accumulation of wealth, the gratification of pleasure or the pursuits of ambition.

The question here may well be asked, what motives induced these forty gentlemen, of whom I have spoken, all of whom were busily employed in their daily vocations, to give their time and attention to matters which could not contribute to their personal profit and involved only labor and trouble? The purpose certainly was not a mere diversion from more serious pursuits, nor a sense of restlessness which could find no other way of securing repose. The answer, perhaps, goes deeper into mystery than one so little skilled as I am in the science of the mind is capable of expressing; but be the solution what it may, whether self-love or altruism-to use a newly coined word-such conduct is creditable to human nature and gives to character one of its brightest ornaments. There surely must be in our mental and moral constitution an element, besides that which looks alone to individual aggrandizement or personal promotion, and it is this principle which inspires patriotism and serves as the incitement to every noble deed which has illumined the page of history. Rivalry and strife for military and political honors and the eager desire for self-advancement develop one side of our nature, but there is another and better side which finds its pleasure and its duty in promoting education, in patronizing the liberal arts, and in diffusing throughout the world the blessings of our Christian civilization. No man can hurt the spiritual part of his nature without hurting the community in which he lives, nor on the other hand can any man help or benefit himself without at the same time helping or benefiting his neighbor; and thus it is that, by a wise and beneficent dispensation of Providence, even the lowest forms of selfishness are unwittingly and, perhaps, unwillingly converted into the instruments for the promotion of the public good.

While no one will challenge the fact as to the utility of schools, colleges and churches, it may be said, of what special benefit is such an institution as that the anniversary which we are celebrating to-night? History is defined by Lord Bolingbroke, borrowing the idea from a Roman who lived about the time of the Christian era, as "philosophy teaching by example." Activity and energy, though bur

dened with illiteracy and ignorance, are not without their beneficial uses, but when knowledge is limited to the observation of a lifetime, views are narrowed and contracted. The future can only be guessed at or imagined even by the wisest, and it is only of the past that certainty can be predicated. Experience is a kind of power akin to wisdom, and, when it is supplemented by familiarity with the past judgment of men and things, is most apt to be correct. History is the only protractor of human life. Methuselah's years were but a span compared with the longevity of the student who, living in his books, may be said to have migrated with our Aryan ancestors from the Bactrian regions of Asia into the fertile fields of Europe; witness the conflicts of Greece and Rome, the birth of Christianity, the decadence of law, liberty, morals and religion during the dark ages, the renaissance in modern Europe, and, finally, the transplantation of every thing good gleaned from the experience of all the ages, across the waters to the hitherto unknown shores of the western hemisphere.

America, with its splendid inheritance and wealth of knowledge, now entered upon a career to which, the field being so vast and extensive, a brief reference can only be made; but it is a fact conceded that, for and during the last one hundred years, the influence of the Anglo-Saxon race in America upon the other peoples has been most marked and impressive. In the arts and sciences our inventions are unequaled, and every change for the better in any modern government has been an approximation to the example set by the fathers of the republic in the adoption of the constitution of the United States. Not without great expenditure of treasure and waste of blood did the United States acquire the right to assert herself as one of the great powers of the world. Would it not be treason against humanity if the pen of the historian should fail to record the acts and deeds of the patriots, soldiers and statesmen to whom so great a debt of gratitude is due? And yet, what use were the pen of the historian unless facts were preserved to be elaborated into history? Historical societies. discharge this duty, and such is the reason for their establishment in every state of the union. Tennessee claims a grander record than any of her younger sisters, for, though not one of

the original thirteen, an account of the American revolution would be incomplete if mention were not made of the services rendered by her pioneers on more than one battlefield, and especially in that decisive victory won by Campbell, Sevier and Shelby on King's mountain, which virtually forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown and ended the war for independence. There is on the battlefield at Cowpens a monument, erected about six years ago, which bears upon its shaft inscriptions commemorative of services rendered by each one of the old thirteen. The distinguished committee, in arranging the ceremonies for the occasion, informed the governor of the state that justice required Tennessee should be honored with an inscription equally with any one of the older states. The general assembly not being in session, the governor referred the matter to this society, and not without trouble on our part was the necessary amount of money raised, afterwards refunded by the state, to carve on that shaft inscriptions and armorial bearings, which advertised to posterity in all time to come that Tennessee is an equal participant with the old thirteen in the achievement of American independence. Her subsequent history in the field, in the forum and in the cabinet is equally honorable. Her soldiers were the first to respond when the Indians made war upon the defenceless inhabitants of Alabama, and after peace was made these gallant men had scarcely reached their homes when the line of march was again taken up to repel a British invasion on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The name of Jackson and of New Orleans condenses more within a word than could be expressed in a volume of eulogy. A most fascinating interest, too, is attached to our local traditions. There is scarcely a county in Eastern or Middle Tennessee not made. memorable by feats of daring, which, had they occurred in the twilight of history, would have been woven by the bards into heroic myths, and the hardy pioneer, unconscious of the romance with which his daily life was tinged, performed exploits that were worthy of the lays of a minstrel. Such are the deeds and such are the men of which and whom it is the object and purpose of the Tennessee Historical Society to preserve a grateful recollection.

PROFESSOR HERBERT BAXTER ADAMS.

BY B. J. RAMAGE.

In the death, last summer, of Professor Adams, at the early age of fifty-one, the cause of higher education sustained the loss of a good man, and historical investigation one of its most inspiring and suggestive guides. Endowed with broad sympathies and liberal attainments, he did a great work in popularizing original investigation in the field of American institutional history, and, as founder and head of the Department of History and Politics at the Johns Hopkins University (a position he held until declining health caused him to relinquish it about a year ago), Dr. Adams exerted a wide influence on the progress of university training in the United States. This he accomplished quite as much by his engaging manners as by any pre-eminent scholarship. A natural enthusiast, he imparted to others some of the devotion he manifested in regard to his own specialty, while the position he occupied brought him in contact with young men from all parts of America. These will always remember with grateful appreciation his generous interest, his ever-ready co-operation and friendship.

Few American teachers more clearly recognized the value of close personal relations with his students. In Dr. Adams the man overshadowed the professor. He did not hedge himself about with the artificial formalities which are far too frequently characteristic of those who direct the training of the young, but was perfectly free and unrestrained in his relations with those studying under him. These traits were due quite as much to education as to inheritance, for travel and association gave him a wide and varied acquaintance, to say nothing of the catholic, uplifting influences he received from the faithful study of the poets. But it is now time to say

something of his career, which, like that of most teachers, can be soon narrated.

Herbert Baxter Adams was born at Shutesbury, Massachusetts, April 16, 1850. He was the son of Nathaniel D. and Harriet Hastings Adams. While Adams was yet a lad, his parents removed from the home of his birth to Amherst, presumably for the purpose of enjoying the educational advantages of that seat of learning. From here the boy was sent to Phillips Academy, Exeter, where he was prepared for Amherst College. Entering that institution in 1868, young Adams graduated creditably four years later, and subsequently pursued his studies in Germany, chiefly at Heidelberg University, where he took his doctor's degree in 1876. In Germany he won the regard of Bluntschli, the famous publicist, and was afterwards instrumental in securing that scholar's library for the Johns Hopkins University. This foundation, having been organized in 1876, awarded Dr. Adams a fellowship, and he subsequently rose through various academic gradations to a full professorship. In 1891 the University of Alabama conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws. Meanwhile he had for several years been lecturer in history at Smith College, Massachusetts, and to this experience, which lasted from 1878 to 1881, may be traced his active interest in the higher education of women. His connection with the Summer School at Chatauqua in like manner served to direct his attention more closely to the needs of popular education.

But Dr. Adams did not confine his work to the classroom. In Baltimore he was closely identified with many social and charitable organizations, representing such divergent types as the University Club and the Boys' Country School, while as secretary of the American Historical Association, and for many years the editor of its annual reports, he gained national reputation as an organizer and director of great undertakings. Dr. Adams was more of an editor than an author, and in addition to his labors in this capacity for the American Historical Association, he was for more than a dozen years editor of the series of publications issued by the national government under the title of "Contributions to American Educational History." His monumental editorial work, however, is represented by the score and more of volumes entitled, "Johns Hop