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President Hyde.

WHAT BOWDOIN OWES TO HARVARD.

NO WRITER ATTRIBUTED

The following from the Springfield Republican will prove interesting reading to Harvard men.

"From pastor of a little church of 150 members in Paterson, N. J., to president of the Bowdoin College is quite a promotion for a young man of 27, only two years out of a Theological Seminary, and but six years out of college; but the ability and acquisitions of the Rev. William DeWitt Hyde seem to merit this honor; and those who know Bowdoin and who know Mr. Hyde are of the opinion that the college has made no error in her choice. Mr. Hyde entered Harvard from Exeter Academy in 1875, with already a good reputation for scholarship and for facility in public debate. He won honors all along his course, both from faculty and students. By the end of his-senior year, though one of the youngest members, he was considered intellectually as perhaps the most "solid" man in his class; physically also he was athletic, especially at base-ball. He was one of the founders of the Harvard Philosophical Club, president of the two senior literary societies, the "O. K.' and the "Signet," and also president of the evangelical religious society, "The Christian Brethren." Graduating with honors in Philosophy, he was given a place on the commencement stage, and was also made Phi Beta Kappa marshal of his class for the day. His commencement oration, on "The Modern Worship of Culture," was a brilliant and caustic arraignment of the tendencies at Harvard which militate against the higher life; Mr. Hyde next passed two years at Union Seminary; then, after a year's further study, was graduated at Andover in 1882, his commencement thesis there being "Tauler and the Mystics." He pursued a post graduate course in theology at Andover, and also in philosophy at Harvard, under Professor Palmer. During his pastorate of two years at the Auburn Street Congregational Church, Paterson, N. J., he has found time to publish two articles in the New Englander which have attracted notice. These are entitled: "The Metaphysical Basis of Belief in God," (September 1883), "An Analysis of Consciousness in its Relation to Eschatology," (November, 1884). Theologically, he is believed to be in the main in sympathy with advanced views of the so called Andover type. While without practical experience in teaching except as a private tutor, Mr. Hyde's influence on the boys of Phillips Academy while at Andover warrants the prediction that in the recitation rooms he will be a positive force. Personally, Mr. Hyde will attract attention for his winning face and dignified bearing. Harvard man through and through as he is, he would lack symmetry if not developed also on the athletic side. Bowdoin students will find in him, should he become their president, an enthusiastic sympathiser in their sports, for he is a good base ball player and an adept in the manly art of self defence. It may be remarked in passing that it is a little singular that Mr. Hyde should be the second man in his Andover class of '82 to be called to a college presidency.

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