CHAPTER XXII.

LAST ILLNESS.

Vigorous Constitution.-General Good Health.-Promised Longevity. Fatal Exposure.-Sudden Attack of Pneumonia.Extreme Prostration.--Languishing Weakness.- Financial Burdens. Physicians plead for Exemption from Business Cares. Attempted Relief.-Menaced by Rigorous Weather. -Relapse. Final Rest.

WITH the inheritance of a superb constitution, developed by vigorous, industrious habits, and sustained by temperate practices, it was as a general rule Mr. Cornell's good fortune, through all of his life, to be favored with more than an ordinary degree of health and strength. Though in a few instances subjected to brief illness, his recovery was always prompt and complete. His father lived to the good old age of more than ninety years, in the enjoyment of excellent health, and blessed by a kind Providence with the possession of unimpaired faculties. With this remarkable longevity as the basis of expectation, it was not strange that the friends of Mr. Cornell fondly hoped for the continuance of his useful, philanthropic life

through many years of gently declining maturity, that he might be permitted with them to enjoy the development of the great work of higher education which his generous beneficence had done so much to establish and endow. This cherished hope, however, was destined to suffer cruel disappointment, for while still in the enjoyment of apparent good health, and considerably within the limit of three score and ten, he was suddenly stricken with disease, which, after a languishing sickness of six months' duration, closed his earthly career, and plunged an entire community into the depths of mourning.

The fatal illness sounded its first dreaded note of alarm on the ninth day of June, 1874. On that day, Mr. Cornell was prostrated by an attack of pneumonia, of such severity as to confine him to the bed. The disease was supposed to have been the result of a severe cold, contracted by his unconscious exposure, while sleeping without adequate protection, to an extraordinary change of temperature, which occurred during the night, in travelling by the Erie Railway from New York to Elmira. Before the dangerous character of the disease had made itself clearly apparent, it had made serious progress in its course, and had become thoroughly seated on the lungs. From the very beginning, the skill of his medical attendants

was completely baffled, and their efforts to check the ravages of the malady were quite ineffectual.

The patient was extremely debilitated, and unable to leave his bed for several weeks. Slowly the weeks succeeded each other, and lengthened into months, and still the tiresome cough continued, and the prostrating weakness remained, to hold him a helpless prisoner within the house. Finally, as the summer waned, a slightly improved condition enabled him to visit New York and the sea shore, with the hope that a change of air and surroundings might prove beneficial. This, however, turned out to be delusive, as no material improvement was manifested in the appearance of his symptoms, and he returned to his home at Ithaca, after an absence of several weeks, in much the same state of debility as before. If there was any improvement, it was so slight as not to be apparent to the kind friends who so fondly watched and prayed for his recovery.

Earnestly, but in vain, did the medical attendants demand the seclusion of their patient from the pressing anxieties of business. This they declared to be indispensable to recovery, and that without this precaution their efforts in his behalf must prove futile. Such a course seemed, however, quite impossible in consequence of the peculiar circumstances which surrounded him. While

he was relieved from every possible annoyance, there were certain details of business which could only be solved by Mr. Cornell's personal consideration and direction. Even the attempt to keep the less important matters from his attention, failed in great measure to accomplish the desired result, as it was inevitably known to him that many interests were suffering for his personal supervision, and thus the exciting cause of apprehension was ever present, and weighing on his mind. As the autumn was approaching, it became more than ever manifest that he could not safely encounter the rigors of the coming winter, and much consideration was given to the practicability of his seeking a more genial climate for the winter months. The emergencies of his business affairs, however, forbade his absence from the vicinity of his home, and hence the plan was reluctantly abandoned.

Never before, perhaps, in the course of his entire career, had there been a period when ability to devote personal attention to business affairs had been so necessary, and, indeed, so vital to Mr. Cornell's material interests, as at the particular time of his sudden prostration. A peculiar combination of circumstances seemed to designate it as the crisis of his notable career. The self-assumed burdens of the land grant contract,

SEEKING RELIEF.

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and the uncompleted railroads, were bearing their cruel weights upon him, and he had need of every facility and every faculty at his command. Confronted by financial complications of great magnitude, at a period of serious monetary derangement, the successful solution of his plans of operation, depended, of course, largely on the stability of his personal credit, already so seriously disturbed. It can, therefore, easily be appreciated how extremely embarrassing must have been a severe and long-continued illness under such circum

stances.

There can be no reasonable doubt that the peculiar situation in which he was then placed, contributed greatly to aggravate the malady under which he was suffering, and to prevent the recovery of strength which might otherwise have been restored to him. The unavoidable mental depression incident to an occasion of such perilous anxiety, could not fail to produce that result.

Continued weakness and inability to resume active personal attention to business, rendered imperative the necessity of relief from every burden which could possibly be avoided. Yielding to this necessity, Mr. Cornell was finally, but reluctantly, induced to request the trustees of the University to assume the independent management of the business under the land grant contract, and thus relieve him from this great responsibility.