CHAPTER XVIII. EZRA CORNELL--1864-1874

Ezra Cornell. My first impressions regarding him. His public
library. Temporary estrangement between us; regarding the Land
Grant Fund. Our conversation regarding his intended gift. The
State Agricultural College and the ``People's College''; his
final proposal. Drafting of the Cornell University Charter. His
foresight. His views of university education. Struggle for the
charter in the Legislature; our efforts to overcome the coalition
against us; bitter attacks on him; final struggle in the
Assembly, Senate, and before the Board of Regents. Mr. Cornell's
location of the endowment lands. He nominates me to the
University Presidency. His constant liberality and labors. His
previous life; growth of his fortune; his noble use of it; sundry
original ways of his; his enjoyment of the university in its
early days; his mixture of idealism and common sense. First
celebration of Founder's Day. His resistance to unreason.
Bitter attacks upon him in sundry newspapers and in the
Legislature; the investigation; his triumph. His minor
characteristics; the motto ``True and Firm'' on his house. His
last days and hours. His political ideas. His quaint sayings;
intellectual and moral characteristics; equanimity; religious
convictions.


CHAPTER XIX. ORGANIZATION OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY--
1865-1868

Virtual Presidency of Cornell during two years before my actual