The Henson Journals

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Thursday, October 17th, 1912. Albany.

Another brilliant day. I absented myself from the reception of representatives &c. because I rather dreaded that these people would assume that I was the official delegate of the University of Oxford, & so place me in a false position. The paper has some rather amazing photographs of Ella, Mrs Dix, & me: & a sketch of me speaking which is unspeakable! We seem to have muddled our arrangements some – as the Americans would say, for our hostess here claims us for dinner tonight, & Mrs Richmond at Schenectady claims us for dinner there. With the aid of the telephone & good temper, let us hope it may be adjusted. I have rashly promised to talk about Labour questions at Schenectady, & now I here [sic] that that place is a seething pot of militant Socialism!!

I visited Bishop Doane. The old man looks very frail. He has suffered a series of bereavments [sic] which have made him melancholy & unattended, & he will be 81 years old very shortly. We conversed for half an hour. He told me that Roosevelt was insane; 'not a dangerous maniac, or course: but non compos.' He thought the attempt on Roosevelt's life would have a considerable effect on the public mind, but not enough to carry the election. He spoke of Abp. Alexander, & said that he had hastily prepared on half–sheets of note–paper a sermon for the cathedral at Albany, in order to avoid preaching an old sermon in presence of a person who, he knew, had heard it; [124] [symbol] & that the hastily prepared sermon was a complete failure. I saw the co–adjutor bishop for a few minutes. He said that the average income of an incumbent in the diocese was about £150: that considerable difficulty was experienced in recruiting for Holy Orders: that many incumbencies had become extremely small thro' changes of population, & that it was an often recurring & difficult question whether these small charges ought to be maintained.

Leaving these Bishops I joined mine hostess & Ella in a pleasant motor–drive in the country. Then we returned to the house, & found excited telephone messages from Schenectady, which compelled us to carry out our original plan of leaving this afternoon. We were the more concerned at this because our hostess had counted on us for a large dinner party this evening: & it seemed very ungracious to throw her over: but there was really no choice, so we hastily packed: & attended the final meeting of the Educational Functions. The Governor formally handed over the new building to the Regents. There was of course more oratory. I am beginning to hate the sound of īdeal, prog–ress, ejjucation &c.! But I was interested in the fact that 'the Episcopal Bishop of Albany' (Doane) uttered the 'Invocation': & 'the Roman Catholic Bp. Of Albany' (Burke) pronounced the Benediction. In both cases extemporaneous (i.e. written) prayers were employed.

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We were motored with our baggage to Schenectady. When we reached the town, we went first to the railway station, where we took our tickets for Ithaca, & checked part of our baggage. With the remainder, we went on to the President's house, a commodious old–fashioned edifice. The President, Richmond, is a little man, with a quick gesture & an alert look, reminding one of a terrier. He was until a few years ago a Presbyterian minister in Albany, where he seems to have engaged in many local conflicts, from which he has emerged cheerful but with a sharp tongue for his opponents. He described to me his method of governing the college. It seemed to leave much to the students. There is no proctorial system, &, apparently no direct oversight either of manners or work. Chapel is compulsory: & he preaches himself. We spoke of Williams College, & he said that Garfield was taking another line from which he differed. But richer men resorted to that college, & created difficulties of discipline which in the simpler atmosphere of Schenectady were unknown. At dinner several neighbours were present: we had a discussion about the multi–millionaires, & their place in society. After dinner our host sang some songs, accompanying himself on the piano first, &, then, on the harp. He is evidently a versatile & accomplished man.

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