William Herbert Perry Faunce.
The Rev. W. H. P. Faunce, D.D., the new president of Brown university, Providence, Rhode Island, is not an example of success under difficulties. He has never experienced reverses, and he has always improved his opportunities. His father, Thomas Faunce, was a prominent clergyman at Worcester, Massachusetts, and had preached in Plymouth, in that state, which is the home of many generations of the family. I called upon Dr. Faunce, and was invited into his study. He is only forty years of age, a courteous, broad-minded gentleman. “I was born in Worcester,” he said, “but received a public school education at Concord and at Lynn, and in 1876 entered Brown university. After I was graduated, I taught for a year in mathematics, during the absence of a professor in Europe. I always intended to become a minister, and I entered Newton Theological Seminary. Eight months before graduation, I preached one Sunday in the State Street Baptist church, of Springfield, Massachusetts. It was a large church, having a membership of seven hundred and fifty. I did not know that the pulpit was vacant, and, peculiarly enough, chose for my text the sentence, ‘I that speak unto you am He.’ At the close of the services, I was asked to be their pastor, and, after I was graduated from the seminary, I was ordained. It was in 1889 that I was asked to preach as a candidate in the Fifth Avenue Baptist church, of New York, which I regret to leave. I refused to be a candidate; but members continually came to Springfield to hear me, and finally I was called. All along I have been more or less identified with college work, and my congregation tell me they have been expecting I would leave and devote myself to educational lines. For a number of years, I have been one of a board of preachers at Harvard, preaching there three weeks in the autumn, and three in the winter, and for six weeks each summer (the summer quarter), at the University of Chicago, where I also taught in theology. Again, I have preached quite regularly at Cornell, Amherst, Wellesley and Brown.” “Have other colleges asked you to become president?” “Yes; that is, two official boards of two colleges have sounded and invited me, but I considered that my work here was too important. Brown, however, is my alma mater.” “You must spend much time in study,” I remarked. “I have always kept my studies up,” replied Dr. Faunce. “I have been abroad three times to study German, French and philosophy. I am a great believer in constant work.” “Success? you ask. Why, success involves the complete expression of all of one’s powers, and every one leaves a lasting impression on the life of the world. The man who is sincere in the expressing of himself, in whatever line it may be, becomes a factor in the world. Genuine success is the kind that is helpful to others, as well as to the one who is striving. Every other kind falls short of the mark and becomes stale. How to achieve success? you ask. Show strong, absolute whole-heartedness in whatever you undertake; throw yourself, body, mind and soul, into whatever you do. Patiently master details. Most of the men that I know who have failed have ignored details,—have considered them petty and insignificant. They have not realized the importance of small things.” “Do you think the average man appreciates this?” I asked. “No.” Here Dr. Faunce was called away for a moment, and I picked up a book of Browning’s poems. These lines in “Christmas Eve” were marked:
Whom do you count the Worse man upon earth?
Be sure he knows, in his conscience, more
Of what Right is, than arrives at birth.
When he returned I asked: “Do you think that the worse individual, a useless member of society, can elevate himself and be of consequence?” “Most decidedly, and through work, congenial work. The happiest hours of a man’s life should be when he is working. A man will not succeed who is continually looking for the end of the day. Vacations are necessary, but they are for the sake of work and success.”