1- ^* PRINCETON, N. J. ^ Presented by~^ V . ^ J\^ rc • cA . \ j CA \\ BV 3142 .H35 H35 1903 Hamlin, Alfred Dwight Foster, 1855-1926. In memoriam. Rev. Cyrus Kami "in Cyrus Hamlin, Student, 1834 IFn ^emoriam IRev* C^rus Mamlin, 2):d.,x.x.35). ' Strbant of ^ob, fetll bone ! ^£St from tijg lobcb emplog ; S^bc battU fought, t^£ bittorg feon, Sntn t^g Piaster's jog." -31*- BOSTON 1Publisbe& privateliP X903 Press of J. J. Arakelyan 2Q5 Congress St. Boston FOREWORD The preparation of this little book has been undertaken as a tribute of filial love to a dear parent, and as an expression of the grateful regard in which Dr. Hamlin's family hold the devoted friendship of the hundreds of friends who contributed so greatly to the happiness of Dr. Hamlin's life and to the sweetening of his hours of trial and sorrow. No man ever tasted the joys of friendship more abundantly and fully than he, and next to his sublime Christian faith there was in his life no deeper source of felicity than the afifection of his family and of his wide and yet choice circle of friends. To all of these — to all who loved him in life, and who, now that he has departed from us for a season, cherish his memory as a blessed inspiration, this little record of his life and death and of the words spoken by his friends, is grate- fully dedicated. The compiler of this brief record, through a son, has preferred to write in an impersonal style, as a chronicler from the outside, rather than to obtrude his own personality, feeling and emotions upon the reader's attention. At the same time, writing for friends only and not for the general public, he has included some details and extracts from letters which would perhaps have been omitted from a biography intended for the public. He begs to express his grateful obligations to those friends whose liberal subscriptions made possible the publication of this memorial. A. D. F. Hamlin. Columbia University, June, 1903. CYRUS HAMLIN D.D. L.L.D. A Christian hero, a missionary, educator and states- man, passed away from earth when Cyrus HamUn was called to his great reward on the night of August 8, 1900. His death, coming to him as "in the harness," with no prolonged sickness, with no break-down or clouding of the intellect, brought to a beautiful and fitting close a career remarkable in its achievements and its environ- ment. With the exception of Elias Riggs, who died not long after. Dr. Hamlin was at the time of his death the last of that company of pioneer missionaries of the Amer- ican Board who, in the first half of the last century, laid in the Sandwich Islands, in India, China and Turkey, the foundations of the splendid work of Christian civili- zation and enlightenment which has crowned with such glory the missionary enterprises of American Christians, and done so much to break down old superstitions and lift up degraded humankind. Greater things may be in store for the future of missions, but nevermore work 6 Cyrus Ha77ilin like that wrought by these men. The railway, the steam- ship and the electric wire have brought the "ends of the earth" nearer together than the extremes of a single country were in their day ; and it is hardly possible that any future career can surpass, if it can equal, the pic- turesque and romantic aspects of the lives and labors of these pioneers, and particularly of Cyrus Hamlin. Born in the days of Napoleon, he lived to see the days of Mc- Kinley : brought up in the days of the stage-coach and spinning-wheel, he witnessed the birth of wireless teleg- raphy. When he went to Constantinople in 1838-39, that city was still in the Middle Ages, and no man might pass the Sultan's palace on horseback or on wheels : when he died, Stamboul was but eleven days distant from New York, and one might ride into the capital in a luxurious drawing-room car. His career was as excep- tional as the conditions under which it was run. As a missionary teacher, he introduced into mission work the conception of the value of secular education as an adjunct to evangelism ; of English as the vehicle for such teach- ing; of manual training and industrial work as essential elements in the uplifting of degraded peoples and in the cultivation of independence and resource. He gave a mighty impulse to the intellectual awakening of the His Career y Armenians and contributed greatly to the purification of their language. As a philanthropist he labored among the plague-spots of cholera and saved thousands of lives from that Eastern scourge ; supplied good bread to the sick and wounded in the hospitals at Scutari during the Crimean War, cleansed the vermin-infested clothing of the fever-stricken British troops when no one else could be found to attempt the repulsive task, and with the pro- ceeds of these industries built thirteen mission churches in Asia Minor. A consummate organizer, he founded in Robert College an institution which has profoundly in- fluenced the moral and political destinies of south-eastern Europe. A scientist, he helped set up the first telegraph, and lit the first electric light ever seen in the Sultan's dominions. A diplomatist, he checkmated the intrigues ■of France and Russia against Robert College, and tri- umphed over Turkish dilatoriness and craft, leagued with those powers to destroy the college if possible. Yet less than half his life was spent in Turkey: what features of romantic interest might have been added to his career had he been permitted to return to Turkey, as he longed to do, and there complete and live to its €nd the life of labor and love of which thirty-five years had been given to that land and her people ! 8 Cyrus Hamlin Yet the twenty-seven years he was permitted to spend in his native land after his return in 1873 were not lost to the cause of missions. His voice was never silent, nor his pen inactive, when the interests of that cause were attacked or imperilled. As a writer of books at New Haven, as a professor of theology at Bangor, as a college president at Middlebury, as a lecturer, preacher and mission-agent at Lexington, and as an American citizen and a Christian always, he championed the cause of the oppressed Armenians, the rights of American citizens in Turkey, and the interests of education as a most power- ful lever for missionary efficiency, standing always for positive beliefs and consistent action in theology, poli- tics, temperance work and mission activities. His deep affection for the Armenians never waned, nor did his de- votion to their welfare flag, to the end of his life ; and he was mourned by them as their dearest friend and father. In the last hour of his life he addressed a meeting in the chapel of the Second Parish Church in Portland, where, sixty-three years before, he had been ordained to the Christian ministry, and where, seventy-one years be- fore, he had declared before men his faith in Christ and determination to serve Him. His was preeminently an abundant life, full to overflowing with labors of love and Early Life g abounding in remarkable and triumphant successes, ac- complished under the controlling inspiration of an un- shakable faith in God's wisdom and goodness. "Divine Providence never makes a mistake" he said in one of the darkest moments of apparent defeat and failure ; and he was accustomed to refer to his "five failures in life" as five stepping-stones, under God's leading, to final success in cherished plans and enterprises. In these pages it is my desire to place before those who knew and loved him, a few of the tributes spoken and published at the time of his death, at the funeral, and at memorial services, together with a brief summary of the leading events of his life, as a memorial of a life and of a character of exceptional worth. js > J* Cyrus Hamlin was born in Waterford, Maine, a small farming village some forty miles northwest of Portland, on the the 5th of January, 181 1. In his Early Life early boyhood the memories of the war of 1812 and even of the Revolution were still fresh in peo- ple's minds, and were subjects of frequent conversation ; the "Louisiana Purchase" was still an almost unex- plored country; Maine had not yet been separated from Massachusetts ; and Greece was still a province of 10 Cyrus Ha?nlin Turkey. George Stephenson had not yet built the "Rock- et," and steam river-navigation was in its infancy. Cy- rus HamHn lived to see his country pass through four wars; he watched the growth of steam transportation from the date of the first practicable railway to its mag- nificent extension at the end of the century ; he witnessed the birth of the telegraph and saw those triumphs of elec- trical science in the telephone and in electric transit, which are among the crowning achievements of the nine- teenth century. During his life industry was revolution- ized, the earth girdled with steam-routes by sea and land, and the map of Europe made over; American Foreign Missions were born and developed into one of the might- iest of forces for the hastening of the coming of the Kingdom of Righteousness, and the United States grew from a weak state menaced by European empires into the foremost power among the nations. His life covered all that was most marvelous of the nineteenth century, and when his eyes closed to the sights of earth on the 8th of August, 1900, the century was within five months of its end. How wide awake had he always been to its movements and progress ! His father having died in Cyrus' infancy, the boy's early life was devoted to the hardest kind of farm work, in Boyhood and Touth ii company with his brother Hannibal (who died in 1862 at Washington, D. C). At 16 years of age he went to Portland to serve an apprenticeship at silversmithing in the store of his brother-in-law, the late Charles Farley. During this apprenticeship he confessed Christ and joined the Second Parish Church (1829) under the preaching of Dr. Payson. He was shortly afterward led to the conviction that his duty was to study for the min- istry, and after a year at Bridgeton Academy (North Bridgeton, Maine) he entered Bowdoin College in the class of 1834, graduating with high honors in a class of rather more than the average of ability. His theological studies at Bangor Seminary were completed in 1837 and at their close he was accepted as a missionary of the American Board, and ordained at Portland on the 3d of October, 1837. He had expected an assignment to the African field, but when the order came to go to Con- stantinople for educational work, he obeyed with a soldier's promptness. Owing, however, to the limited re- sources of the Board, his departure was delayed a year : and during this interval he was engaged in preaching as "pastoral supply" at the Second Parish Church in Portland, and at the Union Church at Worcester, Mass. September 3, 1838, he was married to Henrietta Lo- 12 Cyrus Hamlin raine Jackson, and on the third of December he sailed with his bride on the "Eunomus" for Smyrna, en route for Constantinople, where he arrived about the twenty- ninth of January, 1839. Of the details of his missionary career this is not the place to speak. They must be sought out in his books* and in the files of the "Missionary Herald." Only the dry outlines can be given. After the necessary period of apprenticeship in the Armenian and Turkish languages, he began his educational work by establishing an in- stitution for the training of Armenians for both secular and clerical careers : a sort of high-school and theologi- cal institute combined. This was opened Nov. 4, 1840, in hired quarters at Bebek on the Bosphorus, a quiet and beautifully situated village which was his home for the next thirty-one years. He was joined in 1843 by Rev. Geo. W. Wood, who was his faithful friend through life ; but who was obliged a few years later to return to the United States. Mr. Hamlin continued in its administra- tion until 1856, when he was given a leave of absence for a short visit to the United States. During his ab- sence the seminary was placed in the hands of a '^ Among the Turks, 1877; American Tract Society, New York. My Life and Times, 1893 ; Congregational Publishing Society, Boston. Educational Convictions ij Rev. William Clark : but at the expiration of his year's engagement, Mr. Clark was allowed to withdraw, and Mr. Hamlin was restored to the control of the seminary, which he held until its discontinuance in 1859, prelim- inary to its removal to Marsovan. Upon this Mr. Ham- lin resigned from the service of the Board and accepted the presidency of the college which the late C. R. Rob- ert of New York proposed to establish at Constanti- nople : of this more presently. During these twenty-one years Mr. Hamlin had de- veloped very strong convictions as tO' the importance of secular education as an adjunct to direct religious work in missions, and the desirability of making English the ■medium and vehicle for the higher education of Orientals, as the only language under which Armenians, Greeks, Turks and Bulgarians could unite in such schools as he advocated. His was the prophetic eye, and these were the fundamental principles of the college that was to be the crowning work of his career. But he was ahead of his time ; some of his colleagues conscientiously opposed these views, and they were not well received at the Mission Rooms in Boston. The removal of the seminary to Marsovan was only a part of the plan to "rescue" it l/f Cyrus Hamlin from Dr. Hamlin's secularizing and anglicizing adminis- tration, as some viewed it : and his resignation was partly due to his unwillingness to lend himself to the carrying out of principles in which he did not believe, partly to his feeling that his work and methods had received, by this move, the stamp of official disapproval. It was the first "great failure" of his life, out of which greater suc- cess was to spring. It was during these years that the Crimean war brought him those opportunities for industrial activity of which he availed himself in such extraordinary fashion that he was able, out of the proceeds, to meet the cost of building thirteen church edifices for Protestant com- munities in Asia Minor. He established bakeries and took contracts for supplying the great hospitals at Scu- tari and Kooleli with white bread such as was nowhere else known in Turkey, the supply rising to thousands of loaves daily. He undertook to wash the filthy and ver- min-infested blankets and underclothing of the British troops, which no one else would touch, by means of washing machines of his own design, made from British beer-hogsheads. He did this with profit to the mission and to scores of native women employed in his laundry. He carried on these activities, upon borrowed capital. Family Record 75 in addition to his regular educational work, and netted twenty-five thousand dollars which he bestowed upon the thirteen churches referred to. Meanwhile he had al- ways been active in preaching, translating text-books, carrying on a voluminous correspondence, and visiting the houses of the sick and the worst centers of the cholera and the plague, until he was not infrequently saluted with the title of "Hekim-Bashi (Head-Physician) Hamlin." *fi^ •?• «^ During these twenty-one years, also, there had been births, marriages and deaths in the family. The children born were : Henrietta Ann Loraine, born Dec. 5, 1839; married Rev. George Washburn (now president of Robert College) in 1859. Susan Elizabeth, born May 6, 1842; died 1858. Margaret Caroline, born Sept. 10, 1845 ; married Wil- liam H. Vail, M.D. in 1872; died April 8, 1887. Abigail Frances, born Nov. 10, 1847; married Rev. Charles Anderson, now Dean and Professor in Rob- ert College, in 1873. Mary Rebecca, born July 29, 1850; died in September 1852. Mrs. Hamlin, a woman of rare beauty, both of person and character, died November 14, 1850, on the Island of l6 Cyrus Hamlin Rhodes, whither Mr. HamHn had taken her in a vain effort to restore her shattered health. Mr. HamHn was married again, on the eighteenth of May, 1852, to Miss Harriet Martha Lovell, a missionary teacher who had come to Constantinople in 1845 to take charge of a new school for Armenian girls established by the mission. This very happy union was terminated at the end of five short years by the death of Mrs. Hamlin, November 6, 1857. She left two children : Harriet Clara, born March 3, 1853 ! married in 1889 to Rev. L. O. Lee, D.D., missionary at Marash, Tur- key; died January 23, 1902, at Marash. Alfred Dwight Foster, born September 5, 1855, now res- ident in New York, as adjunct Professor in Colum- bia University. In 1859, on the fifth of November, Dr. Hamlin mar- ried Miss Mary Eliza Tenney,then a missionary at Tocat, m Asia Minor ; her children were five, of whom four sur- vive: Mary Ann Robert, born June 8, 1862 ; married in 1896 to Rev. George E. Ladd, now pastor of the Con- gregational church at Randolph, Vermont. Emma Catherine, bom FebrUiary 29, 1864, now living with Mrs. Hamlin at Lexington, Mass. William Maltby, born March 4, 1866; died October 7, 1871. Alice Julia, born Dec. 20, 1867; married in 1897 to Ed- gar L. Hinman, now Professor in the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska. Visit to United States n Christopher Robert, bom October ii, 1870, now pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church, Lincoln, Neb- raska. In 1854 Mr, Hamlin received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Bowdoin College; in 1861 that of S.T.D, from Harvard University, and of LL.D. in 1870 from New York University. t^" tj^ %Ir^ In i860 Dr. Hamlin with his wife made a second visit to the United States, to confer with Mr. C. R. Robert of New York City regarding a proposed college to be estab- lished at Constantinople, and which Mr. Robert desired to entrust to Dr. Hamlin as its organizer and president. The first suggestion of such an institution came from two sons' of Dr. H. G. O. Dwight, one of Dr. Hamlin's missionary colleagues; young men who had graduated respectively in medicine and theology with the purpose of teaching those branches in such a college. Mr. Robert had become interested in the enterprise ; but he insisted on such radical changes in the original scheme, that the Dwights felt compelled to withdraw, and the work was placed in Dr. Hamlin's hands. After a year in the United ^The late Dr. James D. Dwight, and Rev. W. B. Dwight, now Professor of Geology at Vassar College : graduates of Yale in 1852 and 1854. l8 Cyrus Hamlin States Dr. and Mrs. Hamlin returned to Constantinople, where two years were spent in efforts to secure a suita- ble building-site ; and after a site had finally been pur- chased, in fruitless attempts to obtain a permit to build. It was finally decided to hire the disused seminary build- ing at Bebek from the American Board for the college, and here in 1863 it was opened with four students. For eight years it was conducted in this building with funds furnished by Mr. Robert, until it became self-supporting or very nearly so. Its trustees, business men and clergy- men in New York, were incorporated under the laws of that state, and its charter was granted by the Regents of the University of New York. It was, and is, a secular but Christian college 'of high grade; conducted chiefly in English, by a teaching-staff largely American. It thus embodied completely those views for which Dr. Hamlin had contended in the old seminary, and its magnificent success has been the monument to the statesmanlike foresight of those views. To its liberalizing and uplift- ing tendencies Bulg^aria owes in a large degree her emer- gence from a virtual serfdom into practical independence, and the college early became and has always been, an un- assailable lighthouse of progress in a benighted empire. For seven years Dr. Hamlin strove pertinaciously to Robert College Built ig obtain the permit to built upon the new and superior site at RumeH-Hissar, which had been acquired in 1861. Both the Jesuit-French and the Russian influences, then strong at the SubHme Porte, were leagued with the Ottoman opposition to prevent the building of the college, and American diplomacy, preoc- cupied with the embarrassments of our Civil War, failed to score against the combination. But in 1868 Admiral Farragut visited Constantinople in the course of that memorable last cruise which took him to so many other European capitals, where he was received and feted with extraordinary honors. By a curious misconception of the object of his visit, the Turks connected it with the demand for the permit to build the college. Embarrassed by the Cretan re- bellion, then assuming serious proportions, and fearing lest the "Great Admiral" might have been sent to give aid and comfort to the rebels if rebuffed in the supposed object of his mission. Sultan Abdul Aziz hastened to grant an Imperial Irade or rescript, placing the property and rights of the college upon a secure and unassailable foundation, and in a few months the long delayed permit to build was issued. In May, 1871, the college moved to its splendid property on the heights of Rumeli-Hissar. 20 Cyrus Hamlin Dr. Hamlin made a short visit to the United States in 1 871, spending a few months in efforts to raise endow- ments for professorships; and finally returned again, with his family, in 1873 to spend a year in a further cam- paign for funds. The great financial panic of 1873 made this an almost impossible quest ; and Dr. Hamlin, with heroic devotion to the college, refusing tO' accept any regular salary, supported himself and family not for one but for nearly four years, by preaching, writing and lec- turing in behalf of the college, turning into its treasury every cent over the barest necessary living expenses, be- sides raising twenty-six thousand dollars towards its en- dowment. The reward of these labors was that he was informed by Mr. Robert, in 1877, that his services were no longer wanted as the president of Robert College. No explanation was vouchsafed, and none was asked. His resignation was instantly handed in and all further intercourse with Mr. Robert discontinued. At sixty-six years of age he was literally turned out by the man to whom he had given the absolute devotion of seventeen years of indefatigable and wearing service, and left stranded without employment and without financial re- sources to fall back upon, with a family to support and four young children to educate. Influences, working in Dark Days 21 secret, had 'operated on Mr. Robert's mind to discredit Dr. Hamlin's work in Robert College; and Mr. Robert dismissed him without a word of regret, apparently with indifference. The tragedy of this curt dismissal only those can appreciate who knew the intensity of Dr. Hamlin's devotion to Robert College and his unswerving loy- alty to Mr. Robert. It came like a stab to the heart from the man whose friendship he had cherished with enthu- siastic fidelity. It was a sorrow to be suffered in silence. Dr. Hamlin refused to discredit the college in the public estimation by making known the injury to himself. He never realized his unappeasable longing to return to Constantinople, though his eyes often filled with tears at the mention of the scenes of his life's work, so dear to him. The story of his heroic struggles under the crushing weight of a deeply-felt wrong and a vanished friendship is too painful to dwell upon. The years from 1877 to 1880 were years of patient endurance and incessant work. "Among the Turks'" was written in the first three months after this staggering shock — an- other of the great "defeats" of his life. Then there came to him, the same year, the providential call to a chair in * New York, American Tract Society. 22 Cyrus Hamlin Bangor Seminary, which he held for three years. In 1880, however, he resigned this chair under circumstan- ces which again severely tried but did not shake his faith and courage. His advocacy of the cause of Prohibition, to which he was driven by the open and flagrant politi- cal activity of the rumsellers in Bangor, became dis- pleasing to men of influence in as well as out of the Seminary ; and a vote of the trustees to "look out for a younger man" brought his instant resignation. At sev- enty he was again without work or means. But that Providence which, as he believed, "never makes a mis- take," lifted him out of disaster into the presidency of Middlebury College in Vermont. This institution, which was in a moribund condition when it called him, he rescued and set upon its feet again, and when he had completed the five years for which he had accepted the post, he refused the reelection pressed upon him by the trustees. He felt himself vindicated by this evidence that, in spite of Mr. Robert's opinion ten years before, these men of affairs believed him still, at seventy-five, fully competent to administer the affairs of a college. This vindication, like a healing balm, soothed his later years. He bought a house and land at Lexington, Mass., and for the first time in his life owned his own Cyrus Hamlin, Missionary, 1855 Life at Lexington 2J home. Here he Hved for fifteen years, delighting in the quiet enjoyments of the family circle, cultivating the gar- den, taking his part as an active citizen in the town af- fairs, and preaching and lecturing as an agent of the American Board of Missions. His salary in this capac- ity was not large, but prudence, frugality and diligence, those fine old virtues which he had inherited from a worthy New England ancestry, and developed during a long life of absolute unselfishness, saved him from want or worry. As the years went by, the pang of his great sorrow subsided, and though the pain of it never wholly disappeared, peace and serenity filled his soul increas- ingly. He saw three of his children in Lexington marry and repair to their new hearth-sides — Mary, Ahce and Christopher — while two others were married away from home — Alfred and Clara. He saw his youngest son en- ter upon the Christian ministry at Canton Centre, Con- necticut, an event which gave him peculiar satisfaction. To all the widely scattered branches of the family, to children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, he sent frequent letters, pouring out in them a love wonder- fully rich and tender. His visits to one and another fireside of his children were hailed with delight by old and young, and every visit seemed to leave behind the in- 2^ Cyrus Hamlin fluence of a benediction. Peculiarly tender and strong were his friendships with a number of men of his own generation, like the Rev. Dr. Haskins of Brooklyn, Rev. Geo. W. Wood, his early colleague at Bebek ; Rev. E. B. Webb, formerly of Boston ; his cousin Dr. George Faulk- ner of Jamaica Plain ; and with men somewhat younger like the late Joseph Cook, at whose home on Lake George he was a frequent visitor. All of these except Dr. Faulkner died within a year after Dr. Hamlin. His visits to these aged friends were never tinged with mel- ancholy. On one occasion he said to his host, "This is a time to be glad; let this visit be as merry as a wed- ding." As the circle of his older friends grew smaller by death, although Dr. Hamlin felt the increasing loneliness, there Avas no deepening sadness in his thoughts or feel- ings. To his view, those who had gone were more truly in life than when on earth, and the separation from them could only be a brief one ; death had no terrors, for it was the entrance upon a larger life. Moreover, he retained always so active an interest in affairs, his mind and sym- pathies were so youthful in spite of increasing years, that his circle of friends grew larger rather than smaller, by constant recruiting from among younger men and wom^ en. He possessed the Christian art of "growing old 'The Last Birthday 2^ gracefully," and exhibited to the end the serenity of age without its dotage. The last year of Dr. HamHn's life was made memor- able and filled with the radiance of friendship and expressed appreciation, by several delightful and inspir- ing experiences. These rounded out the final chapter of his life in an exceptional manner. One of these' was a luncheon tendered him by a number of his friends on his eighty-ninth birthday, at the Bellevue Hotel, Boston, (January 5, 1900). The following account;of the lunch- eon, which was widely noticed in the Boston papers, is from the pen of Dr. Hamlin's warm friend. Rev. Joseph Cook: This distinguished missionary and educator, father and first President of Robert College on the Bosphorus, be- gan his ninetieth year on Janu- Dr. Hamlin's , ^ _ Eighty-ninth Birthday ^'"^ ^th, 1900. Some twenty-five of his nearest friends in Boston, chiefly from among the officers of the American Board and the Woman's Board, met him with his wife and daughter, Emma, at a luncheon at the new Bellevue Hotel, on Beacon Street, Boston, and spent three hours in a manner that no one present will ever willingly for- get. The Rev. E. B. Webb of the Prudential Committee of 26 Cyrus Hamlin the American Board presided. Brief addresses of con- gratulation and respect were made, especially emphasiz- ing Dr. Hamlin's great work in Robert College and other services to missions both at home and abroad, and particularly his recent participation in, discussions con- cerning the Turkish atrocities in the massacre of Arme- nian Christians. These tributes were given by Joseph Cook, Dr. E. G. Porter, Secretaries Barton and Daniels, Editor Strong of the Missionary Herald, Miss Child, Home Secretary of the Woman's Board, Mrs. Joseph Cook and Miss Borden. Miss Child spoke of Dr. Ham- lin as an invaluable adviser of the Woman's Board and an encyclopedia to which she made constant reference on every topic connected with Missions. Miss Borden re- called the fact that Dr. Hamlin was the first canvasser for the subscriptions for the now flourishing institution known as the American College for Girls in Constantino- ple. Mrs. Cook referred to three "grand old men" of whom New England in its recent history can boast — Neal Dow, Professor Park, and Dr. Hamlin. The latter had made us all who are in the middle life his debtors by proving that there is, of necessity, no "dead line of fifty," sixty, seventy or even ninety. Mrs. Cook closed by ap- plying to Dr. Hamlin the efifective lines of Emerson's "Terminus :" "As the bird trims her to the gale I trim myself to the storm of time. I man the rudder, reef the sail, The Birthday Addresses 2 J Obey the voice at eve, obeyed at prime : Lowly faithful, banish fear, Right onward drive unharmed. The port well worth the cruise is near, And every wave is charmed." Secretary Daniels, once pastor of the Payson Church at Portland, alluded to Dr. Hamlin's services as practical- ly one of his predecessors in that position who would un- doubtedly have been called to that pulpit had he not pre- ferred the work of a foreign missionary. It was under the profoundly evangelical and spiritual preaching of Payson that Dr. HamHn, when a young man, entered upon the distinctly Christian life. Dr. Barton spoke of Robert College, under Dr. HamHn, as the centre from which had sprung other colleigesin the Turkish Empire, and influences exerted through the lives of the great educator's pupils in many positions of trust and power, varied usefulness which can never be described ade- quately in any biography. Editor Strong described the inspiring effects of Dr. Hamlin's visits to the Missionary Rooms and of the perpetual youth of the veteran in his zeal for the higher educational work in the foreign field. Dr. Porter gave due recognition to Dr. Hamlin's preaching in many pulpits, and his ubiquitous influence in support of the work of the American Board among the New England Congregational Churches. In Lexington Dr. Hamlin is beloved, not only for his great record, but as a foremost local citizen. 28 Cyrus Hamlin Mr. Cook spoke of Dr. Hamlin's career in retrospect and prospect. Robert College was an acorn. The next century would see the oak and Dr. Hamlin's memory would always be green under its branches. Milton's famous sonnet on the Waldenses might be slightly changed so as to represent Dr. Hamlin's various appeals for justice to the Armenian Christians. "Avenge, O Lord, Thy slaughtered saints, Whose bones lie scattered on the Turkish mountains cold; Even them who kept Thy truth so pure of old, When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones, Forget not : in Thy book record their groans, Who were Thy sheep, and in their ancient fold, Slain by the bloody Turk and Kurds, who rolled Mother with infant down the Focks." To emphasize the career of Dr. Hamlin in prospect Mr. Cook read a hymn entitled "Reunion" and sug- gested by words of Dr. Hamlin: "I feel drawn by influ- ences from my loved ones beyond the vale to meet them there." This hymn was the voice of a veteran and hero- in Beulah land : "They call me who have gone; Before the Throne they stand ; I see through rifts of heavenly dawn Each with a beckoning hand." Dr. Hamlin, in apparently excellent general health and spirits, repelled humorously the compliments of his friends and then gravely discussed for half an hour cer- Centennial at Middlehury 2g tain events in the history of the commencement of high- er education in mission fields, with his well-known and inimitable power of vivid logical narration, every para- graph and almost every sentence a picture, and yet mak- ing everywhere prominent the line of cause and effect among events. The lesson of the speech was the prop' osition that disaster is often divinely ordained as a bless- ing in disguise. The devotional exercises of the occa- sion, besides the blessing invoked by Rev. S. L. B, Speare, formerly Dr. Hamlin's coadjutor in important church enterprises in Middlebury, Vermont, were a con- cluding prayer by Editor Strong and the singing, by the whole company, of President J. E. Rankin's unmatched hymn, known around the world : "God be with you till we meet again," to which Dr. Hamlin Hstened with evidently deep emotion. He himself pronounced the benediction. f^^ ^* V^ Another memorable experience was the visit to Middle- bury, Vt., on the occasion of the Centennial of the Col- _ . lege, in June of the same year, igoo. Fif- Visit to '^^ •' J y y „ teen years had passed since he had left Middlebury ■' ^ the president's chair, and in fifteen years much can be forgotten; but it was made very evident during this visit that his service in rescuing the col- lege from the destruction which threatened it in 1880 was remembered and appreciated. His appearance was JO Cyrus Hamlin greeted on every occasion with tremendous applause, and the short but vigorous address which he gave was received with extraordinary demonstrations of enthusi- asm. It was characteristic of the man that when the procession formed to march from the college buildings to the I church where the exercises of the anniversary were to be held, Dr. Hamlin scorned the carriage which had been provided for the aged ex-president in his nine- tieth year, and marched in the procession with firm and vigorous tread. ^ Ji' J* The vigor of his mental powers and the acuteness of all his faculties except hearing, remained almost unim- paired to the end. He wielded the same incisive pen at eighty-nine as at forty-nine ; he kept up his interest in missions, in national politics and in world-politics, in education and in philanthropy, to the last day of his Hfe. During the Armenian massacres he labored by his voice, his influence and his pen to enHst the sympathies of Americans in behalf of that oppressed and persecuted people. After the massacres he labored for the orphans left in their wake. The annual meetings of the Ameri- can Board claimed his presence whenever possible. At the one held in Providence in 1899 he received an ovation T^he Eventide JT which surprised him as greatly as it touched him deeply. He attended the Ecumenical Conference on Foreign Missions at New York in 1900 — the last year of the cen- tury and of his life, sitting on the platform with his ven- erable colleague, Dr. Wood, and meeting with mission- ary heroes whom he had heard of and admired for years. This occasion was his valedictory to the great public of the missionary interests. A letter written to Dr. and Mrs. Wood in March, 1900, shortly before the meeting of the Conference, during convalescence from a very serious and painful illness which had brought him very near to death, gives so clear an insight into his innermost feelings at this time that it is quoted below nearly in full. Those to whom it was written, as well as the writer, have passed "over to the other side of Jordan", and there is no im- propriety in thus making known to their friends these words written in the freedom of intimate friendship. Lexington, March 3, 1900. Dear Brother and Sister Wood: Since I wrote you, I have been passing through deep waters ; but they have not overflowed me. I have looked earnest- ly over to the other side of Jordan, and with more of comfort and hope than I could have expected to have. I am now better, though confined to my bed, but able to sit up a little once or twice a day. It may be, — if the will of the Lord is so, it will be — that I j2 Cyrus Hamlin shall, with caution and prudence, be able to attend the Ecumenical Council, in April. But I feel now that my work is done. I look back upon it with very varied feelings, sometimes with wonder and admiration that God should have chosen me to do any of those things that He did by my hand : and often with grief and humili- ation that my part of the work was so imperfectly and unfaith- fully done. But if we are the true disciples of Christ, are we not freed from all necessity of calling ourselves to minute account? I love rather the sentiment "There is a fountain filled with blood", etc. But I wish now, dear Brother and Sister Wood, to bear full witness to the goodness of the Master to his unworthy servant, in giving me every possible comfort in this time of weakness. I have often said that my disasters generally end in blessings. In the time of my attack, my dear wife was utterly incapacitated by lumbago and confined to her room. The doctor said to me, "You must now have a trained nurse," and he sent me an ex- cellent one. She is wholly given to taking care of me, and I can say to her "Go" and she goeth, and she does whatever I require, kindly, readily, and intelligently. She is to all intents and pur- poses like a faithful slave. . . . Moreover, my friends have been so kind to me, that I have no trouble about paying the expenses of the illness. And to crown all my blessings, my wife is getting rid of the lumbago and can come into my room, where she now is writing this I am gaining a little strength every day. This morning I insisted on being allowed to walk a little without a cane, which I accomplished triumphantly and praised the Lord ! Affectionately your brother in the Lord, and your associate in His service, Cyeus Hamlin. Two other letters written in 1899 to Dr. Wood are in- teresting as showing how Dr. Hamlin regarded his own extraordinary career, as it receded into the background of the vanished years. They are the full and free out- Letters to Dr. Wood jj pouring of his soul and give a wonderful view into his inmost heart. From the first, dated July 23, 1899: I do not see, my dear Brother Wood, how you can speak of me as you do (referring to a letter from Dr. Wood). It seems to me extravagant, and yet I regard you as absolutely truthful and honest; but in this you are in error. I know perfectly well that God's wonderful providence in bringing to naught the craft and power of the Jesuits and of France and Russia in the matter of Robert College did give me a sort of glamour, an honor and reputation that did not belong to me. I have earnestly prayed that I might not deceive myself and receive the honor that belongs to God. I want you and Mrs. Wood always to think kindly of me as a true Christian friend and fellow-laborer in the vineyard without one single eminent trait except perhaps some obstinacy, which may be good or bad. As I look back upon my work I see so many mistakes, errors, shortcomings, that I wonder how the Lord endured me and even used me in his service. In one sense I enjoy this season which I have for repentance, confession, pardon, for I do hope the Lord has blotted out my sins. "There is a fountain filled with blood." Well, let us go on praying for each other, and we will soon sing, if we never sang before, "Hallelujah to the Lamb Who purchased our pardon." From the second of these letters, dated December 14, 1899: My dear Brother Wood: That letter of eight pages! It did my soul good, and it filled me with despair of ever suitably answering it. It was in a clear, bold hand, and as to penmanship it is the best letter you ever wrote to me. You have twice the mind and body that I have. j/f Cyrus Hamlin It is a good Christian letter and I thank you and love you for it. I have been an active man more than a useful man. You and I, Brother Wood, fare differently in the great public world. You in your exceeding modesty retire from public view to a certain extent. Your work is more spiritual. I put up a steam engine or make a rat-trap, or do scores of material things. People read and say, "Now there's a feller knows how to do some- thing. I like a missionary who can make a rat-trap and set the lazy fellows to work." So I get at least distinction from the com- monest mechanical work, and you, doing a higher ami more blessed one, are known only to the Master ! How we shall change places at the Judgment seat ! My work that makes noise here will have no place there. Only if I have done anything for Christ's little ones. He will remember it, although I shall blush to have Him. I am thinking a great deal of the transition which must be near. When humbled with thoughts of being unfit for a holy heaven I find relief in the full surrender. In a letter to another friend about the same time, re- ferring to the same subject — "the transition which must be near" — he wrote : "Upon the single plank of Christ's righteousness I am ready to launch upon the ocean of eternity." Reading these passages, we feel that we are in the presence of one of God's elect saints, with faith as sim- ple and true as a child's, with heart as pure and noble as ever throbbed in the breast of a knight of the cross ; humble, esteeming lightly the valiant service of his own long and arduous life, but trusting implicitly the Saviour The Crown of Rejoicing j^ to whose cause he had always been true. He might well have said with St. Paul, "I have finished the fight, I have kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of rejoicing which the Lord shall give me in the day of His appearing." Zhe last Da^s 3E)eatb jfuneral Service an^ H^^re06e0 THE LAST DAYS On Tuesday, August 7, 1900, Dr. Hamlin attended a family reunion at the summer home of his grandson, Dr. George H. Washburn, at Manchester-by-the-sea, There were present twenty members of four generations of the Hamlin and Washburn families. Among them were Dr. and Mrs. Hamlin, and Mrs, E. H. (Philander) Washburn, of the first generation. The second was rep- resented by the eldest daughter, Henrietta (Mrs. George Washburn), and her husband. Rev. George Washburn, D.D., LL.D., of Constantinople, President of Robert College : and by Dr Hamhn's two sons, Alfred D. F. and Christopher R., with their wives. Of the third generation were the host and hostess. Dr. and Mrs. George H. Washburn, and two of Professor Hamlin's children, Talbot and Louise. Dr. W^ashburn's four children — Loraine, George H. Jr., Arthur and Alfred H., were of the fourth generation. Besides these were Rev. Dr. George Washburn's sister Mrs. Brainerd, and Mrs. ^O Cyrus Ha?nlin George H. Washburn's mother, Mrs. Hoyt. The gath- ering- was a joyful and genial one, and except for a slight and passing indisposition. Dr. Hamlin appeared to be in remarkable health and spirits. On the next day, August 8, Dr. and Mrs. Hamlin took train for Portland, Me., to take part in the "Old Home Day" celebration there, as guests of their nephew Cyrus H. Farley. In the evening they attended the "Old Home"' reunion at the Second Parish Church — the same church, though not the same building, where Dr. Hamlin had been ordained sixty-three years before to the work of Christian missions. He was the last speaker at the reunion, from which he returned with his wife and nephew to the latter's house. Ascending the stairs on ar- riving there, he complained of a severe pain : and as it did not yield as usual to the customary remedy, the doc- tor was sent for. But medical aid was powerless to stay the summons that had come ; and within a half- hour his spirit had taken its flight from its mortal tene- ment of nearly ninety years. He had come home to his own state, to his own church, to the house of his sister's son ; and thence he had gone to his heavenly home, with but a brief struggle with mortal pain. As if to complete the fitness of these surroundings and circumstances of T^he Passing Over 41 his departure, a chair which his eldest son had brought from the old home in Waterford, and left for safe keep- ing at Mr. Farley's — one of the original chairs of Dr. Hamlin's childhood days, belonging to his mother — was by the bedside in the guest-room, and in his restlessness he occupied that chair for a few minutes be- fore the final weakness overtook him. From it he was helped into the bed and in a few minutes "was not, for God took him." The cause of his death was heart failure due to old age. There had been no visible symptom of unusual weakness, nor warning of approaching dissolution, al- though he had for years been aware that to a man of his age death might come at any moment from the sud- den cessation of the heart's action. For this end he was wholly prepared, and had, indeed, often expressed a wish that it might come in this way, and thus spare him and his dear ones the misery of gradual dissolution and mental helplessness. He did not pray for death, for he was too full of life, and too happy in living, to long for release ; but he desired to live fully up to the very mo- ment of the summons, and this wish God granted him to realize. Two severe and painful illnesses during the last twoi years of his life had warned him that the sum- /f.2 Cyrus Ha7nlin mons could not be very long delayed, while the recov- ery from them, and the fortitude with which he endured them, at the same time gave proof of the wonderful vig- or and vitality of his physical constitution. His age at death was eighty-nine years, seven months and three days. Some years before he had prepared full directions for his funeral and these were carried out as literally as was possible. The funeral was held at Lex- The Last Rites ington, at the Hancock Congregation- al church, of which he had been an active and devoted member for fifteen years. In accordance with his ex- press instructions the singing at the service was entirely congregational, led by the organ played by Miss Grace French. The services were conducted by Rev. C. F. Carter, pastor of the Hancock church, assisted by Rev. H. H. Hamilton of Lexington, a warm friend of Dr. Hamlin. They were of the simplest description, com- prising an opening prayer by Mr. Carter, the singing of the hymns "Majestic sweetness sits enthroned upon the Saviour's brow" and "Guide me, O thou Great Jeho- vah," both of them special favorites of Dr. Hamlin, the reading of Scripture passages by Dr. Hamilton, and a number of addresses by personal friends. Those who ;iHBr ■>•>»: ■ _iiWl^^ ' ^3 ^Hkxw^-^ ) -» S -^f^JiflK rf_ President of Robert College, 1872 'The Last Rites /fj spoke were the Rev. James L. Barton, D.D., Foreign Secretary of the American Board, who had graduated at Middlebur)^ under Dr. Hamh'n's presidency ; the Rev. S. L. B. Speare of Boston, Dr. Hamlin's pastor at Middlebury, Mr. Arakelyan of Boston, an Armeni- an by birth, and Rev. Prof. A. A. Melcon of Euphrates College, also an Armenian. Both of these gentlemen spoke in English, paying touching tributes to the father in Christ whom they had lost. The Rev. A. H. Plumb of Roxbury followed with an eloquent and touching prayer, and the benediction was pronounced by Mr. Carter. The remains were then taken to the Hamlin home on Bloomfield Street, where, in accordance with Oriental custom as expressed in Dr. Hamlin's instructions, a brief service of prayer in Armenian was held in the open air. The Rev. Professor A. A. Melcon of Harpoot, Turkey, offered a prayer in Armenian, full of tender feeling, and the casket was then borne to the cemetery near by. From the hearse to the open grave it was carried on the shoulders of the Armenian pall-bearers. Those who rendered this last service of grateful af- fection to the friend of their oppressed race were Messrs. J. J. Arakelyan, Hagop Bogigian, M. A. Gule- ^^ Cyrus Hamlin sian, A. A. Melcon, O. Gaidzakian, C. S. Galemkarian, K. M. Giragosian, T. Taminosian, Bedros Arakelyan. Thus earth ' was laid to earth and dust returned to dust. Rev. Mr. Carter pronounced the final bene- diction. THE FUNERAL ADDRESSES The address by Dr. Barton at the funeral exercises be- gan with a feeling reference to his own personal rela- tions with Dr. Hamlin, both as a student and as a friend, and then proceeded in these words : I cannot but feel that we are here to-day tO' celebrate a triumph rather than a death. We commemorate the .TV ■„ X , Ajj consummation of a life that was Dr. Barton's Address in no small measure a continuous conflict, but which to-day is crowned with victory. There could have been no more fitting conclusion to the nearly four score and ten years of service, war- fare and faith. We are glad there were no inter^'^en- ing days and weeks of weakness and suflfering. His last year on earth was an active one. The last weeks were made glad by family reunions and the last day was the busiest of them all among his old friends and in the parish where he first began his ministry as a young man two generations ago. It seems as if that day and its set- ting fittingly crowned the year and life ; and the Lord, seeing that it was well finished, called him home. It has been my high privilege to meet many of the /^(^ Cyrus Hamlin early pupils of Dr. Hamlin in different parts of Turkey, and I never met one who did not appear to have caught something of the energy and masterful purpose of his teacher. I have seen Dr. HamHn's picture hanging soli- tary and alone upon the walls of loving disciples in the mountains of wild Koordistan, and the voice was always a little more tender when the teacher and spiritual father of Bebek Seminary and Robert College was the theme of conversation. His pupils all loved him and have been trying these many years to live as they think he would have them live, strong in the same faith and earnest in the same service. There will be mourning among the mountains of Asia Minor, in Koordistan, as well as along the beautiful Bosphorus, when it is learned that the be- loved teacher has gone. Personally I feel as if I had lost a spiritual father. His first year as President of Middlebury College was my last year there as a student, and through his teachings I received my first impulse to enter the foreign missionary service. When I was ordained to that service he gave me the right hand of fellowship and welcome, and I al- most felt myself sent out to the work he had laid down in Turkey. That relationship entered into in 1880 has never been severed or broken in upon, and I count myself most favored that T have had the high privilege of calling my- self a fellow pupil of his, along with that larger company of men from many nations who have sat at his feet. We cannot but rejoice to-day in the triumphant life he lived, and in the victory of his translation from service here to the welcome that awaited him. It seems almost as if we can catch the echo of the greeting of his Lord, — "You have fought a good fight; you have finished Rev. Mr. Spe are's Address ^j your course ; you have kept the faith. Here is the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge now gives you, and which is yours forever and for- ever." ^* *2^ «^^ The Rev. S. Lewis B. Speare, Dr. Hamhn's pastor first at Bangor in 1878- 1880, and then at Middlebury, and through all the after years one of his warmest and most intimate friends, spoke with emotion of Dr. Hamlin as a friend, as a parishioner and as a Christian. His ad- dress is here given in full. Within the last few months a son of Dwight L. Moody made an address at the funeral of his distinguished and lamented father. I think I now know how he then felt. „ ,^ „ , During the last two days deep in Rev. Mr. Speare's ° ,- ^ my heart and upon my hps have been the words, "My father, my fa- ther; the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof." But I cannot refuse to speak in affectionate appreciation of him whose going home leaves our paths lonely, how- ever sure our faith that he is in the land of unfading light. I would speak first of Dr. Hamlin as a friend. He had a mind of broadest vision and far-reaching ken. He could and did plan campaigns before which mountains of difificulty were leveled. He was a master of strategic methods and resources. Almost no situation, however unexpected, could surprise or baffle him ; he could gain his end and firmly establish his undertaking without ever losing the motives, ideas, or spirit of the Christian mis- sionary. But Dr. Hamhn had more than an intellect to ^S Cyrus Hamlin plan and achieve. He had a heart which clung to his friends — and they were legion — with a fervor of devo- tion and hunger to serve like David and Jonathan. Reminiscences may best illustrate this excellence, always so beautiful and welcome. About seventy years ago, a boy in Waterford, Me., Samuel Moody Haskins, said to his father: "Cyrus Ham- Hn has gone away to school : he is going to college to be a minister. I would like to go to college and be a min- ister." The father replied : "I have five sons and five daughters; how can I send you to college?" But the example of the boy-friend had not ceased its influence until, within a year, Samuel Moody Haskins finished his only pastorate of sixty-two years as rector of St. Mark's, Brooklyn N. Y., when the Master called him to his re- ward. A few months before that going home, Mr. Hamlin made a tour of afifection among several life-long friends in New York, Brooklyn and New Jersey. He said to them that it would be his last visit, but he wished it to be "as merry as a wedding." At Dr. Haskins' he found also three sisters living with their brother, his own im- mediate family all translated. All the five had remi- niscences of nearly or quite fourscore years ; and, after a loving fellowship of hours, they sealed their mutual love in a sacramental service. You will kindly allow me to mention an experience of my own. Last autumn, learning of his serious illness, I called at his home there, hardly expecting that I could see him. To my joy he answered the bell, and as he saw me his eyes brimmed with tears. These may be taken as typical instances of all his long life. Rev. Mr. Speares Address 4g I am glad, also, to speak of Dr. Hamlin as a parishion- er. It was my privilege to know him in that relation for five years, and he was an ideal parishioner. The cares of his college presidency were numerous and press- ing. He was at a time of life when many college in- structors are released from duty. But almost no service of the church, on the Sabbath or during the week, was without his presence and influential participation. His helpfulness did not cease with public service. For exam- ple, when sickness and death came to any home, he was a sympathizer and a friend. When practicable, he called and brought the consolations of loving counsel and prayer. I recall at this moment his Christlike min- istration to the mother of one of the missionaries, the wife of Rev. Mr. Riggs, who sailed a few days since from Boston. And, in our personal relations, he was all that a wise father could have been in counsels and unwaver- ing loyalty. In his administration of Middlebury college, Dr Ham- lin had a success which was a fitting climax to his con- spicuous and phenomenal work as an educator. He found a mere handful of students, buildings few and needing repair, and finances embarrassed. He soon commanded means to reconstruct buildings. He was his own architect and superintendent of workmen; he planted trees and watered them with his own hands un- der summer skies ; he repaired chemical and philosophi- cal apparatus; equipped a working laboratory; gave the library a new and ample apartment v^ath a card cat- alogue and reading room, open daily instead of once a week. In short, he so brought new life and methods that the alumni had courage to continue help. Some of them CQ Cyrus Hamlin have; since left large legacies, and at the centennial cele- bration, a few weeks since, every returning alumnus re- joiced in abundant tokens of present prosperity and an assured future. At the alumni dinner, the president of the board of trustees gave emphatic testimony to the agency which began the upward turn in the life of their alma mater. But I have my highest joy in speaking of Mr. Hamlin as a Christian. In recounting to me his experience at the Middlebury centennial, after gratefully mentioning the personal welcome by students, officers and citizens and the tokens of present hfe and future growth of the col- lege, he spoke tenderly and with emphasis of the joy and comfort which he had from an interview with a for- mer instructor. Their theme was the Atonement. To the unwavering assurance of the other that all his sins were laid upon the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world and that he had no more concern with them, he, whose life had ever been strenuous and aggressive, gave the loving, heartfelt, glad assent of a child. Equally pertinent is a reminiscence of Dr. Norman McLeod, given at our interview last Sabbath afternoon — the last of a long and memorable series. He always had something new whenever we met. In 1856 he was in Glasgow and had spoken to a large audience upon the situation in Turkey, followed by Dr. McLeod with words of warm appreciation. But what he most dwelt upon was a call from the Scottish clergyman, when he was ill at a private residence, in the early morning and hurry- ing to keep an engagement, asking that he might com- mend the beloved missionary to the care of his Master. And last Sabbath afternoon, his last upon earth, when Mr. Arakelyari s Address ^I it was my privilege to be with him and lead in prayer at the family altar, kneeling close to his bowed head, he re- sponded with an "amen" tender and fervent,^ — unmistak- able evidence that the Throne of Grace had ever been the joy and strength of his life. Were there time, I would be glad to speak of the ideal ordering of Providence for our beloved friend. He was at the great Ecumenical Conference in New York and witnessed that thrilling revelation of what is now the world-wide appreciation of that work to which he gave the endeavors of his youth and the devotion of mature years. Those assembled could see him, the typical mis- sionary pioneer. He was at the college he had done so much to save, in its centennial celebration, welcomed with cyclones of applause from grateful students and every token of appreciation from others ; and then, in most beautiful coronation, he goes down to Portland, the city of his youthful consecration to his adored Saviour and Lord, shares in commemorative services in the church where he joined his Master's visible body, returns to the home of a beloved relative, and in a few moments, he received the glorious translation and glad welcome in waiting for all who die in the Lord. ^^ f^^ *^^ Mr. J. J. Arakelyan of Boston, the well-known printer and a leader among his fellow-citizens of Armenian birth in Boston, spoke feelingly in their behalf of the sense of loss which had come to all Armenians in the death of their faithful and beloved friend. He quoted, as a text for his remarks, the 37th verse of the 37th Psalm : ^2 Cyrus Hamlin "Mark the perfect man and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace." Mr, Arakelyan continued: A review of the life of our departed friend discloses a life of thrilling activity, persistent engagements along ,^ . , , , one line of warfare, invariably ending Mr. Arakelyan's ' -' ° . , , in peaceful, victorious achievements. Address ^ ' We find him to-day lying before us in peace at the close of a well-spent earthly life. Dr. Hamlin was, without qualification, a true friend of the Armenians. My first recollection of this great and good man was that, when merely a lad, in the city of Arabkir where I was born, I heard groups of men and women talking about him, saying that "Dr. Hamlin was building the church," then in process of erection in that city ; and that "other churches were being erected by his generous gifts throughout the Turkish empire." You know the story of his business achievements at the time of the Crimean War, his main object then being to create work for the Armenian young men who were boycotted for their acceptance of evangelical truths. He accumulated from the bread-making business and other like enterprises something like $25,000 which, in- stead of investing for his own future personal use, he devoted to building up Protestant churches throughout the Turkish Empire. Thus he "being rich, for our sakes he became poor." Dr. Hamlin was a quick, vigorous and effective de- fender of the Armenian name and cause. Thus in the case of Mr. F. Hopkinson Smith, who upon his ireturn from his visit to Constantinople, by pen and speech spoke unfavorably of the Armenians, but approvingly of Professor Me Icon's Address 5J the Sultan, exonerating the great assassin ; Dr. HamHn, being thoroughly acquainted with the situation, correct- ed Mr. Smith and pointed out very clearly the errors of his ways. He maintained his interest in us to the last. To this day both Dr. Hamlin and Mrs. HamHn have their especial orphans in Armenia, whose support they assume. In my judgment, we can best show our appreciation of Dr. Hamlin's life-long service and honor him, by con- ducting ourselves in such a way that we can live down all the unfavorable criticisms that might be made or are being made of us. We certainly shall miss him and his counsels, and will hold his name in sweet remembrance as time goes on. t£^ t^^ t^^ The address of Professor Melcon which follows, de- rived special interest from the fact that the speaker was one of Dr. Hamlin's pupils in the old seminary at Bebek, and that as a professor for twenty years in Euphrates College at Harpoot, he represented the fruitage of Dr. Hamlin's earlier educational work. A sense of gratitude iti is which impels me to speak a few words in the name of those who as individuals and as members of the Evangelical Arme- Professor Melcon's . , . , . , man churches, and of a persecuted nation, owe so much to Dr. Hamlin. He is known as the founder and promoter of modern education among the Evangelical Armenians and in ^^ Cyrus Hamlin Turkey in general. When he commenced the Bebek Seminary, there were almost no schools in Turkey in the modern sense of the word. It served as a model and gave impulse for the opening of others. He tried to give the most thorough education possible in those days and under the then existing circumstances, overcoming one by one the obstacles thrown in his way by the ene- mies of the Evangelical movement among the Ar- menians. Dr. Hamlin raised up a band of able preachers, pastors and teachers, who subsequently became and some of them still are to-day, a blessing to the Evangelical churches throughout the whole of Turkey. Churches and schools in Constantinople, Broosa, Nicomedia, Caes- area, Diarbekir, Harpoot, Bitlis, Aintab and many other places had for their first pastors and teachers men edu- cated by Dr. HamUn. He inspired them with his faith, energy, independence and perseverance. Through his pupils he was known all over Turkey as "The Teacher." Men educated partly in his seminary afterwards became physicians, editors, authors, government of- ficials and one was raised even to the rank of a pasha. A few years ago a naval officer of high rank visited Euphrates College. He was a Turk. In the course of his conversation he said he had known Dr. Hamlin, to whose inspiration and suggestions he owed his present rank. I have met common people in the remotest parts of Armenia, who as laborers in Constantinople having come into contact with Dr. Hamlin, spoke of his uprightness, sense, energy and perseverance with the highest admi- ration. And many men now in high rank in society owe Professor Me Icon s Address j'j' education, rank and social position to Dr. Hamlin's in- spiration, suggestions and personal lielp. Dr. Hamlin not only supplied many Protestant church- es and schools with preachers, pastors and teachers, but he provided several congregations with money to build their churches. Robert College is a permanent monument, on the heights of the Bosphorus, to the energy, faith and perse- verance which overcame all the obstacles put in his path by the Turkish Government and the machinations of the Russian diplomacy ; a living witness of what he has done not only for the Armenians but also for the people of every nation and creed in the Turkish Empire. It shows that he had a broad mind to think and a wide heart to feel for all at the same time. And in the later part of his life, when he was in this country, did he cease to think and feel for his former field of labor? Never. Most es- pecially since the reign of terror among the poor and forsaken Armenians, whenever and wherever a chance offered itself to him, he spoke or wrote in behalf of the just cause of the persecuted. Having thought and felt and labored and prayed for more than half a century for the same work and people, was it possible for a man of his spirit and character to forget it at his death? What do his funeral arrange- ments show? And does not the communion of saints continue after death? Now when we are about to commit the body of our be- loved teacher and benefactor to the mother earth, paying the last honors to his earthly form, my earnest desire and prayer is — and I ask every one of you to join me in it — that it may please God to use him as a seed to raise ^6 Cyrus Hamlin many missionaries of his type. The memory of men of Dr. HamHn's type will never die. He will live in the grateful hearts of his spiritual children and grandchil- dren and in the v^ork he has done, through eternity. 4^* m^^^'""^ ~ ' . GAYLORD PRINTED IN U.S.*.