{"1": {"fulltext": "", "height": "5026", "width": "3345", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0001.jp2"}, "2": {"fulltext": "LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.\\nft V CU\\nChap. Copyright No...\\nShelf_,M.3\\nUNITED STATES OF AMERICA.", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0002.jp2"}, "3": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0003.jp2"}, "4": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0004.jp2"}, "5": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0005.jp2"}, "6": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0006.jp2"}, "7": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0007.jp2"}, "8": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0008.jp2"}, "9": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0009.jp2"}, "10": {"fulltext": "Robert R. McBurney\\n1897", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0010.jp2"}, "11": {"fulltext": "ROBERT R McBURNEY\\nA\\nMEMORIAL\\ng$\\n1837-1898", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0013.jp2"}, "12": {"fulltext": "TW\\nUorsry of Coig M\\nOffJca of t,, Q\\nMAR* 7^00\\n*eglst\u00c2\u00bbr of Co yrtgH fe\\n55951\\nCopyrighted 1899\\nby\\nThe International Committee of Young Men s\\nChristian Associations\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2EOOHB copy.", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0014.jp2"}, "13": {"fulltext": "CONTENTS\\nSketch\\n5\\nAddress by Right Rev. Henry C. Potter, LL\\nD. 37\\n11 William E. Dodge\\n42\\nWilliam W. Hoppin\\n48\\n11 Richard C. Morse\\n52\\nHon. Elihu Root\\n6t\\nCephas Brainerd\\n62\\nMemorial\\n70\\nCablegrams and other testimonies\\n73\\nResolutions\\n100", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0015.jp2"}, "14": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0016.jp2"}, "15": {"fulltext": "ROBERT R. McBURNEY\\nA Sketch\\nby\\nRichard C. Morse\\nI. BOYHOOD AND YOUTH, 1837-1854.\\nRobert Ross McBurney was born March\\nthirty-first, 1837, at Castleblayney, a small\\nmarket town in County Monaghan, in the\\nnorth of Ireland. His father, a popular phy-\\nsician with a large practice, was an active\\nmember and officer in the leading Presbyterian\\nchurch of Castleblayney. Robert s mother, an\\nardent Methodist, was connected with a small\\nWesleyan chapel near their home. Both pa-\\nrents were devout and active Christians. Very\\nearly in his life the boy responded to the reli-\\ngious teaching of his mother and father. He\\noften recalled vividly his conversion at the age\\nof twelve years. In the light of his future life\\nwork we learn with peculiar interest that, while\\nhe regularly accompanied his parents to the\\nPresbyterian church services and attended the\\nSunday-school, at another hour on each Lord s\\nday he was to be found in the Wesleyan Sun-\\nday-school. This double attendance at Sunday-\\nschool indicated his early interest in the Bible\\nand its teachings.", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0017.jp2"}, "16": {"fulltext": "His education at school was limited to the\\nfacilities furnished in his native town. But he\\nwas not as a child fond of books, and though\\noffered by his father the opportunity of a col-\\nlege course, he preferred a speedier entrance\\nupon active life and self-support. His early\\nfamiliarity with the Scriptures, however, and\\nlove for their study, and for good hymns, in which\\nhe always delighted, proved admirable ground-\\nwork for that liberal education which in later\\nyears, as he was busy with his life work, he so\\nthoroughly wrought out for himself. As a boy,\\ntoo, he showed that strong, conscientious adher-\\nence to what he conceived to be right which\\never after characterized him. He fearlessly\\ntook his stand among those of his own age\\nagainst indulgence in questionable amusements.\\nOn one occasion, having serious scruples about\\nhimself attending such a place of amusement\\nwhen solicited to do so by one of his own rela-\\ntives who had a just claim on his attention, he\\ncourteously consented to be her escort to the\\ndoor but did not go further. He was faithful\\nto his obligation as a gentleman, but true to his\\nconviction of duty as a Christian.\\nHis ministry to the sick and distressed also\\nbegan in his boyhood. Dr. McBurney, in addi-\\ntion to his practice as a physician, kept open a\\ndispensary. Robert became familiar with the\\nvarious drugs and remedies, and in emergencies\\nduring his father s frequent and necessary\\n6", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0018.jp2"}, "17": {"fulltext": "absences the boy was able to respond intelligently\\nto many calls for help, and thus early learned\\nto sympathize with and minister to the suffer-\\ning. On market days the town was often the\\nscene of disorder and drunkenness, and in car-\\ning for many a victim of drink and fighting he\\nlearned as a boy that hatred for the sin and\\nthat loving solicitude for the sinner which so\\nstrongly characterized him in his life work.\\nIt was during his boyhood that he met with\\nsaddest bereavement in the death of his devout\\nand loving mother. When he was seventeen\\nyears old he left his home and native country\\nto make a beginning of business life in the\\ngreat far away city of the new world.\\nII. BEGINNING OF LIFE AND WORK IN NEW YORK\\nCITY, 1854-1862.\\nOn his arrival in New York, during the sum-\\nmer of 1854, he was met by one of his teachers\\nat Castleblayney who had preceded him in com-\\ning to this country, and who, on the evening of\\nhis first day in the city, introduced him to the\\nfellowship and to the rooms of the Young\\nMen s Christian Association, then located on\\nthe second floor of the Stuyvesant Institute,\\nat No. 659 Broadway. He soon entered the\\nemploy of a hat manufacturer, and there\\nlearned his trade. Making choice of the church\\nof his mother, he promptly joined the Mulberry", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0019.jp2"}, "18": {"fulltext": "Street Methodist Episcopal church, since known\\nas St. Paul s church, and began to attend the\\nSunday-school. He also became interested in\\na Wednesday night prayer meeting which was\\nstarted in the Dutch Reformed church in Ful-\\nton street, and helped to put cards in store\\nwindows advertising the meeting. During the\\nfollowing eight years (1854-1861) he continued\\nat his trade and in as active connection with\\nchurch, Sunday-school and the Young Men s\\nChristian Association as a very quiet and\\nalmost painfully diffident young man could be.\\nThe New York association had been organ-\\nized in 1852. During this first decade of its\\nlife, though naturally regarded by most as a\\ndoubtful experiment, it embraced in its mem-\\nbership a group of junior merchants and pro-\\nfessional men who have since proved to be men\\nof remarkable ability. No correct account of\\nthe growth of the association movement in\\nNew York city and on the American continent\\ncan be given without reckoning with the ex-\\ntraordinary capacity and influence of some of\\nthe men composing this group.* The same\\n*As belonging to this group may be mentioned, among those\\nwho have died, Howard Crosby, Elbert B. Monroe, C. R. Agnew,\\nWilliam F. Lee, Austin Abbott, Edward Atisten, Edward Colgate,\\nSamuel Colgate, A. D. F. Randolph, S. W. Stebbins, Charles\\nScribner, Elliott F. Shepard, John B. Trevor, John Crerar, A. S.\\nBarnes, Peter Carter, Harvey Fisk, Henry B. Hyde.\\nAmong the living, William E. Dodge, Morris K. Jesup, Cephas\\nBrainerd, James Stokes, William W. Hoppin, John Crosby Brown,", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0020.jp2"}, "19": {"fulltext": "ability which has since brought them to the\\nfront in their various callings then showed\\nitself in the formation and development of the\\nNew York association, with its novel organi-\\nzation, work and methods. It was also seen in\\ntheir advocacy of this work in successive con-\\nventions of delegates representing the entire\\ncontinent. Here they were ultimately assigned\\nby their fellow delegates such a leadership in\\nthe supervision and extension of the organiza-\\ntion that the form of its work, as wrought out\\nin New York, has been substantially repro-\\nduced in the other cities of the continent. Mr.\\nMcBurney s position in this group at the begin-\\nning and for the first eight years was, as we\\nhave seen, that of a volunteer and very diffident\\nworker.\\nAt the end of this period he was thrown out\\nof employment by the closing of the establish-\\nment in which he had been at work. Provi-\\ndentially at this time the association was with-\\nout any one in charge of its rooms as caretaker\\nor librarian, and Mr. McBurney was asked to\\ntake the position temporarily. The temporary\\ncharacter of the arrangement, and the condition\\nof the association treasury are discernible in the\\nfact that the weekly compensation agreed upon\\nW. Harman Brown, D. Willis James, J. Pierpont Morgan, Ver-\\nramis Morse, Timothy G. Sellew, Charles E. Whitehead, L.\\nBolton Bangs, John S. Bussing, Charles Lanier, John E. Parsons,\\nJohn S. Kennedy, Benjamin Lord, Richard C. McCormick, A. A.\\nRaven, John Sloane, Ralph Wells, James B. Colgate, Bowles\\nColgate, Jacob F. Wyckoff Caleb B. Knerals, S. G. Goodrich.", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0021.jp2"}, "20": {"fulltext": "was five dollars, and he was confronted with the\\ninformation that the gas had been shut off for\\nsix months and that the rent for the same\\nperiod was unpaid.\\nIII. FIRST TEN YEARS AS EMPLOYED OFFICER OF\\nTHE NEW YORK ASSOCIATION, 1862-1871.\\nHis first official act on beginning his new\\nduties, July eleventh, 1862, was to sweep out\\nand arrange the small rooms of the association,\\nthen located in the Bible House. Soon after-\\nward, during a holiday a young man wandered\\ninto the rooms, a stranger, as Mr. McBurney\\nhimself has been eight years before on his\\narrival in the city. Before that holiday closed\\nthe new officer had the joy of leading the young\\nman to faith in Jesus Christ. It was this gra-\\ncious incident that led him to resolve to devote\\nhis life to Christian work. But whether the\\nemployed officer of the association could find in\\nthat office a life work, seemed questionable in\\nthat infant period of the organization. For\\nseveral succeeding years the office and officer,\\nthe organization, its members and leaders, grew\\ntogether in the development of the work, and\\nin the fuller understanding of its object and\\nmethods. Early in this period (1862-1871) Mr.\\nMcBurney was so distrustful of himself and of\\nhis qualification for the new office that he left it\\nand the city for a short time. But soon after\\nhis return to New York he was recalled by the\\nassociation. He accepted, refusing however", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0022.jp2"}, "21": {"fulltext": "an increase of salary, which had been offered to\\nhim as one inducement to return.\\nThe Parent Association Building.\\nDuring this period the association moved into\\nbetter quarters, and the conception was gradu-\\nally formed of the building erected (1864-1869)\\non the corner of Fourth avenue and Twenty-\\nthird street the first structure ever carefully\\nplanned and built to accommodate what has\\nsince become familiarly known as the distinc-\\ntive, all-round work of the association, physical,\\nintellectual, social, and spiritual.\\nIts originators and promoters had, to use the\\nwords of their leader and president, the idea\\nthat if a building could be erected answering\\nto a club house for young men, with every-\\nthing in it calculated to exert a cheering and\\nbrotherly influence, where they could grasp\\na friendly hand when they came in, and where\\ngymnasiums and music and classes for study\\nwere to be found as well as religious and Bible\\nmeetings, an influence would thus be exerted\\nupon these young men that would hold and\\ngradually mold them until their habits were\\nfixed in the right direction/ The idea was a\\nnovel and attractive one. But the leaders were\\nmen of large and wise hopefulness, as well as of\\nrare ability.\\nThe extended work contemplated in the plan\\nand appointments of the building called for a\\nchange in the constitution, and in seeking from", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0023.jp2"}, "22": {"fulltext": "the legislature a special charter, at the sugges-\\ntion of the president, the word physical was\\nadded to the definition of the object of the\\nassociation, causing it to read, as amended:\\nThe improvement of the spiritual, mental,\\nsocial, and physical condition of young men.\\nThis was the first association constitution so\\naltered and enlarged.\\nThe building committee consisted of Messrs.\\nWilliam E. Dodge, Cephas Brainerd, J. Pier-\\npont Morgan, Abner W. Colgate, and R. R.\\nMcBurney. All his associates on this committee\\nsurvive Mr. McBurney.\\nThe new building called for what was then\\ndeemed the enormous sum of half a million\\ndollars. But the faith, energy, and capacity of\\nthe young men associated in this undertaking\\nwere equal to the emergency. Theirs was a\\nfaith which confidently sought to realize a\\nbroader and more comprehensive work for\\nyoung men than had yet been attempted. In\\ntheir planning and discussions they were not\\nonly shaping this new work and a new type of\\nbuilding to accommodate it, but they were also\\nexerting a molding influence upon that one of\\ntheir number who was to give the entire enthu-\\nsiasm of his life and the energy of every faculty\\nto this work. Mr. McBurney proved equal to\\nthe opportunity given him. As the responsible\\nemployed officer of the association he performed", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0024.jp2"}, "23": {"fulltext": "his part in administration and organization.\\nThe officers and directors cooperated vigilantly\\nin every department. The large building was\\noccupied and filled with a work and workers\\nwhich proved a marvelous blessing to the young\\nmen of New York not only, but of many other\\ncities also.\\nThree hundred and fifty association buildings\\nhave since been erected on this continent, cost-\\ning over twenty million dollars. Many have\\nalso been erected on other continents, but all\\nthe best of them are modeled after this original\\nbuilding. There are certainly few, if any,\\nstructures in the capital city of the new world\\nof which this can be truthfully said. In the\\nplanning and erection of these succeeding struc-\\ntures Mr. McBurney was often carefully con-\\nsulted by architect and association secretary.\\nMany improvements, suggested by experience,\\nwere introduced. But the type remained unal-\\ntered. One of the latest of these buildings,\\nembodying all of improvement that had been\\nrealized, was erected in the year just preceding\\nhis last illness under Mr. McBurney s own eye,\\nat a cost of half a million dollars, for the West Side\\nbranch of the New York association. Building\\nand equipment in every detail bear the evidence\\nof his long experience, ripened by successful\\nassociation administration and leadership, dur-\\ning the twenty-seven years interval between\\nthe completion and dedication of these two\\nbuildings.\\n13", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0025.jp2"}, "24": {"fulltext": "Such was the strong shaping influence exerted\\nwithin the association movement by those who\\nplanned and wrought in this initial building.\\nIt would be equally interesting to trace the\\ncorresponding influence which the three hun-\\ndred of its type have slowly exerted, during\\nthe last thirty years, upon ecclesiastical and\\nother Christian architecture an influence\\nshowing itself in the varied forms of church\\nhouses and in other peculiar features of institu-\\ntional churches.\\nWith the erection of the Twenty-third street\\nbuilding, in 1869, it may be justly said that the\\nleadership of the Young Men s Christian Asso-\\nciation movement passed to the New York\\nassociation. The growth of the movement since\\nthen, and its extension, first in each association\\nto the whole man, body, mind, and spirit, and\\nthen throughout the brotherhood to various\\nclasses of young men in cities and towns, in\\ncolleges and schools, in railroad and other\\nindustries, in the army and navy, and in for-\\neign mission lands, can be traced directly to\\ninfluences centering in New York, as the\\nradiating point whence efficiency, training and\\ndevelopment have come.\\n2. A leader in the International Organization.\\nDuring this critical formative period (1862-\\n1872) Mr. McBurney, joining a few prominent\\nmembers of the New York association, began\\nin 1865 his steady attendance upon the inter-\\n14", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0026.jp2"}, "25": {"fulltext": "national conventions, and performed well his\\npart as one of the convention leaders in shap-\\ning the work and mission of that representative\\nassembly of the associations: (1) By the estab-\\nlishment of its executive committee in New\\nYork City; (2) by the calling of state conven-\\ntions, and the formation of state organizations;\\n(3) by the appointment of the day and week of\\nprayer for young men in November; (4) by\\nadopting the evangelical basis of membership,\\nwhich has proved so effective in maintaining\\nthe fellowship of the churches with the associa-\\ntions (5) by the suggestion and consideration\\nin successive conventions of the various phases\\nof this work for young men which the best\\nexperience of the best associations pointed out\\nas of vital importance. In all this relation to\\nthe international convention and committee\\nhe acted as one of the strong group of delegates\\nfrom New York, who were indispensable lead-\\ners in planning the work and accomplishing\\nthe results which have been mentioned.\\nj. Father of the State Work of New York.\\nDuring this early period also, as correspond-\\ning member for New York state of the inter-\\nnational committee, he became the founder and\\nfather of the New York state organization.\\nHere, in the convention of 1867, almost single\\nhanded, he secured through patient discusssion\\nin a protracted session the adoption of the\\nevangelical basis, which in the following year\\n15", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0027.jp2"}, "26": {"fulltext": "was also adopted for the entire American broth-\\nerhood by the international convention at\\nDetroit, and further defined and ratified by the\\nPortland convention of 1869. Three times dur-\\ning the early period of the New York state con-\\nvention he was chosen its president.\\nHis vigilant care and interest were shown in\\nthe choice of an efficient state secretary and in\\nhelpful cooperation with him. On the floor of\\nthe state convention he continued to the end\\nof his life the strongest, most experienced and\\ninfluential delegate. Here, as in his many other\\nrelationships, he proved himself to be in a\\nrare way both conservative and progressive\\noften slow to be convinced, yet always giving\\nwise direction to conclusions reached and action\\nproposed. On the other hand, he often led\\nboldly in originating new measures and in\\ncarrying them out successfully.\\nComing to the close of this eventful period of\\nbeginnings, so full of evidence, as we now see,\\nof his qualification for the longer and larger\\nwork that lay before him, it seems to us surpris-\\ning that his mind was not yet fully settled upon\\na life continuance in the secretaryship. But the\\nfuture of the association movement, which is\\nnow understood so clearly, was then dimly dis-\\ncerned and vaguely appreciated. It was in the\\nyear 1869, when the new association building\\nwas approaching completion, that he expressed\\nhis serious thought of studying for the ministry,\\n16", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0028.jp2"}, "27": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0029.jp2"}, "28": {"fulltext": "\u00e2\u0096\u00a0W*^-*\\nRobert R. McBurney\\n1867", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0030.jp2"}, "29": {"fulltext": "on the ground that in the secretaryship there\\nwas not to be found a calling and work for life.\\nSoon he would be too old, he thought, to be\\nattractive to young men, and his secretarial\\nusefulness would cease. Such a conviction was\\nheld then and for years later, and is, indeed,\\nheld to-day by not a few of the strong men in\\nthe work. If the association was in its youth at\\nthis time, its executive office was in its very\\ninfancy.\\nLater definite offer came to him of a secre-\\ntaryship in one of the leading interdenomina-\\ntional societies of the country, with a salary\\nmuch larger than he ever received in the asso-\\nciation work. But now the call could not divert\\nhim from the ministry to young men, which had\\nbecome his settled life choice.\\n4.. Leader of the General Secretaries Conference.\\nThe Young Men s Christian Associations\\nwere certainly slow in coming to the conscious-\\nness of their need of employed executive officers,\\nand of the importance of defining their distinc-\\ntive work, and of training well selected men for\\nit. One indication of this is seen in the fact\\nthat while the societies had for nearly twenty\\nyears been meeting for helpful conference by\\ntheir representatives, no meeting of their\\nemployed officers for this needful purpose\\noccurred until the year 1871.\\nWhen these officers began to meet in that year\\n17", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0033.jp2"}, "30": {"fulltext": "barely a dozen were present. No two bore the\\nsame title. The name of general secretary was\\nadopted at the meeting, and slowly came into\\nuse in the following decade. Of the dozen\\nmen Mr. McBurney was the only one repre-\\nsenting the fourfold all-round work for young\\nmen carried on in a large, well-appointed build-\\ning specially erected for the purpose. He was\\nalso the only one who was a guide in both\\ninternational and state organizations. This\\ngave him exceptional qualification to be in\\nthese secretarial conferences both a guide and\\nteacher of his associates. He performed this\\nuseful office for the most part very quietly and\\nunobtrusively, working chiefly through others\\nand putting them forward. As the younger\\nsecretaries began to be in the majority he earned\\nand bore among them the title of Father Mc-\\nBurney. The number of employed officers in at-\\ntendance steadily increased from year to year\\nIn 1873\\n54\\nIn 1879\\n141\\nIn 1874\\n77\\nIn 1880\\n178\\nIn 1875\\n93\\nIn 1881\\n210\\nIn 1876\\n108\\nIn 1882\\n255\\nIn 1877\\n114\\nIn 1883\\n34i\\nIn 1878\\n114\\nIn 1884\\n388\\nFor more than ten years this conference, in\\nconnection with the international committee s\\nsecretarial bureau of information and instruc-\\ntion, constituted the best agency for the discov-\\nery and training of association secretaries. The\\ninternational and state secretaries cooperated to\\n18", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0034.jp2"}, "31": {"fulltext": "increase its efficiency. Strong local secretaries\\nwere developed, coming into contact with what\\nMr. McBurney had wrought out as the pioneer\\namong them. Clever, consecrated men were\\ngradually secured in cities large and small.\\nEach brought in turn his contribution to secre-\\ntarial efficiency. In this annual conference\\nthey became a secretarial brotherhood in a\\ngracious, helpful relation to one another. At\\nthe beginning, when they numbered barely a\\ndozen, Mr. McBurney was easily first in expe-\\nrience and capacity to lead and teach; and at\\nthe end, when over one thousand names were\\non the roll, he was as easily the foremost man of\\nthe brotherhood.\\nIn 1872 he was one of four American dele-\\ngates who attended, in Amsterdam, Holland,\\nthe triennial meeting of the World s Conference\\nof the associations. He attended every subse-\\nquent meeting save that of 1875 namely, those\\nin 1878, 1881, 1884, 1888, 1891 and 1894. The\\nconference of 1898 sent to his bedside in the\\nhospital in New York a greeting full of sympa-\\nthy and affection, and with assurance from\\ndelegates representing twenty-one nations that\\nhis absence was lovingly lamented.\\nThus he passed the first decade (1862-1871)\\nof his secretaryship, actively and successfully\\nemployed in a rapidly growing work by and for\\nyoung men in New York city, accommodated\\n19", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0035.jp2"}, "32": {"fulltext": "in a well equipped building. He was also a\\nleader in the American international and state\\ncommittees, in the secretaries conference and\\ninstitute, and was beginning to exert an influ-\\nence in the counsels of the World s Conference.\\nIV. SECOND PERIOD OF HIS SECRETARIAL LIFE\\nAND WORK, 1872-1898.\\nThe following twenty-six years of incessant\\nbut never wearying service witnessed also an\\nequally incessant enlargement of all his varied\\nactivity. In the New York association the\\nwork was widened in two directions (1) by\\nthe organization of branches and the erection\\nof branch buildings in different parts of the\\ncity; (2) by the organization of branches com-\\nposed of different classes of young men,\\nnamely, students, railroad men and German\\nspeaking and French speaking young men.\\nEach call for enlargement had an origin and\\nhistory more or less peculiar to itself. To each\\ncall and its advocate Mr. McBurney gave hos-\\npitable attention. In responding to each he\\nbrought valuable contribution of counsel and\\nsuggestion. He domesticated each branch in\\nthe plan and scope of the association work.\\nIn the midst of this period, at a reception\\ngiven to Mr. McBurney in 1887, on his fiftieth\\nbirthday, Rev. Dr. Howard Crosby said: It\\nis an unalloyed joy to express the deep feeling\\nof so many hearts in speaking to our beloved\\n20", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0036.jp2"}, "33": {"fulltext": "friend McBurney. I am compelled to put some\\ncontrol over my feelings lest my language might\\nbe deemed superlative. I have watched our\\nfriend all these years of a quarter of a century\\nduring which he has been the official repre-\\nsentative of this magnificent institution, the\\nvery centre of its influence, one of the main-\\nsprings of its life. He has identified himself\\nwith the cause of the young man in its highest\\nexpression with a sympathy and a wisdom\\nwhich have been both untiring and unexcelled.\\nHe has remained himself a young man all these\\nyears. I deeply feel that our city and our\\nwhole land are indebted to our dear brother for\\nthese wonderful twenty-five years. Always in\\nhis place, always cheerful, always attending to\\nduty seven days of every week, and often fifty-\\ntwo weeks in every year; never weary of the\\napplications pressed incessantly upon him,\\nalways multiplying friends these have been\\nhis characteristics. I believe that such a life is\\nthe most useful of all lives an example most\\nprecious to our young men. I know of no pas-\\ntor of any church in this city whose ministry\\nhas been so useful and extended. What part of\\nthe country does not know him? And what part\\nof the country does not know him through the\\ngoodly influence he has exerted He is there-\\nfore a national man, quiet in his personal life\\nand yet felt throughout the whole country, our\\nyoung men everywhere recognizing him as a\\nguide and an example.\\n21", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0037.jp2"}, "34": {"fulltext": "Mr. Elbert B. Monroe, then president of the\\nassociation, tendered congratulations, saying:\\nWe do not come here with any idea that Mr.\\nMcBurney is old. We believe in him as a\\nyoung man, with the young man s sympathy\\nadded to the calm judgment which can do\\nyoung men good. That he has been saved to\\nus all for this time we thank God, and pray\\nthat for many years to come he may be saved\\nto us.\\nMr. William E. Dodge, in a happy brief\\naddress, presented Mr. McBurney with a hand-\\nsome velvet bag of gold eagles for the purchase\\nof books for his library, especially for its bibli-\\ncal department an eagle for each of the fifty\\nyears that were past and thirty-five more for\\nthe additional years of still more useful service\\nto which his friends looked forward. Accom-\\npanying the gift was an envelope containing\\npinions from some eagles, being anonymous\\nextracts from letters which had come from\\nfriends who had taken part in the bestowal of\\nthis gift.\\nThe Metropolitan Organization formed.\\nIn this year 1887, the multiplication of the\\nbranches of the association called for some ad-\\nministrative change. The board of directors and\\nthe general secretary had been responsible up to\\nthis time to administer every detail of the work\\nin the Twenty-third street building, and also\\nto supervise the various branches throughout", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0038.jp2"}, "35": {"fulltext": "the city. The time had certainly come to re-\\nlease the board and its secretary from special\\nsupervision of the central building. After care-\\nful thought and study, at the suggestion and\\nunder the presidency of Mr. Elbert B. Monroe,\\nthe present metropolitan organization was\\nformed. Mr. McBurney was thus relieved from\\nthe double service he had been rendering, as\\ngeneral secretary of the whole work in the\\ncity, and as secretary at the central building.\\nHe now became metropolitan secretary, hold-\\ning an equal relation to every branch, over the\\norganization and growth of each of which he\\nhad presided. And he was free during the last\\nten crowning years of his service to devote\\nhimself to perfecting and unifying the entire\\nwork.\\n2. Celebration of his fifty-third Birthday,\\nIn the year 1890, on his fifty-third birthday\\n(March thirty-first), Mr. McBurney persuaded\\nhimself for the first and only time in his life to\\ngive a dinner to a large company of friends.\\nHe selected as his birthday guests the hundred\\nemployees of the New York City association,\\nand as he issued the invitations was vividly\\nreminded of the period, nearly forty years before,\\nwhen he was the only employee of the associa-\\ntion, and was receiving as small compensation\\nas any one then on the long roll of this ramified\\nmetropolitan organization. He invited also the\\npresident and a few of the officers and directors\\n23", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0039.jp2"}, "36": {"fulltext": "of the association and its branches. Fifty-eight\\nemployees were able to respond favorably, and\\ngathered about his table at Clark s restaurant\\non Twenty-third street. Every class was repre-\\nsented, including messenger boys, cleaners,\\nengineers, janitors, physical directors, librarians,\\nsecretaries, and assistants of all kinds.\\nInteresting reminiscences were given by vari-\\nous speakers, and the responsibilities resting\\nupon everyone employed in the work were faith-\\nfully presented. Addresses were made by\\nMessrs. Cleveland H. Dodge, president; Elbert\\nB. Monroe, ex -president; Cephas Brain erd,\\nsenior member of the board of directors Wil-\\nliam E. Dodge, chairman of the board of\\ntrustees; also by chairmen of four of the\\nbranches, by the branch secretary, librarian,\\nand physical director longest in service; by\\nWilliam S. Brazier, for twenty-two years jani-\\ntor of the Twenty-third street building, and by\\nthe engineer of the same building.\\nIt would be difficult to say whether host or\\nguests most enjoyed this delightful festivity, so\\nfull of that affectionate hospitality and good\\nfellowship which pervaded the life of the host\\nin all his intercourse both with his guests and\\nwith the multitude of young men he was con-\\nstantly entertaining.\\nj. A Commemoration and a Retrospect in i8gj.\\nThe following table gives a summary view of\\nthis association growth in New York city, or,\\n24", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0040.jp2"}, "37": {"fulltext": "as it is now called, the borough of Manhattan.\\nIt was prepared early in 1897, for the celebra-\\ntion of Mr. McBurney s sixtieth birthday. At\\nthe dinner given him on this occasion Mr. Wil-\\nliam E. Dodge presided. Appropriate addresses\\nwere made by the chairman, Reverend Dr.\\nTheodore L. Cuyler, and Messrs. Cephas\\nBrainerd, Elihu Root, and Richard C. Morse;\\nand a portrait of Mr. McBurney, for which he\\nhad consented to sit at the request of a few\\nfriends, was presented to the association.\\n1866 April 2d, The Western Branch opened. 1872\\nThe Western becomes the Bowery Branch at\\n134 Bowery. 1888 The present building pur-\\nchased.\\n1868 February, Harlem Branch opened. 1888 Present\\nbuilding completed.\\n1869 December 23 d, Twenty-third street building com-\\npleted and opened.\\n1872 Yorkville, East 86th Street, Branch opened. 1885\\nLot and property secured. 1 896 Building in\\ncourse of erection.\\n1875 Railroad Branch opened in Grand Central Depot\\n1879 Railroad Rooms opened at West Thirtieth\\nstreet Depot.\\n1886 At Weehawken and New Durham.\\n1887 In Round House, West 72d Street.\\n1887 Railroad building, 361 Madison Avenue,\\nopened.\\n1893 Railroad building doubled in size.\\n1 8 91 Mott Haven rooms opened.\\n1 88 1 German Branch organized.\\n1884 Building secured.\\n25", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0041.jp2"}, "38": {"fulltext": "1889 Building doubled by purchase of adjoining\\nhouse.\\n1896 March, Building altered and reopened.\\n1885 Young Men s Institute building completed and\\nopened.\\n1887 Present Metropolitan Organization effected.\\n1888 Athletic Grounds and Boat House leased.\\n1889 French Branch opened.\\nStudent work organized as The Student Move-\\nment. 1894 Building, 129 Lexington Avenue,\\npurchased.\\n1 89 1 Washington Heights Branch opened.\\n1892 Washington Heights building secured.\\n1896 West Side building completed and opened.\\nWhen Mr. McBurney became its employed execu-\\ntive officer in 1862, the Association had 150 mem-\\nbers, was occupying two small rented rooms, and\\nexpending in its work annually $1,700. Now\\nwith 7,309 members it carries on its work at fif-\\nteen points, owns nine buildings valued at $2,-\\n000,000, and expends annually in its diversified\\nwork $175,000. It employs forty-one secretaries\\nand assistants.\\n4.. Continued relation to International and State\\nOrganizations.\\nWhile thus faithfully performing his New\\nYork secretarial work during these twenty-six\\nyears (1872-1898) he continued his active, influ-\\nential relation to the international convention\\nand its committee, as this agency also was\\nreaching out after various classes of young men.\\nThough not himself a college graduate, no\\nmember of the committee was more sympa-\\nthetic with the student work and its growth\\n26", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0042.jp2"}, "39": {"fulltext": "throughout the country and the world. In the\\nplanting and growth of the student branch in\\nhis own city field he took the most vigilant\\ninterest, providing out of his own salary for\\nsome years the salary of the first student\\nsecretary of the New York association. In\\nworking out to a successful solution that most\\ndifficult problem of the student work, namely,\\nits effective organization in the professional and\\nhigher schools of our great cities, what he\\naccomplished in New York was an invaluable\\nhelp to the association student brotherhood in\\nother large cities of the continent.\\nEqually, as a member of the international\\ncommittee, he promoted the work among rail-\\nroad, colored, and other classes of young men.\\nAt the international conventions, where this\\never- widening work was reported and its exten-\\nsion authorized, he continued an influential\\nleader in counsel and action. In the prepara-\\ntion of the program of each convention his\\nsuggestions of both topics and speakers, grow-\\ning out of his touch with all parts of the work\\nin their highest efficiency, deserved and obtained\\nprevailing influence.\\nWhen from missionaries on the foreign field\\nurgent call came to the committee for associa-\\ntion secretarial workers to establish the organi-\\nzation at strategic points on that wide field, he\\nwarmly advocated a favorable response, and\\nserved as first chairman of the sub-committee\\non this foreign work. The first secretary who\\n27", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0043.jp2"}, "40": {"fulltext": "went to that field had received his training as\\nan assistant of Mr. McBurney in the office of\\nthe New York association.\\n5. Growing interest in the Secretaryship and in\\ntraining for it.\\nIn the secretaries conference and its discus-\\nsions he also continued during this period his\\nhelpful leadership. He discerned clearly when\\nthe time was ripe for secretarial training be-\\nyond what could be furnished by this con-\\nference and by the secretarial bureau of the\\ninternational committee, useful and necessary\\nas both these agencies must ever continue to\\nbe. In the founding and building up of the\\nsecretarial training school at Springfield, Mass.\\nhe exerted a parental influence as counselor of\\nits founder and first president, and, later, of his\\nsuccessors. As a trustee from the beginning,\\nhe was indispensable to the wise administration\\nof the institution.\\nDuring his last sickness, while determining\\nthe provisions of his will, he expressed the\\ndesire to give one-fourth of his small estate to\\nthat department of association work which had\\nmost need of the gift. It is a striking indica-\\ntion of his unselfish spirit, that though the New\\nYork association, its interests and work, had\\nalways the first place in his enthusiasm and\\naffection, he concluded after careful delibera-\\ntion that secretarial training had most need of\\nhis preference in the form of a bequest and the\\n28", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0044.jp2"}, "41": {"fulltext": "fourth of his estate was willed to the school at\\nSpringfield.\\n6. Literary and other Attainments.\\nHis ever-growing literary taste and attain-\\nment were shown in the gradual increase of his\\nwell-selected library. His collection of hymns\\nthe department of poetry in which he took\\nthe greatest interest was particularly full and\\ninteresting. The annual reports of the associa-\\ntion, which he began to prepare in 1872, were\\nthe fruit of careful study. One of the leaders\\nof the religious press, Dr. Edward Prime, said\\nthat they ranked among the very best presented\\nby any of the religious societies; and he added,\\nNo matter how excellent the speaking at the\\nanniversary may be, I always find myself most\\ninterested in Mr. McBurney s report. As\\neditor of the New York Association Bulletin\\nand Notes he showed the same literary capacity.\\nHe was a careful, painstaking collector of asso-\\nciation reports and literature, and for years his\\ncollection was the largest and most complete in\\nexistence. In these and other phases of his\\nintellectual life he richly merited the honorary\\ndegree of Master of Arts conferred upon him\\nby Hamilton College.\\nHis love of the Bible and his passion for its\\nstudy grew steadily. The time set apart each\\nweek for preparation of the Bible lesson was\\nmore and more sacredly observed. No other\\nengagements were allowed to interfere with it.\\n29", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0045.jp2"}, "42": {"fulltext": "This study of the Bible was the fundamental\\nthing in his intellectual growth and literary cul-\\nture. It determined the choice of the valuable\\nbiblical works which formed an important\\npart of his library. It leavened his prayer life\\nand his personal work in leading men to faith\\nin Christ. As a teacher of the Bible to young\\nmen, his class became one of the strong factors\\nin the religious work of the association. Young\\nmen dated from it their beginning and their\\ngrowth in the Christian life. It became an\\nobject lesson to his fellow secretaries, from\\nwhich they drew suggestion and inspiration.\\nHis longest absence from his desk (February-\\nJune, 1892) was spent in a tour of the Mediter-\\nranean. Its principal feature was a month s\\ntrip through Palestine, which he keenly appre-\\nciated and enjoyed. He ever after counted it\\nof great value to him as a reader and student\\nof the Bible, and it gave a new interest to his\\nteaching. His companions on the trip will\\nalways remember the zest and eagerness he was\\never manifesting in all that he saw. His quick\\neye caught, and his memory kept count of every\\nnew variety of flower, while the scenes of sacred\\nstory, and the truths and teachings of the book\\nhe delighted to study, were indelibly impressed\\nupon his mind.\\n7. Personal Traits,\\nHe was an ardent lover of sport in the woods,\\n30", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0046.jp2"}, "43": {"fulltext": "and was an expert fisherman. The Catskill\\nmountain region, and later that of the Adiron-\\ndacks, was the goal of his plans for the few\\nbrief vacations he allowed himself. His library\\nbears witness to his taste in this direction.\\nSide by side with the large and well-selected\\nalcove of hymns is to be found a remarkable\\ncollection of the various editions of Izaak\\nWalton, comprising a specimen from at least\\nseventy editions of that Pilgrim s Progress\\nof the fisherman. He belonged to a group of\\nfriends, many of them prominent in both clergy\\nand laity, who shared with him this fondness\\nfor life and sport in the woods. One of the few\\nrecreations he allowed himself was an occasional\\nmeeting with them. But as a rule he declined\\nthe many invitations he received to join in\\nsocial life apart from the association. In one\\ninstance the invitation came from one of the\\nleading social clubs of the city. But his life\\nwas so heartily surrendered to his one work\\nday and night that he found no room in it for\\nfavorable reply to this and to a multitude of other\\ncalls to social recreation.\\nThe cheerfulness of his disposition and his\\nkeen enjoyment of the humorous made him\\nvery attractive to young men. He was always\\ngood company, and contributed his share of\\nlively talk, quick repartee, apt anecdote and\\nhumorous incidents. He was fond of bric-a-\\nbrac and curios, and had a keen eye for the\\nantique in furniture and architecture. He was\\n31", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0047.jp2"}, "44": {"fulltext": "a good critic of works of art. His taste in all\\nthese lines was excellent, and his tower room\\nand the association buildings in the erection\\nand equipment of which he was most con-\\ncerned give evidence of his capacity in these\\ndirections.\\n8. At work outside the Association Brotherhood.\\nWhile giving himself chiefly to work for young\\nmen, Mr. McBurney yielded to some of many\\nsolicitations to engage in other departments of\\nChristian effort. As became a consistent gen-\\neral secretary, he was an active member of the\\nchurch of his choice during his entire residence\\nof forty years in New York, and served on its\\nboard of trustees and board of stewards. Begin-\\nning in 1867, he was one of the leading and\\nmost active members of the executive commit-\\ntee of the Evangelical Alliance.\\nHe was one of the founders of the New York\\nChristian Home for Intemperate Men, and a\\nmember of its board of directors from 1877 to\\n1887; and his warm interest in its work con-\\ntinued throughout his life. Probably no other\\nfriend of the institution during the same period\\ndirected so many unfortunate men to its care.\\nHe was a member of the managing boards\\nof the American Tract Society, the Young\\nWomen s Christian Association, the Federation\\nof Churches and Christian Workers in New\\nYork City, the Clerical Mutual Association, the\\nNew York Deaconess Home and Training\\n32", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0048.jp2"}, "45": {"fulltext": "School of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and\\nthe Manhattan Working Girls Club.\\nHe was a member of the Civil Service Re-\\nform Association, and rendered special service\\nto the Charity Organization Society and the\\nNew York Sunday-School Association.\\nAs has just been shown, he was widely valued\\nand sought as a counselor by laymen and min-\\nisters engaged in Christian and philanthropic\\nenterprises, and often went beyond his physical\\nstrength in making favorable response. He\\nwas conservative in discerning obstacles and\\nwarning of their presence, but also progressive\\nin estimating with good judgment the likeli-\\nhood of success in new undertakings. He was\\nsuggestive to those seeking counsel, and par-\\nticularly happy in naming good candidates for\\nthe manning and leadership of worthy enter-\\nprises.\\nHe was an enthusiastic American citizen.\\nAt the outbreak of the civil war he was exceed-\\ningly eager to enlist as a soldier, but a physical\\ndisability prevented his acceptance by the mili-\\ntary authorities. This physical trouble was a\\ntax upon his strength to the end of his life.\\nOnly his indomitable spirit prevented it from\\ninterfering with his incessant labors.\\nHe also showed his good citizenship by serv-\\ning faithfully as a juryman, and in his later\\nyears was greatly valued as a member of the\\ngrand jury of the city.\\n33", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0049.jp2"}, "46": {"fulltext": "p. His Life Purpose.\\nIn reviewing the wide and varied range of his\\nactivities, the positions of trust he held, and his\\nrelationships to a world-wide work for young\\nmen, in which his influence was steadily and\\nincreasingly felt, it seems clear that he was a\\nman of extraordinary ability. He possessed\\nthe capacity, talent, and arts of a statesman.\\nHe employed every faculty and talent most\\nindustriously. Like all men who discover in\\nthemselves superior capacity he was tempted to\\nmake selfish use of it. Because he successfully\\nresisted and overcame the temptation, both his\\ninfluence and usefulness in the Christian brother-\\nhood to which he belonged steadily increased.\\nFor he continued to the end to give supreme\\nattention to the unselfish labor of love which\\nintroduced him to his life work the blessed\\nwork of leading young men, one by one, to\\nfaith and life in Jesus Christ. This he believed\\nshould be the controlling purpose and activity\\nof the general secretary, and of the Christian\\nbeliever. He showed this faith by his works.\\nIt was because he thus impersonated faithfully\\nthe loving, Christlike, unselfish motive of the\\nassociation that he commanded increasingly\\nconfidence and cooperation in the administration\\nof this work in New York and elsewhere.\\nHe highly appreciated necessary machinery\\nand appliances. But he estimated these at their\\nright value, and never gave them first place.\\n34", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0050.jp2"}, "47": {"fulltext": "His heart and hand were not enlisted and busy-\\nchiefly in organizing workers and conventions,\\nappointing committees, constructing buildings\\nand soliciting money. His best endeavor was\\ngiven to the hand to hand, face to face work,\\nwrought out only in personal intercourse,\\nprayer, Bible study and teaching, and in all\\nthose quiet spiritual character-building activities\\nwhich grow out of a living faith in Christ, as\\nsaviour unto the uttermost and friend beyond\\nall others activities which constitute the heart\\nand life blood of the association work. His per-\\nsonal influence thus exerted these many years\\nupon the lives of young men, one by one,\\nendeared him to a great multitude of them.\\nSome of these are now honored and useful in\\nbusiness, professional, political, and church life.\\nMany more in humbler station are making their\\ninfluence felt for good, and all alike value him\\nas a friend associated with what is best in their\\ncharacter, their lives, and their future.\\nHe believed that this discernment of the high-\\nest welfare of men, and the loving desire to pro-\\nmote it, came to him as a gift of grace from\\nJesus Christ, and was the work of the Holy\\nSpirit in his heart. It had its origin, as far as\\nhe knew, in a life of prayer and study of the\\nScriptures, as the Word of God to him. He\\nwas an eminently devout man. Many who\\nattended the meetings for prayer at the asso-\\nciation rooms, where Mr. McBurney often took\\npart, made special mention of his prayers, as\\n35", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0051.jp2"}, "48": {"fulltext": "full of spiritual help and comfort. The multi-\\ntude of young men and of his fellow secretaries,\\nto whom he ministered so helpfully, unite in\\nbearing the same testimony.\\n10. The Last Year.\\nIn September, 1897, Mr. McBurney left his\\ndesk in the general office of the board of\\ndirectors to take temporary charge of the\\nTwenty -third street branch until a secre-\\ntary could be found for that important post.\\nWith characteristic energy he threw himself\\ninto the work, and went so far beyond the limit\\nof his strength that in January, for the first\\ntime in all the years of his connection with the\\nassociation, he could not prepare for and\\nattend the anniversary meeting. He with-\\ndrew with a friend to Atlantic City for rest and\\nrecuperation. Returning still an invalid, he\\nwent for treatment on February fifteenth to the\\nPresbyterian Hospital. He continued there for\\nfive months, submitting in April to a somewhat\\nsevere surgical operation. Early in August he\\nwent to the Adirondacks, and thence on Sep-\\ntember twenty-first to Clifton Springs. But\\nunder the continued complications of his disease\\n(multiple sarcoma), and in spite of all that the\\nbest medical skill could prescribe, he steadily\\ngrew feebler. It was graciously ordered that\\nhis last hours were free from pain. Early in\\nthe morning of his departure, with cheerful\\nconsciousness that the end was near, he said to\\n36", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0052.jp2"}, "49": {"fulltext": "one of his physicians, Almost home! and at\\nhalf-past three on the afternoon of December\\ntwenty-ninth he entered quietly and painlessly\\nthe home of eternal rest and peace prepared\\nfor him by the love of his Saviour.\\nV. FUNERAL SERVICE, THURSDAY, DECEMBER\\n15, 1898.\\nFollowing a wish often expressed by Mr.\\nMcBurney, the funeral service was held in Asso-\\nciation Hall, on the corner of Twenty-third\\nstreet and Fourth avenue, and was of the sim-\\nplest character. His pastor, Reverend George\\nP. Eckman, Ph. D., of St. Paul s Methodist\\nEpiscopal church, presided. Very appropriate\\nportions of Scripture were read by President M.\\nWoolsey Stryker, D. D., of Hamilton College.\\nRight Reverend Henry C. Potter, D. D., LL.\\nD. Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal church\\nin the diocese of New York, made the following\\naddress:\\nIt is in such a presence as this that we read-\\njust our standards of values. There is much in\\nall our modern life, and especially in the life of\\ncities, to confuse them. Externalisms the\\nproportions and the triumphs of the visible\\ncreate even in more serious minds an undue\\nestimate of their value and meaning; and the\\ntype of man whose achievements are expressed\\nby bulk and bigness, whether of structures,\\ncombinations or accumulations, is the type to\\nwhich there is apt to be paid the largest and the\\nloudest homage.\\n37", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0053.jp2"}, "50": {"fulltext": "It is only when one of another type one to\\nwhom externalisms have been all along consis-\\ntently indifferent, who has owned little, built\\nlittle, accumulated little, if, in the material\\nsense, anything at all it is only when such an\\none is taken from his place and work in life, and\\nwe suddenly realize how much has gone out of\\nthe world in his departure, that we readjust our\\npoint of view. There have been rich men,\\npotential men in their influences upon the street\\nor the market men whose presence made\\nweaker men tremble for the interests which\\ntheir cleverness and their combinations daily\\nthreatened who have died and vanished with-\\nout a sign of grief or loss from the great world\\nthat they seemed to have so mightily influenced,\\nand often with only a sigh of relief that clever-\\nness, adroitness, powers of forecast and combi-\\nnation, without any fine scruple to restrain\\nthem, have been taken out of this world.\\nWhat a different sentiment is that which\\ngathers this various and widely representative\\nassemblage to-day As I look down into your\\nfaces, the gray heads dotting soberly the larger\\nassemblage of younger heads and faces, the\\nspectacle is profoundly significant. Some of\\nyou were the contemporaries of McBurney.\\nSome of you have known him and worked with\\nhim during all the years of his connection with\\nthe Young Men s Christian Association. In all\\nsorts of spiritual weather, in dark days as well\\nas bright, in grave crises as well as in prosper-\\nous and peaceful seasons, you have wrought\\nwith him, prayed with him, known him through\\nand through. And not only are you in no\\ndoubt about him to-day not only have you\\nnever been in any doubt about him but, more\\nthan this, as you stand about his coffin, as little\\n38", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0054.jp2"}, "51": {"fulltext": "are you in any doubt about that supreme fact\\nfor which so steadfastly and consistently he\\nstood the fact of Jesus Christ, his spiritual\\nsovereignty, and the incomparable preciousness\\nof fellowship with him, and service for him.\\nThe air clears, the dust of human strifes and\\nrivalries lifts and rolls away. The things seen\\nand temporal shrink to their true and insignifi-\\ncant proportions; and in the presence of this\\nnoble manhood, translated now to worthier\\nspheres and, as we rejoice to believe, to still\\nlarger opportunities, we measure by what our\\nfriend was and did the world and all that is in it\\nat their real value.\\nI am not here to eulogize him. With your\\nknowledge of him and his work, that would be\\nsuperfluous, if not impertinent. He did not\\nneed interpreting. He was utterly and abso-\\nlutely transparent, and the chief charm of his\\ncharacter, next to its singular and beautiful\\nmodesty, was its unreserved, though always\\nkindly directness and candor. But, though he\\nhimself least of all could wish me to spend these\\nmoments in personal praise, it is our privilege\\nyours and mine to recall him as he was, and\\nto give thanks for qualities so fine and high,\\nand, best of all, so absolutely consecrated.\\nIn their development it is impossible not to\\nrecognize those converging forces which are a\\npart of God s providential ordering in making\\nmen, and in fitting them for their work. Once,\\nin his company, it came out incidentally that\\nhe was a Methodist, and I said McBurney, I\\nhave always credited you with being a Scotch\\nPresbyterian. Surely thy speech bewrayeth\\nthee. Thou art a Calvinist and a Scotchman.\\nNo, he answered smilingly, I am neither.\\nI am Irish by race, and by fellowship a Metho-\\n39", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0055.jp2"}, "52": {"fulltext": "dist. It let in a flood of light upon character-\\nistics in him, which are rarely combined, and\\nstill more rarely in such happy proportions. A\\nmutual friend told me yesterday that Dr. Hodge\\nof Princeton once looked in upon him as he was\\nteaching a Bible class, and, after listening a few\\nmoments, said, as he came away, McBurney\\nis a Calvinist, though he don t know it. He\\nhad been speaking of God s great purpose for\\nman a purpose not to be baffled or defeated by\\nman s waywardness or perverseness, however\\nextreme. In that sense I hope we are all Cal-\\nvinists, holding fast, amid human failures, to\\nthe divine in man, which shall at last triumph\\nover all sin and wrong. And we can imagine\\nMcBurney talking to a company of young men,\\nand pleading with them to own their nobler\\ndestiny, and not to fight against the constrain-\\ning love of Jesus Christ. For, after all, that\\nwas the dominant spring with him, as was\\nnatural in the fellowship to which he belonged.\\nI shall not misjudge them, I think, if I say that\\nthe dominant note in the theology of our Metho-\\ndist brethren is a note of hope. And this was\\na preeminent note in the work and ministry of\\nour brother departed.\\nI call it a ministry, and I do so advisedly, for\\nno theory of the ministry can leave out of\\naccount the apostle s definition: As every\\nman hath received the gift, even so minister\\nthe same one to another, as good stewards of\\nthe manifold grace of God. No one who knew\\nhim can doubt that he had received the gift\\nthe highest, and best of the Holy Ghost; and\\ndear Dr. Howard Crosby, when McBurney was\\npresented on his fiftieth birthday with a purse\\nof gold pieces, only spoke the truth when he\\nsaid, I know of no pastor of any church in this\\n40", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0056.jp2"}, "53": {"fulltext": "city, whose ministry has been so useful and\\nextended as the ministry of McBurney. How\\nwide-reaching it was, how gentle, how coura-\\ngeous, how enduring in its influence One stops\\nto think of all the young men that have passed\\nunder his hand, and have been moved and enno-\\nbled by his touch. Where are they to-day\\nScattered far and wide, all round the world, in\\nvarious callings and communities, but still carry-\\ning with them, I venture to think, the impress of\\nthat affectionate interest, and wise counsel, and\\nunwearied watchfulness, which once they expe-\\nrienced at his hands. What words of courage\\nhe has spoken What lessons of loyalty, and\\npurity, and fidelity to their divine Master he\\nhas urged upon disheartened, and lonely, and\\ntempted ones What new faith in themselves\\nand in God he has awakened in them, and what\\nhosts of young men and of older men there are\\nto-day, who have come to believe in the father-\\nhood of God, because, first of all, they learned\\nto believe in the brotherhood of Robert McBur-\\nney\\nAnd now we are to bear him to his rest.\\nFitly above his breast there lies yonder wreath\\nof orchids, with their chastened hues, so like his\\nsimple and modest manhood; and still more\\nfitly rest there those pure white roses, like his\\nown unstained and blameless self. True knight\\nof God, well done Thou goest who of us can\\ndoubt it? to larger tasks even as to nobler\\nfellowships. Be ours to follow thee, as thou\\nhast followed Christ\\nThe closing prayer was offered by Bishop\\nPotter.\\nThe interment took place later in the burial\\nplot owned by the association in Woodlawn cem-\\n41", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0057.jp2"}, "54": {"fulltext": "etery, to which the name of Place of Rest\\nhad been given by Mr. McBurney, through\\nwhose thoughtful efforts and solicitation it was\\nprocured. Already it had proved a place of\\nburial for a number of young men, strangers in\\nthe city, to whom the association had ministered\\nduring their last sickness.\\nVI. MEMORIAL SERVICE, SUNDAY, JANUARY\\n15, 1899.\\nA few weeks before his death Mr. McBurney\\nrecorded in his will the following wish\\nIf a service should be held at the time of my funeral\\nin Association Hall, it is my wish that William E. Dodge\\npreside, and that Richard C. Morse, and William W.\\nHoppin, and Cephas Brainerd be invited to speak to\\nyoung men regarding fidelity to the association and\\npersonal work for leading men to the Saviour, and I wish\\nto have congregational singing only.\\nIn response to the very general and urgent\\ndesire of his friends and associates such a ser-\\nvice was held on Sunday afternoon, January\\nfifteenth. According to the wish of Mr. McBur-\\nney, as above expressed, Mr. William E. Dodge\\nconsented to preside. A large audience assem-\\nbled, representative of all classes in the com-\\nmunity, and including many prominent citizens\\nof New York and other cities. Prayer was\\noffered by Reverend George Alexander, D. D.\\nMr. Dodge then spoke as follows\\nThis is not a funeral service to-day, with its\\nnote of loss and sadness, but a tender tribute of\\n42", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0058.jp2"}, "55": {"fulltext": "loving friends to one who in life was strong and\\nnoble and pure who did a grand work for his\\nMaster and for his fellow men who gave him-\\nself unselfishly, even to the death, for others;\\nwho had no time to rest here, and has gone to\\nhis rest in a better world.\\nThis room is full of friends whose lives Mr.\\nMcBurney touched, and always touched to bless\\nand sweeten. As his life-long personal friend,\\nit is very hard for me to express myself to-day.\\nI feel too deeply moved by a personal loss to\\nsee with a clear vision what I would like to see,\\nbut I am sure that all our lives will be better by\\ntalking awhile of that life so full, so useful, and\\nso wonderful. I have never known any one\\nwhose life I envied so thoroughly; he had the\\nopportunity, which he gladly seized, of always\\nworking, day and night, for his Master, whom\\nhe loved so much, and for his brothers, for\\nwhom he had so rare a sympathy. Mr. McBur-\\nney came nearly forty years ago into this Young\\nMen s Christian association work. It was a\\nnew work then it had scarcely the confidence\\nof even the churches. I think that, in a true\\nsense, Mr. McBurney was the discoverer of the\\nvalue of young men to themselves, and to the\\nchurch, and to the state. He believed that they\\ncould be won by sympathy and brotherly kind-\\nness, and he believed that there was a possi-\\nbility in their lives through which they could be\\nsaved, if they were only led and directed rightly\\nin the beginning. I think there was a sort of\\nskepticism for many years about young men, a\\nfeeling that they must run their chances, that\\nsome would certainly fall, that many would be\\nscarred all their lives through by the tempta-\\ntions they met with, and that some few would\\ncome out rightly. Mr. McBurney believed in\\n43", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0059.jp2"}, "56": {"fulltext": "better things for young men. He believed, as\\nwe all do, that we are all sons of God, and that\\nevery wandering lonely son could be brought\\nback to his Father, if only rightly touched and\\nreached by Christian sympathy and love.\\nI want to run over rapidly some of the phases\\nof this wonderful life, so full of action and ser-\\nvice. When Mr. McBurney began his work in\\nthe New York association, it was very small,\\nand hardly known or understood in the town.\\nIt was wonderful how he touched and influenced\\nyoung men, and yet, as I look back upon it, it\\nwas more wonderful how he won the confidence\\nand esteem of the wealthy men of the city, of\\nclergymen of all denominations and of all faiths,\\nand of good men who loved the city and the\\ncountry.\\nHe put this association on a strong basis he\\narranged its organization, which has been the\\nguide for the organization of other associations\\neverywhere. He, however, soon found the\\nnecessity for a building for the association. It\\nmust have a home, bright and cheerful, full of\\nall sorts of things that would reach young men\\naway from their homes, and help them to keep\\nstrong and clear of temptation. This building\\nspeaks to some of us very touchingly of Mr.\\nMcBurney. There is not a room or a corner of\\nit but he designed. It was absolutely a new\\nthing in those days. Every part of it was\\nthought out so kindly and thoroughly that\\nalthough finer buildings and grander ones have\\nbeen built in other places no one of them was\\nput up without having for its principal arrange-\\nment those plans which he devised, and which\\nhave stood the test of time.\\nAnother thing that interested me in those\\nearly days of Mr. McBurney s wonderful work,\\n44", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0060.jp2"}, "57": {"fulltext": "was the fact that he not only became interested\\nin young men here alone in the city, but he\\ninterested himself very keenly and warmly in\\nyoung men who had homes and opportunities\\nand privileges here, and he sought and suc-\\nceeded in winning their confidence, and made\\nthem feel that they had an obligation to their\\nbrothers who were less privileged than they,\\nand he gathered about him a large class of\\nyoung men of importance in the town, who had\\nfriends and relatives here, and through them\\nhe was enabled to obtain means for putting up\\nthis large building.\\nHe then interested himself in the develop-\\nment of association work for young men all\\nthrough the country. Of that Mr. Brainerd,\\nwho was long the chairman of the international\\ncommittee, can speak better than I can. In the\\nconferences that were held in all parts of the\\ncountry and all over the world no one had so\\nmuch influence as Mr. McBurney; modest, retir-\\ning, never willing to appear upon the platform,\\nhe was always, with his guiding hand, behind\\neverything that was wise and good. I believe\\nthat the association stands so high in the world,\\nlargely though that even poise of judgment,\\nthat kindliness, that influence that he, with the\\nhigh qualities of a gentleman in all his inter-\\ncourse with others, unselfish and wise, was able\\nto exert.\\nHe then became interested in young men of\\nother classes the railroad men, exposed as you\\nknow they are to all the dangers of long and\\nweary trips in summer and winter, and with no\\nplace to go, when they came in from their long\\nruns, but the saloon. He won the confidence of\\none who loyally and splendidly equipped the\\ngreat railroad branch for the association, which\\n45", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0061.jp2"}, "58": {"fulltext": "has done so much good to the city. He became\\ninterested in the student movement and in the\\nyoung men of the colleges. It is a wonderful\\nthing for those who are interested in higher\\neducation, to know how different the Christian\\ninfluence and sentiment in all our great colleges\\nand universities is to-day from what it was when\\nthat work began. Then the young men com-\\ning from their homes too often hid their light,\\nas if ashamed to range themselves with other\\nChristian young men. Now it is much more\\ncommonly the thing for a man to show his col-\\nors, and a man is esteemed and respected who\\nis a manly Christian.\\nI could go on speaking very warmly and ear-\\nnestly of the various phases of this work as it\\ndeveloped. It would be unjust to him and to\\nhis precious memory, though, if we left out\\nwhat, after all, was the great work of his life\\nand that was the daily touch with young men\\nwho came to these rooms; it was every hour of\\nevery day, and every evening, summer and win-\\nter, Sundays and week days.\\nTo those of you who are not acquainted with\\nthe movement of young men it would be a sur-\\nprise to know what a clearing house for young\\nmen New York is. They come here from\\nevery part of the world, of every nationality.\\nSoon they began to find out that there was a\\nhome feeling in this association, and that they\\ncould meet a friend here. He had a sort of\\nmagic touch. I cannot understand it. It was\\nvery kindly, brotherly, friendly; it was not\\ninquisitive but he won the confidence of these\\nyoung men at once, and they told him all about\\nthemselves. He was a sort of father confessor\\nto them. He told them how to withstand\\ntemptation. Many of those who are settled in\\n46", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0062.jp2"}, "59": {"fulltext": "New York can tell you how much influence he\\nhad on their lives; and I suppose there is\\nhardly a place in the world where English-\\nspeaking people are found, where there is not\\none or more young men whose lives have been\\nchanged by their intercourse with Mr. McBur-\\nney. It was a wonderful power; there was\\nsuch continuity about it it had a direct effect\\nwhich always astonished those who knew him\\nbest. And then he was so unconscious of it,\\nnever speaking of his work to others unless he\\nhad an opportunity to recommend some young\\nman to a place for which he was fitted. We\\nhave not now, and never will have, any exact\\nrecord of what a powerful influence for good he\\nwas in this direction.\\nBut I am speaking too much of Mr. McBur-\\nney. There ought to be a song of triumph\\nto-day from all his brothers. Having no near\\nrelatives in New York, and no home here, he\\nlived in the association and for it he took no\\nrest, but constantly was following his Master s\\nvoice. He became an adviser and counselor\\nand friend of people of all kinds of religions;\\nCatholic priests, Jewish rabbis, clergymen of dif-\\nferent faiths, were wont to come here and con-\\nsult him men of large means, who wanted to\\nmake their wills, and who wanted to know how\\nbest to use the money that God had given to\\nthem, asked and acted on his advice.\\nThis meeting has a tender and pathetic inter-\\nest from the fact that it was arranged by Mr.\\nMcBurney himself. It would have been very\\neasy for us to have gathered great men from all\\nparts of the country. They would gladly have\\ncome to show honor to him but with a clear\\neye, knowing that his end was very near,\\nquietly and calmly waiting for the coming of\\n47", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0063.jp2"}, "60": {"fulltext": "his Master, he said that he wanted no funeral\\nservice. He merely wanted to have a few\\nfriends, whose names he gave, and who will\\nspeak here to-day, talk to the young men of the\\nassociation and the older men who have gradu-\\nated from it and give to them his last message.\\nMr. McBurney left little money almost every\\ndollar he gave away as it came. He had no\\ntime in this busy age to make money. He was\\nliving for better and higher things, but he left\\nas his last will and testament this injunction to\\nus, that we should be loyal to the association,\\nand that we should gladly continue in the per-\\nsonal work of winning souls to Christ loyal to\\nthe work he loved, personal work for the Sav-\\niour, for whom he lived and died. That is his\\nbequest to us. We are his executors and trus-\\ntees.\\nIn that beautiful address made by Bishop\\nPotter at Mr. McBurney s funeral service a few\\ndays ago, he told us, as some of you remember,\\nthat this death led us to readjust our standard\\nof values. How little do glory and money and\\nworldly successes count, as contrasted with such\\na life as that of our dear friend! He believed\\nwith all his heart that every Christian man,\\nclergyman and layman, had just such opportu-\\nnities, and that if they all would only awake to\\ntheir opportunities and chances of work for\\nChrist, this world would soon begin to gladden\\nand brighten for the coming of the Lord.\\nI hope we shall all take away with us the\\nmemory of this good and beautiful life, and\\ntake away more than that, the impulse to follow\\nhim as he followed Christ.\\nMr. William W. Hoppin was then introduced\\nby the chairman as a warm friend of Mr.\\n48", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0064.jp2"}, "61": {"fulltext": "McBurney and for a long time president of the\\nassociation. He spoke as follows\\nI would feel indeed unable to speak on an\\noccasion of this kind if I supposed that any of\\nyou had come to hear me. The thought that is\\nin your hearts and in my heart is that we are all\\nhere because we loved Robert McBurney.\\nIzaak Walton said that a companion who was\\ncheerful was golden, and I think he would\\nhave enjoyed the companionship of Robert Mc-\\nBurney. He was a man cordial, cheerful,\\nhopeful, everything that makes a man attractive\\nfor young and old in this life struggle. His\\ncheerfulness did not come from that inactive\\ngood nature which we see sometimes in men\\nwho have not the desire to fight the battle of\\nlife and who have not the courage of their con-\\nvictions. His cheerfulness was born of love;\\nhis influence came not in the wedge shape which\\nthrusts itself in and rends asunder, but it was\\nmore like the sunshine, which all feel who come\\nnear it. He was a tactful man; and when we\\nsay tactful we do not mean that element in a\\nman which leads him to seek the favor of others\\nobsequiously for his own good. He was tactful\\nbecause he had no self-love.\\nI think he was the most self-forgetful man\\nthat I ever met. It was at the basis of every-\\nthing that he did. I suppose that some here\\nremember the days when the executive com-\\nmittee met in the room over there at five o clock\\nin the afternoon, and when, after a weary day\\nof work and with a feeling that we ought not to\\nbe called upon to do anything more that day\\nbut should be allowed to go home, we entered\\nthe room to find McBurney always there and\\nalways full of good things that he wished to\\n49", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0065.jp2"}, "62": {"fulltext": "have considered. And so the half-hours would\\ngo, and the hours would go, and though we\\nwould be restless to get away how well I can\\nremember it he never thought about hours for\\neating and sleeping or anything else that con-\\ncerned his personal comfort so long as the asso-\\nciation work claimed him. Sometimes he would\\nrise, when we were getting restless and moving\\ntowards the door, and with that peculiarly inter-\\nested look in his face that held everyone he\\nwould say, Do not go, please stay just one\\nmoment. And then he would develop some\\nplan which would lead us to forget dinner and\\nother things something that he had been think-\\ning about and wanted acted upon because he\\nknew it was of vital importance. I have not\\nhad the privilege of being associated with him\\nnow for many years in the active work of the\\nassociation. Yet whenever recently I have met\\nhim I have felt strengthened and helped. If it\\nwas only for a moment on the street, as I was\\npassing down to my business, he always stopped\\nand had a word about the work.\\nI am not going to ask you to listen to me\\nwhile I speak in detail of his work. I am here\\nsimply because I loved him, and want to say\\nwhat I think he would like to have me say, and\\nit is this that, if in this work you young men\\nare to make your mark and help your fellow\\nmen, you must be absolutely without self-love.\\nI do not mean merely that you should practice\\nself-denial that is good, but self-forgetfulness\\nis better counting one s self as nothing, and\\nChrist as everything. That was the secret of\\nMcBurney s power the spontaneity of the man.\\nPerfunctory? he could not be perfunctory. In\\neverything he did you felt that there was a great\\nmoving power within him. The members of\\n50", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0066.jp2"}, "63": {"fulltext": "the boys club, who came to him with some little\\nmatter, he was immediately in touch with and\\nknew their wants, and entered into full sympa-\\nthy with them. He loved Christ more than he\\nloved any other person or thing, and it was no\\nself-denial for him to work. He was not think-\\ning of what place he was to occupy, and what\\neffect it was to have on him, but of his work for\\nthe Master. He was human, he had his limita-\\ntions but his life overstepped the limitations.\\nHe was not institutionalized; but if I may use\\nthe phrase, he McBurneyized the institution\\nnay, he was the power inside that moved and\\nwidened the association work. Why, I remem-\\nber my first visit to the rooms, years ago, in the\\nabsence of McBurney. There did not seem to\\nbe anything to them. The secretary did not\\nknow what it was to be a secretary. His was a\\nsort of perfunctory duty of keeping rooms open\\nand pamphlets on hand. But McBurney found\\nout what young men needed. Under him the\\nwork of the institution developed, and men\\nbegan to realize that young men were to be\\ntaken care of, and men of wealth and power,\\nwho had not thought of these things, came for-\\nward to give to McBurney all the support and\\nall the help that he needed.\\nYoung men let me ask you one thing. In\\nthis crowded, restless city, do you think you are\\ndoing Christ s work? Are you doing it in a\\nperfunctory way? Are you attending your com-\\nmittee meetings, and church meetings, and\\ngoing to the association on a sort of debit and\\ncredit account system, because you owe a little\\non this side of the account, and a little to the\\nworld? Are you thinking only of self-advance-\\nment? Because, if you are, you cannot do\\nMcBurney s work, and the work he wanted the\\n51", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0067.jp2"}, "64": {"fulltext": "association to do. You cannot be as useful as\\nhe was unless you can get as close to the Mas-\\nter as he did, and as far outside of yourself as\\nhe did; but, if you do, you will then realize\\nwhat power and love for the work will develop.\\nMr. Richard C. Morse, general secretary of\\nthe international committee, and for thirty years\\nassociated with Mr. McBurney in work for young\\nmen, was introduced, and spoke as follows:\\nMr. McBurney was a man of right choices.\\nWhen he came to this city, a friendless young\\nman, on the evening of his arrival he sought\\nthe rooms of the association, then obscure and\\nsmall but hospitable. He made a right choice\\nthat first day a choice of right companionship,\\nand soon he was in the church and in the Sun-\\nday-school. Eight years passed away, during\\nwhich he made a beginning of business life in\\nthe great city. Then, being temporarily out of\\nemployment, he was asked to take temporary\\ncharge of the association rooms. He consented\\nto this. And the first holiday that occurred he\\nspent in those rooms, little dreaming that he\\nwould, in a similar way, spend every future\\nholiday of his life in the rooms of the Young\\nMen s Christian Association. For on that day\\na stranger young man, friendless as he had been\\nwhen he arrived in the city, came into the rooms,\\nand during the day Mr. McBurney led him to\\nfaith and trust in Jesus Christ as his Saviour.\\nIn telling me the story years afterward, he\\nadded, That settled my choice of Christian\\nwork as a life work. He did not then intelli-\\ngently choose what we now call the work of a\\ngeneral secretary, for there was then little idea\\nof what that office and its work was. In that\\n52", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0068.jp2"}, "65": {"fulltext": "infant period of the association its present\\nmethods, agencies, and permanent mission were\\nnot defined. But later, when this building was\\nin process of construction, he told me one day\\nthat he was thinking of eventually studying for\\nthe gospel ministry, as his goal in Christian\\nwork. A few friends had counseled him to do\\nthis. I expressed great surprise, for I had been\\ndeeply impressed, as were many others, with\\nhis rare qualification for the work in which he\\nwas then engaged. But he said, Very soon\\nI will be old too old for the secretaryship too\\nold to help young men, and they will want to\\nget rid of me. That critical deliberation ended\\nin a third right choice. This building was com-\\npleted, and the fuller outline of the work, then\\nnew and strange in the land and in the church,\\ncame clearly and well defined before his vision,\\nand he devoted himself to it with a life enthu-\\nsiasm that never faltered.\\nAt the time this building was dedicated, in\\nDecember, 1869, it was my privilege a very\\ngreat privilege to have our pathways in life\\nand work unite. It had been owing to his influ-\\nence that, some years before, I had become con-\\nnected with the New York association, and now\\nit was owing to his suggestion and influence\\nthat I became an employed officer of the inter-\\nnational committee. A desk was assigned me\\nin the office of the committee, which had been\\nlocated near his own office in the new building.\\nLater, we occupied rooms in the tower of the\\nbuilding for ten years. He little dreamed what\\nhe was doing in those first thirteen years in this\\nbuilding. In December, 1869, when it was\\nopened and dedicated, it was the only structure\\nof its kind in the world the only one that had\\nbeen built to accommodate what we are now\\n53", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0069.jp2"}, "66": {"fulltext": "familiar with as the fourfold work of the asso-\\nciation physical, intellectual, social, and spirit-\\nual. Some parts of this work were then a new\\nexperiment. Some of the leaders were doubt-\\nful how long they could keep together as a unit\\nall the varied work attempted in this building.\\nThe distinctive and invaluable service which\\nMr. McBurney rendered the association con-\\nsisted in his outlining and illustrating the nature,\\nqualifications, and work of its executive em-\\nployed officer. He was giving his life to this\\nvaried work for young men in Christ s name.\\nIt was a complicated and difficult task, requiring\\na man of rare ability and great endowment.\\nMr. McBurney, in those thirteen years, met in\\nan exemplary way this exacting requirement.\\nAs American citizens we deem it to have been\\nof vast benefit to the country that when, in the\\ninfancy of the republic, its first chief executive\\nwas to be chosen, a man was elected to the pres-\\nidency who was as much greater than the office\\nas The Father of his Country is greater than\\nany office in the gift of that country. And in\\nthat critical period of our history, when there\\nwas also needed a first secretary of the treasury\\nthe bankrupt treasury of the republic was it\\nnot a vast and providential benefit that Alexan-\\nder Hamilton was greater than the office which\\nhe undertook to define and administer? Because\\nof their extraordinary qualifications these two\\ngreat men so administered their trust as to\\ninfluence and shape the administration of the\\npresidency and the treasury for all time to the\\nvast advantage of the nation. Equally happy\\nwas it for the brotherhood of the Young Men s\\nChristian Association that its first general sec-\\nretary, who was called upon to define the nature,\\nqualifications, and duties of the office, was a\\n54", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0070.jp2"}, "67": {"fulltext": "man so much greater than the office that he\\ngave to it at the very outset a character and\\nusefulness which otherwise could not have been\\nrealized.\\nHe attended faithfully the annual meetings\\nof the American general secretaries, beginning\\nwith the first in 1871, when barely a dozen were\\npresent, who constituted the great majority of\\nsuch officers then employed by the associations.\\nFor more than ten years, while the number of\\nsecretaries increased from a dozen to several\\nhundred, this was the best existing institute for\\ntraining these officers. In these formative years\\nhe was leader, guide, instructor, exemplar.\\nAnd then when the time was ripe he exerted all\\nhis influence to help in founding the first secre-\\ntarial training school, and was for years its chief\\ncounselor and trustee.\\nHe, however, was not then intent upon or con-\\nscious of doing this work for the country and\\nthe world. He was doing his work for those\\nyoung men that were coming into this building\\nday after day, and year after year, whom he\\nwas leading to faith and life in Jesus Christ.\\nHe was doing it out of that unselfish love\\nfor men which Jesus Christ planted in his heart,\\nand because this love dominated his life. But\\nnone the less he was doing an invaluable work\\nfor the whole brotherhood in this land and in\\nother lands. Men came from all parts of the\\ncountry into this building. If I have seen one\\nman stand on the corner of Fourth avenue and\\nTwenty-third street and put his valise down on\\nthe ground that he might enjoy the sight of this\\nbuilding, I have seen hundreds, and they would\\ncome to the door and read the name over it,\\nand on their faces came a look of surprise, that\\nthe Young Men s Christian Association should\\n55", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0071.jp2"}, "68": {"fulltext": "possess such a building. Many of these men\\nentered and examined the building, and before\\nthat decade was over quite a number of build-\\nings on this model had been erected by the\\nassociations in different cities. Mr. McBurney,\\nwhen he prepared the annual reports that he\\nread from this desk year after year, as the older\\nones among you will remember, often gave par-\\nticular account, not only of the progress of the\\nNew York city association, but also of the pro-\\ngress of the work in the state and throughout\\nthe continent and the world.\\nTo the New York state conventions he went\\nsteadily. He was the father and founder of this\\nstate organization and work. To every inter-\\nnational convention save one, beginning with\\n1865, he went with equal fidelity. To him a\\nconvention was a thing of life. Of this life he\\nfelt himself to be a part. He seemed to feel the\\npulse-beat of it during all the sessions and to be\\nsensitive to everything that was vitally related\\nto the work of the convention and to its best\\ninterests and usefulness. He brought to the\\nfloor the expert knowledge of a local secretary,\\nwhich he, above all men in the country during\\nthose early formative years, was acquiring in\\nthis building. How often during that period,\\nafter a weary visit to fields of association work\\nthat were full of discouragement, have I come\\nup those stairs and passed into the reception\\nroom to meet his cheerful greeting, and to look\\nabout me and to feel that the heart of the work\\nwas sound and healthy, and that the strong\\npulse that was beating here would send the life-\\nblood through the whole brotherhood All this\\nwas due to his efficient day and night service\\nyear in and year out.\\nHe attended every World s Conference save\\n56", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0072.jp2"}, "69": {"fulltext": "one in the capitals of Europe between 1872 and\\n1894; and last summer, when we met at Basle\\ndelegates from twenty-three nations, speaking\\nfifteen languages the only cablegram of greet-\\ning sent by that latest World s Conference was\\naddressed to Robert McBurney at the Presby-\\nterian Hospital in this city, telling him of the\\nsympathy of the whole world brotherhood, and\\nof how keenly all mourned the loss of his inval-\\nuable counsel and cooperation.\\nNow the same retiring modesty that he was\\never manifesting here, visible to you all, he\\nmanifested in these larger public meetings. He\\ndid not seek the platform. Again and again he\\nwas sought as president of our American inter-\\nnational convention; once he was elected, but\\ndeclined to serve. He rejoiced in doing the\\nunseen work in a quiet, unnoticed way. At\\nthat great jubilee convention, the World s Con-\\nference in London in 1894 the last which he\\nattended he was chairman of its chief execu-\\ntive committee, consisting of members from the\\nvarious countries represented. He had oppor-\\ntunity for hearing very little that was said on\\nthe floor in Exeter Hall, so he told me, because\\nin that committee there was indispensable, quiet\\nwork to be done a quiet work of conciliation,\\non which rested the unity of the movement, a\\nwork that could only be accomplished by prayer\\nand the wisest and most loving endeavor.\\nThere was a sad lack of unity in the committee\\nwhen it was first appointed and called together.\\nIt was not until just before the last session of\\nthe conference that the triumph of peace and\\nunity was gained in prayer led by the chairman,\\nRobert McBurney. In the report of that con-\\nference a very interesting report, filling an\\noctavo volume you will find much wise and\\n57", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0073.jp2"}, "70": {"fulltext": "eloquent discourse but you will search in vain\\nfor any mention of the fact that I have stated to\\nyou, and yet on that quiet work of conciliation\\nhinged very much of what was accomplished in\\nthat memorable assembly. He was able to\\nrender this important and critical service for the\\nWorld s Conference of 1894 because already in\\nmany American conventions, especially during\\nthe formative period of the association move-\\nment, he had again and again rendered the\\nsame invaluable, unrecorded service.\\nAll the wide and varied service of this busy\\nlife was wrought, as we now see, not only for\\nthe young men he was meeting in this city, but\\nfor the young men of the nation, of the conti-\\nnent, and of the world. He was successful in it\\nall, not merely because he was a man of remark-\\nable ability and talent, but because he was a\\nman of rare consecration and of rare endow-\\nment by the Spirit of God with that unselfish\\nlove which the Apostle Paul struggles to put\\ninto words in the thirteenth chapter of the First\\nEpistle to the Corinthians. As I read and pon-\\nder those words I shall ever think of Robert\\nMcBurney, and how, in the close companionship\\nof many blessed years of personal friendship, he\\ncarried home to my conscience, my heart and\\nmy life the meaning of that matchless portion\\nof the Word of God.\\nWell, he is gone from us so we say, because\\nthese bodily eyes do not see him. But I believe\\nthat he is here with us and solicitous as ever for\\nthis work, that it should be kept close to its\\ndivine purpose, always animated by the spirit as\\nwell as bearing the name of Jesus Christ. And\\nas I think of him as he appeared on this plat-\\nform year after year to report the work of the\\nassociation it will always be pleasant to recall\\n58", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0074.jp2"}, "71": {"fulltext": "two verses of a hymn which I remember he dis-\\ncovered in the hymn book one day when we\\nwere working over the annual report. With a\\nlight in his countenance, and joy in his voice,\\nhe exclaimed, We must put these verses at\\nthe end of the report this year You will find\\nthem at the close of his report for 1873. They\\nexpress the aspiration of his life, which he\\nwants us all to share with him\\n11 We who so tenderly were sought,\\nShall we not joyful seekers be,\\nAnd to Thy feet divinely brought,\\nHelp weaker souls, O Lord, to Thee\\nCelestial Seeker, send us forth\\nAlmighty Lover, teach us love\\nWhen shall we yearn to help our earth\\nAs yearned the Holy One above?\\nThe chairman introduced Mr. A. H. De-\\nHaven, who, on behalf of the trustees of St.\\nPaul s Methodist Episcopal church, presented\\nthe following memorial and resolutions\\nMinute adopted by the board of trustees of the St.\\nPaul s Methodist Episcopal church at a special meeting\\nheld January eighth, 1899:\\nIn the removal of Robert R. McBurney, who departed\\nthis life December twenty-seventh, 1898, the officiary\\nand membership of St. Paul s Methodist Episcopal church,\\nNew York, sustain a loss of unusual gravity.\\nUniting with the church in August, 1854, and remain-\\ning in its fellowship until his death, he was prominently\\nidentified with its continuous life for more than forty\\nyears.\\nOccupied with the service of the institution for the\\nsuccess of which he gave his life, omitting no detail in\\nthe discharge of his obligations to that organization, he\\nyet found opportunity to devote himself with singular\\nearnestness to the interests of the church with which he\\n59", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0075.jp2"}, "72": {"fulltext": "was connected. Without a trace of narrowness in his\\ncomposition, quick to discover and ready to acknowledge\\nthe good in every form of religious activity, rising above\\nall mere sectarian and partisan considerations, convinced\\nthat the service of Christ transcends loyalty to a human\\ncreed, he nevertheless clung with sterling fidelity to the\\ndoctrine and polity of that body of Christians with which\\nhe associated himself early in life. Such was the con-\\nfidence reposed in his wisdom by his brethren that for\\nmany years he was an honored member of the board of\\ntrustees and of the board of stewards of St. Paul s church.\\nIn official position he bore himself with exceeding dis-\\ncretion and dignity. He was the comrade and counselor\\nof his pastor, the judicious but humble monitor of his\\nfellow laborers, the chivalric Christian gentleman at all\\ntimes and everywhere. His loving forbearance, his\\nuntiring patience, his exhaustless charity, made him an\\ninspiring personality to all who met him.\\nGenerous beyond his means, it was his fortune to scat-\\nter in God s name, and not to husband in his own. Per-\\nsistent against all discouragements in prosecuting his\\nprovidential task, he saw the noble fruitage of his toil in\\nthe salvation of many souls. He was a good man, and\\nfull of the Holy Ghost and of faith and much people was\\nadded unto the Lord by him.\\nHis distinguished services in behalf of young men have\\nineffaceably written his eulogy in the character of those\\nwhom he helped to a better life the record of his achieve-\\nments will constitute an important chapter in the history\\nof Christian progress in the latter half of the nineteenth\\ncentury in America the memory of his gracious fellow-\\nship, his helpful ministry, his heroic consecration, will\\nabide forever in the hearts of those who were privileged\\nto be his companions.\\nHaving departed to that better country whither his\\nfeet were ever tending, and whence he will not return,\\nwe record our profound sense of personal loss, our sin-\\ncere sympathy for the great organization so sorely bereft,\\n60", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0076.jp2"}, "73": {"fulltext": "and our hearty thanksgiving to God for the abundant\\nlife and the triumphant faith of our translated brother.\\n(Signed) E. M. F. Miller,\\nSecretary.\\nThe Honorable Elihu Root was then intro-\\nduced, and on behalf of the trustees and direc-\\ntors of the New York association, presented the\\nfollowing memorial and resolution\\nRobert R. McBurney died on Tuesday, the twenty-\\nseventh of December, 1898, at the age of sixty-one years,\\nIn the death of Mr. McBurney the association, the\\ncommunity the Christian world, mankind, have lost a\\nfriend, and a life of rare usefulness has closed. He has\\nleft an impression upon the manhood of his day and gen-\\neration which has been permitted to few men. For\\nthirty and six years he has been the general secretary of\\nthe Young Men s Christian Association of New York\\nCity, being the first to occupy that position. Having\\nbeen identified with the association from its early days\\nto its present, from the time when its life seemed flicker-\\ning in uncertainty until the time when its influence has\\nbecome recognized and welcomed throughout Christen-\\ndom, he has exercised a powerful formative influence\\nupon this work, not only in America, but throughout\\nEurope and the world. Modest, untiring, wise and\\nunselfish, a man of refined and cultured tastes, and of\\nattractive personality, he was the adviser, the friend,\\nand the helper of young men.\\nThe work of the Young Men s Christian Association\\nwas an almost untried experiment when he became iden-\\ntified with it, and he lived to see it a great power in the\\nland. He was so genuine and brotherly in his personal\\ncontact with young men of all classes, that he won their\\nconfidence, cheered and counseled them in loneliness\\nand temptation, and fortified them until they learned to\\nbattle for themselves. Night and day, without sparing\\n61", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0077.jp2"}, "74": {"fulltext": "himself, he patiently and gladly continued this quiet,\\nunobserved work, to be evident only in the consecrated\\nlives of those he influenced. His sympathies were broad-\\nened by his faith, and were limited to no one field of\\nhuman service. Men of all creeds came to him for advice\\nand help, and in all Christian charities and social reforms\\nhis experience, his mature knowledge of men, and his saga-\\ncity in the affairs of life, gave rare value to his counsels.\\nHis life consisted of a constant and generous giving out\\nof himself for others, until calmly and with faith await-\\ning the summons, he died, not full of years, but his years\\nfilled with noble effort and grand results, his thoughts to\\nthe last intent upon the work he was leaving and the\\nfriends he loved. We recognize the goodness of God in\\ngiving us for so many years the work of this devoted\\nman. His memory is a benediction and an inspiration.\\nResolved, That a committee of eight, consisting of the\\npresiding officer of this meeting as chairman, and seven\\nothers to be named by him, be hereby appointed, who\\nshall take whatever steps their judgment prompts to\\nprovide a fitting memorial of the life and services of this\\nfriend of young men, and of his unparalleled work in\\ntheir behalf.\\nMr. Root then spoke as follows:\\nI offer this resolution, Mr. Chairman, not\\nsimply becatise I have been asked to offer it by\\nthe trustees of the association who caused it to\\nbe prepared, but with a hearty and genuine\\nsympathy in the words and the purpose of the\\nresolution, which recalls a permanent friendship\\nof nearly thirty-four years with the very deep-\\nest affection and gratitude for helpful kindness\\nin my early life and with admiration for Mr.\\nMcBurney s character and his preeminent quali-\\nties as a man and for the great things he has\\ndone. Gratitude and affection have followed\\nhim during all the course of his days, but now\\n62", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0078.jp2"}, "75": {"fulltext": "that he is gone and we can look back upon his\\nlife we only begin to realize how great he was.\\nWhen we remember how prejudice, bitterness\\nand cruelty have divided mankind in all the\\nyears of theological strife, we may realize how\\ngreat was the nature that brought together in\\nthe pursuit of a common end men of all denomi-\\nnations. How great a nature was this that\\nattracted all and repelled none He was simple,\\ndirect, truthful and yet he was skillful, adroit,\\ncarefully weighing and following the wisest\\ncourse to attain the end.\\nI think the secret of his wonderful success lay\\nin the quality of sympathy with the best in every\\nman s nature. It made no difference what the\\nman was what his associations, his training,\\nhis beliefs, his purposes the best there was in\\nhim Robert McBurney found with the unerring\\nsympathy of his wonderful spirit. His life was\\na thing above all dogmas and with his unselfish-\\nness, his freedom from cant, the intensity of his\\nbelief and the wonderful persistence of his pur-\\npose, he accomplished a work the like of which\\nhas never been seen in the days of our modern\\ncivilization among all the people of Christian\\nreligions. I believe that while we have parted\\nwith him as a friend as the kindly, gentle com-\\npanion, with his attractive manner and sweet\\ntemper as he recedes into the past and men look\\nback at him he will be seen to be a greater man,\\nof a greater nature and of a greater worth, than\\nmany among those of his day who have filled\\ngreat places in church and state, have founded\\ngreat fortunes, builded great material works,\\nand have been highly esteemed by mankind.\\nCephas Brainerd was introduced, and spoke\\nas follows:\\n63", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0079.jp2"}, "76": {"fulltext": "I have one reason which I deem unanswerable\\nfor taking part in this service, and that is, Mr.\\nMcBurney in his will named those whom he\\nwished to have invited to speak if such a meet-\\ning as this were held. He also indicated clearly\\nthe general topics which he thought might be\\ntreated.\\nAn intimate acquaintance with Mr. McBurney,\\ncommencing in 1862 and continued to the end\\nof his life, the affection which existed between\\nus, my own sense of personal loss as well as my\\nsense of the loss which the association cause in\\nNew York and in the wide world has suffered\\nin his death, the consciousness of the loss which\\nmany good enterprises have suffered in this visi-\\ntation, would together, in their influence upon\\nme personally, have prevented any active partici-\\npation in the scenes of this day. I shall not,\\ntherefore, in anything I may say, refer to the\\ncircumstances which make the visitation which\\ncalls us together so completely afflictive.\\nWhen I met Mr. McBurney, and for some\\ntime thereafter, the predominating quality\\nwhich he exhibited was that of diffidence. True,\\nhe was kindly, genial and pleasing; but he was\\nextremely modest and retiring. Indeed, I\\nbelieve he had never spoken in any meeting\\npublic in its character. It was probably true,\\nas was often said, that he was willing to take\\npart in the devotional services of his own church\\nbecause it was there the custom for all persons\\nto kneel during prayer, and so he could be heard\\npractically from a place of concealment, being\\nhidden by the backs of the benches.\\nAt that early date he exhibited none of those\\nlarger qualities which afterwards distinguished\\nhim. He was then neither a reader nor a\\nstudent, and his familiarity with affairs, such as\\n64", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0080.jp2"}, "77": {"fulltext": "it was, seeemed to have come solely from a good\\nknowledge of the moderate business in which\\nhe had been engaged as a clerk. He withdrew\\nfrom school and came here early in life, not\\nwholly in accordance with the advice or wishes\\nof his parents. His father was a Christian man,\\na competent and popular physician, and his\\nmother a devoted and exemplary woman, filling\\nadmirably her position. He could not have\\nreceived any considerable financial assistance\\nfrom home.\\nAll present this afternoon know what Mr.\\nMcBurney was at the close of his extremely\\nuseful life. From the time of my first acquaint-\\nance with him he rapidly advanced, taking no\\nstep backward to the end and the resolutions\\nwhich have been submitted, while wholly true,\\ninadequately describe his career. No man I\\nhave ever known grew more steadily or in a\\nmore shapely way than Mr. McBurney. In the\\nlargest sense of the words he was a thoroughly\\nself-made man.\\nI can best fill out, while saying something\\nabout him, the idea which I think was in his\\nmind when he gave the directions for this ser-\\nvice, by noting some of the elements which con-\\ntributed to his continuous growth.\\nHe had a wonderful faculty for the acquisition\\nof knowledge all was fish that came to his net.\\nWherever he was, whatever he was doing,\\nwhomsoever he was with, this wonderful acquisi-\\ntive faculty was in constant operation. The\\nnewspapers, the companions in the cars, the\\nvisitors at his room and at his office, the talks\\nthat he heard, the sermons that he listened to,\\nthe books that he read, and the books that others\\nread to him, were all his helpers. What he\\nread, and heard, and saw, his strong memory\\n65", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0081.jp2"}, "78": {"fulltext": "retained and the quickness of his faculties enabled\\nhim to employ as occasion might require, so\\nthat, as you all know, he became a wise instruc-\\ntor, a judicious adviser, a thorough executive\\nofficer, an educated man.\\nWhen he began his career in the association,\\nthere was in its management and upon its com-\\nmittees a group of extremely able, wise, and\\npublic-spirited men. Its affairs, the principles\\nupon which it was founded, the work which it\\ncould consistently undertake in furtherance of\\nthose principles, were thoroughly and carefully\\ndiscussed by these men. Within three years\\nafter he became connected officially with the\\nassociation, the enterprise was begun which\\nresulted in the building we now occupy. It was\\nfor such an institution an unexampled under-\\ntaking. The obtaining of the money necessary\\nto erect it involved a great deal of consideration,\\nmuch solicitation, and many efforts to secure\\npublic attention to it with all these Mr. McBurney\\nbecame very familiar, and in them he had his\\nappropriate part. He was constant in his atten-\\ntion to the work of constructing and fitting up\\nthis building, which seems even now pervaded\\nby his benignant presence. During all this long\\nperiod and long after, men such as I have men-\\ntioned continued their connection with the\\nundertaking. Happily, many of them are now\\nliving and in active service some are present,\\nand I do not mention their names as types,\\nhowever, I may mention two or three who have\\ndeparted, Cornelius R. Agnew, Elbert B. Mon-\\nroe, and William F. Lee of New York city, and\\nin the larger work for young men in the United\\nStates and the British Provinces and in Europe,\\nmen like John S. Maclean of Halifax, H. Thane\\nMiller of Cincinnati, and William Edwyn Shipton\\n66", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0082.jp2"}, "79": {"fulltext": "of London. I may say this, that others whom\\nI have not mentioned were not inferior to those\\nI have named. What a school he attended in\\nthose earlier days. The educational power of\\nthese long discussions of principles, of methods,\\nof ways and means, the interviews with gentle-\\nmen whom it was hoped might be interested,\\ncan hardly be overestimated. Few men ever\\nattended so complete an institution for instruc-\\ntion in the qualities and powers which Mr.\\nMcBurney thereafter exhibited in such effective\\nfullness.\\nAdded to this, he grew steadily and rapidly to\\nbe a large and general reader. He was not\\nsystematic in this. Indeed he would be called\\na miscellaneous reader novels, travels, history,\\npolemics, poetry, and especially hymns. Nor\\ndid he neglect either religious or secular news-\\npapers. Not only did he read consecutively,\\nbut he also read by scraps. He could save a\\nfew minutes wherever he might tarry by read-\\ning the book which was just at his hand, and\\nin all he was attentive to what he was doing.\\nHis thought and his retentive faculty were alive.\\nEspecially did he read carefully in respect of his\\nvarious journeys in Europe and in the Holy\\nLand. He was fully equipped in this regard to\\nmake his travels useful to himself and also con-\\ntributors to his general stock of available knowl-\\nedge.\\nFinally, and as most important, was his\\nthorough and continued and prayerful study of\\nthe Bible. Those who attended his Bible class\\nknow how well he was prepared to meet them.\\nHe did not confine his study to what I may call the\\nstock or common expositions of the Scriptures.\\nHe compared Scripture with Scripture, he com-\\npared the orthodox view with the view of the\\n67", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0083.jp2"}, "80": {"fulltext": "extremist on the one side or the other and a\\npart of his study was the geography of the\\ncountry, the times in which the Scriptures were\\nwritten, and the people and things which per-\\ntained to those times, the modes of thought, the\\nhabits and customs as disclosed by modern\\nresearch so that in fact few men, even in the\\nclerical profession, were so completely in pos-\\nsession of adequate knowledge for personal\\nprofit or for the instruction of others as was Mr.\\nMcBurney. In this study he was brought in\\ncontact with the best thought, with the best\\nlanguage, and the highest purposes of the times,\\nand so he became broad and wise, as he was\\ndevoted, devout and earnest. True, he accepted\\nthe Scriptures as the Word of God, but with no\\nblind or unchallenging faith, for all assaults\\nupon that Word he tested and weighed, but the\\nresult was still unshaken faith, unwavering\\nconfidence, and unyielding trust. In all, through\\nall, and over all, was his personal faith and per-\\nsonal love for God, for his Son, and his personal\\nfaith and belief in the power, the pervasive\\nand constant presence of the Holy Spirit. He\\nbelieved in prayer and in answer to prayer, and\\nhe knew whereof he believed. He was constant\\nfrom the beginning to the end to the purpose\\nand aim of his life, the advancement of the cause\\nof Christ among young men.\\nNow, to realize, if I may, the wishes of Mr.\\nMcBurney in regard to this service, let me say\\nthat I have disclosed nothing in these observa-\\ntions to dishearten any young man, or any older\\nman, but much that ought to encourage every\\none, because, in respect of these things, all start\\npractically from the same level. There was\\nnothing in his career, nothing in his success,\\nnothing in the affection with which he was\\n68", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0084.jp2"}, "81": {"fulltext": "regarded, nothing in the sense of loss which we\\nfeel, but what may be the part and share of lis\\nall. True, his was an illustrious career. At\\nthe end he stood, by the universal acknowledg-\\nment of his associates in the secretaryship the\\nworld over, their chief. True he had wrought\\ngreat things, true he carried heavy burdens,\\nexperienced great trials, overcame great difficul-\\nties and obstacles, had warm and earnest con-\\ntention, but at sixty-one, after more than thirty-\\nsix years of service in the public eye in this\\nmighty city, he died without an enemy, with\\nfriends without number here in our own country\\nand in every other land where the name of these\\nassociations is known. As years increased his\\ncares and burdens multiplied social life, in its\\nbest sense, attracted him; great philanthropic\\ninterests which had for him infinite charm\\nsolicited his attention business, which he tried\\nfor a short time after becoming secretary, called\\nhim but at all times this institution of his early\\nlove had his first and best thought, his untiring\\neffort, and his unabated affection. To this\\nassociation, in all the multiplying forms of its\\nwork, he was faithful unto death.\\nCalmly, with love for all, with no sadness of\\nfarewell to those who were dear to him, with\\nhope that was bright for the future, with faith\\nthat did not falter, he said good-by for a little\\ntime, with his face set, as was the face of Mr.\\nStandfast, toward the celestial gate looking to\\nthe meeting with those loved ones who had gone\\nbefore, believing in the meeting by and by with\\nthose he was leaving behind him, sure of the\\nwelcome Well done. Now he\\nwears the crown\\nOf full and everlasting\\nAnd passionless renown.\\n6 9", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0085.jp2"}, "82": {"fulltext": "The resolution presented by Mr. Root was\\nunanimously adopted.\\nIn closing the service Mr. Dodge said\\nI trust we have not done to-day what our dear\\nfriend McBurney would have wished undone.\\nHe was so modest he desired that there might\\nbe nothing said about him publicly and no meet-\\ning held; and when he was told that there would\\ncertainly be a memorial service, all he wanted\\nwas that such a meeting should be a new inspira-\\ntion of loyalty to this work and to the personal\\nwork of winning souls to Christ. We could\\nhave no better inspiration to such loyalty and\\nsuch work than the story of the life which has\\nbeen an object lesson to us all.\\nThere was not a bit of selfishness in his\\nnature but I can imagine that if he ever had a\\nselfish wish it was that if he went into the\\nheavenly home he should not go alone. All of\\nus, I believe, hope that we are going to that\\nheavenly home. Shall we go alone, or shall we\\nfind those waiting for us and following us whom\\nwe have led to the Father s house?\\nVII. THE MEMORIAL.\\nMr. Dodge, according to the terms of the\\nresolution adopted at the memorial meeting,\\nsubsequently appointed the memorial com-\\nmittee.\\nAfter careful deliberation this committee\\nissued the following decision concerning the\\nproposed memorial:\\n70", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0086.jp2"}, "83": {"fulltext": "During the last years of his life Mr. McBurney was\\nabsorbingly occupied in promoting the erection and\\nequipment of the association building of the West Side\\nbranch. In itself an embodiment of all that was wisest\\nand best in the work for young men which he had been\\naccomplishing during the many years of his active con-\\nnection with the association, this building, with its\\nadmirable equipment, stands as the most fitting memo-\\nrial of his life work. His deepest solicitude at the time\\nhe was taken ill related to removing the floating indebt-\\nedness on the building, then amounting to $77,500.\\nA beautiful lot in Woodlawn cemetery was procured\\nfor the association through Mr. McBurney s efforts, and\\nwas part of the blessed ministry to young men in which\\nhe spent his life. Here have been already interred\\nseveral young men for whom, as strangers, the associa-\\ntion cared in their last sickness and here Mr. McBurney\\ndesired to be buried. No monument has yet been\\nerected on this spot.\\nThe committee believe that the most fitting memorial\\nof Mr. McBurney that his friends and associates could\\nprovide would consist of\\nFirst. The complete removal of the floating indebted-\\nness upon the West Side association building, amount-\\ning to $77,500.\\nSecond. The placing in a prominent place in that\\nbuilding of a memorial tablet bearing the name of Mr.\\nMcBurney and a simple inscription concerning his rela-\\ntion to that building and to the work of the association\\nfor which it stands.\\nThird. The erection upon the association lot in\\nWoodlawn of a simple and appropriate monument bear-\\ning his name.\\nFourth. The preparation of a memorial volume.\\nThe committee have accordingly decided upon secur-\\ning the sum of $81,000, which careful estimate shows\\n7i", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0087.jp2"}, "84": {"fulltext": "will be required for the accomplishment of the fourfold\\nmemorial which has been described.\\nWilliam E. Dodge, Chairman\\nCephas Brainerd,\\nMorris K. Jesup,\\nM. Taylor Pyne,\\nJames Stokes,\\nSamuel Thorne,\\nCornelius Vanderbilt,\\nRichard C. Morse, Secretary.\\nApril 29, 1899.\\nThe sum of money required to complete the\\nproposed memorial was happily secured, and\\nas one part of it the present volume has been\\nprepared for publication.\\n/2", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0088.jp2"}, "85": {"fulltext": "CABLE MESSAGES, LETTERS,\\nAND OTHER TESTI-\\nMONIES\\nThe following cablegrams were received as\\nsoon as the intelligence of the death of Mr.\\nMcBurney reached association friends in\\nEurope\\nFrom Sir George Williams, president and\\nfounder of the London association:\\nDecember 30, 1898.\\nBritish Young Men s Christian Associations send\\nheartfelt sympathy. Our loss McBurney s gain.\\nFrom Messrs. W. H. Mills, secretary of the\\nEnglish National Council, and J. H. Putterill,\\nsecretary of the London association\\nDecember 29, 1898.\\nDeepest sympathy from English National Council\\nand London Central association.\\nFrom Mr. E. Buscarlet, president of the Paris\\nassociation\\nDecember 29, 1898.\\nDeeply mourning the loss of McBurney, Paris sends\\ngreeting and sympathy to the New York association.\\n73", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0089.jp2"}, "86": {"fulltext": "From Mr. E. Sautter, secretary of the French\\nNational Committee:\\nDecember 29, 1898.\\nDeeply impressed with the loss of McBumey. Weep-\\ning with you.\\nFrom Professor Edouard Barde and Mr. Charles\\nFermaud, chairman and secretary of the Com-\\nmittee of the World s Conference, located\\nat Geneva, Switzerland\\nDecember 30, 1898.\\nDeepest sympathy. Revelation xiv 113. Blessed are\\nthe dead who die in the Lord: Yea, saith the Spirit, that\\nthey may rest from their labors; and their works do\\nfollow them.\\nFrom Lord Kinnaird, vice president of the\\nEnglish National Council\\n11 The Young Men s Christian Associations of America\\nand indeed of the whole world have suffered a tremen-\\ndous loss in the death of Mr. McBurney. We on this\\nside join with you in sorrowing that our work has lost\\nsuch a stimulus and our young men such a friend. He\\nwas certainly a wonderful man and will be terribly\\nmissed.\\nThe secretary of the London association writes\\nMuch as the American brethren loved and respected\\nhim, their affection and admiration could not exceed that\\nfelt towards him by the many brother secretaries and\\nothers with whom he was intimately acquainted in this\\ncountry.\\nThe Editor of The Guide, Glasgow, Scotland,\\nwrites\\nM Twenty years ago, I gave a letter of introduction\\nto two young men on their way to Philadelphia via New\\n74", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0090.jp2"}, "87": {"fulltext": "York. Not long after their arrival they wrote in warm\\nwords of thanks of their cordial reception by Mr. McBur-\\nney. He talked and had prayer with them. But after\\nthey had left his room he ran after them to ask if they\\nhad need of money. They were deeply touched by his\\nloving regard. This is only a typical example of the\\nreception which thousands of young men have received\\nduring all the years of his service.\\nFrom a young banker in one of the capitals of\\nEurope, who spent the early years of his\\nbusiness life in New York\\n4 Often of late years have I thought of my good friend\\nin New York, Mr. McBurney, who in the dizziness of my\\nfirst steps in New York, took me by the hand and cared\\nfor me like a father for his boy. What sweet memories\\nof pleasant hours spent with him, when he would kindly\\ntake the trouble to chat with my broken English. We\\nused to go together to some very plain restaurant and\\npartake of a simple meal. And I am only one of thou-\\nsands of young men who have shared in this same good-\\nness of his wide-open heart\\nFrom the secretary of the Stockholm associa-\\ntion:\\nHis last letter to me from the sanitarium, a little\\nwhile before his death, I will keep as a precious remem-\\nbrance of this dear friend to whom I owe so much for\\nhis personal kindness and for the valuable instruction in\\nassociation work which he gave me during my never to\\nbe forgotten stay in your hospitable country. He did a\\ngreat work and we have suffered a great loss.\\nFrom a missionary in Brazil\\nM For three years my desk in the office of the New\\nYork association was nearest to his own. I learned to\\nknow and to love him as few of the other assistants did,\\n75", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0091.jp2"}, "88": {"fulltext": "for those were days of rapid changes in the assistant sec-\\nretaryship. As fast as men were trained, they would\\nbe called to other fields and larger opportunities, and\\nMr. McBurney was never unwilling to yield them, though\\nit entailed much additional work on himself. He has\\nremained to me the ideal of a Christian worker. There\\nmay be other counselors as wise as he was, as brilliant\\norganizers, as efficient administrators and as loyal lead-\\ners but I fear there never will be one who will combine\\nall of these valuable qualifications in so marked a degree\\nas Mr. McBurney did, coupled with a genuine love for\\nyoung men, as sympathetic as a woman s, as true as steel,\\nand as enduring as only his can be who has been planted\\non the everlasting rock and walks in the footsteps of the\\nMaster.\\nOne of the international secretaries on the\\nforeign field writes from Rio de Janeiro\\n1 As one of the thousands of young men upon whom\\nthe loving interest of Mr. McBurney had a beneficial\\neffect, I desire to put on record my sense of personal\\nloss at his death. His influence on the lives of the\\nyounger men in the secretaryship has often been remarked\\nupon, and I am one of those who owe much to his kind\\nand loving personality. When first considering my call\\nto the foreign field, Mr. McBurney s letters did much to\\nstrengthen me, and to make clear the path of God s\\nleading. Later, when in Kansas City in 1890, I shall\\nnever forget the day I received a telegram from Mr.\\nMcBurney from Denver, asking me to meet him at the\\nrailroad station as he passed through on his way east.\\nHis kind words, full of a loving, personal interest in me,\\nhelped me to a decision at the most important crisis of\\nmy life. When in New York, on two different occasions,\\npreparatory to coming out to Brazil, I had occasion to\\nprofit by friendly intercourse and conference with Mr.\\nMcBurney. One remembrance I highly prize is that of\\n76", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0092.jp2"}, "89": {"fulltext": "an invitation to the tower room, whose very atmos-\\nphere seemed charged with association history and a\\npervading love of young men. There I spent some\\nhours in delightful conversation, receiving instruction\\nand counsel of untold value to a young secretary about\\nto undertake a pioneer work on the foreign field. I shall\\nnever forget our prayer together in that tower room.\\nLater, in the midst of difficult problems on the field and\\naltogether isolated from helpful associates or colleagues,\\nMr. McBurney s letters, as chairman of the international\\ncommittee s sub-committee on foreign work, were full of\\nhelpfulness, while at the same time the personal element\\nin the letters was always of great comfort and encour-\\nagement/\\nFrom Adelaide, Australia\\nThe association board sends expression of its sense\\nof loss sustained in the removal of Robert McBurney.\\nFrom the general secretary of the association in\\nSydney, Australia:\\n1 Mr. McBurney was a great and good man, who will-\\ningly gave his life and labors for the good of young men.\\nMuch of the success of the Young Men s Christian Asso-\\nciation in your country is due to his great energy, sound\\njudgment, and common sense. He will be greatly missed\\nand we in this far off land join with the hundreds who\\nmourn the loss of a loved friend and brother and yet\\nrejoice he has been called by the Master to his reward.\\nFrom the chairman of the executive committee\\nof the Maritime Provinces of Canada\\n11 On behalf of our committee I beg to express our\\nregrets at not being able to send a representative to the\\nmemorial services on Sunday next in connection with the\\nremoval by death of Robert R. McBurney, so long iden-\\ntified with the work in New York city and as a leading\\n77", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0093.jp2"}, "90": {"fulltext": "member of the international committee so well known to\\nour membership in Canada. What Mr. McBurney was\\nprivileged to do for the Young Men s Christian Associa-\\ntion in the earlier days of its history is known to few,\\nbut that the present position of the organization in your\\ncity and on this continent is in a large measure due to\\nhis earnest self-denying labors is known to all who are\\nidentified with the work.\\nFrom the board of directors of the Hamilton,\\nCanada, Young Men s Christian Association\\n4 The sympathy of our association is extended to the\\nassociations of New York city upon the death of their\\nlate general secretary, Mr. Robert R. McBurney. The\\nassociation world will miss his wise counsel and kindly\\ndirection. To him the associations owe much for their\\npresent strong and influential position, and our prayer is\\nthat God, who in his wisdom removed our brother, may\\nraise up another leader to take his place.\\nFrom the association board at Syracuse, N. Y.\\nThe cause of young men throughout this and other\\nlands has met with a great loss. We also owe him a\\ndebt of gratitude for his spirit of helpfulness and his\\nunselfish regard for us in our local work. And we desire\\nto testify from a personal knowledge of his great worth,\\nto the pure, noble and Christian life he has led, by which\\nhe has endeared himself to thousands of young men who\\nhave been made the better by his having lived.\\nA leading officer in the New York association\\ntestifies\\n1 His whole thought was the building up of the associ-\\nation, as he believed with intensity and singleness of\\npurpose that the association if properly developed would\\nprove a most elevating influence upon the lives of young\\nmen, as well as a most powerful help to the church of\\n78", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0094.jp2"}, "91": {"fulltext": "Christ. He never allowed his social duties or pleasures\\nto interfere with his work for the association. By day\\nand in the evening, and sometimes far into the early\\nmorning, he toiled at the task he had set before himself.\\nHe took few and brief vacations and always seemed to\\nbe restless and unhappy until he returned to his labors.\\nHis biography is therefore written in the history of the\\nassociation.\\nFrom one who was associated with him in the\\nwork of his office\\n4 When our three dear children died of diphtheria sud-\\ndenly in 1877, he supervised the arrangements for the\\nfuneral and showed us a sympathy and gave us a help-\\ning hand that time nor distance can blot out of our\\nmemory. He has left an inspiration to every one who\\nknew him intimately. His acts, methods and personality\\nare indelibly impressed on my heart and mind. Though\\nseventeen years have passed since I spent those thirteen\\nyears with him in association work and though we have\\nnot met during this period, I seem to see him to-day more\\nplainly than ever. I have never had a better friend,\\ncounselor and brother.\\nFrom a director of the New York association\\nNo one can ever cope with him in the extraordinary\\nwinsomeness and sweetness of his character. My first\\nimpression never changed. In all my dealings with him\\nI never saw one like him in genuine unaffected worth.\\nFrom a pastor in New York\\nI shall always cherish the memory of that great and\\nstrong man of God my more than friend Robert R.\\nMcBurney of whom may be said that which is inscribed\\nupon the memorial of 4 Chinese Gordon in St. Paul s\\ncathedral, London, He gave his substance to the poor;\\nhis strength to the weak; his sympathy to the suffering;\\nhis heart to God.\\n79", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0095.jp2"}, "92": {"fulltext": "From a former vice president of the New York\\nassociation\\n1 I have been associated with that exemplary Christian\\nand talented organizer for a long term of years. Mr.\\nMcBurney s death comes to me as that of a brother. If\\nit may be said of any one that he has gone to his reward,\\nit may be surely said of him.\\nFrom a former associate in the secretarial office\\nof the New York association\\nThere are many who have known Robert McBurney\\nlonger but few who have worked side by side with him\\nmore years than I did. As I think of those years I\\nrealize how much I owe to him for his example of\\nhumility and personal devotion to unattractive men,\\nfor his love for the Bible and skill in its practical appli-\\ncation to men s needs, for his frank criticisms, sound and\\nwholesome if not always agreeable, and for most loving\\nand generous kindness to me and mine at trying hours\\nin our family life. We who are left must dedicate our-\\nselves afresh to that work for young men in which he has\\nso long been our leader.\\nFrom a teacher and trainer of secretaries\\nI was a young secretary at the secretaries conference,\\nwithout training, greatly impressed with the knowledge\\nand dignity of the great men in the work, wanting to\\ninquire but not willing to be heard. Mr. McBurney\\ninsisted that the older men should not occupy all the time\\nbut that the secretaries new in the work should have\\nplenty of time to ask questions or even talk. He was\\nsuch a friend of the younger men. He was determined\\nthat they should grow, and seemed to lose himself in the\\nvery endeavor to make this possible. I loved the man,\\nand though never associated with him personally, his life\\nhad a marked influence on mine.\\n80", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0096.jp2"}, "93": {"fulltext": "One of his associates writes as an eye-witness of\\nhis daily work\\nYoung men were quick to learn how genuine and\\nsincere was his sympathy, how spontaneous his gener-\\nosity, how keen his insight, how wise his judgment, and\\nthey could not long resist the power of his love. He\\nseemed bound to know what this boy did yesterday, what\\nhe was going to do next, to learn by close inquiry his\\nneeds and to supply them as a father would. To be sure\\nhe never saw him before, but here he was; that was\\nenough. The greater the boy s need, the deeper was his\\ninterest. He would often follow a young man to the\\ndoor and beyond, as if he could not bear him out of his\\nsight. Why Because he was only a lad and a stranger\\nin this great city. Toward such his heart was ever\\nyearning.\\nOne of the leaders in the Student Settlement\\nWork in New York writes:\\nIn Mr. McBurney s death I realize the loss of a per-\\nsonal friend. I remember well meeting him first on the\\noccasion of a visit of his to Yale, made during my fresh-\\nman year. The respect which I conceived for him at\\nthat time has ever remained. During my college life and\\nafterwards, including the last year, I often went to him\\nfor counsel and always found him wise, courageous and\\nhelpful. Intelligence fired by steady conviction impressed\\nme as his most remarkable characteristic. All of us who\\nadmired his spirit must feel that an added responsibility\\nis placed upon us to work harder for righteousness and\\ngodliness in this city because his strong influence has\\ndeparted, except as those who have felt his spirit give\\nworthy expression of it.\\nA leader for many years in the student associa-\\ntion work in the south writes\\nHow vividly I recall my first meeting with our ever\\n81", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0097.jp2"}, "94": {"fulltext": "loving friend, Robert McBurney, at the international con-\\nvention in Atlanta in 1875. But for his cordial greeting\\nand hearty welcome I would have continued to feel out of\\nplace as I did at the beginning of the convention, and\\nwould have returned home without a further thought or\\ncare for the association movement. To his inspiration\\nis due any development in the college work which I may\\nhave initiated or sustained.\\nA very aged man writes:\\nHis kindness of heart was inexhaustible. He always\\nimpressed me as being deeply and truly religious, and\\nwas so morally clean and spiritually pure that it was a\\nprivilege and pleasure to have one s soul close to his. He\\nwas refined, gentle, winning, and yet thoroughly manly.\\nAt my age, over eighty years, I have admired a number\\nof men, but I loved Mr. McBurney. During nearly\\ntwenty years service under him I came to know him\\nwell, saw and studied his nature; in fact, this great\\nquality of manliness was mirrored in his face. I never\\nshall forget his greeting in the morning, it was like a\\nbenediction that lasted the whole day.\\nFrom a former president of the international\\nconvention\\n4 He was a useful man, wholly given over to the pur-\\npose for which God designed him. Of him, as of David,\\nit may be truthfully said: *He served his own genera-\\ntion by the will of God. He was a sincere man, trans-\\nparent and free from sham he actually was just what\\nhe professed to be. He was a man of stability and\\ntherefore strong; nothing was permitted to divert him\\nfrom the definite purpose which shaped his course of life.\\nBecause of these characteristics his life was beautiful,\\nwith a beauty not of mere ornamentation, but with the\\nnatural and proper crown to the superstructure of gold,\\nsilver and precious stones he reared in life upon the\\n82", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0098.jp2"}, "95": {"fulltext": "broad and secure foundation laid for him in Jesus Christ,\\nwhom he loved and served.\\nAnother leader in the American association\\nwork writes\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2Mr. McBurney s life has been a benediction to every\\nman who has come in contact with him. Manly, noble,\\nfearless, pure, tender, strong, and loving, his life has not\\nbeen lived in vain. Men throughout the world are under\\na debt of gratitude to him. He has wrought his life into\\ntheirs. He has brought a supplemental force and power\\nto struggling lives. His plan, his purpose, his mind and\\nheart have been wrought into constitutions, principles\\nand moving powers of a great organization which is now\\nat work in nearly every centre of young men in the civil-\\nized world.\\nA physician in New Jersey, who was in 1866 a\\nmedical student in New York, writes\\n11 1 came across a few days ago the original draft of a\\nconstitution that he and I as a committee drew up in the\\nwinter of 1865-66 for the Medical Students Union. It\\nis mostly in his handwriting. He was always reaching\\nout his hand of help toward young men and I think he\\noriginated this movement possibly the beginning of\\nassociation work among students in New York City. I\\nwas called home by sickness about that time and did not\\nreturn that winter, so did not follow up the work\\nFrom a pastor in Ohio\\nWith an acquaintance numbering among the thou-\\nsands, I do not think there lives the man who knew him\\nwho would not have a kind word to say about him or\\nsome tender recollection to relate. I have seen him\\nempty his bureau of his best clothing for an apparently\\nworthless, drunken tramp, and spend his last cent of\\nready money upon him. His was truly a great heart.\\nHe could see and love the soul hidden in the drunken sot\\n83", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0099.jp2"}, "96": {"fulltext": "From a secretary in a southern city\\nWhen I came to New York in 1888, he seemed at\\nonce to take a personal interest in me, and if I have been\\nof any service to the association cause, it is largely due,\\nunder God, to the thoughtful, loving kindness shown\\nme by Robert McBurney, not only in those early days of\\nmy association experience, but also to the very end of\\nhis life.\\nA secretary of twenty years experience testi-\\nfies:\\nThe first time I ever met Mr. McBurney was as a\\ndelegate to a state convention. He asked me up to his\\nroom, and his talk with me gave me great pleasure. He\\nwas very kind, and I think the reason was that I was\\nunknown and obscure. That is a reason somewhat dif-\\nferent from the one which attracts many of us to others.\\nSince then we have been closely associated for many\\nyears. Not long before his sickness I was walking with\\nhim in New York after a church service and I saw a sud-\\nden light come into his face as he met a young man, a\\nstudent from Canada who was just going home to visit\\nhis friends. I never saw Mr. McBurney quite so happy\\nas when he was greeting somebody who was away from\\nhome. I remember vividly what he said that day turning\\nto me as we left his friend: That young man is going\\nto his earthly home, but I am going to my heavenly\\nhome very soon. He seemed to know it even then.\\nAnother secretary, equally as long in the work\\nMr. McBurney was a great man. He was great by\\nnature; he was greater far by grace. Yet the finest\\nthing about him was his simplicity and modesty. He\\nwas never spoiled by success or flattery. He was the\\nmost natural man I ever knew in my life. He had large\\nbusiness responsibilities resting upon him larger than\\nthose of any local secretary in this country. Yet so full\\n84", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0100.jp2"}, "97": {"fulltext": "was his spiritual life that they never checked it. The\\nhigh function of the general secretary as a spiritual\\nleader of young men he felt should never be delegated\\ninto other hands. He magnified his office. He illus-\\ntrated it and made it honorable. He was supremely a\\nspiritual worker. He was in his office to lead men to\\nJesus Christ. He could not be institutionalized. In the\\nmidst of all his varied activities he remained ever the\\nwarm, sympathetic, devoted, successful, personal worker,\\nBible teacher and spiritual leader.\\nAn eminent clergyman, who was for some years\\nassociated with him in the office of the New\\nYork association, writes:\\nRobert R. McBurney was my most intimate friend\\nfor thirty years and I loved him as a brother loves. He\\nmastered the lessons of love and put the courage that\\nhopeth all things into thousands of hearts. To those\\nwho loved him the world will always be a richer place\\nbecause of his life, and another deep affection will make\\nthe life to which he has gone nearer and dearer.\\nAn experienced secretary writes:\\nMr. McBumey s helpful suggestions, words of encour-\\nagement and prayers for guidance in my first field of\\nassociation effort exerted a lasting influence upon my\\nlife.\\nThe president of the St. Louis association\\nwrites\\nFor twenty years I have admired, respected and\\nloved Robert McBurney. Next to his good judgment\\nand piety I have been impressed by his gentle and\\nthoughtful consideration for those who were young in\\nthe work. In this he excelled all the men I have ever\\nknown. The next thing that impressed me was his\\n85", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0101.jp2"}, "98": {"fulltext": "genuine interest in young men. I feel his death as a\\npersonal loss and I am certain this feeling is shared by-\\nthousands.\\nA clergyman one of the many fellow workers\\nassociated with him for some years writes\\nIt is not difficult to enumerate Mr. McBurney s excel-\\nlences of heart and mind; his wondrous capacity for\\nloving men, his fine executive ability, his tenacity of\\npurpose, his intuition, almost womanly, in seizing on\\nand developing the good which he was so quick to dis-\\ncover in others, his great reverence for the Scriptures,\\nhis delight in social converse on high themes and in\\npraying with his friends in the old tower room, which\\nis a sanctuary in the memory of so many who knew him,\\nhis deep loyalty to our Saviour and his never wavering\\nhope for mankind through the practical preaching of\\nChrist. When God gave me a son I named him Robert\\nMcBurney, and I have no higher aspiration for my boy\\nthan that he may resemble our friend in character. He\\nwas the cleanest man I ever knew. An impure word\\nwas like a blow. How he rejoiced in getting a man\\naway from evil associations, and teaching him by his own\\nexample, as well as by precept, the worth of purity and\\ntruth and honor.\\nOne of the strongest among the association sec-\\nretaries writes\\n1 At my first secretaries conference I was a stranger\\nto nearly every one, feeling lonely and isolated. But\\nthere was one man there who seemed to take an especial\\ninterest in me. Well do I remember how he took me by\\nthe arm and walked me about the streets for a couple of\\nhours while he plied me with questions about my life\\nwork and gave counsel such as one rarely receives from\\nhis dearest friends. Mr. McBurney was the one who\\nthus went out of his way to make the intimate acquaint-\\n86", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0102.jp2"}, "99": {"fulltext": "ance of one who was a stranger. For what a multitude\\nof young men has he performed the same loving ser-\\nvice\\nAnother veteran leader among the secretaries\\nwrites\\nHe entered upon the secretaryship without educa-\\ntion or experience and grew with its growth in all\\nnecessary equipment. He began his work as a stripling\\nand finished as a giant. He trained with the chief men\\nof the association movement at home and abroad in their\\nmarch to victory and fell at the head of the column. He\\ndenied himself a home of his own to serve with single-\\nness of purpose the young men of his generation. To\\nalmost all kinds of philanthropic and Christian endeavor\\nhe lent a helping hand, but the work in which he most\\nserved the Master and his church was that of the associ-\\ntion, and as long as that organization lives and works for\\nyoung men the name of Robert McBurney will be held\\nin blessed memory.\\nOne of his oldest associates in the secretaryship\\nwrites\\nHe was a master of the principles which underlie\\nand promote the life and usefulness of the association.\\nHe knew the rocks of danger and how to avoid them.\\nThere was an entire absence of the air of officialism in\\nhis intercourse with young men. His peculiarities,\\ninstead of detracting from him, seemed to add interest to\\nhis personality. He was a man of culture and had read\\nextensively. His library was large and well chosen. I\\nnever heard him in any of his addresses use a single\\nword of slang. He despised it.\\nThe chairman of the international committee\\nwrites\\nNo single city could circumscribe the field of his\\nactivity. The problems he wrought out in New York\\n87", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0103.jp2"}, "100": {"fulltext": "became object lessons to the associations of the entire\\ncontinent. His figure and voice were familiar for over\\nthirty years in the frequent conventions of our states and\\ncontinent, and his influence was everywhere felt in pro-\\nmoting the progress and shaping the policy of the asso-\\nciations. All who came in contact with Mr. McBurney\\nas a fellow worker learned to love and admire him. His\\nlife and example are a rich heritage to the entire associ-\\nation movement, and his death has come as a personal\\nbereavement to many thousands of those who have\\nknown and loved him.\\nAnother veteran in the secretaryship and an\\nintimate friend says:\\nHe was, in the best and highest sense of the words,\\na spiritually minded man; genuinely and sincerely such.\\nI never knew any one more so. He exercised the utmost\\ncharity in his judgment of his fellowmen. Strong in his\\nown convictions and character, he had the most humble\\nopinion of his own attainments and thus was able to\\nbear with patience the weaknesses and failings of others.\\nHis love and reverence for the Word of God was deep\\nand constant, permeating and controlling all his thought.\\nGreat as was the work he accomplished, greater still was\\nthe man behind it. It is not for what he did but for\\nwhat he was I shall most miss him.\\nAnother who had known him many years says\\n4 The sweetness that can come into a life of loneliness\\nis to me one of the marked lessons of Mr. McBurney s\\nlife. He came from across the sea alone. He lived in a\\nlittle tower room alone, and even as death drew near\\nthere was no wife, no brother, no sister, no one of earthly\\nkin with him. But through all that life of loneliness the\\ngreat heart of love was poured into the lives of others.\\nThe loneliness of his own life did not make him misan-\\nthropic. It made him philanthropic and his heart was\\never going out to others.\\n88", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0104.jp2"}, "101": {"fulltext": "A state secretary says\\n4 4 The best time for me to get his counsel during his\\nbusy days and years was in the morning. I would go to\\nhis tower room not too early and while he was dressing\\nand shaving, his mind was free and comparatively unoc-\\ncupied. As I reported the work and took counsel with\\nhim he would often get very indignant and storm about\\nthe foolhardiness and foolishness of certain people and\\nyet it would end in his sitting down, taking up his little\\nBible to read his morning lesson, and then praying for\\nthese very men he had been storming about!\\nOne of the strongest and ablest association\\nleaders during the past thirty years says\\n44 1 went to my first international convention in 1868 at\\nDetroit, as one of a large and strong delegation from a\\nleading city of the central west. The proposition to\\nadopt the evangelical test of active membership was\\nbrought up. I had been an active member before I\\nbecame a Christian and I went to the convention to\\noppose the adoption of the test suggested as strongly as\\nI knew how. Mr. McBurney heard of this somehow and\\ngot a member of the New York delegation to have a talk\\nwith me. They both went over the whole subject with\\nme and so impressed all the delegates from our city that\\nwe stood behind the New York delegates and shouted\\nwith them and kept still when they kept still\\nThe next year at the Portland Convention I served on\\none of the committees. I met Mr. McBurney in connec-\\ntion with my committee work and had a chance to per-\\nceive how it was that he ran the convention.\\n4 4 Soon after my return I was inveigled into the secre-\\ntaryship of the association in our city. I had a supreme\\ncontempt for the association secretaryship, but I was\\npersuaded it was my Christian duty to take it. So I\\ntook it and did the best I could.\\n4 4 Some years later at the opening of another inter-\\n89", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0105.jp2"}, "102": {"fulltext": "national convention Mr. McBurney came to me and\\nsaid that a delegation from one section of the country\\nwanted to make their leader president of the convention.\\n1 It will never do, he added, for him to hold that posi-\\ntion here. We decided that a delegate, who, while we\\nwere speaking, was still on his way to the convention\\nfrom another section of the country, was the man for\\npresident. Now so far as I know, Mr. McBurney, one\\nother delegate and myself were the only ones in the con-\\nvention who knew this man. But he was enthusiastic-\\nally elected and Mr. McBurney s was the influence that\\naccomplished it.\\nA secretary for more than twenty years says:\\nMy business engagement in a small town near New\\nYork ended in February, 1877, and soon after I called on\\nMr. McBurney in his office. He greeted me very warmly\\nas I came in, but as we have often seen him do, he went\\non with his writing while I went on to tell my story. I\\nsaid: I have come to inquire what I had better do to\\nprepare myself for the secretaryship/ (This occurred\\nmany years before the secretarial training schools were\\nfounded.) Why, said he, you have not given up\\nyour business, have you? When I replied that I had,\\nhe said, You are a fool. But when we had talked\\nfurther no man could have been more cordial than he,\\nand he proposed to me to go first of all to the Bowery\\nbranch. Years after he told me that what most\\nimpressed him at our first meeting was my great awk-\\nwardness and how little I seemed to have of qualification\\nfor the secretaryship. I do not recollect my first meeting\\nwith him in his tower room. But I have been there many\\ntimes. There was always room for me there when I\\ncame to town, and many nights I have spent on his\\nample lounge-bed, and shall never forget his conversa-\\ntions before retiring and again in the morning and our\\nprayers together, for I always felt stronger after praying\\nwith him.\\n90", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0106.jp2"}, "103": {"fulltext": "Another veteran secretary with whom he was\\noften closely associated says\\n1 Mr. McBurney and I often disagreed. I think that\\nwas one reason why we loved each other so much. It\\nused to frighten me to see him come into a church\\nmeeting where I was going to speak. I never could\\nquite account for it, because I believed in his genuine-\\nness and sympathy. But later all this embarrassment\\npassed away. I was always impressed with the very-\\ndeep seriousness of his religious life. I never went on\\nan outing with him until some years ago. One reason\\nwas that neither of us was quite sure it would be agree-\\nable Finally we did go and I was fearful that as the\\nyounger man I would find it hard to make it pleasant for\\nhim. But instead of finding him exacting I found it\\nhard to make him appropriate his share of anything; he\\nwas so unselfish.\\nFrom one of the younger secretaries\\n1 I first met Mr. McBurney when I was conducting my\\nfirst boys meeting in a small city. A man came into\\nthe room quietly, whom I did not know until after the\\nmeeting to be Mr. McBurney. I was at once impressed\\nwith his great sympathy and love for boys by the way he\\ngot hold of the hands of those little fellows and seemed\\nso much interested in every one of them. Later, as I\\ncame to know him better, I was impressed more than\\nanything else with the deep prayer life of the man.\\nDozens of times when I have been in his office he prac-\\nticed and urged praying about the problems in our\\nwork. Another trait of his was the dispatch with which\\nhe could get rid of a man when he was too busy to give\\nhim time. He could shake your hand and shake you\\nout of the office at the same time.\\nFrom another:\\nu AsI recall my feelings towards Mr. McBurney when\\n9i", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0107.jp2"}, "104": {"fulltext": "he first began to show an interest in me I can easily\\nunderstand how so many say he was a father to them.\\nNot having any children of his own, he made all young\\nmen children to himself. He saw something to love in\\nmany young fellows whom you and I would not feel\\ndrawn to shake hands with or even speak to. He had a\\nknowledge of young men s hearts, and a sympathy with\\nthem beyond any man I ever met.\\nA very clever man writes\\n44 1 sat behind him on the train between New York and\\nNew Haven. A young man sat down in the seat with\\nhim. Mr. McBurney got into conversation with him.\\nThe fellow was flippant, but without the least break or\\ndiscontinuance in the conversation they began talking\\nabout religion in a personal way, the fellow stating what\\nhe thought and Mr. McBurney telling what he thought.\\nAfter this the fellow was sobered. It was plain to see\\nthat the older man wanted to be in relation to the young\\nman on this most important subject. I understood for\\nthe first time what genuine, wise personal work is.\\nOne of the younger men gives the following\\ntypical experience\\n44 It was at a conference in New York state. I was\\none of the kids in the work. I knew him well by repu-\\ntation, but did not know him as a man approachable by\\nus new fellows. After one of the sessions he passed his\\narm through mine and said: 4 Let us take a walk. I\\nwas in the seventh heaven. We started out on the street\\nthat led to the lake. He did not say anything about\\nassociation work but pointed to noteworthy objects. He\\nwas very observant. Then he switched around toward\\nthe town. We got into the neighborhood of the china\\nand bric-a-brac shops. He went into a store and saw an\\nold clock that pleased him very much. I had an idea he\\nwould buy it if he got the right price on it.\\n92", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0108.jp2"}, "105": {"fulltext": "From a secretary in a large western city\\nI had just entered the work, knowing almost nothing\\nabout the Young Men s Christian Association and feeling\\nmy insignificance as never before in my life. Passing\\nthrough New York I visited the Twenty-third Street\\nbranch not expecting that the general secretary of the\\nNew York association would pay any more attention to\\nme than perhaps to say howdy. I met him, was taken\\nto the tower room, was made to feel that he had a per-\\nsonal interest in me and that I was his brother. He took\\nme to dinner with him that evening and introduced me\\nas his friend. From that day I loved Robert McBurney.\\nIt has been my privilege to meet him often since my first\\nexperience with him fifteen years ago, and to me he was\\nalways the same. Never too busy to help with a word\\nof advice or encouragement.\\nFrom another:\\nThe last public meeting he ever addressed was the\\nyoung men s meeting at Harlem branch, New York, the\\nthird Sunday in D ecember 1897. Throughout the address\\nhe seemed to feel that his work was nearly done, and I\\nshall never forget how he told the story of the gospel\\nand pleaded with men to give their hearts and lives to\\nChrist. Three or four responded to this appeal and gave\\ngood evidence of radical change. Through all the ser-\\nvice he seemed to desire that every word should count.\\nOne in the front rank of veteran secretaries\\nwrites\\n11 Well do I remember the first time I met dear Robert\\nMcBurney. It was in 1873, at the Poughkeepsie confer-\\nence and convention. He gave me such a hearty greet-\\ning and kindly encouragement that I felt I had found a\\npermanent friend. A few years later, at another con-\\nvention Mr. McBurney took me aside and gave me some\\ntimely advice which at the time appeared rather severe,\\n93", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0109.jp2"}, "106": {"fulltext": "yet ere long I discovered that it was the best service he\\nhad ever rendered me.\\nAnother leader in the secretaryship writes\\nIn September, 1881, I went to New York from my\\nNew England home for the purpose of studying the\\nassociation work in that city while awaiting a definite\\ncall to a field. My experience had been limited to a\\nsmall town association, but through the persuasion of\\nstate and international secretaries I had given up busi-\\nness plans and had fully determined to enter the associa-\\ntion as a life work. Mr. McBurney welcomed me imme-\\ndiately upon my arrival in New York and for the first\\ntime I thus came in contact with his strong personality.\\nThat evening he invited me to dinner, and afterward I\\naccompanied him to a meeting of the managing com-\\nmittee of the Bowery branch. During the following\\nweek he offered words of encouragement and instruction,\\nand cheered and strengthened me for the work I was\\nsoon to enter. I have always felt much indebted to him\\nfor the inspiration which came to me from his life at this\\npivotal time in my experience; and from that time I\\nhave greatly valued his counsel and friendship.\\nAnother general secretary for twenty-seven\\nyears writes:\\n44 1 recall with so much real satisfaction my first meet-\\ning with Mr. McBurney. It was shortly after my appoint-\\nment as general secretary of a New England city in 1872.\\nTime cannot efface the memories of that hour, of his\\nbrotherly advice, wise counsel and heart sympathy with\\nme just entering my life work. We met frequently in\\nthat tower room during my nine years stay in that city.\\nThen, when the Master indicated my removal to the\\nwest, as I accepted the call with many misgivings he\\nagain by his loving sympathy so thoroughly strengthened\\nmy heart and hands and all through these years to the\\ntime of his death we were close together and an intimate\\n94", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0110.jp2"}, "107": {"fulltext": "friendship grew up between us almost akin to that of\\nJonathan and David. His life, his work, his devotion to\\nChrist and the service of young men, were always an\\ninspiration to me. Nearly the last letter I received from\\nhim when his earthly house was failing expressed solici-\\ntude for my health and his great and continued interest\\nin our work in this far away western field.\\n4 4 4 1 take the liberty of enclosing copy of a letter received\\nfrom Mr. McBurney written on the occasion of the com-\\npletion of my twenty-fifth consecutive year in the secre-\\ntarial office, not because of its reference to me personally\\nbut because in every line it breathes the great soul of the\\nman:\\n4 4 So you have become a quarter-centenary secretary.\\nPretty long title\\n44 4 Your work in your first field placed the association in\\na position of usefulness and influence such as it had\\nnever enjoyed before, and your going to the west and\\nyour work there has made you, with God s blessing, the\\nsaviour of that work.\\n4 4 4 While you have served men, you have served them for\\nChrist s sake not for the praise of men but for the glory\\nof God. You are loved by our entire brotherhood as few\\nmen are. I thank God that I have had the privilege of\\nbeing associated with you in the labor of love to which\\nwe have been permitted to devote the best years of our\\nlives.\\nA veteran in the state secretaryship writes\\n44 My first acquaintance with Mr. McBurney was in\\n1880 at the secretaries conference held in Chicago. As\\none of the younger secretaries, I did not quickly come\\ninto intimate acquaintance with him, but our friendship\\ngrew with the years. His remarkable steadfastness of\\npurpose, his whole-hearted loyalty to this work to which\\nhe had given his life, his burning enthusiasm for the\\nassociation, his constant desire to come into personal\\ntouch with young men, have all had their influence upon\\n95", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0111.jp2"}, "108": {"fulltext": "my own personal life. I shall hope to tell him, sometime,\\nwhen we sit in the day that has no twilight, of the effect\\nof his life upon mine.\\nThe first secretary of the international com-\\nmittee for work among students writes\\nThe first glimpse I ever had of Mr. McBurney was\\nat the international convention in 1872, whither I had\\ngone as a delegate from the Hanover College Associa-\\ntion. Thane Miller had nominated him for the presi-\\ndency of the convention, and urged as a reason for his\\nelection that McBurney was going that summer to\\nAmsterdam to attend the World s Conference and that\\nit was very fitting that the American delegate should be\\nthe president of our convention. Mr. Miller had also\\nbeen nominated for the position. Mr. McBurney stoutly\\nopposed the substitution of his name, and Mr. Miller\\nwas elected.\\nMy next meeting with him was in the old international\\noffice in the association building, which I visited during\\nthe Christmas holidays of 1876 for the purpose of con-\\nferring with the committee in regard to the proposed\\nconference of students which afterward met at Louisville\\nin 1877, and inaugurated the intercollegiate movement.\\nOur conference was very brief, but he expressed the\\ndeepest interest in the proposed student movement.\\nOur next meeting was in Princeton the Sunday after\\nthe day of prayer for colleges in 1877. He and Mr.\\nMorse came there by invitation. I had much personal\\nconference with them in regard to my life work. I was\\nthen beginning to think seriously of the secretaryship.\\nI well remember Mr. McBurney s strongly advising me\\nto take the theological course which I had been contem-\\nplating. I also distinctly remember the strong impres-\\nsion he made upon the students because of his knowledge\\nof the Bible and his ability to use it in meeting the objec-\\ntions of unconverted men.\\nI met him again in Louisville at the time of the organ-\\n96", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0112.jp2"}, "109": {"fulltext": "ization of the intercollegiate movement, but the most\\nimportant meeting I ever had with him was in August,\\n1877, at the Indiana State convention. I had been nom-\\ninated by the college conference at the Louisville conven-\\ntion to serve as college secretary of the international\\ncommittee. He asked me what my plan was for the\\nextension of the college movement. I told him. He\\nentered heartily into it, and agreed on his return to New\\nYork to lay the matter before the committee and bring\\nsomething to pass. He did so, and the result was that I\\nwas called to the college secretaryship in September. I\\nshall always feel that his influence in that matter was\\nmore potent than that of any one else, and that he there-\\nfore exerted a determining influence upon the course of\\nmy life work.\\nI have been associated with him intimately ever since\\nthat time, and never more so than during the years from\\n1888 to 1895. He, more than any other member of the\\ncommittee, strongly believed in the foreign work and\\nencouraged me at every step of it.\\n1 It was a great privilege to me when I last sat beside\\nhim in Clifton Springs to tell him what he had been to\\nme and to the work for which I have stood. I was told\\nafterward that it was a great surprise to him that he had\\nhad so dominant an influence in the college and foreign\\nmovements. I think he rarely realized his important\\nrelation to the great movements with which he was\\nvitally connected.\\nA friend writes\\nThe manner in which he greeted a young man made\\nan indelible impression. It was quiet, earnest, loving.\\nThe clasp of his hand expressed all this, and no one failed\\nto be affected by it. His sympathetic nature won the\\nheart of the stranger in the city and made it possible for\\nhim to be led into helpful associations. Young men\\nwho had lost hope because of prodigal living, and had\\n97", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0113.jp2"}, "110": {"fulltext": "reached the prodigal s forlorn estate, were lovingly led\\nback to a heavenly Father s heart.\\nA young man, a frequent visitor to the association, was\\none evening accosted by Mr. McBurney, who had with\\nthe keen intuition of his loving nature observed that\\nsome burden oppressed him. The manner of the young\\nman s replies to his kindly enquiries satisfied him that\\nthe matter was a serious one. He drew him affection-\\nately into his private office and there listened to a\\nromantic but unhappy story of a secret marriage, parental\\nopposition, separation, despair. His good advice deter-\\nmined the young man s course of action and saved him.\\nA gentleman who knew him well says that while\\nhe had known many men intimately, some of them\\naccustomed to carry the burdens of multitudes, he never\\nhad but one friend from whom he could always ask\\ncounsel when in perplexity with the same assurance of\\nwise and loving help. To him he kept going for advice,\\nfor sympathy, and as a young man even for financial aid,\\nand always with the same result. One felt that he not\\nonly gave wise counsel but gave himself.\\nA friend writes\\nAs an illustration of Mr. McBurney s thoughtfulness\\nand interest in every one, however overlooked and neg-\\nlected, an incident occurs to my mind that powerfully\\nimpressed me at the time.\\n1 Mr. McBurney lived in the tower of the Twenty-third\\nstreet association building, in two rooms overlooking the\\ncity. The living room was thoroughly interesting, filled\\nwith picturesque bookshelves, curios, bric-a-brac, a\\nthousand and one objects of interest, and fragrant with\\nthe spirit of its occupant who thus in more ways than\\none dwelt near to heaven. One rainy day he was in this\\nroom with several amanuenses and others, engaged in\\ncorrespondence and in preparing the material for the\\nassociation monthly publication. In the midst of the\\nscratching of pens and the rustling of papers a little\\n98", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0114.jp2"}, "111": {"fulltext": "J\\ndistrict messenger boy who had climbed up the weary-\\nstairs from the wet of the street brought in a message.\\nAs he was leaving Mr. McBurney unobtrusively detained\\nhim by asking him a few simple questions to put him at\\nhis ease, and then left his work, laid aside the mantle of\\nhaste that had before enveloped him, walked with the\\nboy around the room showing him various objects of\\ninterest and the views from the windows, in short, made\\nhim feel as if he were a real human being instead of a\\nmere messenger boy. Such an extraordinary act on the\\npart of a busy man, I have never been able to forget. It\\nwas a simple thing to do, but it serves to show how gen-\\nuine was his love of humanity.\\n4 4 One rainy evening before dinner I was walking with\\nhim when we overtook a grocer s errand boy with a basket\\nof groceries on one arm and several bundles of kindling\\nwood stacked up on the other. At the moment we\\nreached him the kindling wood toppled over on the pave-\\nment. It was not in the way of pedestrians, and after\\nthe manner of New Yorkers, I would never have given\\nthe incident a second thought had not Mr. McBurney\\nsaid quietly, Wait a moment, and gone over and\\nhelped the boy to load up again. In one way I felt\\nembarrassed by his kindness to the boy, as selfishness\\noften is by generosity, but in another I bowed my head\\nin humble obeisance to the image of the Christ my heart\\nbeheld. I am sure it is what Jesus would have done.\\nPerhaps one of the most striking incidents with which\\nI am acquainted illustrating his unselfishness was his\\nrefusal at one time to accept from the board of directors\\nan increase of salary on the plea that he did not need it,\\nbeing single, and his insistence that the contemplated\\nincrease be bestowed upon his associate in office, who was\\na married man with children. He gave away his money\\nas quickly as it was earned and kept little for himself.\\n99", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0115.jp2"}, "112": {"fulltext": "RESOLUTIONS\\nResolutions passed by the International Com-\\nmittee of Young Men s Christian Associ-\\nations:\\nAt a regular meeting of the committee, held January 12,\\n1899, the following minute was unanimously adopted:\\nOur committee and the whole association brotherhood\\nin this and other lands have suffered a severe bereave-\\nment in the death of Robert R. McBurney, and the com-\\nmittee desire to place upon their minutes an expression\\nof their profound sense of loss and of their brotherly\\naffection and appreciation of the character, work and life\\nof their associate.\\nMr. McBurney was connected with the committee as a\\nleader from its appointment in 1866. His connection\\nwith it as an active executive member ceased in 1895,\\nbut he continued as an advisory member. It was\\non his motion, as chairman of the Albany convention\\ncommittee in 1866, that the present international com-\\nmittee was located in this city by that convention. He\\ntherefore appreciated and had part in defining from the\\nbeginning the function and work of the committee, and\\nduring the first thirty years of its history he was one of\\nthe most active members in its deliberations and conclu-\\nsions, in explaining and reporting its work at conven-\\ntions, and in taking part in that work on the field of the\\ncommittee s service. It is difficult to exaggerate the value\\nof the contribution which he brought to the committee s\\nadministration and work. During these thirty years he", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0116.jp2"}, "113": {"fulltext": "was the leading general secretary of the country and of\\nthe world, for it was during his secretaryship that the\\nNew York association, through the erection and occupa-\\ntion of the Twenty-third street building, sprang to the\\nleadership of the associations of the entire brotherhood.\\nWhat he brought to the committee s deliberations and\\naction was the result of his growing achievement as gen-\\neral secretary of the New York association, where he\\nwas settling the problem of the work and function of\\nthe association more successfully than any other sec-\\nretary as father and founder of the state work of New\\nYork; and as leader of the American brotherhood of\\ngeneral secretaries which in its annual meetings was\\ndefining and working out from year to year under his\\nguidance the function and qualifications of the general\\nsecretaryship. Through him, therefore, the committee\\nand its secretaries were always kept in contact with the\\nforward line of association advance and development.\\nBut Mr. McBurney was also among us not only as an\\nassociation leader of extraordinary capacity and qualifi-\\ncation, but as a brother beloved for his own sake, full of\\nconsecration to this work in Christ s name, and full also\\nof the spirit of his Master. Fellowship with him was\\nnot only profitable and helpful but delightful, and as we\\nmourn his loss we also rejoice in the thought of that\\ncertain and blessed reunion in a closer fellowship with\\nour Lord himself which will prove as unending as it will\\nbe satisfying.\\nResolutions passed by the New York State\\nCommittee of Young Men s Christian Asso-\\nciations\\nAt a meeting of the New York State Committee held\\nMarch 30, 1899 the following resolutions were adopted:\\nOn December 27, 1898, Robert R. McBurney died at\\nClifton Springs, N. Y., after an illness of more than a\\nyear. He came to America from Ireland in 1854, at the", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0117.jp2"}, "114": {"fulltext": "age of seventeen, and visited the rooms of the New\\nYork city association on the evening of his arrival in this\\ncountry. In 1862 he became the employed superin-\\ntendent of that association, a position which soon devel-\\noped into the general secretaryship, the first in the history\\nof our associations.\\nThe growth of the work under his direction resulted\\nin the erection of the building on the corner of Twenty-\\nthird street and Fourth avenue, the first building in the\\nworld planned and erected especially for Young Men s\\nChristian Association use, which became a model for the\\nthree hundred association buildings of this country. His\\ngeneral supervision of the New York association con-\\ntinued until his death, at which time it included sixteen\\nbranches and ten buildings.\\nMr. McBurney was a leader in the association work of\\nthe whole world. In 1866 he called the first convention\\nof the associations of this state, from which our state\\nwork has grown. He was a member of this state execu-\\ntive committee for over thirty years, rendering incalcu-\\nlable service in the development of our associations.\\nThe definite character of our work for young men is\\nlargely due to his far-sighted and unswerving stand for\\nits biblical and evangelical basis. His deep piety and\\nearnestness as a personal worker gave him great success\\nin his influence over young men. We shall miss his\\nwise counsel and his warm-hearted greetings. He was\\nfaithful in every duty, a true servant of God. He rests\\nfrom his labors and his works do follow him.\\nResolutions passed by the Committee of Man-\\nagement of the Twenty-third Street Branch\\nof the Young Men s Christian Association of\\nthe City of New York:\\nAt a meeting of the Committee of Management held\\nFebruary 27, 1899, the following minute was unani-\\nmously adopted:", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0118.jp2"}, "115": {"fulltext": "Whereas, After a long life of usefulness and self-\\nsacrifice for the young men of New York and the world,\\nRobert R. McBurney has been called to his eternal home\\nby Almighty God, and\\nWhereas, Mr. McBurney was from the beginning\\nmost closely identified with the Twenty-third Street\\nBranch of the Young Men s Christian Association, and\\nby his frequent presence in the rooms and at the meet-\\nings was a continual stimulus to every one who met him\\nto lead a better and more useful life, therefore be it\\nResolved, That we, the members of the Committee of\\nManagement of the Twenty-third Street Branch, do\\nexpress our great sorrow at the loss we have suffered,\\nand be it further\\nResolved, That we strive to show by our lives the\\nbenefit that we have derived from our contact with Mr.\\nMcBurney, forgetting ourselves and trying to do for\\nothers.\\nCharles A. B. Pratt,\\nC. W. McAlpin,\\nJ. Edgar Leaycraft,\\nCommittee.\\nResolutions passed by the Literary Society of\\nthe Twenty-third Street Branch\\nWhereas, Robert R. McBurney, for nearly forty years\\ngeneral secretary of the Young Men s Christian Associ-\\nation of the city of New York, and not only ex-officio\\nmember of the Literary Society of the Twenty-third\\nStreet Branch but also by personal choice a charter\\nmember thereof, has, in the providence of God, departed\\nthis life and\\nWhereas, As an earnest, active and enthusiastic friend\\nof the Literary Society and of the individual members\\nthereof, as well as by his personal uprightness and integ-\\nrity and his deep interest in young men in general, he\\nhas both merited and received our affection and esteem\\ntherefore be it\\n103", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0119.jp2"}, "116": {"fulltext": "Resolved, That in his death the Literary Society of the\\nTwenty-third Street Branch has experienced the loss of a\\nsincere and trusted member, friend and counsellor, one\\nwho was at all times ready and willing and efficient to\\nadvance the best interests of the Literary Society and of\\nits members\\nResolved, That in common with all who are interested\\nin the work of the Young Men s Christian Association we\\nsorrow under the loss which his decease has occasioned,\\nwhile we rejoice with them in the rich heritage of char-\\nacter, good deeds and beneficent influence which he has\\nleft behind him.\\nWilliam George Greene,\\nRecording Secretary.\\nResolution passed by the Managing Committee\\nof the Boys Department of the Twenty-\\nthird Street Branch:\\nAt the January monthly meeting of the Managing\\nCommittee of the Boys Department of the Twenty-third\\nStreet Branch, the following resolution was carried unan-\\nimously:\\nResolved, That the members of this committee, having\\nlearned with deep regret of the falling asleep of Mr.\\nRobert R. McBurney, our beloved general secretary,\\ndesire to express their sincere sympathy and to place on\\nrecord their sense of the great loss sustained by the boys\\ndepartments and the association, not only in this city but\\nthroughout the world, through the demise of our true\\nfriend and brother, whose place it will be impossible to\\nfill in the hearts and affections of the members of the\\nNew York City Association.\\nHarold W. Buchanan,\\nChairman Boys Department.\\nGuy C. Mitchell,\\nSecretary Boys Department.\\n104", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0120.jp2"}, "117": {"fulltext": "Resolution passed by the Committee of Man-\\nagement of the Harlem Branch of the Young\\nMen s Christian Association of the City of\\nNew York:\\nAt a regular meeting of the Committee of Manage-\\nment of the Harlem Branch of the Young Men s Chris-\\ntian Association, the following resolution was adopted\\nResolved, By the Committee of Management of the\\nHarlem Branch of the Young Men s Christian Associa-\\ntion that we place upon our records a minute expressing\\nthe deep sorrow of the committee at the recent death of\\nthe general secretary of the New York City association,\\nRobert R. McBurney. Mr. McBurney s labors in behalf\\nof the Young Men s Christian Association are so univer-\\nsally recognized as the main cause for the great develop-\\nment and successful operation of the Young Men s Chris-\\ntian Associations throughout this country, that the place\\nhe has filled cannot, we fear, ever be adequately supplied.\\nThe combination of qualities in him was so remarkable\\nand so calculated to equip him for his life work, that it\\nseems as though a special providence directed him to the\\nYoung Men s Christian Association while it was still in\\nits infancy. Personally he was beloved by every one\\nand the influence of his life will continue to increase in\\nstrength and importance for many years to come.\\nW. S. M. Silber,\\nRecording Secretary.\\nResolution passed by the Committee of Man-\\nagement of the Students* Club of the Young\\nMen s Christian Association of the City of\\nNew York:\\nThe members of the Committee of Management of\\nthe Students Club recognize the vital relation that\\nMr. Robert R. McBurney has borne to the Students\\n105", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0121.jp2"}, "118": {"fulltext": "Branch of the New York City Young Men s Christian\\nAssociation from its inception, and know that even dur-\\ning his last illness he was strong in his affection for it.\\nHis memory will be a constant inspiration to those who\\nknew him, and those whom he left behind will strive to\\nemulate his example in devotion to the simple teachings\\nof his Master and in consecration to the work of leading\\nyoung men one by one through sympathetic words and\\nhelpful offices to Jesus Christ.\\nHerve W. Georgi, Secretary,\\nResolutions passed by the Board of Manage-\\nment of the Washington Heights Branch of\\nthe Young Men s Christian Association of\\nthe City of New York\\nAt a meeting of the Board of Management of the\\nWashington Heights Branch of the Young Men s Chris-\\ntian Association of New York, held December 31, 1898,\\nthe following memorial resolutions were adopted\\nWhereas, In the order of Divine Providence our\\nbeloved brother, Robert R. McBurney, has been called\\nfrom labor to reward, and our hearts have been deeply-\\nmoved thereby therefore,\\nResolved, that in the absence of our brother and\\nfellow laborer, the members of this Branch and the young\\nmen of kindred associations will greatly miss the wise\\nand helpful counsel, the Christian cheer and sympathy\\nof him who was notably and many times their personal\\nfriend and benefactor.\\nResolved, That our departed brother was endeared to\\nthe members of this Branch by his presence so often\\nwith us in our councils and his kindly and self-sacrificing\\ninterest in our welfare that we will ever cherish a pro-\\nfound veneration for his long and faithful services.\\n106", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0122.jp2"}, "119": {"fulltext": "Resolved, That we tender to the General Board of\\nManagement our heartfelt sympathy.\\nE. B. Treat,\\nJ. Berg Esenwein,\\nH. J. Robinson,\\nCommittee.\\nResolutions passed by the Executive Committee\\nof the Young Women s Christian Associa-\\ntion of the City of New York, January 5,\\n1899:\\nThe Executive Committee of the Young Women s\\nChristian Association of the City of New York, in com-\\nmon with Christian associations throughout the country,\\nmourns sincerely the death of Mr. Robert R. McBurney,\\nAs one of the ten original incorporators of the associ-\\nation and always on its advisory board, Mr. McBurney\\nshared the burdens and responsibilities of the early years\\nof the association s history and for twenty-seven years\\nsustained an unfailing interest in its work. To his clear\\njudgment, wise methods, and rare fidelity, are due in a\\nlarge measure the growth and expansion of the associa-\\ntion.\\nIn grateful acknowledgment of his faithful service,\\nand in keen appreciation of the great loss the association\\nhas suffered in Mr. McBurney s death, the executive\\ncommittee places on its records this memorial minute.\\nResolved, That in the death of Robert R. McBurney,\\nwe profoundly appreciate the loss to this board and to\\nthis association of one whose cooperation, sound advice,\\nand willing self-sacrifice, through years of patient toil,\\nwrought uniformly for the glory of God and the good of\\nhis fellowmen. His life was an example of Christian\\nendeavor and his memory will be an inspiration for the\\n107", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0123.jp2"}, "120": {"fulltext": "young men and women of this and other lands, in whose\\ninterest and welfare he forgot his own.\\nJohn S. Bussing,\\nSecretary.\\nExtract from the Thirty-first Annual Report of\\nthe Evangelical Alliance for the United\\nStates of America\\nOf the very special loss sustained by the Alliance in\\nthe recent death of Mr. R. R. McBurney, for so many\\nyears one of our most faithful members and most useful\\nofficers, we desire to make special record. His counsels\\nwere wise, his readiness to give personal labor was con-\\nstant, and his faith in Christian cooperation as a means\\nof advancing Christ s kingdom, was unfailing. Modest,\\nunselfish, sympathetic, strong, he was loved and honored\\nby all who knew him. Rarely does a single life admit of\\nsuch abounding toil for the Master, or enjoy the reward\\nof such grand results. The history of Young Men s\\nChristian Associations in this country and throughout\\nthe world, is part of the biography of R. R. McBurney.\\nHis place in the deliberations and activities of this\\nalliance cannot easily be filled.\\nL. T. Chamberlain,\\nGeneral Secretary.\\n108", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0124.jp2"}, "121": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0125.jp2"}, "122": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0126.jp2"}, "123": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0127.jp2"}, "124": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0128.jp2"}, "125": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0129.jp2"}, "126": {"fulltext": "m \\\\900\\nDeacidified using the Bookkeeper process.\\nNeutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide\\nTreatment Date: Sept. 2005\\nPreservationTechnologies\\nA WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION\\n1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive\\nCranberry Township, PA 16066\\n(724)779-2111", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0130.jp2"}, "127": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4872", "width": "3191", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0131.jp2"}, "128": {"fulltext": "", "height": "5095", "width": "3336", "jp2-path": "robertrmcburneym01mors_0132.jp2"}}