Dan would go away by himself to some lonely 
 spot and spend hours reading his books. On a high hill 
 near by he would lie on his back, studying the wonders 
 of nature spread out before him. 
 
 People sometimes say that Dr. Pearsons with his 
 sound, solid, set ideas and puritanical mysticism could not 
 have had a boyhood, and such odd and straight-laced 
 characters never experienced the sacred joys of child- 
 hood. The straitened conditions of his parents forced 
 the heavy farm work upon him and his brothers. 
 
 His brother, Judge Pearsons, said that " as a boy, 
 Daniel was a little inclined to let some one else do the 
 heavy farm work, and it therefore fell on his two broth- 
 ers, much to their sorrow; that when hay was to be 
 pitched or potatoes hoed, Dan would be missing until 
 after chore time, having retired to some sheltered nook 
 with a good book; that very early his saving propensity 
 showed by begging for tobacco. After he began work- 
 ing for himself he changed his ideas and stopped at 
 nothing to get rich." But he had his boyish fun. He 
 skated on the Connecticut River and coasted down Po- 
 tato Hill. He had great skill at " townball." The 
 friends of his young manhood also delighted in telling 
 stories of his fondness for the dance and of the gallant- 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 17 
 
 ries he bestowed upon the maidens. But as years rolled 
 by the puritanical traits became strengthened and what 
 he indulged in freely when young he placed the stamp 
 of his disapproval upon when aged. But nature ordains 
 it ever thus. 
 
 We can easily think that these thoughtful hours on the 
 silent hilltop cultivated that purity and elevation of his 
 early thoughts, which, it is evident, accompanied him 
 through an eventful life. His parents, early seeing his 
 bent, favored him in it. If any went to school, Dan was 
 the one. Determined at any cost to give him a complete 
 education, the whole family saved wherever possible, to 
 provide broadcloth suits for him. By teaching school 
 in the winter time, either living at home or boarding 
 himself on the plainest fare, he gradually accumulated 
 enough money to justify embarking on his chosen pro- 
 fession of medicine. He was a staunch friend of educa- 
 tion, even if he had to enforce the rules with the rod, as 
 will be seen in the narrative of how he conquered the 
 bully of the school. 
 
 Mr. Pearsons, in 1842, was a schoolmaster at Lynn- 
 field, Essex County, Mass. As pedagogue, he had a firm 
 belief in the old adage that to spare the rod spoils the 
 child, and his experiences in enforcing his convictions as 
 to the efficacy of the birch were breezy and refreshing 
 when considered in the light of methods in which the rod 
 does not figure at all, and corporal punishment is un- 
 known, even under the most aggravated of provocations. 
 
 It was the second week of the term, when fie struck 
 a snag in the shape of young Newell, son of the squire 
 of the county, a man of great wealth and influence and 
 of a temper so hot as to make him the terror of that good 
 
78 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 old county of witches, New England rum, and baked 
 beans. The son was a chip of the old block. He was 
 a brawny, big-fisted, ugly hulk. The schoolmaster in 
 those years was a weakling through much sickness. 
 
 Under these circumstances, young Newell determined 
 to mutiny. When called upon to read, he read a word 
 wrong purposely. He was pleasantly corrected and read 
 it wrong again. Pearsons expostulated, Newell profaned. 
 The boy was kept after school and the teacher reasoned 
 with him in vain. The young bully cursed and insulted 
 him and declared he was the master. It thus became a 
 question whether the teacher should enforce his authori- 
 ty, or surrender it to the Lynnfield bully. Under the 
 present system he would have surrendered, or the bully 
 would have been deprived of the education which the 
 State guaranteed him, by being discharged from school. 
 Pearsons, however, quickly made up his mind to settle, 
 then and there, who was running that school. He de- 
 scended from the dais. The bully threw off his coat and 
 went in on his muscle. The teacher went in on his nerve, 
 having little muscle. At first the bully had it all his 
 own way, but Pearsons, who was an adept in the science 
 of wrestling, at last floored him, and holding him down, 
 applied a mahogany ruler so deftly that at last the bully 
 called for mercy. For the first time he was thrashed 
 in Essex County. 
 
 Having licked the boy, next came a battle royal with 
 the infuriated squire. The latter sued Pearsons for 
 damages. He was taken to Salem, before a magistrate, 
 where he speedily became the lion of the day. The school 
 committee resolutely stood by him. The people of Salem 
 wined and dined him. He was boarded free of expense. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS . 79 
 
 The committee secured for him the services of two or 
 three of the best lawyers of the city, and as the outcome 
 he was triumphantly acquitted. 
 
 He never forgot the encounter. Even while enjoying 
 the serene pleasures of advanced years, and the quiet life 
 of a man of peace and propriety, it was only necessary 
 to ask him to tell the tale, and show how the field was 
 won to rouse the wonted fire in the ashes and elicit a 
 description garnished with an occasional expletive of the 
 kind of which Uncle Toby was so fond. The official re- 
 port of the school committee, which is noticeable because 
 of its stern morality, its scriptural illustration, and its 
 stanch maintenance of the importance of discipline, as 
 Avell as the duty the State owes the child, was : 
 
 " It is with deep regret your committee have to notice 
 in this school a case of insubordination and profanity 
 unparalleled in our common schools; and as the teacher 
 was arrested for attempting to reduce the offender to 
 order we feel it to be our duty to state to the town what 
 transpired in one of our public schools, in the presence of 
 more than fifty of our children, to which they are sent, 
 aimong other things, to learn good behavior. Friday 
 afternoon of the second week of school, while the first 
 class was reading, one of the older boys read wrong. 
 He read again, and in such a way as to cause a laugh 
 and disturb the school. For this he was mildly reproved 
 by the teacher. At the spelling of the same afternoon 
 he spelled the word ' Broadway ' three or four times 
 wrong. The next scholar spelled it right. After the 
 class had spelled round, the word ' Broadway ' was put 
 to him again, when he spelled it wrong as many times 
 as before. The teacher then expostulated with him, and 
 
80 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 is answered by profane and insulting language, in which 
 his authority is set at defiance. After the close of the 
 school, the teacher reasoned with and attempted to re- 
 duce him to order in a mild and persuasive manner, but 
 without effect, the boy leaving the house and threatened 
 his teacher, who was much enfeebled by ill-health at the 
 time. A crisis had now arrived — either the teacher must 
 maintain his authority and suppress the grossest pro- 
 fanity or be driven out of school by this unruly boy. 
 At the opening of school the next morning, so adverse 
 to inflicting corporal punishment was the teacher, from 
 a desire to govern his school by mild and persuasive 
 measures, as well as from a regard to the instructions of 
 your committee at the opening of the school so to do, as 
 long as good government could be maintained by such a 
 course, he, notwithstanding the insult and abuse offered 
 him, as well as to the whole school, once more offered 
 forgiveness, simply on the condition that the pupil would 
 apologize for his offenses and promise good behavior for 
 the future. This he refused to do, and with renewed 
 profanity declared that he was master, cursed his teacher, 
 and dared him to fight. The teacher as a last resort 
 attempted to bring him to order by corporal punishment. 
 Going towards and taking hold of him for this pur- 
 pose, was seized by the boy and in consequence of his 
 ill-health at that time, came near being thrown down, but 
 at length obtained the ascendency and brought him to the 
 floor. He then with a stick gave him some half-dozen 
 strokes over his lower extremities, when he submitted. 
 These few blows with a stick was all the punishment 
 given by the master for his profane and insulting con- 
 duct. Any injury he may have received was the result 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 81 
 
 of his own criminal conduct in his assault on his teacher. 
 Failing in his attempt to beat the master and break down 
 his lawful authority, and after the expiration of the time 
 limited by the statute for the punishment of profanity, 
 he gravely, through some of his family, demanded pay 
 for an alleged injury he received while engaged in an 
 assault and battery upon his teacher, in the schoolroom, 
 before the children and youth of the district! For this 
 purpose the master was arrested; the school interrupted 
 for the greater part of a week, a trial had before a magis- 
 trate, and he honorably acquitted. Not satisfied with 
 this, the day appointed for the closing examination was 
 selected for the purpose of again interrupting this school, 
 the teacher arrested, and held to bail. 
 
 " Thus have the citizens of this district had their 
 school repeatedly interrupted, their schoolteacher unjust- 
 ly arrested and tried as a criminal for performing his 
 duty; for defending himself against the assaults of a 
 rude and vulgar boy. Had he not reduced him to order, 
 he would have lost the confidence of the district, of all 
 who have regard for morality, or even the common de- 
 cencies of society. 
 
 " Had your committee withheld from him their support, 
 under the circumstances of the case, they would have 
 been wholly unworthy of the confidence you have re- 
 posed in them; would have been recreant of a most 
 solemn trust, that of guarding the minds of your chil- 
 dren in the schoolroom from the pernicious influence of 
 evil example. 
 
 " If a schoolteacher is not to be supported in the law- 
 ful exercise of his duty, and more especially when obliged 
 to act in self-defense from an assault in his own school- 
 
82 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 room, then there would end the common schools of 
 Massachusetts, those precious institutions which have 
 shed so much light on the minds of children of every 
 generation; and which have been fostered with paternal 
 care from the earliest period of our history. Better, far 
 better, close your schoolhouses and educate your children 
 in the best way you may, than to suffer their young minds 
 to become contaminated with language the most revolt- 
 ing, and examples the most destructive to the great ob- 
 jects for which the common schools are established. 
 
 " The almost unanimous support and aid given to the 
 teacher by the citizens of the whole district reflects upon 
 them much credit, and evinces their high sense 
 of moral obligation, the estimation in which they hold 
 him as a teacher, and their determination to preserve un- 
 impaired the usefulness of the common schools. Good 
 discipline in school lies at the foundation of successful 
 teaching and has a tendency to prepare pupils to become 
 good citizens, obedient to the laws, and the supporters 
 of morality and virtue. 
 
 " It has ever been the desire of your committee that 
 the schools should be governed by mild and persuasive 
 means — ^by higher motives than the fear of corporal 
 punishment ; that there should always exist a good under- 
 standing between the teacher and his pupils, and that the 
 schoolrooms should be places connected with their most 
 pleasing associations. Yet cases do occur where appeals 
 to the highest motives of obedience and good conduct are 
 without effect; and where the good of schools, if not 
 their existence, requires that physical force should be 
 resorted to and in the language of another, ' although 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 83 
 
 we abhor corporal punishment, we abhor the halter 
 more.' 
 
 " We are aware that some individuals have enter- 
 tained the belief that a schoolteacher has no authority to 
 punish in any case ; this is an erroneous view of the sub- 
 ject; the teacher is, for the time being, in loco parentis; 
 he has the same rights as have the parents to enforce his 
 lawful commands. Children should so understand this 
 from their parents, with the injunction, also, that if they 
 get punished at school they would incur their displeasure 
 at home. We should then hear of little complaint about 
 corporal punishment. 
 
 " There is a responsibility resting upon all parents, in 
 relation to the duty that they owe to their children, of 
 the deepest moment ; the manner in which they are edu- 
 cated not only gives a stamp to their own characters, but 
 may have an influence on others through indefinite peri- 
 ods. 
 
 " The young of the human species are more depend- 
 ent and helpless than the young of any of the mere ani- 
 mals. Without the most unwearied and persevering care 
 of the mother its feeble being would soon become ex- 
 tinct. As it gradually awakens into life, to her it looks 
 not only for the supply of its animal necessities, but also 
 for the wants of an inquisitive mind. As it advances in 
 age and looks abroad upon the vast fields of nature, how 
 delighted it becomes with every new object, and with 
 what confiding assurance does it look to the mother for 
 knowledge! Here is seen the design of a wise Provi- 
 dence, for while the young of the animal world are di- 
 rected by unerring instinct, the young of the human 
 species, anterior to the dawn of reason, are committed 
 
84 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 to the teachings of their mothers. How featiful, then, 
 are the responsibilities of parents! The happiness or 
 misery of their children is, in a great degree, in their 
 hands. ' Train up a child in the way he should go,' is the 
 command of inspired wisdom. And in the ancient Scrip- 
 tures the severest punishment is denounced on the house 
 of Eli, because his sons made themselves vile and he re- 
 strained them not. Let parents, therefore, and especially 
 mothers, during the youngest years of their children, 
 deeply engrave on their minds those virtuous principles 
 that are so necessary to their safety and happiness in 
 after life. 
 
 " J. Newhall, 
 " Oliver Emerson, 
 "John Danforth, Jr., 
 " School Committee. 
 " Lynnfield, Mass., March 7, 1842." 
 Dr. Pearsons was successful after this exploit as a 
 teacher and his reputation for grit gained for him the 
 respect of the school. He inherited a sound mind in a 
 sound body ; a buoyant temperament, with intense energ;y 
 of body, mind and soul. His struggles and economies dur- 
 ing these years would fill a volume ; any honorable occu- 
 pation was thankfully accepted. He sawed wood, he built 
 fires ; he was hostler and coachman combined ; he did er- 
 rands ; he nursed the sick and watched with the dead ; he 
 prejared himself for admission to Dartmouth College by 
 attending Bradford Academy; he entered Dartmouth, 
 where the storm of want and deluge of needs near swept 
 him away. The rich boys jeered and scoffed at him, and 
 the haughty young damsels of the village plucked away 
 their voluminous skirts from coming in contact with the 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 85 
 
 boy, who was willing to work. To a sensitive young man, 
 among the college boys, the emergencies he met in sav- 
 ing money to pay his tuition and board were very galling 
 and his frugality was the talk of the village. His up- 
 rightness of bearing and character gave him the nick- 
 name of " Honest Dan." He slept and cooked his own 
 meals in a storage room back of a doctor's office, which 
 he swept out and kept clean for the privilege; in addi- 
 tion he was stable boy and errand boy, for which he had 
 access to the medical books. He lived on potatoes, 
 crackers and cheese, varied occasionally by a seat at, or 
 some titbits from, the table of some pitying matron. He 
 put in only one year at Dartmouth, because he was too 
 poor to go longer. 
 
 Undiscouraged by this, on leaving college he began 
 again to teach school. He burned the midnight candle 
 reading medical books, which profession he had resolved 
 to enter. While pursuing these studies he found it hard, 
 even with the strictest economy, to keep the wolf from the 
 door, and his dress was often declared to be so shabby that 
 it was remarkable. Conscious of powers lying dormant 
 within him, he fretted at the iron circumstances that 
 overwhelmed him. He then studied medicine and board- 
 ed with a doctor at Hanover, N. H. Again he worked 
 at every .thing or anything to pay for his keep. Then he 
 finally entered and graduated from the medical school 
 at Woodstock, Vt. The low ebb of his finances and his 
 general appearance of poverty at last excited the com- 
 passion of Dr. Alonzo Clark, a professor of the school, 
 to lend Daniel one hundred dollars, so that he might 
 finish the term and obtain his certificate. 
 
 On a cold, rainy night, he came to Dr. Clark's room. 
 
86 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 with threadbare clothes and the marks of scant living 
 upon his countenance. There he told bis dilemma, with 
 tears in his eyes. " Professor," he said, " I need at the 
 present moment two things to enable me to con- 
 tinue on here : one is, as you see, a new coat ; the other 
 is the book you directed us to obtain. I am without 
 money to buy either. I must have both and can get 
 neither, so I had better walk home to work on the farm. 
 I am a complete failure." 
 
 Lucky was it, for countless human beings, that there 
 listened to him that night a man of large heart and dis- 
 cerning eye. Patting the future philanthropist on the 
 back, he offered the loan of this money, joyfully, with the 
 knowledge that it was bread cast upon the waters of life. 
 He won a verdict of greatness for the poor boy, who, in 
 walking during the after years, through the noble struc- 
 tures he gave to education, silently, with bowed head, 
 dedicated them to the memory of Dr. Clark. So he kept 
 on and emerged a full-fledged M. D., with " Doctor" pre- 
 fixed to his name. Although he practiced medicine only 
 a few years, the title clung to him until death. This, 
 perhaps, was the first thing that helped to influence him 
 in the bestowal of his wealth to educate poor boys and 
 girls. But for this timely loan, the whole course of his 
 life might have been changed. Such is the value of small 
 things : the map of the world would have been changed ; 
 half of the United States might have been ruled today by 
 a despot, if Napoleon, at Waterloo, had not been misled 
 by a peasant's words. At the critical and intense period 
 of the battle he ordered his crack reserve cavalry regi- 
 ment to charge. They found in their path, too late to 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 87 
 
 stop, a hidden ravine, which was filled by the crowding 
 rush of those behind, with the tangle masses of horses 
 and men. Their charge was useless. 
 
 While at Woodstock, he clipped the following piece 
 of poetry and pasted it in his Bible for future reference 
 and for a motto: 
 
 "Grit makes the man, the want of it, the chump; 
 The men who win lay hold, hang on and hump." 
 
 It is this pluck, this bulldog tenacity of purpose and 
 perseverance, that wins the battles of life. It is the one 
 more trial that wins success; one more battle that wins 
 the war. It is the abiding faith in one's mission, the 
 belief that one has been selected for a certain calling, that 
 produces the enthusiasm, that carries one on to the end. 
 Honor and renown love to crown the one wiho has earned 
 his laurel wreath. The character which Mr. Pearsons 
 embodied will be admired in future ages and held up as 
 an example to the people. The character which he repre- 
 sents was the crown and glory of his life; it was his 
 most valued possession, his most wonderful bequest to 
 the future. The separate drops of rain cannot each claim 
 to be wonderful, but together with others they replenish 
 the streams, they furnish food to man and beast, and 
 their magic touch paints the earth green. 
 
 After practicing about a year in Vermont, 5ur doctor 
 removed to Chicopee, Mass. There he hung out his 
 shingle, and subsequently became acquainted with Miss 
 Marietta Chapin. After a vigorous and characteristic 
 courtship they were married. 
 
 He continued to practice here until 1857. During this 
 period of fourteen years his business steadily grew in 
 volume, although his positiveness and bluntness of speech 
 
88 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 held it down. Chronic heahh complainers would be told 
 they were not sick; that they didn't need any medicine; 
 that they only imagined their ailments. Indeed, he 
 might, almost, be called the father of Christian Science 
 healing. He said : " There's a lot in this keeping cool 
 and not worrying about the state of your health habit for 
 men who want to live a hundred years. It's the worst 
 thing in the world to get angry or cross. I cured a man 
 of tliat and a thousand imaginary ills once down at Bos- 
 ton, Mass. My wife and I were there for several weeks, 
 and at the table she called me ' Doctor.' Across from us 
 a man had seats with his wife and a daughter — a fine 
 looking girl. At meal times he used to come in with 
 a shawl around his shoulders, walking as if he were 
 as old as Methuselah. He snarled at his wife, found 
 fault with the food, and made life miserable for every 
 one around. One day his daughter heard me called 
 ' Doctor ' and asked me if I wouldn't see if I could 
 help her father. I took him out on the veranda, listened 
 to him for half an hour, and said: 'You're simply a 
 damphol, and you are destroying the happiness of a de- 
 serving' family.' I ate early the next morning and got 
 away before he came down. They told me afterwards he 
 came in briskly, without the shawl, spoke cheerfully to 
 those near him, smiled at the waiter, and searched for me 
 to say that he guessed I was right. Don't fret and worry 
 your life away. It doesn't do any good unless you are in 
 a hurry to die." 
 
 When the really well insisted on having medicine, he 
 frequently dissolved sugar pills in pure water for them. 
 He earned the lasting gratitude of many, whom he ap- 
 parently rescued from the grave by this method. Others 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 89 
 
 he would hypnotize, with his inherited natural magnet- 
 ism. He would snap his fingers, crack a joke, tell them 
 they were all right, to not worry and they would soon be 
 well. During these years he openly advanced these 
 views on the lecture platform. He lectured on this mys- 
 terious power which he seemed to possess over others, 
 and illustrated on the platform his power to mesmerize 
 his subjects. Who can say that his talks in Boston and 
 through New England did not plant the seed from which 
 Christian Science grew? These methods and beliefs, in 
 their incipient state, while they encouraged patients, did 
 not fill his pocket, and he gradually came to see that his 
 ability needed wider scope, and that he had missed his 
 calling. 
 
 During his residence in Chicopee he met many persons 
 who were destined to vitally influence his career. Fore- 
 most among these was Mary Lyon, the founder of Mount 
 Holyoke Seminary for girls. While driving along a 
 country lane one day, in discharge of his duty, they met. 
 What she said brought back his own hardships so vivid- 
 ly that he invited her to his house, where in after years 
 she often lived like a sister and devoted friend. She was 
 the first advocate of female education and a great lib- 
 erator of her sex. All through the ages until our country 
 was settled, there were no great universities for women ; 
 no colleges enrolled them among their students. Har- 
 vard was founded when Boston was a village to provide 
 learned ministers for the colonies. In 1642 Massachu- 
 setts passed a law, forcing the selectmen of the towns 
 to compel the parents to educate the children, under a 
 penalty of twenty shillings. Girls were not mentioned, 
 and it is a matter of history that all through the eight- 
 
90 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 eeiKth century girls did not attend the schools, — 
 an essential to entering colleges. Up to the time of the 
 Revolution, many wealthy widows and women in mak- 
 ing deeds or their last wills affixed their marks. Many 
 considered it a sacrilege for girls to attend school ; many 
 of the larger towns would not allow their attendance 
 until 1792, and then only when there was unoccupied 
 room for them. Several towns passed resolutions against 
 using money to provide extra facilities for girls. During 
 the war, the poverty of the colonies became so great that 
 the cause of education suffered. After its close so many 
 boys and young men were needed to replace their mar- 
 tyred fathers in the support of the family and in other 
 callings, that the schools were practically vacated. Then 
 girls began to occupy the vacant places. By 1820, when 
 Mary Lyon was 23 years old, the common education of 
 boys and girls in grammar schools had become general. 
 Not a single college had been erected for their benefit, nor 
 would any of those already built even admit them. It 
 remained for a humble New England woman to break 
 the bonds that bound her sex ; to light the flame of equal 
 education ; to hold the light aloft for future ages. 
 
 In a lonesome hut, in the hilly part of Massachusetts, 
 lying far from the ordinary roads of travel; surrounded 
 on all sides by the billowy sea of mountains, Mary Lyon 
 was born at Buckland on Feb. 28, 1797. Nothing re- 
 mains of that home today but a vine and rose-covered 
 depressions in the ground ; youth and age have long ago 
 departed; only a few gnarled patriarchs of the orchard 
 remain to mark the site. The only memento about the 
 neighborhood to betoken the sacredness of the spot is a 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 91 
 
 bronze tablet, inscribed with her name, sunk in the sur- 
 face of a large rock. 
 
 She came from a line of long-lived, hard-working 
 Christian ancestors. At the early age of fifteen she was 
 educating herself, besides doing the work of a large 
 household. At the age of 20, in 1817, she went to San- 
 derson Academy, in Ashfield, and again in 1820. Be- 
 tween those dates Amherst Academy was attended for 
 one quarter. Not satisfied that the acquired knowledge 
 was sufficient for teaching, in 1821 she went to Byfield. 
 Here, under the influence of Rev. Joseph Emerson, her 
 views of education changed. She learned here to de- 
 sire it as a means of usefulness in the world. The next 
 ten years were spent in teaching in New Hampshire and 
 her native State; during the latter part she taught a 
 school of her own at Ashfield. 
 
 In 1834 she began to devote herself to the enterprise 
 for which twenty years of teaching, and in fact her 
 whole life, from birth had been preparing her. For 
 three years she worked among the wealthy people for 
 encouragement. Until her pleadings for benevolent aid 
 were heard, the founding of a college for the exclusive 
 education of girls was not thought of enough conse- 
 quence to be counted a philanthropic enterprise. The 
 newspapers and periodicals of the day, with that Salem 
 idea of " Burn the Witches," reviled and ridiculed her 
 undertaking, but through it all she conquered, and on 
 Nov 8, 1837, she opened Mount Holyoke Seminary in 
 its own building, from whose ever-opening doors have 
 gone forth missionaries to every clime. In India's tropic 
 land; in the heart of darkest Africa; in the lands of 
 oriental idolatry ; among wild savages ; among the canni- 
 
92 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 bals of the isles of the Pacific, among the Mohammedans 
 of Persia and Turkey ; within the sacred precincts of the 
 scenes of the Hfe of Christ, they stand, ever striving to 
 enlighten the world with the Word of God. 
 
 The apostles of Christ, under the guidance of the Holy 
 Spirit, always emphasized their preaching by examples 
 of his life, death, and ascension to Heaven. He gave 
 himself for us, he humbled himself in faith, obedience, 
 purity, liberality, poverty and consecration, even to the 
 death on the cross. He was the first Missionary. He 
 came to save all. When all is lost; when we are sunk 
 in despair, guilt, darkness, misery and sin; when not a 
 single beacon l^ht . of hope remains, when anguish, 
 gloom, hunger, cold and even the desire for death comes, 
 in these extremities, the Savior appears to wash our 
 sins away with his blood; he came to save the lost, he 
 transmitted these feelings to his disciples. It is the spirit 
 of all missions. In saving the heathen the missionaries 
 of this and the last century are following the example 
 of Christ and his apostles. All hail to this valiant band 
 of Godlike men and women, who have conoe forth from 
 our colleges and seminaries to consecrate their lives to 
 missionary work. 
 
 Go to the Garden of Gethsemane. There behold a 
 picture that even angels cannot portray. There in the 
 still of the night, the Savior retired to give vent to the 
 bursting emotions of his soul. In this spirit of love, com- 
 bined with sorrow, do the missionaries go to their dis- 
 tant sphere of action in their self-denying profession. In 
 their thoughts are his saying, " He that loveth son or 
 daughter more than me, is not worthy of me." 
 
 The first sum ever given to education by the Doctor 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 93 
 
 was $35 to Mary Lyon for her seminary, but the story 
 of her life, her personal character exerted within his 
 home, was the first influence he felt to strengthen his 
 benevolence. 
 
 When Mount Holyoke College lay in ruins from fire 
 several years ago, and D. K. Pearsons telegraphed to the 
 trustees, " Fifty thousand dollars to build up Mount 
 Holyoke," a few of the directors knew the story that lay 
 behind the gift. It was the second of two large sums 
 which he had given to the institution. As a young man 
 he knew Mary Lyon, the founder of the first college for 
 American women. 
 
 " I knew Mary Lyon," said the Doctor. " Her parents 
 died and she was left alone. She spun, wove and made 
 coverlets; sold them and got money enough to go to 
 Ashfield Academy. I saw her at work laying the first 
 foundation of her magnificent institution. I once asked 
 an old man why he did not help Mary Lyon. ' Why,' 
 he replied, ' it is no use sending girls to college ; it will 
 spoil them for servants ; they won't be worth a cent for 
 servants if they go to school.' 
 
 " That darkness, that mist, hung over New England 
 like a pall, and Mary Lyon was the heroine who could 
 look through it and see the stars beyond. This century 
 has not produced another woman like Mary Lyon. There 
 have been a great many women, but she stands far above 
 them all. 
 
 " What did she want ? She wanted an institution where 
 the daughters of poor men could get an education on a 
 very small amount of money. She went to work. She 
 begged the lumber and brick. She went among the 
 farmers. I was practicing medicine within five miles of 
 
94 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 her, and I used to meet her in travels around, and some- 
 times she was disheartened. Although I was poor as 
 Job's turkey then, I said to myself : ' If I ever get any- 
 thing ahead in the world, the first thing I take up will 
 be such work as she is doing.' 
 
 " And then," added the Doctor, quaintly, " Mary Lyon 
 was very kind to me. There were a good many Ver- 
 mont girls at that school, and I used to go up there to 
 console the girls for their absence from their native 
 mountains. She used to let me in every time and I 
 prized her very highly. These were some of the reasons 
 why I gave money to Mount Holyoke." 
 
 Dr. Pearsons often remarked that poverty deprived 
 him of a complete college education. " I started life 
 poor, as poor as the devil," he said, chuckling softly. " I 
 sawed wood in the winter and plowed corn in the sum- 
 mer. I taught school for five years, and then practiced 
 medicine. But my wife got me out of that," he said. 
 " She thought I could do something better and told me 
 to go to work." 
 
 During this time he also met Malvina and Martha R. 
 Chapin, relatives of his wife. They were missionaries 
 to India on a furlough. Often he conversed with them 
 and Mary Lyon within the sanctity of his home, about 
 those far-distant lands and the needs of their ignorant 
 people. He was receptive of their teachings and resolved 
 that the principal object of his future life would be, 
 " to aid struggling colleges and foreign rmssions if the 
 opportunity ever came." 
 
 In Chicopee, during the late fifties, he met a promi- 
 nent congressman from the West, who had formerly 
 lived in the cramped confines of New England. This 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 95 
 
 friend told the interested Doctor and wife of stretches 
 of level prairie country, empires in extent, on which al- 
 ready the first forerunners of millions to come had just 
 begun to build their homes ; of thousands of square miles 
 of virgin pine, oak and hickory awaiting only the blow 
 of the axeman to build those homes; of great inland 
 rivers to carry the products of one to the other ; of mighty 
 inland seas on the shores of which would be built a city 
 through whose portals nearly the whole commerce of a 
 nation would be carried ; of railroads, either building or 
 to be built. All this was interesting, but not vital to the 
 slow country Doctor, until his wife said, " Doctor, why 
 don't we sell out here ; go West, go into business and get 
 some of the goodness of this new country ? " 
 
 "What!" asked the Doctor. "Sell out this paying 
 practice of mine, go to a strange country and go into a 
 strange business ? " 
 
 " Yes," she replied, " I know from the way you talk 
 that you are better fitted for business than for medicine." 
 
 Carried away by these prospects and against the tear- 
 ful protests of the old folks, they hurriedly collected 
 their means, which in conjunction with those of their 
 sister. Miss Julia Chapin, were ample for those days. 
 
 The couple, accompanied by Miss Chapin, who there- 
 after resided with them until her death, embarked for the 
 glorious West and the land of hoped-for plenty. They 
 went to the end of the railroad, which was at Elgin, 111. 
 They surveyed the strange-appearing country; they 
 staged it to Janesville, Wis., then across to Beloit. In all 
 these places the Doctor, agiainst the adrvice of his wife, 
 contemplated entering into his profession and finally did, 
 for about a year at Janesville, 
 
96 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 " Go into some other business," his wife told him, as 
 she saw the empty office. " It will take too long to estab- 
 lish a practice here. In that time, in some other line, you 
 can make your fortune." 
 
 " All right, Mariett," he replied, " I will be guided by 
 you. We will go over to Beloit and look around." 
 
 Fifty-five years ago a stage crossed the Rock River and 
 paused at a little tavern for rest. In it were our de- 
 parted friends and a land speculator who was trying to 
 sell them land. As they had driven along they had seen 
 a brick building going up, and the travelers asked, 
 " What are they doing here ? " 
 
 " Why, there are some Yankee cranks, trying to build 
 a college," was the answer of the speculator, who then 
 went on with much vituperation about the Yankees and 
 colleges in general. 
 
 The Doctor being both a Yankee and a college man, 
 got very angry. He shook his fist in the other man's 
 face, and said, " Old fellow, I am coming West. In a 
 few years I am going to get rich, and when I do I am 
 going to help lift up these colleges that these 'Yankee 
 cranks ' are building.'' 
 
 Finally the Doctor and bis family of two moved to 
 Ogle County, 111., where he engaged in farming for some 
 years. In 1860, at the age of 40, he came to Chicago to 
 embark in the loan and real estate business, having felt 
 for some time that he needed a wider field for action to 
 match his ability. 
 
 Undoubtedly Jean Nicollet, a native of Cherbourg, 
 France, was the first white man who sailed or looked up- 
 on the waters of Lake Michigan. Nicollet had lived for 
 twenty years in Canada; had lived with the Indians, 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 97 
 
 learned their language, and lived like they did. He heard 
 of a strange, beardless and hairless people who came to 
 trade at a large village at the head of the great fresh 
 water sea. The crude people of the day thought they 
 were people of India. Nicollet left Canada in 1634 to 
 find this strange people and village. During the same 
 year he portaged from Green Bay and floated down to 
 the Mississippi, which he ascended to the Falls of St. 
 Anthony. 
 
 It remained for the village on the site of Chicago to 
 be discovered by Father Marquette, who, with Louis 
 Joliet, started from Montreal and followed the course of 
 the Great Lakes in 1673. They portaged from Green 
 Bay and Fox River into the Wisconsin. They floated 
 down this to the Father of Waters, which they reached 
 on June 17, 1673, after exploring southward until the 
 mouth of the Ohio had been passed. They were warned 
 not to continue farther by friendly Indians, and began 
 the tedious journey back. Ascending the Illinois they 
 found a large Indian village called Kaskaskia. From 
 here friendly Indians guided them back to Green Bay. 
 On the 25th of October, 1674, they set out to return to 
 the village of the Kaskaskias, missed the usual land- 
 marks and found themselves at the mouth of the Chica- 
 go River, where there was a large village of Indians, the 
 mecca of Nicollet's search and hopes. For more than a 
 hundred years after Marquette first gazed on the site of 
 Chicago, and the voyages of LaSalle and others to this 
 region, the whole country westward to the Pacific re- 
 mained an unbroken wilderness. 
 
 The territory now occupied by Chicago was first 
 claimed" by Great Britain on account of the Cabot dis- 
 
98 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 coveries in 1498. In 1662 it became a part of Connecti- 
 cut, by that province being granted by Charles II. a strip 
 of territory extending north and south the same width 
 as itself, and extending from that province to the Pacific. 
 Before this, France had claimed it, and by treaty in 1717 
 it was given to Lx)uisiana and became a possession of 
 France. It was also claimed after the Revolution by 
 Virginia. Long after the discovery of this country, the 
 sole color of the people was white and red. It is, indeed, 
 strange that the first settler of Chicago was a mulatto, 
 by name of Jean Baptiste Point de Saible, who x;ame to 
 Chicago in 1779 and built a cabin on the north branch 
 of the river near the mouth. This cabin was eventually 
 purchased and inhabited by John Kinzie. Thus Chicago 
 started. The soil of Illinois was saved. from the British 
 in 1812 by Gen. George Rogers Qark, after whom Clark 
 Street was named. Then it went on to the massacre, and 
 arrives at the beginning of the Civil War, to the time 
 when Chicago was the political focus of the nation and 
 Lincoln became President. 
 
 In 1833, the whole block where the postoflSce now is 
 sold for $805, in 1838 for $6,000, and today is worth ten 
 millions. In 1833, lots on Clark Street, near Madison, 
 which sold for $150, are now worth one-half million and 
 bring a yearly rental of $50,000. In 1833 land at Eight- 
 eenth Street and Prairie Avenue was worth $1.25 an acre. 
 In 1850 it was worth $100 per acre, and is now $6,000 a 
 front foot. In 1830 James Harrington bought 106 acres, 
 south of Twelfth Street, for $133.70. In 1860 the site 
 of the Union Stock Yards was a prairie and there were 
 not many buildings west of Halsted Street. The build- 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 99 
 
 ings were cheap aad very oiten elevated on timbers or 
 piles to keep them from sinking into the mud. The 
 streets were hub-deep with mud, and there existed no 
 modem improvement?, such as we know today. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The character and mental traits of a man who has 
 gained the admiration and plaudits of his fellow-men are 
 always eagerly studied by the observer of human nature. 
 You may in vain study the features in order to read an 
 individual, and fail as often as you succeed. 
 
 How to achieve fame and acquire money seems to be 
 one of the great secrets mankind is continually trying to 
 find out. This fact accounts in a great measure for so 
 much want and poverty, for those who have not the fac- 
 ulty of making money suffer from the aggressiveness 
 of those who can and the greed of those who have money 
 and keep it. 
 
 Under the laws of our favored land, there is no eldest 
 son inheriting a vast estate of lands, money and honors, 
 while the younger members of the family are turned out 
 to poverty and toil, but all have an equal chance. 
 
 Great wealth, or the expectance of it, seems to give a 
 deadly blow to ambition, to mental growth, and that vig- 
 or which seems to be necessary for the battle of life. 
 They may be sharp enough to live on the interest of their 
 inheritance, and spoil their children, as they were, but 
 they are not the men who hold the nation's pulse, pre- 
 scribe for its health, and guide the great engines that di- 
 rect and control the social, moral, and redeeming forces 
 to move the world ; but it is a remarkable fact that nine 
 
 101 
 
102 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 out of ten of the prominent men of our day have been 
 architects of their own position and fortunes. The great 
 men were mostly self-made. Born in the ordinary walks 
 of life, with no special advantages over their fellow-men, 
 they have risen above the common level and surmounted 
 diificulties by their own personal efforts. The secret of 
 their success is industry, integrity and perseverance. A 
 clear head, willing hands and self-reliance are the true 
 essentials of success. The great man is noted by his 
 deeds; the man of power by his influence. One needs 
 the ability to grasp, group and generalize the problems 
 of the times, in advance of others nearly as keen ; to rea- 
 son out the solution of financial and domestic problems 
 and make them plain to the popular mind ; to point out 
 the road of improvement and induce men to travel there- 
 in by process of enlightenment and example. 
 
 Mr. Pearsons' charity was of unostentatious character. 
 If his right hand did not always know what the other 
 one was doing it was not because the left one was idle. 
 
 He who only aims at little will not attain much. He 
 who attempts great things may accomplish much al- 
 though he undershoots the mark. 
 
 Aim at the highest prize; if then you fail 
 Thou'lt haply reach to one not far below; 
 Strive first the goal to compass; if too slow 
 Thy speed, the attempt may ne'ertheless avail 
 The next best post to conquer. Let not quail 
 Eye, heart, or limb, but still right onward go. 
 
 — Mant. 
 
 We think of him, primarily, as a successful man, one 
 
 who has accomplished his purpose in life. We ought to 
 
 think, like him, that we can do and be what we wish to. 
 
 Our faith should be a mighty power to throw doubt and 
 
 fear to the winds. Time and toil win all the prizes of 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 103 
 
 wealth, refinement and knowledge; the wise, active and 
 pushing exercise of the mental powers will give them; 
 every youth, be he mechanic, laborer or farmer, ma> 
 by a few years of faithful effort gain them. From none 
 are the great rewards of Christian graces withheld, if 
 they will but reach for them. All can live a Christlike 
 life; they can relive the life of the philanthropists and 
 well wishers of mankind. 
 
 A successful life is one that overcomes the many diffi- 
 culties of opposing elements; one that brings to a tri- 
 umphant close the earthly mission and is prepared to 
 enter the everlasting life in the hereafter. However suc- 
 cessful a man may be in winning gold and fame, he will 
 be only a miserable failure if he misses the last great 
 object of his mission. It is the fulness of success that 
 brings him at last to heaven, where he hears the Master's 
 welcome words, " Well done, good and faithful servant." 
 
 Mr. Pearsons' unconventional nianner and his life- 
 long, personal independence manifested themselves in the 
 absence of all affectation. Thoroughly domestic in his 
 tastes, the society of his wife and a few of his friends, 
 whom he really liked, suited him better than the more 
 diversified and mixed social enjoyments. 
 
 His personal appearance was very striking: a slightly 
 retreating brow, about which stood a shock of hair scarce 
 whitened by the mists and snow, nor thinned by the rav- 
 ages of near a century; with eyes direct in expression 
 to read a man to his boot-heels ; a nose somewhat Roman 
 and made more so as life went on by his favorite habit 
 of stroking and pulling it downward ; a mouth bespeak- 
 ing masterfulness, willfulness, austerity and frugality, 
 endowed with keen and discriminating mental character- 
 
104 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 istics of intensely active temperament. Firmness of pur- 
 pose, rectitude of intention and persistence in effort were 
 his stronghold, to which were added genius to advance 
 in the right path, and the common sense to keep the 
 traces even. 
 
 His intelligent face, his sharp eye, his plain speech, 
 his keen sense of the true and the false, and his scorn 
 that withered every sham without ceremony, were traits 
 that marked him a successful man. Success was indel- 
 ibly stamped on everything he undertook. To him time 
 was as precious as money, and he allowed no idle talkers 
 to infringe upon it. While others were waiting for their 
 plans to mature, he went on ahead and gathered the fruit. 
 Truthfulness was another of his marked characteristics 
 and he would overlook most any fault in a man before 
 that of untruthfulness. He hated flattery, and the more 
 people tried to deal it out to him the less they got. Woe 
 to the lazy man, the flatterer, the dishonest man who 
 came to curry favors! Strong men have trembled at 
 his rebuke, and yet this man had a heart as gentle as a 
 woman's. He made the sorrow of his friends his own, 
 thereby commingling strength and tenderness. 
 
 Dr. Pearsons was a great man. No one could doubt 
 it, who looked at his strong, firm, intellectual face. He 
 was a man who in a crowd would attract attention by his 
 height, vigorous mien, strong, yet refined facial contour, 
 keen, dominant, dark eyes, and eagle nose. Like all posi- 
 tive characters, his corners knocked against some people. 
 Early in life he formed an ideal; he saw a vision. He 
 was not influenced by religious fanaticism, and the cant 
 of ministers and his common sense saved him from fa- 
 natical Puritanism. His fame will increase as the years 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 105 
 
 go by, but many people will owe him much who may 
 never hear his name. His title to fame among the great- 
 est philanthropists is secure. 
 
 He was a man " with a presence." One was heard 
 to exclainm when he left his presence, " What a whale 
 of a man ! " his personal appearance being a better pass- 
 port to one's favorable consideration than a dozen letters 
 of recommendation. To look at him any one would say, 
 " Here is a man of good judgment and good, practical 
 common sense." He was one of the few men who pos- 
 sessed the faculty of foresight and decision, which is so 
 needed for business success. He did not inherit his wealth, 
 nor was he born with a silver spoon ; but by his force of 
 character and benevolence he created a position in the 
 " niche of fame " which is given to but few. 
 
 In manner he was brusque and he strove to show the 
 self-control which holds a man self-poised and confident 
 in times of great financial deals. He would gain a hun- 
 dred thousand dollars without an outward sign, except 
 some choice expletive, of which he had a great stock, 
 but was never profane ; as, " Well, now I'm going home 
 to take a nap, by godfrey ! " He said of himself, " I am 
 a close-fisted man, an old curmudgeon. I have given away 
 millions but I never spent twenty dollars foolishly in my 
 life." 
 
 There also seem to be two laws, concealed from human 
 vision, and to which no one has ever given a good defini- 
 tion. They are called " Chance and Fate." 
 
 Dr. D. K. Pearsons distributed $100,000 in charity, 
 and did it in so matter-of-fact a way, without allowing 
 even a simple return of thanks for the donations, that it 
 may be regarded as one of the most remarkable incidents 
 
106 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 of practical benevolence that ever occurred. It was the 
 more remarkable because the donor had given in the 
 same free-handed manner upwards of $75,000 in proper- 
 ty to various charitable institutions. 
 
 He wrote the following letter to the Trustees of the 
 McCormick Theological Seminary: 
 " Col. R. B. Mason, President of Trustees, McCormick 
 
 " Theological Seminary. Dear Sir : 
 
 "On the 21st of February, 1883, I made a will in 
 which I gave the Presbyterian Theological Seminary 
 four houses. I have concluded, however, to be my own 
 executor, and have made a conveyance to the seminary of 
 eight houses in lieu of the four. I ask no thanks or ex- 
 pression from the trustees, but I would like to have them 
 pass resolutions showing that the income from this prop- 
 erty is to be used in assisting poor and worthy students in 
 the seminary, and that, while the property which I give 
 may be sold and the investment changed from time to 
 time, whenever the trustees deem it best, the proceeds are 
 to be invested in other property so that the fund will be a 
 perpetual one, the income of which shall be devoted to 
 the above uses. I will add, however, that I consider these 
 houses a good investment and recommend the trustees 
 to keep the same as long as they yield as good an in- 
 come as they are doing now. 
 
 "Daniel K. Pearsons." 
 
 He transacted another stroke of charitable business at 
 the same time, by gifts amounting altogether to $175,- 
 000, divided as follows: 
 
 Presbyterian Seminary $50,000 
 
 Congregational Seminary, 50,000 
 
 Young Men's Christian Association, 30,000 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 107 
 
 Board of Foreign Missions, $20,000 
 
 Presbyterian Hospital, 25,000 
 
 " See here," said the Doctor, casting a straight and 
 earnest look from under his shaggy eyebrows at the tax 
 reviewer, " why have you people here the temerity to 
 tax me on that old rattletrap desk ? " 
 
 " Well, you see it is the assessor's business to tax 
 everything tangible. Doctor," the reviewer replied. 
 
 "Tangible nothing! You're talking poppycock and 
 nonsense, man! Don't you know that that desk is so 
 blamed intangible, through age, that it would fall to pieces 
 if any person even disturbed it by brushing the cobwebs 
 from it ? No ? Well, it's a fact. Say, young man, I knew 
 your father-in-law at Dwight, 111., when King Edward 
 VII., then Prince of Wales, shot snipe on his farm. Well, 
 that desk of mine is as old as that." 
 
 " Sure it isn't full of diamonds, Doctor ? " the reviewer 
 asked. 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! ha ! Diamonds, eh — me have diamonds ? 
 No, sir, but it may contain the remnants of what once 
 were check books. I work at the job of giving away 
 money, and I want justice here. Please wipe off that 
 assessment. I am working as fast as I can so I won't 
 have a blamed cent of taxes to pay to Cook county. That 
 desk is the last thing I have and I don't think I ought to 
 pay six dollars tax on it to use for philanthropic purposes 
 and for the good of the public. I have to come over here 
 regularly once a year. You fellows may think it's a 
 joke, but I don't, making a poor old fellow like me trot 
 to town this way. If I was fifty years younger that as- 
 sessor would get a thrashing. And, by gum, I believe I 
 could almost do it now, at ninety ! " 
 
108 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 Daniel K. Pearsons was himself the embodiment and 
 originator of certain important aims and purposes to be 
 accomplished in life. The results of their workings are 
 seen in a line of colleges extending from Maine to Cali- 
 fornia, from Washington to Florida ; also in missions and 
 hospitals. Visible monuments of his idea of disposing of 
 his wealth for the benefit of mankind, they are also seen 
 in the movement that has originated the benevolence of 
 others, which has fostered other institutions than his, for 
 the higher education of humanity. He has fathered one 
 of the most important grounds, that has trained the high- 
 est intellects for the service of Christ; he has sent the 
 product to foreign lands as missionaries. 
 
 His main idea was to furnish to this and future genera- 
 tions the opportunity for Christian education founded 
 in reverence for the Bible and its teachings. That the 
 youth of the land might have higher education, he 
 worked and planned assiduously. Another idea had in 
 view monuments for the past and aid for the future in 
 building and furnishing dormitories, where poor students 
 could secure board and room at the bare cost of mainte- 
 nance ; where the future men might be trained in industry 
 and frugality. Their minds teeming with ideas, and 
 fertile in plans of future enterprises might have a home 
 of culture. His idea that girls should have as good a 
 chance as boys led to aiding that pioneer girls' college of 
 the country, the pattern for many others. Mount Hol- 
 yoke. When it was destroyed by fire his money materially 
 helped to rebuild it. Yale dates back to 1700, and Har- 
 vard to when Boston was a village. Both were conceived 
 in the mind of the early settlers of New England, who, 
 driven from their native land by religious persecution, 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 109 
 
 determined to preserve both church and state by building 
 the institutions where the young men could be educated 
 for the ministry of Christ. What more fitting was it, that 
 one of his principal aims in life culminated in rebuilding 
 Mount Holyoke to strengthen the education of our future 
 mothers ? 
 
 Ever eager in the pursuit of wealth, he used it, when at-, 
 tained, in developing the resources of the country, in 
 furnishing happiness to domestic life and the firesides. 
 He upreared the walls of theological seminaries from 
 which come the enlightened gospel spreaders; he fur- 
 nished money to aid discoveries in natural sciences; he 
 built and endowed science halls, where inventions in our 
 natural resources and health of our country are brought 
 forth. 
 
 His idea was to further the glorious triumph of faith ; 
 to make the strongest effort to discharge his personal re- 
 sponsibility for the favors of wealth ; to be consistent in 
 his teachings to others to do as he was doing; to pre- 
 serve an unswerving adherence to the duties of philan- 
 thropy ; to fit himself to work for God in all the walks of 
 life ; to leave for future (reference a general standard of 
 Christian uprightness and steadfastness and to aid the 
 generations soon to come to the field of action. During 
 their day great general and vital changes in the condition, 
 of society will be wrought. During a few of these days 
 more will be accomplished than in all since the light first 
 went forth from Jerusalem. The work of preparation 
 will go on for great attainments in theoretical science, 
 in practical art, in circulation of knowledge, in political 
 betterment, in medical research and in philosophy. The 
 
110 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 people who live in the age when all these are focused and 
 attain their zenith will indeed be blessed. 
 
 He souight to clear the muddy and opaque rivulets, 
 emptying themselves into the clear river of truth to claim 
 affinity to its waters ; to practice self-denial and habitual 
 sacrifice in the making of good souls. What is meant 
 by the " soul " to which this paramount value is ascribed? 
 And why should there be any natural enmity between this 
 " soul " and the world ? Why should the gain of the 
 whole world be likely to hazard the loss of the soul ? The 
 soul is man's higher life, not the life of the body, nor even 
 of the intellect, but of the feelings, the affections and the 
 aspirations. A man may ignore this higher life and try 
 to stifle it, but he cannot avoid witnessing, in some shape, 
 the divine love of God. The budding trees, the painting 
 of the landscape in the green of renewed life, the golden 
 sunset, the browning of nature in autumn tells of the soul 
 implanted in the breast of man. It is part of himself. 
 Willingly or uowillingJy, worthily or unworthily, he must 
 carry his soul about with him until death and through 
 death. There is a " forever " stamped upon it. He can 
 ennoble or he can degrade, but he cannot destroy. The 
 almighty judgment of God, in his mercy seat, shall decide 
 this momentous question. To lose the soul is to quench 
 the Divine Spirit by which it burns. 
 
 Now there can be little question that personal influence 
 is the most powerful agency which can act on man. You 
 know well the irresistible force of example when dis- 
 played by one you admire and esteem. " Unto whom- 
 soever much is given of him much shall be required : and 
 to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask 
 the more." St. Luke 12 : 48. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 111 
 
 He wished to be useful in the world, and fulfill with 
 honor and siuccess the great mission of life, " to have not 
 lived in vain " ; to erect marvels of the fruit of philan- 
 thropy; to regard nothing as impossible in gaining his 
 ends. He toiled for fifty years in gaining, and twenty, 
 which he declared were harder than the first, in giving 
 away his fortune. 
 
 iHe derived his aim to die poor, after disposing of his 
 wealth in his own lifetime, from George Peabody, the 
 well-known philanthropist, who, when strolling in an En- 
 glish cemetery, became interested in the epitaph of a 
 wealthy man. The inscription said he had given away 
 immense sums of money " in his lifetime." This led 
 Peabody to give away, before he died, all his great for- 
 tune, except five million dollars, reserved for relatives. 
 
 He fitted out Grinnell to search for Dr. Franklin ; gave 
 £25,000 to the library at Danvers, his native place ; £100,- 
 000 to Baltimore; £150,000 to London poor, £500,000 for 
 model laborers' cottages; and $2,500,000 to colleges in 
 the United States. He refused a baronetcy, and when he 
 died, in London, received funeral honors in Westminster. 
 
 D. K. Pearsons noticed what Peabody was doing, and 
 immediately made up his mind to be his own executor. 
 The consequence has been that almost every small college 
 in the country has had new life put into it by his benevo- 
 lent touch. Andrew Carnegie heard of these cases and 
 it did not take him long to decide that he would follow 
 suit. He is even a little more radical than Pearsons, as 
 he not only insists that he will die a poor man, but ex- 
 presses the opinion that it is " a disgrace to die rich." 
 John D. Rockefeller evidently has been impressed by Mr. 
 Pearsons' example. He does not boast of what he will 
 
112 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 do, but it is no secret that he is giving away his immense 
 fortune as fast as he can do so with the exercise of good 
 judgment. He employs two men to assist him in this 
 work, but, work as they may, it is impossible for them 
 to give as fast as he would like to get rid of his wealth. 
 
 Every one of these men, whether now living or dead, 
 informed us that the giving away of his money was more 
 toilsome and harassing than was the making of it. Every 
 one of them was afraid he was doing more harm than 
 good by giving it away. Every one of them met with 
 the basest ingratitude and was worried to death by beg- 
 gars, most of whom were imposters. The happiest man 
 in the world is the virtuous and healthy man who is above 
 want, but not beyond the necessity for hard work. All 
 wealth over and above that is vanity of vanities and vex- 
 ation of spirit. 
 
 "Dungeness, Femandina, Florida. 
 
 " Dear Dr. Pearsons : 
 
 " Thanks for your kind letter which reached me on my 
 sister's island. I shall bear in mind the wise advice of my 
 senior and pioneer in enforcing, by example, the doctrine 
 that surplus wealth is a trust to be administered by the 
 person during his own life. I agree with you, the small, 
 poor colleges are most in need. It has become the fash- 
 ion to give to the principal universities. These do not get 
 too much, but the less known get too litth. I congratu- 
 late you not upon your own givings but upon the much 
 greater sum you have stimulated others to give. This 
 is what I always feel to be the chief point. I hope we 
 are to meet ere long. I hope you are to be a centenarian 
 to prove that such lives continue long upon the land. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 113 
 
 With every good wish and much gratitude for the ex- 
 ample you set me, 
 
 " Your humble disciple, 
 
 " Andrew Carnegie." 
 
 The Doctor said, concerning Rockefeller's ten-million- 
 dollar gift to the University of Chicago : 
 
 " It is an attempt to create an intellectual aristocracy ; 
 to monopolize higher education by restricting it to the 
 chosen few ; to close the doors of colleges to the masses, 
 and eventually to stifle an expression of liberal thought 
 in American universities. The announcement means that 
 the oil king will attempt to monopolize higher education 
 and centralize it at a few universities. He will attempt 
 to manipulate education as he has oil and railroads. He 
 will endeavor to drive out the little fellow, his greatest 
 competitor. When this is done, Mr. Rockefeller will be 
 able to mould the minds of students to think as he would 
 have them think ; to give great questions of the hour lit- 
 tle independent thought. 
 
 " The $10,000,000 is not for the education of the mass- 
 es. A comparatively small number of the more fortunate 
 young men and women are the ones who are to benefit, 
 and not the sons and daughters of the toilers. The higher 
 tuition fees of the great universities and the enormous 
 cost of living make it impossible for the poor to attend. 
 The small colleges near their homes are the only schools 
 that reach out and give the working class college advan- 
 tages. People should rally to the defence of the small 
 college. This gift should open their eyes to the impend- 
 ing danger of the encroachment of the university upon 
 the domain of the college. It will result in more endow- 
 ments — small in comparison to Rockefeller's millions, but 
 
114 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 great in the aggregate. In the end, our small colleges 
 will be the gainers. 
 
 " This cry of ' tainted money ' is not a matter for jest. 
 It is unfair. It is not American. It has become the rally- 
 ing cry of the socialist, the drone and the discontented 
 members of society, who hate those whose talents and 
 fortune exceed their own. It has become concentrated 
 on one man, who is now held up to ridicule and hatred. 
 In five years the reaction will come and the persons now 
 reviling John D. Rockefeller will revere him, while his 
 traducers will be forgotten. The series of attacks on him 
 is shameful and unjust. I know him from top to bottom, 
 and I love him. 
 
 " To the losers in the race for wealth all money is 
 tainted. None has been honestly gained. Foresight, 
 energy, clean livir^ are not considered. Years ago I saw 
 in Chicago, bargains I could drive to make me wealthy. 
 Such has been the basis of success for every man who has 
 acquired wealth. That is not considered by the socialist 
 and idler. I want to express my opinion of a great man. 
 I would rather be John D. Rockefeller today, divested of 
 his wealth, and with his lovable personality, than any of 
 the crew, saints or sinners, who are attacking him. Here 
 is a letter from him : 
 
 " <T 
 
 'Dear Dr. Pearsons : Thank you for you kind words. 
 Good friend, I appreciate them. Life is short and you 
 and I have too much to do in the world to be diverted 
 from our purpose to try and make things better. Let us 
 keep right on and do our best in our day and generation, 
 rejoicing in the beautiful sentiment expressed by our la- 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS US 
 
 mented Lincoln : " With malice toward none and charity 
 for all." 
 
 " ' Sincerely your friend, 
 
 " • John D. Rockefeller.' 
 
 " And those are the sentiments of the man whom the 
 public delights to maHgn, It has grown fashionable to 
 attack him. The socialistic element is triumphant, but 
 the time is coming, and soon, when the public will be 
 ashamed of themselves. Carnegie has been attacked when 
 he strove for the betterment of humanity. 
 
 " I sent $25,000 to the West Virginia Conference Semi- 
 nary. There's the place to purify tainted money. The 
 ozone there will take the taint out of it. Money invested 
 that way cannot be tainted. Devoted to the purpose of 
 spreading the Word of Christ or the torch of knowledge 
 any stain would be removed, and the persons who would 
 refuse it for that purpose are not friends of mankind. 
 
 '"Chicago, Oct. 2, 1905. To the Treasurer of the 
 Board of Foreign Missions: I enclose $50,000. This 
 money is to be held intact forever ; the interest alone be- 
 ing used. 
 
 " ' This money came in this way : By sharp bargaining 
 and rigid economy I acquired $10,000 and purchased 100 
 shares of bank stock. As years went by this stock paid 
 me good interest, and the 100 shares became worth $50,- 
 000. I can give you the name of the bank, and the direc- 
 tors are all good men. 
 
 " ' Will this money be good to extend Christian edu- 
 cation in foreign countries or is it " tainted money " ? If 
 you refuse it, there are several theological seminaries 
 
116 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 here that would be pleased to take it, and I know of 100 
 poor colleges that would be delighted to receive it. 
 " ' Yours respectfully, 
 
 " ' D. K. Pearsons.' " 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Mr. Pearsons' first commission after entering the real 
 estate business in 1860 was to sell 14,000 acres in Cham- 
 paign County. He went out among the farmers of the 
 State and when he found one dissatisfied, induced him 
 to move. When he traveled in the country by train or 
 wagon, a small grip filled with handbills telling of his 
 stock in trade invariably accompanied him. He can- 
 vassed the trains and towns. He made it a rule never 
 to misrepresent his properties, so that, in a short time, 
 he gained a large business. He saw that farm and timber 
 land would increase very fast in value, as the new pro- 
 jected railroads, like the Illinois Central and others, 
 opened up the country. He advertised weeks ahead when 
 he would meet the crowd in western Illinois to sell them 
 lands, when he would monopolize all the acquirable teams 
 in town to carry the anxious land seekers. 
 
 At this time he had desk room in an office at the comer 
 of Clark and Randolph Streets, Chicago, for which he 
 paid twenty-five dollars a year. At the end of the first 
 year the lessees of the room demanded and received fifty 
 dollars a year. At the end of the second year they struck 
 for seventy-five. At the end of the third year, on the 
 ground that he was making more money than anybody, 
 they asked for one hundred a year. He told them to 
 
 117 
 
118 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 wait awhile, and went out to the Methodist church build- 
 ing at LaSalle and Washington Streets and rented three 
 rooms for three hundred and sixty dollars a year. He 
 bought timber lands for $2.25 an acre, when his friends. 
 Potter Palmer and Samuel AUerton, told him : " You 
 are crazy; no one will want that timber for a hundred 
 years." Yet, perhaps, at that time, if he had followed 
 their advice, to buy State Street frontage, like they had, 
 the institutions of the country might have been benefited 
 with numberless more millions. He sold land for the 
 Illinois Centrail Railroad, for the Michael Sullivan estate 
 and the Sturges lands. His sales in Illinois alone are said to 
 have exceeded one million acres. In 1860 he also began 
 to loan money for the iEtna Life Insurance Company, 
 and others, on farm lands and for twelve years he loaned 
 more than one million annually. 
 
 About this time the Doctor, his wife and sister-in-law, 
 Miss Chapin, took a trip to Europe and the Holy Land, 
 when the trip meant something in worry, time and poor 
 accommodations. They ascended Mount Calvary and 
 stood at the Shrine of the Nativity. He always said "that 
 what impressed him' most and caused .great sorrow as 
 well as anger, was the representatives of the Christian 
 religions fighting among themselves on the blessed site, 
 and that it was necessary to have Moslems there with 
 fixed bayonets to keep the peace in that Holy of Holies. 
 Six hundred years ago the crusades came to an end. The 
 Christian world had but to stretch forth its hand to 
 garner all that for which millions died in vain. Today 
 Europe and America are indifferent to the rule of the 
 Mohammedan at Jerusalem. Is Christian faith less 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 119 
 
 earnest and Christian zeal less strong than it was a thou- 
 sand years ago ? " 
 
 He soon had as his friends and helpers some of the 
 most influential men of the West. Phil Armour, Samuel 
 Allerton, Marshall Field, Orson Smith and others helped 
 and were helped by him. 
 
 He was now the owner of large tracts of land and tim- 
 ber in Illinois, Michigan and elsewhere; director in the 
 Chicago Chamber of Commerce, the Chicago City Rail- 
 way Company, Metropolitan National Bank, and others, 
 and stockholder in the Commercial and First National 
 Banks and other institutions. His judgment, which had 
 proved so acceptable to add to the fortunes of others for 
 twelve years, had proved equally successful for. himself. 
 People said he was doing well, but no one imagined he 
 "vas so wealthy. In twelve years he made a million dol- 
 lars and, " by the Old Harry," he said, with one of his 
 inimitable gestures, " I never told any one about it but 
 my wife." 
 
 It is no wonder that people who had mone)rto invest 
 before the Chicago fire, which started at the comer of 
 Jeflferson and DeKoven Streets on Oct. 9, 1871, got rich 
 quick, if one considers the marvelous growth of the city 
 and rise in real estate values. Walter S. Newberry 
 bought forty acres on the north side where the New- 
 berry Library now stands, of Thomas Hartswell for 
 $1,062. Who can estimate the millions it is worth today? 
 Major Kingsbury, having saved $600 from his salary, 
 thought to invest it for the children by buying 160 feet 
 by 180 feet at the corner of Clark and Randolph, and 
 twenty-seven acres on the north branch with it. In 1852 
 the owner of fourteen acres between State Street and 
 
120 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 Michigan Avenue and running south to Twenty-sixth 
 Street advertised it for sale at $500 per acre and could 
 not sell. Time and environments made the opportunity 
 in that wonderful city of " I will." 
 
 Mr. Pearsons, by living economically, soon amassed a 
 fortune. He had the valuable trait of foreseeing panics 
 and money stringency ; in fact, it seemed possible for him 
 almost to smell them. His keen perception would see 
 one coming and he would quietly gather together about 
 a half million of dollars, cash. This, when the panic 
 came, would be secretly invested in stocks at their de- 
 flated values, and thousands of shares of the best bank 
 and railroad stocks, bought at one-half price, would be 
 put into his safety deposit box. No futures or margins 
 for him ; the real goods were what he demanded, bought 
 and paid for. In all his business career, no one could 
 point to him as a gambler in stocks. He neither gave nor 
 received margins. 
 
 When all had been fixed to his satisfaction, the home 
 folks would be surprised at some such remark as this: 
 " Well, Mariett and Julia, pack your trunks for that trip 
 up the Nile, or to Japan, or around the world. There 
 won't be much doing for a year or two. I have every- 
 thing fixed; we will let them fight it out." Invariably, 
 on their return, he would find himself richer by one or 
 two hundred thousand dollars, and the expense of the 
 voyage paid besides. They went around the world twice, 
 besides side trips in Europe and the Holy Land and the 
 Nile. They climbed the enduring pyramids. They saw the 
 awesome sphynx, looking into the dimness of the ages at 
 the phantom of the great, solemn pageants and funerals 
 of the great Pharaohs and their entombment in the great- 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 121 
 
 est of all tombs and monuments, the pyramids. If the 
 traditions of the sacred Nile could be deciphered ; if the 
 silent sphynx would tell what it once saw, we would see 
 millions of people brought tc^ether to witness the jour- 
 ney of Rameses II., enwrapped in cloth and embalmed in 
 those time-defying lotions, that have given us the mum- 
 mies of the royal kings. They marveled at the works of 
 man and the fallen ruins that dwarf the mightiest efforts 
 of today to equal or build. They viewed the ground and 
 measured the needs of the people that were afterwards 
 to feel their benevolence. 
 
 They saw the United States from the Pacific to the At- 
 lantic and Gulf. They gazed on the awful majesty of the 
 Yosemite and the giant trees that were saplings before 
 the dawn of history. They boated through the Florida 
 jungle on the Oklawaha River and they saw how the 
 Georgia " crackers " and the mountaineers of Kentucky 
 lived and what they needed to enlighten them. They saw 
 the place in Washington sanctified by the blood of the 
 martyred Whitmans. There lie the remains of Dr. 
 Marcus Whitman and wife, ruthlessly butchered by the 
 Indians, whom they had come on a mission to save. They 
 saw Berea College struggling in a mighty effort to educate 
 the poor mountain whites. They visited Beloit and saw 
 their early sayings to the blasphemous land agent about 
 to be fulfilled. They selected six young Chinamen from 
 the best in Chicago, educated them and converted them 
 to be ministers of the Gospel. They established them in 
 missions in the great cities of China and in after years 
 visited them and saw with their own eyes the great good 
 their money had done. They came on their travels to 
 Marsivan, Armenia, in Asiatic Turkey, and they saw the 
 
122 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 efforts of the Christians and inhabitants of that historic 
 land in the struggle to acquire knowledge. They saw 
 the great need of Christian education and missions in 
 that Moslem-ridden country, and soon a golden stream of 
 dollars crossed the ocean to strengthen Anatolia College 
 at that place. They saw that the college at Colorado 
 Springs, nestling at the foot of majestic Pike's Peak, 
 needed strengthening, and they gave their wealth where 
 they thought it would do the most good through the 
 length and breadth of this great land of ours. It was in 
 1887 that they first began systematically to give away 
 their great fortune, with a distinct object in view. 
 
 On Dr. Pearsons' return from these voyages, and when 
 he was first seen striding along Dearborn Street to his 
 office, with that step that solid character gives to the soul 
 and that certain, indefinable something that betokens a 
 man of millions, the brokers and dealers would nudge 
 each other and say, " There's old Pearsons, the panic is 
 over, good times are here, let us buy now and make a 
 profit, that's the way he makes his money. If he can make 
 so much money we must watch him." Little they knew 
 of those shares lying in the safety boxes ; of the big in- 
 crease in value and big dividends earned. Perhaps they 
 were the ones to buy his stock when sold at the top of the 
 market. Those sly old traders of early Chicago almost 
 invariably did the opposite of what they seemed to be 
 doing. Futile was it to ask their advice. The heartless 
 struggle knew no friends except a few who clung to- 
 gether until they conquered all the rest; then the death 
 grapple came among themselves. The story is told of a 
 misunderstanding and quarrel between two of these 
 giants of finance, in which one vowed to get the other's 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 123 
 
 millions. The other took oath that he never would, but 
 who can tell the ending of fate? While the second was 
 in Europe, and caught napping the first accomplished his 
 purpose by inveigling the ambitious son of the other into 
 the wheat pit to corner the market. He got some mil- 
 lions, but fate balanced the matter in her own way, as 
 the gigantic task of getting the wheat to Chicago to meet 
 his obligations to deliver, undoubtedly undermined the 
 health of the first and caused his death soon after. 
 
 The Doctor owed a great deal of his foresight and 
 business acumen to such men as Marshall Field, Potter 
 Palmer, Lieutenant-Governor Bross, Armour, Smith and 
 Allerton. They respected him and while they may have 
 misled thbusamds on the ups and downs of values, they 
 always gave him the right tips. The Doctor saw the pit- 
 falls and when he had enough, then he quit. These 
 mighty men of means were instrumental in placing him 
 among the incorporators of numerous banks and street 
 car improvements. He was a director of the Chicago 
 City Railroad Company, the Alley L, the Commercial 
 National, the American Exchange National, and the Met- 
 ropolitan National Banks, the Mutual Fuel Gas Company, 
 and others too numerous to mention. Into most of these, 
 to use the language of the day, he had been " let in on the 
 ground floor." His real estate, transactions and timber 
 land, wikh the sale of the finished products, together with 
 the immense rise in the value of bank and street railway 
 stocks, account for his great fortune. Let us admit, also, 
 that there was mixed in a great deal of force of charac- 
 ter; of business ability and foresight to take advantage 
 of these chances. Soon the shares bought at or near par 
 went to 200, then some to 300, and even 400 did not see 
 
124 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 the limit of the advance. Then began the " cutting of 
 melons," to use a phrase that is common today. The di- 
 rectors of these corporations, when improvements, ex- 
 tensions or increase in the capital stock was needed, 
 would vote an increased number of shares, then sell 
 them to themselves and other stockholders in proportion 
 to the holdings at 100. This also carried a proportionate 
 interest in the surplus, and real estate, also in the ensuing 
 dividends. Although a strict and rigid upholding to the 
 light might detect a blur of unrighteousness and unfair- 
 ness to the public in these transactions, still they had a 
 right, under the existing laws, to do with their own as 
 they wished. The watering of stock and getting the in- 
 creased dividends resulting therefrom, calls for the enact- 
 ment of a stringent law. 
 
 So things went on with the plodding Doctor. During 
 these years no children came to bless the happy union, 
 and the incompletion of his family was like a heavy 
 weight on his home-loving heart. The four barren square 
 walls, although hung with costly pictures, a home where 
 all the evidences of great wealth were displayed, lacked 
 to him the supreme joy which comes with the merry 
 prattle of little children, as they romp hand in hand, or 
 throw their little arms about one's neck. From the very 
 position the father holds, founded on the laws of nature 
 and declared in the Bible, it was intended that he should 
 be the king of the family and his children the subjects of 
 his will for the sake of posterity. Children might have 
 been ordained to come to maturity in twenty weeks in- 
 stead of twenty years. To care for them that long period, 
 nature has implanted in all manly breasts the divine trait 
 that craves the lavishment of love and care to maturity. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 125 
 
 To love children is the dictate of our nature, apart from 
 the promptings of kindred blood ; of the desire that our 
 flesh should endure through the ages; it is a tribute to 
 their helplessness, their innocence and their beauty. 
 
 ■It was these feelings that prompted Dr. Pearsons, 
 when on a visit to his brother's home at West Hartford, 
 Vt., in 1864, to exclaim to his sister-in-law, as he gazed 
 in rapture and love at the baby form of the author of this 
 book lying in his cradle and as he stood with fingers en- 
 wrapped by the infant's tiny hand : 
 
 " Wealthie, I want you to name that baby for me. 
 Teach him to grow to boyhood in the right course." 
 
 When the boy was six years old he asked permission 
 to adopt him, but my parents, although blessed with 
 two other boys and a daughter, could never bring them- 
 selves to the point of parting. At the age of eighteen, 
 when the boy was told by his loving father that he was 
 his " own man," the Doctor had — at least, he never 
 brought the subject up again — changed his mind and 
 intended to devote the most, if not all, of his fortune to 
 his " children" — the colleges and other institutions. 
 
 His namesake takes off his hat to his memory, and 
 although he is an unworthy carrier of the name, he will 
 always do what every one should strive to do, " the best 
 you can." 
 
 " He mourns the dead, who live as they desire." He 
 has a loving wife, a beautiful daughter, a manly boy to 
 carry on the Pearsons name, and the hallowed memory 
 of the little boy, the third of the name, who lies in his 
 grave. He also has enough worldly means to keep the 
 wolf from the door. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 DR. PEARSONS' LECTURE ON THE COLLEGES. 
 
 " Nothing is of greater interest to thoughtful fathers 
 and mothers than the spirit in which their children go to 
 school or college. As youth ripens into manhood and 
 womanhood, a growing spirit of earnestness and a higher 
 purpose is looked for. The degree in which this expec- 
 tation is realized is the measure of the parents' hope for 
 the intellectual superiority of the youth. 
 
 " It has been said that there is one thing finer than the 
 best work of any man, and that is the spirit which he 
 puts into it. Judged by intellectual and military stand- 
 ards, America has had many greater men than Wash- 
 ington, but no one has ever yet risen to dispute with him 
 the foremost place in the nation's veneration and honor. 
 Almost every community possesses some man of com- 
 manding influence, whose mere opinion has greater weight 
 than the most eloquent arguments of his associates. His 
 prevalent attitude of mind is known to be that of fair- 
 ness and integrity. His wisdom and efiiciency are 
 trusted. 
 
 " Significant as is a good spirit in business or profes- 
 sional life, it is even more essential in the student. It 
 determines his aim and his method; whether his work 
 shall be that of the slave or the freeman; whether its 
 
 127 
 
128 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 results shall be accumulation merely or manly growth. 
 It determines whether he shall be large-minded and fair- 
 minded in his intercourse with his fellows and his search 
 for truth ; whether he shall be able to rise above the temp- 
 tations to meanness and pettiness which beset him; 
 whether he shall put work before pleasure and duty high- 
 er than self. 
 
 " Emerson has beautifully said that 'at birth the gate 
 of gifts is forever closed against each soul,' but this great 
 truth needs to be interpreted in the light of the declara- 
 tion of modern science that we are all creatures of en- 
 vironments. 
 
 " Whoever has watched the unfolding of temperament, 
 tastes and character in the little child, knows how much is 
 due to persuasive influence. Hereditary traits are quick- 
 ly modified by conditions of growth. As the flower be- 
 comes pale and sickly and finally dies, if deprived of its 
 natural sunlight, so the best elements of the intellectual 
 and moral life become feeble and distorted if the atmos- 
 phere in which they are developed lacks wholesome tone 
 and stimulus. 
 
 The real student is a seeker after truth. His work is 
 not perfunctory; he studies with a genuine interest. He 
 learns his lessons, not merely that he may recite well, 
 gain the good opinion of his classmates and instructors, 
 or take high rank, but also that he may know. His active 
 mind suggests inquiries which go beyond the textbook 
 or lecture. He is not content to take his opinions from 
 others. He becomes himself an investigator. He searches 
 the library for fuller information. He compares the 
 processes of the diflferent investigators, reflects upon the 
 significance of their conclusions and applies their de- 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 129 
 
 ductions to practical problems in life. As he does this, 
 he becomes fair-minded and liberal in his views. He 
 becomes a man rather than a partisan. 
 
 " Every true education welcomes the changes that 
 have occurred in the best schools and colleges. We are 
 now able to see, as we did not formerly, the mistakes and 
 narrowness of some of the older methods of instruction. It 
 is the office of the teacher to train the student to think for 
 himself. The perceptive powers need to be quickened, 
 the imagination aroused, and the habit of well directed 
 work acquired. 
 
 " Rapid improvement has been made in the work of 
 the schools in the last few years. Rote-teaching and 
 cramming are universally condemned and to a great 
 degree eradicated. In progressive systems of schools the 
 pupils know more of elementary science, general history, 
 the products of different countries, the pj'ocesses of 
 manufacture and methods of exchange, the functions of 
 government and the rights and duties of citizens than 
 the students in college did twenty years ago. 
 
 " The true student seeks to make the most of himself. 
 A college boy who has no aspirations, no wish and deter- 
 mination to rise, might as well go home at once. A stu- 
 dent witliout ambition is a contradiction. There is little 
 chance in life for the man who has no faith in himself; 
 there is still less hope for him who will make no effort. 
 In successful men there is usually a pretty even balance 
 between self-confidence and self-distrust. Their will 
 power grows stronger in habitual success; they do not 
 allow themselves to undertake that which must lead to 
 demoralizing defeat. Student life affords constant op- 
 
130 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 portunities to test one's powers, to learn one's weakness, 
 as well as one's strength. 
 
 " One other controlling purpose must animate the 
 student in order that he may do the best work, and that is, 
 an interest in others. A self-centered Hfe must always 
 lack the highest motives ; it is especially fatal to the stu- 
 dent. 
 
 '" People sometimes speak of the pursuit of knowledge 
 for its own sake, but this is impossible; there is no 
 thought corresponding to the word. If such work were 
 conceivable no rational person would engage in it. Col- 
 lege life and work are delightful and invigorating, not 
 merely because the student is engaged in the pursuit of 
 truth and the training of his powers, but also because of 
 the stimulating companionship which he enjoys. Coopera- 
 tion and good-fellowship promote self-knowledge and 
 self-respect. 
 
 " The habitual attitude of mind in which the student 
 works is of more consequence than the work itself. The 
 influences which surround him, the conditions under 
 which his faculties are trained, cannot be too carefully 
 considered. Do not cramp his intellectual and moral 
 powers ; correct views and moderation are best learned in 
 the stimulating atmosphere of personal freedom and re- 
 sponsibility. Wisely provide for his religious needs ; all 
 education falls short of its true end which does not give 
 the soul an uplift toward God and the peace which comes 
 with the divine indwelling. Fortunate is that student 
 whose college days enable him to realize that the inquiry 
 of truth, which is the love-making or wooing of it, the 
 knowledge of the truth, which is the presence of it, and 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 131 
 
 the belief of the truth, which is the enjoying of it, are the 
 sovereign good of human nature. 
 
 " Our present college has grown up to its present ex- 
 tent under the pressure of our felt wants as a people, and 
 has in its general outlines the variety and practical adapt- 
 edness of the demands of professional and active life in 
 this country, that the progressive experience of three 
 centuries has suggested. Its great defects are want of 
 breadth, as well as of elevation, and still more the inward 
 want of that living enthusiasm and energy in its manage- 
 ment which can come only from those two grand endow- 
 ments, high intellectual culture and personal religion, 
 combined with the benevolence and support of our wealthy 
 citizens. The number of colleges in our country, now 
 claiming to be alive and deserving public attention, runs 
 into the thousands. The argument brought against them, 
 by people reviewing their past history and outlook for 
 the future, is the same as that used in reference to so 
 many dififerent religious creeds — ^that their large number 
 lessens the working force of them all. 
 
 " ' And it shall come to pass in the last diays, that the 
 mountains of the Lord's house shall be established in the 
 top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills ; 
 and all nations shall flow into it. And many people shall 
 go and say. Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain 
 of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he 
 will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths : 
 for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of 
 the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among 
 the nations, and shall rebuke many people ; and they shall 
 beat their swords into plowshares, a«d their spears into 
 pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against 
 
132 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 nation, neither shall they learn war any more.' — Isaiah 
 2:2-4. 
 
 " ' But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled 
 with the glory of the Lord.' — Num. 14: 21. 
 
 " The real fault to be found with them does not respect 
 their number, but their quality. They should be 
 strengthened and both increased in number to add their 
 combined strength to hasten the day when : ' The glory 
 of the Lord shall fill all the earth.' 
 
 " There is a lack of information on the progress of 
 Christianity. Ministers hesitate to present the worst side 
 for fear of causing discouragement, and they create hopes 
 that are never realized. We are not at the dawn of the 
 millennium. Compared with the work to be done, the 
 past is nothing. Our children's children for ten genera- 
 tions to come must labor harder than we are doing, to 
 accomplish the conversion of the world. The world's 
 population is over two billions. Of these. Christians 
 number less than a third; and half of that third belong 
 to the Roman Catholic Church. The Protestants number 
 about one hundred and fifty millions. They are divided 
 into five hundred sects. 
 
 " Before us we have the great problem — over a billion 
 of pagans to convert to Christianity. That is the solid 
 rock that looms up in our path. Before this has been 
 accomplished, our wealthy men must give of their stores 
 to build up and sustain the laboratories from which will 
 come the young missionaries to accomplish this purpose. 
 Look at it! See what work has been done in 1,800 years 
 and how much is yet to be accomplished. The holy 
 birthplace of our Lord, and the native country of the 
 nation of which He was one, is today governed by the 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 133 
 
 Moslem Turks, and the streets of His native city are 
 patrolled by the feet of soldiers, who believe not in His 
 teachings. In India, after nearly one hundred and fifty 
 years of mission work, there are about three million 
 Christians among three hundred million heathen. 
 
 " The appropriate aim and function of our colleges in 
 the machinery of education is that the future educators 
 and liberators of these masses may ascend to the loftiest 
 attainments, under skillful guides, in all the noblest de- 
 partments of human philosophy, learning, industry and 
 Christian ministry. One university at least should stand, 
 like a pillar of light, in each State and be supported by 
 the State; the glory of the community and the constant 
 object of its care. 
 
 " The university should thus be distinct entirely from 
 the college, representing in completeness the higher forms 
 of education, as such, and the higher facilities for ob- 
 taining them ; so that its provisions should be all of the 
 most ample and inviting kind, for those who have already 
 experienced the curriculum of college. 
 
 " None but men of high scholarly attainments should 
 have license to enter upon its privileges. Its gates should 
 be closed against those who have been idlers, by its in- 
 exorable requirements of a high standard of preparation, 
 that none but men of cultivated powers of mind should 
 be within its sacred enclosure. Here the topmost heights 
 of physical and religious teaching should occupy the 
 minds of those who are destined to lead the world in 
 science, philosophy and medical resources. Here faith- 
 ful, earnest guides to conversion to Christianity should 
 derive their divine inspiration to conquer the world for 
 Christ. 
 
134 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 " One of the great rules of social philosophy is that 
 ' to him who hath shall more be given.' Men delight 
 most in giving benefactions and endowments to institu- 
 tions that have already strong foundations, instead of to 
 those whose relative feebleness seems to presage their 
 end. This should not be, and is against divine teaching, 
 ' to give of your wealth to the poor and needy, and you 
 will not depart sorrowing.' The colleges and universi- 
 ties are the forts and castles of the land ; and the higher 
 their grade and their influence, the greater is the service 
 rendered to Church and State. 
 
 " Society has a great interest in the greatest possible 
 spread and universal prevalence of Christianity. In no 
 field does intellectual cultivation manifest its value more 
 than in personal religion; and also, nowhere does prac- 
 tical Christianity show such a height and breadth of de- 
 velopment as in the minds enlarged and sanctified from 
 above. 
 
 " The connection between general intelligence and 
 general Christianity is, that many social philosophers 
 have mistaken the relation between them and maintain 
 that the best method to Christianize heathen people is to 
 enlighten and elevate them by teaching them the ways of 
 modern civilization, by personal contact with its evils. 
 Then, when these have been enthroned in the citadel of 
 their minds, to introduce religion to combat these and 
 fight its way against obstacles so hard to overcome, in 
 an enlightened community. 
 
 " A true picture of the Angel of Humanity standing, 
 looking in mute despair over the desolation of the red 
 race, would bring tears to the heart of stone. Before 
 the word of God was allowed a place in their hearts its 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 135 
 
 rightful place was occupied by the demon of hate, 
 aroused by the so-called refining influences of civiliza- 
 tion, that tend only to degrade. As she stands upon an 
 eminence, sorrowfully regarding the unrolling scroll of 
 bygone ages, she looks down upon the wrecks of human 
 fate that they have witnessed. All is mist and darkness 
 until the light that went forth from Jerusalem came 
 across the unwinding book of life. 
 
 " Hard must his heart be who can look unmoved upon 
 her anguish as she gazes out over the sepulchral fields 
 of national ruin, for six thousand years, seeing the wick- 
 edness and folly of mankind and God's wonderful faith 
 and patience in the race. Will they become exhausted 
 or shall the race, surmounting all difficulties, march on 
 to triuimphant peace ? " 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Dr. Pearsons was a public-spirited man and took a 
 deep interest in public affairs, but had no time for public 
 office holding. He was, however, persuaded to run for 
 alderman for the First Ward with Murray F. Tuley. They 
 were elected with Monroe Heath as mayor, and again 
 for another term with J. T. McAuley, under the same 
 mayor, with great benefit to the city. 
 
 In 1876 the members of the finance committee of the 
 city council were J. A. Far well, comptroller; S. H. Mc- 
 Crea, J. H. Briggs, Jacob Rosenberg, D. K. Pearsons, 
 Jacob Lengacher. In 1877, the same comptroller ; D. K. 
 Pearsons, Jacob Lengacher, A. G. Throop, M. Schwers- 
 thal, S. G. Seaton. In 1878, same comptroller; D. K. 
 Pearsons, A. G. Throop, S. G. Seaton, M. Schwersthal, 
 P. Sanders. 
 
 While chairman of the finance committee Dr. Pearsons 
 made a great reputation. It was at a time when the city 
 credit was impaired because it had borrowed beyond the 
 legal limit, and the financial condition of the city was 
 deplorable. Extravagance had so outrun the city income 
 that the indebtedness was far in excess of the constitu- 
 tional limit, while tHe city had. issued certificates of in- 
 debtedness, the legality of which was disputed. Mean- 
 while, large numbers of the certificates had been taken 
 
 137 
 
138 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 by eastern bankers and others. The holders had become 
 alarmed, claiming they would lose their inviestments and 
 questioning the validity of the certificates. 
 
 Hard times were stalking gloomily in the land and 
 capital was adverse to almost every new proffer of in- 
 vestment, and solicitous for its securities everywhere. 
 Chicago was soon to need more money, and had particu- 
 lar necessity for the maintenance of its good financial 
 name. At this juncture there appeared among the bank- 
 ers of New York, an earnest, straightforward sort of a 
 man, just in from the West. He was known, personally 
 or by reputation, to some of them and was not long in 
 making himself understood by the others. He had come 
 officially as a member of the city common council, and 
 privately as a capitalist and man of honor, like them- 
 selves, to pledge them that Chicago wa.s going to pay its 
 debts. He pledged his individual word and that of his 
 city, that no matter who might be in power, no matter 
 how courts might decide, no matter how long financial 
 depression might brood over the nation, Chicago was 
 sure to meet its certificates of indebtedness, principal and 
 interest, promptly on time, dollar for dollar. He pledged 
 his entire personal fortune that what he said would be 
 carried out. The eastern financiers believed the man 
 and the city which he represented. Their fears were al- 
 layed and he returned home. His word to them was so 
 well kept and his predictions so well verified that some 
 time later when the city needed a little ready money, 
 the same man moved around among the social capitalists 
 and moneyed men so energetically that one half million 
 of dollars was easily raised and the treasury saved from 
 disgrace. This he did, despite the fact that the courts. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 139 
 
 in the interim, had decided the much-discussed certifi- 
 cates to be practically waste paper; illegal promise to 
 pay, which the city might repudiate if it pleased, but 
 which the city never did. The man who made these two 
 memorable journeys was D. K. Pearsons, and so pro- 
 nounced was their effect upon the financial standing of 
 Chicago that when he retired from the council, two years 
 later, a committee of citizens waited upon him, and in a 
 series of handsomely-engrossed resolutions, testified their 
 appreciation and that of the city for his effective work 
 in this and other important matters. As the resolutions 
 said, he held his office, " with the approval and plaudits 
 of his entire constituency, regardless of party affilia- 
 tions." 
 
 When Carter Harrison, the first, succeeded Mr. Heath 
 as mayor, his proud boast was that he saved the credit 
 of the city and paid its bills in gold. The men who were 
 actually responsible for the city's redemption from scrip 
 payment were Monroe Heath, as mayor, and D.. K. Pear- 
 sons, as chairman of the council finance committee. 
 Their services to the city between 1876 and 1879 were 
 more valuable than all that Carter Harrison performed 
 in later years, yet Mr. Pearsons is never heard of now 
 except through his magnificent charities. It was such a 
 simple story, the facts were so evident, that it was sur- 
 prising to think that Mr. Harrison, with all his effront- 
 ery, could have dared to say that he had anything to do 
 with bringing the city out of its distress. 
 
 In June, 1876, Monroe Heath was elected mayor. The 
 Colvin administration went out, leaving the city in appar- 
 ent bankruptcy, total and hopeless. Payment was made 
 in scrip; the city was harassed by claimants; the funds 
 
140 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 of all departments had been eaten up, and the mayor was 
 confronted with the gigantic task of saving the city from 
 continued discredit. People said he couldn't do it. D. 
 K. Pearsons, to whom the city owes a lasting debt of 
 gratitude, was chairman of the finance committee. With 
 a cool head, a clear mind, a natural instinct for finance 
 and a resolute determination to turn the tide, he brought 
 the city down to a close economical basis. He was en- 
 couraged and assisted by the council, which at that time 
 contained such men as Murray F. Tuley, Addison Bal- 
 lard, O. B. Phelps, Eugene Cary, John M. Smyth, Jacob 
 Beidler, A. G. Throop, S. G. Seaton, and Frank A. 
 Stauber. These facts were well known to people who 
 lived in Chicago at that time, but only those who stood 
 near the city government ever realized the unselfish 
 efforts put forth by Mr. Pearsons in the face of cruel 
 attacks. 
 
 To make a long story short, here are some figures 
 which explode any claim made by Harrison. During 
 Heath's administration the bonded debt was reduced 
 $414,000, although it seemed inevitable at first that it 
 would increase. On July 12, 1876, the. outstanding "scrip" 
 certificates of indebtedness amounted to $3,011,329 
 When Heath made his final report, on April 28, 1879, 
 $2,762,329 of these certificates had been redeemed, leav- 
 ing only $249,000 to be paid. Ample funds had been pro- 
 vided to take up the remainder, and Heath had already 
 announced that in June specie payment would be re- 
 sumed. Harrison came in just as all the hard work was 
 over, and when the policemen and firemen were paid in 
 gold for the first time, he announced to them, " BoySy 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 141 
 
 you see what I did for you." Ever since then he has been 
 asserting that he abolished scrip payment. 
 
 As was said before, Mr. Heath and Mr. Pearsons filled 
 the cupboard and then turned it over to him. Why, the 
 credit funds of the treasury were overdrawn $1,800,000 
 in 1876, yet before Harrison became mayor, one-half of 
 that amount had been paid and restored. When Heath 
 became mayor there was no money to pay salaries, five 
 months' pay being due. Now if Harrison had gone in 
 then and straightened the finances, he might have been 
 justified in his extravagant claims. The tax levies of 
 1873-04 were in dispute, and the taxes were held back. 
 Under the Heath regime, these taxes were declared legal, 
 but still not paid in. Harrison came in just in time to 
 have this money ($1,230,000) dumped on him, and he 
 always claimed that he got it for the city. As a matter 
 of fact, the money was known to be good before he took 
 the chair. 
 
 When the Pearsons family first arrived in the ;ity they 
 engaged board at a house on Wabash Avenue, where 
 they daily dined with several persone who left their mon- 
 uments in the world. Marshall Field, Potter Palmer and 
 others as prominent were there. Then came that awful 
 conflagration on Oct. 9, 1871, for which the city seemed 
 to have been preparing by a two months' drouth with 
 scorching sun and southwest wind. Before the awful 
 blasts of heat, all of business Chicago and thousands of 
 stately homes melted aiway like houses of wax. The peo- 
 ple on Wabash Avenue did not realize they were in dan- 
 ger until nearly surrounded and cut off. Then what a 
 rush there was to get to the river and the north side. 
 
142 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 Many lost their lives by falling walls, the heat or being 
 tramped by the feet of the flying multitude. 
 
 In the midst of this press was the Pearsons family, but 
 the Doctor's common sense and foresight procured a 
 conveyance at a fabulous price, in which they were con- 
 veyed northward. The fingers of destruction nearly 
 grasped them at the Rush Street bridge, where the mul- 
 titude were jammed in their mad efifort to escape, and 
 when hope seemed gone and they were about to abandon 
 the vehicle, it was caught in the pressure of that panic- 
 stricken crowd and forced, whether they willed at or not, 
 onto the other side. Many of this mob were crowded 
 into the river ; many got on boats out into the lake. Our 
 family at last found themselves, safe and sound, at Lin- 
 coln Park, but bereft of all their earthly goods. 
 
 While the great disaster temporarily paralyzed the 
 Doctor's actions, it really was a financial Godsend to him. 
 When the vaults cooled off and the books were examined, 
 he was found to have the largest amount of ready cash 
 of any one in the sorrowful and panic-stricken city. With 
 his ready stock of gold, his grit and faith in the future 
 of the city enabled him to buy cheaply, from the dis- 
 heartened owners, valuable property, which in many 
 cases, amid the general distress, he did not have the heart 
 to refuse to buy. Men came to him with tears in their 
 eyes, telling him of the destitution of their families, and 
 although he gave a liberal amount to the relief fund, he 
 could not hold his finger to the hole in the universal dike 
 for all. In this wiay a piece of real estate here and a piece 
 there, were almost forced upon him and the increase in 
 value of these, as time went on, added still more to his 
 wealth. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 143 
 
 When the Palmer House was completed the family 
 made their home there for over ten years and then erected 
 a mansion on ten acres of ground in one of the fashion- 
 able suburbs of Chicago. During the residence at the 
 Palmer House, the rotunda became the meeting place of 
 a lot of congenial spirits. Here they would sit, talk on 
 business subjects and the best opening to make money. 
 They would try to read, from general aippearance and 
 countenance, the life story and character of the hotel 
 guests. It was generally found that Pearsons' summaries 
 were nearest correct. " Now that fellow," the Doctor 
 would say, in measured tones and with his "plug" hat 
 hanging on the back of his head, as he followed with his 
 eye the form of an immaculately dressed young man, " is 
 the only support of a recently-widowed mother. He has, 
 against the advice of herself and friends, come to Chica- 
 go, bursting with ambition and egotism, to make his for- 
 tune and show the natives. Poor fool! He won't last 
 long," which turned out to be exactly the case, for after 
 six months of ups and downs on the board of trade he 
 lost his money and went home to his disappointed 
 mother. 
 
 Here he was, the intimate chum of many men who gave 
 him pointers on future developments that would enhance 
 the value of real estate. Here he was, intimate with the 
 growing financial giants. Here he was, let in on the 
 ground floor in numerous incorporations, and here he got 
 the influence and support that made him alderman and 
 one of the foremost philanthropists of the century, and 
 the foremost, if is counted the influence his giving exert- 
 ed on others to do likewise. 
 
 He was urged to enter active political life. To all 
 
144 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 appeals he answered, " No, by Jehoshaphat ! I won't lose 
 my after-dinner nap or neglect my business for any 
 thankless political office." That kind of life was not to 
 his taste. The love of home and quiet was what attracted 
 his attention after business cares. He was getting rich 
 very fast, but he was not the kind of man to talk of it or 
 make any boasts. It was, however, quite generally known 
 that at one time he owned a million dollars' worth of 
 stock in the Chicago City Railway Company. 
 
 As years went by he reached the conclusion that his 
 fortune was large enough, and that while he was the 
 owner of it by right and law, he regarded himself as only 
 tenant for life, and it was his responsible duty to see to 
 its wise distribution, in the interest of his fellow-men. 
 He made a business of it and no earnest business man 
 who desired to make money, has more steadily and per- 
 sistently studied the best way to give away his money. 
 He has built science halls, dormitories and libraries until 
 he knows the cost of each and the necessities of each 
 class of buildings. He had the plans and specifications 
 of all such in his desk and could give valuable pointers to 
 nine-tenths of the college professors who called on him. 
 His favorite plan was to give fifty thousand dollars if 
 others gave three dollars to his one. It was thus he en- 
 couraged liberal giving of endowments to colleges all 
 over the country, which his gift alone would not have 
 placed upon their feet, and saved for usefulness. The 
 plan was criticised, but the terms were nearly always ful- 
 filled. His theory was that the more men and women 
 become interested in an institution of learning the better, 
 and that there is no surer way of doing this than to have 
 them contribute of their means for their upbuilding and 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 145 
 
 permanency. Nothing seemed to please Dr. Pearsons 
 more than the announcement that the terms of his gift 
 had been complied with. He required an itemized state- 
 ment from the college authorities and the assets had to 
 be cash or interest-bearing securities. If all was correct, 
 his check went by the first mail. 
 
 How fortunate to the best interests of the world, if 
 multitudes of rich men should so consider they are only 
 tenants or agents and resolve not to trust business which 
 they can do themselves, to courts or executors and the 
 doubtful process of wills after they are gone ! A will that 
 has millions at stake oftener falls than stands. Courts 
 seem organized to defeat rich men's wills. 
 
 In the morning in the office, his desk would be cleared 
 before visitors arrived, and they came from all parts of 
 the land ; ministers, presidents of colleges, professors and 
 agents of various charitable institutions. He was a most 
 approachable man; talked directly to the point and left 
 no visitor in doubt. If he had nothing for them, there 
 was no hesitancy shown in pointing to the door and tell- 
 ing them to go. His work was mapped out. He was not 
 a church builder or payer of church debts, but he loved 
 to help those who were doing their best to help them- 
 selves. Who can say that this was not better than to 
 wait until death and then allow lawyers and courts to 
 squander the wealth in litigation ? 
 
 He was one of the organizers of the Chicago Historic- 
 al Society, which had got into debt for $13,500 in 1858 
 through mismanagement. Some years later L. Z. Leiter, 
 a member of the executive committee, started a subscrip- 
 tion with $2,500 to pay the debt. The following persons 
 gave the same amount: Mark Skinner, E. H. Sheldon, 
 
146 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 Henry J. Willing, and Daniel K. Pearsons. Samuel M. 
 Nickerson, A. A. Hunger, and Byron L. Smith each 
 gave $1,000. L. Z. Leiter paid for the first two volumes 
 and Marshall Field for the third, which cost $2,000. 
 
 Dr. Pearsons early joined the First Presbyterian Church 
 and was one of its most active members, but in after life 
 claimed no especial affiliation with any church, but rather 
 gave his money to colleges backed by any Protestant 
 church. Not that be backslid, but simply took them all 
 into his great, noble heart. He was especially active in 
 church work under J. H. Barrows, D. D., who began his 
 pastorate in 1881. During his ministry there had been 
 large accessions to the church and large benevolent con- 
 tributions. A free kindergarten in the railroad chapel, 
 provided for by the donations of Mrs. Marshall Field, 
 and also another free school, supported by the Young 
 People's Missionary Association, had been instituted. An 
 instance of the interest felt by the church in the large 
 non-church going element of the city was seen in the in- 
 stitution of the Sunday evening services in Central Music 
 Hall. The musical part of the program was conducted 
 by W. L. Tomlins, with Clarence Eddy as organist. The 
 following members of the congregation acted as a com- 
 mittee responsible for the support and management of 
 the enterprise: Marshall Field, Byron L. Smith, D. K. 
 Pearsons, Marvin Hughitt, C. D. Hamill, George H. 
 Laflin, John B. Drake, A. C. Bartlett and others. 
 
 In 1883 many wealthy and benevolent individuals of 
 this church wanted to organize a company for the care of 
 the sick among the Protestants of Chicago, and for the 
 establishment of a general hospital " for the purpose of 
 affording medical and surgical aid, for nursing the sick 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 147 
 
 and disabled persons, and to provide them, while inmates 
 of the hospital, with the ministration of the Gospel agree- 
 able to the form and doctrine of the Presbyterian Church." 
 A charter was obtained in 1883. The management ac- 
 cepted a proposition from Rush Medical College to do- 
 nate the lot on South Wood and Congress Streets to the 
 hospital. On this, with money given by Mr. Pearsons 
 and others, a building costing $25,000 and large enough 
 for 250 beds was erected. The hospital admitted the sick 
 and injured without distinction of race, color or creed. 
 It was intended to make it a charitable institution by the 
 endowment of free beds; besides these, pay patients 
 were received at reasonable rates. This allowed a high 
 class of private patients to secure accommodations at this 
 place better than at home or hotels. Mr. Pearsons was 
 president of the hospital in 1883 and 1884, and again in 
 1885 and 1886. Other prominent men connected with it 
 at the same time were Nathan Corwith, H. W. King, R. 
 C. Hamill, J. B. Drake, S. W. Rawson, Jacob Beidler 
 and C. H. McCormick. 
 
 From his friend, Addison Ballard, who served in the 
 city council with him, and from talks with Jacob Beidler, 
 Mr. Pearsons became early interested in the welfare of 
 Lake Forest University. He was prevailed upon to oc- 
 cupy a professorship and give lectures there on political 
 and social science. He told his class : 
 " Unless this country cleans up, the future generations 
 will form a race of mental, moral and physical degener- 
 ates. The devil seems to have supremacy in our nation. 
 God must give us men whom money cannot buy, in legis- 
 lature, in office and in business. Not war, pestilence nor 
 famine, but rather internal evils threaten the life of the 
 
148 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 republic. The greatest danger is the disregard of the 
 law. If a law is unjust it should be repealed, but while 
 it is on the statute book, it should be obeyed. 
 
 " The voters must take oath to uphold the constitution 
 of the nation and of the State. The disregard for the 
 law and their sworn duty makes them ' dirty, contempt- 
 ible perjurers.' When an official goes into office he takes 
 the oath of office to enforce the laws of the land. If he 
 does not do so, he is in the same class with the law-break- 
 ing citizen. The divorce laws, to separate people who 
 have taken oath before God and man to stand together 
 through thick and thin ; through adversities and troubles, 
 until death does them part, are made as easy to break as 
 possible. Out oi every fifteen couples whom God has 
 joined together in marriage, man puts asunder one of 
 them. Strike down the purity and strength of the mari- 
 tal relations and you strike at the heart of the republic. 
 
 " The laws of God are violated by those who passively 
 countenance the terrible vice and degraded traffic of our 
 large cities, as well as those who actively engage in the 
 vile work. ' The vice mill is the only mill of man which 
 does not take something of lower form and transform it 
 into a higher state.' Put your boy or your daughter 
 through this mill and see for yourself the results. ' Girls 
 in the bloom of their innocence and beauty put into a life 
 worse than death itself, are made sodden brutes.' 
 
 " The boys, by the toleration of games of dhance and 
 the terrible liquor traffic, are filling the prisons with 
 thieves and the graves of our fair country with drunk- 
 ards, thereby lowering the strength and morals of the 
 nation. 
 
 " The commandment, ' Thou shalt not kill,' is being 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 149 
 
 broken daily and hourly by the laws that foster careless- 
 ness in the operation of our railroads, factories and social 
 environments. Those who cause the overtasking and 
 breaking down, in unsanitary surroundings, of the tender 
 child, with feeble muscles and powers of endurance, are 
 breaking one of the divine laws which says, ' Do unto 
 others as you would be done by.' Think of the misery 
 and degradation caused through the influence of liquor: 
 poverty, want, insanity, the prison, the hangman's noose, 
 and awful death stalks in its wake, but no one of our men 
 in power puts forth a hand to stay its awful ravages. The 
 church is doing all it can, but even it evades the issue and 
 is cowardly. The devil would put the church out of busi- 
 ness if it could. The church can put the devil out of 
 business if it will, but it won't. So the only hope the 
 country has to abolish law-breaking, bribery of oificials 
 and the abolition of vice is the power of Christian edu- 
 cation to uplift the people. Children of a Christian home, 
 it is sacred ground — ground on which you must take 
 your stand when you go into the world. 
 
 " There has grown up in the last few years a criticism 
 against the entire fabric of the social and political order 
 which we have inherited from our fathers. After all, in 
 my opinion, the ground upon which you now stand has 
 been won for you by the toils, the heroisms, the sacrifices, 
 perhaps by the lifeblood of godly sires. That family tra- 
 dition, that atmosphere of the family life, in which you 
 were nurtured; which you breathed with your first 
 breath; and which has lent its tincture from the first to 
 the currents of your blood, was not the creature of acci- 
 dent nor even of words. How many noble lives of men 
 and women do you reckon in your line? Step by step. 
 
ISO DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 perhaps generation by generation, the family has lifted 
 itself to a higher level; has attained to a wider culture, 
 and has taken a larger part in the affairs of life. Who 
 shall tell what brave struggles, heroic endurances, wres- 
 tling prayers and utter sacrifices have made that fabric of 
 family life and fortunes, which you have inherited ? 
 
 " And what is left of them — these men and women 
 whose dust is your vantage ground and whose achieve- 
 ments are your inheritance? Is a memory of them all 
 that lives in God's universe? It was for you, for their 
 children's children, that these men toiled and suffered. 
 
 " That there has been moral progress lies in the recog- 
 nition, — ^riDw well nigh universal — ^that at bottom all 
 the problems of society are not simply problems of poli- 
 tics and government, but are really questions of applied 
 religion, education and experience. There is no unan- 
 swered question in legislation that is not answered in the 
 Gospel of Christ. Those mighty problems that have 
 brought our philosophy and statesmanship almost to a 
 standstill, if they have any solution at all, will find it in 
 the practical application to the daily life of this world of 
 the ancient law which we have inherited from our fathers 
 and mothers, — ^the law of Christ revealed to the world 
 in the Gospels. And for that reason it is with hope and 
 couraige tlilat we must look toward the future. The 
 time will not be long before we shall realize that the 
 world in which we are living, in its literature, its laws, 
 in the building of cities, in the employment of labor, in 
 the investment of money, and in its civilization is only a 
 house of prayer and every man is a brother." 
 
 DR. PEARSONS' TALK ON " KNOW THYSELF." 
 
 " It is said, and I guess it is true, that on an amcienit 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 151 
 
 temple in Delphos, built thousands of years ago, those 
 old heathen fathers wrote a text, consisting simply of the 
 two words, ' Know Thyself,' and they did this because 
 they thought that this was the best message they could 
 hand down to posterity. They placed these two words on 
 that gilded temple, and the poet has them for his faith as 
 he sings and sings that the hand that made us is Divine, 
 and always and everywhere the same principle and the 
 same words are carried out. The great study of mankind 
 is man. Now I want to notice a few of the interesting 
 matters and facts connected with our body — our system. 
 
 " For instance, the Creator designed a little cup in the 
 hollow of the hand, so that in the desert, when you come 
 to water and there is no glass or goblet to drink from, 
 you can take a drink, and the hollow of the hand holds 
 just about a good swallow of water. In the ear of every 
 individual there is a little bit of wax. When you lie 
 down upon the ground to sleep, the little insects that 
 aboimd will crawl into the ear until they come to this 
 wax. They will taste, it turn around and go away. 
 
 " The hairs that are placed in your nose are for the 
 protection of the nose, so as to keep insects out. The 
 bones of the body are all hollow. Why? Because they 
 are a great deal stronger for being hollow. Then again, 
 the bones are not so easy to break when they are hol- 
 low. You will notice, also, that the ribs are joined to the 
 breastbone by little pieces of cartilage, because, if they 
 were grown there solid, the least fall or jar would break 
 them. So they are fastened by little pieces of India rub- 
 ber. You will also notice in between the vertebrae of the 
 backbone there are little pieces of cartilage, little India 
 rubber pads, so that when you fall from a height you are 
 
152 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 not injured, the little pads acting like a cushion. You 
 will also notice that your foot is convex above and con- 
 cave below, so in case you fall or leap from a distance 
 the spring of the foot saves you from injury. 
 
 " But the human skin is the most remarkable of all. It 
 is a fact, I believe, that five-eighths of all you take into 
 your system passes off through the pores of the skin. I 
 take my arm and put it into a glass jar. Soon the per- 
 spiration will commence to dampen the sides of the jar 
 and after a time it will commence to roll down in large 
 drops. Put a man in a large jar ; give him air through a 
 glass tube, and very soon the insensible perspiration of 
 the skin will cover the sides of the jar, and you can see 
 it boiling out all over him. 
 
 " You must take into consideration another fact, that 
 the mucous membrane of the nose, the mouth and stom- 
 ach is in sympathy with the skin on the outside. For in- 
 stance, your child has the measles ; a cold strikes the child 
 and the measles goes in. It generally goes into the mu- 
 cous membrane of the lungs and you have a very sdck 
 child and one that is hard to cure. The mucous membrane 
 on the inside is just exactly Hke and alwajys in sympathy 
 with the skin on the outside, and it is called skin to where 
 it commences to turn, at the mouth, for instance, and 
 from there all on the inside is called membrane. Eating 
 will sometimes develop this sympathy. I know of some 
 people, also, who, when they eat a piece of cheese, break 
 out all over with a bright effervescence. Again, you go 
 out tonight and take cold ; the cold weather strikes that 
 insensible perspiration upon the muscles of the leg, and 
 tomorrrow morning you have the rheumatism. Then 
 you have got to reestablish that insensible perspiration in 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 153 
 
 order to cure it. Let me tell you the best way to do this : 
 "The first intimation of curing people by the application 
 of mud was away back seventy years ago, when I was a 
 boy, back in Vermont. There was an old man there who 
 was eccentric. They called him a fool but he became 
 famous for curing ulcerated eyelids and old sores. He 
 cured them by applying mud. As he became famous, of 
 course, all the physicians called him a humbug, but he 
 kept on and continued to cure people by applying this 
 red clay. There was an iron spring up there and the old 
 man, who was not a fool, knew that the waters of that 
 spring would percolate tbroug'h the ground aiU around; 
 that the mud was red because the spring contained per- 
 oxide of iron. Now he applied that peroxide of iron in 
 the shape of a mud poultice. That was philosophical, was 
 medical, and right because it is astringent and the very 
 thing to put on a sore. 
 
 " I will tell you of another place about fifteen miles 
 from Cairo, on the banks of the Nile, where the most 
 famous Sulphur Springs bubble out. The smell of sul- 
 phur fills the atmosphere as you approach. There you see 
 the native Nubians and Mohammedans in the mud. It is 
 easy for them to undress, because they don't wear much, 
 anyway. You will find them lying in these branches, 
 where the sulphur water runs into the Nile, because their 
 intuition teaches them that there is virtue in the bath. 
 
 " The funniest bath I ever saw was at Cape Miay. I was 
 walking along the beach there one day. No one was in 
 sight, until I suddenly saw a human hand moving. It 
 was an Irishman in the sand, and when I got close to 
 him the only things visible were his eyes and one hand. 
 In this hand was a bottle of whiskey, from which every 
 
154 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 few minutes he •would take a drink. ' What are you 
 doing here ? ' I asked. ' I am sweating the disease out 
 of me, ' he replied. 
 
 " A few weeks ago I was in South Dakota, and there 
 saw the remains of what were once Indian mud baths. 
 There were the stone tubs, cut out of solid rock. These 
 they filled with the mud. Then, in order to heat the mud, 
 they covered it with water which had been heated by red- 
 hot stones thrown into it, but I think they carried it too 
 far, as their custom was to jump from this hot mixture 
 into the cold water of the river. This was the primitive 
 method of the Sioux Indians to rid themselves of the evil 
 spirits which they thought they possessed when sick. 
 
 " When I was a little boy I was always struck by a 
 picture that hung on the wall in my mother's bedroom, 
 and as I lay there I could turn my eyes and see it and 
 tried for a long time to find out what it represented. The 
 picture showed the rise of man and his fall. In the 
 lower left-hand comer of the picture was a little babe, 
 a prattling, beautiful child ; further up the scale you came 
 to the little boy, 7 years old. He knew the difference 
 between right and wrong and the judge says to the little 
 fellow, ' You can get up in court to testify, for you know 
 the difference between right and wrong.' That boy, 7 
 years old, is getting his second teeth. The age of man 
 is divided into periods of seven years each, not because 
 the figure seven has any magic in it but because a man's 
 entire system changes on an average about every seven 
 years. 
 
 " Now you go along seven years further and you come 
 to puberty. You go another period ; the boy has grown 
 to manhood. Seven years more brings him to twenty- 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 155 
 
 eight ; the boy has become big and strong ; is a magnif- 
 icent fellow to look ait; that is, if he has taken care of 
 and not abused himself. Then you come to thirty-five, 
 no very great change, although the hair may be commenc- 
 ing to turn gray. Then you come to forty-two, and 
 there he stands, a whole, complete man. He has got 
 his full power and physical vigor, but he stands there for 
 only a short time ; then he begins to descend on the down- 
 ward scale ; his hair turns gray. You go a little farther 
 to forty-nine ; then on and on, if he escapes the scythe of 
 Father Time, until he arrives at ninety-one. Few get 
 beyond that mark on the clock of time. You now see 
 an old man, tottering on the brink of the grave. You 
 see him wrinkled, you see him poor in the face, you see 
 him picking his way carefully, you see him laid in the 
 grave. Eighty or ninety years ago he was a prattling 
 baby. He has gradually passed down from one stage to 
 another to his end. 
 
 Every period of this man's life, from babe to old man, 
 has its peculiar diseases. You don't find the man of 
 seventy having the diseases of the child. When you come 
 to the age of forty-nine a man has an entire change. He 
 is always afflicted with an ailment of some kind. He 
 becomes rheumatic; his joints swell, his kidneys trouble 
 him, his liver is out of order, or something else. His 
 greatest physical powers are at forty-two and the greatest 
 mental at fifty-six. More scientific and philosophical 
 books have been written, and more men have achieved 
 their greatest successes at fifty-six than at any other 
 period. If the man passes sixty-three, healthy, erect, 
 strong and vigorous, if he passes that period, when 
 
156 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 paralysis, apoplexy, rheumatism and other diseases come 
 so thickly, without breaking down, he is liable to live one 
 hundred years. 
 
 " I have not practiced medicine for forty years, but 
 since then I have had two patients. One of them was 
 last winter, down at St. Augustine, stopping at the San 
 Marco. 
 
 " Right opposite to me at the table sat a man sixty 
 years of age. He was certainly the most disagreeable and 
 unpleasant man to look at I had ever seen. He had a 
 beautiful family with him, and the first thing after an 
 elegant breakfast was placed before him, he would shut 
 down on his family, draw up a cape which he wore around 
 his shoulders, look arttind to see if there wasn't a crack 
 somewhere in one of the windows, growl at the waiters 
 and make himself generally unbearable. 
 
 " One day he came along to where I was sitting and 
 said to me, ' Are you a doctor? ' I told him that my wife 
 said I was. He then sat down beside me and opened on 
 a long string of stuff ; said he had been on the Board of 
 Trade at New York and got nervous prostration. 
 
 " ' Nervous prostration ! ' said I ; ' I should think from 
 the way you treat your food and act toward your family, 
 you had something. ' 
 
 " Then he proceeded to tell me a long string about his 
 troubles and finally I said to him, ' You are a damn fool 
 and a jackass. ' 
 
 " I saw the fire begin to crack in his eyes, and as I 
 didn't want to hear the thunder I left. There he stood 
 repeating, ' A damn fool, a damn jackass. ' 
 
 " The next day he came along on the porch to where I 
 was and said, ' Good morning, ' to which I replied the 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 157 
 
 same. ' I have itnade up my mind,' he said, ' that you have 
 hit my case exactly.' I cured that fellow. When he 
 came to the table he didn't abuse his family or waiters 
 any more. He straightened up and was a man. 
 
 " The next case wal'" another one something like this. 
 I got acquainted with a beautiful woman. She had a 
 fine husband and came from an excellent family — excel- 
 lent. This woman came to me and said, ' My father is 
 bedridden.' 
 
 " ' What do you mean ?' 
 
 " ' He has not been up for several months. I want you 
 to go up and see him.' 
 
 " ' I am not in practice,' I replied, ' I can't do him any 
 good.' 
 
 " She insisted that I should see him. This man was 
 a judge, a magnificent man, nearly eighty years old; 
 grand, one of those old pine-forest, healthy fellows ; one 
 of the antique men; you don't get many of them now- 
 a/days. They are dropping off and getting scarcer every 
 day. 
 
 " Well, I went up to his room ; went in and sat on the 
 edge of the bed. ' Your daughter said I must come up 
 to see you and here I am,' and then he started, and such 
 a string! He never stopped for half an hour. He had 
 been everywhere and tried everything. He had taken 
 every quack medicine he could get hold of. He had 
 made a drug store and experimental laboratory of his 
 body. I kept still and didn't say a word, and it is pretty 
 hard work to sit still and listen to a story like that for half 
 an hour. I put my hand on his hand, and it was dry as 
 a husk. I examined his skin all over and it was dry as 
 
158 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 a husk. Then I made only this remark : ' We read in 
 the Bible of anointing old men/ and you ought to see him 
 jump. 
 
 " ' Why, this is exactly what is the trouble with me. 
 Mary, Mary ! Get a quart of the "best sweet oil that you 
 can, quick !' 
 
 " ' Hold on, hold on ! I didn't say anything about sweet 
 oil.' 
 
 " ' But you made the most sensible remark I ever heard, 
 and that is just what I want.' 
 
 " The oil ducts in this man's skin w«re all sealed up, 
 and stopped the insensible perspiration. All the inflam- 
 mation went back into his brain and made him a lunatic. 
 A few days after that I was down town. I heard a great 
 hurrah. When I asked what the matter was I was told 
 the Judge had got well. So, young men, if you want 
 a clear brain and a good working liver keep the hatches 
 off the holes of your skin vessels." 
 
 About this time three professorships were given to 
 Lake Forest — one by D. K. Pearsons, of political and 
 social science, for $50,000 ; one by Wm. Bross, for physic- 
 al science, and one by Jacob Beidler, for biblical instruc- 
 tion. To these are now added the D. K. Pearsons 
 Scholarship, yielding the amount of one student's tuition 
 for the entire course. The holder of this is appointed by 
 Mr. Pearsons, and the Herald Scholarships, two in 
 number, given by J. W. Scott, which are also awarded 
 annually. 
 
 In addition to the foregoing, the annual interest on 
 D. K. Pearsons' fund of $50,000 is available for deserving 
 students. This is loaned in yearly sums of $100, on per- 
 sonal notes, with endorsement of parents or a responsible 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 159 
 
 friend, at three per cent per annum interest, the princi- 
 pal paid at the earliest convenience of the borrower. 
 Tuition will be remitted to the sons and daughters of 
 clerygmen, who need this assistance. Students for the 
 ministry who need assistance are granted free tuition, 
 and those under the care of Presbyteries may receive aid. 
 
 In 1877 Dr. Pearsons withdrew from business, as far as 
 acting for others was concerned, and devoted himself to 
 placing his own capital. For a time he engaged in exten- 
 sive building operations in the north division of the city ; 
 improving property with a view of holding it for the 
 income to be derived therefrom. At one time he was 
 said to have owned over a hundred fine houses and flats, 
 which were so desirably located as to be constantly filled 
 with first-class tenants. 
 
 He alone, in the panic of 1873, among all those bright 
 minds that had been so lately overwhelmed by the losses 
 of the great fire, in the midst of fallen fortunes, in the 
 vortex of blasted hopes, saiw better times ahead. He saw 
 the building operations at a standstill, because the lumber 
 and mill men could see ahead no sales, in the general hard 
 times, for their output. He saw that the time had 
 approached when everyone else was napping, to get his 
 timber cut and the lumber on the ground for the building 
 boom soon to come. He bought one of the idle saw- 
 mills; loaded it on a Goodrich boat, together with two 
 hundred cast-oflf street car horses and fifty husky woods- 
 men, took them to Newaygo County, Michigan where his 
 pine forests stood ; built the logging camps, cut the trees 
 and hauled the logs to the river in the winter time. The 
 spring freshets took them to his mill. They were sawed, 
 the lumber loaded on vessels, transported to Chicago and 
 
160 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 Evanston, and retailed to the anxious bui5ners and cot; 
 tractors. Can any one show more profits from those 
 derived from the rejuvenated street car horses to where 
 the finished product was nailed on the buildings, in one 
 deal and combined in one head, than this ? Several years 
 afterward he sold the cut-over land for twice what it 
 first cost him. 
 
 His love and veneration were supreme for that king 
 among men, Abraham Lincoln ; the man who was neither 
 a descendant of an hereditary monarchy or aristocracy, 
 but raised himself by his own efforts, to equal any ; who 
 came from the poor whites of the South ; whose ancestry 
 record goes back only to his grandfather ; who split rails, 
 kept store and lived in a hovel; who educated himself 
 from borrowed books and read by the light of the fire- 
 place into the small hours; whose heart was nearly 
 broken by the early death of his fiancee ; who was raised 
 by the immortal Omnipotence, who plants his feet in all 
 the centuries, to be the liberator of millions of human 
 beings and the President of the greatest republic of the 
 ages. Eternal wisdom and the will of Providence mar- 
 shals the great processions of the nations. They rise, 
 decay and fall. Nothing is by chance, though men in their 
 ignorance may often think otherwise. On the great 
 power of God all things hinge ; have had their beginning 
 and will have their end; but the great country, bound 
 together by fraternal strife, shall go on as long as the 
 sun shall shine and the last man sfands on the perishing 
 earth. 
 
 All worldly shapes shall melt in gloom; 
 
 The sun himself must die, 
 Before this mortal shall assume 
 
 Its immortality. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 161 
 
 I saw a vision in my sleep 
 
 That gave my spirits strength to sweep 
 
 Adown the gulf of Time! 
 I saw the last of human mold 
 That shall creation's death behold. — Campbell. 
 
 His love for Lincoln even went so far as imitating his 
 dress and manner of wearing the beard. To his death 
 he affected the high hat, long coat, and stock of Lincoln's 
 day. His ingrained frugality, although it prompted him 
 to buy only the best of everything, still kept him from 
 replenishing his wardrobe, and in old age, although he 
 gave away millions, the same old broadcloth suit that he 
 had worn for forty years adorned his back; the same 
 old " plug " hat of the vintage of the sixties graced his 
 head and was almost a landmark about the corner of 
 Dearborn and Madison Streets where he had his office in 
 the old Tribune Building before it was torn down. In 
 his library at Hinsdale was the statue of Lincoln as a 
 barefoot boy, and the street in front of his mansion was 
 changed, at his request, to be called Lincoln. When a 
 street was extended through his grounds he had it 
 changed to Grant. 
 
 One of the most pleasant and solemn remembrances 
 of the author's life was when, as a boy, he rode in a 
 buggy with Dr. Pearsons from Saratoga to Mt. 
 McGregor, to visit the world-renowned General and ex- 
 President Grant. Treasured in my memory are the few 
 words he said, — in his pain, — and his appearance as he 
 looked that day. His words were, " I thank you. Dr. 
 Pearsons, and the young man, for coming to see me. 
 The doctors won't let me say more. Tell me the news." 
 We soon departed and left the silent, grim man to face 
 death, as it slowly approached. 
 
162 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 The personality of Dr. Pearsons was unique in many 
 respects — not common among the leaders of men. 
 Andrew Carnegie called him his senior partner in the 
 business of being benevolent ;. but Pearsons gave away 
 all his money, the principal — not the income from it — and 
 although his donations do not look big, when compared 
 with those of Rockefeller and Carnegie, still his leader- 
 ship has induced others to give sums that in the aggregate 
 might not look so bad. He has been the leader in influenc- 
 ing rich men to " sell what thou hast and give to the 
 poor," and when he went away he did not go sorrowful. 
 
 When William of Orange died, the little children 
 wept in the streets. Many, no doubt, have wept for this 
 Chiiisliian gentleman who led in this educational move- 
 ment and whose personality predominated in it. The 
 greatest thing in the world is personality ; the loving God 
 is greater than the love of God. The last achievement of 
 life in the world is personality; there is nothing better; 
 there is nothing higher, and one of the provinces of 
 personality is what we call the province of leadership. 
 Leadership is of very many kinds. It is good and it is 
 bad. It is lofty and it is low. It is noble and it is base. 
 Leadership runs the whole scale, from that utterly un- 
 acceptable and unworthy leadership, in which a bad man 
 leads men for bad uses, clear up to those shining heights 
 upon which a good man leads other men to larger good- 
 ness, finer visions, deeper truths and holier service toward 
 humanity. Let him do it, however he will. A leader 
 may lead by the gifts of wise counsel, though there may 
 be denied him the gift of elequence. He may lead by a 
 certain sheer masterfulness of character, though he be 
 denied certain other qualities. But he may also be able 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 163 
 
 to speak a half hundred words that will call armies to 
 battle or nations to victory, and make men's hearts throb 
 in their breasts when he speaks. Therefore, leadership 
 is of so many kinds that it is sufficient to say of any good 
 man that he used God's gift to him to lead his fellow-men 
 to a higher place. 
 
 Dr. Pearsons led and he led not by detaching him- 
 self from humanity, which he would lead, but he led by 
 keeping himself close to the humanity which he would 
 serve. In the next place, he impressed one as being 
 tremendously human. In this brawny man there were 
 no airs, no affectations, no pretensions. In stniking con- 
 trast to most men possessed of his great wealth. Dr. 
 Pearsons did not naturally crave the notoriety of news- 
 paper fame, and the honors of publicity. These came 
 unsought and in the natural trend of influencing others 
 to give. He lacked the egotism that generally accom- 
 panies the leader in any great movement. He was 
 supreme in the world, not alone by his own preeminence 
 in giving, but also in the art of manipulating the wills 
 and thoughts of other wealthy men to follow in his foot- 
 steps. His mind was fertile, active, imaginative, and his 
 gift of reading men was extraordinary. His capacity for 
 thoroughly analyzing a man was phenomenal, and when 
 his opinion had been formed it took very convincing 
 argument or evidence of wrongdoing to change it. Let 
 any person with the common good at heart, enter his 
 office, a cordial reception and audience would be accorded 
 to him; but let a wildcat schemer or any one with self 
 aggrandizement in view, state his case, a stern look came 
 to his face and his pointed finger indicated the door. 
 
 Dr. Pearsons sought by his gifts to open the door a 
 
164 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 little wider for the common boy and girl. He wished to 
 bring the avenues of greatness and success nearer to the 
 poorer class, who, striving to climb the ladder, met 
 monetary difficulties in the ascent. The boys and girls 
 of the mountain, prairie, village and city, whether poor 
 or looked down upon, could have the same advantages 
 in the struggling and cheap colleges of the West as those 
 of the well-established colleges for the rich. 
 For the future in the distance, 
 And the good that I can do. 
 
 His language was plain and simple, but it had a quality 
 that made it the best possible garb for the idea he was 
 seeking to convey. Those who heard him talk remem- 
 bered what he said, because it was instantly seen that he 
 had put his case in the strongest way in which it could be 
 put. 
 
 He said : " The secret of success does not lie in having 
 been suckled at the breast of poverty. If success means 
 the acquisition of worldly goods, then there are success- 
 ful men, the secret of whose success was mere chance. 
 They are like Saul, the son of Kish, who went to find 
 his father's asses and gained a kingdom. Neither honesty 
 nor truthfulness guarantees success. Men have become 
 millionaires without these virtues, while many who 
 possessed them have gone bankrupt." 
 
 Chicago's first dozen millionaires were made virtually 
 by the reaching out of hands and laying hold of the 
 natural resources of the New West. These riches lay 
 open for the taking, just as placer gold in the sands. 
 Men needed the foresight only to detect the gold. Farm 
 and timber lands, literally or relatively, were at the base 
 of these early fortunes. As the farm lands were settled, 
 and as Chicago grew in importance, Chicago real estate 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 165 
 
 became a factor. But somewhere in land these early 
 enthusiasts laid their foundations for riches. Today the 
 multiinnillionaire of Chicago is draiwing wealth from 
 transportation, manufactures, and mercantile pursuits, 
 from distances limited only by the two oceans. Fifty 
 years ago the radius of a hundred miles covered his 
 operations. Complexities in modern civilization have 
 opened a hundred new avenues of wealth; fifty years 
 ago little more than the primeval wealth of the new 
 country was to be drawn upon. 
 
 The pioneer spirit was essential in these men. They 
 had need for the venturesomeness that prompted the early 
 settlers to " move on " westward, when the crack of 
 another backwoodsman's rifle sounded too close to him. 
 The man who invested in farm lands needed to see a 
 future for a soil that was hard to sell at six to ten dollars 
 an acre. The investor in Chicago real estate had to have 
 confidence in city lots fronting streets marked " No 
 bottom here." 
 
 These potential millionaires, prior to 1870, had need 
 of confidance and enthusiasm that could hold up to their 
 imaginations. A new country had to be populated, 
 cleared and reduced by the plow to some of the richest 
 agricultural lands on the globe. They had, need to 
 anticipate a new metropolis which sprang into life, worthy 
 of its natural settings 
 
 The United States census of 1850 gave Chicago a 
 population of 28,269. It was in the following decennial 
 period that these dozen first men to become millionaires 
 were called upon to show their faith in the future. Most 
 of these men came to Chicago in that ten years in which 
 the city grew from 28,269 to 109,206. This growth was 
 
166 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 a record-making pace in city building. It was something 
 to stimulate the imagination. Yet there was little more 
 than the imagination from which the enthusiast had to 
 work. 
 
 This statement can be appreciated when it is explained 
 that among these men there were strong differences of 
 opinion as to the ventures in which they interested them- 
 selves. When Potter Palmer was buying almost a mile 
 frontage in State Street men who were investing in six 
 to ten dollar farm land doubted his wisdom a little, at 
 least. When S. W. Allerton and Nelson Morris were 
 seeking fortunes in cattle, D. K. Pearsons was buying 
 all the farm lands that his commissions as land dealer 
 would earn him. When Dr. Pearsons took up 4,000 acres 
 of Michigan pine lands at $1.25 an acre Potter Palmer 
 told him he was foolish. Goodness only knows how 
 much discouragement Cyrus H. McCormick had in trying 
 to perfect the first reaper. When Matthew Laflin came, 
 in 1857, looking to supply powder for the blasting of 
 the channel of the old Illinois and Michigan Canal, he 
 needed more money. John Mills, a relative, had a little 
 hardware store and advanced him $600, all the cash he 
 could lay his hands on. But that money cut no small 
 figure in the making of Laflin into a millionaire. 
 
 Potter Palmer in those days was conceded to be one 
 of the ablest " dreamers " of his time. He was the prim- 
 mest figure of them all in his dress and deportment. He 
 kept his own counsel more closely than any of them. Dr. 
 Pearsons often laughed in recalling the figure of " Nels " 
 Morris, one winter morning, at New Rochelle, where he 
 met Morris buying cattle. " A second-hand clothier 
 wouldn't have advanced five dollars on his whole suit, 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 167 
 
 overcoat and all, but there was ' Nels ' in that impossible 
 garb, paying out money for cattle from wads of bills in 
 his overcoat pocket." 
 
 Old-timers, recaiUinig the days when these men were 
 laying the foundations of their first million dollars, see 
 little change in methods of men. Each man was for 
 himself, dependent upon himself to carry his own busi- 
 ness through. Comradeships, then as now, did not cross 
 the dead-line of business. Sentiment did not become 
 involved. At one time Potter Palmer was close to finan- 
 cial ruin. When he decided to build the Palmer House, 
 as a monument to his faith in Chicago, the city was not 
 up to the Palmer House richness of architecture and 
 liberality of dimension. The house was heavily mort- 
 gaged, and before it was finished notes became due that 
 could not be met. 
 
 " To have foreclosed those mortgages at that time 
 would have ruined Palmer," said Dr. Pearsons, recalling 
 the situation. " More than that, it would have left the 
 holders of the notes with a fraction of their face values. 
 There was a meeting of creditors, who agreed to renew 
 the loans, and Palmer's mile of State Street frontage did 
 the rest." It was about that time that on the west side 
 of State Street, between Randolph and Washington, a 
 stretch of vacant lots lay wide enough to make a city 
 circus grounds. When it was finally sold it was at $200 
 a front foot. Today $30,000 a front foot for this property 
 might fail to effect a sale! That was the Chicago which 
 Palmer and Pearsons foresaw, 
 
 Yet it was no chance circumstance that located a great 
 city at the southern extremity of Lake Michigan. The 
 power that created the chain of the Great Lakes and made 
 
168 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 the Mississippi Valley, covering the vast expense of 
 territory between the Alleghany and Rocky Mountains, 
 with 16,000 miles of navigable internal water courses, 
 designated the center of that region as the site of a great 
 metropolis. Many people now living will see it the 
 largest city in the world. 
 
 The location of the city was one that no person of 
 reasonable judgment would have selected for such an 
 occupancy. With bluff shores along the lake for miles 
 north of the city, Chicago was placed in a sedgy marsh, 
 the chief product of which was chills and fever, avoided 
 even by the nomadic bands of Indians, who pitched their 
 tepees on the elevation west of the mouth of the Chicago 
 River. The French voyagers, Joliet, La Salle, and 
 Marquette, 236 years ago, read the prophecy, which time 
 has later verified, and each year since their day the 
 necessity for a metropolis where Chicago now stands has 
 been emphasized. Chicago is the product of necessity. 
 She has grown in spite of obstacle and calamities such 
 as no city on the globe has had to contend with. 
 
 Solomon Sturges came West to buy Illinois lands. He 
 saw the value of these black corn belt acres of the future, 
 regardless of the city. He was ready to dispose of some 
 of this acreage as early as 1857 and D. K. Pearsons was 
 called to Chicago to effect the sales. 
 
 Conditions in the prospective millionaire world in Chi- 
 cago at that time may be seen in Dr. Pearsons' habitat in 
 the young city. Dr. and Mrs. Pearsons engaged board 
 and rooms in a house at Wabash Avenue and Van Buren 
 Street, paying $5 a week each. A fellow boarder at the 
 time was Marshall Field, also paying his $5 a week to the 
 landlord. At the time Harvey E. Hurd and two lawyer 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 169 
 
 friends maintained an oflfice room at 116 Randolph Street, 
 and Pearsons, seeking a place in which to install a desk 
 and chair, approached Mr. Hurd. " We'll have to charge 
 you $25 a year," said Mr. Hurd, a little doubtfully, but 
 the offer was accepted, and D. K. Pearsons, land agent, 
 began to advertise that he could be found there. It was 
 not long before the lawyers demanded more rent on the 
 ground that he was making more than all the rest of them 
 put together. He secured another office where he was 
 when the fire of 1871 swept the place and three safes 
 went through the floors, into the basement chaos. In the 
 meantime, board and rooms in the Van Buren Street 
 house had gone up to $8 a week, each. When it suddenly 
 jumped to $10 Mr. Pearsons crossed over and bought 
 a three-story residence for $11,000, leaving his landlord 
 speechless. 
 
 Selling lands for the Illinois Central Railroad at 5 per 
 cent commission was the basis of Pearsons' fortune. It 
 was hard selling, too, though prices and terms appear 
 almost ridiculous now. These lands ranged from $10 an 
 acre, close to the railroad, to $8 and $6 an acre, distant 
 six and ten miles, respectively. One-fourth of the pur- 
 chase price was cash and the remainder in three install- 
 ments annually at 6 per cent interest. 
 
 Here is the list of Chicago's first tweve millionaires 
 and the year each reached the million mark: Samuel 
 W. Allerton, 1860; Solomon Sturges, 1860; Nelson 
 Morris, 1865 ; Matthew Laflin, 1865 ; Martin A. Ryerson, 
 1865; Potter Palmer, 1867; William H. Mitchell, 1870 
 Cyrus H. McCormick, 1870; D. K. Pearsons, 1870 
 Norman B. Ream, 1870; George M. Pullman, 1872 
 Richard T. Crane, 1875. 
 
170 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 Of these twelve William H. Mitchell, banker, and 
 Pullman, car builder, were the only ones who departed 
 very far from the one chief opportunity for wealth in 
 those early days — the land values that were so full of 
 promise to those who would see. That men were 
 numerous, however, who did not see, is attested by the 
 fact that so many of these early citizens of Chicago failed 
 to grasp opportunities rich enough to have made five 
 hundred millionaires. Looking back on the men who 
 were his contemporaries. Dr. Pearsons was of the opinion 
 that " few of them, successful or unsuccessful, appreciat- 
 ed the marvelous chances that presented themselves." 
 
 " I feel that Potter Palmer was the man of us all who 
 saw the clearest," said the Doctor, " just as he was the 
 man who backed his judgment harder than any of us. 
 But vi^hen I think of dozens of men who knew enough 
 to have made fortunes, I have to think of the old Tremont 
 House bar, as one of the greatest obstacles to that neces- 
 sary vision of the future. 
 
 " In those days, when John B. Drake was the ideal 
 landlord of the hotel, he also conducted the ideal bar 
 of the times. In those days, too, every one was inclined 
 to accept drinking a social glass as a matter of course. 
 But this crooking of the elbow shut many a bright man 
 from his opportunity. 
 
 " If I were to start today with the purpose of accumu- 
 lating a million dollars I should feel that there is no 
 such richness of opportunity as we had in early Chicago. 
 But every man who succeeded had to work and fight for 
 success. Because the city and country were newer, 
 caused no softening of the business methods. There are 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 171 
 
 no keener business men today, more keenly following the 
 road to business success, than were these early strugglers 
 for fortune. 
 
 " Today the business man finds his opportunity as other 
 business gives it ; fifty years ago he took his opportunity 
 from nature herself. Yet when I bought a lot of Mich- 
 igan pine lands for almost nothing, people called me a 
 fool and said there was timber enough in Michigan to 
 last civilization 300 years. 
 
 " Whoever has done more for mankind than mankind 
 has done for him; whoever has increased the world's 
 stock of happiness or comfort and decreased its misery 
 and pain, has made an enduring success, though he went 
 out as poor as he came in. 
 
 " During the first twelve years, during which I was 
 making my first million, I worked hard. After it was 
 accumulated and invested, it did the work and I did the 
 resting, by traveling and sleeping. It was made so easily 
 that it set me to thinking, and I early saw that it was 
 the public that was making it and that the unearned 
 increment, at least, should, by all divine rights, go back 
 to the public that made it, to better them by all means 
 possible. 
 
 " That the concentration of the wealth of the country 
 in the hands of a privileged few is a vast evil, most 
 people are agreed. How to prevent this concentration 
 of capital and secure for it a more equal distribution 
 among the people has been the subject of much thought. 
 It has been proposed to limit by law the amount of wealth 
 that anyone might be permitted to possess, wholly regard- 
 less of the fact that if one acquires his wealth honestly 
 and without special advantage over his fellow-men, no 
 
172 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 government has any right to interfere with his peaceful 
 enjoyment thereof. If we could make a classification of 
 our millionaires and find out how their millions came to 
 them, we should be better able to judge of the proper 
 ways and means of checking a further increase. Happily 
 this is not a difficult task. 
 
 " Thomas G. Shearman, of New York, one of the most 
 careful and accurate statisticians of the age, has made 
 a list of the great millionaires of the United States, and 
 has brought out some astonishing facts. He finds seventy 
 American citizens worth over $20,000,000 apiece, with 
 an aggregate wealth of $2,700,000,000, or an average of 
 miore than $37,500,000 each. He found, incidentally, 
 about a hundred others worth between $10,000,000 and 
 $20,000,000 each. Nb such lists can be made in any other 
 country. The richest dukes of England fall below the 
 average wealth of a dozen American citizens, while the 
 greatest bankers, merchants, and railroad magnates of 
 England cannot compare in wealth with many Americans. 
 The average annual income of the richest 100 Englishmen 
 is about $450,000. The average annual income of the 
 100 richest Americans does not fall below $1,500,000. 
 The richest of the Rothschilds and the world-renowned 
 Baron Overtone, each left about $17,000,000. Eari 
 Dudley, the owner of the richest iron mines, left $20,000,- 
 000. The Duke of Buccleuth left $30,000,000. The 
 Marquis of Bute and the Dukes of Norfolk and West- 
 minster are worth each about $50,000,000. 
 
 " There are seventy Americans the general average of 
 whose wealth exceeds this latter figure, 
 
 " Take your pencil and figure out wjiat this means. 
 How much must a man earn per day, working 300 days 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 173 
 
 in the year for SO years to get $50,000,000? TIhe astonish- 
 ing result appears $3,333 1-3 a day. Thousands of strong, 
 healthy men are working for $1 per day, many for less, 
 and tens of thousands have to be content with $2 or less. 
 We find that the richest of the Americans would have to 
 earn $50,000 a day every day for fifty years, counting 
 300 days to the year, to acquire what he has got. 
 
 " Has God ever made some men 25,000 times as strong 
 or as intelligent as others? Don't you begin to suspect 
 that there is something wrong somewhere? May it not 
 be possible that these great fortunes are built up, not 
 from the natural results of the labor of their possessors, 
 but through some special privileges they may enjoy of 
 reaping what they have not sown — of getting without 
 giving an equivalent in exchange? 
 
 " A careful examination of the source from which the 
 seventy greatest American millionaires have derived their 
 wealth reveals the fact that not one of them got it by the 
 application of his hand or brain to the forces of nature ; 
 not one of them got it by the natural increase of capital 
 engaged in productive industry, but in every single case 
 it was through the enjoyment of some special privilege 
 conferred by statutory law. 
 
 " Out of the whole seventy about forty got the whole 
 or part of their wealth by land speculation; that is, by 
 means of the iniquitous system of permitting the owners 
 of valuable mines, timber lands, water powers, city lots, 
 etc., to keep for their own use the value which arises 
 from the growth of population and civilization. They 
 are able to keep the value which the whole community 
 produced — ^the value which is the natural fund that ought 
 
174 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 to supply public revenue — and of course they got rich — 
 They could not help getting rich. 
 
 " The Astors would keep on getting rich with enormous 
 rapidity if they were all to go to sleep and enjoy four 
 times Rip Van Winkle's nap. And this unearned incre- 
 ment of land will always tend to build up great fortunes 
 on the one hand, while it presses the masses into poverty 
 on the other, until the people determine that the values 
 , produced by the community shall be used for public needs 
 and not for private gain. 
 
 " The realization of the justice of these claims and 
 reasoning has been the ground work for the cause for 
 which I intend to build institutions for the general good 
 of the public and return to the coffers of the general 
 community the values that I considered had been earned 
 by it, built on an enduring foundation that would not only 
 benefit this generation but all succeeding ones. 
 
 "About twenty-five of the seventy got most of their 
 wealth through the ownership of our public highways, 
 railways and street railways. We find no great mil- 
 lionaires among those who engage in the carrying trade 
 over our rivers, lakes, oceans, canals or public roads. It 
 is only when we come among those common carriers 
 who have a monopoly of the highway that we begin to 
 find great fortunes building up. This fact should be 
 considered by those who are drafting laws aimed at the 
 railroad kings. Let them bear in mind that it is not in 
 their capacity as common carriers that they are able to 
 ' rob the people,' but as owners of the public highway. 
 If the highway belonged to the people we might leave 
 the common carriers to the mercies of free competi- 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 175 
 
 tioti, with the certainty that the operators of trains 
 would no more get undue profit than do the owners of 
 our canal boats, river scows or ocean steam or sailing 
 vessels. 
 
 " Next come several beneficiaries of the tariff, such as 
 Claus Spreckels, Andrew Carnegie and others. The 
 former was permitted to bring in his Sandwich Island 
 sugar free of duty, while all other importers had to pay 
 $82.04 on every $100 worth they tried to bring into the 
 country from any foreign port; and the members of the 
 sugar refiners' trust, who through the tariff have held 
 a monopoly of the importing and refining of West India 
 sugar. Mr. Carnegie, as every one knows, also derived 
 his immense wealth from tariff favoritism, but he has 
 resolved to follow Pearsons' example, return the bulk of 
 it to the community; to die poor and right the wrong 
 inflicted on humanity. 
 
 " Of course the tariff has added greatly to the fortunes 
 of many land owners, especially those holding mines, 
 timber lands and lots where the tariff bias helped unduly 
 to build up great cities. The tariff has done more than 
 any other cause to keep the fortunes of the rural com- 
 munities at a standstill ; to drive many to the large cities, 
 thus building up the fortunes of the owners of city lands. 
 
 " Our patent laws have made a few small millionaires 
 and there are also three or four who made their fortunes 
 in banking, but in these investments in land and railroad 
 bonds assisted greatly in swelling their wealth. 
 
 " The Standard Oil millionaires owe their fortunes to 
 a happy combination of all the special privileges above 
 enumerated, to patents, tariffs, railroad favoritism and 
 land monopoly. Thus, after examining the sources of 
 
176 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 the fortunes of the seventy greatest millionaires in 
 Amerioa, the state'ment is carried out that every one of 
 them has had some undue advantage over his fellow men. 
 " The unearned increment of land and the ownership 
 of public highways are the two great special privileges 
 that are at work building up millionaires ; while the tariff, 
 by getting public revenues out of the uses of goods, 
 lessens by just so much what might be obtained by the 
 holders of valuable lands, thus indirectly helping to swell 
 great fortunes which were plenty large enough before. 
 If the vicious system of crooked taxation could be elimi- 
 nated and draw the local, State, and national revenues 
 thus obtained, from its natural source, the growth of 
 the large fortunes could be stopped, speculations checked, 
 and at the same time the burden of taxation of every 
 home owner and promoter of business enterprise the wide 
 nation over, diminished; and if our railways were re- 
 stored to their orginal condition of public highways, the 
 remaining evils would be cured. 
 
 " The building up of these great fortunes at the top 
 of the social scale is the great and all-important cause 
 of the degradation, poverty and crime at the bottom. 
 There is only so much wealth produced annually. If 
 some men, through special privileges, are able to draw 
 much more than they ought to have, just so much less 
 is left for all the others. So, having found how million- 
 aires are made, we have found how tramps and paupers 
 and criminals are made. 
 
 O man! by man's dread privilege of pain, 
 Dare not to scorn thine own soul nor thy brother's: 
 Though thou be more or less than all the others. 
 
 Man's life is all too sad for man's disdain. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 177 
 
 For who gives, giving, doth win back his gift: 
 And knowledge by division grows to more: 
 Who hides the Master's talent shall die poor. 
 
 And starve at last of his own thankless thrift. 
 
 I did this for another: and, behold! 
 
 My work hath blood in it: but thine hath none: 
 
 Done for thyself, it dies in being done: 
 To what thou buyest thou thyself art sold. 
 
 Give thyself utterly away. Be lost. 
 Choose some one, something: not thyself, thine own: 
 Thou canst not perish: but, thrice greater grown, — 
 
 Thy gain the greatest where thy loss was most. 
 
 Who serves for gain, a slave, by thankless pelf 
 Is paid: who gives himself is priceless, free. 
 I give myself, a man, to God: lo. He 
 
 Renders me back a saint unto myself! 
 
 — Meredith. 
 
 "And yet, notwithstanding this, there are men who 
 
 go through life without a kind thought for their fellow 
 
 men, but just the reverse in most cases. They go through 
 
 the struggles to gain more millions ; to add to the weight 
 
 on their already overburdened shoulders, in the attitude 
 
 of an Indian fighter in the jungles. " To be killed, if you 
 
 don't kill your adversary by better weapons and better 
 
 sight." 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 " In 1867 I was at Manitou Springs, Colo.," said the 
 Doctor. " There were no hotels. We had to stay in 
 shanties or tents. There were two Chicago men with me. 
 While there I received a letter saying that a large tract of 
 pine land, on which I expected to make lots of money, 
 had been bought. My friends asked, ' What do you want 
 of so much money? There is nobody but yourself and 
 wife. Why should you try to get so rich ? ' Then I told 
 them some colleges and theological seminaries would get 
 some of it. I noticed one of them put down what I said 
 in a little book. Some years afterward this man met me 
 and asked if I remembered the conversation at Manitou. 
 I told him I did. He said, ' I wrote it down because we 
 didn't believe a word you said, but now I see you meant 
 it all.' So I did. I have lived for a purpose from which 
 I haven't swerved at all from the very first. 
 
 " People think this mania of mine for giving is some- 
 thing new. It isn't. I have been helping libraries, 
 churches and individuals ever since I was married. 
 
 " To illustrate : Nearly forty-five years ago some 
 women who had a school came for help. They wanted 
 to know if I would aid some girls. I told them I would 
 give them a thousand dollars a year to aid eight young 
 women, but they must select the persons and not let them 
 
 179 
 
180 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 write letters to me. That has been going on ever since. 
 
 " There's one little item of which I am proud. I have 
 a loan fund of $250,000. It is kept sacred to be loaned 
 out at three per cent to poor young people. Some old 
 farmer might tell his boy to borrow a hundred dollars 
 and use it rather than pay eight per cent at other places. 
 I have never lost a dollar on any of my loans. The young 
 people seem to have looked upon them as debts of 
 honor. A young man just paid back the $275 I loaned 
 him, and I have just helped him to get a position. 
 
 " A few years ago a man borrowed enough to carry his 
 brother through Ann Arbor. Soon after he went all to 
 pieces. When I went to Europe I put his note among 
 some no-account papers. A man came in who said he 
 owed me so much, principal and interest. My clerk 
 could not find the papers but took the money. When 
 I came home I sent him his note. But one has to be 
 careful. 
 
 " Some years ago I helped two young ladies through 
 college. Their mother came for the money and signed 
 the note with them. Their dead father had been rich 
 but had lost everything. The notes were all paid. One 
 of the girls married and wanted a loan for her husband. 
 I replied I was not loaning to husbands, but to aid people 
 to an education. 
 
 " Then again, I sometimes get taken down for what I 
 do. After helping the young women I have spoken of 
 I was in a carriage with three ladies going to a funeral. 
 The two whom I knew kept telling me how much good 
 I was doing. They gave me taffy. I knew it was taffy. 
 They piled it on six inches thick and I felt as if I weighed 
 a ton. The jet-black-eyed woman said nothing, but when 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 181 
 
 we got out of the carriage she said: 'You are doing 
 the worst thing possible. You are lifting these young 
 women out of their position in life. You are doing them 
 a very great injury.' That took me down and I began 
 to shrink and shrink till I didn't weigh more than fifty 
 pounds. I went home and told my wife. She said, 
 ' Mary Lyon has been lifting up just such young women 
 and she hasn't hurt them any ; I guess we will keep right 
 on lifting them up.' When I see those I have aided I 
 feel big. 
 
 " The college presidents have invented two degrees 
 for me; one is C. B., meaning college builder, and still 
 later P. E., meaning professor of endowments. 
 
 " I made my money by strict economy and my philoso- 
 phy of life is to do all the good I can while alive. I 
 belong to no clubs or secret societies. I live frugally 
 and my habits are correct to a tioty. A good many years 
 ago a man wanted to borrow my horses on Sunday. He 
 couldn't get them and said I was an old Puritan. I took 
 off my hat three times to him for the compliment. My 
 house is elegant, as my wife has a right to that. We 
 have traveled all over the world, but that is not wasting 
 money, as it did us a great deal of good. But my 
 prinicip'les are those of a Puritan. Nobody around here 
 in any of the churches or colleges is Puritan enough for 
 me. But I made my money honestly. I am sharp, but 
 have never taken advantage of any man. I never made 
 a mistake in my judgment. My bread always turned up 
 buttered. When I came west I found the cherries ripe 
 and I picked them all. I have never lost anything of 
 any account. I know men and can see right through 
 
182 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 them. When I refuse to go into their foolish schemes, 
 they call me a Puritan and I am proud of it. 
 
 " But I always have been economical. Look at the 
 furniture in this room. I own only a desk and two 
 chairs, not worth over twenty-five dollars. My life has 
 not been a trifling one. Since I was nineteen it has been 
 a steady manhood. People say, ' What enjoyment have 
 you had?' I answer, ' I have four times the joy others 
 have, in keeping steadily at my business, in order that 
 I may carry out my one aim in life. I can't bear a dude. 
 I care nothing for Mrs. Grundy. My wife and I give 
 largely to foreign missions and take great enjoyment 
 out of the $50,000 we gave to Anatolia College, Turkey. 
 I am not a benevolent man, but where can a man invest 
 money better than in the brains and lives of young men 
 and women? Honestly, I don't think I am benevolent. 
 But we get a great deal of comfort out of what we are 
 doing — to think that I have been permitted to live in this 
 world and accumulate such a great fortune, and put it 
 where it will do good for all the ages.' 
 
 " It is astonishing how few rich men give away any- 
 thing. Some of them have an income of fifty thousand 
 a year. They spend it on themselves. Some can't spend 
 it and are worried over its investment. A man came to 
 visit me and I showed him some lots in the cemetery 
 where my wife, her sister and myself are to be buried. 
 I told him I was going to have a monument and a nice 
 one. ' A monument ?' said he. ' What do you want of a 
 monument ? Your monument is all around in the colleges 
 of the country.' There he was, admitting that I didn't 
 need a monument, but rich as he is — ^he was richer than 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 183 
 
 I — he wouldn't have given me $500 for a college if I 
 had asked him. 
 
 " These college buildings stand as part of my vi^ill, 
 executed while I am alive. No foreign relation can come 
 in and claim it, and no judge will be smart enough to 
 get it away. These buildings wiU stand for the uplifting 
 of humanity. I once heard a minister say that the men 
 of the next century would excel in genius and achieve- 
 ments those of the one now ending. I asked him, ' Where 
 will these men come from ?' He replied, ' From the log 
 cabins and valleys of the Northwest ; from the farms and 
 future cities of this great and growing section.' In other 
 words, the poor boys of the present, with their successors, 
 will lead in coming afifairs. 
 
 " The mere fact of my having given money to colleges 
 is of no account; it is the example which encourages 
 others to do likewise. I have not gone abroad to place 
 my gifts, but have them here right under my nose, so 
 I can see what use is made of the money. I gave a sec- 
 tion of fine land to Washburn College, at Topeka, Kans. 
 Not one of these colleges to which I have given ever 
 asked me for a cent. If they had they would not have 
 received it. I have no money to buy wardrobes for 
 beautiful young ladies who want to go on the stage ; no 
 money for old women who want to pay off mortgages ; 
 no money to build churches ; no money to buy food for 
 sick children; no money to give to authors to publish 
 remarkable books. If I responded to all requests in four 
 davs I would be a poor man. I have got to make some 
 rich old cusses let go of some of their money. You have 
 p^ot to put a lever under some rich people to make them 
 charitable. They will say to colleges in their locality, 
 
184 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 ' Well, I guess I will chip in a little, for I want you to 
 get that promise out of that old scamp, Pearsons.' 
 
 " It is not only annoying that people of whom I never 
 heard write me about all kinds of imaginary troubles and 
 sorrows, but troops of mendicants come to my home. 
 They want everything. One widowed mother wants 
 sufficienit funds to start a fruit rou,te in the office district ; 
 another wants to start a boarding house ; several writers 
 want to establish oyster houses; one widow is anxious 
 to have a piano for her daughter ; a man from Kentucky 
 wanted me to invest $50,000 in a medical instrument 
 which he says will cure all the ills flesh is heir to; a 
 Massachusetts widow must have one hundred dollars 
 at once; many want money to clear off mortgages; and 
 several claim they have always been friends of mine and 
 ' surely I must remember them.' Last month I received 
 over 5,000 letters asking for help. The majority of them 
 from motherless people. There are beggars of all kinds : 
 mothers with daughters wanting a marriage portion. 
 
 "One of the funniest letters was from a German burgo- 
 master. It contained photographs of himself, his wife 
 and twelve children, half of whom were daughters about 
 to marry. ' My income is only seven hundred dollars 
 a year,' he wrote, ' and I find it very difficult to maintain 
 myself and family in the position which my office 
 demands. Will you now bestow a dot of $5,000 on each 
 of my daugihters, so that they can get suitable matches ?' 
 
 " I was born to poverty. But I would not change 
 with the richest man's son of millions bom to life. What 
 does he know of father or mother; of the boy whose 
 mother is nurse, seamstress, washwoman, cook, angel and 
 saint — with no servant between the boy whose father is 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 185 
 
 his guide, philospher and friend? No teacher except 
 at school. It's in the home where the boy gets his teach- 
 ing. I am honest. I have lived both lives. There are 
 men who say riches are corrupting, but they know only 
 one side of the shield. The millionaire who enjoys a 
 hearty laugh is rare, and the only right a man has to 
 wealth lies in his acquiring it by useful labor. In Chi- 
 cago I have friends with many millions. They have a 
 haggard, worn look and they cannot sleep. It is because 
 they have no place to put their money. I think that some 
 day they will give it away to colleges. I have given to 
 forty-seven different colleges in twenty-four different 
 States. When I go down into Florida and Georgia to 
 give them money they do not call me a Yankee. There 
 is nothing like it to pour on troubled waters. 
 
 " One thing is sure. I will never give anything to the 
 University of Chicago, because it does not need it. 
 Rockefeller is doing magnificent work there. I believe it 
 will distance Harvard and Yale in its work and attend- 
 ance. Let him finish his task. He has shown that he 
 is able and willing to do it. 
 
 " I will say that the art of giving wisely is almost as 
 difficult as the art of making money. There is much 
 red tape about some charities, so much spent making 
 easy berths for extravagant salaried persons that but a 
 small percentage of the gift reaches the common people. 
 I keep away from that class of cattle. 
 
 " When I have given away the last cent I will watch 
 the seed I have sown blossom into fruitage. I shall take 
 things easy and see the needy college that I assisted 
 develop into a giant. That will come with growth in 
 population and growth of interest in the little colleges 
 
186 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 that take the boys from the soil and form them into sturdy 
 characters. There will be no cigarettes, champagne nor 
 chorus girls troubling those colleges. If you crush 
 Christianity out of the world we shall all go to the devil 
 as fast as we can." 
 
 " And you really don't know how much you have given 
 away in the last twenty years ?" Dr. Pearsons was asked. 
 
 " Honestly, I don't. I just give it when I decide it 
 should be given. The larger the check the better I feel." 
 
 " Any particular choice as to the kind of college?" 
 
 " No, — only that it must be of a Christian denomina- 
 tion." 
 
 " What church do you belong to ?" 
 
 " None. I go every Sunday to services, though." 
 
 " Rich men are always telling poor men what a blessing 
 it is to be poor. 
 
 " It is a help toward success. Success is learned from 
 no manual and bought at no store. If its principles 
 are not with the child in the cradle, the adult will never 
 possess them. I resolved once to become a merchant and 
 went to Boston in search of a position, I made a house- 
 to-house canvass for work, asking everywhere, ' Do you 
 want a clerk?' Every one said there were too many 
 clerks. Finally I ran out of money and it became 
 necessary to find employment of some kind. I saw a 
 sign ' Faneuil Hall,' and farmers all about. I picked 
 out one and enquired if he knew where employment 
 could be obtained. ' I want a farm hand,' he replied, and 
 that was my first position outside the schoolroom." 
 
 Chicago was once saved from financial ruin by a 
 " bluff." It was in the troublous times of 1873. Banks 
 had failed all over the country, and the nation was drink- 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 187 
 
 ing the dregs of financial bitterness. The city of Chicago 
 was practically bankrupt. A corrupt and extravagant 
 set of oificials had plundered right and left, and the 
 municipality was in such a shape that the crisis dealt it 
 a staggering blow. The people rose in their might and 
 elected a " reform, council " and cleaned out some of the 
 other officers in the city hall. 
 
 The new administration found a hard problem con- 
 fronting it. There was no money to pay the police and 
 fire departments, and the public was called upon for 
 subscriptions. Citizens furnished the fire department hay 
 feed on credit, with small hope of getting their money 
 for some time to come. 
 
 The interest on a large block of bonds came due at a 
 most critical time. Aid. D. K. Pearsons, chairman of the 
 finance committee, who was strong in financial circles, 
 wias sent East to see what could be done about staving 
 off the interest and refunding the debt. There was 
 scarcely a cent in the city treasury. 
 
 While Mr. Pearsons was sitting in a private room of 
 a New York bank a large, loud-mouthed man strode in, 
 brandishing some Chicago city bonds, and announced 
 in trumpet tones: 
 
 " I want my interest !" 
 
 There were rumors afloat of Chicago's bankruptcy at 
 that time. The man was escorted into the presence of 
 Mr. Pearsons. 
 
 " I want my interest," he again announced, waving 
 aloft his bonds. 
 
 " Do you ?" said Mr. Pearsons, quietly. " How much 
 is it?" 
 
 " It's $15,000," said the mian. 
 
188 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 " Would you prefer the interest alone, or would you 
 like to have us take up the principal also?" asked Mr. 
 Pearsons, just as quietly and nonchalantly as before. 
 
 " Well," said the loud-voiced man, rather surprised, 
 " can I get the principal ?" 
 
 " Why, certainly," said Mr. Pearsons, " if you will wait 
 until I can telegraph to Chicago and get a reply." 
 
 " Well, well, well ! If that's the case and I can get it, 
 I'm in no hurry. That's all right." 
 
 He talked pleasantly for a minute and then left. And 
 the beginning of a dangerous attack on the public was 
 avoided until arrangements could be made to tide the 
 crisis over. 
 
 Alderman Pearsons' course was endorsed in the follow- 
 ing words : 
 
 " The president of our club, together with the gentle- 
 men of this committee, has imposed upon me a thankful 
 duty — ^that of conveying to you the assurance of high 
 regard and esteem entertained for your manly and faith- 
 ful action during your term of ofifice as an alderman in 
 the city council. Universal is the concession that we 
 have been for the three years blessed with a mayor and 
 comptroller who have had a purpose single to the best 
 good and highest thrift of our beloved city. 
 
 " Without a council as honest as it has been illustrious, 
 the efforts of the city's chief magistrate would have been 
 nugatory, and, like the golden-colored fruit of the Nile, 
 would have yielded only ashes to the hope. That the 
 administration of Mayor Heath stands today as un- 
 exceptionable is largely due to the fact that to sanction 
 his every effort he found a council willing and able to 
 ordain. The council is the heart of the metropolis. Into 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 189 
 
 every vein and artery of its various departments it pours 
 out retrenchment or extravagance, and thereby builds up 
 or destroys. 
 
 " In these days of political degeneracy it is exceeding- 
 ly rare that a public officer is saluted upon his retirement 
 with approval and the plaudits of his entire constituents, 
 regardless of party affiliation ; it is at this day an equally 
 rare virtue to find an official who has fearlessly and 
 honestly met all the arduous requirements of his office, 
 surrendering his trust with a character absolutely with- 
 out blemish; a name and a record unsoiled by a single 
 word of censure, or even adverse criticism; such a 
 character, such a name, and such a record you have made 
 for yourself, and in the hands of your constituents that 
 record shall live. 
 
 " At your coming into office the city was in the grasp 
 of a giant, — a giant so powerful and pitiless that all the 
 vital functions of our municipal government seemed 
 paralyzed ; that giant's name was Extravagance. The 
 treasury of our city had been depleted ; the credit of our 
 city had sunk so low that there were none so poor as 
 to do it reverence: bankruptcy and repudiation brooded 
 over the fair empress of the lakes like birds of ill omen ; 
 every tax payer, like a second Cassius on the Tiber, cried, 
 ' Help me, or I sink !' At such a time, when the public 
 mind had been startled from its lethargy, you were 
 elevated to your office by a spontaneous and irresistible 
 expression of the public will, which, like an Alpine 
 torrent, swept over the political carcasses of those who 
 had proved recreant to their trusts. 
 
 " At this epoch the certificates of the city to the amount 
 of three millions stood over^us like a menace and a 
 
190 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 threat. A little over two years ago, when very nearly 
 two millions of the certificates had become due and 
 were threatened with protest, you were selected among 
 the many to go to the money marts of the East and 
 shield the good name of our city. The sequel of that 
 journey proved the wisdom of your selection in the 
 restored confidence of those that held our securities. 
 Later, when the exigencies of our city again demanded 
 moneys, you were again selected to go to the East, and 
 there, despite the fact that our securities had been 
 declared illegal, you returned to us with a half-million 
 of money. Such achievements will be forever remembered 
 by your constituents. 
 
 " For that and for much more, which lack of time 
 denies me the privilege of mentioning, I now present 
 to you, in behalf of the First Ward Republican Club, 
 this engrossed expression of its sentiments. 
 
 "Accept them with the assurance of our profound 
 esteem and gratitude, and rely upon it that we shall 
 study your past with profit and contemplate your future 
 with hope." 
 
 Alderman Pearsons responded as fallows : 
 
 " Gentlemen of the Committee : I recollect three years 
 ago, about this time, you were calling upon me, in 
 connection with the Democratic Club of the First Ward, 
 to invite me to act as alderman. I said to you then 
 that I considered it a greater honor to be an alderman 
 of the city of Chicago at that time than to be a representa- 
 tive in Congress. You refer to my labors in the finance 
 committee, and particularly at New York. I did go to 
 New York June 1, 1876, and there met the due certificates 
 of the city of Chicago. With the help of the inaug«'^l 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 191 
 
 address of the Hon. Thomas Hoyne, which document I 
 consider the best inaugural that was ever made in the 
 city of Chicago, I succeeded in allaying the apprehensions 
 of the moneyed men, and the certificates were not 
 protested. 
 
 " Looking back upon the history of three years ago, I 
 have said, and I say still, that the inaugural address of 
 Thomas Hoyne was the keynote to the reform of the 
 city of Chicago. 
 
 " You have also referred to Mayor Heath and the 
 comptroller ; you have spoken of them favorably. I will 
 say that the best interests of the city of Chicago demand 
 that the comptroller be continued in his situation for all 
 time to come. He has been true to the interests of the 
 city, sound in his policy, and has the confidence of the 
 moneyed men of the East to a greater extent than any 
 other comptroller the city of Chicago ever had. 
 
 " I advise you to do now, as you have done in the past, 
 join with the Democratic Club in selecting a man to act 
 as alderman. You have shown great magnanimity in 
 doing as you have done in the last two elections. I 
 cannot serve you longer as alderman, from the fact that 
 my rheumatic joints tell me to rusticate in green pastures 
 for the next year, but if the city ever gets into the same 
 financial condition that it was three years ago, sound your 
 bugle and I wliiU respond." 
 
 The Lord takes care that the wealth of the world 
 does not get into a few pockets by creating such men 
 as Dr. Pearsons, who, when they have no children of 
 their own, devote their wealth to humanity. 
 
 It is rare that those who die with spoiled children 
 can from the spirit land look back and find their great 
 
192 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 fortune lanytbing but a moral perverter in the weak 
 hands into which it had fallen. It falls apart and after 
 making fools of the children takes wings, leaving in its 
 wake pain, imbecility and death. 
 
 The instinct of the- hunter, the love of victory and the 
 lust to conquer soon bring to the top those inured to hard- 
 ships and struggles to submerge the weaklings, whose 
 every wish had been granted, in the deep waters of 
 mediocracy. This is ingrained deeply in human nature. 
 It is man's destiny to be longing for something some one 
 else has got. If he can get it, no matter how, his heart 
 bounds with the delight of the conquering gladiator, who, 
 if public opinion or the downturned thumbs of the virgins 
 demand, will despatch the suppliant victim. 
 
 Dr. Pearsons turned his pockets inside out in loving 
 challenge to the great Coliseum to produce another his 
 equal. His example of generosity should be taken to 
 heart by all, from the poor young man, just married ; from 
 the man of forty who wants to die rich ; from the man of 
 fifty whose sole delight is capital dinners, to the respect- 
 able old gentleman of sixty, who wants to retire from 
 business with a snug fortune of a million dollars or so, 
 to marry his daughters off, set up his sons and live in 
 the country; and then for the rest of his life he wants 
 to be young again and have something to do. 
 
 How many men are " working their heads off," as the 
 vulgar saying has it, in order that they may take their 
 ease after a while ? Every day you hear of men who want 
 to get far enough ahead of the world to retire ; to retire 
 from business or from work. Dr. Pearsons retired from 
 business to undertake the work, — which he said was the 
 hardest work he ever dlid, of giving his money away. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 193 
 
 where it would do the most good. He did not retire, but 
 worked and thought harder than ever. Nine-tenths of 
 these men work hard and never reach the dreamed-of 
 ease. They die in the harness, or they die struggling 
 to get something, for which they never will have any use. 
 
 There are two observations that may be made on 
 these ambitions of men. The first is that there is noth- 
 ing in what is called " retirement," The time ought 
 never to come in the life of a man, when he intends to 
 sit down and do nothing. That is death itself. It is 
 labor, interest in and taking part in the activities of 
 life, that make living worth while. When a man becomes 
 merely a spectator by the roadside, he is apt to be of 
 all men the most unhappy. The country towns and cities 
 of the Middle West are full of retired farmers, who 
 are dying off as if afflicted with the plague. They don't 
 have anything to do, nor talk about except to roll around 
 morsels of scandal. They are miserable and don't know 
 why. Their food disagrees with them. Their livers re- 
 fuse to act and they pass away suddenly with apoplexy or 
 heart disease. Dr. Pearsons accounted for his long life 
 . by the interest and joy he felt and the bard work he en- 
 countered in giving awlay his wealth. 
 
 A given amount of work, of things and affairs to be 
 interested in as an actor, is necessary for the mental 
 and physical health of every human being. The change 
 from activity to non-activity is enough of a shock to 
 kill the average man. 
 
 The second observation is that a man who is wise will 
 not set all his enjoyment ahead, to some day when he 
 thinks he can retire and take his ease. Dr. Pearsons was 
 a firm believer in this and acted on it all his life. He 
 
194 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 ran the gamut of travel in all parts of the known world, 
 repeatedly, during fifty years. He had no desire for 
 that for which most people are so anxious, the private 
 yacht, the automobile, the town and country residences, 
 the private cars, the theater, and ostentatious display that 
 generally goes with great wealth, but took his enjoyment 
 in the study and aid of mankind itself. 
 
 Dr. Pearsons said : 
 
 " The time to enjoy life is right now. The thing for 
 every man to do is to live in such a way that he gets some 
 enjoyment of life as he goes along. No man should make 
 himself a slave to business. Every day that he does that 
 shortens his own life. Every one should take his 
 pleasures as he goes along. It is a mistake to pile all 
 the work on one end of life and expect to get all the 
 pleasures at the other end when he is old and decrepit 
 and has lost all interest in doing anything." 
 
 Dr. Pearsonis always said that of all things, he enjoyed 
 the most the knowledge that he was able to finish his 
 great work while all his faculties were in good order 
 and that he could see, himself, what good his money was 
 doing and where it went. 
 
 " The best rule of life is to count on doing some work, 
 remain interested in some activities as long as one lives 
 and taking some of the enjoyments from day to day." 
 
 " It is a serious thing to have great wealth," said Dr. ■ 
 Pearsons, " and a far more serious thing to dispose of 
 it wisely. You have got to make it a blessing or a curse. 
 It is hard work to keep it out of the clutches of the un- 
 worthy. And they think I am giving it as a present, 
 instead of as an endowment for future ages. Then they 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 195 
 
 have to raise some more money to put with mine, if they 
 are to get it. 
 
 " I have to convince them that it is for endowment, 
 perpetual, everlasting, and that the income only is to be 
 used. I see where every dollar of my money goes and 
 see that it stays there. None of my pearls will be 
 dissolved in vinegar to go down the throat of vanity. The 
 rich must divide up with the poor or the wealthy men will 
 take rank with those of ancient times. 
 
 " It has been estimated that 25,000 men hold one-half 
 of the wealth of this country; that the tendency of all 
 time was to the greater concentration of wealth. The 
 inference was that this was harmful. Now, the facts are 
 that the tendency is in the opposite direction, and that 
 the men who are richest now are in every way superior 
 to the millionaire of the past. The annual incomes of 
 several of the men who lived in that ' idyllic time when 
 the world was young,' or at least centuries before now, 
 were equal to the entire fortunes of the richest men of 
 today. Solomon, the richest of them all, was bequeathed 
 the fabulous sum of eight billions, and was made trustee, 
 in addition, to a fund of four billions, two hundred mil- 
 lions, with which to build a temple. His annual income 
 was for several years three billions. But Solomon was 
 licentious and a spendthrift. Croesus' wealth has been 
 estimated at three billions. He gave fifteen millions to 
 the Delphian Temple. Alexander the Great brought back 
 eight billions of dollars, as the spoil of one expedition. 
 Lucullus, the epi'cuire, was worth a half billion dollars. 
 There have been many others with fabulous fortunes. 
 One of the Ptolemys had a billion and a half, and was 
 so close-fisted that he married his grandmother to keep 
 
196 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 her money in the family. Augustus was heir to two hun- 
 dred millions. He spent ten millions in building his baths 
 at Rome. Tiberius left one hundred and twenty millions, 
 which Caligula spent in one year in riotous living. One 
 supper cost the latter one hundred and fifty thousand dol- 
 lars. Cleopatra dissolved a pearl worth four hundred 
 thousand in vinegar and swallowed it. Thomas Gres- 
 ham, an Englishman of the time of Queen Elizabeth, did 
 the same with a pearl worth one hundred thousand. 
 Claudius swallowed a pearl worth forty thousand dollars. 
 The list of foolish or rather criminal deeds of the rich 
 men and women of the past might be extended indefi- 
 nitely. 
 
 " What is worth noticing is that there are only two or 
 three fortunes in the world today that can be mentioned 
 in the same breath as these immense accumulations of the 
 past, and the largest two of the present-day fortunes 
 have been and are in the process of being returned to the 
 rightful owners, and why should they not? We see the 
 millionaires about us while the poor are tramping the 
 pavements shoeless and starving, some as the result of 
 their own misdeeds, but most brought to their plight as 
 the result of selfishness — the selfishness of men who have 
 drawn together more than they can use. A man can 
 wear only one suit of clothes at a time. He can eat only 
 three times a day. He can sleep only in one house. Yet 
 some men have millions. They couldn't eat a thousand 
 meals a day if they had a place to put them. They have 
 many houses. Yet thousands walk the earth unhoused 
 and unfed. This is not God's fault. He stored the world 
 with good things in abundance for every one." 
 
 It is said that the greatest four philanthropists of the 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 197 
 
 century, because they parted with a greater proportion 
 of their wealth than any other millionaires, were respec- 
 tively, to what they left, Peter Cooper, D. K. Pearsons, 
 George Peabody, and Leland Stanford. When Peter 
 Cooper died, in 1883, he left little property. Nearly all 
 he had was used in building and endowing Cooper Union. 
 He gave nearly a million to this, which was a much 
 larger proportion of his fortune than was ever given 
 away by any American. 
 
 George Peabody gave nine millions for philanthropic 
 purposes in life, and left five millions to his relatives. His 
 largest gift was three millions, to establish the Southern 
 Educational Fund. 
 
 D. K. Pearsons gave his fortune away during his life, 
 so that at his death there would be nothing left for any- 
 one to fight over. He was the originator of the system of 
 promising fifty to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars 
 to a college or other institution, that should raise an equal 
 or greater amount, usually three times the sum he gave. 
 He believed that in this way others were stimulated to 
 give, and the beneficiary was so much better off. He 
 gave away over six million dollars in his lifetime. 
 
 In founding the Leland Stanford, Junior, University, 
 Stanford gave practically all his fortune as a memorial 
 to his son, who died in early youth. 
 
 It will be seen that these four men — Peter Cooper, 
 George Peabody, Daniel K. Pearsons and Leland Stan- 
 ford — stand in the order named as the greatest philan- 
 thropists, comparing their gifts with their fortunes, with 
 any of the generous millionaires of the country. 
 
 The following chapters were written in large part in 
 Dr. Pearsons' own words. All earthly prosperity should 
 
198 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 be measured by its influence on the souls of men; the 
 things that now delight us must all perish ; the habits of 
 mind engendered and the good that might be done by set- 
 ting down his exact words are eternal. They never die. 
 Before we go over the waters of Jordan, of all the riches 
 we have gathered none can be taken along. Who is suf- 
 ficiently aware of the importance of this short existence ? 
 Who is prepared, when the Lord comes, to give an ac- 
 count of his stewardship of wealth? Death may come 
 unawares upon his victim, without time for prayer or 
 repentance. He takes the soul as he finds it. 
 
 " And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and 
 the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, 
 ainid every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves 
 in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains ; and said 
 to the mountains and rocks. Fall on us, and hide us from 
 the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the 
 wrath of the Lamb : For the day of his wrath is come ; 
 and who shall be able to stand?" — Rev. 6: 15-17. 
 
 It is the life we have led and the good we have done 
 with our worldly means that get our receipt for the bliss 
 or anguish of eternity. We may, perchance, have some 
 glimpse of the images and monuments of good which 
 have been fiathered by Dr. Pearsons' words and deeds in 
 the future. 
 
 In 1887 the Doctor and his wife figured up at the pala- 
 tial home in Hinsdale, where they had shortly before 
 gone to live. They balanced the books and they looked 
 about them. They were awed by the responsibility of 
 their great wealth. They had no children to inherit their 
 wealth and they knew the allotted threescore and ten 
 was at hand ; that the accounting of their stewardship to 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 199 
 
 the Divine Providence that had bestowed these worldly 
 goods upon them was close at hand. They resolved not 
 to be caught napping, so hastened their givings to the 
 institutions which they had already investigated and 
 found to be worthy of aid. 
 
 If Dr. Pearsons had continued to live on in the same 
 frame of mind in which he was at seventy, some of his 
 deserving or poor relatives might have been benefited, 
 sometime, by his great wealth. Some of the little twigs 
 hanging on the tree might have had a pathway made 
 easy for them to attain a college education which he 
 opened for so many young people of alien blood. He 
 would have provided scholarships for one or two, at least, 
 of his grandnephews. At seventy his heart was tender 
 toward many of them, and love of kin was quite strong, 
 but as years went by the magnitude of his mission on 
 earth gradually shut his eyes to the ties of blood. His 
 head got above the clouds, in the clear light of the sun, 
 to become dazzled by the brilliancy of the road which 
 he was traveling. 
 
 The worms about his feet, he knew, vaguely, were 
 there, but taken as individuals he knew none of them, 
 and as time rolled on he came to think that none ap- 
 proached his feet, except they came to get money from 
 him for selfish motives and as beggars. This feeling 
 became so strong during his last years that he often 
 grievously wounded bis best friends. The deflection of 
 one or two of his kindred from what he considered the 
 path of rectitude, condemroed all, and he often said, after 
 one of these particular cases had happened, that he would 
 never help another one of them in any maimer whatever ; 
 that they wouldn't get a chance to fool him again. Thus 
 
200 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 he condemned all without a trial, for the sins of the few. 
 
 During his lifetime he employed himself in the gather- 
 ing of wealth. The question now intruded itself : Who 
 is to enjoy its fruits? In 1887 he entirely quit business, 
 although still remaining director in the Chicago City 
 Railway and numerous banks, to devote himself to giving 
 away his money and administering his own estate, which 
 seemed to augment as he steadily gave it away. Both 
 the Doctor and his wife lived far beyond their expecta- 
 tion and were enabled to round out their work and bring 
 it to a magnificent conclusion. He always gave the credit 
 for his philanthropic interests, as well as its making, to 
 his wife, whose death left him lonesome in the world 
 for several years. 
 
 " It was her idea," he said. " She was a keen business 
 woman and she wanted what money we had to be spent 
 as wisely as possible. Therefore we began a systematic 
 study of the regions which seemed to be most in need of 
 better facilities for the making of citizenship. 
 
 " If I had chosen to make all the money possible and 
 hoard it, there is no doubt I could have made a hundred 
 million dollars, and when the time came to die I would 
 have gone away poor, with the vision in my dying brain 
 of the widows and orphans who might have been op- 
 pressed and starved by my insatiable greed and selfish- 
 ness. So I renounced ambition, as it is termed, and 
 strove to reach the summit of content. I have never 
 regretted it, and in looking back upon my life, I find 
 nothing that could bring the blush of shame to my face. 
 
 " Theological seminaries are educational institutions. It 
 should not be thought that they are the only means of 
 access to the ministry ; still less, that their exclusive duty 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 201 
 
 is to manufacture ministers. It continues to be possible 
 for a young man to study with the pastor of a church 
 and to enter on ministerial labor with the preparation 
 thus secured. Our churches have received in this way 
 some of their ablest preachers. Persons who prefer to 
 enter the ministry with little preparation should not 
 take a theological seminary on the way; nor is there an 
 absolute necessity for it, for deficiencies can be made up 
 by assiduous labor in the pastoral office; certainly, if one 
 gives twelve hours every day to his books and pen, which 
 seems to have been the regulation time among the great 
 New England divines. While this method of preparation 
 is open, it has been found that the most complete and 
 convenient preparation is through seminaries, where a 
 curriculum of study is established and a far larger 
 range of instruction is secured. 
 
 " The seminary does not exist for its own sake ; it 
 exists for the sake of the churches. And the church 
 exists as the divinely-ordained and chief agency for the 
 extension of the kingdom of heaven on earth, the total 
 cure and transformation of human life. A ministry, then, 
 that mostly hangs in the air is of little use. A ministry 
 that gets about all its inspiration from the past is itself 
 a back number. True, no wise ministry will fail to study 
 deeply the past and to trace both the developments of 
 the nature forces and the gracious pressure that have 
 ever given such strange complexity and often seeming 
 contradictoriness to history; nevertheless, the ministry 
 of any period, certainly of our own, will inevitably waste 
 its main opportunity if it does not know how to put 
 itself into vital relations to the real life and thought 
 of its own people and time. Less and less are American 
 
202 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 colleges, especially those of commanding influence, the 
 homes of religious teaching and theological inquiry; and 
 though there are other centers for these things, none of 
 them can ever have the unique advantages of that ' calm 
 retreat ' which is to be found in a cathedral close. But 
 whether within the ' cathedral close,' or other close isola- 
 tion from the life of the world, are to be found the best 
 conditions for making ministers cannot be lightly dis- 
 posed of. 
 
 " What kind of conditions the minister in preparation 
 for his work most needs, depends on what he will be 
 rightfully called on to do when he gets into his life 
 work. It is plain enough, he cannot have too much knowl- 
 edge, and too much finish of personal culture. Nor can 
 he acquire too much of that kind of disciplined self- 
 mastery that will always give him the readiest use of 
 himself, and of his personal forces and resources as he 
 comes in contact with live men and actual affairs. 
 
 " Essentially, always the work of the Christian ministry 
 is the same ; us also is the main part of one's preparation 
 for it. In respect of personal character, and that dis- 
 cernment, wisdom, courage and power which the Holy 
 Spirit alone can impart and endow one with, there can 
 never be any difference of requirement. The minister is 
 first of all a man, and must first of all be a man of God. 
 But, just because he is this, he wants to understand the 
 . men about him, and know how to meet them, not only 
 agreeably, but in the way of persuasive mastery for their 
 good. The ministry amounts to nothing unless it is a 
 ministry of power. Because the source of power is the 
 grace of God, and the instrument of its power is the 
 Word of God, supremely the truth, as it relates to Christ, 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 203 
 
 does not diminish the minister's responsibility. The actual 
 effect of the truth still depends on how the truth is used 
 by him; and just here is where the necessity for the 
 utmost fitness and completeness of training comes in. 
 
 " Seminary training is in certain respects like home 
 training. The elements that determine its quality and its 
 power are not all of them such as can be set down. There 
 is the environment of the life; the atmosphere of the 
 place. There are the many influences, all the more 
 constant and unresisted because so unconscious, that 
 have large part in shaping the character and in creat- 
 ing its ruling motive. Of course one should not begin 
 to preach until he is prepared ; yet there is much that he 
 can do, and should, through special instruction, guidance 
 and experience, early learn to do. 
 
 Our National Military Academy at West Point has 
 always acted on the educational theory, that theory and 
 practice, study and training, should march in the same 
 column and keep step with each other. So, in the semi- 
 nary, the man bent on preparing himself to thfe utmost 
 for the just demands upon the ministry, is taught to enter 
 with his whole soul into this twofold preparation, the 
 enthusiasm in each only deepening his zeal for the other. 
 
 "What place has the university extension movement in 
 our colleges and seminaries? Every good institution, 
 especially every unusually costly one, is bound to extend 
 and increase the number of its utilities to its fullest op- 
 portunity and ability. Formerly the colleges were founded 
 and sustained chiefly with the view of securing for the 
 churches and missionary work a learned ministry. The 
 Christian college now would attract to itself and train 
 young m^ land women for a great variety of Christian 
 
204 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 service, such as our times make necessary. It is 
 likely that the theological seminaries may widen the 
 scope of their aims so as to include directly the higher 
 instruction and specific religious training of men and 
 women who desire to do their duty to the church without 
 being ministers, such as the Bible class teachers, the Sun- 
 day-school superintendents, lay helpers and missionaries — 
 both home and foreign. They may have more or less 
 patience with a certain kind of dogmatic critics, and 
 have no inclination to enter into the subleties of their 
 schemes, but, none the less, they demand to know the 
 wisest methods of using God's Word." 
 
 DR. PEARSONS ON INDIVIDUALITY. 
 
 "Among the countless millions who have dwelt and 
 still dwell upon this earth, no two individuals were ever 
 precisely alike. Every human being bears the stamp of 
 individuality; an inward divinity which bids him think 
 his own thoughts and follow the dictates of his own 
 reason, which also in personal traits, makes him one 
 apart from his fellows. This being the case why should 
 any one try to renounce his own selfhood and adopt 
 that of somebody else? Why, when in every case it is 
 easy to distinguish the imitation from the genuine article ? 
 
 " To ape some remarkably gifted or successful person- 
 age, is only to throw into bold relief the imitator's own 
 weaknesses and limitations. To insure the failure of a 
 boy's future, let his parents name him Napoleon Bona- 
 parte, George Washington, or Abraham Lincoln. He 
 will always be weighed down with a sense of inferiority 
 to the great man whose patronym clings to him like 
 an incubus, and which he can no more shake off than 
 could Sinbad, the old man of the sea. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 205 
 
 " The aids to noble and true living come mostly from 
 within. They have their root in the individuality, the 
 seal of personal independence. This independence is not 
 bluster, self-assertion, obstinacy nor eccentricity ; it is the 
 outgrowth of courage, faith, enthusiasm, and self-respect. 
 To be true to one's self is to be true to others. Let the 
 diamond in the rough smooth off its angles, and in the 
 refining process let it not lose its individuality. 
 
 "Those who have left their impress upon the ages, 
 whose thoughts and deeds form part of the world's 
 inheritance, were possessed of strong individuality. With 
 all proper deference to the ideals of others, they still 
 cherished their own ideas and lived their own lives, 
 leaving the world richer and better for their belief in 
 themselves and their appointed work. Dr. Fulton said: 
 ' There are two ways that lie open before every person 
 to live this earthly life. One is the " self life." A person 
 may make " self " the center and circumference of all 
 his thought and conduct. He may toil and labor, spend 
 his energies, grow old, lie down and die as the beast dieth, 
 living for self, thinking for self, for self and none besides, 
 as if Jesus had never lived, as if he had never died. The 
 other is the " unselfish life," or the life that glorifies God, 
 the highest possible ideal, and at its end he who lives 
 it will feel that he has not lived in vain. Others will 
 say the world is better because he lived in it and poorer 
 because he has been taken from it, and best of all, when 
 he stands in the presence of the Master to hear his 
 welcome : " Well done. Thou hast been faithful . . . 
 I will make thee ruler. . . . Enter into the joy of thy 
 Lord." These two ways lie open before every human 
 being, and blessed is he who renounces the former and 
 
206 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 has a vision of the possibilities of the God-like life.' " 
 Hale and hearty, sound in body and mind to a good 
 old age, Dr. Pearsons always faced the world smilingly 
 and gave his recipe for his happy and long life, to 
 which, however, all doctors do not agree : " Live cleanly 
 and healthfully," he said. " Get out of irksome business 
 when you feel its cares and worries prying on your mind. 
 Don't allow business to sap your youth and vitality. 
 Twenty-five years ago I retired, or rather I changed my 
 business, and performed only those labors which were 
 pleasing to me. As a result I have conserved my nervous 
 force and brain power." 
 
 But " retiring from business " did not mean a cessation 
 of interest in the afifairs of life, nor should it with any 
 man. One might think that at Dr. Pearsons' great age 
 he would take but a languid interest in matters like the 
 tariff, woman suffrage, and the causes of panics, but when 
 these topics were brought up his dealing with them was 
 remarkable for its grasp of detail, cause and effect. 
 Here are the recipes of three noted Americans, all of 
 whom lived to a great old age. The public must chose 
 for themselves. 
 
 Dr. Pearsons' recipe for securing long life was : " Keep 
 cool, don't overload the stomach, breathe pure air and 
 lots of it, eat a vegetable diet, don't eat late suppers, 
 go to bed early, don't fret, don't go where you'll get 
 excited, and don't forget to take a nap after dinner." 
 His clockwork way of living was one of the strong points 
 of his system. Here it is, as applied to his own daily life : 
 6 a. m. — Wake up and get up. 7 a. m. — Eat a light 
 breakfast. 8 a. m. — Catch a train. 8:30 a. m. — ^Reach 
 Chicago. 8:45 a. m. — ^Walk into the office. 12:10 p. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 207 
 
 m. — Board train for home. 1 p. m. — Eat dinner. 1 :4S 
 p. m. — ^Take a nap. 3:15 p. m. — Get up. 3:30 p. m. — 
 Read, talk and ride. 6 p. m. — Eat a light supper. 6:45 
 p. m. — Read or chat. 8 p. m. — Retiise. 
 
 N. B. On Sundays the clock substitutes " church " 
 for "office." 
 
 Wm. M. Evarts was asked to what he ascribed his 
 long life and excellent health. He replied, " I don't 
 know, unless it is because I don't take any exercise." 
 
 Those who knew the venerable gentleman know the 
 answer was absolutely true. Mr. Evarts took no exercise. 
 He carefully avoided it for many years, and when he had 
 occasion to go even a block, would always call a carriage. 
 
 Dr. John Fiske, of Cambridge, reveals the secret of his 
 strong constitution as follows : " Always sit in a draft 
 when I can find one ; wear the thinnest clothes I can find, 
 winter and summer; catch cold once in three or four 
 years, but not severely, and prefer to work in a cold 
 room, 55 or 60 degrees. Work the largest part of each 
 twenty-four hours, and by night or day indifferently. 
 Eat when hungry; rarely taste coffee or wine or smoke 
 a cigar, but drink two or three quarts of beer each day 
 and smoke a pipe all the time when at work. Never 
 experienced the feelings of disinclination for work, and, 
 therefore, never had to force work. If I feel dull when 
 at work, a half hour at the piano restores normal mental 
 condition, which is one more argument for the hygienic 
 and recuperative effects of music." 
 
 The truth of the matter is, that these recipes are for 
 two totally different classes of people. Dr. Pearsons, 
 millionaire philanthropist, and Mr. Evarts, wealthy, must 
 have found it easier to tell us we should be better, 
 
208 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 healthier and happier if we would only take a good long 
 nap or ride every afternoon than to show us how to do 
 it, or put us in the way of doing it. Many of us will 
 undoubtedly be guided by their advice, but there may be 
 several of us who cannot follow it, for reasons which 
 it is hardly neccessary to mention. There are a number 
 of other pleasing suggestions in Dr. Pearsons' recipe for 
 good health, solid comfort, and old age, all of which 
 the great masses of our people would be glad to follow 
 if circumstances would permit. But, whether we follow 
 the path marked out by him or not, we must always 
 be thankful to him for the kindness which prompted 
 him to show us how we could make our lives smoother 
 and pleasanter if we only had the time. 
 
 Dr. F"iske differs widely from Dr. Pearsons in the 
 matter of vegetable diet. While he was fond of young 
 onions, beets, carrots, cabbage, sauerkraut, turnips and 
 potatoes, he did not think it essential to his health that 
 he should consume any or all of these more than three 
 times a day, or that he should refuse to eat chops, mutton 
 and pork, beefsteak, roast beef, and fried bacon with 
 them. 
 
 These facts are not mentioned in order that discredit 
 may be thrown upon the good intentions or advice of 
 Dr. Pearsons. We know that he came pretty near being 
 as happy as was possible for any man who was worried 
 by college presidents seeking endowments. But we also 
 know that Dr. Fiske enjoyed the best of physical and 
 mental health, and that he disregarded almost every 
 suggestion made by Dr. Pearsons. 
 
 All we can do under the circumstances is to presume 
 that both were right. Each followed his own bent, and 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 209 
 
 each was happy in contemplating the good results he 
 obtained from forming right habits early in life. The 
 plan of one is for those who are compelled to take things 
 as they come ; the other, for those who can make things 
 come as they want them. 
 
 But, again, the tendency of mankind is unmistakably to 
 overeating. The ease with which food can be obtained 
 and the perfection of the culinary art, by which its tooth- 
 someness can be highly developed, tempt us to eat much 
 more than we require for bodily sustenance. Even the 
 arrangement of our meals is so artfully contrived as 
 to encourage overeating; indeed, it may be said without 
 exaggeration that the greatest skill and cunning of the 
 cook are displayed in efforts to entrap us into gluttony. 
 Witness the sudden and premature death of many sena- 
 tors, congressmen and men of leisure, who live at our 
 luxurious hotels and clubs. Not only is the greatest 
 ingenuity put forth to provide a variety of food at each 
 meal, but some of the most indigestible dishes are served 
 near the close when the normal needs of the body have 
 been provided for by the ingestion of substantial and 
 nourishing food, so that the natural disinclination to 
 eat more may be overcome by delicate flavors and season- 
 ings, which titillate the palate and gratify the sense of 
 taste at the expense of the stomach. The palatableness 
 of such food depends not upon hunger, wihach expresses 
 the desire and need of the body for nutriment, but upon 
 mere relish, the tickling of the nerve of taste, which is 
 no guide at all to the quantity of food required. 
 
 Fortunately, as we have a guide within ourselves as 
 to the quality of our food, so we have also one to indicate 
 the quantity. And this gfuide is a systematic one, not 
 
210 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 located, like the sense of taste, in a single organ, but 
 affecting the entire body. When we need more food 
 we feel faint, and the calls for nutriment from all the 
 different tissues and organs of the body gather strength, 
 if unsatisfied, until the corresponding sensation of hunger 
 becomes one of the most powerful impelling motives of 
 action. 
 
 Some time before his death, Dr. Pearsons was asked 
 to give his views on the methods of the militant suffra- 
 gettes, who had lately stormed the House of Parliament, 
 assaulted Secretary Asquith, and who had so many 
 followers and believers in America. He gave it as 
 follows : " Before I die, I believe equal suffrage will be 
 in force and by the ' great horned spoon,' the girls ought 
 to have it. Look at my wife. She had a better business 
 head and had a better insight into the future than I did. 
 Giving her equal suffrage, do you think the public wel- 
 fare would have suffered? She was only a sample of 
 millions of other woman, no better and no worse. They 
 could not, possibly, under any circumstances, make 
 matters any worse than they are, and it would be the 
 most effective way of getting rid of your jackpotters, 
 bribers and grafters. 
 
 " A woman suffrage bill was once defeated in the 
 British Parliament by such a narrow margin that it was 
 really a victory. Still Great Britain hesitates, and in 
 Atoetioa there is still greater hesitation, ailifihough about 
 one-eighth of the States have adopted and have benefited 
 by the experiment. 
 
 " Why do they hesitate ? Is this a reform or revolu- 
 tion against nature? Is woman trying to reach an 
 equality which does not belong to her? The ages are 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 211 
 
 against her. Where is her claim ? In the days of slavery 
 discussion much was heard about the higher law. Is 
 the higher law for or against woman? Turn back to 
 the account of creation and what it says : 
 
 " 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and 
 let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl 
 of the air,' etc. ' So God created man in his own image, 
 in the image of God created he him; male and female 
 created he them.' 
 
 " There is no declaration of inequality or servitude 
 here. Both are created in the same image, and to them as 
 the human family is given dominion. In the second ac- 
 count of the creation of man, it is said : ' It is not good 
 that the man should be alone; I will make him an help- 
 mate for him.' The creation of woman was not an after- 
 thought, but necessary to the completion of what had 
 gone before ; the finishing touch, the last expression of the 
 creative conception and the creative power. Creation 
 was a progress. It moved up an ascending scale. Woman 
 came last, and then God rested from his labors. If this 
 ascending scale signifies anything, it does not signify 
 woman's inferiority. 
 
 " But the scene changes. Sin comes into the world, 
 and then we hear of woman's subjection. ' Thy desire 
 shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee.' 
 And then came those other words : ' Thorns and thistles 
 shall the earth bring forth to thee.' That is to say, 
 woman's subjection came along with the thorns and 
 thistles, along with the hardness of toil and the curse. 
 From that evil day to this she has seen much sore sub- 
 jection. 
 
 " For ages and everywhere the law of the strongest 
 
212 BANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 was the law of the world. Even the most enlightened 
 paganism believed that the human race naturally divided 
 into two classes — a small class of masters and a large 
 class of slaves. Woman was numbered with the weak, 
 and generally shared, in whole or in part, the condition 
 of the slave. She was bought and sold and owned, often 
 chastised, sometimes laid upon the funeral pile with the 
 dead husband ; sometimes put to death at his will. 
 
 " What women still suffer in the Orient and through- 
 out heathendom the missionaries have often told us. To 
 what degradation she might be exposed in England, the 
 file of the London Times of July 18, 1797, shows. It 
 said : ' On Friday a butcher exposed his wife for sale 
 in Smithfield market, with a halter around her neck 
 and one around her waist which tied her to a railing; 
 a drover was the purchaser at three guineas and a crown.' 
 
 " But at last men are beginning to have civilized and 
 Christianized ideas in regard to woman. She is no longer 
 sold in an English market with a rope around her neck, 
 but stands on the threshold of parliamentary suffrage. 
 The men of America are everywhere taking woman's 
 equality for granted. But the right of suffrage is not 
 yet a part of this grant. Whether in this the paganism 
 of the past and the barbarism of heathendom are still 
 upon us, or whether we are pausing at what may right- 
 fully be called a legitimate limit, is a question which 
 troubles many honest minds. But knowing how' hard 
 it is to shake off paganism of any kind, there is grave 
 reason to suspect as much influence of prejudice in this 
 matter as weight of wisdom. 
 
 " Certainly it does seem to be a strange state of affairs 
 when the women, who are leading in reform and address- 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 213 
 
 ing multitudes in words of wisdom and statesmanship, 
 cannot vote, and yet, the little man, loafing around the 
 street corner or skulking through the alley, can cast his 
 ballot, and all because he wears a pair of pants. 
 
 " What do I think panics are ? Well, it is when the 
 boiling pot of finances has been boiling so long that the 
 good water has all been dissipated into the air as steam 
 and only the mixed-up dregs of filth and gambling remain. 
 Something must be done to settle this corruption to the 
 bottom and strain out the sediment, so the fire is quenched 
 and the kettle allowed to simmer down and cool oflf, 
 so it can be handled again and filled with clean water, 
 with the scum and settlings of the former boiling all 
 thrown away and destroyed. A panic can also be started 
 by a wolf dressing up in a sheep's hide, getting into the 
 midst of the flock. Then the first sheep to penetrate the 
 disguise rushes into the fold of safety to save his wool 
 and is followed by all the others in a delirium of fear. 
 Then again some harum-scarum chap who controls the 
 resources of a great bank tries to comer the copper or 
 wheat market. His speculation or gamble fails, the bank 
 breaks, carrying down hundreds of others with their 
 thousands of depositors. It is like an endless chain 
 and is made worse by the contagious fears of men who 
 stand looking on from safety. They are the wolves in 
 sheeps' clothing. It has been this way in ages past and 
 I suppose always will be in the future. To watch the 
 approach of these panics, mark their effects and act on 
 the knowledge, when learned, is the chief manner of 
 gaining financial success. 
 
 " Then tariff tinkering has made several panics. There 
 should be no protective tariff. It virtually amounts to 
 
214 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 war between the nations, and before many years it will 
 cause a bloody war when the jealousy of nations mounts 
 to the right pitch. The government should be run from 
 funds collected from companies to whom the natural 
 resources of the country have been granted; should tax 
 the profits made on patents and copyrights ; should get 
 a share of the profits of common carriers and corpora- 
 tions. If you tear down the tarifif wall, the high cost 
 of liATing and wiages will adjust themselves, friction 
 between labor and capital will disappear and the nation 
 will no longer irrevocably alienate its natural resources 
 to be exploited for private profit. Then the nations 
 would be at peace, because the principal cause of war 
 would be removed." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 DR. PEARSONS' TALK ON KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 " That God rules the affairs of men is as certain as 
 he does the physical forces of the heavens. His divine 
 hand moulds the thoughts, aims and lives of great and 
 prominent men all down the ages. His eternal wisdom 
 marks the steady flow of the nations and tribes of men 
 through the dim vista of time. Almighty God, who 
 inhabits eternity; who guides the course of universes 
 through the hithermost bounds of space ; who holds the 
 sun in his right hand, the earth is his footstool. The 
 firmament, the heavens, the stars, and planets might fade 
 and die away, still God would remain. 
 
 " Somewhere in the bounds of the unending void he 
 could bring the disrupted but indestructible elements of 
 matter together again to form new universes ; for plant- 
 ing there the divine seed from which shall spring the 
 great souls of sons of ages to come. Our recorded 
 history is but a second in the sweep of time. O Time ! 
 O Time ! Thy incomprehensible name is as awful as the 
 vain contemplation of the starlit voids of invisibility. To 
 the imposing solemnity of these visions and reflections 
 is added the thought of our awful responsibility to God, 
 who also carries the name of universal Father; of our 
 accountability to him of our lives and their results; 
 whether small or far reaching; whether the good we do 
 
 215 
 
216 BANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 with our inherited faculties is only local or shall roll on 
 through the ages with accumulating volume, for the 
 benefit of mankind and posterity. The fearful responsi- 
 bilities and sublime destiny of man in consideration of 
 the existence, attributes and purposes of God, are sub- 
 jects of great magnitude; of such deep interest, and 
 unutterable importance, that to neglect them is not only 
 to shut from the thoughts the grandest and most magnifi- 
 cent conceptions, which can enter the mind, but also to 
 disregard our highest welfare and to prove ourselves 
 unworthy of the use of reason, by which we are dis- 
 tinguished from the lower ranks of creation. 
 
 " We are here to answer these questions in the short 
 span of earthly life; to do the most good with our 
 possessions possible; to follow the teachings of God 
 and his divine Son, and finally to stand at his holy 
 tribunal. Grant that the result will be a loving look 
 and the words, ' Well done, my good and faithful 
 servant.' He sent to us hiis only begotten Son to show 
 the way and light the path to his presence. A new way 
 of succeeding in these objects has been opening through 
 his teachings, and the sins, selfishness and misery of this 
 world washed out by his blood, for those who believe 
 in him. 
 
 " The highest honor of man is, not to be applauded 
 and raised to power, but to persevere with firm front, 
 in the paths of integrity, in defiance of poverty, of dis- 
 couragement, and the obstacles of obliquy, with the eye 
 fixed on everlasting glory. 
 
 " In order to attain true dignity of character, the 
 knowledge of sublime truth is needed. To feel the 
 influeso'ce of this t™th it is necessary to aiot uipon its 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 217 
 
 claim. Contemplation and musings come first in order 
 to knowledge and emotion. Every ray of light which 
 enters the mind should converge in full strength upon 
 the heart, there to enhance the spirit of benevolence, 
 love, faith and piety. 
 
 " It is, perhaps, essential to our great success in life, 
 to have our pathway filled with barriers and obstacles 
 which must be surmounted; that our thoughts should 
 be hampered by temptations and allurements of ease ; the 
 subduing of these is the only true stepping stones of 
 greatness. 
 
 " The progress of young men in knowledge is like a 
 climber ascending, step by step, with perchance many 
 slips and mistakes in the trail, the steep side of a high 
 mountain. The higher he goes the more objects are 
 brought into view, glimmering in the dim distance. 
 
 " At every step the objects in view are multiplied, 
 and the limits of the horizon extend to the gaze. He 
 finds many barriers and precipices in his path, which 
 perseverance and aid overcome, until he stands at the 
 summit of all earthly knowledge. 
 
 " But here he stops. He strives in vain to apply earthly 
 knowledge to bridge the void that separates him from 
 the throne of God. He sees another peak beyond; it is 
 no higher than his. He strives to fathom the depths 
 above, and his mind recoils aghast at the immense and 
 awful power of the Creator's hand. The crust of the 
 earth ; the depths of the ocean ; the elements of air, earth 
 and water have given up their knowledge to him, but 
 the trackless paths of space, lighted by the light of 
 myriads of worlds, are merged in the mystery of 
 existence. No answer has come except the words of 
 
218 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 Christ, the Son of the Creator. The only way to add 
 the heavenly to the earthly knowledge is to follow his 
 teachings, and reposing, in the faith of Jehovah, to put 
 his faith in knowledge and the belief that he was created 
 for immortality and eternal knowledge. 
 
 " The obvious and impas)siable boundaries of htumam 
 knowledge result from our limited faculties and the 
 circumstances of our present mode of existence. The 
 more numerous are our discoveries and the more exten- 
 sive our knowledge, the more reason we have to confess 
 that we know but little in comparison to what remains 
 unknown; that our greatest attainments are but a drop 
 of the measureless ocean. In comparison with the wis- 
 dom of God man knows nothing, yet there is a great 
 pleasure in the gaining of even a little knowledge. Every 
 new idea that enters the mind is like a ray of light 
 illuminating his soul. 
 
 " To those who have digged long on the treasure- 
 laden vein in the mountain of knowledge, every fresh 
 blast to disclose the hidden gems furnishes a source of 
 endless joy and indescribable pleasure. 
 
 " In conclusion, when we glance at the various attain- 
 ments of the human mind; at the skill attained in the 
 science of the earth; in the knowledge of the laws of 
 nature; at the skill gained in reasoning about the con- 
 ceptions of the intellect; at the skill attained in compre- 
 hending the mysteries of the mind itself, and discovering 
 the future destiny of the soul, when it shall wing its way 
 into the other world and begin its immortal career in a 
 condition, unvisited by death ; when you think of the 
 mass of ideas reposing in the memory, as in a well- 
 arranged storehouse, where everything can be found, 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 219 
 
 when called for; when you think of the astonishing 
 acuteness of reasoning, and powers of invention, and 
 accuracy of judgment concerning the future; when you 
 advert to the wise maxims and just opinions formed on 
 an infinitude of subjects, and of the varied and com- 
 plicated passions, subject to the control of the intellect; 
 when we think of the wonders of fancy, making a new 
 creation of her own, of bright lines and harmony ; when 
 you think of the sublime heights of faith and hope ; of 
 unending progression in knowledge, of the flood of light, 
 which from the eternal fountain of wisdom will be 
 poured upon the human mind, and of pure, seraphic, 
 immortal joys, the fruit of divine knowledge, shall we 
 not say that ' the bread of the tree of knowledge is 
 more to be desired than great riches ' ? ' Know God ! for 
 this knowledge is life eternal.' " 
 
 ESSAY BY DR. PEARSONS ON THE HIGH CJOST OF LIVING. 
 
 " The high cost of living, of which people complain 
 so much and which had the power to change the politi- 
 cal control of the country, is only the result of education 
 and extravagance, mingled with laziness. A house- 
 wife remembering she had forgotten to order any meat 
 for dinner, will rush to the telephone at 11 a. m. and 
 order ten cents' worth of sausage ' and be sure to have 
 it tender; send it up at once and charge it.' Now it 
 will cost that butcher at least fifteen cents to deliver that 
 order on which his profit may be only five cents, with 
 the additional risk of losing the cost and profit both. 
 He must also have a bookkeeper, in addition to the 
 delivery horse and hay, to keep the accounts. Now here 
 comes a man who pays cash and carries his sausage 
 home with him. He has to help keep up the system and 
 
220 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 add his percentage to make the bad debts good, but he 
 doesn't get a ' smitchen ' of benefit from it. I don't 
 see how it can keep on and I know it won't, but there is 
 a new crop coming on every year, so perhaps it won't end. 
 " Here is a young man, for instance. He smokes 
 ten-'cent cigiars. He goes to the manicure's, although 
 well able to trim his nails himself. Then he goes to the 
 barber shop every day ; then he tips the barber ten cents 
 and the darky five cents for making a pretence of brush- 
 ing his clothes. I shaved myself until I was eighty 
 years old. Then he must have a shampoo and a massage 
 or Turkish bath, from which he emerges to step into 
 a high-priced automobile, when, from the size of his 
 income, he should be riding on a street car, or, better 
 still, walking. Then he must have his pants creased 
 and pressed, buy some flowers for that chalk-faced girl, 
 take her to the theater, perhaps invest in a box, and to 
 be ' aufait,' he must fill her dainty stomach, after the 
 show, with high-priced and delicious condiments, which 
 are so enervating to the girl that he has to telephone for 
 a hack to cart her home, and perhaps on the way, to keep 
 his memory strong, he must buy her a dollar box of 
 candy. Now how in time, can that young man marry 
 and buy a farm ? " 
 
 DR. PEARSONS' PRESCRIPTION FOR RICH PATIENTS. 
 
 " In the practice of medicine and common sense and 
 some other things for many years, I have come to certain 
 conclusions about rich men and their money, and the 
 relations of both to the needs of the world, which are 
 thoroughly settled in my mind. In the first place, I have 
 observed that inherited property does not usually do much 
 good to those that get it. It is more often a curse than 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 221 
 
 a blessing. Hence I say to rich men, Don't leave vast 
 wealth to your children or other relatives, for such a form 
 of benevolence is not the best. A second thing I have 
 learned is that it is the wisest course for a man of means 
 to be his own administrator, and dispose of a large share 
 of his property in his own lifetime. This plan will 
 prevent his heirs from fighting about it ; will keep much 
 of it from the lawyers, will enable the giver to see what 
 good his gifts can do, will show him in the light of one 
 good deed what is the next best thing to do, and will stir 
 up some others who have money to go and do likewise. 
 To know how to make money is one science; to know 
 what to do with it when you have made it is another 
 science ; and this last should be studied by the possessor 
 of wealth before he divides his property. How un- 
 reasonable it is for a man on his deathbed to scatter a 
 fortune in a haphazard, goody-goody way to a dozen 
 objects of very different merits! He should do all this 
 with clear brain, after careful thought, and in the vigor 
 of his own best days. 
 
 " Another element in my prescription is that a man 
 should give money, as a rule, to institutions that are 
 backed up by strong corporations or churches, and so 
 have every reasonable prospect of permanent usefulness. 
 I do not believe in fads and cranks, and low-grade, short- 
 cut-colleges or seminaries, or schools started to teach 
 peculiarities and oddities. Capital should be put into 
 regular, well-manned, conservative institutions, that are 
 doing solid work, and supported by men of sense and 
 piety, but which are crippled for want of greater re- 
 sources. That is why I have helped Beloit, Knox, and 
 
222 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 Yankton Colleges, and McCormick and Chicago Theolog- 
 ical Seminaries. 
 
 " I will add one thing more, for I am speaking to Chi- 
 cago men and Western men of wealth. I think the rich 
 man in this part of the country is under strong obliga- 
 tions to give of his abundance to Western institutions. 
 Our money came from the prairies of Illinois, the pine 
 woods of Michiigain, or from the wheat and corn and hogs 
 of the whole West; hence the circuit of our benevolence 
 should lead this wealth largely back into hospitals, 
 schools, libraries, colleges and seminaries, in which the 
 bodily, mental and religious needs of the people in this 
 section of the country may be met. The past generation 
 in the West has rolled up fortunes; the time has now 
 come to turn this property to the best account. Nobility 
 has its obligations; so has wealth. What are the mil- 
 lionaires all about us going to do with their riches? 
 That is a question to be asked seriously, to be answered 
 carefully, and in the case of some to be answered very 
 soon." 
 
 It is an old saying, that it is easier to be a minister 
 than a physician, because it is always easier to preach 
 than to practice. In the case of Dr. Pearsons, however, 
 we find elements of the heroic in both his words and his 
 deeds. He did not say " Go," but " Come." He had 
 faith in his own medicine, and took it freely. He pointed 
 toward higher things, and himself led the way. Especially 
 did he desire to provoke other people unto love and good 
 works ; and nothing gave him more true joy than to hear 
 that his benefactions had touched the heartstrings and 
 loosened the pursestrings of others, who were able to 
 give, and only needed to be made willing in the day of 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 223 
 
 their power. His splendid offer to Chicago Theological 
 Seminary was most characteristic of the man. It was 
 addressed to the Board of Directors, and ran as follows : 
 
 " I hereby agree to pay to your corporation, on or 
 before May 1, 1894, the sum of $100,000 in productive 
 real estate and cash, upon condition and for consideration 
 that on or before that time your corporation shall raise 
 $350,000 for uses of your corporation. ,It shall be 
 considered a performance of above conditions if such 
 $350,000 shall be raised by payment, partly in cash, 
 partly in good subscriptions, payable within a reason- 
 able time after May 1, 1894, partly in real estate, at 
 valuation of your executive committee, partly by any 
 legacies or devises paid or given between this date and 
 May 1, 1894, and partly by the gift of a chapel, to be 
 erected on the northwest corner of Ashland Boulevard 
 and Warren Avenue, at an expense of at least $40,000." 
 
 That was the loving challenge which Dr. Pearsons 
 threw down to all friends and lovers of the seminary, to 
 put the institution in a condition to carry on the great 
 work that lay before it. 
 
 " Chicago, April 22, 1892. 
 
 " Dr. D. K. Pearsons — My Dear Sir : Your most 
 welcome and munificent proposal was communicated to 
 the Board of Directors, and was received with great 
 enthusiasm, and the following action was taken : ' That 
 we gratefully recognize the good providence of God in, 
 the very timely and generous proposition of D. K. Pear- 
 sons to donate to the Seminary $100,000 upon the condi- 
 tion that $350,000 additional be contributed by others, 
 and that we accept the same upon the proposed condi- 
 tions, pledging ourselves to energetic efforts to secure 
 
224 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 the required amount ; also, that the secretary expresses to 
 Dr. Pearsons the thanks of the Board for this and former 
 expressions of interest and confidence in the work that 
 the Seminary is doing.' 
 
 " G. S. F. Savage, Secretary." 
 
 " Are you the treasurer of the Chicago Theological 
 Seminary ?" Dr. Pearsons asked Mr. Baird, as he handed 
 him a check for $100,000. " Well, take good care of this 
 money. No. I don't want your receipt. I have witnesses 
 that I have paid this money. Take care of it and use 
 it just as I have stipulated. That's all. 
 
 "Gentlemen, I believe in theological education. I 
 believe in it one hundred thousand dollars' worth in 
 addition to my previous gifts to the seminary. 
 
 "Teach your students how to talk. No matter how 
 much a man knows, it is not preaching unless he can 
 tell it to the people. Teach men how to strengthen and 
 control their vocal organs. They waste energy in need- 
 less shouting. They weary the people by straining their 
 attention. Teach them to speak plainly, naturally, for- 
 cibly. I have heard ministers, otherwise well equipped, 
 who put the gem of every paragraph into a low tone and 
 it was lost. I used to hear a minister whose prayers 
 were beautiful and appropriate, but half of them I could 
 not hear. 
 
 " Teach them to act like gentlemen in the pulpit. I 
 used to hear a man who, every now and then, would 
 bore into his ear with the little finger of his left hand, 
 as if he were fishing around for an idea. Such habits 
 make a man ridiculous. Another good man used to lean 
 way over the pulpit with his mouth wide open, as if 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 225 
 
 he intended to swallow an alligator. A minister has no 
 business to contract such habits. 
 
 " One time I knew a man, whom I liked very well, 
 and his sermons were good, but he spoiled them. He 
 never suspected how many bad habits he had until I 
 told him and I thought he was offended. A week later 
 he came to me with tears in his eyes and thanked me for 
 what I told him. You think by teaching doctrine and the 
 dead languages you have done your duty. That is only 
 the beginning of teaching men to preach. 
 
 " One grave fault of seminaries is that they do not use 
 the experience of successful men in the ministry. You 
 give them a fossilized course of instruction, when you 
 ought to bring the men in who are doing things, to show 
 the students how to do them. Chicago is full of men who 
 are doing their job and doing it well. Bring these men 
 in and get ideas in an hour that are worth a year of 
 theoretical advice. Use the men who are successful to 
 teach habits of success. Don't get men who are failures 
 to teach success which they never could achieve. 
 
 " Gentlemen, the church needs preachers, and preachers 
 need special training, and that is why I give this money. 
 But I believe that their education can be greatly im- 
 proved. Teach them all the theory you want. Give them 
 all the theology they can assimilate. But teach them 
 how to stand on their feet and look a congregation in 
 the face and tell what they have to say in elegant English, 
 in a clear and well-modulated voice and with freedom 
 from offensive mannerisms. 
 
 " It seems to me this duty lies with the seminaries, 
 the colleges and the schools. When I taught school years 
 ago the young people got into the habit of mimicking the 
 
226 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 great orators of those days and we could not help be- 
 coming orators. Do you know, I think teaching is one 
 of the greatest of all human professions. Why, I remem- 
 ber when I was a teacher, with what enthusiasm I went 
 into it. I had to testify in a lawsuit and I stopped at a 
 little hotel where there were six beds in the room, and 
 one morning the men who slept there told me that I 
 taught school all night in my sleep, and did it so well that 
 one of them, who was trustee, hired me to teach in his 
 district. And I taught it well, for all I had to work hard 
 every night to keep ahead of my highest class. And as 
 for oratory, why, we produced orators there. 
 
 " I had a boy there who afterward made his mark in 
 oratory. He had been a canal-boat boy and he got tired 
 of walking in the towpath. So he tried his voice in dif- 
 ferent keys on the three horses that drew the boat. He 
 would stand in the bow of the boat and call to the leader 
 in a high clear tone; then he would call to the middle 
 horse in a natural tone, about in the middle register, and 
 then he would talk to the horse next the boat in a deep, 
 base key. Those horses came to understand it and he 
 trained his vocal organs as well. If I had my way I 
 would have every minister drive a canal-boat for a few 
 months. And then it would do him good to try to be an 
 auctioneer. What a difference it would make in the way 
 they preach ! 
 
 " Did you ever visit a dissecting room ? Well, did you 
 see the dissection of the human throat? That box to 
 produce sound is the most wonderful thing in the world. 
 The man whose living depends on the use of his voice 
 and whose whole success depends upon it cannot afford 
 to neglect its cultivation. And he must do it himself. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 227 
 
 You cannot massage the vocal organs into shape. The 
 minister should practice constantly, using his voice for 
 the right expression to convey his i3ea, and with the least 
 waste of nervous energy. He should make all his breath 
 productive of vocal power. He should avoid the tones 
 that weary his congregation or strain their attention. 
 A man with a weak voice can train it if he goes at it 
 right. 
 
 " Of course I have my own ideas about what a preach- 
 er ought to put into his sermon. But the point I am mak- 
 ing is that whatever he puts in he ought to plan to get 
 it out into the hearts of his congregation. Unless he 
 does this, he does not preach. He might as well talk 
 in his sleep, and it isn't every man who can make so 
 much of a success of it as I did. 
 
 " I believe in preaching. The country needs to have 
 the truth told forcefully, persuasively and beautifully. We 
 need a new race of orators. And every minister ought to 
 believe that his is the greatest opportunity in all the 
 world to preach. Tell them to preach — not mumble, nor 
 go word gathering, nor talk nonsense. We want the 
 preaching of the Gospel, and it deserves to be well 
 preached." 
 
 Professor Curtiss spoke as follows on Dr. Pearsons' 
 gift: 
 
 "Under God we owe everything that is desirable in 
 life to the church. We are here tonight, in these pleas- 
 ant surroundings, because of the church. It is the 
 church that has made civilization, commerce and society 
 what they are today, as far as there is anything good in 
 them. Without the church we can hardly picture what 
 we should have been: white slaves, perhaps, in some 
 
228 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 modern Greece or Rome, bending under the burdens of a 
 Christless civilization, without hope and without God in 
 the world; or half naked savages, in some barbarous 
 Britain, struck dumb with superstitious fears whenever 
 we heard the roar of thunder, or saw an eclipse, or felt 
 the earthquake shock — all our lifelong subject to bond- 
 age. 
 
 " Without the church, woman, now enthroned as a 
 queen who graces this assembly, would be cowering as a 
 slave, the sport or toy of her lord and master. These are 
 not conjectures or fancy pictures; they are taken from 
 life. Ancient heathen civilization in the classic periods 
 of Greece and Rome affords nothing in social life that we 
 would for a moment exchange for the blessings of our 
 civilization. We know what heathenism is today. We 
 know its miseries, its superstitions and fears. We know 
 that life to the average heathen man is not worth living, 
 and that life to the average woman is hell. 
 
 " We know these things, and so we know that 
 this bright, happy scene is due to the church and to 
 Christ, its Founder. Christ came not to be ministered 
 unto, but to minister. He was the first Christian Minis- 
 ter. He was the Founder of the church. We owe every- 
 thing that is desirable to the Christian ministry. Name 
 over the arts and sciences, if you please, the noblest 
 works to human hands. Name the universities, which 
 are the pride of this and other lands, and I will show you 
 that we owe these to the church and the ministry. 
 
 " Go with me to New York, to Liverpool, to Yoko- 
 hama, and watch the pulsations of commerce as they are 
 felt in the heart-throbs of those monsters which ply be- 
 tween land and land, and I will show you that we owe 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 229 
 
 these things to the church and the ministry ; to the church 
 Catholic and the church Protestant. The unbelieving 
 scholar, the Christless merchant prince, have been nour- 
 ished on the bosom of the church and by Christian minis- 
 ters. If we have republican institutions today, if we are 
 an independent nation, if we are a nation instead of an 
 aggregation of States, it is because the pulpit has pro- 
 claimed liberty throughout the land. The church and the 
 ministry are not dead ; like their Founder and first Repre- 
 sentative, they are alive for evermore, and will be preg- 
 nant forces until a new heaven and a new earth appear. 
 
 " This city is a marvel. It is a wicked city, but a bless- 
 ing rests upon it. The blessing comes from men like 
 Philo Carpenter and Jeremiah Porter, Sunday-school 
 superintendent and minister, who rocked its cradle. They 
 have found successors in a great multitude of faithful 
 representatives. The man of wealth owes an incalculable 
 debt to the church and the ministry. The church could 
 say with truth to every millionaire in this city : ' I made 
 you. I made the society and civilization, which renfler 
 your royal acquisitions possible. Put yourself by my side 
 and you will see this as certainly as the young man saw 
 the mountain full of horses and chariots which he had 
 not seen until the Lord opened his eyes.' 
 
 " What follows from this ? That no institution should 
 be so valued by men of all classes, by men of no creed as 
 well as by those who have a creed, as a live theological 
 seminary. There is no subject which, if understood, 
 should awaken such enthusiasm and interest as that of 
 ministerial education. It should not be necessary to plead 
 with men and women to be interested in such a thing. 
 When it is presented, instead of meeting in some small 
 
230 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 place, it should so command the interest of the rich and 
 poor in our denomination that the auditorium would not 
 be too large to contain the crowd that would come to 
 hear about the most important matter which concerns 
 congregationail and n/aticunal intetests. 
 
 " But you say I am beside myself ; the contemplation 
 of one interest for fourteen years has shut out everything 
 else, so that on this subject I am a monomaniac. Be it 
 so, I am not the only one. I was in the Tribune building 
 last Saturday. A man, born in New England, who has 
 spent his life in making money, one of the keenest men 
 I have ever met — not a church member — said to me: 
 ' You have no conception of the future development and 
 usefulness of your seminary. You do not see it any more 
 than Lieutenant-Governor Bross, who used to write about 
 the future growth of Chicago, saw what Chicago was to 
 be. His wildest dreams of Chicago have been so out- 
 stripped by the reality that they seem like foolishness. 
 Have some one hold up the value of your seminary on 
 the side of its value to this Northwest without regard to 
 religion, until the men and women get some conception 
 of it.' 
 
 " The man who has had such a vision of the value of 
 our seminary, from a humanitarian and patriotic point of 
 view is D. K. Pearsons. I wish he were here tonight to 
 tell us what is in the range of those bright eyes, which 
 seem to look you through. He has ascended the mount 
 of transfiguration, and has caught a view of the glorious 
 scene, while we are still at the foot, and in the inspiration 
 of what he has seen he has been moved to offer our semi- 
 nary $100,000, on condition that we raise $350,000 more. 
 
 " What has he seen ? Doubtless the fair vision which 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 231 
 
 arose before the eye of our architects of the noblest com- 
 bination of buildings devoted to theological learning in 
 the world; hundreds gathering to study the medicine 
 which heals souls, bringing refreshment to the sin-sick 
 and weary in this city while they are engaged in study; 
 churches and missions teeming in this city because of their 
 activity. All this he has seen, but he has seen far more. 
 He has seen a grand company of trained officers go out 
 from our West Point — one in spirit, one in purpose, one 
 in heart — ^to carry on the peaceful war for all we hold 
 most dear. He has seen cities and towns throughout our 
 entire Northwest peaceful and prosperous because the 
 men who mold society and who form public opinion are 
 going forth with four different languages to blend divers 
 elements and unite them in union churches, which we 
 call Congregational, which shall be as numerous as the 
 stars of heaven and which shall shine with the splendor 
 of the great central sun. He has seen that every man 
 who is fit to be an American citizen is fit to be a Congre- 
 gationalist ; and that every Congregationalist will make a 
 good American citizen. He has seen a little red school- 
 house by the side of every Congregational church. He 
 has seen past distinctions done away with. He has seen 
 the sympathy which the working classes need freely 
 granted. He has seen in the churches for the people, 
 from the people, by the people, the guarantee of that 
 which is most precious in our republican institutions. 
 If these are visions are they not foretokens of that diajy 
 when the Spirit shall be poured out, when our sons and 
 daughters shall prophesy, our old men dream dreams and 
 our young men see visions? Can we not from the same 
 mount of transfiguration get a similar view until we, too, 
 
232 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 shall leave this poor, beggarly world for a time behind 
 us and see money as a servant, not as a master; as a 
 means, not as an end, until, rising to our position as the 
 Lord's stewards, we shall devise things and shall cease to 
 calculate how much we can give rather than how little, 
 so that men who are now thinking of giving shall increase 
 the amount and when all classes shall have a part? 
 
 " But the urgency of a great cause, which has been 
 laid on my heart, must be laid on yours. We must bear 
 it together. We must work, plan, pray and give until 
 this great mountain becomes a plain, and the headstone 
 is laid amid acclamations of grace." 
 
 " Chicago, April 25, 1892. 
 
 " Dear Dr. Savage : I am not surprised that my gifts 
 to the seminary and Beloit College should give you great 
 satisfaction. For a long series of years you have worked 
 with others to build them up, and have done nobly. It 
 is now time for them to put on new strength, in order 
 to meet the demands of the age. I am devoutly thankful 
 that a kind Providence has given me the means and the 
 good sense to help you along. 
 " Truly, 
 
 "D. K. Pearsons." 
 
 The Chicago Theological Seminary is emphatically a 
 child of the Congregational churches of the Northwest. 
 It was established by a convention of the ministers and 
 churches of Iowa, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin 
 and Missouri, meeting in Chicago, Sept. 26, 1854. Its 
 first board of directors, representing each of those States, 
 was elected at that time. It received on Feb. 24, 1855, a 
 very liberal charter from the State of Illinois, exempting 
 it from all taxation. After various trials it was opened 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 233 
 
 for the reception of students on Oct. 6, 1858. When Dr. 
 Pearsons' offer was made, the seminary came to the 
 " cross of its success." Its growth and prosperity have 
 been such as to necessitate a large increase of funds to 
 meet its present needs and the required enlargement of 
 its work. In God's good Providence the opportunity of 
 meeting this need was opened by Dr. Pearsons' offer of 
 $100,000, if $350,000 in addition were raised. It doubt- 
 less cost much hard labor to fulfill this, but by earnest 
 prayers to God, whose is the gold and silver, and in whose 
 hands are the hearts of men, it was done, and accom- 
 plished on time. 
 
 Then, on May 13, 1910, Dr. Pearsons, " fairy godfather 
 of the small colleges," again showed his beneficence by 
 giving another $100,000 to the seminary. The gift came 
 as a surprise to the twenty-four directors, who were as- 
 sembled in annual sessions, although Dr. Savage had 
 known for several days that it might occur. The aged 
 philanthropist made it possible to announce the gift at the 
 meeting only by the narrowest margin. He had told of 
 his intention, but requested that nothing be said until he 
 " saw how his money affairs stood." ' His final decision 
 came by telephone shortly before meeting adjourned. 
 "You can come to my office any time in the next few 
 days, Dr. Savage, and get that endowment of $100,000 
 I spoke to you about," Dr. Pearsons said. " I find that 
 my affairs are in such shape that I can make the gift 
 at once." The total amount of his gifts to this seminary 
 was $280,000. 
 
 Dr. Pearsons had 132 shares in John R. Walsh's bank, 
 which brought out the following remarks. Out of the 
 woods at Hinsdale came the only jocular note heard thus 
 
234 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 far concerning the Walsh failure — the merry " ha, ha " 
 of Dr. Pearsons over the plight of " Friend John." 
 
 "John R. Walsh was a mighty smart man, but no bank- 
 er. Friend John has certainly mixed things up. He was 
 altogether too sanguine to make a good banker and now 
 he is reaping the result. 
 
 " Of course I would not be talking like this if I did 
 not believe that everybody would come out of it un- 
 scathed. People can say what they have a mind to, but I, 
 who have known him for forty-five years, know that he 
 is an honest man and that his investments ultimately will 
 pan out all right. 
 
 " Poor John ! I have known him ever since he kept 
 that dinky little newsstand on Deanborn Street. His only 
 mistake has come rather late in life. If he had stopped 
 getting richer and tried to give away his money the way 
 I have he would still be a rich man. 
 
 " What is success ? You can no more explain it than 
 you can tell why one woman can make a pumpkin pie 
 that justifies a special Thlaniksgiving Day, and another, of 
 equal social and educational advantages, will make one 
 that causes a patriot to despair of his country. The 
 qualities which make success are bred in the air of pov- 
 erty and need." 
 
 As regularly as clockwork for many years after he had 
 converted his holdings into cold cash or given it away, 
 Dr. Pearsons resisted the assessment on his office chair 
 and desk, the tax on which amounted to six dollars. He 
 who gave away several millions, one of which went to 
 Chicago institutions, spent several hours every year in 
 a generally successful effort to save six dollars from the 
 grasp of the tax collector. "I have absolutely no business 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 235 
 
 except to give away money, and I don't think I ought to 
 pay taxes on the furniture I have in that office," ex- 
 plained the Doctor to the board of review. " I have not 
 been in that office for a week and only visit it a few 
 times each month." Marked off ! 
 
 He said : " Giving away my money is my sole occupa- 
 tion — and I am working hard at it. I kept getting rich 
 until I was 70, and then I started giving away the for- 
 tune that had been placed in my hands. There is more 
 responsibility in giving away than in making it. I am 
 responsible for the just distribution of the great wealth 
 to the Providence under which it came to me. I started 
 by giving to Beloit College, and there are few needy, 
 worthy small colleges which I have not helped. I be- 
 lieve money has little value except as it does service, and 
 that the small colleges need assistance more than the 
 large ones. 
 
 " I shall talk to you in plain language on what to do 
 with money and how to use it. I am about to say some 
 things that I have never before mentioned to any one. 
 In other words, I propose to be very frank, very plain. 
 
 " In order to illustrate my subject so that you may 
 clearly understand it I shall introduce several object les- 
 sons. I am going to take you on a long journey to see 
 the places where we make use of money. I shall also 
 bring in a little history incident to the places we are to 
 visit. I shall be under the necessity of frequently using 
 the pronoun ' I.' An old man has the right to make him- 
 self the hero of every story he tells. In the young man 
 this would not be admissible, but an old man, approach- 
 ing fourscore years, has a right to tell what he has done. 
 I like to hear old men tell what they have done, and I am 
 
236 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 going to tell you what I have done for a particular object ; 
 not because I am proud of it, or vain about it, neither do 
 I pose as a benevolent man — remember that. I am a 
 thrifty and frugal old man. I have labored nearly eighty 
 years to make money, and I have made it, and honestly, 
 too. The statement may seem very strange to you, that 
 I do not pose as a benevolent man. I have no benevo- 
 lence in me, not a particle. I am the most economical, 
 close-fisted man you ever put your eyes on. You can see 
 it in my face — it is there. I do not think I ever foolishly 
 spent twenty dollars in my life. I never went to a theater 
 but once in my life, and then I was ashamed of myself. 
 I never went to a horserace, or a football game, or a 
 baseball game, over which our students all over the 
 country are making such consuuuuate fools of themselves, 
 and by allowing which the presidents and faculties are 
 making idiots of themselves. 
 
 " I am doing all that I am doing on business principles. 
 After working hard and practicing rigid economy for 
 seventy years to lay up money, I said to mysd'f : ' What 
 am I going to do with this ? I cannot carry it out of the 
 world in my dead hands. Coffins were not made to 
 carry money in. I have got to leave it; that's the way 
 to look at it. Now, what shall I do with it ? ' 
 
 " I looked around Chicago and helped to build a hos- 
 pital; helped two theological seminaries with three or 
 four hundred thousand dollars ; helped the Young Men's 
 Christian Association and the City Missionary Society, 
 and other institutions. But that did not satisfy me. I 
 wanted to help the poor boys and girls of our country. I 
 wanted to lay up something for them to live on while 
 getting an education. I had been deprived of a college 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 237 
 
 education through poverty, and I wanted to fix it so these 
 boys and girls, the sons and daughters of wage earners, 
 could have the privilege of a college close to them, so 
 that they could get a liberal education. For this purpose 
 I turned my attention to many different colleges. I did 
 not start a single one, and I never will ; we have enough 
 of them. All we need to do is to build up what we have 
 got. There are but two places in America where they 
 have need of a college today: one is Montana and the 
 other Oklahoma, and sometime they will have them, too. 
 We want to make the colleges we have better ; give them 
 an endowment, so that they can enlarge their curriculum, 
 pay their teachers, and mieet the exigencies of the time. 
 
 " So I looked around and traveled some, too. Mind 
 you, this was business, no benevolence in it at all. What 
 shall I do with that money ? Find places for it, where it 
 will elevate, where it will be used for God and humanity. 
 Now I will take you on the journeys that I made. Let us 
 begin right here at Beloit, Wis. 
 
 " In 1851 my wife and I took our first trip to the West. 
 Our destination was Janesville, Wis. We passed through 
 Michigan on a strap rail, and traveled to Elgin, 111., which 
 was the terminus of the railroad, and there we took a 
 muck wagon to our destination, passing through Beloit. 
 
 " We traveled through cold and mud, — rich mud, too, 
 but on reaching Beloit found there was a river. Our 
 horses had to swim the river^ and we had to stand on the 
 seats to get over. We stopped at a little wooden tavern 
 to rest. Beloit was but a small hamlet then. When we 
 started on for Janesville, one of those big, burly fellows 
 who always get into a new country, climbed in the wagon 
 for a ride. As we drove along, we saw a brick building 
 
238 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 going up, and I asked the man, ' What are they doing 
 here ? ' ' Why, there are some Yankee cranks building 
 a college,' he answered. That rather hit me. When they 
 call me a Yankee, I take off my hat and bow ; and when 
 they call me an old Puritan, I make three bows. 
 
 " On the wiay to Janesville that man cursed every- 
 thing that was good, and I stood up for Christian edu- 
 cation the best I knew how. When we got to Janesville 
 I shook my fist in his face, and said, ' Old fellow, I am 
 going West, and in a few years I am going to get rich, 
 and when I do, I am going to help lift up these colleges 
 that these " Yankee cranks " are building up.' I had my 
 eye on Beloit then. 
 
 " In the autumn of the year 1836, while many of the 
 population were struggling for existence, under the 
 weight of a heavy financial depression which was hang- 
 ing like a dark cloud over this country, some of the good 
 people of the little town of Colebrook, N. H., caught the 
 sound of those words, which subsequently were echoed 
 by Horace Greeley, ' Young man, go West.' Finally so 
 many persons within that hamlet became interested in the 
 western movement that a meeting was called and in 
 October of that year a company was organized, which 
 was called the New England Emigrating Company. 
 
 " At this time the Territory of Wisconsin extended 
 from the waters of Lake Michigan on the east, northward 
 and westward, and held within its limits what are now 
 the States of Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and a portion 
 of the Dakotas. The territorial government had been 
 organized, and at the first meeting of the Legislature 
 fifteen counties were laid off east of the Mississippi, one 
 of which was Rock County. Owing, possibly, to certain 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 239 
 
 claims held by the Indians, and the hostility displayed by 
 them, the white settlers had been loath to assume the risk 
 of entering upon the territory in question; but the re- 
 moval of Black Hawk and his followers served as a sig- 
 nal for a general westward movement. 
 
 " Early in 1836 Caleb Blodgett, a pioneer from Ver- 
 mont, found his way to this prairie country and purchased 
 the site of Beloit and surrounding country from Joseph 
 Theibeau, a Canadian Frenchman — the first white man 
 known to have made his abode here. Theibeau was an 
 Indian trader, and as interpreter claimed all the land with- 
 in ' three looks ' by virtue of services rendered Gen. 
 Scott in negotiating a treaty in 1833, by which the Win- 
 nebagos ceded to the United States all their right and 
 title to the territory between the lakes and the Missis- 
 sippi River. 
 
 " In the winter of '36 and '37 Dr. Horace White, the 
 duly appointed agent of the Emigrating Company to 
 select a location for the colony, left his home in Northern 
 New Hampshire, and, muffled in his one-horse cutter, 
 journeyed through Canada and Michigan on his way 
 to the land of promise. He selected the site of the 
 Frenchman's old cabin as the most beautiful position for 
 a town, and after two more of the company had arrived 
 the Theibeau-Blodgett claim was purchased. This was 
 the beginning — the setting of stakes for homes where 
 institutions of science and religion were to be cherished 
 and sustained. 
 
 " Early in April Dr. White returned home, the wheels 
 of miigration were set in motion, and by midsummer a 
 large number of colonists had arrived. It soon became 
 known that an organized colony from New England had 
 
240 BANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 settled there and homeseekers of the better class, those 
 who prized the loved institutions of the East, were 
 attracted to the settlement, and soon a flourishing town 
 of kindred spirits was established. 
 
 " True to their early resolutions, matters pertaining to 
 the prosperity of the settlement were early considered, 
 and two delegates were appointed to ask the legislature 
 for a charter for a seminary in Beloit. They were suc- 
 cessful, and a charter was granted on Dec. 27, 1837, es- 
 tablishing it. Here, then, was planted, before the com- 
 pany had secured titles to the land, the germ brought 
 from New Hampshire. 
 
 " The reputation of Beloit as a moral and religious 
 center drew the attention of the Christian people of the 
 vicinity, who were laying plans for educating and Chris- 
 tianizing the youth of this region, and led them to ask 
 if Beloit was not the place where a Christian college 
 would be most carefully sustained. Agitation of this 
 question produced legitimate results. 
 
 "A committee was appointed, which, in search of data 
 for their report, found the Beloit Seminary, — a classical 
 school, — regularly organized with a board of trustees, 
 and in operation; and that the citizens of Beloit were 
 ready to give liberal aid for the establishment of a col- 
 lege in their midst. Accordingly, at the meeting on Oct. 
 24, 1844, the committee recommended Beloit as the loca- 
 tion for the college, and submitted a proposition made by 
 the people of the village ' pledging fifty acres of land 
 and seven thousand dollars for the erection of a building, 
 together with their sympathies, prayers and future 
 efforts.' 
 
 " The people of Beloit then found themselves confront- 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 241 
 
 ed with the problem of meeting the pledges they had so 
 generously made to secure the college. A beautiful site 
 had been donated, but they failed to furnish the means 
 for erecting the building. Until this pledge should be 
 fulfilled, donations from the East could not be obtained, 
 nor even hoped for. Such was the situation in October, 
 1846. The time had now fully come when something 
 must be done to keep the faith, so Mr. Fisher had a few 
 loads of stone hauled and ground was actually broken 
 where the new building would be erected. The comer- 
 stone proper was laid with much parade and ceremony on 
 June 24, 1847. 
 
 "Then an old deed was found which apparently in- 
 validated the title of a large share of Beloit and the col- 
 lege. This gave rise to a lawsuit, in which many famous 
 people took part. The day was saved for the defendants 
 by the brief of Abraham Lincoln, who, even at that early 
 date, was reputed to be the best real estate lawyer in the 
 West. 
 
 " Time went on, and my seventy years rolled by, and 
 nine years ago I began. The first proposition I made to 
 Beloit College was this : ' I will give you $100,000, if you 
 will raise the same.' (I make everybody work a little, 
 and that is the right way to do it.) In six weeks they 
 raised that $100,000 and I had to draw my check. I was 
 so well pleased, and the institution was such a grand 
 character-building one, that I went to work and built them 
 a science hall, the finest in the West. It cost me $60,000 
 in cash. But I wasn't quite satisfied with that, so the 
 next year, seeing that the boys had to pay from $3.50 to 
 $4 for their board, I built them a dormitory costing 
 $25,000. Now the boys can live on $1.50 a week. I 
 
242 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 wasn't quite satisfied with that, for they were good fel- 
 lows, so I said : ' Look here ; you haven't got quite 
 money enough ; you want more endowment ; you want 
 better professors. Now you raise $150,000 and I will 
 give you another $50,000.' So last commencement Presi- 
 dent Eaton stepped in and said, ' Here is $150,000 cash, 
 — not Kansas mortgages, no sand dunes, no swamp lands, 
 but cash.' So I gave him my check for $50,000 and that 
 closed that deal. 
 
 " They established coeducation and that pleased me. 
 They are going to have the girls come in, but they 
 had no cage to put them in. I said : ' Get to work 
 and build the finest building you can for seventy-five 
 girls, and be sure you get a good many Mary Lyons 
 and Frances Willards among them.' So I gave them 
 $30,000 for a beautiful dormitory, and it is now occu- 
 pied by sixty-five young ladies. That was a very 
 pleasant thing to do, and I am rather proud of it You 
 needn't tell me I am a good fellow — I know I am." 
 
 Of all the Yankee cranks for which the American 
 people ought to rise and thank the Bestower of good 
 gifts the crank for education is the best that ever came 
 out of New England. They call it " larnin' " down 
 East to this day. " Get laijnin'," the Yankee fatJier 
 says to his sons and dlaiuighiters. " Get it somehow, any- 
 how — but get it — an' mother an' me'll help all we kin." 
 And they have got it, and the leaven of their intense 
 desire has dotted this broad land with schoolhouses, 
 seminaries, academies, colleges and universities. Dr. 
 Pearsons kept his word and also helped many other 
 " Yankee cranks " in a thoroughly Yankee way, only 
 somehow broadened by genuine Chicago methods. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 243 
 
 One of his reasons for giving money during the hard 
 times was : " You can build 30 per cent cheaper now " 
 than a few years ago or a few years hence. " There 
 are men idle who want work. Now is the time to 
 pitch in and build." Here are the Yankee spirit and 
 shrewdness combined. If all would accept his advice 
 and take advantage of the hard times, they would van- 
 ish. 
 
 College songs and cheers rang from the hilltop cam- 
 pus of Beloit College when President Eaton threw a 
 trowelful of mortar on ' the cornerstone of the new 
 $70,000 Pearsons Hall of Science. The students were 
 grouped about the new building, with thousands of 
 town spectators in the background. The college colors 
 were freely worn, and from the tower of the old college 
 building were thrown the Stars and Stripes. Workmen 
 then put in position the cornerstone — a great piece of 
 reddish Ashland stone, on which was carved, " A. D. 
 1892." In the stone were deposited a tin box, his- 
 torical documents, speeches and the paper containing 
 Dr. Pearsons' offer to build the hall. 
 
 A bronze tablet in the vestibule sets forth , the cb- 
 ject of the building. The inscription reads: 
 
 " This hall is for the study and teaching of God in 
 nature ; is erected by Dr. D. K. Pearsons as a tribute to 
 the founders of Beloit College, A. D. 1892." 
 
 Mr. Emerson, chairman of the building committee, 
 who handed the keys to President Eaton at the donor's 
 request, said: 
 
 " President Eaton, I am requested by Dr. Pearsons to 
 present to you the keys of this noble building. I am sure 
 that the wish and prayer of the donors who have aided in 
 
244 ©ANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 bringing this hall with this equipment into a complete 
 whole, is that through these means the students may 
 develop a fuller, broader manhood ; that they may more 
 and more work out that true science which, with pure 
 faith, has ever been the object, aim and motto of Beloit 
 College. So shall the college be a training school for 
 Christian manhood, and not merely a school of letters, 
 science and theology. With greater advantages come 
 greater responsibilities, which we are sure will be fully 
 met by the faculty unler your strong and kind guidance. 
 To you, as president of the board of trustees, we are glad 
 to present the keys of Pearsons Hall of Science of this 
 building." 
 
 " I accept these keys," said the president, taking them 
 from Mr. Emerson, "coming to us as a trust from our 
 tried and beloved friend. Dr. Pearsons. For many years 
 his motto has been ' Live for the honor of God and for 
 the good of our fellow-man, and especially do what can 
 be done to aid those who are struggling to attain to the 
 highest advantages of education.' In that purpose he has 
 built this building. In that purpose he now presents the 
 building to us, and we would accept it in the spirit of 
 love of God and our fellow-man, in that same desire that 
 those who are about us in this region and in the world 
 may share the benefits of the increase of human knowl- 
 edge and the training of the human mind which, we 
 trust, will here be done. In accepting these keys the trus- 
 tees desire to have this audience share with them in the 
 minute they have unanimously passed recognizing the 
 gift and I will ask E. G. Keith to read the minute." 
 
 " I am sure the trustees and the faculty," said Mr. 
 Keith. " indeed this whole audience, will sympathize with 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 245 
 
 me in the wish uppermost in my mind that our esteemed 
 friend were here so that he might to a certain extent real- 
 ize those fond hopes he has generously entertained re- 
 garding Beloit College. It is not often that we can honor 
 a man whose keen, far-sighted business qualities have 
 enabled him to amass a fortune for the good of mankind. 
 There are many kinds of benefactors in this age, but none 
 seems more practical to me than the man whose well- 
 matured mind has planned such a munificent gift as we 
 realize here today. 
 
 "Another wish comes to me in connection with it, 
 namely, that I might express my appreciation of it in 
 some noble language. But that is impossible. I realize 
 the fact that no language is adequate to say what should 
 be said to those who have done these things. But I am 
 sure the generations yet to come will appreciate them in 
 their hearts. I have, therefore, only to read to you the 
 very incomplete words of the committee : 
 
 " ' On this occasion of the dedication of Pearsons Hall 
 of Science the trustees, in receiving from the hands of 
 the building committee the completed edifice, realizing 
 even more than ever before the immense advantage that 
 it will be to the work of the college, desire to renew 
 their former expressions of gratitude to and esteem for 
 the generous and far-sighted donor, who has, by his large 
 gift, made it possible for the college to offer to its stu- 
 dents the most approved modem scientific teaching in a 
 building so admirably planned as to meet the most exact- 
 ing requirements for the promotion and teaching of 
 science.' " 
 
 President Eaton expressed the gratitude of all to the 
 generous friend who had given the structure, Daniel K. 
 
246 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 Pearsons. Then a letter from Prof. Emerson was read. 
 He and Dr. Chapin had been intimate friends and com- 
 rades for half a century, nearly all the time in work for 
 Beloit. Dr. Chapin was president of the college for over 
 forty years. Mr. Pearsons said when naming his gift: 
 " This dormitory must have a name and I can do no bet- 
 ter than name it after the man who forty years ago had 
 the genius to plant a college in the best location in the 
 West, and who has given the best years of his life to the 
 work of building up this college." 
 
 Robert C. Chapin of Drury College gave a response 
 in behalf of his father. It was the donor's plan, as he 
 expressed it, to provide a good home for the poor boys. 
 
 Chapin Hall cost $25,000, and is best of its kind in the 
 country, having hard-wood floors, reception room, bath- 
 rooms, electric lights, etc. On the upper floors it has 
 accommodations for seventy students. These rooms are 
 furnished with mirror, washstand and furniture, table, 
 chairs, window shades, and stove, the student must fur- 
 nish bedding, rug, and metal lamp. The maximum price 
 of complete board is $3.50. Through the gift of D. K. 
 Pearsons, the college is able to set apart the income of 
 $50,000, as a fund to be loaned to students without re- 
 gard to their future calling in life, to enable them to com- 
 plete their college course. This fund is not intended to 
 relieve parents in cases where, by making sacrifices, they 
 can carry their sons through college; nor is it to assist 
 those who have friends able to provide for their needs by 
 loan or otherwise ; but rather to supplement the exertions 
 of promising students who are unable to remain in col- 
 lege without this assistance. Applicants for loans from 
 this fund must be in the college classes, and be students 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 247 
 
 of excellent scholarship and character. Applications are 
 made to the president, and are to be approved by a com- 
 mittee of the faculty. Loans are made in sums not ex- 
 ceeding $100 a year, at 3 per cent interest, to be repaid 
 within five years after graduation. In laying the corner- 
 stone of Emerson Hall, the new home for woman stu- 
 dents, given to Beloit by D. K. Pearsons, Dr. Eaton said : 
 
 "There are four principles that are dominant in the 
 thought and life of our noble benefactor. The first is the 
 reverence for God, whose hand he recognizes in the 
 affairs of life and whose will he would see realized in the 
 outworkings of human history. The second is love for 
 country. The wellbeing of his whole country has been 
 his desire from his boyhood, and for it he has been glad 
 to toil, to accumulate and to bestow. The third is a deep 
 interest in the youth of our country, for whom he desires 
 advantages hard to be attained in his own early life, and a 
 spirit of energy and devotion to make these advantages 
 count for the utmost. The fourth is honor for the noble 
 men and women who were the pioneers of our American 
 civilization, and for their descendants, who laid the foun- 
 dations for faith and learning for this fair region of ours. 
 
 " Dr. Pearsons' royal gifts to Beloit have been the 
 practical outworking of these fundamental principles. 
 He has rejoiced in the presence of young women in Beloit 
 College, and now, in his behalf, we lay the cornerstone 
 of a building for them to be as fair as his own ideals, and 
 which we are sure will be abundantly blessed for many 
 generations as an instrumentality for the good of human 
 society and the kingdom of God." 
 
 Dr. Pearsons' greeting was read, as follows : 
 
 " Dr. Eaton : I am pleased with your sharp, active 
 
248 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 work. Lay the cornerstone in faith, and may the conse- 
 cration to high ideals be ever present with the young 
 ladies as stimulated Mary Lyon, the mother of higher 
 education for women in this country. 
 
 " D. K. Pearsons." 
 
 Dr. Joseph Emerson, the godfather of the building, 
 made the ceremonial address : 
 
 " We come together at the call of the generous friend 
 who has so often brought light to us as well as to many 
 others. Some of his gifts have been with conditions 
 which have been still a greater endowment in us as well 
 as for us. But now, for the third time, he comes with 
 a great free gift, whose very freeness brings a yet greater 
 claim. He built our Chapin Hall and gave it a name al- 
 ready hallowed by blessings which had dwelt in his own 
 home, as well as by the wisdom which had for forty years 
 presided over Beloit College. Does he get any response 
 for that ? When he comes and sits at the frugal table in 
 that basement with those young men who are forming 
 manhood for the salvation of the world, does he not find 
 a satisfying feast of soul? 
 
 " Again, he made that princely gift of our hall of 
 science, and even as he gave it, a son of Beloit, who had 
 grown up during the years in which his own eagle eye 
 had been silently watching the growth of the college, 
 responded with a like lordly gift for its endowment, and 
 now, day by day, true teachers and true scholars are 
 opening and developing these mines of truth and of 
 thought and making Pearsons Hall a radiant center of 
 true science and pure faith. 
 
 " And now he comes from the great light which he had 
 caused to rise over the Mount Holyoke College, from 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 249 
 
 which that blessing had come to his own home and had 
 gone forth to all the earth. Mary Lyon laid the founda- 
 tion for it and its work surrounds the world. Dr. Pear- 
 sons, seeing and knowing its blessings, now bids us lay 
 this cornerstone and pray for a like blessing. May we 
 all, friends as well as pupils, be builded together as liv- 
 ing stones upon it." 
 
 The superstructure of the building is of small red 
 brick, with handsome molded terra cotta ornamenta- 
 tions. The style is Elizabethan, with large Flemish 
 gables, which give a pleasant, homelike look to the whole. 
 Indeed, the general effect is most comparable to an En- 
 glish manor house, with its dignified beauty and spacious 
 hospitality. The roof is protected with red tiles, which 
 complete the harmony of soft reds, which is the color 
 scheme of the building. 
 
 The main entrance is at the west side. To one side of 
 the hall is the library and on the other side the parlor, 
 while back of this is the large dining room. At times 
 when receptions or other social gatherings take place 
 these rooms may be thrown into each other by folding 
 doors and become one great hall. The north part of the 
 first floor contains an office for the dean, and can be 
 further divided into rooms so arranged as to be occupied 
 singly or in suites, each study having a large, light win- 
 dow, and each bedroom proper heat and freshening ven- 
 tilation. In the east wing is the kitchen. 
 
 The second floor is entirely taken up with rooms, ex- 
 cept for the corridor and a comfortable little assembly 
 room for society and religious purposes. On the third 
 floor is a splendid gymnasium. 
 
 The buildings given to Beloit by Dr. Pearsons are thus 
 
250 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 minutely described because they are the general type of 
 all the buildings given to other colleges by him, thus 
 eliminating further descriptions. 
 
 At the dedication of Emerson Hall, Dr. Eaton an- 
 nounced that the $150,000, which had to be raised in 
 order to receive Dr. Pearsons' endowment offer of 
 $50,000, had been secured. The presentation speech at 
 the dedication was made by the donor: 
 
 " Mr. President : I hold the keys of this beautiful 
 building. Sentiment does not enter into this building; 
 it is a business enterprise. If you look over the country 
 you will find, colleges for women in large numbers, and 
 they are all right. But to get women competent to act 
 as presidents and professors of these colleges is a diffi- 
 cult task. They demand women trained in the whole 
 curriculum of the very best colleges and there is today a 
 great demand for women trained in the sciences. Mary 
 Lyon felt the need in the early days of her labors, and 
 she was permitted by Dr. Hitchcock to enter at the back 
 door of Amherst College to gain some elementary knowl- 
 edge of science; the front door was then closed to wo- 
 men. Beloit College has a science hall, the best in the 
 country, with able professors, and I hope that the young 
 women coming here will be able in a few years to sup- 
 ply the wants of the women's colleges and academies 
 with well equipped teachers in science as well as litera- 
 ture. 
 
 " I name this building ' Emerson Hall.' The Emer- 
 son family were friends of Mary Lyon in her days of 
 struggles and triumphs for female education, and Pro- 
 fessor Emerson, for whom this building is named, has 
 been connected with Beloit College for fifty years, and 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 2Sl 
 
 has given the strength of his noble manhood to the up- 
 building of this college, and to him we dedicate this build- 
 ing as a slight acknowledgment of his great service and 
 worth to this college. May the Mary Lyons and Frances 
 Willards of the future receive their high ideals from this 
 seat of Christian education. I present this building to 
 Beloit College for the use of the women of the North- 
 west." 
 
 In accepting the building Dr. G. S. F. Savage said in 
 part: 
 
 " I am glad of the opportunity, in this presence, to 
 express in behalf of the trustees, what we all so deeply 
 feel, our profound gratitude to Dr. Pearsons for his 
 deep and abiding interest in the college, and his magnif- 
 icent gifts, so often repeated, to equip it for the highest 
 and best service as a well-endowed Christian college. 
 The large investments which he here has made will yield 
 rich and blessed fruitage for generations to come; and 
 future generations, as they reap the harvests of his gifts, 
 will hold in grateful remembrance his honored name. 
 There is a peculiar fitness that this special gift should 
 be for the woman's department, as he has often told us 
 that his first inspiration to devote the crowning acts of 
 his life to college building was from a woman — Mary 
 Lyon — one of the pioneers in the higher education of 
 her sex, and of blessed memory. And in like manner do 
 we rejoice, on this occasion, to do special honor to him 
 whose name is henceforth to be associated with this 
 building, who for half a century has wrought his whole 
 life into this college, and stamped his noble Christian 
 character and lofty aims upon the minds, hearts and 
 characters of the hundreds of young men who have shared 
 
252 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 in the privileges of the institution. He has had and will 
 have an abiding place in the hearts, not only of the stu- 
 dents who have enjoyed his instruction, but also of the 
 many friends of the college." 
 
 D. K. Pearsons again proved his friendship by another 
 munificent gift of $50,000 toward an enlarged endow- 
 ment. No one knew of his intentions until he bluntly 
 made the announcement in a speech praising the work 
 of Beloit College and congratulating the institution that 
 it had met the demands of the times and would welcome 
 young women to the halls. Dr. Pearsons' benefactions 
 to Beloit College aggregate a half million dollars. Pro- 
 fessor Eaton stated in a letter that was the amount. 
 
 APHORISMS BY DE. PEARSONS. 
 
 " Most men dig their graves with their teeth. 
 
 " No pies or cakes ; no pains or aches. 
 
 " If you overwork your liver it will tell on you to 
 your brain, by and by. 
 
 " Live like a farmer and you'll live like a prince. 
 
 " Men can live without eating ten days ; they can't do 
 without pure air five minutes. 
 
 " Don't get angry and don't get excited ; every time 
 you fret you lose a minute of life. 
 
 " Let a man abuse his stomach and he'll get fidgety, 
 cross to his family, and go to the devil. 
 
 " Doctors say, ' Don't sleep on a full stomach.' I 
 take my afternoon nap just the same, and I'm 90 years 
 old. You can't believe all the doctors say. 
 
 " I cured a man once by telling him he was a damphool 
 because he imagined he had a dozen ailments. 
 
 " If you catch cold, lose your quinine and eat an 
 onion. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 2S3 
 
 " Give away your money ; it's exhilarating and tends 
 to longevity. 
 
 " The idea of giving while one's alive will become 
 epidemic as soon as men discover what fun it is." 
 
 Dr. Pearsons loaned money for the ^tna Life for 
 many years. At a banquet to Governor Bulkeley he 
 said: 
 
 '.' Mr. President and Gentlemen : I came here as inno- 
 cent as a lamb and upon taking up this programme read, 
 ' D. K. Pearsons, toast, " Stability." ' Well, that is the 
 identical word with which the .^tna Life was christened 
 nearly forty years ago, and stability has been marked 
 upon her forehead and carried to the front ever since. 
 
 " I am, perhaps, the oldest boy in this room. I re- 
 member distinctly being introduced to the company 
 about a third of a century ago. I was a green fellow 
 when introduced to Judge Bulkeley, than whom a more 
 noble man I have never met. The office was about the 
 size of this room. It was a store, and I presume they 
 paid eight hundred dollars a year for its use. Judge 
 Bulkeley sat on the right, with a little railing around 
 him, and at a desk that probably cost as much as four 
 dollars, I sat down by his side and talked with him. He 
 had a. defect in his vision; he brought one eye, which 
 looked like a sundial, to bear upon you, and the other 
 one upon some other object. He looked right through 
 you. After conversing with him a few minutes I found 
 that the Judge understood men better than any other 
 man I had ever seen. Not only did he understand men 
 and tead men, but he proved himself a wonderful be- 
 getter of men. 
 
 " There is another man. Pass along through the nar- 
 
254 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 row aisle — there are the bookkeepers about the desks, 
 and all the paraphernalia. You must remember that this 
 boy, the Governor, was seven years old and had just cut 
 his teeth, and it was admitted on all hands that he per- 
 fectly understood the difference between right and 
 wrong. I passed through that narrow aisle and came to 
 another desk. I don't believe it cost over five dollars, 
 and there sat by that desk a man. You would not sup- 
 pose, to look at him, there was that fire in him, that there 
 was in him as iTiuch of the true man — ^the financial man — 
 as has subsequently been proven to be. You could not 
 distinguish it until you sat down and looked into his 
 eye; but in that pearly eye you saw the man, T. O. 
 Enders. 
 
 " Gentlemen, I never in my life before got into such a 
 company of fellow-hustlers as I am in tonight. It is 
 marked upon your faces. It glances out of your eyes. 
 It wiggles from the ends of your tongues. To me, 
 gentlemen, the old company, with its stability, with its 
 proverbial honesty, is a company to very much admire; 
 and probably it is indebted to you gentlemen, or will be, 
 for its prosperity, and from evidences I see here we can 
 all count upon its wonderful prosperity in the future. 
 Your faces indicate it ; your determination speaks it. Go 
 on ! Let ' Excelsior ' be your motto, and keep that old 
 word ' Stability ' prominent. Let it be written upon 
 your foreheads. 
 
 "That little .(Etna acorn, planted in 1850 by Judge 
 Bulkeley, pruned and cultivated by you. Governor Bulke- 
 ley, has grown to a tree that has supplanted the old his- 
 toric oak; to a tree with great branches extending from 
 ocean to ocean, and which bears fruit that is distributed 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 255 
 
 wherever civilization exists. When a sick man, husband 
 and father, languishes on his couch in the last agonies 
 of dissolution, beholds before him the dark river which 
 he must soon cross, and above him the branches of that 
 tree laden with ripe, golden fruit part of which is to 
 educate his children, provide a home for them and his 
 widow, he thanks God that while in good health he was 
 permitted to meet a persistent, wide-awake, energetic 
 life insurance agent." 
 
 Dr. Pearsons sized himself up this way : 
 
 " There never was a bigger mistake than calling me 
 benevolent. I have not a spark of benevolence in me. 
 I'm a hard-hearted, tight-fisted, penny-squeezing old 
 curmudgeon I haven't a trace of charity or kindness in 
 my whole being. I give my money away because I want 
 to be my own executor, and because coffins were not 
 made to hold it. I want to know where my money goes 
 and what good is accomplished with it. I haven't any 
 children except my colleges. I have taken care of my 
 kinsfolk. I haven't any poor or deserving relatives. You 
 can see my giving is business. 
 
 " Now let us take a long jump on our journey, and 
 we come to Walla Walla, Wash. What is the history 
 of that college? Marcus Whitman, one of the greatest 
 missionaries and one of the noblest men that ever walked 
 the earth, went there in 1842 with his wife. Theirs was 
 the first wagon that ever crossed the mountains. They 
 settled there among the Indians. He had an Indian 
 school, and it was prosperous and flourishing. It was no 
 man's land at that time. No one knew whether the Brit- 
 ish or the Americans owned it. There was a magnifi- 
 cent empire up there, comprising Washington, Oregon 
 
256 BANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 and Idaho, and that shrewd and patriotic Whitman saw 
 that it was a country of great value, with its mighty 
 forests, its fertile plains, its lofty mountains, its mineral 
 treasures. 
 
 " In the dead of winter he, with his packmule and 
 guide, traveled four thousand miles to Washington, D. 
 C. When he got there his hands and face were frosted, 
 but his head was all right. He went before President 
 Tyler, and found that Webster was about trading the 
 whole country off for some fisheries off the coast of 
 Nova Scotia. 
 
 " Whitman said : ' I am not here for office ; I am here 
 to tell you that that. is a magnificent country, and it be- 
 longs to the United States, and we must hold it.' 
 
 " ' Oh,' replied Webster, ' it can never be settled ; there 
 is not even a wagon trail.' 
 
 " ' I have taken a wagon over the mountains and I 
 took my wife along with me, so I know what I am talk- 
 ing about. I came here for the purpose of saving that 
 country,' said Whitman.- 
 
 " The next spring he took more than one thousand 
 people from the East and one thousand cattle with him 
 over the mountains, to settle in that beautiful country. 
 
 " The enemies of civilization were jealous of that 
 smart man, and they incited the Indians to kill him. 
 They did kill him, but he left another good missionary 
 behind — a man by the name of Ells. 
 
 " The best monument to be erected to Marcus Whit- 
 man was to build a college in his name, and such a col- 
 lege was built, costing $16,000, a very ordinary build- 
 ing. After struggling along for a few years, they were 
 completely stranded — ^mortgaged for $15,000. I had 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 257 
 
 written them that I would give them $50,000 if they 
 would raise $150,000. They did not make a move. A 
 man came into my office one day, and said his name was 
 Penrose, the president of Whitman College. He said 
 they were $13,500 in debt, and that there was a mort- 
 gage on the building, and that he didn't see how it was 
 possible for them to raise $150,000. * And,' said he, ' we 
 can't live without it.' I then sat down and wrote a 
 check for $13,500. ' Now,' said I, ' send that out and 
 pay the teachers and clean it all up.' 
 
 " That was four years ago last June. They had then 
 about forty pupils. Now what are they doing? They 
 have ten capable young men who are professors. They 
 have one young man, a professor of elocution and ora- 
 tory, who eight years ago was a sheepherder on the plains 
 of Utah. His father and mother were Mormons. He 
 came to Illinois and educated himself, and took the first 
 prize in the interstate oratorical contest, a $100 prize. 
 
 " You will also be glad to know that they have the 
 $200,000 endowment, and are getting seven per cent for 
 it there. They have gathered in about three hundred 
 young men and women, some from Idaho and some from 
 Montana. Yet they are poor ; they must be educated, and 
 they must have a home where they can live very cheaply. 
 I believe students can live with a good dormitory, on a 
 dollar and a half a week, or about that amount. Yet they 
 need more buildings. The good people of Washington 
 built a monument of granite to Marcus Whitman on the 
 ground where they buried him. 
 
 " Now I propose to build a monument. I shall put 
 up a building 180 feet long and 60 feet wide, and two 
 stories high, with all the appliances and appurtenances 
 
258 BANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 of a first-class college, as a monument to Marcus Whit- 
 man. Now, do not suppose I am going to build that 
 building without those rich fellows out there doing some- 
 thing. They have got to contribute. The condition is 
 that they must build the dormitory for these poor boys 
 who come in from the mountains and plains, where they 
 can live cheaply; and they must do this before I begin 
 the monument. And they will do it, for they have noble 
 men and women in that fair State, and it is going to 
 add five per cent of value to every acre of property 
 to have that monument right there in the center of Walla 
 Walla. 
 
 " Now, do you suppose I am going to let those rich old 
 fellows hug their money, and let the poor boys and girls 
 starve while acquiring an education? No; they must do 
 their part and become the constituency of the college. 
 
 " I should like to say a great deal more about Whitman 
 College. I like it. I like it because it is educating a class 
 of boys and girls who could not be educated without it. 
 They could not get the money to go off to college, so 
 they need it right there. These boys and girls are going 
 to be the bone and sinew of America by and by. 
 
 " Marcus Whitman was employed by the American 
 Board of Missions to work among the Indians. The 
 mission was established at Waiilatpa, six miles from the 
 present site of Walla Walla, and twenty-six from the 
 Hudson Bay Company's fort on the Columbia, called Ft. 
 Walla Walla. The coming of this band of Americans 
 excited the hostility and jealousy of the factors. Especial- 
 ly did the religious question continually crop out. One 
 was Catholic, the other Protestant, and they were both 
 striving to convert the Cayuse Indians. They responded 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 259 
 
 in some cases to the sermons of Whitman, and he soon 
 established an Indian school, but the Indians were plainly 
 dissatisfied with the new order of things, as tending to 
 the disruption of tribal traditions and to stop their wild 
 life and pleasures of the chase. 
 
 " Another cause nearly took the heart out of Whitman, 
 when rumor reached him that the whole of Oregon was 
 about to be turned over to the British. Although he 
 knew the conditions at the mission were in a precarious 
 condition, yet he left his loved ones in the dead of winter, 
 surrounded by unfriendly savages and still more cruel 
 whites, to embark on a four-thousand-mile ride to save 
 Oregon. 
 
 " Daniel Webster said in the U. S. Senate about 
 Oregon : 
 
 " ' What do we want with the vast, worthless area, 
 this region of savages and wild beasts, of desert, 
 of shifting sands and whirlwinds of dust, of cactus and 
 prairie dogs? To what use could we ever hope to put 
 these great deserts or these endless mountain ranges, 
 impenetrable and covered to their base with eternal 
 snow? What can we ever hope to do with the western 
 coast, a coast of three thousand miles, rock-bound, cheer- 
 less, and uninviting, and not a harbor on it? What use 
 have we for such a country ? Mr. President, I will never 
 vote one cent from the public treasury to place the Pacific 
 coast one inch nearer to Boston than it is now.' 
 
 " When one reads these words, the memory of the 
 undaunted savior of the country is as bright as a sunbeam 
 through the fog of block-headedness. 
 
 " Senator Benton, in his speech to the Senate in 1825, 
 said: 
 
260 BANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 " ' The ridge of the Rocky Mountains may be named 
 as a convenient, natural and everlasting boundary. Along 
 this ridge, the western limits of the republic should be 
 drawn and the statue of the fabled god, Terminus, should 
 be erected on its highest peak never to be thrown down.' 
 
 " When the pioneers reached the seemingly impene- 
 trable barrier of the Rocky Mountains, they thought 
 them the proper stopping place and ultimate limits of the 
 western march of civilization, that those high and lofty 
 peaks were thrown up by Almighty God to divide the 
 nations and shut out the view of a worthless and desert 
 land. 
 
 " Senator McDufSe said : 
 
 " ' There are several hundred miles this side of the 
 Rocky Mountains that are uninhabitable; where rain 
 never falls ; mountains wholly impassable, except through 
 gaps and depressions, to be reached only by going hun- 
 dreds of miles out of the direct course. Well, now, what 
 are you going to do in such a case ? How are you going 
 to apply steam? Have you made an estimate of the cost 
 of a railroad to the mouth of the Columbia? Why, the 
 wealth of the Indies would be insufficient. Of what use 
 would it be for agricultural purposes? I would not, for 
 that purpose, give a pinch of snuflf for the whole terri- 
 tory. I wish the Rocky Mountains were an impassable 
 barrier. If there was an embankment of even five feet to 
 be removed I would not consent to spend five dollars to 
 remove it and enable our population to go there. I thank 
 God for his mercy in placing the Rocky Mountains there.' 
 
 "And this grand, glorious country in which the 
 possession of five acres is independence for a family; 
 where the best apples, pears, raisins and wheat are 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 261 
 
 grown; where the sagebrush plains have given way to 
 cultivated fields, was about to be thrown away as worth- 
 less; to have as a neighbor an enemy, although the 
 United States had several valid claims for ownership: 
 First, by right of discovery, as an American ship first 
 sailed up the Columbia ; second, as being included in the 
 Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon; third, the explora- 
 tion of the Columbia by Lewis and Clark in 1803; and 
 fourth, because both Spain and Mexico abandoned it to 
 the United States. 
 
 And Whitman? Ah! my children, he 
 
 And his wife sleep now in a martyr's gravel 
 
 Murdered! Murdered, both he and she 
 
 By the Indian souls they went to save. — Rollins. 
 
 " During the stimmer of 1847 measles of a malignant 
 type broke out among the Indians. In their ignorance 
 they resorted to the incantations of their medicine men 
 and using the sweat baths, which were taken by placing 
 red-hot rocks in a close tepee, putting the sick one 
 inside and throwing water on the rocks. After a 
 suitable interval the sufferers either jumped or were 
 thrown into cold snow waters of the mountains. This 
 Dr. Whitman could not prevent, although the Indians 
 knew he was an M. D. as well as a D. D., and the 
 unfortunate result to one of his first patients was now 
 to react on the devoted heads of the settlement, when a 
 worthless character named Joe Lewis told the Indians 
 that the Doctor had poisoned them; accounting for the 
 alarming number that died and the almost certain fatality 
 that ensued among the sick, after resorting to the inevit- 
 able death method of the sweat-bath. 
 
 " Friendly Indians warned the settlers of the growing 
 hostility, to be generally ridiculed and laughed at, but 
 
262 BANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 finally the optimistic Doctor became alarmed at the black- 
 ness of the growing thundercloud and told his wife they 
 would abandon the mission. Although they preserved 
 great secrecy in their preparations, it became known to 
 the Indians, and the devoted household knew they were 
 too late, when they saw the hill in front of the mission 
 covered with exited Indians, who thought their tribe had 
 been depleted by the Doctor's poison. 
 
 " But this incipient war was quelled and apparent 
 peace dwelt over the smoldering fires of destruction until 
 Nov. 29, 1847, when Tamahas and other Indians filed 
 into the house on the false desire for medicine. The 
 Doctor turned to get what they were certain was poison 
 for them, when Tamahas hit him on the head with a 
 tomahawk. Then the other whites in the room were 
 killed. During this awful scene Mrs. Whitman started 
 to aid her dying husband, and as she entered the room, 
 a bullet tore its way through her tender breast. A few, 
 including Dr. Gushing Ells and his wife, were saved from 
 the massacre, but the balance of the men were killed and 
 the women brutally outraged. Later, Peter Ogden 
 arrived and ransomed forty-seven women, girls and chil- 
 dren by the distribution among the Indians of several 
 hundred dollars' worth of merchandise. 
 
 " The graves of Dr. and Mrs. Whitman were un- 
 marked for many years. The site grew up to weeds and 
 brush, until, from very shame, the people of Oregon 
 raised a monument at Whitman's grave and a church was 
 built as a splendid memorial of this great pioneer mis- 
 sionary. But it was not until I became interested in the 
 story of Whitman's life that Whitman College, which 
 was about to die, was put upon its feet and the institution 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 253 
 
 strengthened to carry the fame of the name on forever. 
 
 The seed of the martyr took root and Whitman 
 College did not die. The great romance that surrounds 
 the little college and the lonely grave near it revived the 
 interest in the work of Marcus Whitman and the college 
 that bears his name. Dr. Pearsons, who helped so many 
 western colleges, offered to gather Whitman to his fold. 
 What should have been done by some of the men who 
 made fortunes there, but was not, was done by the Doctor 
 without solicitation, but from patriotism and the feeling 
 that the memory of one of the greatest American patriots 
 should no longer be left with a memorial without an 
 endowment. 
 
 After his gift and the official announcement that the 
 college would be kept open, the trustees turned to the 
 new missionary blood that had come tQ Washington and 
 elected Dr. Penrose president. He was one of a band of 
 six who left Yale to engage in Christian work in Wash- 
 ington. He located as pastor at Dayton, which was 
 regarded as an infidel community, and in three years 
 built up a church membership of 200 from nothing. He 
 had all the requirements for success in the work which 
 he undertook — youth, energy and enthusiasm, good 
 executive and organizing ability; a scholar, but also a 
 pupil, corresponding with such men as Presidents Low, 
 Harper and others, who have built up great educational 
 institutions and believe in the patriotism of the people of 
 the whole country, which would no longer leave the name 
 of Marcus Whitman without fitting memorial. He 
 secured large sums of money from the people of Walla 
 Walla, and the men who owed their fortunes to the 
 patriotism of Whitman in saving Oregon. 
 
264 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 Dr. Pearsons gave $120,000 to this college, which was 
 founded by Dr. Gushing Ells as a seminary in 1859. 
 Escaping alive from the massacre, he bought the Whit- 
 man farm of 640 acres from the American Board for 
 $1,000, expecting to build there, but later changed to the 
 village. Dr. Ells and his wife labored and saved on the 
 farm for ten years before they had money enough to 
 start building, and in 1883 they secured a charter chang- 
 ing the institution to Whitman College. 
 
 D. K. Pearsons, who delighted in signing $50,000 
 checks as gifts to struggling western colleges, always 
 ate his dinner at his palatial Hinsdale home at one 
 o'clock ; then he took a nap. When he woke up he said 
 he felt " bright as a button," and told the way to live to 
 be 100 years old. Moreover, he said, he proposed to go 
 on with his nap and his plan of eating until he went to 
 the grave. Because it interrupted his nap, he didn't 
 march in the Chicago Dewey parade, nor serve on the 
 reception committee. Neither would he deliver any more 
 baccalaureate sermons. But he walked from the train to 
 his Chicago office every morning, figured on some more 
 colleges that wanted money and walked from the train to 
 his home every afternoon, and he said he was going to 
 keep cool, give away the rest of his money and be happy. 
 
 " Most men dig their graves with their teeth," he said. 
 "My stomach is my friend and I'm happier than any 
 other man on earth. Old age depends on heredity, 
 common sense and a good stomach. There are a lot of 
 fellows down town who tell me they want to live a short 
 life and a merry one. I want to live a long life and a 
 jolly one — in my own way. Some men like their clubs 
 and society. That's all right. I don't belong to a club 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 26S 
 
 and you couldn't hire me to wear a swallow-tailed coat. 
 
 " A lot of men have a fine time with midnight ban- 
 queting and speechmaking. Let them go. I've got a 
 room up here on the hill, 200 feet above Chicago, with 
 the windows open at the bottom, and it's as good as a 
 picnic to me to go to bed there at 8 o'clock every night. 
 The trouble with most persons is that they're eating 
 themselves to death. 
 
 " I've got a lot of money that I earned in this western 
 wilderness years ago, and I don't want to die until I have 
 given it back to the West. There are a lot of places out 
 there where the young fellows need colleges and schools, 
 and I'm fixing them up as fast as I can. This giving 
 away of money is great fun; it's exhilarating. Besides, it's 
 worth all the big celebrations on earth to wake up from 
 a nap feeling spry as a kitten. That's why I wrote the 
 Dewey crowd and told them that if I were younger I 
 would go in for a jolly day and cheer for the Admiral 
 with the rest." 
 
 Tlie venerable benefactor, who had given away his 
 millions to colleges and was beginning to give out the 
 principal, chuckled as he thought of the nap he had been 
 wakened from by an Iowa college president, who wanted 
 to talk over plans for the use of the big donation, and the 
 way he got out of there. " When they come to see me, 
 I let them talk, only when I want to talk. Usually the 
 first thing they do is to begin to talk religion. You know 
 most college presidents are preachers. I soon stop that 
 talk. I make them tell me what their college needs and 
 why it needs it. Oh! they've got to work to get my 
 money. 
 
 " The doctors tell us not to sleep after a hearty meal, 
 
266 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 but I sleep just the same, and I'll outlive the doctors that 
 are giving the advice. You see, this nap business comes 
 natural to me, for it's only going back to an old habit I 
 had years ago. For twelve years I was a doctor in 
 Massachusetts. The people didn't have time to get sick 
 during the day, and they kept their doctors running all 
 night. That's how I came to nap during the day. Now, 
 I'm simply going back to the old scheme." 
 
 When Dr. Pearsons was asked how a man could live 
 to be a hundred years old, he said, " Clockwork, clock- 
 work, all the year around." Then he wanted to know 
 what good it would do for him to explain, and added, 
 " Well, if it'll do any good, if it sort of points a moral, 
 I'll tell you." And so he chatted on, laughing to himself 
 when he talked of the chickens out in the yard that he 
 had trained to shun the garden and lay eggs for him 
 before breakfast, stirring himself when he said he didn't 
 know what an ache or pain was, and had thrown medicine 
 out of doors years ago. He said for a man who wants to 
 live to a ripe old age to keep cool, don't overload the 
 stomach, breathe pure air and lots of it, eat a vegetable 
 diet, don't eat late suppers, go to bed early, don't fret, 
 don't go where you'll get excited, and don't forget to 
 take a nap after dinner. 
 
 " When I came out to Hinsdale to live," he said, " my 
 friends told me I wouldn't live five years. See those trees 
 out there ? I've got 200 Norway pines around this house 
 on the hill, and I'm 200 feet above Chicago. Pure air! 
 The pines help to make it so. I sleep in a room up stairs 
 that has seven windows. There are seven open fireplaces 
 in the house. I keep the windows open — and at the 
 bottom, too. Then when 8 o'clock comes I get 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 267 
 
 under a pile of comforts and sleep like a baby. At 6 in 
 the morning I wake up and jump out of bed. I don't 
 drink tea or coffee. They excite the heart. We eat 
 practically no meat at all. A vegetable and fruit diet 
 will help a man to remain young. It's better than the 
 fountain of life or the medicinal baths. No pies or 
 cakes, except for company. The servants have them, but 
 none for me. 
 
 " I walk to the train in the morning and over to the 
 office at the corner of Dearborn and Madison Streets, and 
 I am going to walk as long as I can. When I get to the 
 office I spend several hours at business. What doing? 
 Listening to beggars; these college presidents who are 
 looking for money. Going out at nights I have ceased 
 doing entirely. Oh, once in a very great while I break the 
 rule. I went over to the concert of the Beloit musical 
 clubs the other evening. But, you know, the Beloit boys 
 and I are very great friends. Men mustn't think they 
 can live a hundred years in Chicago, where the air con- 
 tains so much carbonic gas and the germs of disease are 
 blown about by every wind, and besides, the temptation 
 there is too great for rich foods. I lived at the Palmer 
 House for nearly twenty years, and the wonder is how I 
 got out of town alive. Here's a specimen of my bill of 
 fare for a day : Breakfast. Oat meal or cracked wheat ; 
 one fresh egg; cocoa or cereal drink. Dinner. Fine 
 potatoes, beans and other vegetables, graham, com or 
 wheat bread; baked apple or fruit; boiled rainwater. 
 Supper. Grainols and grainose biscuit; plain ginger 
 bread and fruit." 
 
 Concluding the diet chat he looked out of the window 
 and down the hill and was lost in thought for a moment. 
 
268 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 " Yes, and this giving away of money helps me to keep 
 young and livens me up," he said. " I don't care for the 
 notoriety the papers give me now and then, but it used to 
 make me a lot of trouble. Every time college men would 
 read of my giving away a little more money they'd swarm 
 me with letters and personal visits. Still, I got a lot of 
 suggestions and ideas in that way and I'm not altogether 
 sorry for it. It's rather refreshing, don't you know, to 
 pick up a paper and see the picture of some new science 
 hall or library or dormitory that you have helped to build. 
 Makes me feel as if I was having a good time." 
 
 Then the octogenarian walked up stairs to get a copy 
 of a paper that had reproduced a photograph of the hand- 
 some dormitory at Walla Walla, modeled after the one 
 given to Northwestern University at Evanston by Dr. 
 Pearsons. "Whitman is advancing with rapid strides," 
 he said. " The faculty is able and harmonious ; the 
 president is a strong, wise and vigorously executive man, 
 and there is gathered a body of fine students. Happy is 
 the college that has such a man as Dr. Penrose at its 
 head and that has me for a great uncle. I didn't think 
 they could build and equip that building for $60,000, but 
 they did. They wanted me to go up to the dedication, but 
 I'm not going. I'll let them run it alone and I'll stay here 
 and save up strength for a few more years. 
 
 " I get annoyed sometimes, in the college matter, when 
 men come all the way from New England to see if I 
 won't give them something, when all this western country, 
 3,000 miles to the coast, has sections where a little money 
 and a college will benefit hundreds of bovs who otherwise 
 might have to go without the benefits of education. And 
 it makes me feel younger all the time when I think that 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 269 
 
 the money I am giving will go on doing good through 
 the ages, for they can't spend the principal under the 
 arrangements I make and I am not afraid of one of them 
 trying to do anything dishonest." 
 
 Now, it would be pleasant for every one to follow this 
 prescription to live long, but the trouble is, the masses 
 are not in Dr. Pearsons' class. The beauty of the food 
 regimen is that it is possible for every one, and econom- 
 ical at the same time. It is also possible to go to bed 
 at eight and get up at six. But the other portions give 
 us pause, much as we want to live long, because they seem 
 impracticable for the masses who have to work for daily 
 bread. For instance, we would be hilariously glad to 
 travel to Hinsdale, enter a mansion, eat a dinner on a 
 mahogany table, even if there wasn't any meat on it, and 
 after dinner roll into a sumptuous bed in a room in which 
 roars a bright fire in a marble fireplace, and through the 
 windows of which the balmy and refreshing breath of 
 200 pine trees comes and goes. We would like nothing 
 better than to promise not to overload our stomachs or 
 eat midnight lunches in those surroundings, but there 
 seems to be a restraining influence of an imperative nature 
 which keeps us from doing these things. 
 
 There are plenty of people, however, who would agree 
 to try the experiment on just one of those $100,000 
 college donations and plenty of addresses could be 
 furnished the Doctor in case he wished to consider a 
 proposition for doing good to an individual, who is more 
 worthy than any corporation, educational or otherwise, 
 in that he has a soul. Commencing at an early age he 
 might live to be 150, and thus crown the Doctor's theory 
 with a demonstration that would give it and its discoverer 
 
270 DANIEL K, PEARSONS 
 
 an imperishable renown. Admirable as the longevity 
 program is, then, it is self-evident that it is useless for 
 the masses unless all men in the Doctor's class divide up 
 their money per capita to the people of the country. 
 
 D. K. Pearsons, the famous giver to education, had 
 this to say about the late J. S. Rogers, the New Jersey 
 builder of locomotives and his gift of $7,000,000 left to 
 the New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art : 
 i " Mr. Rogers was a bachelor and a lonely and eccentric 
 man, who had a mania for enveloping himself in an 
 impenetrable veil of mystery. He dressed shabbily and 
 was inquisitive. For years he visited the museum every 
 week, but was never known to look through the fine 
 collections or to ask about them, or manifest any interest 
 in them. He nearly worried the life out of the director, 
 besides making himself almost an intolerable bore by 
 his minute questioning as to the members of the cor- 
 poration — like Vanderbilt, Pierpont Morgan and D. O. 
 Mills — and whether they gave any attention to the muse- 
 um's affairs. Rogers' way of giving was the logical 
 result of his manner of living. He had rushed blindly 
 ahead, making his money, and I dare say never stopping 
 once while he was strong and healthy to see what he could 
 do with it in the end, where it could be of the most use to 
 the world. And, coming up sharply at the last, depleted 
 in body and brain, he just didn't know any better, but 
 simply rolled it overboard to a museum of art — ^art of 
 which he knew nothing and for which he never took 
 time to care. 
 
 "Think of the great field, extending all over this 
 country, where he might have sowed that money and 
 the wonderful harvests that might have come from the 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 271 
 
 seed through ages ! Well, this ignorance of the art of 
 giving will result in this case, as it must in all like it — 
 the relatives will fight the will, and the estate will be 
 eaten up while they fight. Why didn't he make his 
 bequests while still alive to see that the money was used 
 for good, and scatter it around more ?" 
 
D. K. Pearsons at 70 years. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 " Now, let us travel on our journey, one thousand 
 miles to Colorado Springs," continued the Doctor. 
 " About forty years ago I camped one summer with the 
 Ute Indians, where there was nothing but a little hamlet. 
 A missionary started an academy and college there, and 
 he worked and dug and toiled, but they didn't get along 
 well. By and by there came along the right fellow, a 
 bright, smart young fellow by the name of Slocum, and 
 I had confidence in that young man. I believed that he 
 could make that college worth something. I said to 
 him, ' Slocum, you raise $150,000, and I will pay you 
 $50,000 down.' He thought a while, and finally said he 
 couldn't do it. There were rich men all around there — 
 twelve millionaires on one street in Colorado Springs! 
 What are they saving their money for? Saving it to 
 ruin their boys and girls, and carry them to destruction. 
 I said to them, ' Work three years, if necessary, to raise 
 $150,000.' 
 
 " They sent me a bound book, and in that book there 
 were 1,000 names, — the names of all the individuals who 
 had contributed toward that $150,000. I have it now. 
 I always require such a list. And then I required from 
 the three best business men of Colorado Springs evi- 
 dence that they had raised the $150,000, and had the 
 
 273 
 
274 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 money in hand. No getting around it. Everybody 
 must come rjght up to the business mark. Now what 
 have they ? They have a crowd of students. They come 
 three hundred miles with their packs on their backs from 
 the mountains and the plains, and they crowd in there, 
 eager for an education — 'and they get it. ' 
 
 " I believe that the highest physical development is 
 found in that portion of mankind bom and bred in the 
 mountains. Given a chance for an equal mind develop- 
 ment and I think that the mountaineers may be greater 
 than the greatest of the dwellers of the lowlands, and 
 to back my belief I have given $100,000 to Colorado 
 College, at Colorado Springs. There are over 300 stu- 
 dents in the college, and that they are not at school for 
 fun is evidenced by the fact that a goodly number of 
 them walked a distance of 200 miles to get their 
 instruction, having no money for transportation. It 
 is that kind of a spirit that I like. A boy that will tramp 
 miles to get learning is a boy that it is a pleasure to help. 
 There are great possibilities ahead of Colorado College. 
 
 " Between the valley of the Mississippi and the Pacific 
 slope lies the new West, a mountainous plateau from 
 three to six thousand feet above the sea, upon which 
 rise the Rocky Mountains. Colorado is equal in size 
 to Old and New England combined, and the college will 
 draw from a country that extends south and west 600 
 miles into Texas and New Mexico and Utah, and east 
 400 miles into Kansas. 
 
 " Those who know the manner of life most frequently 
 led by mountaineers will fear for their future unless the 
 youths are trained in Christian schools. An enlightened 
 patriotism has planted this Congregational college in the 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 275 
 
 new West and through its manifold influences will 
 elevate all this mountain people. 
 
 " I visited the site of the college many years ago, and 
 camped out there. I was struck with the country then 
 when it was in a wild state. Now the city is a railroad 
 center and thriving heartily. If the higher education 
 was to find a foothold in the new West, Colorado College 
 was well founded. The climate is the finest in the world. 
 I have known Chicago people go to the Springs with a 
 hectic flush and a poor apology for lungs, and there to 
 get back the color of health and a sound breathing 
 apparatus. If the climate will do that for physical 
 wrecks, what will it do for children of healthy parents ? 
 One-third of the population of Colorado are reconstructed 
 invalids. The city is one of millionaires; is the 
 richest per capita in the United States. It lies in close 
 proximity to inexhaustible supplies of coal, iron, silver 
 and gold; it has streets 100 feet wide and avenues 140 
 feet wide ; it has a street two miles long with four rows 
 of giant trees upon it; it is close to the famous meccas 
 of tourists — Pike's Peak, Glen Eyrie, Queen's Canyon, 
 Garden of the Gods, Manitou Springs, Uteand Cheyenne 
 Passes. 
 
 " Most earnestly I believe that there is to be bom of 
 these plains and mountains all along the central plateau 
 of our country, the very best life, — ^physical and mental, — 
 of the coming centuries. I visited a battle-ground once 
 where 3,000 mountain-bred Swiss soldiers defeated an 
 army of 10,000 lowlanders. Mountain-bred people are 
 great by nature. With cultivation they may be made 
 giants mentally and physically. The bright young men 
 
276 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 perched upon the mountain peaks or nestling in deep 
 basins walled in by peaks of gold, are not easily led into 
 the practice of all the Christian virtues; the roughness 
 of the miners and stockmen and the wildness of the 
 frontier towns are against it. If to these are added the 
 disadvantages of an anti-Christian influence on the part 
 of the leaders of society, it will be very difficult to win to 
 practical faith in God and unselfish love of man unless 
 Christianity has firm hold on the 'higher education of the 
 youth of this region. Civilization perpetuates itself 
 through the higher education the culture of colleges 
 permeates through society. 
 
 " If the college is Godless, the civilization will be half 
 pagan. If Christianity is fundamental to the elevation 
 of the race, the Christian college is the instrument 
 through which to advance Christian civilization. The 
 grand movements for the moral elevation of the world 
 had their spring in the Christian schools, and the Chris- 
 tian college for the training of the leaders of society is 
 the instrument chosen of God and used age after age. 
 The greatness of their work is best seen through the light 
 of their permanence. Most of the work done by human 
 hands is ephemeral. We carve forms out of the wilder- 
 ness, and after a few years' neglect the wilderness has 
 returned. You erect magnificent buildings, and the 
 flames' breath passes over them — they vanish. You toil 
 for a lifetime to amass a fortune, and before a generation 
 from your death, spendthrift heirs have scattered it to 
 all points of the compass. You devote yourself to 
 schemes of aggrandizement with all your might; you 
 attain honor, position, wealth and fame, all to vanish 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 277 
 
 into thin air when you die. Your successes and all your 
 vaunted ambition pass off with the memory of your name 
 like the exhalation of a breath. Only institutions of 
 Christian education are immortal. 
 
 " Historically, the principal colleges of the world are 
 those having their origin in the instinct of the Christian 
 ministry to perpetuate itself. Pour Christianity into the 
 fountain of life and it will flow out in life-giving 
 streams. God's channel of mercy to the earth runs 
 through the Christian colleges. 
 
 " The American College and Educational Society early 
 adopted the college as one of its beneficiaries, and inter- 
 ested several men of wealth in its welfare. The Colorado 
 Springs Land Company gave it fifty acres and reserved 
 forty more for its use when certain endowment had been 
 secured." 
 
 It is at this moment an important point in Christian 
 strategy, because it is beyond the great plains, and near 
 the Mormon, the Mexican and the Indian elements of 
 our population. Dr. Pearsons gave it $100,000. 
 
 POEM TO DR. PEARSONS ON HIS 77tH BIRTHDAY, THE 
 AUTHOR OF WHICH WISHED HIS NAME WITHHELD. 
 
 If life is measured, not by years, but deeds, 
 
 Then thou art very old today; 
 
 But if age counts as faculties grow dim, 
 
 And years of usefulness are on the wane, 
 
 Then thou art very young today. 
 
 No firmer were thy steps long years ago. 
 
 When, in the valley of the youth of life, 
 
 Thy piercing eye dids't scan the mountain tops, 
 
 And to thy struggling spirit thou dids't say: 
 
 "Arise and let us mount!" 
 
 The trails are rough, and long, and steep, 
 
 The canyons often very deep. 
 
 The winds were fierce, the hardships great, 
 
278 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 But thou dids't never stand and wait. 
 
 "Up! Up!" Thy mighty spirit said. 
 
 And upward, onward, still it led. 
 
 The foothills all are lost to sight, 
 
 But, pressing on, by day, by night, 
 
 Thy tireless feet will soon have pressed 
 
 The mountain peaks of truth and rest. 
 
 Nor hast thou climbed alone, but, magnet-like, 
 
 Thy spirit hast led countless numbers on, 
 
 And thy strong influence, and thy words of cheer. 
 
 Have strengthened weary steps and faltering hearts. 
 
 If, at the close of day, the sun could turn. 
 
 And review its work since morning time, 
 
 What mighty changes would the record give! 
 
 And thou, great heart, upon thy mountain peak 
 
 Of truth, and justice, and of noble deeds; 
 
 If thou wouldst but look down acro<ss the years, 
 
 Thy way would all be bright with happy thoughts. 
 
 Which thou hast planted in the hearts of men. 
 
 Be ever happy, then, great, noble heart. 
 
 Because of all that thou hast been to men. 
 
 And all thou wilt be in the years to come. 
 
 The God whom thou hast trusted all thy life 
 
 Will lead thee through the gates to endless day; 
 
 But here on earth thy name will always live, 
 
 And thy great gifts, which thou hast scattered wide. 
 
 Will grow in greatness as the years go by. 
 
 Thy greatest gift has been thine own true life, 
 
 So rich in helpful deeds, in sympathies. 
 
 In words of wisdom and of sound advice. 
 
 May many years be added to thy life, 
 
 And health and strength be granted to the end. 
 
 But whether few or many be the days 
 
 Thou yet shalt walk among the sons of men. 
 
 Know this: The world will mourn when thou art gone. 
 
 Thou wilt be greatly missed, but thy grand life 
 
 Will live in many other noble lives. 
 
 Made noble by thy wisdom and thy wealth. 
 
 This happy day, kind friend, we honor thee. 
 
 Long may thy presence in our midst be seen! 
 
 But when the Master calls thee home, we know 
 
 Thou wilt be ready to arise and go. 
 
 Nor wilt thou go alone, for angels bright 
 
 Will guide thee to the realms of endless light. 
 
 Dr. Pearsons delighted especially in letters and poans 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 279 
 
 from boys who had profited by and were grateful for the 
 millions which he had expended in their beihalf. " I've 
 got the smartest lot of boys in the world," he said, waving 
 his arms toward the West as if he included every State 
 and Territory in that direction ; " flaxen-haired boys from 
 the sod-houses of the mountains and the plains — ^poor 
 boys who will appreciate an education because they know 
 how hard it is to get. They can't go down East to col- 
 lege, and I'm trying to build up colleges where they can 
 go to 'em. My boys are the v-e-r-y finest. Say, young 
 man, between you and me, there's one of those eastern 
 college fellows coming to see me next Monday. He 
 thinks he's going to get some money out of me, but I'll 
 fool him, sir ! I won't give him a cent ! Ha, ha, hi, yi ! " 
 The solution of the servant girl problem was among 
 the early thoughts of D. K. Pearsons. With an eye to 
 business he determined that the proverbial shortness in 
 the commodity so essential to the kitchen must be met and 
 overcome. His hopes for the future kitchens of the world 
 lay in the mountains of Kentucky, which are mainly 
 famous for moonshine whisky, border feuds, "razorbacks" 
 and slab-sided men. He thought the white women of 
 these mountains must of necessity become the source 
 of supply of the servant girls. Firmly convinced that 
 thg strapping young women of the Kentucky wilds had 
 a future, he considered the advisability of establishing a 
 new department for Berea College, the function of which 
 would be teaching the mountain maidens to cook, make 
 beds, and keep house. His thoughts had been turned 
 toward the servant-girl problems by the cries of his 
 neighbors and the ease with which he kept his own 
 
280 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 household supplied with strong-armed help. Two of them 
 were daughters of a minister who was suffering from 
 over-production, having ten left at home to raise on corn 
 cakes and hominy. " You can readily see," said the 
 Doctor, " that the source of supply would be well-nigh 
 inexhaustible. The families down there are as large as 
 the laws of nature will permit, and the girls have the 
 making of splendid servants. All they want, I am con- 
 vinced, is the opportunity, and these mountain white 
 women will rise to the occasion. To them, I am con- 
 vinced, we must look in the near future for our supply 
 of servants. So give 'em a chance, I say. I have deter- 
 mined that this project is worthy of consideration, 
 because I mean the gifts I shall make shall be with a 
 view of giving the people a chance. As sure as you are 
 alive the style of our education is going to change. In 
 the near future there will not be much of Greek and 
 Latin and that sort of thing. In its place we shall teach 
 the boys how to get along in the world ; how to earn an 
 honest living, and we shall teach the girls how to cook 
 and keep house, and how to become good wives and 
 excellent mothers. This change will come by degrees, 
 but it will come. You can't drive it into the colleges. 
 So, too, must we educate our help, and a good beginning 
 in that line would be the establishment of a department 
 in the college in which the Kentucky mountain white girl 
 could be taught household duties. There are thousands 
 of them down there destined to an existence which is 
 worse than none at all, unless you give them ■a chance. 
 
 " There is need of a college in Wyoming, and one in 
 Oklahoma, I don't say that I shall build a college, but 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 281 
 
 I don't say that I shall not build a college, and it would 
 not be so very strange if the Pearsons dollars did build 
 at least one, .although on general principles I am opposed 
 to new colleges. There are more than enough colleges 
 and universities in the country now, and some of them 
 are bound to go down. Some of them should go down. 
 I do not mean by that that there is too much education 
 in the world. Some people say there is, and yet there are 
 four western colleges that are about to close up, because 
 they have not and cannot find suitable presidents to run 
 them. If you were to look around for a woman fitted 
 to take charge of one of our big female colleges, where 
 would you find her? She couldn't be found. And so I 
 think it would be a good idea to build some dormitories 
 where young women could live for $2 a week. It could 
 board them for $1.50. It is the poverty-stricken youths 
 and girls who make the smartest men and women. The 
 smartest girl I knew was the daughter of a teamster, and 
 the smartest young man I knew raised onions to help him 
 through college. It is that class of boys and girls that I 
 am after with a vengeance.. 
 
 " Will I give to any other than educational pur- 
 poses? Not a cent, except to give the poor boys and 
 girls of the West a chance. The new century will be a 
 record breaker, sir; a record breaker. The giving has 
 just begun and the wave will gather force as the century 
 proceeds. I want to tell you, it's getting to be a danger- 
 ous thing for a ma-n who has got anything, to die 
 without having given something. It's getting so that his 
 children will say : ' Papa, give something lest we be 
 disgraced.' It's now the fashion to give, and the fashion 
 
282 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 will grow in favor. It may now be considered a business 
 enterprise, and if one invests in giving to the rank and 
 file, to the poor, it brings magnificent returns. 
 
 " I want to say in this connection that the man who 
 gives and keeps it quiet, does wrong. Matthew 5:15: 
 ' Let your light so shine before men that they may see 
 your good works and glorify your Father, which is in 
 heaven.' ' Neither do men light a candle and put it under 
 a bushel.' 
 
 " Example, sir, is everything, everything, everything. 
 Just the other day an old fellow in Danville b^an giving 
 to colleges. Andrew Carnegie gives wherever I do. John 
 D. Rockefeller is dividing up his money as fast as he can. 
 Some of the old codgers look aghast at me and say : ' I 
 should think you would dislike the publicity,' and then 
 they go home and give because I have done so. Publicity ! 
 I have had twenty-five years of it, and I'm still healthy. 
 You can't do anything these days without the aid of 
 printer's ink. You might as well nail the flag to the mast 
 and let them blaze away. Of course it brings its army of 
 beggars and its annoyances, but I take these as mere 
 incidents of the business. By practice I have become 
 expert in the 'handling of beggars and can deal with 
 twenty in a forenoon. You know there are natural 
 beggars; just can't help but beg; natural born beggars 
 and beggars from necessity. There are beautiful 
 daughters who need $300 to round out their preparations 
 for the future and many other things; but they don't 
 catch me, and yet I send them all away feeling good. I'm 
 just an independent old chap who doesn't care a rap 
 what they think about me and who has his own way of 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 283 
 
 doing things. Come and see me in about two months. 
 The next watermelon will be ripe, and you might get a 
 slice." 
 
 There would have been joy for thousands of jaded 
 housewives if Dr. Pearsons had devoted some of his 
 benefactions to found a college for training girls as 
 servants and insuring their steadiness after graduation. 
 If he had carried these ideas to practical consummation 
 the women of the land would rise and call him blessed, 
 and the great American confederation of chronic dys- 
 peptics would have builded a monument to his memory 
 as large as the " Goddess of Liberty." The knowledge 
 of good housekeeping is as important as that of the deri- 
 vation of a Greek verb. Higher education is a fine thing, 
 but unless good beefsteak and fluffy biscuit can be turned 
 out instead of cast-iron pies and wiater-soaked potatoes, 
 it will fall oE its high pedestal as a poor investment. 
 Being practical, he knew that a household could not be 
 run, like a shoe factory, with a different operator in each 
 department. He knew that domestic happiness called 
 for a different and better service than that employed in 
 an industrial establishment, and that the household cannot 
 be run on eight-hour shifts. 
 
 "When did you begin to give. Doctor? You had 
 helped churches and schools before you helped Beloit." 
 
 " Yes, I was chairman of the trustees of the First 
 Presbyterian church. They were $82,000 in debt. 
 It had to be paid and I undertook to raise it. 
 I suppose I paid $15,000 of it. Then I helped 
 Dr. Hammill establish the Presbyterian Hospital. I was 
 executor of the estate of Daniel A. Jones. One hundred 
 
284 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 thousand dollars of that estate went into the hospital and 
 another hundred thousand from me put it upon its feet." 
 
 " But you began to give before that ?" 
 
 " Yes, I gave when I was selling land. But I gave 
 to make money. When a man came to me and said : ' I 
 am a Methodist and I want to settle where there is a 
 Methodist church/ I would say : ' Get your Methodist 
 friends to settle near you and I will build you a church.' 
 Others wanted a schoolhouse or library. I helped them 
 all, but I don't call that giving. All the same it rendered 
 it easier to make later gifts that were free of the money 
 making object. 
 
 " An old gentleman of Chicago once acted as my 
 censor, and every tl,:ie I gave to a college he came to me 
 to advise me, to direct me. He was a man with a large 
 fortune, but no one to leave it to. He lay awake nights 
 thinking what to do with his money, for it was a burden 
 upon him all the time. He came to me and asked: 
 'What do you do this for? What do you do that for? 
 Why did you go down into North Carolina and help a 
 Quaker college there? You are not a Quaker, neither 
 do you know the people down there. Tell me why you 
 went down there.' 
 
 " 'Old man, I will tell you briefly the history of that. 
 Over 100 years ago some Quakers landed on the coast 
 of North Carolina. They were seeking a home, but the 
 slave power had possession of the good lands there and 
 the emigrants were driven over into the mountains, and 
 there they settled. They founded a college which is now 
 over eighty years old. Speaker Gannon was graduated 
 there and near there he was born. Dr. Nixon, the man 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 285 
 
 who wrote the Hfe of Marcus Whitman, was bom and 
 educated there. I gave them money to enlarge that they 
 might bring in the mountain whites around there. There 
 were three or four millions of poor, ignorant whites in 
 the surrounding mountains.' 
 
 " 'That sounds very wieli,' my censor said, ' but why 
 did you go to Berea, Ky. ? You are not acquainted there ?' 
 
 " ' I went there for the same reason as to Guilford.' 
 
 " 'But,' he answiered me, ' why did you build water- 
 works there ? That is no part of education.' 
 
 " ' An epidemic of typhoid fever broke out there every 
 year. Now I had already spent $250,000, and was in 
 danger of losing it unless I did something to protect 
 their health. So I ordered them to put in the waterworks 
 at an expense of $50,000. The water comes from eleven 
 springs in the mountains 200 feet above the college, and 
 the water is forced all over the building.' 
 
 " In devoting money to education I feel that I have 
 good company. Take Cecil Rhodes as an example of a 
 college beniefactor. He left Oxford and went to Africa 
 on account of his health. In six years he was at the head 
 of the largest business establishment in the world. He 
 died and left ten millions of money for the support of 
 young men at Oxford. His bequest enables the brightest 
 young men of Europe and America to remain three 
 years with the $1,500 which he receives from the fund. 
 
 " This gathering together of the finest ^id brightest 
 young men of the whole world will add much to the 
 future friendly relations of the different countries 
 through their consuls and diplomats educated there. 
 
 "Next, I mention Mr. Carnegie. One of the most 
 
286 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 beautiful things he ever did, or can do, was to provide 
 pensions for the balance of their lives to teachers who had 
 been twenty-five years teaching. That is the finest thing 
 that any man has ever done in this country. He is 
 certainly one of the largest-hearted men that ever lived. 
 
 " The next great giver is Rockefeller. He is one of the 
 most lovable men I ever met. He has one of the wor- 
 thiest families in America. He never made an effort to 
 marry his daughters to counts who were of no account 
 whatever, or to marry them to lords or kings and then 
 spend his money settling divorces. He has a genuine 
 American family. 
 
 " There is no charity about my work. It isn't charity 
 to use money to give educational advantages. It's an 
 investment which pays such big interest no one can count 
 it. When I picked up my forty-seven children they 
 were poor little things, mean and poverty-stricken and 
 just able to struggle along. And now they are great 
 thriving colleges as good as there are in the land. They 
 give me great happiness because they are so grateful 
 when they think of the consummate old rascal who 
 worked hard all his life for them. My children have a 
 claim upon me for what .1 have left. Carnegie has 
 thanked me for educating people so they can use the 
 books in his libraries." 
 
 "Chicago, Jan. 21, 1898. 
 
 " Gen. O. O. Howard : There is no spot in our country 
 at this time where a school can be established that will 
 do as much good for the whole people as the one you 
 contemplate at Cumberland Gap, Tenn. The location is 
 right ; the farm is ample enough to give employment to a 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 287 
 
 large number of young men, by which they can pay their 
 way, and the agricultural education is of vast importance 
 to the whole mountain people. You can teadh them to 
 make three spears of grass grow where now only one 
 grows. The loyal mountaineers have good blood, brain 
 and brawn. You will find they have many Lincolns and 
 Garfields hid away among the brave men and women of 
 the mountains. They need the touch of Christian educa- 
 tion to make them the best of the best. It will take time 
 and training, but the qualities that make men and women 
 are there. They have been overlooked too long. I wish 
 you great success. The field is large, it is comparatively 
 new, and has been waiting for the wand to give America 
 a class of men who will in the future help to keep religion 
 and liberty in our goodly land perpetual. 
 " Truly yours, 
 
 " D. K. Pearsons." 
 
 There was pathos in the speech Dr. Pearsons gave at 
 Beloit when he presented the institution with a $50,000 
 woman's dormitory, when he said : 
 
 " I had a college president come to my office. He sat 
 down by me, looked me in the eye — I did not know but 
 that he was going to take hold of my collar — ^and he said : 
 ' Why do you give to Beloit so much ? Why don't you 
 give to the rest of us ?' 
 
 " I did not tell him it was none of his business. No, 
 because I treat all college presidents and professors with 
 the greatest consideration. I have an interview with 
 them nearly every day. Every philanthropist in the land 
 who has ever given to a college and who has any more to 
 give is patiently, peacefully, Godfearingly enduring this 
 
288 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 sort of thing every week and livinig in dread of it every 
 hour. College presidents, figuratively speaking, camp 
 on their doorsteps and waylay them on the streets. If 
 the giver opens his hand to one, the others say : ' Why 
 don't you give to us?' His gene«>sity has exposed him 
 to a storm of whys and why don'ts, and there is no 
 friendly roof beneath which he can take even temporary 
 shelter. If he dines out he finds that a thoughtful host 
 has seated him between two college presidents because he 
 is interested in education. If he dines at home there is 
 apt to be one under the table, and if he flees to the attic 
 there are the legs of college presidents coming down 
 through the scuttle in the roof. 
 
 " And they are adroit. Time was when the collie 
 president was a scholar, and a thinker, and a man gifted 
 with profound powers of reflection. He studied and then 
 he taught what he learned. He had no time for financial 
 affairs. They bothered him. He didn't care so much 
 about superb college buildings as he did about good 
 college brains. In this day the man best fitted to occupy 
 the position appears to be the man who can best locate 
 big fortunes and then get some of them. Of course he 
 needs education, that he may be a fit representative of 
 his college, but his chief concern is endowments. He 
 gets out of some milliomaire a certain sum on condition 
 that he gets a like sum f rdm the State ; so he proceeds to 
 work the Legislature and becomes a lobbyist. So, while 
 it afflicts the philanthropist, the system evolves a new 
 sort of college president, one who is an improvement over 
 the old in some respects, but in others decidedly not. 
 
 " Now, don't you think that when a man gets to my 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 289 
 
 age he ougiht to pay his debts? Here I am, ready to 
 crawl into the grave .and groaning under a burden of a 
 half-million-dollar debt. No, no, I cannot think of endow- 
 ing any more colleges until I have paid what I owe. 
 
 " I have twelve colleges now on my hands, scattered 
 over eight different States, and they must be paid for. 
 I have promised them I will do my share and I have given 
 them six months to meet my requirements, and if they 
 don't do it by that time they will have to do it alone. I 
 have been impartial to all sections of the country, and my 
 colleges are not confined to any particular section. 
 
 " I came from the good old Green Mountain country 
 and I made all miy money in Chicago. It is invested in 
 real estate, stocks and bonds there, and what I didn't 
 make in that way I made in timber deals. Nineteen years 
 I sought a way to get rid of it. It was then I began 
 building and endowing colleges and I have kept it up 
 ever since. 
 
 " If there is any one thing that makes me falter in my 
 giving, it is the everlasting swarm of beggars who 
 crowd into my office after announcement of a donation 
 and who appeal and argue for a lift for their pet fads 
 till my life work seems for the moment to be only misery. 
 The best help is self help, and the best charity is that 
 which does away with tihe necessity of its exercise. It 
 is for this reason that I have made up my mind that from 
 now on every cent that I give I will give secretly, and 
 with the distinct pledge from those benefited that my 
 name will never be divulged while I live. It is only in 
 this way that I can .hope for any pleasure or peace in the 
 work I have started out to do. 
 
290 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 " This reliance upon the generosity of others and 
 readiness to extend the pleading hand is but little re- 
 moved from the mute appeal for a penny which so marks 
 the degradation of certain countries. It is a pitiful evi- 
 dence of the growth of a pernicious habit, which, from 
 pleading for others will soon sink to begging for self. 
 Among those appealing to me are men themselves well 
 enough off to build up the concern for which they plead. 
 Instead of carrying out the true American tradition of 
 building up for themselves and impressing their own in- 
 dividuality, they extend their hands toward strangers and 
 thus place a mortgage upon their own future. 
 
 " Miss Helen Gould once printed a list of appeals made 
 to her, from wihich there stood out the remarkable fact 
 that so-called aipostles of reform were really trying to 
 feather their own nest. I wish you could see some of 
 the eastern mendicants who bombard my office and then 
 follow me home. But, by Godfrey ! I generally manage 
 to .make them heartily ashamed of themselves before I 
 get through with them. One of them has been here four 
 times in the last few weeks, from central Ohio — think of 
 of it ! The grand rich State of Ohio begging for aid for 
 one of its colleges. 
 
 " I said to him : ' Go among the wealthy people of your 
 own locality. Do you think I'm going to give to you 
 when out in that new West, where for stretches of 800 
 miles there is not a good school, young people are seeking 
 to raise themselves to become good men and women 
 without one glimmer of the thousands of chances that 
 exist in your section of the country?' That's the way 
 to let the beggars see the truth. I never in the future 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 291 
 
 intend to give a cent for anything but the education of 
 boys and girls. This world is very large and is full of 
 poverty, hunger and woe. My own life lesson has taught 
 me that. But I believe if my energies are divided all 
 the things to which I turn my hand will fail. So I stay 
 in one groove and prefer to spend the balance of my days 
 in lifting colleges out of the mire, making it possible for 
 those shut out by environment from mental advancement 
 to shake off the fetters. That there is gratitude in the 
 world is abundantly testified to, but the best way is to 
 make others help themselves. 
 
 " Up stairs in my sitting room are two young girls 
 from Berea, and I am paying them good wages. Two 
 others who had earned $150 each went back to finish 
 their course at college. When the tiwo now here have 
 earned enough they go back also .and two othens take 
 their places. That's the kind of help I believe in giving. 
 It lifts up; it lets the sun shine into my own heart and 
 theirs, too, and it is sending out into the world men and 
 women who will take rank as the best among us. 
 
 " The world is full of reformers, with eyes cast upon 
 distant objects, who refuse to see the work near at hand. 
 A man need not be a millionaire in order to elevate his 
 fellows. If they concern themselves about their own 
 neighborhood they can find abundant work, not quite so 
 brilliant as distant schemes, but offering greater hope of 
 realization. 
 
 " Let's see. Political economy says : ' Wealth is based 
 on wages, profit on interest.' The idea of wealth being a 
 larger something for which work can never pay, a life- 
 giving power difficult to define, a noble thing based upon 
 
292 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 usefulness to others is gaining ground. I have found a 
 new kind of wealth, where ' making of profits ' does not 
 figure. I call it the wealth oif the joy of giving. 
 
 " They come from all quarters and from all denomi- 
 nations and for every kind of school. But I have my 
 lines and I follow them pretty closely. Carnegie seems 
 to intend to help the rioh, but I intend to help the poor. 
 
 " Some of them say I am too partial to the Congre- 
 gationialists. Well, I have hitched to that train a good 
 deal. From the first tbey have been the college builders 
 of the nation. They know how to do it. I get a lot of 
 satisfaction out of thinking about my colleges. Think 
 what a college like that at Colorado Springs can do, 
 standing where it does and reaching clear down into 
 Mexico. It is as big as a mountain. 
 
 " But I want to say something to you : The colleges 
 must retrench. They have their scale of expenses too 
 high. A while ago a college president came into my 
 office, bowed like a bulrush. He said they w^ere away 
 behind on their expenses and he did not know what they 
 would do. I asked: 'How much is your annual bill?' 
 He replied : ' Twenty-two thousand dollars.' Then I went 
 over the list with him, and when we were through I 
 said : ' You can cut that to $12,000.' It is a small institu- 
 tion and he went home to do it. 
 
 " If there is no money to pay the bill the professors 
 must teach more classes and smart students must be set 
 to tutoring. We are getting too much into these small 
 colleges. They cannot handle everything. College 
 people, like other people, are ambitious, and when one 
 sees the catalog^fe of the other with its long list of 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 293 
 
 teachers and imposing schemes of study, it wants to make 
 as big or better display, and so the expenses keep piling 
 up. But it won't do. There have got to be retrench- 
 ments or there will be some bankrupts. Our western 
 colleges must be held up by western men. Are there any 
 men in the ■world who can compare with the self-sacrific- 
 ing college presidents and professors? They work for 
 smiall pay; they work for God and humanity. Now, I 
 am going to answer the question, why I give so much 
 money to Beloit. That is a fair problem, a fair proposi- 
 tion. It is my duty to answer it. The first college I 
 helped was Beloit. I did not make any mistake. No, 
 I think it shows that I am a pretty shrewd man. I tell 
 you why. Beloit College, from top to bottom is 
 thoroughly honest. They never have deceived me; they 
 never have tried to terrify me in any way, shape or 
 ■manner. I wish that could be said of all of them. 
 Everything they agreed to do they did. The young 
 ladies who go to Beloit in the future ought to have a 
 beautiful building there, a charming building, where 
 they can have a real nice family home and be under the 
 protection of a grand and good matron, and I propose 
 to build that building. It will cost $50,000 and I said 
 to them, ' Go on and build your building, and as fast as 
 you call for the money you will get it. When you get it 
 built you will get every dollar in money, — 'not a check, 
 but figiht out in money.' 
 
 " Build it economically. I intend to put heating 
 apparatus and a radiator in each room. I tell you why. 
 You can build 30 per cent cheaper now than when I built 
 Chapin Hall. There are men who want work. Now is 
 
294 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 the time to pitch in and build. But I don't tell them what 
 to do, as I have business enough of my own. I do not 
 run any risk, however, in telling those gentlemen to go 
 on. I confine them within certain bounds. That is 
 business. 
 
 " There is one more thing I would like to have : that 
 beautiful building has got to be 'furnished. Don't rise 
 up and say that I will furnish it. You are not going to 
 have anything to do with it. The ladies of the North- 
 west will furnish that building. You and I, ladies, are 
 working together now. When you go back to your 
 hotnies, ladies, at the next meeting of your ladies' asso- 
 ciation just tell them you are going to furnish a room 
 in what ? — I say, Emerson Hall. It is not often that you 
 name a building before it is built. It is Dr. Emerson's 
 Hall. 
 
 " I have never given to a liberal institution and I never 
 will. Never. I do not believe in giving to those who 
 use the prayer room as a dancing ball, or Shakespere 
 instead of the Bible. 
 
 " Now, I am not goii^ up there until they get all the 
 endowment raised. When they write they have got it I 
 will take them up $50,000 in brand new hundred-dollar 
 bills." 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 " Now on another lap of our journey," said the 
 Doctor, "let us go to Springfield, Mo., where a com- 
 munity have been trying to build up Drury College in a 
 country and among people similar in every way to that 
 which produced Lincoln and Grant. It is in the midst 
 of the Ozarks, the land of the big red apple, rail and stone 
 fence and log houses, that are still modeled after those of 
 their ancestors, who came across the Alleghanies from 
 Virginia in the footsteps of Daniel Boone. They 
 are crying for education, those great, strapping pioneers, 
 v/ho have left in their veins the only pure American 
 blood, raise often ten children in a log house of two 
 rooms, until it overflows, and they have to build a lean-to. 
 In former days if they could get all the corn pone and 
 bacon they wanted to eat and had a fiddler in the family 
 who could play the ' Arkansas Traveler ' and a few tunes 
 for the ' Virginian Reel,' the aome of contentment dwelt 
 there, but now all is changed; education is the cry of 
 the people which has lain dormant for ages and is now 
 being heard through those rocky hills. 
 
 " Monuments and commemorative arches stand as 
 beautiful memorials to posterity, and their utility and 
 use are not to be decried. While being built they furnish 
 employment to thousands and offer means to distribute, 
 
 295 
 
296 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 in proper manner, large sums of money among the 
 masses. But, once finished, they become dead memo- 
 rials; their active functions cease. Libraries are better 
 as a living and working agency for the uplifting of the 
 masses, but they do not possess the direct and more active 
 functions of the school and college. 
 
 " The school and college live, just as does the memorial 
 in cold, statuesque granite, but their functions never 
 cease. Education goes on from day to day. Washing- 
 tons, Lincolns and Grants are made, statesmen are 
 evolved, and thinkers are molded. The nation is served 
 and humanity benefited. I believe in the college. It 
 hammers away steadily and unceasingly from year to 
 year. When the granite shaft and the beautiful arch 
 shall have succumbed to the elements and been forgotten 
 amid a multitude of their kind the college will live, kept 
 alive by its work." 
 
 The chief feature of the twenty-eighth commencement 
 was the dedication of the Pearsons Hall of Science, 
 erected at a cost of $50,000 and equipped with $6,000 
 more, chiefly in the laboratories. The whole, to the 
 minutest details of equipment, is a monument to the 
 untiring labor of President Fuller. Dr. Pearsons' dedica- 
 tory message included the suggestion that the building 
 be called " Fuller's Hall," but it was overruled. Before 
 the coming of the new building, the Drury plant was 
 ill-balanced. There were a stately chapel and substantial 
 dormitories, but the actual work of the school was done 
 in ancient, ill-lighted quarters, the science work being 
 especially crowded. The forty rooms of the present 
 spacious building now house the recitation work of the 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 297 
 
 entire college course, but will ultimately be given over to 
 the developing science department; the first floor to 
 physics, the second to geology and biology, with their 
 museums, and the third to chemistry. Externally the 
 building is strong and satisfactory, with just a suggestion 
 of ancient universities in the central Gothic portal. 
 
 Professor Wrig'ht gave the address of dedication, 
 dealing with the contributions of science to human life. 
 He very graphically described the Ozark uplift, wtiich the 
 scientists say was the first land to appear above the 
 waters, and said the superb climate of southern Missouri 
 bears witness to the essential brevity of the earthly order, 
 sobers philosophy and demands the God of religion as its 
 postulate. Dr. Fifield appeared as the personal repre- 
 sentative of the donor, — a. minister in the rare position 
 of standing for a millionaire, — only Dr. Pearsons had 
 forgotten to send his purse. 
 
 There was another red letter day for Drury when Dr 
 Pearsons, its largest benefactor ajnd one on whom she 
 looks as almost a godfather, paid her a rather unexpected 
 visit on his way to Eureka Springs. He, with his wife, 
 was met at the station by the cadet corps and a crowd of 
 students and teachers, who soon let him know by their 
 cheering that they were there to royally welcome him. 
 After meeting a few mem,bers of the faculty they were 
 immiediately driven in a carriage, decorated with scarlet 
 and grey, to the hotel, where they were entertained that 
 night. The next morning in a gaily trimmed carriage, 
 drawn by twenty-four students, and the procession 
 headed by the band, they were drawn to the college, 
 where everybody got acquainted with the great man 
 
298 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 There is something very attractive about all men who 
 have made their millions — they always have a large 
 following. The only drawing feature about many of 
 them, though, is their money. Dr. Pearsons attracts by 
 the power of his personality. If we had not known who 
 he was, he would have won us any way, just a* he did. 
 As he stood before us we felt first of all that there was a 
 man. He appeared as a big, stalwart old man who had 
 more youthful vigor than men twenty years younger. His 
 face so beamed with benevolence that you scarcely noticed 
 its touch of Yankee shrewdness. He' had a fetching smile 
 that tempered the almost sharpness of his speech. His 
 eyes were piercing, with a snap in them, and grew almost 
 fierce with earnestness. There was something about him 
 that made one think of the Grand Old Man. 
 
 Dr. Pearsons began his chapel talk in a voice rather 
 hoarse with a cold he had been " foolish " enough to take, 
 and said by way of introduction : 
 
 " It will be a great difficulty for me to address 
 you as I ought, but if my tongue were tipped 
 with eloquence this morning, I would throw the 
 tip away. If I had the wings of imagination 
 this morning and could go through all the ranges of beau- 
 tiful thoughts and sayings and beautiful periods, I would 
 take off the wings and — give them to President Fuller. 
 I want to talk a little sense, neither poetry nor eloquence 
 nor anything of the kind. When some one sits down to 
 the piano and plays ' Old Hundred,' and then with a quick 
 turn plays ' Susanna,' it always pleases me. I rather like 
 to hear a speaker go on that same principle, and I will 
 this morning make a medley and say what I please." 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 299 
 
 He told much of his own experience, many stories of 
 rich men's sons who had squandered their lives and of 
 gritty poor boys who had hustled and pushed to the front. 
 
 " So you might go from a to izzard," he said, " and I 
 rather think I could prove to you that poverty for a young 
 man is a blessing in disguise. I am thankful that I com- 
 menced my life poor, without a penny, and that I had to 
 hustle, and fight to win my way. I had to use this right 
 arm in labor. It is strong and I shall live to be a hundred 
 years old, and I tell you that I owe all my strength, health 
 and vigor to the fact that I had to hustle as a young man. 
 Nothing like it. Oh, you big, lubberly fellows down 
 there! If your father is rich, and has made a fool of 
 you, I pity you. 
 
 " This is a beautiful country we are living in, a beauti- 
 ful land. We are wonderfully, wonderfully blessed. 
 What made us so? You speak about the light of Asia and 
 of Africa. They have not got the big light there that we 
 have. What has made us what we are? Three lights, 
 brilliant lights, — ^the lights of religion, liberty and educa- 
 tion. They were born together, they must die together. 
 The sacrilegious hand that extinguishes one of them must 
 extinguish all of them. Our fathers caught these lights 
 from the skies. Long did they watch them, those beauti- 
 ful lights, and long may it be our happiness to watch 
 them, until the lights of the skies, religion, liberty and 
 education, have passed into eternity. 
 
 " Everything here pleases me. I have looked over tiie 
 campus and gone through the college from top to bottom. 
 The foundation of the science building is the best I ever 
 
300 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 saw. I can only signify my approval of everything and 
 everybody, president, faculty and students, by say- 
 ing, ' Fine, fine.' " 
 
 Here's to you, Dr. Pearsons, for an honest millionaire, 
 
 For a blooming good philanthropist, who's giving " on the 
 
 square;" 
 You have no private axe to grind, and when you make a gift 
 You don't make up the difference by giving oil a lift. 
 Your money is all pure gold, as is your heart the same, 
 And sure, we're voting that they place you in the Hall of 
 
 Fame. 
 Just ask the student farmer lads you're helping to pull 
 
 through 
 If Washington or Webster is a whit ahead of you. 
 
 For years, with earnest effort you have sought for any 
 chance 
 
 To help the young idea to conquer Time and Circumstance; 
 
 And the money you've invested is repaid a thousandfold 
 
 In culture, brains and able hands, and manhood, true and 
 bold. 
 
 There's an army of young graduates, all boys of yours, in- 
 deed, 
 
 Who may serve and save their native land in time of vital 
 need. 
 
 And we want to tell you. Doctor, that the boys of Drury, 
 here, 
 
 Are going to line up in front, and plant their banner there. 
 
 We welcome you with open arms and hearts of gratitude; 
 
 Just say the word — the town is yours, with no one to in- 
 trude. 
 
 There's a welcome for your lady, whom we courteously g^ess 
 
 Has helped you learn the way to make your millions aid 
 and bless. 
 
 So here's to you,- Dr. Pearsons, and your lady, too, with 
 cheers 
 
 For every year of your fourscore, and wishing that the 
 years 
 
 To come will lead you sweetly to the Land of Perfect Rest — 
 
 Here's to you, Dr. Pearsons, good friend and honored guest. 
 
 — The Townsman. 
 
 Dr. Pearsons gave Drury College $100,000 and proved 
 himself a thoroughly up-to-date philanthropist. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 301 
 
 The Society of the Sons of Vermont held a meeting at 
 the Grand Pacific Hotel. A large nirniber" of the sons and 
 daughters of that beautiful, patriotic State was present, 
 and listened to several addresses. Dr. D. K. Pearsons 
 responded to the toast, " The Secret of Success," speak- 
 ing as follows : 
 
 " Thus at the flaming forge of life 
 Our fortunes must be wrought." 
 
 " The m«tal out of which most successful men are 
 made is melted in the hot fires of the furnace of poverty, 
 hammered on the anvil of want, and tempered in the chill 
 waters of adversity. Thus is manufactured the keen- 
 edged steel which cuts its way through all obstacles to for- 
 tune and to fame. The successful men of this country are 
 not those whose cradles were rocked by hired murses, and 
 who never knew an imgratified wish as children. They 
 are those who as boys did the chores for their keep, 
 chopped wood for 25 cents a cord and were glad to get 
 the job, laid stone walls, plowed rough fields, and 
 fought their way through school and college poorly clad, 
 fed and housed. But the secret of success does not lie in 
 the mere fact of having been suckled at the breast of 
 poverty. There are millions who are born poor, live so, 
 die so and beget others in their own likeness. The virtues 
 of a plant depend on something besides the soil in which 
 it grows. 
 
 " If success in life is making much money there are 
 successful men the secret of wihose success was sheer 
 luck. Each of us knows some one who went forth like 
 Saul, the son of Kish, in search of his father's asses, and 
 found a kingdom. He happened to own some oil land, 
 
302 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 perhaps against his will, and was boosted into affluence, 
 almost without his consent. He hitched his wiagon, un- 
 thinkingly, to a Chicago town lot, and found himself 
 among the millionaires. The man who bought a little 
 land years ago near the Board of Trade building and had 
 to keep it because his wife would not let him sell it and 
 drink up the proceeds, has more money than years of 
 calculating toil will bestow. 
 1 " Great men did not spring up inland, but were always 
 bom on the borders of the sea. To my mind the secret of 
 success is salt water. But most of the successful men of 
 Boston went there from the interior. They went from 
 the hills and from the meadows of Vermont and New 
 Hampshire, with muscles toughened, not by the use 
 of the oar, but that of the ax and plow, and with wits 
 sharpened by the privations of their boyhood. They 
 went into stores as errand boys and came out as proprie- 
 tors. Douglas, Lincoln, Garfield and Grant were inland 
 born and owed nothing to the ocean. 
 
 " Success in life, however, does not consist merely in 
 building up a big practice or business, or in getting elect- 
 ed to office. 
 
 " Life is full of mystery. There are many here who 
 cannot explain satisfactorily how they succeeded in win- 
 ning their wives. It was not for their good looks. It 
 was not for their money, for they were poor then. It was 
 not because they deserved them. To borrow a long word 
 from the theologians, it was predestinated. The quali- 
 ties which ensure success in life are bom with the indi- 
 vidual, but flourish best in the bracing atmosphere of 
 poverty. They can be learned from no manual and 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 303 
 
 bought at no store. If they were not with the child in his 
 cradle, the adult will never possess them. 
 
 " If Vermont is turning out a smaller number of suc- 
 cessful men than in other years, it is because times are 
 easier now than of old, and also because the cradle was 
 always kept warm there. As fast as one candidate for 
 success left it, another got into it. A father then had 
 half a dozen arrows in his quiver where he now has one, 
 and was six times as likely to have a child endowed with 
 the gifts which commanid success. 
 
 " I must be a funny man," said Dr. Pearsons, " to give 
 up business so suddenly and make giving away money 
 my whole business, for since I made my first gift to 
 Beloit, in 1889, 1 have not tried to make any money ; have 
 not even swapped jackknives. I care nothing for van- 
 ities. I sold my horses because I wanted to walk for 
 exercise and preserve my health. To give, and to follow 
 the gifts and see what good money can do is the most 
 exquisite of mundane delights. I want to live another 
 ten years and to keep on making gifts. But the past 
 seems like a dream, a wonderful dream, and to belong to 
 some other man than myself. How came my life to 
 be what it has been ? I can only say that I think a kind 
 Providence has led me. 
 
 " I owe my success and fame to my wife. She led me 
 with her little hand and guided me by the noble impulses 
 of her great heart and discerning intellect into the 
 brilliant paths of the elysian fields, through which flow 
 the waters of great content, success and happiness. We 
 often went abroad, as my wife loved to travel and view 
 the mar\'els of art and antiquity there. Her tastes were 
 
304 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 simple but elegant. She cared nothing for money, except 
 as it enabled her to do good and to permit us to travel. 
 Then we went out to Hinsdale, bought teiT acres of land, 
 built and furnished a house just as she wished it. There 
 we lived until she died. The house is too large and lone- 
 some for me now. I am going to sell it and go to the 
 sanitarium to die. I am closing up shop and by my next 
 birthday I will have closed it entirely. I am only waiting 
 for the purchaser to come and offer a good price for it. 
 
 " For twenty-five years I have lived here in this old 
 mansion. Twenty-two of the years have been given up 
 to philanthropy. I have given something over $6,000,000 
 to forty-seven colleges and to Chicago. These are my 
 children. I still have some debts outstanding and what 
 I get from my house and property will go to close up 
 those debts and then, when everything is gone I will have 
 closed up shop in earnest. 
 
 " I am not tired of giving, but I am physically exhaust- 
 ed from the labor thi»t systematic philanthropy has 
 entailed. I am tired of the importunities — tired of beg- 
 ging letters that dog me in an endless stream. 
 
 " I want rest. I have done my duty and I am entitled 
 to a respite. I am going to die poor, but I am going to 
 meet the end with the knowledge that I have lived the 
 happiest life possible according to my own conception, 
 and I don't care for any body else's. The life of giving 
 has proved sufficient reward for itself. It is a satisfac- 
 tion to the poor man to see the money of the rich going 
 to the colleges that make the children of the nation into 
 intellectual men. And it is a satisfaction to the man of 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 305 
 
 wealth to be able to use his money for the betterment 
 of conditions. 
 
 " I have not courted publicity ; neither have I shunned 
 it. The reasons are obvious. Primarily it is no concern 
 of the public whether I give away my fortune. But 
 newspapers have seen ' stories ' of my philanthropies and 
 I have not evaded their reporters. 
 
 " It has been my ambition to have done with it all. 
 Nearly a quarter of a century of activity makes me ' of 
 age ' in the realm of giving. I started the work on roy 
 birthday and next April, therefore, I attain my majority. 
 Then I stop. There will be no disputes after I am gone. 
 That is what I want to be sure of. 
 
 " I have a few nieces and nephews scattered through 
 the country. What I am going to do for them or for my 
 servants I will not say. Certainly by my next birthday 
 whatever there is to be done will be completed and I then 
 shall have finished my duties as executor of my own 
 estate. 
 
 " I never gave any of my relatives a nickel. Let them 
 hustle like I did and show what's in them." 
 
 ANDREW CARNEGIE TO DR. PEARSONS. 
 
 " My dear Colleague and Elder Brother : ' The highest 
 worship of God is service to man.' I adopt that. I am 
 following your example in the small college field, thanks 
 for your having led the way. I agree with you that the 
 small good colleges are most in need. It has become the 
 fashion to give to the principal universities. These do 
 not get too much, but the less known get far too little. 
 
306 ©ANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 With every good wish and much gratitude for the ex- 
 ample you set me. 
 
 " Your humible disciple, 
 
 " Andrew Carnegie." 
 
 " The joy of giving? There is no joy in the VTOrld like 
 it. I am now very old, and I can tell you out of the 
 wealth of experience that those years have given me that 
 there is no earthly pleasure like that which comes from 
 giving to others and seeing your gifts make them happy," 
 said the Doctor. " I ought to know what I am talking 
 about, because I have been doing nothing else but give 
 during the last twenty-five years. In all that time I have 
 had no other business. I haven't stopped in my favorite 
 diversion even to swap jackknives. When you consider 
 that during the thirty years that had preceded that I had 
 wlorked like a slave at the task of accumulating my for- 
 tune you can imagine what a hold the joys of philan- 
 thropy have obtained on me. 
 
 " In those twenty-five years I have endowed forty- 
 seven colleges in twenty-four States. I am' not saying 
 this in a spirit of boastfulness. I merely cite the fact to 
 show how firmly I have laid the foundations of my 
 favorite pleasure. Let other rich men go in for auto- 
 mobiles and steam yachts, I'll stick to my favorite fun. 
 I intend to stick to it as long as the money lasts, and 
 when I die I don't expect to have a single penny left. I 
 dbn't intend to die until I am a hundred years old, how- 
 ever. The joys of watching my money do good make 
 life to me well worth living. 
 
 " Have you ever stopped a ragged little boy on the 
 street, around Christmas time, and slipped a quarter or a 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 307 
 
 half-dollar into his hand? Have you ever watched the 
 look of surprised delight sweep over his face ? Have you 
 ever felt the cockles of your heart warm after a deed like 
 this? Well, that is the initial joy of giving. It is the 
 most delicious sensation that the human soul is capable of 
 feeling. I pronounce it without hesitation the most ex- 
 quisite of mundane delights. It is a physical as well as 
 spiritual joy. It makes you feel good ' all over.' And its 
 pleasure never wanes. Look back at that act twenty 
 years later and you still feel that delightful flush of self- 
 apiprobation sweeping over you. 
 
 " Now, I found that out long, long ago. I made up my 
 mind then that the best way in the world to be happy 
 yourself was to make other folks bappy. And then I 
 proceeded to systematize my discovery. I took up giving 
 as a steady occupation, and I arranged my giving so as 
 to get all the pleasure possible out of it. I became an 
 epicure in the art of giving. I learned to ring the changes 
 on all its joys so that each one recurring always seemed 
 fresh. 
 
 " A good many have wondered why it was that I have 
 always insisted that my gifts to colleges should remain 
 as an endowment. Well, the chief reason is that I want 
 to see my money continuing to do good. When I give 
 money to an institution of any sort I give it always under 
 certain conditions, and then I sit back and see that those 
 conditions are lived up to to the letter. In that way I 
 have laid the financial foundation of a great many 
 schools. That fotindation will last until the end of time. 
 It will always be a fine thing for the school. But at the 
 
308 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 same time it affords me the pleasure of watching my 
 money ' work ' long after the gift has been made. 
 
 " I can see that school grow and become prosperous, 
 and I enjoy the happiness of knowing that it is my money 
 that is helping to bring all that prosperity about. And 
 there is more to it even than that. As I sit here today I 
 know that after I am gone my gifts will still be at work 
 bringing happiness to and brightening the lives of thou- 
 sands who will live after me. Perhaps there is something 
 selfish in this. Perhaps — I don't pose as a saint — but it 
 seems to me it's not a very discreditable kind of selfish- 
 ness. 
 
 " I have told you that my gifts have gone to forty-seven 
 colleges. Well, those colleges are my children. My wife 
 is gone. I have no boys and girls of my own, and so the 
 affection I might have lavished on my own flesh and blood 
 is turned to these institutions. I sit here in Hinsdale and 
 watch them grow. I hear of their struggles, their con- 
 quests, their defeats. I take a deep, a profound interest 
 in them. The good that they may do in the world is to 
 some extent creditable to me. 
 
 " And as these schools expand and grow and send their 
 influence out through the communities that surround 
 them I know that people are being made happier, that 
 they are being made better, that the nation is growing 
 stronger through something that I have done. That is 
 the joy of my giving. It is a satisfying joy. It is a thing 
 that makes my life ■worth while holding on to. 
 
 " Thirty years ago I made one of the best of my gifts. 
 I built four houses for Northwestern University at Evan- 
 ston. The gift was so predicated that the rent of those 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 309 
 
 houses should be used in the education of poor girls for 
 ever and ever. That is an endowment. I like that kind 
 of a gift. It is something that cannot take wings and fly 
 away. And always I shall know that the proceeds of 
 that endowment are being used to brighten the lives of 
 poor girls and to make thfm better wives and mothers for 
 our country. 
 
 " I'm going to celebrate my 80th birthdiay by starting 
 right in to give away half a million dollars ! That's my 
 plan for celebration, and I'm going to have more fun out 
 of it than a box of monkeys. I have already distributed 
 more than three millions among struggling western col- 
 leges and I propose to round out my 80th year by distrib- 
 uting a half million or more. As near as I can figure 
 it's $525,000. I've already promised it all and I'm going 
 to make a clean sweep, so that my decks will be all swept 
 before the new year dawns. Then I'm going to start in a 
 new plan for giving away my money. Never mind what 
 the plan is ! I'll not tell you a word about that, but it's 
 going to be more fun than this plan, and what's better, 
 it's going to do more good. I will not allow any nonsense 
 around here on my birthday. Of course, the neighbors 
 may drop in to see me, but no party, no ice cream and 
 cake, no nonsense for me. I'm going to town in the 
 morning same as usual. I'll be in my office for two 
 hours, but if any of those city fellows come in and go to 
 celebrating in my office I'll get right up and throw them 
 out, by hockey ! If they leave me alone, as I hope they 
 will, I'll start in celebrating by paying off some of these 
 pledges I've made. I tell you, I get more satisfaction out 
 of being my own executor, putting my lever under poor 
 
310 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 colleges and helping along those lads struggling for an 
 education, than I could out of birthday parties and such 
 foolishness," and the old man laughed with glee and 
 winked his right eye with great complacency. He must 
 have been a man of might and muscle in those early days 
 when he piled up his millions without others knowing it. 
 
 " Now," continued the Doctor, " let us go down to 
 Galesburg in this State. There is a college there called 
 Knox, and it is well named, for it knocks knowledge into 
 the students, and knocks the standard of education 
 higher than a kite. They were struggling along, hard up, 
 so I gave them $100,000, and now they have one of the 
 best colleges in the country. 
 
 " The ' liberal learning ' of our colleges now means far 
 more than a generation ago. The narrow currioulum of 
 study then prevalent, even in the best American colleges, 
 suffices nowhere today. The colleges in which Jeflferson, 
 Calhoun and Webster were trained for their great future 
 were about equal to respectable academies today. The 
 former colleges trained men for three purposes only — 
 the ministry, the law, and medicine — and those were the 
 ' learned professions.' Now the ' learned professions ' 
 have been increased in number at least a score. When 
 the cornerstone of Knox College was laid, the citizens 
 said, ' We want to make Galesburg an educational and 
 literary center.' ' I am doing a great work.' Nehemiah 
 6:3. 
 
 " Knox College was founded in 1836 by a number of 
 persons then living in New York, who were associated 
 together as subscribers to a plan to establish an institu- 
 tion in the West. The subscribers met at Whitesboro, 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 311 
 
 organized the college and donated to it several thousand 
 acres of land, lying where Galesburg does now, and which 
 had been previously purchased by a committee aippointed 
 by the subscribers. Whether the personal religious views 
 of the memibers of the meeting predominated for the Con- 
 gregational or Presbyterian creed has caused much hard 
 feeling and friction. The main question in the contro- 
 versy was this : Was Knox a union enterprise or was it 
 a denominational enterprise? Of the first thirty- four 
 subscribers, it was claimed thirty-three were the latter 
 and one the fonner. 
 
 " The enterprise was first started in 1834 by Rev. G. 
 W. Gale for the purpose of a Manual Labor Literary 
 Institution. The plan contemplated the raising of 
 $40,000, and none was to be binding unless all was raised 
 and only a little more than half was ever secured. Dr. 
 Gale stated afterward, in 1857, that $28,200 was sub- 
 scribed, of which $25,800 was by Pres'byterians and 
 $2,400 by CongregationaUsts. Another meeting had been 
 held at Rome, N. Y., in 1835, and a prudential committee 
 had been appointed and the following resolutions 
 adopted : 
 
 " ' Resolved, That an exploring committee of three 
 be appointed. 
 
 " ' Resolved, That the prudential committee be au- 
 thorized to assume the expense incurred, and also that 
 for raising $40,000 
 
 " ' Resolved, That the prudential committee be au- 
 thorized to incur such expense as may be necessary to 
 accomplish the work of the exploring committee.' 
 
 " The exploring committee spent some time in Illinois 
 
312 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 and finally chose a site on the Military Tract in Knox 
 County. They found a tract delightfully situated on the 
 height of land and nearly central between the Illinois and 
 Mississippi Rivers, splendidly watered with living 
 springs and streaims, and having an abundance of coal 
 and building stone, and undoubtedly very healthy. Ac- 
 cordingly they decided at once to plant their feet there 
 and commenced making the purchase. In the first place 
 they bought two improved farms of 250 acres for $1,500. 
 They also bought 160 acres of timber land at $2.50 an 
 acre, and they entered from the government enoug'h at 
 $1.25 an acre to make in all about 11,000 acres at a total 
 cost of $15,094.84. 
 
 " ' Relying for the ultimate accomplishment of this 
 benevolent object on the arm of the Almighty, it is 
 ardently hoped that perfect hanmony and an entire con- 
 cert of actions and views may prevail in the colony, until 
 the whole valley of the West shall be constrained to con- 
 fess a powerful, salutary and happy influence resulting 
 from these efforts ; and may all feel that consequences as 
 important as the salvation of immortal souls may attend 
 the success or failure of the enterprise, and that should 
 the blessing of heaven help in rearing up a seminary of 
 learning in the Great Valley and amid a mass of moral 
 desolation be instrumental in sending the bread of life to 
 those who are ready to perish, multitudes in the realms 
 of glory may yet rise up and call us blessed.' 
 
 " The two meetings of the board in New York were 
 before a single settler had found his way to Galesbui^ 
 and before an acre of land had been sold there. At these 
 meetings it was determined to proceed immediately to 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 313 
 
 erect a college edifice, a house of entertainment, a mill, a 
 boarding house and to prepare plans for a female 
 seminary, 
 
 " The sale of their lands furnished nearly all the money 
 required to meet the current expenses of the college 
 proper, the academy, the preparatory department and the 
 female seminary and also to erect large and costly build- 
 ings, and which so enriched its treasury that it is now one 
 of the wealthiest in our land. 
 
 " The credit of the whole enterprise is diue to Rev. 
 Gale, a Presbyterian, with whom the plan originated and 
 to whose personal efiforts and many personal sacrifices it 
 owes its consummation. His plan in its main features was 
 to secure by subscription money enough to purchase in 
 some desirable locality in some western State, govern- 
 ment land to the amount of one township. Out of this land 
 when purchased, enough was to be reserved for the site 
 of the village and college ; the rest was to be divided up 
 into 160-acre farms among the subscribers; what was 
 left was to be devoted to the uses of the college. The 
 village property was to be platted and sold only to actual 
 settlers, and the money obtained applied to the college. 
 
 " Late in the autumn of 1836 more than thirty families 
 - had found their way to what was then the ' far West.' A 
 few families, pioneers of the West, had seen this grove 
 and prairie in their verdure and blossom, having arrived 
 in the spfing, but most of them beheld them for the first 
 time sere and yellow, yet interesting alike to all. This 
 spot was to be their future home ; the scene of coming 
 labor in the cause of the Redeemer, and their resting 
 place after a wagon journey of a thousand miles. These 
 
314 BANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 families were homogeneous in character, partaking of the 
 spirit as it sprang from the Pilgrim Fathers. They loved 
 the Bible, the Sabbath and the sanctuary. They cherished 
 with slight, or no variation, the same views of Grospel 
 truth ; and felt the importance of transmitting the institu- 
 tions of religion to posterity, as the richest inheritance 
 they could leave." 
 
 Dr. Pearsons gave Knox College $100,000. 
 
 FROM THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE. 
 
 A large and enthusiastic meeting of the Alumni Asso- 
 ciation was held in the L. M. J. HaJl Wednesday evening. 
 The meeting was presided over by President Adams, of 
 Chicago. 'The leading feature of the program, was the 
 substantial address of Dr. D. K. Pearsons, of Chicago. 
 It was an address such as Knox College needs, and such 
 as she hopes to hear often in the future. Dr. Pearsons 
 said: 
 
 " I have a very pleasant home. Yesterday morning I 
 was ordered to leave that home. Rising from a bed of 
 sickness I said to my wife, ' I don't feel well etiough to 
 go down to Galesburg.' She said to me, ' There's your 
 grip; your pills are there, your Brown's troches are 
 there, your slippery elm^ is there, your liniment is there ' 
 — so I knew I had to go. I'm sorry I have been obliged 
 to appear before you to speak with a very sore throat, for 
 I wanted to give you a good lashing. 
 
 " I have been called upon by all sorts of men. They 
 come from all over the land, from Maine to Texas. One 
 man called upon me the other day who thought all the 
 money ought to be given to his college. 
 
 " Poverty is a blessing. It is a misfortune for a family 
 of boys and girls to be heirs to large fortunes." 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 315 
 
 Tlie speaker then gave some of his own experiences. 
 He said that when he was a young man in the study of 
 medicine he had gone to the length of his means and 
 would have been compelled to spend a year in the forest 
 or on the farm to earn that money had not a benevolent 
 gentleman, loaned him the money at a low rate of interest. 
 The first year out of the medical school Dr. Pearsons 
 made $1,900. He has been a very prosperous mian and 
 with his large fortune he has given large amounts to very 
 many needy colleges. Dr. Pearsons then produced a 
 letter, which he said all would be glad to hear. He hand- 
 ed it to Mr. Adams, vi^ho' read it. This is the letter : 
 
 " To the Trustees of Knox College : I will give you 
 $50,000 if you will raise $200,000 in two years. If at that 
 time you have the amount I will make the $50,000 
 over to you in Chicago property." 
 
 " And now," said Dr. Pearsons, " you gray-haired men 
 whose limibs are tottering, you who are about to cross the 
 dark river, shell out fcefore you die. It is dangerous to 
 delay. You can better dispose of ycmr money than can 
 your executor. I am devoutly thankful that by the aid of 
 a kind and bountiful Providence I have been able to do 
 what I am doing for the boys and girls of this and of 
 coming generations." 
 
 Concerning the gift of $50,000 by Dr. Pearsons to 
 Knox College, Wednesday night, a gentleman closely 
 identified with the college remarked that there is good 
 reason to believe that the other $200,000 would be raised 
 within two years. Dr. Pearsons' gift is a generous one, 
 and is based on the sound principle that help should be 
 given those who try to help themselves. His agreement is 
 
316 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 this, that he will give $50,000 toward a total of $250,000. 
 If somebody had proposed last night to raise $250,000 
 and Dr. Pearsons had said, " I will give $50,000 of it," 
 the act would have appeared a very generous and helpful 
 one. The friends of the college should now put their 
 shoulders to the wheel and put in operation a well con- 
 sidered movement to raise this $200,000. It can be done. 
 
 " The Chicago Tribune, 
 
 ■' June 24, 1895. 
 
 " Dear Dr. Pearsons : I wish to thank you on behalf of 
 all the members of my family for the interest you have 
 taken in the endowment of a professorship at Knox Col- 
 lege in honor of my father. We all feel that the sugges- 
 tion came from you and that it was owing largely to your 
 generosity that the plan was carried out. No tribute to 
 his memory could be more gratifying to the surviving 
 members of his family, and I am sure he would be deeply 
 touched by it if he could be here to accept our earthly 
 honors. Faithfully yours, 
 
 "Robert Patterson." 
 
 " My experience is this," said Dr. Pearsons : " I am 
 solicited by nearly all educational institutions for help, 
 and give it to only certain ones. In the first place I try 
 to assist the poor instead of the rich colleges. The latter 
 can take care of themselves. Anyhow, the weak ones 
 have the first claim, in my estimation, for aid. In the 
 next place, I do not contribute to those which are too 
 urgent in their requests. If they are too persistent it 
 really amounts to dictating how I shall administer my 
 estate, and I want to be my own executor. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 317 
 
 " Before giving to any I thoroughly investigate it. I 
 inquire into the needs of it in its locality and into its past 
 history. I look into the way it is ananaged — not so much 
 as to its manner of teaching as to how the finances are 
 conducted. I like to see a body of trustees that appre- 
 ciates the endowmient idea. The true way to carry on 
 suoh a perpetual thing as a college is by the endowment 
 plan. When its income is otherwise, its continuation is 
 uncertain, and if trustees want their charge to survive, 
 they must consume the interest rather than the principal 
 of their funds. 
 
 " That institution especially should be aided that shows 
 a disposition to aid itself. ' God is willing to help those 
 who help themselves ' is a true s/aying, and friends of 
 colleges, in my opinion, would do well to bestow their 
 gifts according to this principle. This is the course I try 
 to follow. When a contribution is made on condition 
 that others are made, a college is stimulated to do the best 
 it can for itself. A contributor in that way makes his 
 dollar count for two. My experience along this line has 
 been very satisfactory. 
 
 " Berea, Ky., is the most interesting spot in the world 
 for a college. I saw the people who attended the com- 
 mencement. There were about five thousand from the 
 mountain whites. They are of Scotch-Irish descent, and 
 they and their ancestors have lived there a century or 
 more. They have an individuality of their own. They 
 are intensely American and loyal to the flag. They turned 
 the tide of battle in the war. I saw the old soldiers 
 that climbed Lookout Mountain and planted the flag 
 there. They are extremely anxious that their children 
 
318 BANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 shall be educated, and will sacrifice anything to accom- 
 plish that end. Many people think that they don't care 
 for educaition, but that is a big mistake. 
 
 " When I proposed to give them $50,000 many old men 
 wept, the band played patriotic airs and the people sung 
 ' My Old Kentucky Home.' I never saw any enthu- 
 siasm like it. Whitman College used to be my pet, but it 
 has prospered so wonderfully, and the people of Wash- 
 ington, Oregon and Idaho have rallied around it and 
 propose to make it the Harvard of the Pacific coast by 
 giving it an endowment of $1,500,000, so I can well let 
 it go as weaned, and had to look around for another pet. 
 I think that of all the schools I have ever given to, Berea 
 is my favorite. I have watched it grow and flourish 
 with the utmost interest. It is doing great work among 
 those Kentucky mountain boys. And this nation 
 owes those mountaineers a great deal. They fought for 
 the Union in the civil war. They had the freeman's 
 inherent contempt for the slaveholder. It was they who 
 fought the bajttle of King's Mountain and who helped 
 Jackson wihip the British at New Orleans. They have 
 sent great men to our national legislature. It is a source 
 of tremendous satisfaction to me to think that I have 
 been able to do something to repay the debt the country 
 owes those Kentuckians. 
 
 " I think that all the perplexing problems will be solved 
 all right if the masses are educated. There are too many 
 colleges in the country. A large number of them should 
 be called academies. I am going to wait two years, until 
 all the colleges that I have assisted raise every dollar that 
 has been promised. In the meantime I will look for 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 319 
 
 something new, and carefully watch the effect of my 
 former gifts upon the colleges to which they have gone." 
 
 Two things Dr. Pearsons deemed essential if the small 
 college retained its place as a factor in the educational 
 system of the country: That it keep its standard of 
 scholarship high, and that it be true to its principles as a 
 Christian college. He did not believe there should be any 
 lowering of the Christian standards anywhere, any dis- 
 regard of the Sabbath, any failure to emphasize the value 
 of the Bible, or to present the fundamental principles of 
 the Christian^systemi. The Doctor wanted it understood 
 also that all conditions to secure his gifts must be met 
 on the day wihen due. He insisted on cash or notes as 
 good as cash and guaranteed by men able to pay them. 
 Then he had prominent men or bankers go over the list 
 to see that it was all right before they got his money. 
 The utmost care was used to guard against deceit, and 
 it is certain that he was never deceived although in sev- 
 eral cases additional time was allowed. 
 
 " Before I give away all my money I want to give my 
 Alma Mater $50,000, and I have promised it conditional- 
 ly. The president will raise the money in a year. I love 
 that old college. When I went there at 16 years of age 
 Montpelier was then known as Newberry Academy. 
 Some of us had hard times meeting expenses. I chopped 
 wood and did chores to keep in college, but with a little 
 help from my parents I managed to live on 40 cents a 
 week. During vacation I worked on the farm at home. 
 
 " I had to dig, but it did me good, and many of our 
 boys today would make better men if they had to work 
 their way while young. Then I taught school at $13 a 
 
320 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 month and ' boarded around ' in the district so many days 
 in a family for each pupil. 
 
 " You may well believe I didn't make much money 
 there, but I managed to save a little. I helped around 
 the places where I boarded, and when I heard a hog 
 squealing I knew the farmer was killing and would want 
 me to come there next. Then I came West and by hard 
 work made a lot of money. Now I'lm trying to give it 
 away, and that, too, is mighty hard work. I want to get 
 a big interest on my money, ' SO per cent, 100 per cent ' 
 — aill I can. I want it to do the most good possible. I 
 am only the steward. 
 
 " In the springtime the farmer decides what kind of a 
 crop he would like to garner from his fields and he culti- 
 vates and sows accordingly. In higher things we should 
 use like wisdom. What kind of a crop do you wish to 
 harvest in old age, in eternity? This is your springtime 
 and you must now cultivate and sow for it. If ycxu desire 
 you can sow for nobility of character, for friendship, 
 love, honor, happiness, the favor of God and a home in 
 heaven. But you will not get these things unless you 
 sow for them. God grant us the wisdom and grace to 
 do so. 
 
 " When is the time to sow ? Spring is the best time 
 in which to sow the seed. The best time is spring to sow 
 for higher things, but any time is better than no time. 
 Your best time is now. 
 
 '" One trouble with most rich people is that they have 
 more than they know what to do with, or how to spend 
 to get the most out of it. I am arranging my affairs so 
 that when I'm gone all will have been disposed of. I am 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 321 
 
 giving all to education, retaining a small annuity from 
 each gift, which is my income. The principal will be- 
 long to the beneficiaries absolutely after I am gone. 
 
 "He took me from the fearful pit and from the miry clay; 
 And on the rock he set my feet, establishing my way." 
 
 " I have puUed twoscore of colleges out of the fearful 
 pit of impecuniosity and of annual deficits ; set them on 
 the rock of paying as they go and owing no man any- 
 thing, and making them pull together. Before I took 
 hoJid the college financial teams were like balky horses, 
 leaving the wagon in the mud. I passed some yellow 
 com under their noses and then put it up on dry land in 
 plain sight. Then I talked soothingly to them, touched 
 them up with the whip ; said : ' Now, altogether, Go.' 
 And away they went, with mud flying off the wheels. 
 
 " Money is character. It is certainly one of the sub- 
 tlest and profoundest tests according to how it is either 
 earned or used. Every man, rich or poor, is hurrying to 
 the point of time when he must say farewell to his money. 
 Money, too, by its reflex action determines character. 
 The habit of making money dishonestly vnll in the end 
 determine and show externally the character. 
 
 " I enclosed $50,000 to a college president in this letter : 
 ' Fifty Thousand Dollars, farewell ! You have been in 
 my keeping for many years, and you have been a faithful 
 servant. Your earnings have helped to educate many 
 young men and women who have helped to make the 
 world better. You came to me from the grand old white 
 pine forests of Michigan, and now you are going into the 
 hands of other stewards in Vermont. I expect that every 
 
322 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 dollar of this perpetual endowment fund will be kept in- 
 tact and actively doing good for five hundred years. 
 
 Over one hundred years ago a good man gave 
 $50,000 for mission work. The interest on this fund has 
 educated more than a hundred good men for the mission 
 field, and is still being used for training men for the busi- 
 ness of brightening the world and making it better. 
 
 " ' Now, Fifty Thousiand Dollars, farewell ! Go into 
 the keeping of younger men and God's blessing go with 
 you. Do your duty and give the poor boys and girls of 
 Venmont a fair chance. D. K. Pearsons.' " 
 
 Dr. Pearsons always believed in the small college. He 
 took special pride in six of the colleges west of the Mis- 
 sissippi — ^Drury, Yankton, Pacific, Pomona, Whitman 
 and Colorado. He was much pleased with the low cost 
 with which they did their work: Drury, 14 teachers, 400 
 students, cost for a year $24,500; Yankton, 10 teachers, 
 287 students, $14,000; Pacific, 14 teachers, 209 students, 
 $10,500; Pomona, 14 teachers, 200 students, $31,000; 
 Whitman, 13 teachers, 300 students, $22,500; Colorado, 
 36 teachers, 500 students, $47,000. That is, 101 teachers 
 instructed 1,893 students at a cost each year of $149,500. 
 A comparison with the cost in two State universities and 
 in the University of Chicago was not to the disadvantage 
 of the smaller ones : Madison, Wis., 2,793 students, cost 
 the State $400,000 ; Champaign, 111., 2,950 students, cost 
 $400,000; University of Chicago, 3,000 students, not less 
 than $750,000. That is, 8,248 students in the three uni- 
 versities, rather more than four times as m.any as in the 
 six colleges, are taught at an expense of $1,550,000, or 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 323 
 
 more than ten times the cost of instruction in the smaller 
 colleges. 
 
 Not a few competent judges believe the training in the 
 regular college course is equal to that of the University 
 of Chicago. At any rate, Dr. Pearsons was always sat- 
 isfied with the results that came from the use of his 
 money, and the friends of the small college ought to be 
 grateful for what he gave and the showing the colleges 
 made. Certainly they have proved their right to live, and 
 to larger endowlments than they now have. He had 
 abounding faith in his own simple method, and believed 
 that in every case, under God's blessing, the best results 
 must follow. 
 
 " Boys, go bade to the soil. Build up your bodies by 
 raising potatoes instead of by playing football ; build up 
 character instead of frittering away your time. Take 
 advantage of the wonderful opportunities about you. 
 Take hardship while young, if need be, but provide for a 
 rainy day. Dumbbells are all right, but young men should 
 get busy with the hoe instead of playthings. 
 
 "When I learn that many of you have to work your way 
 through college, it tickles me. That class of students can 
 never fail. They will make American citizens who will 
 do things. The boy who tries to take care of himself will 
 make good any place, and if I am' helping this class of 
 boys my labors will not be in vain. I did my own cook- 
 ing because I could not afford to board. I stood priva- 
 tions of every sort. But I worked all the time and found 
 more useful employment in producing something than in 
 kicking a football, and as I grew older I saiw the wisdom 
 of my course. Why, boys and girls, there is but one truly 
 
324 BANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 priceless thing — character. Get that, keep it sacredly, 
 struggle and nothing can keep you from accomplishing 
 something. 
 
 " Give the poor boys and girls an education, is my 
 motto. I find them out, help them learn and give them 
 comfort. I have been helping them for thirty years and 
 the satisfaction it has given me is unspeakable. I expect 
 to give everything I have before I die. Education is the 
 foundation of success in life, and many young people are 
 in need of it. I have conducted this business of giving 
 away in a systematic manner. I have not discriminated 
 between sex or State. 
 
 " Now let us go down to Berea, Ky., among the foot- 
 hills of the Cumberland Mountains," continued the 
 Doctor. " In this region of the South there are five or 
 six million mountain whites — ^grand, good blood, — ^noble 
 men and women, although ignorant, with large families 
 of children growing up in ignorance and idleness. Berea 
 College was started many years ago. I went down there 
 once to a commencement, and was never so much inter- 
 ested in my life. I will guarantee that there were three 
 thousand horses hitched on the campus, and five thou- 
 sand people there from the mountains. They are moun- 
 tain whites — I am a mountain white and was once as poor 
 as they are, and as ignorant. I am from the mountains 
 away up in Vermont, where they have to shovel snow 
 about five months in the year. 
 
 "When I announced I would give them $50,000, I 
 never saw anything like it. Those old mountaineers 
 wept, they were so happy. There is something to these 
 hardy old mountaineers. They stood like a wall of ada- 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 325 
 
 mant, in the midst of the conflict between the North and 
 the South, and all their sympathy and bravery were on 
 the side of the North. I want to tell you something, and I 
 would tell Mason if he were here. The colored people of 
 the South today are better cared for in the matter of edu- 
 cation than are the mountain whites. They have excellent 
 schools, and are making great progress. And I will also 
 tell you that during the next twenty years you will hear 
 appeals for the mountain whites ringing out from the 
 pulpit and the press. They deserve an education. They 
 deserve much from us for whom they have done so much. 
 
 " This is a subject that is going to be agitated and I am 
 going to do all I can for those brave mountaineers, and 
 they -will get other help, because those old anti-slavery 
 men are not all dead. Berea used to educate the colored 
 people along with the whites, but the State Legislature 
 passed a law and separated them, wihich was the right 
 and best thing to do. I believe in colleges for the colored 
 race, although I have never given them any money. Let 
 them take care of their own in separate institutions, 
 w'here they will not be exposed to the superior progress 
 of the whites and become so aware of their backwardness 
 in learning. Nothing takes the heart out of a poor, hum- 
 ble negro like being compelled to see a white child dis- 
 tance him in his studies. It crushes his spirit. The Berea 
 folks wrote and telegraphed me to have that law re- 
 pealed, but I wouldn't do it. 
 
 " I have given money to twelve colleges in the South. 
 I don't think any of my other gifts have given me quite 
 the same satisfaction that these have. It's fun to sit 
 here and think that the South is being made more rich by 
 
326 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 a blamed old abolitionist like me. It makes th«m feel 
 better. Berea is my chief pet. It is doing great work 
 among those mountain boys. This nation needs these 
 Kentucky mountaineers. It w^as they who fought the 
 battle of King's Mountain and helped Jackson whip the 
 British at New Orleans. 
 
 "Another pet of mine is Guilford College, in North 
 Carolina. There's where Speaker Cannon was educated. 
 It's a Quaker institution and I like it. I gave $50,000 to 
 Montpelier Seminary in Vermont, because that's where 
 I went to school seventy-five years ago, and it's where 
 people came to me and said they were nearly broke. 
 Well, I gave them $50,000 on condition that they raise 
 $100,000 more. People all over the State said it could 
 not be done, but it was, although by a narrow squeeze. 
 The time rolled by and it came to the last day. They 
 telegraphed me they were $2,000 short and w'anted more 
 time, which I refused to give. Then they blew whistles 
 and rang the firebelk and everybody came running. 
 When the object was explained to them everybody gave 
 something — and two hours before the time expired, a 
 telegram came, telling of success. I ,made them toe the 
 mark. Now that school is set on a firm foundation again. 
 It's a very satisfying thing to me to know that I have 
 been ab'e to help so much for the school in which I got 
 my first educational training. 
 
 " The best thing I ever did in my life was to help out 
 that little struggling college down there in the Kentucky 
 mountains. I wanted to get down there to make them a 
 speech, but couldn't do it. I wrote them a speech and it 
 was read to them. That's a great school and I do hope 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 327 
 
 they will raise $300,000, so I can add another $100,000 
 to it, as I promised. 
 
 " Here is the speech : ' A very old man has some right 
 to talk about himself. The first twenty-one years of my 
 life stand apart from those that follow, and so do the last 
 twenty-one. The first twenty-one remind me to say to 
 you to improve all your opportunities and prepare for life 
 in the largest way possible. And the last twenty-one 
 years are of a special interest as it is just twenty-one 
 years since I retired from business, and devoted myself 
 to the sole business of giving money away. 
 
 " ' A few days ago a man called on nue, and said : " If 
 you had kept your money during these last wonderful 
 twenty-one years ; had devoted yourself to making more, 
 and carefully investing it, do you know how many mil- 
 lions you would now have?" He had an estimate, and 
 it was not very far from right; and he thought I had 
 made a great mistake that I did not hold onto my money 
 and make more. But he was very much mistaken. I am 
 a very much richer man for what I have given away. I 
 am a happier man for every wise gift. When I die I 
 shall not be rich in money. I intend to give it all aiway. 
 But I am rich in the joy of doing good. Mrs. Pearsons 
 and I had no children of our own ; but Providence gave 
 us a large family of children in the Christian colleges of 
 our country. There are forty-seven of them which I 
 think of as my own, and they are now scattered in 
 twenty-four States-. 
 
 " ' Cultivate the vocal organs. The power of speech is 
 a wonderful gift. Learn to produce clear tones and to 
 think clearly. If the young men will spend their spare 
 
328 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 time in cultivating their voices we shall have gifted 
 orators in the future. I advise the young men to make 
 much of oratory, and not to leave school until they can 
 speak the English language in beautiful tones to win the 
 hearts of men. 
 
 " ' I also advise you to keep scrapboqks. Paste in them 
 your choice selections and beautiful compositions. If 
 you begin this work in your school days, you soon will 
 have a treasurehouse of material on which you can draw 
 all the rest of your lives. 
 
 " Berea stands on a shale ridge about two miles long 
 and elevated about eighty feet aibove the 1' vel of the blue 
 grass plain. The problem of water had always been a 
 serious one. In 1856, when Rev. John Fee first visited' the 
 ridge and viewed it as the possible site of his home, and 
 of a school and church, he said, ' Dig a well for me 
 here,' and the house was built. But this was very long 
 ago and the well, which the college recently acquired, had 
 long been inadequate, and the shale rock did not afford 
 the best of water. The town and school had depended 
 largely on cisterns, and the rapid growth of the college 
 had made the lack of water a serious menace to the health 
 of the community. The new smiting of the rode will 
 commence at once and I have promised that the water 
 will gush out soon. 
 
 " The bids were opened for the construction of the 
 new water works system for Berea College. The plans 
 were very elaborate and the work is to be of great magni- 
 tude. The sum called for was $38,000, but by the time 
 a sewer system is added, with bathrooms and other con- 
 veniences, the sum expended will not be less than 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 329 
 
 $50,000. All this was my gift and when they said ' it 
 might cost more/ I said ' That don't make any differ- 
 ence. By the " old Harry," those water works are going 
 to be built. I consider it the best gift that I have ever 
 made. No defaulting cashier can steal it. The springs 
 are two hundred feet above the college, and while it is a 
 long and expensive job to get the pipes laiid, once laid 
 they will take charge of themselves. So long as water 
 runs down hill and until iron, pipes rust out, the college 
 shall have pure water, from its own mountain springs. 
 It is a fire insurance policy on every building in the col- 
 lege; it is a life insurance policy on every student and 
 teacher. I have worried about the college. They are 
 getting so many students who have to economize. They, 
 if typhoid fever should get in there, are the very ones I 
 want to help ; but it would sweep them off. It mustn't 
 have the chance. The water is there, back of sources of 
 conta£fion, and on land owned by the college. When I 
 get that water down there the college will be at once the 
 cheapest and healthiest place in America for a young 
 man or woman to get an education.' Tuition fees at 
 Berea are now merely nominal — sometimes they make no 
 charges. Perhaps, before long, it will have endowment 
 enough to eliminate the charges entirely. That's the way 
 it should be in all colleges, so the poor boys who are un- 
 able to pay can go the same as to public school. Board is 
 a dollar and thirty cents a week. I am trying to put it in- 
 to the heads of rich people that education will cure all 
 evil. It should be possible for the youth of both sexes to 
 be educated without cost. 
 " I like the mountain whites I was born in Vermont, 
 
330 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 where we had to shovel snow about five months in the 
 year, and where often the fine, sifted snow on my bed 
 helped to keep me warm through the night. Hills there 
 as steep as those in Kentucky. Hard to raise much there 
 except men. Strong men came out of those New En- 
 gland hill towns, and women, too. And strong men are 
 coming from those Kentucky mountains. Independent 
 people; not afraid to work and keen minds. I want to 
 help them." 
 
 The dormitory for men, which Dr. Pearsons gave, was 
 built mainly by a small army of students working by the 
 day, and most of the furniture in the rooms was made by 
 them. The annual budget of the college required an ex- 
 penditure of $85,000. To meet this there was only 
 $32,000 from all sources, leaving $53,000 to be secured 
 each year by personal gifts. It was this deficit that 
 prompted Dr. Pearsons to make the following offer to 
 eradicate it: 
 
 "Gentlemen: I will give Berea College one hundred 
 thousand dollars on condition that the college shall 
 secure four hundred thousand dollars additional for new 
 endoNvment. It is my intention to terminate, with this 
 gift, my donations to colleges. I have chosen Berea as 
 the recipient of this final gift because of the faithfulness 
 which its officers have shown in the ca.e of endowment 
 funds, and because in my judgment it faces the largest 
 amount of raw material for the making of good Ameri- 
 can manhood of any college in this country. It has been 
 my privilege to assist more than forty colleges, and to 
 give to them several millions of dollars. I rejoice in 
 them all, and wish them all well. But the needs and op- 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 331 
 
 portunity of Berea are second to none, and I can think of 
 no place where my last gift to colleges will be so well in- 
 vested as in your school. 
 
 " I realize that it will not be easy to secure so large a 
 sum as four hundred thousand dollars, but the college 
 must have an addition of not less than this amount to its 
 endowment funds, or its prosperity will be in peril. The 
 great work of Berea must not be diminished, and the col- 
 lege must not be compelled to depend so largely on dona- 
 tions for its current expenses. If benevolent men can be 
 informed of the importance of this additional endow- 
 ment, I believe it will be contributed. 
 " Yours very truly, 
 
 " D. K. Pearsons." 
 
 " My dear Dr. Pearsons : In behalf of the people 
 of Kentucky, and especially the mountain people, I 
 wish to add to your extended record of thanks for many 
 wise benefactions, sincere gratitude for your generous 
 gifts to Berea, for the $100,000 for endowment, for the 
 $50,000 for the waterworks and the offer cff $100,000 
 additional endowment. 
 
 " I have never had a chance to know the blessed feel- 
 ing which must come to a man who has made such great 
 and unselfish gifts. Perhaps no gifts that I have ever 
 read of were more free from any interest or feeling ex- 
 cept that of a wise and pure burrianity, and I do not be- 
 lieve anything you have given has been more useful or 
 more helpful or has done more good than your gifts to 
 Berea. It has always been a school whose wihole work 
 and power and strength was in its unselfish humanity. It 
 has required sacrifice from every teacher and worker at 
 
332 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 Berea. Almost without exception they have been worth 
 more than the school could pay, and every one of them 
 has given nobly and generously. Your own gifts have 
 blessed already thousands of young American boys and 
 girls, and the very clearest Americans in this whole 
 country, for there is less foreign admixture in the moun- 
 tain regions of Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee and North 
 Carolina than in any other part of this country. Many 
 and many of those whom your great gifts have helped to 
 get an education will be great business men, wise in pub- 
 lic affairs, earnest in research, noble in their humanity 
 and lofty in their unselfish patriotism. I do not know of 
 any school that is doing better or nobler work than 
 Berea. 
 
 " With supreme and almost mortal effort they have 
 just finished a campaign in which the subscriptions to the 
 ' Adjustment Fund ' required by the law separating the 
 white department and the colored department, have been 
 sufficient to meet the conditions of a large gift, and these 
 efforts, with some later ones for current expenses, I fear 
 have put it beyond their power to raise $400,000 more on 
 which your last gift is conditioned, but whether they re- 
 ceive it or not, I know how they thank the Lord for the 
 spirit which prompted it, and I thank you as earnestly as 
 if the gift were unconditional and could be won by any 
 exercise of their power. 
 
 " I shall be very glad if, at the end of my days, I shall 
 be able to feel, in proportion to my strength and my 
 powers, the same satisfaction for my part in life that you, 
 in a long, useful and wise life can feel for every part of 
 yours. Again I thank you and pray that the blessings of 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 333 
 
 contentment, which your course in life must have given 
 you, may be prolonged. I am, 
 
 " Yours respectfully, 
 
 " Augustus E. Wilson, 
 
 " Governor of Kentucky." 
 
 " Berea College was founded in the mountains of East- 
 ern Kentucky in 1855, the site being fixed by Gen. 
 Cassius M. Clay and the name given by Rev. John G. 
 Fee. These mai were the first to discover the peculiar 
 needs and the great worth and promise of the population 
 of the mountain region of the South, which embraces 
 portions of eight States, and contains about four million 
 people. They found that these people were not degraded, 
 but rather belated, being isolated from the progress of 
 the world and living on in the conditions of pioneer and 
 colonial times. Good British ancestry is attested by 
 many quaint survivals in speech and customs. There was 
 thus presented an educational problem unlike any other 
 in our land. 
 
 " The mountain people are not the ' poor whites.' 
 While not slaveholders, they have all the independence 
 and self-respect of landholders. They have good minds, 
 unjaded nerves and prolific vigor. Their seeming law- 
 lessness IS rather a survival of the Saxon temper of 
 Elizabethan days. 
 
 " For a fonmation of a new South, and the mainte- 
 nance of the British and American traditions which we 
 love, these people are of large national significance. But 
 to save them from corruption and (tevelop them there 
 must be wise guidance and help. They lack the leader- 
 ship of informed and educated men which the West has 
 
334 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 always had, and they are without those family and com- 
 mercial ties which have made it easy for the older portions 
 of the country to assist in the educational foundations. 
 
 " The lingering of old-fashioned ways in the Southern 
 mountains involves hardship, but also hardihood; it 
 means deprivation but also protection from some of the 
 wear and tear of modern life. This gives a firm founda- 
 tion to the faith that the people of these mountains con- 
 stitute a most hopeful element in American resources. 
 They have been misunderstood and misrepresented. 
 
 " First, they are not to blame for being in the moun- 
 tains. Their ancestors went west under the same instinc- 
 tive impulse for land which has made ' Westward, ho !' 
 the motto for many generations. Before the time when 
 railroads or even canals could have been foreseen, no 
 human wisdom could have foretold that Western Vir- 
 ginia was any less favorable as a place of settlement than 
 Western New York. And there was in the mountains 
 enough good valley land for the first settlers. The two 
 great requisites of a frontiersman were water and game, 
 and these the mountains furnished in abundance. It is^ 
 not true that those settlers who lingered in the mountains 
 were the ones whose axles were broken and who lacked 
 the energy to push on to the better lands beyond. There 
 are well-authenticated instances of families who settled 
 in the blue-grass and afterwards moved into the moun- 
 tains for the game and water. And the isolation which 
 has preserved the old-time customs and ways of living 
 is something for which the descendants of these early 
 pioneers cannot be blamed. A country where all move- 
 ments must be measured by horseflesh and the rise of 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 335 
 
 streams is naturally impenetrable. And, moreover, there 
 came to be a social repulsion between the free yeomanry 
 of the mountains and the slaveholding aristocracy which 
 grew up in the lowlands. 
 
 " Their homes are generally in the valleys. When one 
 was asked why he did not set his house on the hilltop he 
 replied, slowly, ' Reckon ye hain't packed water none.' 
 Here they have lived from generation to generation, con- 
 tent with cornbread, hominy and bacon and home-grown 
 tobacco. They plant a field in com year after year until 
 the fertility of the land is exhausted, and leave that tract 
 to clear some other spot. The abandoned field soon be- 
 gins to wash and is hardly ever used again. I gave 
 $250,000 to Berea." 
 
 Dr. Pearsons has befriended twoscore or more col- 
 leges, mostly in the West, and several of them he has 
 saved from extinction, while his gifts to academies, hos- 
 pitals, and other charities would in themselves be notable 
 were they not overshadowed by the pet objects of his 
 benevolence. He has been much criticised and much 
 lauded for his method of distributing his wealth, and pro- 
 fesses equal indifference to both praise and blame. He 
 told people who asked him on what principle he was 
 giving that it was his own business and not theirs. 
 
 Many people visited him and left with curiosity un- 
 satisfied. He was a man of plain speech and had a habit 
 of freeing his mind when he undertook to express an 
 opinion. His outer office bad usually a line of chairs 
 filled with representatives of different institutions. Short 
 interviews were the rule, for others were waiting and the 
 Doctor announced his opinions in short, crisp sentences 
 
336 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 of plain Anglo-Saxon that invited direct and brief re- 
 marks. A pair of keen black eyes looked over a steel- 
 bowed noseglass; hair iron grey, and beard several 
 shades more grey, the beard shaved from lips and chin, 
 and growing on the sides of his face and around the col- 
 lar; a plain black suit and a shirtfront with a diamond 
 stud — his one ornament ; a face that was stern at first and 
 that did not always relax, but that first gave way, if at all, 
 irjto an expression of quizzical inquiry, and then into a 
 laugh that was never long or very loud, but was hearty. 
 He sat in his office at a desk stuffed in every drawer and 
 pigeonhole with college catalogues, treasurers* reports 
 and letters from college presidents. He sat in a svrivel 
 chair, with his silk hat on the bade of his head, and the 
 degree of interest which he felt in the subject was indi- 
 cated by the angle of inclination of his hat. Such was 
 Dr. Pearsons at 85, and at that age he thought he might 
 sometime become an old man, although such a contin- 
 gency was to him a remote one. 
 
 He celebrated his birthday by visiting his office as 
 usual, going home to Hinsdale for dinner, taking a nap 
 after dinner, and then looking after his chickens and gar- 
 den. In reply to numerous congratulations of friends, he 
 said he hoped to live a hundred years and to continue 
 the work of giving away his money. On his birthday he 
 promised $600,000 to twelve colleges and seminaries 
 which had two years to comply with his conditions He 
 was very happy over the results of his fortmer gifts, and 
 undoubtedly the method he followed in the permanent 
 bestowal of his fortune added many years to his life. He 
 made this investment, although not himself a member of 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 337 
 
 a church, in order to extend Christianity. He was a Puri- 
 tan in his faith and clung with the utmost tenacity to the 
 simple evangelical statements of the New Testament. He 
 said: 
 
 " I am going to give nothing more to colleges until I 
 have paid up my present pledges of $600,000. It will save 
 college presidents lots of trouble if they know this. There 
 were nine of them in my office in one day. I hate to have 
 them travel thousands of miles and waste their valuable 
 time for nothing. I have some $600,000 in pledges now 
 outstanding, and it is a big load. It is too much for a 
 man eighty-five years old to have on his shoulders. I 
 don't propose to have it said that Dr. Pearsons died in 
 debt, and so I have given those colleges just so long to 
 meet the conditions — no more, no less. They can do it. 
 Let them take oflf their coats the way the Beloit trustees 
 did, and it will be done. They may think I'll be easy 
 with them. They may say, ' He's a good-natured 
 old fellow and is talking through his hat.' But 
 I'll show them ! I'll make them toe the mark. I have to 
 keep licking them to make them keep my conditions. I 
 have been too easy-going with them. Now I'm going to 
 hold them right up, and if they are not ready on the last 
 day, I won't give them a penny. 
 
 " When that load is off, I'll give away the rest. I'm 
 not going to leave an estate for the lawyers to quarrel 
 over. But nobody knows whom I'll give it to, and it 
 won't do anybody any good to ask. All I say is, that it 
 will go to colleges which show that they know what the 
 word ' endowment ' means, and that they know how to 
 manage one wisely. 
 
338 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 " I have been studying the colleges for a great many 
 years. I have all their catalogues, the reports of their 
 treasurers, and lists of investments ; and if they have 
 spent for current expenses money that has been received 
 for endowment, they are likely to hear about it when they 
 ask me for more endowment. I count the money I have 
 given to colleges as of less value than the lessons I have 
 taught them about keeping their cash accounts. A good 
 many colleges that keep their accounts in a shilly-shally 
 sort of way, paying current expenses out of their endow- 
 ment funds when they were hard up, have made radical 
 changes since I got after them. I give them a good lick- 
 ing when they come to see mfe. 
 
 " One college got forty thousand dollars from me once, 
 and they thought it was a gift. They built a dormitory 
 with it. I went after them and now they are hustling 
 around to raise that money to put back into the endow- 
 ment fluid. When I want donmitories built I build them 
 myself, but wihen I tell them where to put the money, it 
 goes there, or there is trouble. 
 
 " Don't get the idea that I'm a great philanthropist. I'm 
 a little one. Carnegie and Rockefeller are great givers. 
 My money is no better than John D. Rockefeller's. I 
 consider him one of the pui'est and finest men in America. 
 He has done a world of good with his money and I es- 
 teem him the highest of any citizen in the country. Some 
 day the people will give him the honor that is rightfully 
 his. The great result of my work is to make rich people 
 wonder what they are going to do with their money. 
 Carnegie has instructed his agents to give wiherever I do, 
 and calls me his partner in the college department. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 339 
 
 Rockefeller has concentrated the bulk of his college work 
 and has made the University of Chicago a great center 
 of education. But the old, rich colleges don't do the 
 work done by the small, poor ones. They're colleges for 
 rich boys. Too much luxury, football, societies and golf, 
 and not enough real work to keep them out of mischief. 
 We've got to look to the poor boys and girls to bring on 
 the brawn of the coming ages." 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 " No man should eat in restaurants any more than is 
 possible. To obviate this he should get married as soon 
 as he leaves home. Don't let wages stand in the way. 
 If the girl is willing be as game as she is. Start to house- 
 keeping right away, even if one room is all you can 
 afford. 
 
 " A wife makes a man work, makes him cut out bad 
 habits, makes him happy and makes him save money. 
 
 " If you have to work in the city get a house or room 
 with plenty of windows in it. God likes his children to 
 look at the sunshine. After "a man marries, children 
 should bless his home. Mrs. Pearsons and I never had 
 any, so we made thousands of poor children ours. I feel 
 proud of my boys and girls. Every rich man should raise 
 or educate as many poor children as he can. It makes a 
 better man of him. He begins to love the world and soon 
 he gets happy and healthy. 
 
 " It's not the amount you give but the spirit in which 
 it is given. The most pleasure I ever got was from a 
 dollar I gave to a little girl on the street on Christmas 
 Eve. She fairly danced with joy as she rushed to the 
 nearest doll store and bought a doll. It made me think 
 of the divinity of motherhood as I saw her cuddle the 
 china imitation of a baiby to her breast. 
 
 "The Bible, a few good books and a daily paper 
 341 
 
342 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 should be enough reading for the ordinary man. The 
 Bible is the greatest, best and most satisfying Book ever 
 written. It contains all the wisdom of the ajges. It beats 
 all the philosophies and treatises of man from an intellec- 
 tual standpoint. Where will you find more beautiful 
 poetry than in the Psalms, greater truths than in the 
 teachings of Christ, and more learned treatises on almost 
 any subject than in the Old Testament? Government 
 science is founded on the Bible and our present-day 
 civilization dates back to its teachings. 
 
 " But don't overlook the daily papers. Keep posted on 
 what is going on around you and keep abreast of the 
 times. 
 
 "All accumulations of money and of knowledge are 
 of little use unless there be with these upright character 
 and a faithful life. Live to serve God and your fellow- 
 men. The world needs young people strong in body and 
 mind, who will be able to bear the burdens of the future 
 
 " Come and see me as soon as Halley's comet comes in 
 sight. I intend to turn out in honor of the long-tailed 
 traveler. That old heavenly tramp was noted by me on 
 its last visit to the earth three-quarters of a century ago. 
 
 " The greatest sorrow I can recall was when I ad- 
 vanced quite a large sum of money to put a brilliant 
 young man through college. He promised to pay it 
 back; in fact gave me his note. But I found he never 
 intended to repay me. 
 
 " It doesn't pay to help that way. They don't try to pay 
 me back. It is little to me, but it is bad for them. To 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 343 
 
 grease the way for them is a calamity; it destroys the 
 initiative. Those who are determined to get through 
 college will work their way through untold hardships. 
 
 " I say that churches and societies should care for 
 their own. For my part I would save souls by develop- 
 ing brains. I have followed rigid rules of conduct all my 
 life long. I might sum it up this way : Work hard. Live 
 cleanly. Be a man, whatever happens. Marry the right 
 Woman ; then trust her implicitly. I never told any one 
 but my wife how much money I made or gave away. 
 She made as m.uch of the money I am distributing as I 
 did. Her advice was infallible. 
 
 ■'" Follow one track and one only. Do not be switched 
 off. Concentrate your mind on the one thing you have 
 put it on. Have no confidant except your wife. If you 
 are alone, play a lone hand. Do not be turned aside by 
 obstacles. Concentration and determination win. If you 
 scatter your interests you are in deep water. Keep on 
 the main track and success is certain. 
 
 " Keep your resources well under control. Every 
 dollar I own is in such shape that I can turn it into cash 
 by telephone in fifteen minutes. 
 
 " Learn to read character in faces. I can tell what a 
 man wants of me as far as I can see his face. I can al- 
 most tell the nature of his appeal. I have faith in my 
 methods. I make them come to time, as this letter will 
 show: 
 
 " ' President Bishop : No compromise ! Montpelier 
 Seminary must pay every debt and raise $100,000 in 
 order to get my $50,000. The seminary needs it. With 
 $150,000 clean' endowment it will double its students and 
 
344 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 will be able to hire good teachers. Where are the 
 graduates of the last seventy-five years? Some of them 
 are still living. They cannot afford to let the old. semi- 
 nary die. Montpelier cannot afford it. Then let all 
 hands rally and complete the endowment. I was in the 
 seminary seventy years ago. I am a Vermonter. I am 
 proud of the old State. I am now living in my 90th 
 year and am anxious to close up my estate. Now for 
 one grand rally and make the old seminary what it 
 should be, an honor to the State. 
 " ' Truly, 
 
 " ' D. K. Pearsons.' " 
 " 2838 Michigan Ave., Chicago, Jan. 4. 1906. 
 " My dear Mr. Pearsons : I desire to thank you most 
 sincerely for your letter' of 3rd inst., particularly as it 
 was written under such trying circumstances. I am 
 very sorry that your good wife is so ill, and that the 
 remnant of your journey will have to be made without 
 the companion of so many happy and useful years. They 
 bespeak, however, for her and you a destiny that must 
 be rich in rewards. Let me assure you that your life 
 and its fruitage has been noted all over this broad land, 
 and in the infinite as well. The seed you have scattered 
 will find good soil and will go on reproducing your good 
 works for all time. The world has been made sweeter 
 and purer because of you, and your dear good wife has 
 been your best and most abiding helper. May God give 
 you strength and a clear vision for the remnant of your 
 journey that remains. When I can be of any service to 
 you, do not hesitate to command me. Meanwhile I am 
 affectionately yours, 
 
 " H. N. Higinbothom." 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 34S 
 
 Chicago is " The City of Benevolences," according to 
 Dr. D. K. Pearsons, who, having given somewhere in 
 the neighborhood of $6,000,000 to small colleges in the 
 last few years, has qualifications as an authority. Dr. 
 Pearsons sent $50,000 to a California school tO' keep his 
 part of an agreement to raise $150,000, and learned that 
 his gift had been duplicated by one from four other citi- 
 zens of this city. 
 
 Dr. Pearsons likewise telegraphed to colleges in North 
 Dakota, Missouri, and Oklahoma, which had failed to 
 fill the conditions imposed by his system of philanthropy, 
 that he would extend the time limit until fall, giving them 
 another chance to gain $50,000 each. These three schools 
 are the only remaining institutions to which Dr. Pearsons 
 was under obligations. Their time has expired. 
 
 " This is the benevolent city," observed Dr. Pearsons. 
 " Four years ago it was practically impossible to interest 
 a Chicagoan in a plan to aid educational institutions, but 
 now it is to Chicago that people come to solicit help, 
 rather than to New England and the East. There are 
 three women in this city who follow me in my gifts and 
 add $10,000 to the fund of each college that I help. 
 
 " Tell their names ? No, indeed. Do you want me to 
 cause them all the annoyance I have had with college 
 beggars at my heels all the time? It is a fact that every 
 ' literary' college in the United States, save ten, has 
 called on me at my home in Hinsdale to ask me to add 
 to its endowment fund. I permit my gifts to become 
 known, because the printer's ink used in making them 
 public is a great stimulus to others to give. If people did 
 not know of such things there would be no incentive." 
 
346 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 Dr. Pearsons received a letter from Andrew Carnegie, 
 in which the Scotch philanthopist indorsed the Pearsons 
 plan of requiring colleges to raise a certain amount of 
 money before they could claim help from him. 
 
 "There is no educator," continued Dr. Pearsons, "who 
 is a business financier. In all small colleges you will find 
 superior education and lack of funds. One-half the peo- 
 ple do not know what the word ' endowment ' means, 
 especially college presidents. 
 
 " After a while I am going to the forty colleges which 
 have received endowments from me and demand an ex- 
 amination of their books and a yearly statement of re- 
 ceipts and disbursements. In other words, I propose to 
 elect myself professor of economy in every college to 
 which I have given money." 
 
 Dr. Pearsons has been the cause of the financial pros- 
 perity of colleges in Massachusetts, Ohio, West Virginia, 
 Michigan, Kentucky, Florida, Illinois, Wisconsin, North 
 Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Colorado, California, 
 Oregon, and Washington. To Illinois' small colleges he 
 has given $1,300,000. 
 
 " Chicago, Feb. 10, 1898. 
 
 " D. K. Pearsons : At a regular meeting of the trus- 
 tees of the Art Institute it was reported that the purchase 
 of ' the Mrs. D. K. Pearsons collection of autotypes,' 
 including 408 autotypes recently added to the original 
 purchase, is now completed and the final payment made 
 by Dr. Pearsons. It was unanimously voted: That the 
 trustees take this opportunity again to express to Dr. 
 Pearsons their appreciation of his remarkable gift which 
 stands alone of its kind in the country. The Secretary 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 347 
 
 was instructed to record the vote upon the permanent 
 records. 
 
 " Yours, very truly, 
 
 " N. H. Carpenter." 
 
 " It is hard to say which is my favorite among the 
 colleges. My sympathies are with the poor colleges for 
 poor boys and girls. I have given some money to rich 
 institutions — ^wrong; I did wrong, I won't do it again. 
 Not another cent. It's all going to help the schools 
 where the poor boys and girls come for an education." 
 
 Dr. Pearsons spent the preceding winter at Biloxi, 
 Miss., and on his return, on his birthday, with the rosy 
 flush of health upon his cheek, announced that he in- 
 tended to devote $150,000 more of his money toward 
 " carrying the campaign into the fastnesses of the Appa- 
 lachian Range, which are inhaibited by ' poor whites ' 
 and ' belated Yankees,' who have been denied for cen- 
 turies the advantages of modern methods of education on 
 account of the lack of money." He made an exhaustive 
 study in this region, and decided to apply his energies 
 and money to alleviate the conditions by endowing five 
 colleges there. The schools chosen by him were as fol- 
 lows: Grant University, Chattanooga, Tenn., $50,000; 
 Guilford College, Greensboro, N. C, $25,000; Piedmont 
 College, Demorest, Ga., $25,000; Washington College, 
 Tenn., $25,000; West Virginia Seminary, Morganton, 
 $25,000. 
 
 " I am going to distribute my money among the moun- 
 tains this year," he said. " The belated Yankees need 
 assistance more than anybody I know of, and they are 
 going to obtain it from me. Their schools are poorly 
 fitted out; they have few modern methods and are very 
 
348 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 poorly equipped with books and instructors. They need 
 the help of endowments. It was while studying the situ- 
 ation at Berea, that I decided to give this additional 
 money. 
 
 " I generally have one or two typical ' mountain dew ' 
 girls doing service at my home as maids. I brought one 
 up and she saved up two hundred dollars. She went back 
 home and sent four sisters to Berea and educated them 
 out of it. 
 
 " I never felt better in my life. It does a fellow good 
 to give money away; it makes him younger. I took 
 long walks along tne' beach at Biloxi every day, and 
 always knocked a pine coine with a cane over the entire 
 course of two miles. Guess you would call it golf now- 
 adays, wouldn't you ? I call it ' shinney,' and it's great 
 sport. I felt so good over gaining fifteen pounds down 
 there that I considered I made ten thousand dollars on 
 every pound and decided to give that much away for the 
 fifteen pounds. 
 
 " The colleges to which I give these presents must raise 
 three dollars for themselves for every one dollar I give 
 them, and this must be done within a year to get mine. I 
 will have no executor. I liave just one object in life now, 
 and that is to help other people to get an education so 
 that they may help themselves. I do not believe in 
 charity; it destroys self-respect and does no good. The 
 greatest thing a man can do with a fortune is to get rid 
 of it in some good way. For years I have celebrated my 
 birthdays by giving money and shall continue to do so 
 until I die or the money runs out. 
 
 " I insist that the colleges which receive my money 
 shall thereafter absolutely avoid incurring debts. Where 
 
HIS LIKE AiSlD WORKS 349 
 
 necessary, expenses must be reduced even to the curtail- 
 ing of the faculty, and if that cannot be done tuition fees 
 must be increased to raise the revenue necessary to meet 
 the bills." 
 
 On his eighty-sixth birthday no man was happier 
 than Dr. Pearsons in making out his checks in favor of 
 institutions which had met his conditions. Illinois Col- 
 lege, which has had a magnificent history, but has been 
 struggling for many years with an insufficient endow- 
 ment, has added $200,000 to its funds, one quarter of the 
 amount coming from Dr. Pearsons. In its efforts to 
 secure this money Illinois persuaded the Presbyterian 
 college in a little town not far away to unite with it, and 
 thus to make one strong institution out of two weak ones. 
 The collie is now coeducational, and with its fine situa- 
 tion can hardly fail to have a future worthy of the sacri- 
 fices which the home missionary from the East made in 
 its early years. 
 
 Fargo, also, met its conditions and Dr. Pearsons sent 
 his check for $50,000 to that young college in North Da- 
 kota. An equally large sum was sent West Virginia 
 Conference Seminary at Buchanan, W. Va., and half as 
 much to Fairmount College, Wichita, Kans. These four 
 institutions were thus put on their feet and hereafter will 
 be able to care for themselves. Dr. Pearsons had thus_ 
 far invested about five million dollars ; " squandered it," 
 he said some told him, but " invested it " he himself 
 thought wisely, and where it will do good in perpetuity. 
 The only thing he insisted on was that his money be safe- 
 ly invested, and that it be kept sacredly as an endowment. 
 He had no patience with trustees who used invested 
 
350 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 funds to pay current expenses or who incurred expenses 
 in excess of income. 
 
 Pomona College, California, secured pledges for the 
 payment of its debts, and for this reason Dr. Pearsons 
 gave it $50,000. This gift gratified the friends of the col- 
 lege, who had strained every nerve to remove obligations 
 almost crippling, and will enable it to do the work called 
 for in Southern California. The president of Parkville 
 (Mo.) College announced that Dr. Pearsons had given 
 it $25,000 in honor of the late Dr. McAfee. The Congre- 
 gational Educational Society of Boston received word 
 that Dr. Pearsons had given $50,000 to Rollins OoUeg'e, 
 Winter Park, Fla., providing it raised $150,000 more. 
 
 Some time ago Dr. Pearsons agreed to give $50,000 as 
 an endowment to Mount Holyoke if it raised $150,000. 
 The offer was accepted, the conditions fulfilled and the 
 money paid. When the large dormitory which Mary 
 Lyon built was burned down, the college seemed to be 
 sunk in despiair. Before the burning embers had cooled 
 oflf. Dr. Pearsons telegraphed to Williston : " Fifty thou- 
 sand dollars to build up Mount Holyoke." What a bound 
 was there from the depths of despiair! Now, Holyoke 
 has five of the finest dormitories in the country, and a 
 handsome administration building as a memorial to Mary 
 Lyon. 
 
 Said the Doctor : " I once asked an old man why he did 
 not help Mary Lyon. ' Why,' he said, ' it is no use send- 
 ing girls to college, it will spoil them for servants ; they 
 won't be worth a cent for servants.' 
 
 " Holyoke has circled the globe with women's colleges. 
 Mary Lyon was bom of very poor parents. Most men 
 and women of worth and influence came from poor 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 351 
 
 parents, — from wage-earners, from poverty. Poverty is 
 a blessing in disguise. Standing here today, I am thank- 
 ful that I was bom in poverty, and that I had to hustle, 
 while the chilly winds of adversity blew around me. 
 
 " Hustle — that is -what makes men. It is not pandering 
 them. Take two dogs that are brothers, and put one in a 
 rich man's family, where he has a soft cushion to lie on, 
 and is fed highly-seasoned food. That dog grows up a 
 great big lumber-headed dog with a cirrhotic liver. The 
 other dog is given to a poor boy over in Podtmk. There 
 are a lot of boys in that family, and every boy gives the 
 dog a kick. That dog grows up a splendid dog, with 
 good muscle and a good eye, and is aible to take care of 
 himself. Now bring him alongside of his brother, raised 
 in luxury, and he will lick him. That dog raised in 
 Podunk can lick a dozen dogs like his brother. The pam- 
 pered dog is good' for nothing, while the dog that had to 
 fight for an existence is a splendid specimen. 
 
 " Just so it is with boys. Put two boys in radically 
 different environments, and one will turn out smart, for 
 he has had to hustle ; while the other, if he is fed well and 
 coddled, may be a good-natured fellow, but that is ajbout 
 all. 
 
 " You may ask the question, ' Are there not too many 
 colleges, too many men going to college?' No. There 
 are not too many in either case, nor too many women 
 either. About twenty-five per cent of the men who go to 
 college go because ' dad ' wants them to go, and because 
 they are rich. I can't understand why rich men sit calmly 
 down and let their sons go to the devil. Why can't they 
 see the faults and shortcomings of their children? Why 
 don't they make their boys get out and hustle like the 
 
352 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 poor ones, get a helpful education and fit themselves 
 for life? They think they wiU go to college, and get 
 a degree by fair means or foul, and then marry some 
 girl of influence and wealth. It does not make any 
 difference whether the girl has red hair and freckles; 
 if she has plenty of money, she has plenty of beaux. 
 Then, in addition to the degree, this pampered son of 
 ease and luxury very often ends up by bunting a decree 
 at the divorce college at Reno. ' Rich and ruined ' fits 
 the majority of these cases. 
 
 " Mary Lyon saw through the mists and clouds that 
 overhung the grandest country in the world, and the 
 noblest people in the world. That darkness, that mist 
 hung over New England like a pall, and she was the 
 heroine who could look through it and see the stars 
 beyond. This century has not produced another woman 
 like Mary Lyon. 
 
 " Let us jump in our thoughts way across the continent 
 to the Pacific coast, about twenty miles from Portland, to 
 a place called Forest Grove, where George Atkinson, an 
 old schoolmate of mine in Vermont, went fifty years ago. 
 He traveled around by Cape Horn, and was six months 
 in getting there. As soon as he was properly settled, he 
 started an academy, and in a few years a college, and 
 that has had the same trouble all the way through, — in 
 debt, teachers not paid, people sick of being begged for 
 the college. I wrote tO' President McLelland and said, 
 ' In memory of George Atkinson, my old schoolmate, and 
 in memory of Mr. Marsh, who was president for many 
 years, and died there, I will give you $50,000 if you will 
 raise $100,000.' They undertook to erect a college build- 
 ing, and they got it about so far and then stopped. I said, 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 353 
 
 ' How much money will it take to complete that build- 
 ing?' They replied, ' Fifteen thousand dollars.' I sent 
 them a check for $15,000 and they put that building in 
 fine shape. They held a jubilee and I have a detailed 
 a;ccount erf what took place there. They are about the 
 happiest people on the face of the earth. 
 
 " Now is that a good way to use money ? If you can 
 find any better I should like to hear about it. 
 
 " Now come with me to Yankton, — Yankton, I love to 
 roll that word around, it sounds so much like Yankee. I 
 suppose that from their numbers there is the way the 
 town got its name ? Yankton College was established by 
 the Congregational churches of South Dakota in order 
 that the young people might secure higher education and 
 build up sterling Christian character. Into its open doors 
 come from the towns and prairie farms many who in the 
 very nature of things would never go elsewhere, and 
 often a single term brings such a development, both of 
 mind and heart, as will exert a wholesome influence to the 
 end of time. Forty-one per cent of the pupils are of 
 foreign-bom parents. While undergoing their mental 
 development these children of Scandinavian, Bohemian, 
 and German blood gain a good idea of the nobility and 
 grandeur of American citizenship. Most of them, while 
 under the influence of Yankton College, are brought to 
 a saving knowledge of the truth, and they go out to make 
 others intelligent, loyal and good. ' A little leaven 
 leaveneth the whole lump.' By education will America 
 absorb and assimilate the large population which is now 
 on her shores or about to come and thereby escape the 
 danger which threatens from those who do not seem able 
 
354 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 to grasp the true spirit of civil and religious liberty — ^the 
 cornerstone O'f our repuiblic. 
 
 " So I wrote them the following letter : ' I will build 
 for Yankton College a Science Hall to be called the Ward 
 Hall, costing $50,000, and will commence the building as 
 soon as the friends of the college will pay up all its deibts 
 and raise $100,000 as an endowment fund. Yankton's 
 iron is hot and the blow must be given beifore it cools off.' 
 
 " Then afterwards, to make them feel better, I gave 
 them another $50,000, making $100,000 in all. How is 
 that for a low-down Yankee ? 
 
 " Now, let's go home and rest up a while. From now 
 on we will transact business and do our thought flying 
 right here in the city which I have adopted for my best 
 child and who will get more than any other. 
 
 " I offered $50,000 to the Chicago City Missionary 
 Society on condition that the money be used as a nucleus 
 for a permanent endowment fund of $150,000. The 
 society was established forty years ag'o. Having care- 
 fully observed the doings of this society during its exist- 
 ence and studied its methods, spirit and aim, and learned 
 for myself how its affairs were conducted I reached the 
 conclusion that there was no way more commendable or 
 promising in which I could invest my money than to put 
 it on an enduring basis. In my letter to the society I 
 said' : 
 
 " ' I give this money to you because you have a direct 
 influence on the laboring classes of the community. Fc- 
 many years it has worked on the principJe that " an ounce 
 of prevention is worth a pound of cure." The men i^- 
 charge are trustworthy and capable in the work, and its 
 labors are in the new and neglected parts of the city. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 3SS 
 
 This society is the best organization for Christianizing 
 and Americanizing the more than half a million foreign- 
 speaking people in the city, and as I cannot take my 
 money with me I desire that it shall work to uplift the 
 poor and needy after I am gone.' 
 
 "There is another college I would speak of as it, as 
 well as the town, was founded by a kinsman of mine — 
 Gen. Rufus Putnam — and as they both had the same 
 name as my wife, I thought best to take it into my family. 
 
 " Gen. Rufus Putnam was born April 9, 1738, at 
 Sutton, Mass. He took a leading part in the old French 
 war, and was a friend of Washington and very much like 
 him in appearance and tfaits. He was the cousin of 
 Israel, the man who ' dared to lead where any man dared 
 to follow.' He was engineer of the works around Boston 
 that compelled the British to evacuate and also at the 
 establishing of West Point. The first great success of the 
 Revolution was due to him,. He was appointed leader of 
 the Ohio company which bought five million acres of 
 government land west of the Ohio, and located at 
 Marietta in 1789. 
 
 " The naime Putnam is the phonetic form of Putten- 
 ham, a parish of Buckinghamshire, Eng., in which place 
 the family held landed possessions from early times. 
 Their coat of arms is sable, crusily, fiitche, argent, a stork 
 of the last crest, a wolf's head gules. 
 
 " I am proud of my Putnam blood and fixed it so that 
 Marietta has an endowment of $225,000. 
 
 " I went, once, way out there in the Black Hills, away 
 from Deadiwood into the wilderness. At Spearfish, 
 which is right in the edge of Dakota, I found a State 
 Normal School with a couple of hundred pupils. They 
 
356 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 were the most splendid specimens I ever saw in any 
 school. They were the children of the pioneers; erect, 
 healthy, beaming with intelligence. Well, I thought to 
 myself, if this is the kind of Americans that grow out 
 here, I'll keep my eye on the country. I'll try to push the 
 colleges further on to those still deeper in the wilderness. 
 Sheridan College, 100 mjiles west of Spearfish, was a new 
 school. I watched it to see whether there was the right 
 spirit in it and the people. When the president walked 
 into my office, he said first, as they always do, ' Dr. Pear- 
 sons, we want some money.' ' All right, you can have it. 
 You raise $50,000 and secure a campus for your school 
 and I'll make you a present of $25,000 and keep you in 
 mind besides.' 
 
 " I am doing all that I am doing on business prioiciples. 
 After working band and practicing rigid economy for 
 seventy years to lay up money, I siaid to myself, ' What 
 am I going to do with this ? I cannot carry it out of the 
 world in my dead hands. Coffins were not made to carry 
 money in. I have got to leave it ; that's the way to look 
 at it. Now, what shall I do with it?' I decided that the 
 best investment of seventy years' savings was in colleges 
 for the people. 
 
 " Mrs. Pearsons and I never differed save on one point 
 of the plan. She thought I didn't give money fast 
 enough. She siaid 'You're too slow.' I have usually 
 hitched my car onto the Comgtegational train. They 
 were the first people to begin building colleges in this 
 country. They founded Harvard and Yale, and these 
 have grown to gigantic proportions under the fostering 
 care of their educational society. 
 
 " I am the master of D. K. Pearsons and always have 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 357 
 
 been. I don't pose as a benevolent man. I haven't a 
 particle of benevolence in me. I am the most eco- 
 nomical, close-fisted man you ever set your eyes on. 
 Do you know, I don't think I ever foolishly spent twenty 
 dollars in my life. I never went to a theater but once in 
 my life, and then I was ashamed of myself. I never went 
 to a horse race, or a ball g-ame or to one of these football 
 games that students all over the country are making- con- 
 summate fools of themselves about. No, I am a thrifty 
 and frugal old man. I have labored nearly eighty years 
 to make money, and I have made it, and honestly, too. 
 
 " Young man," he asked once, in his mild, drawling 
 tone, " how much did you pay for that dgar you're smok- 
 ing? ' Ten cents.' Um-m-m," he groaned as he adjusted 
 his hat and stalked off in disgust. 
 
 But those birthdays kept coming around and the 
 Doctor's faimily steadily grew. Sometimes he would gain 
 four new children on a birthday; sometimes six; some- 
 times eight, until they became so numerous that he nearly 
 forgot their names and the amounts of their spending 
 money. During the years between his eighty-sixth and 
 his ninetieth birthdays he rapidly adopted the following 
 children and endowed them individually with sums rang- 
 ing from $25,000 to $100,000. His family had grown so 
 numerous, that, having told about several of his earliest 
 and largest children in detail, the rest will have to be 
 siatisfied if they are considered at all, except to be barely 
 named : 
 
 Montpelier Seminary, Middlebury College, West- 
 minster School, Bradford Public Library, all these in his 
 native State, Vermont ; Maryville College, Tenn. ; New- 
 berry College, South Carolina ; McKendree College, 111. ; 
 
358 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 Onarga Seminary, 111.; Olivet College, Mch. ; Ripon 
 College and Lawrence University, Wis. ; Fargo College, 
 N. Dak.; Huron Colleg-e, S. Dak.; Carleton College, 
 Minn.; Highland College, Kans. ; Tabor College 
 and German Evangelical School, Iowa; Caldwell 
 College, Idaho ; Deer Lodge College, Mont. ; McCor- 
 mick Theological Seminary and Northwestern Univer- 
 sity, 111. ; Chicago Art Institute, Presbyterian and 
 Chicago City Missionary Societies, and the Young Men's 
 Christian Association. 
 
 Many of these received two gifts, and some three ; be- 
 sides these, many of his old children received additional 
 gifts during those years. For instance, here is the 
 amounts he distributed on his 89th birthday and the 
 recipients : 
 
 Berea College, $125,000; Chicago Theological Semi- 
 nary, $125,000; Newberry College, $10,000; Whitman 
 College, $100,000; Piedmont College, $25,000; Mont- 
 pelier Seminary, $50,000; Chicago City Missionary 
 Society, $50,000; Chicago Y. M. C. A., $20,000; Huron 
 College, $15,000; Cong. Woman's Training School, 
 $21,000; total, $541,000. 
 
 " The small denolminational college will remain with 
 U'S. The people and the church demand it. Some 
 changes will be made. Some matters need to be adjusted. 
 But the small colleges will be kept, for they are needed. 
 The expense of the State universities will bar out the 
 poor; they musl; have a chance. I am impressed with 
 this idea as I look over the field. Then, the hope of the 
 country and of the world, rests in the small, the strictly 
 religious colleges. The good people will see to it, after 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 359 
 
 we are gone, that the standards of the Christian college 
 shall be kept alive. 
 
 " I am trying to do it now, in this manner : ' President 
 Race : I will give you for the endowment of Grant Uni- 
 versity, $50,000 if your people will raise $150,000 
 for the same purpose, perpetual endowment. All 
 the $200,000 must be kept forever and forever; 
 only the income can be used. No securities will be 
 counted. Cash and bankable notes, certified by a good 
 reliable banker. I must have a list of every giver and 
 the amount each gives. 
 
 " ' Truly, 
 
 " ' D. K. Pearsons.' 
 
 " I also gave the large three-story house at 315 Ash- 
 land Boulevard to the Chicago Training School for 
 Women. It cost -me $20,000, but I considered that as 
 nothing compared to the great work done there. To 
 watch those girls, makes a fellow feel good and noble. 
 
 " On the last million and a half I require 2 per cent, 
 or $30,000 a year, payable up to the death of myself and . 
 my wife, so that we will become the beneficiaries of those 
 to whom I have given. With this income of $30,000 a 
 year, far beyond what I consider my own needs, I will 
 rest and watch the good being done with what I have 
 given. 
 
 " On that $30,000 a year for myself and wife, which 
 I think I'm entitled to, I expect to enjoy myself. I want 
 enough so that I can live at the Waldorf-Astoria if I 
 wish to." ' 
 
 As his sun drew near its setting Dr. Pearsons changed 
 his order of life from " To get in order to give" and " To 
 give in order to get others to give," to spending his 
 
360 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 money in order to insure that what he has done shall be 
 reported and made much of by the press, not on account 
 of personal vanity, but for the sole purpose of inducing 
 others to follow in his steps and to do the things which 
 he had found during his long life as well worthy of do- 
 ing. His has been a remarkable life and the influence he 
 has set to work will ibe blessing the world a thousand 
 years from now. 
 
 Hiis nuainy years began to tell on him, but he remained 
 erect, ivith dark, flashing eyes until his death. He was as 
 keen and brilliant in repartee and couM size a man up as 
 quickly as of old. See what this man, whose big heart 
 shone out through his black eyes, set afoot in the Interior, 
 on our West coast, in the South, in New England and 
 beyond seas. 
 
 " 1857 Washington Boulevard, 1910, April. 
 
 " Dr. D. K. Pearsons — ^My Esteemed and Honored 
 Friend : As I learn, the 14th of this month you will cele- 
 brate your 90th birthday, receiving the congratulations 
 of your many friends. I want to be counted with these ; 
 giving you my cordial greetings and welcoming you into 
 the small but goodly company of ' nonagenarians,' of 
 which I have been a member about three years. 
 
 "It has been a privilege, which I have appreciated, to 
 share for many years in your kind regards and friend- 
 ship. I have known of the great and blessed work which 
 you have accomplished by your princely gifts to nearly 
 half a hundred educational institutions. They will be 
 your best and lasting monuments of a well-spent life. I 
 thank God that he has given you the ability and' the dis- 
 position to engage in this, your life enterprise. Our 
 Heavenly Father has fulfilled, in your experience, the 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 361 
 
 gracious promise, ' With long life I will bless thee and 
 show thee of my salvation ' and I trust that your remain- 
 ing years will be crowned with his richest blessings: 
 giving you health and strength to enjoy the fruits of your 
 benevolence. 
 
 " Most sincerely and faithfully yours, 
 
 " G. S. F. Savage." 
 
CHAPTER XViri 
 
 Social philosophers have often remarked that the suc- 
 cessful physician is commonly successful when he goes 
 into commerce or finance, probably because of the train- 
 ing he has obtained as physician in observing men and 
 dealing with them. Whether this be true as a general 
 rule or not, it certainly was true in Dr. Pearsons' case. 
 
 Thus, promoting the development of his country, he 
 prospered with it, and some twenty-five years ago entered 
 upon the third stage of his career, that of distributing his 
 fortune. To do this carefully and effectively he was 
 granted the blessing of unusual length of days. 
 
 Others gave larger fortunes to the public benefit, but it 
 is doubtful if any other man ever gave aiway a fortune 
 so eflfectively or had a better time and happier years in 
 doing it. No one who spoke with him could doubt that 
 he was having the best kind of a good time and really 
 enjoyed life at 90 years of age. His plan of giving was 
 well calculated to produce enjoyment for any kindly and 
 thinlking man. He had not only the pleasure of aiding a 
 worthy cause, but also, what wias really the greater 
 pleasure, of being the means of inciting other men to put 
 forth all the strength they had in a worthy cause. He not 
 only gave and had the pleasure of giving, but he also 
 moved men to do their share and brought out their 
 ability. 
 
 363 
 
364 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 The aged philanthropist practically had no relatives to 
 rememiber him as his ninetieth birthday approached — 
 he had outlived them all — but the colleges and institu- 
 tions that had been the recipients of his charity for 
 twenty-five years all remembered him. Where he had 
 given millions he received cakes, apples and messages of 
 congratulation, but these little gifts brought just as much 
 joy to him as had his money to the objects of his 
 generosity. 
 
 There are many men and women of tialf his age who 
 willl fed the import of these words, " He has outlived 
 them all," with a bitter sense of their meaning, though 
 their isolation is not yet complete. They find it almost 
 impossible to bear the losses that are steadily narrowing 
 the circle that constitutes their world. Their hearts are 
 like tombs through which no joyous echoes go, anid they 
 contemplate the future with apathy and despair. 
 
 But there is inspiration for them in the example of this 
 old man, who made a fresh beginning every day and put 
 new life and interest in that aWays helpful rule of Hale : 
 " To look up and not dtown, to look forward and not 
 back, to look out and not in, and to lend a hand." 
 
 Dr. Pearsons as he approached ninety was still looking 
 forward, and it was not because he had millions to give 
 or had given millions, but because be had the helpful 
 spirit and outlook that made life worth living as long as 
 it lasted. The thought of lending a hanid would have 
 been an insurance against desolation in old age if his 
 fortune had been small. And one may give much with- 
 out giving money at all. A kindly word is often remem- 
 bered with gratitude for years ; a kindly deed may make 
 all the diflference between clouds and sunshine. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 365 
 
 In this looking up and forward and out there is both 
 help for others and self-hdp of the highest kind. Be 
 alert, give what you have to give while you live, take an 
 interest in all about you, and you, too, at ninety raay be 
 planning for the future with the zest of youth. 
 
 'He announced that his spacious home in Hinsdale for 
 a quarter of a century, was for sale, and that on his next 
 birthday he intended to pay all his " debts " and finish 
 disposing of his estate in such a way that there would be 
 no possibility of heirs quarreling over it, for the reason 
 that there would not be anything left beyond his personal 
 maintenance. 
 
 The " debts " were sums which he had promised to 
 various colleges on condition that other friends gave as 
 much, or several times as much. They aggregated one- 
 half million dollars to five dififerent objects, to be paid on 
 his ninetieth birthday. His money would bring out 
 any way twice as much, making one and a half million 
 dollars. In this way Dr. Pearsons gave away over six 
 millions, thus bringing to the cause of mankind, twenty 
 million dollars or more. 
 
 It is doubtful if Daniel K. Pearsons ever had any 
 happier years in his long life than the twenty-five in 
 which he moved his fellow >men to show the power which 
 was in them and the reality of their membership in what 
 he called " The Church of the Best Licks." During the 
 efiforts of the Chicago Y. M. C. A. to make the ck)ck go 
 to a high mark, he adopted it as one of his children with 
 a donation of $20,000 and with the additional word to 
 call on him " if any deficit exists at six o'clock tonight, I 
 want to make it up." A letter was sent, thanking him 
 for his subscription and his offer of further assistanice. 
 
366 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 and a resolution of thanks was adopted and also sent him 
 on his birthday. 
 
 He benefited many institutions, but all were care- 
 fully investigated, and in no instance did this most prodi- 
 gal of givers contribute a cent where he did not believe 
 the abject was worthy. He believed that philanthropy 
 w^as a science and he wanted to see the last of his money 
 go where it wooild do the most good. Hence he spent it 
 himself. 
 
 "On my next birthday — ^my ninetieth' — I have arranged 
 for a general accounting with all my schools. They 
 have got to come in and show what they have done with 
 their talents. I want to get my accounts squared away. 
 I want to begin my ninety-first year knowing that I don't 
 owe anybody anything. The schools all understand this 
 and are stnaining every nerve to meet the contingencies 
 under which m.y gifts were mad 
 
 " After that I start off on a new career of giving. I 
 serve notice now that I intend to last ten years longer. 
 I sihall arrange my affairs so that when the end finally 
 comes there will not be a cent left of my fortune. And 
 in the meantime I shall be having the finest time in the 
 world. 
 
 " I am giving this money wthile I live, because I do 
 not believe in trusteeships or think that an administra- 
 tor, hoiwever scrupulous, can spend another man's money 
 with the same wisdom he would display in disposing- of 
 his own. 
 
 " I have been the administrator of a number of estates 
 in my time, and I never felt that such a trust could be 
 satisfactorily executed. Where a man desires to restore 
 the fortune he has accumulated to the public, let him do 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 367 
 
 it himself. I believe that to be the duty of men of 
 wealth. It is a duty which many may naturally like to 
 shirk because it entails no end of trouble, but it is a duty 
 which they should not shift to some one else after they 
 are dead. 
 
 " I have always intended to die a poor man, and I have 
 quite definite views as to how money should be invested 
 for the public benefit. Why, then, should I not assume 
 the responsibility of making those investments ? That is 
 just what I am doing now. I want to dispose of my 
 remaining holdings and round out a gift of a million 
 dollars to Chicago while my brain is still vigorous and 
 unclouded. That's why I have decided to make my final 
 bow as a philanthropist on my ninetieth birthday. The 
 thing that gives me the most happiness is the fact that I 
 will get square with the city of Chicago — my largest and 
 most patient creditor — on that day. Long ago I made up 
 my mind that I owed Chicago one million dollars, and 
 with my gift of $20,000 to the Y. M. C. A. I paid the last 
 cent of it. I've been a long time paying up, but I finally 
 managed to do it, and I feel that joy that always comes 
 to a man wihen his last mortgage is lifted and he is square 
 with the world. 
 
 " I want to do this because the business men of 
 Chicago were kind to me. I made all my money there 
 and I wish to give one million back to the city. I owe 
 my fortune to my association with Chicago business men 
 of half a century ago. Those men, Phil Armour among 
 themi, gave rpe my chance. For months and months I 
 had to report regularly my progress to Mr. Armour, and 
 it was due to his help and advice, along with that of other 
 men of his type, that I got started. No credit is coming 
 
368 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 to me. If I have done good it is but a reflection of their 
 generosity. When the Merchants' Loan and Trust Com- 
 pany was founded they let me in on the ground floor and 
 I bought stock cheap. In the last twenty years I haven't 
 so much as traded jackknives with any man — ^that's how 
 little business I've done. 
 
 " There are two things I'm kind of proud of. One is 
 what I've done for Chicago, and the other is what I've 
 given to my native State — ^Vermont — a poor community. 
 When I went through college there I had to chop kin- 
 dling to pay my tuition. Now I've given to almost every 
 poor college in the State. Kind of proud of that. Beloit 
 was the first college I ever gave to and Berea will be the 
 last. When I give them $100,000 I'm through with col- 
 leges and I want them to quit. pestering me. 
 
 " No, I never give to individuals. I let 'em alone. I 
 know better how to give than they know how to receive. 
 If any one finds fault with my giving, tell them to notify 
 me. I get about a thousand letters a day, which I burn, 
 and I want the beggars to stop writing- useless letters. 
 I can't remember how much I've given, or to whom. I 
 want to try to count it up, but I don't know how I can. 
 My wife died four years ago and left me alone, and now 
 my only pleasure is in giving my possessions away." 
 
 Then he became silent and any attempt to discover 
 what he meant to do with the green, undulating acres 
 spreading away from his fine suburban home, high on a 
 hill in Hinsdale, were as wasted as all other essays at the 
 personal from him. 
 
 " Take the situation in the South," continued Dr. Pear- 
 sons. " There was a small college at Guilford, N. C. It 
 was founded by Quakers shortly after the Revolution. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 369 
 
 It was sadly handicapped (by lack ol funds. Now, with 
 plenty of money at its disposal, it is doing a noble work 
 among the ' crackers.' Middlebury College, in Vermont, 
 was in need of a woman's department. They couJd not 
 afford to go to Wellesley or Vassar, so my money fixed 
 it so they could obtain an education for $150 a year. 
 
 " I have been a hunter after poverty all my life and it 
 is easy to find, even in America. I found it in the wilder- 
 ness, where education is most needed and yields the best 
 returns on a small investment. 
 
 "The laborious part of this giving is that you have to 
 investigate not alone the college but also the country 
 around it to ascertain the needs of the people. Then 
 after you give them money, you have to educate them up 
 to your standards and principles of spending their in- 
 come. It is very easy to give away a fortune if you don't 
 care who gets it or where it goes." 
 
 Leaning back among the cushions of an old-fashioned 
 lounge which seemed to grace its place as if it grew 
 there, Dr. Pearsons sat on his 90th birthday, hale, vigor- 
 ous, hearty and looking forward to ten years more of 
 giving. 
 
 To live to be a hundred seemed no harder to this iron 
 man than to sign a check for $100,000 to a needy college. 
 When the sun rose over the hill and roused the million- 
 aire it opened the first day of a new regime of giving, 
 wihich was to effectually distribute his wealth. Just how 
 much was left no one knew but himself. 
 
 He stood up, as tall and straight as forty years before, 
 strode across the room, past the massive pictures of other 
 days that adorned the wall and looked out over the roll- 
 ing lawn that once, in the younger days of this millionaire 
 
370 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 colony, had been his farm. With a sad face, he said: 
 " I am going to sell this beautiful place before I die. I 
 never could understand why I built a fourteen-room 
 house, but in looking back I know now that I built it to 
 please my wife. She heard of a house in Evanston, went 
 and looked the house all over and liked it. So I sent my 
 boss carpenter to get dimensions and built one exactly 
 like it. You build a house exactly like a woman wants it 
 ajnd then she is happy. When she went away, four years 
 ago, I hoped it would only be a little while to stay here 
 without her. I am lonesome. Every picture on the wall, 
 every dish and chair reminds me of her. Everjrthing is 
 just as she left it. My efforts to get along here have 
 been well-nigh impossible, as well as pitiful. 
 
 " People said when I bought the ten acres in 1885 for 
 $10,000 that I was crazy. I told them I would show 
 them. I have made $25,000 on the deal. Half of the 
 place has been cut up into lots for other homes. 
 
 " You cam see that the furniture does not amount to 
 much. I bought it second-hand in the first place and 
 some of the carpets have never 'been taken up since put 
 down." 
 
 Soon a continuous stream of telegrams, letters and 
 presents began to flow that way. There were presented 
 to him barrels of red apples from Vermont, a birthday 
 cake from the mountain girls of Berea, and an immense 
 fruit cake which the hopeful girls of Piedmont College, 
 Ga., sent their benefactor. 
 
 Numerous college presidents and professors began to 
 arrive and also various supplicating visitors, who ex- 
 pected to leave with large sums of money for personal 
 use, were very much disappointed. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 371 
 
 Nb boy ever was happier with his first skates than was 
 the Doctor with these gifts, and neither could a more 
 youthful and enthusiastic host have been more active in 
 receiving his guests and discussing each present as he 
 received it. When a great box of flowers came all the 
 wiay from Florida, he was visibly affected. " I believe 
 this is the happiest day of my life," he said. " It's con- 
 vincing proof that more happiness comes from giving 
 than anjrthinig else a human being can do. This giving 
 has brought me a wealth of happiness, the best return 
 for your money. I call them my investments, and for 
 paying big interest on the money, they can't be beat. 
 
 " My wife and I were at Beloit once, when I bad given 
 the college, up to that time, over two hundred thousand 
 dollars. They were celebrating and we had lots of fun. 
 My wife was so carried away by the cheering that she 
 told me to give them fifty thousand more, because we 
 had more than received the interest on the hundred thou- 
 sand in the fun we had had that day, and wanted to in- 
 vest some more for the dividends of joy. I can't tell 
 how much I have given for this purpose. Honestly, I 
 cannot, and I suppose the only way to get the figures 
 would be to write for them to all my children. All I keep 
 track of is the dividends of joy and fun. If a college 
 writes me they have completed my conditions and call for 
 a $100,000 check from me I am tickled nearly to death 
 and the bigger the check the better I like it. 
 
 " I'm very, very happy. It's truly wonderful, very 
 wonderful, that all these people and college presidents 
 can find time in their busy lives to come way out here to 
 see an old codger like me. I don't allow any one else to 
 
372 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 call me old, though. I'm not old ; I'm 'ninety years 
 young.' 
 
 " Look at Andrew Carnegie ! When he was in Chicago 
 lately I was grieved to see how weak he looked. He is 
 too old to travel around the country. He is only seventy- 
 three while I am ninety. But he was unsteady on his feet 
 while I am as sound as a hickory log. 
 
 "I did not accomplish on my birthday what I expect- 
 ed to do. Five of my colleges have failed to come to time. 
 I will not cut them off, but have given them one year 
 longer to meet my demands. During the year no other 
 gifts will be made. 
 
 " When I get all my colleges paid up I shall spend the 
 little I have left to take care of my children. I have 
 forty-seven scattered in twenty-four States. They are 
 good ichildren; they are Ibrilliant; they are smart. All 
 that I have got will go to my children. They will need 
 something. Some of them will need an addition to their 
 science hall. Some will want a new dormitory. All I 
 have will go to them. On this, my ninetieth birthday, I 
 send to them all and to my friends my birthday saluta- 
 tion. I expected to pay out $300,000 today, but I will 
 have to put it off, a year. I shall not give away a cent 
 this year, not a cent. I get hundreds of begging letters 
 every day, but I shall heed none of them. 
 
 " You know I have to keep tab on these ' children ' of 
 mine. I've got every one of them right under my thumb, 
 and they're all as scared of me as the ' Old Harry.' I 
 have to watch them constantly, to keep them from stray- 
 ing from the straight and narrow path. But I intend to 
 taike care of them like a good dad should. 
 
 " I suppose you would like to know why I have given 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 373 
 
 $1,000,000 to Chicago? Well, I want to say that I owe it 
 all to her and her men. It is due to such men as Sol 
 Smith, Daniel Jones and Gov. Bross that I became 
 wealthy. These men came to me when they were starting 
 banks and other concerns and let me have stock when 
 it was very low. They did this because they were my 
 friends. I took the stock and as it soon jumped to 
 three times what it cost, you can see it was easy to make 
 money. For instance, I had 3,000 shares of bank stock 
 that jumped in value from $100 a share to $400 and $500 
 each. I was a director of the Chicago City Railway 
 and the stock went from par to $350 — quite a item for 
 my bank book. 
 
 " Chicago and its men made me and so I gave $40,- 
 000 to the Y. M. C. A. I considered that I owed the 
 city $1,000,000, and that sum to the Y. M. C. A. com- 
 pleted the payment, and now I have paid the city the 
 price for making me. I can die now without feeling 
 that I am in debt to Chicago. But I am not out of debt 
 yet, as there are five colleges I must pay off on my ninety- 
 first birthday, next April. I promised Berea $100,000 
 and I hope they all come to time so I can pay my 
 debts." 
 
 That Dr. Pearsons changed his mind about giving 
 away any money was shown at the meeting in Boston 
 on the 17th of October, 1910, of the American Board of 
 Missions, when it was celebrating the centennial of its 
 existence. On that day the dignified men of the Board 
 and its assembled gathering were electrified by the an- 
 nouncement, made by M. A. Myers, that D. K. Pearsons 
 had commissioned him to present the Board with one 
 hundred thousand dollars, the amount to be made pay- 
 
374 BANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 able on his ninety-first birthday, April 14, 1911. The 
 doctor chose just the psychological time to make bis gift 
 the most impressive and to arouse enthusiasm to a high 
 pitch. He told the Board part of the money was to be 
 used for the benefit of Anatolia College, at Marsovan, 
 Turkey, and was given in the name of his wife, Marietta 
 Chapin Pearsons. He has given $250,000 to the Ameri- 
 can Board. Thus he expressed in unmistakable terms his 
 firm belief that the Christian Missions as carried on by 
 the Board are worthy of the warmest support. 
 
 Dr. Pearsons' influence is world-wide, as it is shown 
 that his was the chief inspiration of the German Em- 
 peror in inducing the German millionaires to provide a 
 two and half million dollar fund which his majesty was 
 enabled to announce. This fund was practically the first 
 money ever privately raised in the fatherland for edu- 
 cational purposes. It will be devoted to the establish- 
 ment of institutes of scientific research, a field in which 
 the German University has been lacking. 
 
 The generosity of the Doctor has long been followed 
 with the keenest interest by the Kaiser. He had not 
 concealed his indignation that bis example bad not been 
 followed by the rich men of Germany. Then he in- 
 structed his press-clipping bureau to keep him supplied 
 with Pearsons clippings, which he was not slow in show- 
 ing to his subjects to induce them to loosen their purse- 
 strings. And now they have begun to take the hint and 
 the ball is rolling all over the Empire, gathering up a 
 bit here and a bit there to amount in the aggregate to 
 an immense sum for educational purposes. Dr. Pear- 
 sons' influence has been felt, markedly, in China and 
 Japan, where the American Board has worked. Not 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 375 
 
 alone in the influence of the missions, but the story of 
 his world-wide benevolence has induced the rich men of 
 those countries to endow universities along American 
 lines. 
 
 The aged philanthropist spent his ninety-first winter 
 at the Hinsdale Sanitarium. He claimed that he had 
 outlived all his relatives and that he had no one to be 
 interested in but the forty-seven colleges and institutions 
 to which he had given many millions of dollars and had 
 adopted as " his children." To some he gave fifty thou- 
 sand, to others one hundred thousand dollars and to one 
 or two as much as a half million of dollars. Suppose 
 he gave six millions to all ; that is not much compared to 
 Carnegie and Rockefeller, but it was for him, for it was 
 his all. 
 
 The objects of his benevolence, in all cases, had to 
 raise three dollars for very one of his to secure the gift. 
 But this method of raising money seemed to be over- 
 worked, making so many enterprises that their special 
 urgency failed to impress. Others, as worthy, have 
 been pushed aside to die of hunger. Pledges to pay in 
 installments have mortgaged the benevolence of the 
 churches and societies for years to come. The member- 
 ships of different ones have entirely changed since the 
 pledges were made, and sometimes they were repudiated. 
 It seems that all should give, if they wish, without being 
 directed to any particular channel. 
 
 Dr. Pearsons, at ninety, was yet a magnificent speci- 
 men of Vermont brawn. What must he have been when 
 he was piling up his edifice of wealth in his younger 
 days ! His puritanical proclivities stuck out all over him 
 and he was wont to doff his hat whenever any one 
 
376 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 alluded to these traits. No one would have thought, to 
 see him walking along with his high hat of ancient 
 lineage hanging on the back of his head, that at one time 
 he owned one thousand shares of First National Bank 
 stock, had heavy holdings in the Commercial National, 
 Merchants' Loan and Trust, and many others, besides a 
 million-dollar interest in the Chicago City Railway, a 
 large amount in Alley L, and other incorporations. He 
 lived for many years at the Palmer House. Then his 
 wife persuaded him to build his "white elephant " at 
 Hinsdale. He said he had to please his wife. He never 
 thought the house too large until he was left alone, al- 
 though the Doctor had a brother-in-law and two sisters- 
 in-law, seven nephews and three nieces, five grand-nieces 
 and three grand-nephews, all of whom really loved the 
 old man, and by all the claims of blood should have 
 found a place in his heart. 
 
 In addition to all these, he had those noble institutions 
 which he adopted as his children, to shed tears on his 
 grave and keep the flowers, grass and shrubbery cared for 
 on his cemetery lot, yet he turned from all these to alien 
 people. He deposited one thousand dollars with the 
 business committee of his church at Hinsdale and he, 
 himself, appointed a committee of three lady members 
 of the church to use the yearly interest — thirty dollars — 
 to keep his magnificent monument and cemetery lot in 
 repair. This committee was to be made perpetual from 
 the members of the church. 
 
 " But, Doctor," he was asked, " why don't you let 
 some of your relatives look after your lot ? " 
 
 " Huh ! " he replied, frowning, " I have outlived them 
 all. I have only a few distant relatives and they are all 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 377 
 
 beggars and rascals and have all they can do to take 
 care of themselves. I had some relatives come fifteen 
 hundred miles once to beg of me, but I told them I didn't 
 have a cent for them — never — not a red. Another one 
 came to get help to get married; that one went kiting, 
 too. 
 
 " Bah ! on my relatives. They can't fool me. I am 
 getting too old. I am through with them and they won't 
 any of them get a cent. They are degenerates and they 
 won't make fools of themselves with my hard-earned 
 dollars by squandering them for autos, yachts or great 
 establishments. 
 
 " No ! I will see the public gets it back in the shape I 
 want them to; not over bars, high living, in clubs and 
 theaters or through grain or stock gambling. They have 
 all been around in rotation to try to work me, but, by 
 Godfrey! they will have to get up early in the morning 
 to do it. 
 
 " Beggars all, say I. Scat ! " 
 
 " But you ought to tell them that you will never give 
 them anything, Doctor, as some may be counting on it." 
 
 "Oh ! they will find it out in time. I have made my cal- 
 culations so that when I am gone there won't be a cent 
 left. I have paid all my funeral expenses and have re- 
 ceipts for them. I have selected my coffin and the place 
 has been ready for it for twenty-five years. 
 
 " How do you think I'm going to live after I give all 
 my money away on my ninety-first birthday ? " 
 
 " I suppose you will have some hidden fund to draw 
 from." 
 
 " Yes," he replied, with a sharp glance from his gleam- 
 ing eyes, " I get 2 per cent interest on money given to 
 
378 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 some of my youngest children — Berea, Whitman, Yank- 
 ton, Fargo and others. It all comes to $5,014 a year, I 
 could make it double if I needed it. When I die this in- 
 come goes to my children from whence it comes. Not 
 a red cent will be left." 
 
 " Why don't you let some of your children care for 
 your graive ? " 
 
 "My children are all inanimate objects. I have placed 
 the money I have given them in the shape of perpetual 
 endowments in charge of the management, but those men 
 are simply the instruments chosen to keep the money 
 drawing interest for my children. They are not my 
 friends. I haven't a friend in all this wide world." 
 
 " But won't you give your faithful clerk, who looked 
 after your interests so honestly for twenty-five years, or 
 your equally faithful home man, anything? " 
 
 " I know they expect something, but they won't get a 
 red. All goes to my children. All ! 
 
 " It would be too bad if the Lord took me away before 
 my next birthday. I have lived for many years with the 
 weight of the promises to be paid on each succeeding 
 birthday, and I feel that God has prolonged my life so 
 that I can see a complete and full ending on my ninety- 
 first birthday. Whether the Lord will consider my work 
 on earth done then and taike me to his bosom, I do not 
 know, but I would so love to see all straightened up be- 
 fore I go. Then I will reach out my right band toward 
 heaven and pray for release from the bonds of pain that 
 raick my frame and go where the all-healing hand of God 
 will reveal ' the life everlasting.' 
 
 " I am not like many other people, having property 
 sicattered all over; mine is right in this right hand and 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 379 
 
 I dam. close my fingers on it at once. All my bank stocks 
 and bonds can be turned into money in two hours, any 
 day. I shall leave no will nor have any administrator 
 or executor. They say, ' Why do you do this ? See what 
 you are doing.' I do this to keep my few distant relatives 
 from fighting over my money and to save it from the law- 
 yers' clutches. When I have paid off the colleges and 
 sold my house, I shall be through giving away money. 
 I'll keep just enough to live on. I'll rest and have a 
 good time. But don't put me down as a benevolent man. 
 I haven't a particle of it in me. I made a business of 
 giving away my money, because I can't take it with me 
 in my coffin. 
 
 " I am now having my first sickness. I had a touch 
 two years ago at Pasadena, where I was to deliver an 
 address at the banquet of the Vermont Society. I got too 
 excited and a stroke of lightning struck me and stopped 
 my heart and breath for five minutes and the bolt came 
 out through my ankle; that's what makes me limp so. 
 The doctors brought me out, but didn't get whatever it 
 Was out of my system. It is now working in my ear. I 
 can't sleep ; I can't eat and have lost ten pounds, but I 
 won't let the doctors pour any medicine down me or 
 into me. I want to live sane as long as I dt) live. I think 
 when I go it will be becaiuse of heart stoppage. It goes 
 four times — then skips — and so on, but I give it notice 
 right here and now, that it can't stop for five years yet. 
 
 " Yes, I know that a place in the educational history of 
 the country has been gained by me, but what does it all 
 amount to? What do I care for history? I have got 
 tired waiting for it to be written and never want it to 
 be. By the time what I have done is history I will have 
 
380 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 passed througih the stomachs of the worms. It is the 
 results — future and present — that I have worked for, not 
 history. As I sit here or lie in my bed at night, I can 
 bring up the phantasy of endless strings of boys and girls 
 gathering knowled ;e and refinement at the founts erected 
 by my money, and as they march past and disappear, I 
 can see far in the distance, the vanguard of another mul- 
 titude, and on, and on. They will come and go, until the 
 lights of liberty and religion and education are lost in the 
 blaze of eternity." 
 
 When asked how he managed to feel so well and look 
 like fifty on his ninetieth birthday, he replied : " Well, 
 ever since I was a young man I have followed out a plan 
 of life tliait I think is the best if you want to be happy. 
 Now, after a long study of men and methods, I have 
 added some more items to the longevity prescription: 
 Make use of all the fresh air you can that God has given 
 us for nothing. Ill-temper is the greatest of health 
 destroyers. Be calm. As one can't work hand without 
 corresponding rest, get plenty of sleep. Eat moder- 
 ately and regularly of wholesome food and cut out 
 meat, pie and ' piecrey,' and while you are about it, 
 don't worry. Water is good for the stomach and costs 
 nothing. When thirsty, drink it in preference to all 
 decoctions. It pays to be honest and truthful. 
 
 " My daily menu has been for years : eggs, bread and 
 milk, with perhaps a baked potato or carrot, and for 
 dessert, an onion. Don't forget the onion. Eat one if 
 you have a cold and throw aiway the quinine. 
 
 " Young men should remember to exercise a lot. 
 Automobiles are the invention of the evil one to pamper 
 the luxury and speed craze. Your feet are your best 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 381 
 
 friends if you walk them around enough. I never fail to 
 take my daily walk and go to bed early. 
 
 " There's a well-known German motto which says 
 ' Mensch argere dich nicht.' I call it ' Fret not thy giz- 
 zard,' although it means, ' Man, do not fret.' Make those 
 around you happy and you will be happy yourself. 
 Every man should marry young, if he has no hereditary 
 taints, and should be content with his lot as God or- 
 dained. 
 
 " I expected to have been able by this time to retire 
 and die as I was born, a poor man, but I will retire on 
 the 14th of next April. I am tired and lonely and I wiant 
 to rest. I don't want to pay any more taxes or have the 
 burdens of a householder. It is terrible to be left alone. 
 No one, however kind and faithful, can look after you 
 like your own departed dear ones did. I must sell the 
 dear old place, with its hallowed memories, and die 
 friendless and alone among comparative strangers, in the 
 dingy walls of the house of suffering in our great city. 
 I have not a friend in the world and I want to go, oh ! so 
 badly, to rejoin my life's companion in life everlasting. 
 I do not wish any adVice on how to spend the money 
 derived from the ' Old Home.' I made it. It is mine and 
 I will spend it as I want to. I shall use it for the better- 
 ment of the poor and needy of our great city. 
 
 " I never had any children except my forty-seven col- 
 leges," said the Doctor, reminiscently, " and I'm glad of 
 it. 
 
 " A man is a fool to leave any money to his children. 
 They will fight like a yardful of cats when he is gone. If 
 they are smart and ' up to snuff,' they won't need any of 
 your money, and if they are not, they ought not to have 
 
382 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 it anyway. Turn them out and let them hustle. I thank 
 God that I had to hustle; that the sifted snow increased 
 the weight and warmth of the covering of my bed ; that 
 the chill winds of adversity blew around my scantily-clad 
 legs while I was chopping wood to earn an education. 
 
 " Inherited wealth is more often a curse than a bless- 
 ing, but not in my case, as I married a girl who inherited 
 a fortune that in those days was considered large. I also 
 had her sister's fortune to work with." 
 
 As he spoke, he smiled contentedly and winked his eye 
 in the whimsical manner that betokened self-esteem and 
 satisfaction. 
 
 " In former talks," he continued, " I have outlined a 
 recipe for rich men to follow to live a hundred years — 
 they must take a nap and a ride every afternoon. >fow, I 
 have made up one for the rest — the general public. You, 
 perhaps, have noticed how wasteful most people are of 
 something that costs them nothing. I speak of air, water 
 and sleep. There is no reason why everybody cannot be 
 a millionaire and live a hundred years if he will not waste 
 any of those blessings and will combine them with grit, 
 enterprise, economy and persistence. You should, while 
 taking the above, take plenty of leg exercise and obey the 
 ten commandments. Anyone can get rich. 
 
 " I want to illustrate how frugal I am. Forty years 
 ago I owned a store. It was during the hard times and 
 the man couldn't pay his rent, so I had to take some of 
 his s.tock to get it and took forty shirts. I have got tiie 
 laist one of them on now. You see the frayed cuffs and 
 mended button holes. I hope it will last until I die, I 
 don't want to put anything new on this old carcass. 
 Those boots I have had for thirty years, and these old 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 383 
 
 clothes are good enough for a man who is about to un- 
 dress for the last time. Look in that closet and you will 
 see the fine raiment that will be .put on me when I go into 
 the coffin. I know that the end is not far off and that I 
 am slowly, slowly failing. The end will come suddenly 
 and probably in the night, when the tired heart can be 
 lulled to rest so easily with the sleeping spirit. God 
 grant I can live until my debts are paid, then come, 
 come." 
 
 In spending the holiday season of his ninetieth year, 
 the Doctor sat in his small room at the Hinsdale Sani- 
 tarium, sadly gazing out upon the cold, snowy sheet that 
 spread like a great blanket over the land. He was think- 
 ing of the pain and suffering it would mean to the poor^ 
 and destitute and wiondering if any one could be suffer- 
 ing more than he was. His suffering with rheumatism 
 and neuralgia was excruciating, and his condition was 
 pitiful. 
 
 Here 'w'as this man, who had given away so many mil- 
 lions and lived in palaces most of his life, sitting there 
 all day in a ten by twelve room, alone and dejected, re- 
 buffing loving hands when they were extended, with his 
 shrunken frame now bent and twisted with pain, clothed 
 in garments frayed and shining with age and glorying in 
 his apparent poverty for the sake of his children. How 
 sad! 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 Following are the names of D. K. Pearsons' fifty-four 
 ' children " : 
 
 Anatolia, Turkey 
 
 American Board of Foreign Missions 
 
 Beloit, Wisconsin 
 
 Berea, Kentucky 
 
 Bethany, West Virginia 
 
 Carleton, Minnesota 
 
 Coe, Iowa 
 
 Colorado, Colorado 
 
 Chicago Theological Seminary, Illinois 
 
 Chicago City Missionary Illinois 
 
 Deer Lodge, Montana 
 
 Doane, Nebraska 
 
 Drury, Missouri 
 
 Fairmont, Kansas 
 
 Fargo, North Dakota 
 
 German, Dubuque, Iowa 
 
 Grant Tennessee 
 
 Guilford, North Carolina 
 
 Hastings, Nebraska 
 
 Highland, Kansas 
 
 Huron South Dakota 
 
 Idaho, Idaho 
 
 Illinois Illinois 
 
 385 
 
386 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 Kingfisher, Oklahoma 
 
 Knox, Illinois 
 
 Lake Forest, Illinois 
 
 Laiwrence, Wisconsin 
 
 Marietta Ohio 
 
 ■Montpelier, Vermont 
 
 Maryville, Tennessee 
 
 McKendree, Illinois 
 
 Middlebury, Vermont 
 
 Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts 
 
 McCormick, Illinois 
 
 Newberry, South Carolina 
 
 Northwestern, Illinois 
 
 Northland, Wisconsin 
 
 Olivet, Michigan 
 
 Onarga, Illinois 
 
 Pacific, Oregon 
 
 Park Missouri 
 
 Piedmont, Georgia 
 
 Pomona, California 
 
 Riipon Wisconsin 
 
 Rollins, Florida 
 
 Tabor, Iowa 
 
 Washington, Tennessee 
 
 Whitman Washington 
 
 West Virginia Conference, West Virginia 
 
 Westminster, Vermont 
 
 West Virginia Seminary, West Virginia 
 
 Yankton, South Dakota 
 
 Presbyterian Hospital Illinois 
 
 Y. M. C. A Chicago, Illinois 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 387 
 
 After long thought and many anxious moments how 
 best to dispose of the last remnant of his fortune, estimat- 
 ed at $7,000,000, he decided to give Hinsdale, the beauti- 
 ful village so long his home, the beautiful residence and 
 grounds, to be maintained as a public library, art gallery 
 and park. Thus he accomiplished what he long had 
 planned, the distribution of all his wealth for the benefit 
 of humanity. To a committee of Hinsdale citizens he 
 made known his offer in these words : 
 
 " My last gift I want to be for Hinsdale. I must leave 
 the old home, and Hinsdale will make me happy by ac- 
 cepting it for use as a library." 
 
 .Entering upon his ninety-second year in failing health 
 he forsook the luxurious home and treasured tokens of 
 dead loves to retire almost penniless to spend his last days 
 at the Hinsdale Sanitarium. 
 
 The home was valued at $35,000. It sitands on a high 
 hill in five acres of artistic and natural grove of timber 
 and is admirably situated for park and library purposes. 
 
 That other people were vitally disappointed when the 
 donor tore up the following will goes without saying : 
 
 " In the name of God, amen. I, Daniel K. Pearsons, of 
 Hinsdale, in the County of Dupage and State of Illinois, 
 being of sound mind and memory, and considering the 
 uncertainty of this frail and transitory life, do therefore 
 make, ordain, publish and declare this to be my last Will 
 and Testament : 
 
 " First, I order and direct that my executor hereinafter 
 named pay all my just debts and funeral expenses as soon 
 after my decease as conveniently may be. 
 
 " Second, after the payment of such funeral expenses 
 and debts, I give, devise and bequeath to the Chicago City 
 
388 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 Missionary Society my home in Hinsdale, six lots, house 
 and barn with all the furniture in said house, except the 
 books and large paintings, which are to go to the Hins- 
 dale library and the high school; statue of Lincoln and 
 Snow Angel to be given to Beloit College. I give to [a 
 niece] five hundred dollars. The residue of my estate I 
 give to the Chicago City Missionary Society. 
 
 " P. S. — The deer and the Gondola bust I give to the 
 Hinsdale library. 
 
 " Lastly, I make, constitute and appoint W. H. King to 
 be executor of this, my last Will and Testament, hereby 
 revoking all former wills by me made. 
 
 " In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my 
 name and affixed my seal the fifth day of June, in the year 
 of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and eleven. 
 [Seal.] " Daniel K. Pearsons. 
 
 " Witnesses : Horace W. Cowles, H. H. Bristol." 
 
 That the Doctor always kept his promises and made 
 good will be seen from the following from the Chicago 
 Record-Herald of September 8, 1911 : 
 
 " Dr. D. K. Pearsons, the aged philanthropist, who is 
 spending the last years of his life in giving away his for- 
 tune, has made a third gift of $50,000 to the Chicago City 
 Missionary Society. 
 
 " Dr. Pearsons became interested in the work of the so- 
 ciety several years ago, and in 1904 he offered to give the 
 society $50,000 if it would raise $100,000 from other 
 sources. The money was raised and then he gave it an- 
 other $50,000 without conditions. He said at that time 
 that those were the best gifts he had ever made and that 
 the society ought to have an endowment of a half mdllion 
 dollars to carry on its work. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 389 
 
 " Yesterday he mailed a third check for $50,000 to the 
 superintendent of the society. The gift was made without 
 conditions except that it musit be kept as a permanent 
 fund. 
 
 " The above check was made out ten minutes before 
 Mr. D. H. Preston and Mr. Horace W. Cowles witnessed 
 the signing of the instrument which conveyed to the vil- 
 lage the doctor's beautiful property. 
 
 " The conditions had been greatly changed from the 
 first offer. Then the house was to be repaired and remod- 
 eled for library and ant museum purposes and the grounds 
 were to be kept up forever for park purposes. But there 
 were too many irons in the fire, as the ideas of the library 
 board and village trustees conflicted, so the Doctor cut the 
 string and untangled the knot by removimg all restrictions 
 against the sale of the property by the board and to de- 
 vote the proceeds to the building of a $25,000 library 
 building more appropriate than the old house, on a 100- 
 foot corner lot, reserved from the five acres, thus takiaig 
 away the park offer from the village. 
 
 " The document said that the southeast comer of the 
 property will be reserved for the library building, which 
 will be a handsome, fireproof structure, bearing the title 
 ' Pearsons Library' over its portals. Within a fime bronze 
 bust and an oil painting of the Doctor will be placed to 
 keep his name and fame in perpetual remembrance. The 
 committee affirm that the structure will be worthy of the 
 generosity and greatness of the donor. They will be per- 
 mitted to sell all but the comer lot to build and maintain 
 the library." 
 
 It was a sad sight pictured to the onlookers aifter the 
 deed was signed to see the Doctor turn his thoughts to his 
 
390 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 last earthly /task of distributing his household effects 
 among his old friends who had known and honored him so 
 long. With slow and wavering footsteps, with frame 
 shaken with age and emotion, he went carefully over 
 every article that brought back such sad recoUectiojis of 
 her who had helped him gather from all parts of the world 
 the contents of the old home. It tore his heart to part 
 with all, but he personally attended to the disposal of 
 everything, like he had with his great fortune.- But he 
 knew be must go ; that a great load had passed out of his 
 hands and out of his mind forever. His work was nearly 
 done. His time of peace and rest had almost come. 
 
 His old nonagenarian friend, Withington, wrote con- 
 cerning him in the Newburyport Herald as follows : 
 
 " A man is in a sanitarium in Illinois without a cent of 
 money which he can call his own. A few years ago he 
 had a fortune of seven million dollars, all of which he has 
 distributed. Yet he was not a spendthrift, nor a reckless 
 person who fooled away his money in speculation. Ap- 
 parently he really believed what Andrew Carnegie said, 
 that 'a man who died very rich died disgraced.' Or per- 
 haps the best investment of capital was to lay up treasures 
 in heaven and await future returns. But whatever his 
 motives may have been, this man sought out objects of 
 public vitility of permanent value and gave liberally to- 
 ward their support. Whether he was wise in giving all his 
 wealth many will doubt, but he seems to have been like 
 Tolstoi in taking the teachings of the Gospel literally and 
 remembering that the rich young man was told, ' Sell all 
 that thou has and give to the poor,' and this modern man, 
 although he had great possessions, did not go away sor- 
 rowfully, but joyfully made away with all that he had and 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORK3 391 
 
 gave it to the kind of poor where it would do the most 
 good." 
 
 The loving epithets bestowed upon him by Carnegie of 
 " Elder Brother," " Dear Colleague," " Prince of Givers," 
 and " Senior Partner " show that he was little less than 
 a genius, encased in human form by the Being of the 
 Universe to play a part. The loving hand of Rockefeller 
 pointed to him as the " Shining Light " and " Guiding 
 Star," loaned for the infinitesimal part of time to the peo- 
 ple of the earth to show them how to live to the best ad- 
 vantage. 
 
 Through the long ages Jiumanity has struggled on in 
 darkness, crying aloud for a light. At last the kindling 
 light appeared above the horizon of the ages to reveal the 
 benign features of a man who loved the world with such 
 an abiding love that after giving away all his worldly 
 goods he still denied himself all the comforts of life to 
 save money for his beloved children. 
 
 After a long life of nearly a century he still sought to 
 cast goods away from him by selling fruit and vegetables 
 for the benefit of those who were yet to come over the 
 ethereal abyss of eternity. Not a minute of a long life 
 nor a penny was wasted in bettering the conditions of bis 
 numerous boys and girls and their progeny to come dur- 
 ing the coming centuries. He played the part with per- 
 fection until the time came to depart. 
 
 He came like a torpedo, shot from the torpedo tube of 
 the twentieth century and aimed to blow up the obstacles 
 that stood in the way of the coming ages. 
 
 No man ever lived in the world who loved money more 
 than Dr. Pearsons and guarded it more jealously to pre- 
 vent any of it from being wasted or devoted to useless 
 purposes. For that reason he chose a course, unique in 
 
392 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 the solemn history of the world, of not giving a penny to 
 any of his relatives. He could not afford to take any 
 chances in devoting a cent to experiment with tfliem to 
 sort out the good from the bad, the deserving from the 
 undeserving, or the needy from the affluent, but bunched 
 them all together like a herd of sheep, wliich, to his strict, 
 puritanical eyes, were all painted black of so dark a hue 
 that no amount of soap and water could whiten the tex- 
 ture. 
 
 If Dr. Pearsons ever had a fault, it was of setting too 
 high a standard for the youth to live up to, forgetting 
 that the times and the age have changed from his youth- 
 ful days, a hundred years ago. He must have had some 
 of the thoughts and aspirations that move the youth of 
 today to do things, like dancing, sports and pastimes un- 
 known and far removed from the severe daily curriculum 
 of his boyhood. He could never understand, having for- 
 gotten all such things in the pursuit of wealth, why it 
 was that the youth of the land, especially the rich ones, 
 had deteriorated and degenerated so rapidly in his life- 
 time from the severe standard of immaculateness set for 
 himself, by himself. He looked upon his relatives as only 
 a horde of undeserving beggars. 
 
 The intense love and veneration he bore for his mother 
 was in vivid contrast to this. He credited her with his 
 long life and strong constitution ; with implanting within 
 his being all the elements that went to make his future 
 success in life, among which was the passion for gaining, 
 saving and hoarding. He inherited those traits of econ- 
 omy, those keen, indescribable business insitincts, which 
 made his investments universally successful. Even after 
 he had become a millionaire, he carried the business all 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 393 
 
 in his head and manipulated deals, involving hundreds of 
 thousands of dollars, without turning a hair. He exhib- 
 ited the same sang-froid, in after years, in writing out 
 fifty thousand and one hundred thousand dollar checks to 
 over twoscore of eleemosynary institutions, situated in all 
 directions, and tributary to his greatest child, Chicago. 
 They extended from coast to coast, both North and 
 South, and he could hear them calling to him from twen- 
 ty-four different States. 
 
 He has planted, sowed, and reaped. What has the 
 threshing returned after all the flails of time have gar- 
 nered the grain ? His great name is eulogy enough, but in 
 addition he had many calm, sweet, and peaceful years to 
 watch the great good his money had done to humanity. 
 He believed with Devon that " what I spent, that I had ; 
 what I saved that I lost ; that which I gave away remains 
 with me." He never considered that he was rich until his 
 wealth had passed into other hands to employ the interest 
 from an intact, inviolable, scrupulously-kept endowment 
 for the benefit of his grandchildren. 
 
 What the great philanthropist said on his ninety-first 
 birthday that had not been said before : 
 
 " I am D. K. Pearsons, private citizen ! 
 
 "I retire to private life a poor old man. I'm through 
 with public life and with being a philanthropist. I'm just 
 going to be a quiet old man, minding my own business 
 and letting other people mind theirs. 
 
 " I shall celebrate my birthday by getting out of debt. 
 I shall pay the American Board of Foreign Missions 
 $100,000; Berea College, Kentucky, $100,000; Northland 
 College, $25,000; Highland, $10,000; McKendree, 
 $10,000, and others, totaling $300,000. A year ago I gave 
 
394 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 notice that I would be getting old by this time and that a 
 young man of my age had no business being in debt. I 
 shall lie down on April 14 out of debt for the first time in 
 many years. I have had these outstanding pledges and 
 have now met them. That will end it for the rest of my 
 days. 
 
 " I have had a lot of fun and am not a dollar poorer 
 from the millions I have given away. I have never de- 
 nied myself anything I have cared for, but have been crit- 
 icised for not spending money for things I did not need 
 nor want. I have had all I wanted to eat, drink or wear ; 
 a good home, books, amd every reasonable comfort. As 
 for the money I have given away, the giving has made me 
 richer, happier. 
 
 " No father was ever more proud of or took greater joy 
 in his children than I do in my colleges. They are good 
 and growing children and are my crown and joy. I have 
 watched them, scolded them, nurtured them and loved 
 *hem and they are a great and growing joy to me. My 
 interest in the colleges remains unabated and I shall love 
 them as long as I live. Only in my body am I an old 
 man ; in my mind and heart I feel all the thrill of youth. 
 I still enjoy life; my mind is young and I hope to live 
 other years. By the blessing of God I have lived these 
 years and the time that still remains will have pleasant 
 recollections, sincere friendships, amd continued interest 
 in the work I have loved. My career as a giver is end- 
 ed. I have done the work I promised to do and my life 
 has been spared to complete it. I have no more money 
 for benevolences. I have enough left to take care of me 
 and do some things which I want to do, but every dollar 
 that I now have is fully provided for. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 395 
 
 " As I retire to private life, I'm perfectly well except 
 for my ear. I'm going to sleep easy tonight ; got it all off 
 my mind. The newspapers have always been my friends. 
 They have, helped advertise and encourage the colleges, 
 some of whom could never have met their conditions 
 without the generous help of the press. I want to thank 
 them. 
 
 " When it comes down to when, how, and where to 
 give, I reckon I've beat them all. The more I gave the 
 more I prospered. That's a great secret — the more you 
 give, why, the more comes back to you. I was fortunate 
 in my real estate dealings all over the State. Made every 
 dollar I ever had myself from my wife's patrimony as a 
 starter. 
 
 " Yes, I think I've beat them all in giving where it was 
 most needed, but I'll tell you that if I had any more mon- 
 ey, I'd give it all to Chicago in addition to the $1,000,000 
 already given her. 
 
 " If I were president of a college I would not permit 
 football or baseball. I believe that college sports are a 
 curse. Why should a young man train himself to become 
 an adept in football? Who wants to make his living 
 playing it? Let the young man train himself along the 
 lines of the work he is going to continue. My diversion 
 was working hard, hoeing corn. That's enough exercise. 
 From among the thousands of Icitters and telegrams I will 
 only read you one from John D. Rockefeller : 
 
 " ' D. K. Pearsons : I rejoice in all your good deeds. 
 The world is made better by your beautiful example of 
 giving so generously of your substance for the benefit of 
 your fellow-men. I tongratulate you on your ninety-first 
 
396 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 birthday and wish you many happy returns of the same. 
 Lord bless you and keep you in health and happiness.' 
 
 " I have been guided in this work. If I had ohosen 
 selfishly I oould not have chosen anything more pleasant 
 than I did. It has been an education to me. I did not 
 map it out in advance. I blundered into it and to very 
 good advantage. 
 
 " I want all my friends to help me make it plain that I 
 receive no more solicitors and will read no more letters 
 asking gifts. 
 
 " Faithfully guard your endowment funds and use 
 careful business methods in placing them, is the final 
 message I send to my children before turning them loose 
 to care for themselves. Guard your students even more 
 carefully and keep them from harm, far the hope of the 
 country is in the young people you are training. May 
 other men who have enjoyed prosperity enjoy as much 
 as I have the investment of their wealth where it is sure 
 to do good. 
 
 " And now, my friends, good-bye, and God bless you." 
 
 Tears filled the eyes of all as he shook the hands of his 
 friends for the last time. Here we have a man really con- 
 scious of the value and power of money, but with all the 
 force of a romantic, imaginative, and alert nature he 
 comprehends that the power he has is gigantic and pre- 
 pares to make it do a great work. 
 
 Those tearful friends, who sat about the last birthday 
 banquet in his honor, will reflect, in the solitude of their 
 homes, on the changes a few years bring about. When he 
 rose to speak all bowed their heads in solemn reverence. 
 It was the happiest hour of Dr. Pearsons' life, as, with 
 hands and eyes uplifted toward heaven, his face radiant 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 397 
 
 with the goodness and happiness that was in his soul, he 
 uttered a few sentences of thanksgiving. The venerable 
 man felt that God was blessing him for what he had done, 
 and his face was an inspiration, his happiness was con- 
 tagious, and the blessing of the " Last Supper " per- 
 meated the assembly. It was his work that was being 
 honored as much as the man himself. 
 
 Well could the impressive gathering say in parting, " O 
 God ! We thank thee, that he was permitted to live un- 
 til this hour. Thy will be done." 
 
 It was a great surprise to his friends that the Doctor, 
 enfeebled by the infirmities of extreme old age, survived 
 the serious ailments that racked his frame in the spring of 
 1911. His face, which wore a benediction for all man- 
 kind, was often distorted by the pain of a gathering in the 
 ear, which caused him to walk the floor night after night, 
 suffering supreme anguish, and his friends shook their 
 heads in fear. 
 
 His benevolent smile, whioh carried a love-token to all 
 humanity, was often erased by the sharp twinges of rheu- 
 matism that made him fearful that he would not survive 
 until his ninety-first birthday — which he awaited like a 
 horse coming to the quarter-post — ^to pay his debts and 
 be square with the world. He arrived at his birthday 
 with ihearing impaired, with body weakened, but with 
 heart as great and brain as fertile as the /time when he 
 formed the great conception, grandly worked out by this 
 remarkable man, to benefit men ; to be his own executor, 
 giving his wealth to religious and educational institutions 
 wihich will uplift and benefit the world through all time. 
 
 If immortality consists in the perpetuity of existence of 
 the good we have done as it is remembered by others, he 
 
398 DANIEL K. PEARSONS, 
 
 has it in the gratefulness of whole communities, in the 
 inspiration and joy of a better life, given to thousands of 
 men and women ; in contributing to the making of char- 
 acter and scattering truth, light and beauty through the 
 betterment of the youth of the land, and because he lived 
 a humanized career so rich and noble in its suggestion to 
 others. 
 
 His spirtual and moral dividends will continue to come 
 to him forever in the thoughts of his beneficiaries, but the 
 generous giver experienced only the exhilaration and sat- 
 isfaction ai being able to aid his fellows. He already 
 shared the joys of his Lord. He partook of the bliss of 
 heaven while still on earth. 
 
 The choir invisible of those immortal dead who live again 
 In the minds made better by their presence. 
 In pulse stirred to generosity — in scorn 
 For miserable aims that end in self. 
 
 — George Eliot. 
 
 Like a large star of the summer night, he hung long 
 before our sight and, slipping over the edge of eternity, 
 left behind him not darkness but light. In largeness of 
 spirit and purpose similar to God, who fills the heavens, 
 the earth and the sea with beauties and treasures which 
 our awakening intelligence cannot explore or fathom, so 
 also his giving was boundless, endless and all-consuming, 
 and now he rests from his labors. We see his works fol- 
 lowing him as a cloud of witnesses, testifying to the 
 blessings of giving, of missionary zeal, of love for moral 
 and religious reform and an upright character. 
 
 He left behind him a renewed religion of brotherhood 
 and the understanding of the teachings of Christ in God, 
 when "they that turn many to righteousness shall shine as 
 the stars, for ever and ever." 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 399 
 
 The only saying of our Lord not found in the Gospel 
 is : " It is more blessed to give than to receive." 
 
 And as he stripped himself almost bare of worldly 
 goods he gave the credit of founding his fortune and 
 benevolence to his wife, whose inheritance of money and 
 character was the groundwork of his own. 
 
 We should all, in entering life, remember its termina- 
 tion and that no matter how long delayed the end must 
 surely come, so "whatever your hand finds to do, do it 
 with all your might, for there is no work, nor device, nor 
 knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave," where we all are 
 going. 
 
 We are told and .taught to believe that those who be- 
 lieve in the only God and Christ, his Son, will live forever 
 in that land to which death is but a stepping stone, and 
 that God in his judgment will be- just to those who are 
 convinced of the divinity of his crucified Son. 
 
 We see the vision of the resurrection morn, when the 
 graves open before our eyes, and the souls of many gen- 
 erations spring up to immortal existence. Who is more 
 assured of the fulfillment of the divine promise, that "they 
 who have done good in his sight, shall rise to the resur- 
 rection of life " than the man who has loved his fellow- 
 men and labored for their welfare all his life, and that 
 they who " have turned many to righteousness shall shine 
 like the stars forever and ever " ? 
 
 Our work here should always be preparatory for the 
 end. When we stand face to face with death we should 
 be able to look back without shame on our past life, nor 
 be tortured by the thought of the good we have thrown 
 away or (the sorrow of an irreparable past come upon us, 
 as the phantom of our life's course flows before our fail- 
 
400 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 ing vision, as the senses grow faint and our feet begin "to 
 stumble on the dark mountain." 
 
 And so in the grand and glorious merge of humanity 
 the man with great faith in the Redeemer, whom, having 
 not seen he yet loves, that prompts those mental instincts 
 in a frame wasted away by sickness and old age, whose 
 faded eye we see lighted up by a celestial brightness, that 
 kindles that kind and sympathetic nature, that utters the 
 language of assured triumph and glorious finisih, that im- 
 pulse that comes to follow Christ's desire "to feed my 
 sheep " that prompts him to serve his fellow-men, and to 
 rejoice with joy unspeakable while doing it — such men 
 make the force that moves the world. 
 
 At the best life is but a brief time. " It appeareth a lit- 
 tle moment and then vanisheth away." It is but a flash 
 out of darkness, soon to return into darkness. It is 
 but the flight of a bird through a lighted room into the 
 darkness beyond. We stand on a mountain peak from 
 which millions of our kind have fallen; we struggle 
 and strain to arrive at the top with a heavy load, which 
 only hastens our fall on the other side. We should drop 
 our burdens as we mount and let many and stronger 
 shoulders carry them on. That our abode on earth is 
 only for a few years we know. If we live to pass through 
 the palsy of old age before we fall into the grave, we will 
 find that it is but a " vale of tears " between two eterni- 
 ties, from neither of which has come a sound, and 
 that few and evil have the days of our life been; that 
 "whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap ; he that 
 soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption ; he 
 that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life ever- 
 lasting." The threads of our moral history run on for- 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 401 
 
 ever. The scythe of time and the shadow of death may 
 co'ver them up, but they emerge again in the world to 
 come to be exhibits at our trial before the throne of God. 
 Happy is the man, then, whose life has been a prepa- 
 ration for death and the life to come when the evidence 
 shows that he has been doing the work of God and fol- 
 lowing the teachings of Christ. Does not God's eternal 
 friendship appeal more to our hearts when all things are 
 so changeable here? Our family ties may be broken and 
 the dear ones gone beyond. We hope to meet them there. 
 Death has burst the bonds and rifted the treasures of 
 our firesides, those who are "bone of your bone and 
 flesh of your flesh " are treading the heavenly pathways. 
 You nearly have pictured in your mind the place or some 
 far star on which they dwell. You even have enshrined 
 upon your heart their images as they meet you to lead you 
 through the unaccustomed paths. How lovingly will they 
 beam upon you, as they bring you, rejoicing, into the new 
 family circle! It behooves the earthly traveler to think 
 well of this and much, as it has .been the haunting fear of 
 ages. The proudest king can in a moment lose his mighty 
 power and be laid away in his tomb forever, unprepared 
 to meet his loved ones. The mightiest strengiCh is broken 
 down and the goddess of beauty lies in the grave with 
 worms feeding on her lovely cheeks, and her spirit turned 
 into a different road than that along which her babies' 
 feet have gone. 
 
 Over the river they beckon to me. 
 
 Loved ones who've crossed to the further side; 
 The gleam of their snowy robes I see, 
 
 But their voices are drowned in the rushing tide. 
 
 —Priest. 
 
 How quickly we approach that time of life when 
 
402 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 spring, summer and autumn are past and winter, with its 
 silvery covering of white, forebodes the approaching end 
 of mortality ! How splendid has been the spring, with its 
 bursting buds and its sweet-smelling blossoms ! How de- 
 licious the summer, when returning birds, the growing 
 flowers and grass tell of new life ! How beautiful is au- 
 tumn, when the fores.ts on the distant hills are painted in 
 the gorgeous tints of the declining day 1 And how ma- 
 , jestic is winter, with nature asleep under a mantel oif 
 snow and the stars overhead twinkling in their cold beds 
 through the leafless branches of the trees! While the 
 wind whistles and moans around the corners we think of 
 the time when summer was here, and in our dreams we 
 think we are again surrounded by the loved ones in the 
 old home. But we awake. We hear the cold, bleak 
 winds that tell us of our winter of life ; we feel the chill 
 frost that has stiffened our limbs ; we see that the leaves 
 have fallen and lie on our last resting place, and we rise to 
 look upon the desolation without which but represents 
 wihat is in your heart, and we think of those who have 
 gone before to the "country from which no one ever re- 
 turns." Such is the unavoidable doom of man, and it 
 may be his fate at a time when he thinks not. The anni- 
 hilation of the world, with its beauties, its marvels and its 
 riches is the same to the dying man as the spectre of 
 death, but his glazing eyes see a gleam which shows Christ 
 proclaiming the glory and pointing the way through chaos 
 to heaven. Be then, now, what you would wish to be a 
 million years hence, and while on earth elevate your mind 
 to the divine heights where you would wish them to soar 
 for evermore. Aspire to make this life clean, the work 
 noble, the faith sublime, the death glorious, like that of a 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 403 
 
 Christian, ever turning for strength and guidance to God 
 in faith and hope, that the record of the work that we 
 leave behind may be pleasing in his sight, so that the im- 
 ages and precious thoughts of memory shall be carried to 
 the silent shore, there never to die or be destroyed. 
 The soul never sleeps, and at the archangel's voice will 
 put on immortality. Enter into the inheritance — ^heirs of 
 eternity and children of God, the gates of heaven are open 
 to you, " When God, looking on the earth with approba- 
 tion, marks the just man and divulges him through heav- 
 en to all his angels, who with true applause, recount his 
 praise." — Allen. 
 
 " Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it 
 after many days." 
 
 One of Dr. Pearsons' wonderful traits up to the hour 
 of his death was the refreshing interest he took in life 
 and the studious means he employed to remain among 
 the living, that he might be spared to see the ripe fruit of 
 his benefactions ; that he might in part receive the grati- 
 tude of their recipients and experience the supreme satis- 
 faction of being an instrument of lasting good to the 
 world. Who can contemplate the close of such an ex- 
 traordinary life, without being thankful that he could live 
 so happy, so peaceful, so long in serene and beatific con- 
 templation of the accruing compound interest that good 
 doing brings to the donor ? 
 
 His crowning glory and the delight of his heart were 
 his college children. He needed no other monument than 
 them. 
 
 The last of his days was spent in delicious solitude at 
 Hinsdale, where he devoted himself to serene contempla- 
 tion and meditation on his immortal destiny. He feared 
 
404 DANIEL K. PEARSONS 
 
 not the angel of death, and came to look upon his benign 
 countenance with a longing that told eloquently of the 
 long delayed departure to rejoin his loved ones on the 
 other shore. 
 
 Let us take courage when we contemplate his joyful 
 life ; let us aspire to that heaven where all is eternal. The 
 horrors of the tomb are but the cradle of the sun, and the 
 dark shadows of death are caused by the brilliant stars 
 that shine behind the clouds. 
 
 The great philanthropist lived nearly a century of 
 years. I knelt by his grave at sundown, when the sky 
 was made radiant and the hills of his beloved country 
 were goldened by the reflected rays of the departing sim, 
 and I lifted my heart in thanks to God for giving the 
 young men of the country such a shining example of puri- 
 ty, of kindness and benevolence. Thus, beside his loving 
 wife, this noble Christian gentleman was laid to rest, 
 while the birds sang, the flowers scented the air, and the 
 breath of the coming night plainly told of the resurrec- 
 tion morn and of eternal life, which God will surely give 
 to his beloved. 
 
 In the presence of the great God in heaven, there they 
 are before the throne and they serve him day and night 
 in his temple, and the glories of that concourse, how vast 
 and overwhelming it must be ! They are in white robes 
 with crowns on their heads and the light which guides 
 them comes from the throne. For them Christ has van- 
 quished death and in its stead, he brought life and im- 
 mortality. Death was to them but a going home. In the 
 contemplation of the Divine glories, they surrendered all 
 dominion and power to him who sits upon the throne 
 and to his Son forever. 
 
HIS LIFE AND WORKS 405 
 
 Let us think that in the silence they hear the great 
 
 songs of victory over there, and that the inscription upon 
 
 their tombstone — " In Hopes of Eternal Life " — may 
 
 have been granted to them. 
 
 "That sound in dropping through Eternity. 
 Heard in God's ear beyond the furthest star.'' 
 
 — Meredith. 
 
 This book cannot be finished in a better manner than in 
 
 copying that beautiful poem of Longfellow, which was 
 
 the favorite of Dr. Pearsons and which the was daily fond 
 
 of quoting to the young people to encourage and inspire 
 
 them: 
 
 Tell me not, in mournful numbers, 
 
 Life is but an empty dream; 
 For the soul is dead that slumbers. 
 
 And things are not what they seem. 
 
 Life is real, life is earnest, 
 
 And the grave is not its goal: 
 Dust thou art, to dust returnest. 
 
 Was not spoken of the soul. 
 
 In the world's broad field of battle, 
 
 In the bivouac of life, 
 Be not like dumb, driven cattle. 
 
 Be a hero in the strife. 
 Trust no future, howe'er pleasant; 
 
 Let the dead Past bury its dead: 
 Act, act in the living Present, 
 
 Heart within and God o'erhead. 
 Lives of great men all remind us 
 
 We can make our lives sublime. 
 And, departing, leave behind us 
 
 Footprints on the sands of time, — 
 Footprints that perhaps another, 
 
 Sailing o'er Life's solemn main, — 
 A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, — 
 
 Seeing, shall take heart again. 
 Let us, then, be up and doing. 
 
 With a heart for any fate; 
 Still achieving, still pursuing. 
 
 Learn to labor and to wait.