man who
wanted to get closer to the character of the man himself. No flower, no
bit of moss, no striking patch of foliage escaped his notice, for he
loved them all, and loved to talk about them. One felt, returning from
one of these impromptu rambles, that he had been spending valuable time
in that most wonderful church of all, the great outdoors, and spending
it with no casual interpreter. Memories of those days in the sharp
practice on the field grow dim, but these others I know will always
endure.

"This I know because no month passes, indeed it is almost safe to say,
hardly a week, year in and year out, in which they are not insistently
resurgent.

"Marshall Newell was born in Clifton, N. J., on April 2, 1871. His early
life was spent largely on his father's farm in Great Barrington, Mass.,
that farm and countryside which seemed to mean so much to him in later
years. He entered Phillips Exeter Academy in the fall of 1887, and was
graduated in 1890. Almost at once he achieved, utterly without effort, a
popularity rare in its quality. Because of his relation with his
schoolmates and his unostentatious way of looking after the welfare of
others, he soon came to be known as Ma Newell, and this affectionate
sobriquet not only clung to him through all the years at Exeter and
Harvard, but followed him after graduation whithersoever he went. While
at school he took up athletics ardently as he always took up everything.
Thus he came up to Harvard with an athletic reputation ready made.

"It was not long before the class of '94 began to feel that subtler
influence of character that distinguished all his days. He was a member
of the victorious football eleven of 1890, and of the winning crew of
1891, both in his freshman year. He also played on the freshman football
team and on the university team of '91, '92, '93, and rowed on the
Varsity crews of '92 and '93. In the meantime he was gaining not only
the respect and friendship of his classmates, but those of the
instructors as well. Socially, and despite the fact that he was little
endowed with this world's goods, he enjoyed a remarkable popularity. He
was a member of the Institute of 1770, Dickey, Hasty Pudding, and
Signet. In addition, he was the unanimous choice of his class for Second
Marshal on Class Day. Many other honors he might have had if he had
cared to seek them. He accepted only those that were literally forced
upon him.

"In the course of his college career