wise beyond their generation, and but recognized a law of creation that will sooner or later be of universal recognition." If the disembodied spirit can look down upon the earth and take interest in the affairs of men, I know that the spirit of him whom we commemorate to-day looks down upon these ceremonies and approves every word I have spoken and every sentiment I have avowed. When the names of your statesmen, your Senators, your governors and generals shall be forgotten by men, his name will be remembered and indissolubly connected with our State University. Colonel Smith was especially earnest and instrumental in getting the people of the State to vote for locating the medical branch of the university at Galveston. Dr. Smith was never married, and had but few immediate relatives. A brother, a practicing physician, lived in Houston. DR. LESLIE WAGGENER. Judging from an expression of Dr. Waggener while sick in his bed at Austin, that he hoped justice would be done him in the future history of the university, he was evidently disappointed at not being tendered the presidency of the institution, but he was too heroic to indulge the bitterness of his feelings on account of any break in his aspirations. Being in protracted bad health at the time, consequent doubtless upon his drastic dual services as professor and ad interim administrator of university affairs, he repaired, as soon as he was able, to Manitou Springs, Colo., where he died August 19, 1896, at the age of 55 years. His remains were brought to Austin and interred with great honor and respect on the part of the officers and students of the university and the citizens generally. To do him the justice he desired, the writer feels that he can not better do so, as promised, than by here adding the resolutions adopted by the university regents. The regents, faculty, and students all attended the memorial exercises in a body. The resolutions as adopted by the regents and read to the assemblage were as follows: AUSTIN, October 30, 1896. Since the last meeting of the board of regents of the University of Texas the institution has suffered a most grievous loss in the death of Dr. Leslie Waggener. The board desire to record their great sorrow over this affliction and their profound appreciation of the inestimable services rendered by Dr. Waggener to the institution which he so ardently loved. From the foundation of the university until his death Dr. Waggener gave to its organization and development all the powers of his unusual strong mind and character. For thirteen years as professor of English, by his scholarship and learning, by his masterly grasp of the spirit of English literature, and his power of clear, forcible, and brilliant presentation, he raised the school of English in the university to a very high plane of popularity, excellence, and power. As chairman of the faculty for ten years he conducted the executive business of the university with wisdom, prudence, and absolute devotion to the trust that he had accepted. Never swerving from his conception of duty, merging all regard for self in the general welfare, bravely facing every attack upon the institution, firm and bold, while at the same time tender, sympathetic, and modest, he bravely bore the burdens of executive responsibility during the period of stress and storm that marked the early years of the university. His gracious acceptance of the office of president ad interim, after having laid down for one year the cares of the executive office, showed his unselfish willingnes. to spend himself in the service of the institution wherever its welfare might demands His death was most untimely, for the regents, relying upon the richness and fullness of his experience and culture, had formed strong hopes, not only of his masterly development of the school of English, but also of his invaluable aid in shaping the policy, protecting the interests, and guiding the administration of the university. Dis aliter visum. An organic weakness, which for years added the heroism of suffering to the nobility of arduous duties bravely and zealously performed, ultimately caused his sudden and premature death. He was a man of strong, pure, and lofty character; of vigorous, clear, and comprehensive intellect; of high and inspiring ideals; of modest, unselfish nature, and of absolute devotion to duty. As a testimonial of appreciation of his services and of regard for his memory, it is Resolved. First, That the board approve of the action of the faculty in setting apart Saturday, October 31, for public exercises in the university chapel in his memory. Second. That the board will attend these exercises in a body. Third. That the board authorize a suitable marble tablet to be placed in the wall of the university chapel in perpetual commemoration of his services to the institution. Respectfully submitted. The faculty adopted appropriate resolutions and published an elaborate memoir of the deceased. Dr. Waggener was a great student, as well as teacher, but he was too devoted to the immediate duties of his professorship and the administration of the affairs of the university to divert his work to writing books to any considerable extent. He, however, wrote one, An Analysis of the Sentence, for the special benefit of his classes. This he enlarged for a future edition, and it is said that after he resigned the chairmanship of the faculty he contemplated devoting some of his time to writing other texts. His addresses and lectures were numerous and always excellent. For two years he was president of the State Teachers' Association. It was at his suggestion that the regents authorized affiliation of the university with the public high schools. GOV. L. S. ROSS. Governor Ross, whose executive action affecting the university has already been noticed, and who was for several years president of the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Bryan, died at the president's home at the college January 3, 1898. An extended sketch of him is presented in the chapter particularly detailing the history of the college. The board of regents of the university took official action on his death as follows: Whereas official notification has been given the board of regents of the University of Texas of the death of Lawrence Sullivan Ross, late president of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, therefore be it, by this board in annual session assembled, Resolved: First. That we deplore the death of this honored citizen of Texas as a public calamity to the State which, from his boyhood to his death, he has so nobly served as a ranger, a soldier, a citizen, a legislator, a chief executive, and an educator. Second. That in his death Texas lost one its first citizens; the cause of education a great moral and intellectual force; our sister institutions a wise, faithful, and efficient president; and his family an affectionate husband and father. Third. That this board tender to the directors of the Agricultural and Mechanical College and to the family of the deceased our sincerest sympathy in their irreparable loss; and as an expression of our appreciation of his noble character and distinguished services it is ordered that the foregoing preamble and resolutions be spread upon the minutes of the board of regents, given to the press of the State, and copies thereof, under the seal of the university, be transmitted to the family and the board of trustees of the Agricultural and Mechanical College. The Austin Statesman paid this marked tribute to the character of the deceased: General Ross was one of the purest and bravest men that ever drew sword in behalf of Texas, and he was one of the most impersonal and unselfish governors that ever administered the affairs of state. He was also, in private as well as in public life, a model for the youth of the land. He was, indeed, cast in a heroic mold. Perhaps no man in this State has ever been more loved and honored by his fellowcitizens than the late Gen. Sul. Ross, and the people of the State will regard it as an honor to be permitted to contribute to a monument that in brass or marble will longest perpetuate his memory. GOV. O. M. ROBERTS. Full tribute is justly due here to Governor Roberts, not only as one of the first law professors of the university, but also as one of the most earnest and efficient promoters of its success, as has been abundantly shown by the record already given, which in itself is a marked tribute to his high character as a statesman and executive officer. Hon. Oran M. Roberts was born July 9, 1815, and died at his home in Austin, Tex., May 19, 1898, aged nearly 83 years. At the time of his death he was president of the Texas State Historical Association, and had but lately contributed an article of some 300 pages to a recently published history of Texas. At a meeting of the university regents, September 30, 1898, the following resolutions were presented by Regent Bryan and adopted by the board: Whereas the distinguished citizen, jurist, and statesman, Oran Milo Roberts, has passed from his earthly career, ripe in years and rich in honors; and Whereas he was intimately associated with the University of Texas, not only as one of its earliest and warmest friends and founders, but also for ten years as its senior professor of law: Therefore, the board of regents of the University of Texas, as a fitting but feeble testimonial to his memory, desire to record their deep sense of sorrow, in common with the students, officers, and friends of the university everywhere, that he is no more. His name was a tower of strength to the young and struggling university. He brought to the office of senior professor of law the educated mind of a graduate from the University of Alabama and the large learning and experience of more than fifty years' practice at the bar and on the bench. His love for the university was almost fatherly in its depth and sincerity. Among his last words were remembrances of the beloved institution, His professorship in the university in his chosen field of law, wherein he had previously acquired distinguished eminence, was a fitting crown to his long public career, so intimately connected with the history of Texas. His name and fame are inseparable, not only from the university, but also from the State of Texas. Appropriate resolutions were also adopted by the faculty of the university. REV. ROBERT L. DABNEY. Dr. Dabney occupied the chair of philosophy and political science in the State University for several years up to about five or six years ago, when his sight became so badly impaired as to compel him to retire from the work unless provided with an assistant, which was done by the regents dividing the duties and salary of the chair, and retaining him a couple of sessions in this semi-emeritus capacity. After remaining a while with his family in Austin, he went with Mrs. Dabney to his former home in Virginia. Returning soon after to Texas he lived with his son in Victoria, where he died January 3, 1898, aged 78 years, his wife surviving him. He left several children, one of his sons being, like himself, a prominent educator, and lately president of the State University of Tennessee. Dr. Dabney was born near Richmond, Va. During the Confederate war he served upon the staff of Gen. Stonewall Jackson, and wrote the history of the life and services of that distinguished officer. He was one of the most philosophic writers of the country, and the author of several theological and philosophical works, among them being one particularly remarkable as a criticism of the sensuality of the Nineteenth Century. He received the degree of Master of Arts from the University of Virginia in 1842; studied divinity in the Union Theological Seminary of Virginia, and was ordained a minister in the Presbyterian Church in 1847. He was professor in that seminary (except for an intermission while on General Jackson's staff) from August, 1853, to July, 1883, during which year he was elected to the chair accepted by him in the University of Texas, prior to which appointment he had but recently retired from teaching on account, as he stated in a published communication, of not being further as serviceable as he desired to the institution he was serving. His reputation as a profound scholar and teacher of philosophy was such that this declaration had no effect upon his appointment to the chair in the Texas University. In cooperation with Rev. Dr. R. K. Smoot, he conducted a divinity school in Austin. Dr. Dabney was a man of fine presence and of large stature, as shown is a full-sized portrait of him which was presented by his friends to the university in a public address by Mr. T. W. Gregory, who was selected to make the presentation. His remains were interred in Virginia. Appropriate resolutions on his death were adopted by the faculty of the University of Texas, expressing their sentiments as follows: Dr. Dabney's numerous and valuable publications, mainly, but not exclusively, were of a theological or religious nature; his prominence for many years as a theologian, preacher, and instructor; his close connection during the civil war with Gen. Stonewall Jackson, as his chief of staff, and his subsequently widely circulated biography of that distinguished general, have all united in making him known and respected in the United States, though, perhaps, more especially so in the South. Without undertaking to do more than thus allude to Dr. Dabney's general career, the faculty desire to testify to his usefulness as one of the original professors who organized the university in the fall of 1883. Dr. Dabney's mature age, enlarged experience, and sound judgment enabled him then and afterwards to make many useful suggestions. In the discharge of his duties as professor of philosophy and political science he was uniformly diligent, competent, and successful, being well fitted for the position by the wide scope and thoroughness of his attainments, and greatly aided by a memory of truly wonderful tenacity. It is also desired to bear witness to his inflexible uprightness as a man, and to his indomitable force of will, which enabled him, when stricken with complete blindness, and often when also suffering most acutely from disease, to continue to work, to investigate, and to write despite all difficulties. The latter part of his life, though spent in darkness and often in suffering, served to show the true worth of the man. ROBERT S. Gould, SIR SWANTE PALM. Sir Swante Palm, elsewhere noticed in this volume, died recently at his home in Austin. He was 84 years of age. The funeral services were very properly conducted from the auditorium of the State University, as an institution which he so well loved, and materially befriended by presenting it with his library of several thousand volumes, many of which are of important historic interest and can not be duplicated. Sir Swante Palm was born January 31, 1815, at Basthult, Sweden. He came to Texas in 1845, and first settled at Lagrange. In 1849 he went to the Isthmus of Panama. From there he returned and settled |