on to a witty teacher, for no
teacher ever had more ready wit and such genuine humor." The Rev.
Theodoric R. Palmer of the class of '47, who for ten years was
Michigan's oldest graduate, told how Professor Williams on discovering a
goose occupying his chair remarked: "I see you have a competent
teacher," and wished the class "Good Morning," leaving them to discover
the point of their joke.

Professor Williams' strong religious spirit did not prevent an apt
employment of examples from the Scriptures on occasion, as his rebuke to
an overgrown and too active freshman showed: "Sir, you remind me of
Jeshurun; the Bible says 'Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked.'" But in the
class room he was traditionally lenient. One student who found himself
unable to fit his carefully prepared notes and the examination
questions together, finally handed them both in and was passed, but only
because it was the "wrong year"; "I condition one every other year and
if I conditioned you I would have to have you again next year."

Professor Williams served the University long and faithfully, and only
resigned his active work in 1875. In 1876 the alumni established a
Williams Professorship Fund which eventually amounted to nearly $30,000.
This eased his last years until his death in 1881 at the age of 79
years. Although the fund was subsequently greatly lessened by very
careless administration, it now amounts to something over the original
sum and is administered by the Regents in the form of a retiring
allowance, the holder being nominated by the Alumni Association.

The Rev. Joseph Whiting, Yale, '23, under whose charge was the classical
training of the six youngsters of that first class, was a man of
different type. A fine scholar, he made Greek and Latin "glow with life
and beauty," and by his distinguished bearing formed a happy complement
to the "jovial and rotund" Williams. His death while he was serving his
term as the annual President just before the first class was graduated,
was recognized as a great loss by the students, as well as by the
Regents, who acknowledged "his urbanity and gentleness of manners," and
"his knowledge of character and other properties which especially fitted
him to act the part of a governor and counselor of youth."

Professor Douglass Houghton died during the same year, 1845. The
services of these two men, as well as those of Charles Fox, Professor of
Agriculture, and Dr. Samuel Denton of the first Medical Faculty