ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE FUNERAL OF JUDGE CROSS OCTOBER 5, 1914

In the great well-rounded life which is in all our thoughts at this hour, it is my part to speak only of Judge Cross's relations to Dartmouth College, — relations as precious, as priceless, to the College as the College was to Judge Cross.

Circumstances compel me to speak very briefly and simply of this beautiful relationship. I must speak in a way which will seem to you inadequate. I dare not do otherwise, for if I risk more I should risk all and go beyond my powers of self control.

David Cross entered Dartmouth College at the age of twenty in the autumn of 1837. He was graduated four years later in the class of 1841. His record in College was one. of high and honorable achievement. In his senior year he received election to the honorary society of Phi Beta Kappa, the only honor accorded high scholarship in his day. The motto of Phi Beta Kappa is "Philosophy; the Helmsman of Life," the qualifications for membership most insisted upon were, "honor, probity and good demeanor." These are indeed a severe and sober test of manhood, character and the gift of expression.

Philosophy, the helmsman of life, honor, probity and good demeanor, — a vivid portrait in a few bald strokes, a portrait of David Cross as a young man. As I have known him intimately in the past fifteen years it is still a true portrait, true in every line, of David Cross in his ripe old age.

Although a portrait of the highest truth and fidelity, it yet is lacking in detail. While in Judge Cross's later life attention has been freely called to the remarkable span of years through which he lived, yet we all know that his ripe age, in which humanity was blessed, was the least rather than the most notable feature of the man.

The qualities which drew all men to him had nought to do with age or youth, they were timeless and eternal. A far younger man of such sterling character, such capacity in strength, in joy, in love, in unbounded tenderness and sympathy for all men, such undying loyalty to all that is high and noble and good in the world, would be singled out, would be a marked man, sought out and loved by young and old, be held in reverence by all his brethren.

David Cross loved his college from the first with an affection which grew and deepened with the years, until it became a passion and a dominant factor in his thought and life.

Love grows no less in sorrow than in joy, and one of the deepest sorrows of his life was connected with the College, when his son, Clarence Eastman Cross of the class of 1881, died during his junior year in college.

In 1891, when Judge Cross returned with his classmates to Hanover for the fiftieth anniversary of his graduation, the college bestowed upon him her highest honor, the degree of Doctor of Laws. Well had the honor been earned and suitably was it bestowed.

With each returning year the college came' more and more to expect the return of Judge Cross at Commencement and for Dartmouth Night. We came more and more to lean upon him for that inspiration and cheer which no one else could give. He gave us himself and a great love which passeth understanding.

In the great family of Dartmouth College every man and boy felt he had an individual place in the great heart of David Cross, and David Cross had place in the heart of every Dartmouth man.

He was idolized by young men; he warmed them with his comradeship, his sympathy, his love; they went to him instinctively; they sought his counsel and companionship as pearls of great price; they attached him securely to their fellowship by 'honorary membership in their class organizations.

Many high-minded youth have entered Dartmouth through his influence; some were maintained there on his bounty.

All his enthusiasms for Dartmouth College were shared in and supported by his noble wife, who came of Dartmouth lineage.

Of Judge Cross's many visits to Hanover, of his many inspiring and notable addresses there and the spontaneous ovations he received, I cannot forbear speaking of two occasions.

The class of 1841, the class of David Cross, was the seventieth to leave the College. In 1911 Judge Cross returned to the seventieth anniversary of his graduation. His class thus divided the long roll of a hundred and forty Dartmouth classes at its exact middle point. At the luncheon following the graduation exercises, at which the members of the class of 1911 first sat amid the hosts of alumni, there was the customary program of speakers. As the last speaker, Judge Cross was called on for a word in benediction. He arose in full vigor, and in resonant voice addressed the graduating class in words which, for fire and depth of feeling, I have never heard surpassed. In the breathless silence which came at the closing he charged the men of 1911 with these words: "The message of Dartmouth to her sons is that of the coronation song to England's King George: 'Be strong and play the man. Keep the commandments of the Lord thy God and walk in His ways.' "

Again, at Commencement last June, he made an address notable in all the the list of great addresses given at the College during its long history. He moved his hearers as few of them had ever been moved before. He spoke with vigorous movement and gesture, with fire and eloquence, with joy and pathos. It all seemed so natural, so easy. His hearers lost themselves in the oration and the orator.

But Judge Cross in this outburst of his passion and enthusiasm gave of himself and his strength recklessly. Some feel that the exhaustion which followed the delivery of this oration was the beginning of the end. If so, he would not have had it otherwise. He had long put his life at the service of his College and would have been ready to give it up at her call.

Never again may Dartmouth or any other college hope to be looked upon out of so long a past with such youthful, kindly eyes as the eyes of David Cross. The heart and affections of a college are made up of the hearts and affections of all her sons. In the heart of every Dartmouth man today, wherever he be, are mingled feelings of gratitude and sorrow.

Men of Dartmouth are as singularly united in their sorrows as in their joys, and that great common heart of us all goes out in sympathy to Mrs. Cross, for more than half a century the noble, loving, devoted companion of David Cross. That heart, too, goes out in sympathy to Doctor Allen Cross, his son, and those nearest and dearest to him.

David Cross, true son of nature and of God, ripened his choicest fruits and put on all his brightest colors in the autumn of hi's life. His great devotion is a living heritage to the Dartmouth of all time.