Eastern Michigan University - Aurora Yearbook (Ypsilanti, MI)

Page 13 text:

f'?-E, Daniel Putnam

Page 12 text:

lgrufvannr Ilnhn Ol. Shine dedicating this volume to some worthy member of the faculty whom it is desired to honor, the choice this year has fallen upon John C. Stone, Associate Professor of Mathematics. Professor Stone was born forty years ago on a farm near Albion, Ill. He worked on the farm and went to a country school until he was sixteen and in 1887, at the early age of seventeen, began his career as teacher in the rural and village schools of Illinois. He continued in this work for eight years and then, feeling the need of higher education, went to the University of Indiana. By strenuous application he was able to finish the four- year course in two and one half years and after grad- uation was invited to remain as Instructor in Mathematics. At the close of that year he took the A. M. degree and the following autumn became head of the Department of Mathematics and Physics in the high school 'of Elgin, Ill. He remained there but one year, being elected in 1898 head-master in Mathematics and Physics in the Lake Forest Academy, a position which lie filled until 1900, when he came to the Michigan State Normal College as OLLOWING a precedent of many years standing of Assistant Professor of Mathematics, being later made Associate Professor. Since his connection here he has added greatly to his reputation, and no less to the fame of this institution by his excellent series of mathematical text-books, which are favorably known the country over. This is abrief summary ofa busy and successful life which is not yet at full tide, but gives promise of greater achievements yet to come. We find in it a combination which is sure to lead to successg the combination of innate talent with a willingness and a boundless capacity for hard work. Many teachers fail through a lack of ability, or a lack of industry. Professor Stone has shown what can be accomplished by the union of industry and ability, and his career should be a useful lesson and an inspiration to every young and ambitious teacher. Professor Stone is a prime favorite with the students. Combined with an intensely nervous and energetic dis- position, they have discovered a kind and generous heart, and an eager readiness to assist the man who is doing his best. He has been heard to observe that a teacher's heart should be as big as a foot ball, and the students say that his is well up to that standard.

Page 14 text:

Er. Banivl ntnam prepare a short article on the life and work of Dr. Daniel Putnam, there came a revival of the memories of his influence, class room incidents, personal characteristics, and a score of events connected with his successful career that have exerted a power in shaping the characters of thousands of students who have been con- nected with him. Because of his pure and simple life, Dr. Putnam still lives in the hearts of his colleagues, his friends and his students. He still lives because of his pure and sweet character, his rich and rare scholarship, and his exceeding power as a teacher. He possessed the ability to form char- acter as he imparted knowledge. I knew him for many years and had the privilege and opportunity of seeing all sides of his character, as he grew into power of manhood and declined into ripened age, and the reader of the Aurora can do no better than to pause a moment in his work and learn a lesson from the life of this good and rare man. The soul's immortality consists, in part at least, of the memories of the expressions of the life, in the words spoken and in the deeds done. Because of his poems, the poet never diesg the painter's pictures will convey the message of the artist through all generations, and the thought expressed in the exquisite carving is communicated to everyone through all the ages. The soul lives and speaks after life-when the spirit has joined God. For has not that soul by means of pen or brush or chisel or word. become something material, which in turn may be trans- formed through the lives of others, into eternal influences EAR AURORA:-With your letter asking me to and forces. Dr. Putnam was such an artist. As he, from day to day, during all the years of his service in the Normal Col- lege, came in contact with the best young life of the state of Michigan, his soul came in contact with that of the student, a responsive chord was touched, and a life was changed. This student, in turn as a teacher, has formed other souls-and thus the influence has grown. Will it ever cease ? Dr. Putnam was a man of sterling worth and character. His strong and pleasing personality impressed one of this. As we met from day to day, I could feel the power which he always held in reserve. He stood for good things and in the face of all opposition would stand for right and jus- tice. He was a christian gentleman of the grandest type. No one can ever forget the sweet benediction of his prayer in chapel, or the graciousness of his manner and sincerity of purpose in his daily life. I was always impressed with the breadth of his scholar- ship. But fewmen had read more widely than he, nor had used this knowledge more extensively as a means of retine- ment and culture. He was a student of a type who, taking one thing ata time, by patient investigation, soon comes to be a master of it. His knowledge of the school affairs of Michigan made him an authority, while his contributions to philosophy and pedagogy stand as lasting monuments to his learning and industry. He was a great teacher. He was great in his chosen profession because of the remarkable power which he pos- sessed of inspiring his student to do something worthy, and then he put heart into his teaching. In his classes there was always an absence of a dead formality so characteristic of new knowledge getting, but you felt the presence of the