It is not an easy matter to pick up a good man in the middle of the school year, because such men are already engaged on a year's contract and trustees will not release them. But providentially for Ilion it so happened, that a young man named Addison B. Poland (later Ph.D., Columbia), had been teaching with brilliant success in a small town in Massachusetts for a meagre salary; he had about made up his mind to give up teaching and take up the study of law. Attracted by Mr. Curtis' salary, he had resigned his position and offered himself as a candidate, but had not been chosen. The trustees learned that he was quietly reading law at home, preparatory to entering a law school; so they sent him an invitation to come to Ilion to a talk with them. As a result of the interview, he was engaged to fill out the year at Mr. Curtis' old salary, and to remain thereafter as long as was mutually agreeable to himself and the trustees. He proved to be a brilliant scholar and a man of rare executive ability. He built up the school to a high standard. So highly, indeed, did the Regents regard his work that in 1883 they sent two officers to attend the graduation exercises and present the diplomas in person-an honor which few schools in the State have ever shared. Before he died, he was considered one of the twelve leading educators in the whole United States. And he remained for eleven years in this little village, that never had more than 3,500 citizens during his entire stay. Dr. Poland came to, the school in time for the second graduating class of 1874.