President Marsh went down to Danbury to pay a pastoral visit to his mayor. It was a pleasant visit, for these two very different men, each a first citizen of Boston, liked and respected each other.

At the end of this visit, Mayor Curley asked President Marsh why a Methodist minister would visit a Catholic felon. And President Marsh, with transparent honesty, said that his Master had enjoined him to visit the poor, the sick, and the imprisoned. Ever after, Curley, with a no less transparent honesty, called BU's fourth president "Father Marsh."