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At the close of the mass meeting in the Union last evening, a large body of undergraduates gathered in front of President Eliot's house and cheered the retiring president until he appeared on the porch. As, in response, President Eliot stepped out of the house, F. H. Burr '09 presented him with a clock on which were inscribed the words: "To President Eliot from the Undergraduates of Harvard College, May 19, 1909."
President Eliot then expressed his appreciation of this token of the esteem of the undergraduates in the following words:
"I thank you very much, gentlemen; this will be a greatly valued present.
"I know how great a change this will be in my life here. When a man has been in one work for forty years with one ideal, it is a great change to find he can no longer work officially for that ideal. It does not, however, change his love, and I expect to have many opportunities to testify to this love. I hope you don't think the change in administration means that the ideals of the University will change. Its ideals will remain the same and I hope your love will also remain. It is a great thing to work for a University like this because of the knowledge of the increasing power and durability it has throughout the world. Whoever lays a brick in its walls builds to last, and I hope every one of you will build a little in the walls of Harvard. Today the living force of Harvard is in its mass of graduates. It is a delight to see that force increase and that delight is the reward of the men who serve the University."
In answer to a cheer, President Eliot then spoke of the pleasure it would give him to keep the clock in the study of his Brattle street home, and in closing proposed a cheer for President Lowell. After singing "Fair Harvard," the assemblage broke up.
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