156
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156
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Transcription
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betterment of mankind. He was never too busy to drop his work instantly for a hearty greeting which often lengthened to a real visit with his "boys" when they chanced to return to Lincoln for a few hours. He was an inspiring adviser to the student. Many times the homesick or discouraged student left his office rejoicing, with fresh courage and real inspiration for his work. This was true not only of the botanically inclined but also for others whose primary inclination had drawn them into other fields.
As a teacher Professor Bessey had no superiors. His methods in the class room and laboratory were so full of boyish enthusiasm, he was so companionable, that the students were simply "infected" with the matter with which he dealt. It was the personality of the man which made his teaching such a strong factor in student life for nearly a half century. The quaint paternal cordiality, so marked during the last decade of his life, won the admiration of many students who really cared little for botany but who took his courses merely to come to know the man, or because their father or mother had had work with him and they wanted their sons and daughters to come under the same benign influence regardless of what they might learn of the wonders and beauties of plant life.
The stimulating methods of the man and the esprit de corps that were always conspicuous about his department were reflected in a particularly interesting and important form in the institution of the Botanical Seminar by a few of his advanced students in 1886. The "Sem. Bot." soon became and has always been one of the most enthusiastic and useful departmental clubs in the land. The organization was largely apart from his supervision but yet his was guiding spirit from which the members drew their enthusiasm whether that factor led them out on a dark night to attack the "Lits and Philistines" or sent them into a remote section of the state in search of some new element of the flora.
Doctor Bessey was deeply religious, as all understand who knew him best. This fact is beautifully portrayed in
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