CHAPTER ONE
 SUCCESS AND THE SUDDEN CALL

 "Heaven is not gained at a single bound;
 But we build.the ladder by which we rise
 From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies,
 And we mount to its summit round by round.
 I count this thing to be grandly true,
 That a noble deed is a step toward God-
 Lifting the soul from the common sod
 To a purer air and a broader view.
 We rise by things that are neathh our feet;
 By what we have mastered of good and pin;
 By thpride deposed and the passion slain,
 And the vanquished ills that we hourly meet."
 -JoMua GuCnR Hou.AND.

 T s a crowning moment in the life of any man when
 .he receives nationwide recognition in his business
 or profession-when he finds that the ideals he
 has striven for and the policies he has followed
have crystallized into worth-while accomplishments that have
called the attention of the whole country.
 Such recognition came to President Albert Alexander
Murphree of the University of Florida on that November day
in 1927 when he was elected president of the National Asso-
ciation of State Universities. He was rounding out forty
years as a teacher and an educational administrator. He was
president of the University that had grown under his leader-
ship as no other American university has grown in the last
generation of rapidly expandingveducational institutions.
 He had attracted the attention of national leaders of edu-
cation by sheer merit as an efficient, broadminded, progres-
sive, energetic leader. The honor tendered him by the
National Association of State Universities was the highest
recognition, the utmost professional honor, that its member-
ship could bestow. Friends and associates of Dr. Murphree
in the big task of education in Florida and elsewhere rejoiced
that he had been so honored. The citizens of Gainesville,
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