Texas A and M University - Aggieland Yearbook (College Station, TX)

Page 19 text:

1 -•! j j ! pride for them to let him know whenever they achieve any particular success. And now the reader possesses about all that can be set down in a sketch of this kind, and must have seen—if he doesn’t doubt the writer’s sincerity —just why this tribute is paid to Profes sor Nagle. He first prepared him¬ self for his work, which, as one very near to him says, “Is his very life;” and he has done, and is still doing, this work with singleness of purpose and with a humane disregard of our shortcomings. His saving sense of humor prevents him from taking himself or his work too seriously, and, at the same time—more fortunate than all—it prevents him from taking us too seriously. His absorption in exacting duties has not, thus far, made him any the less human. He is simply a sane, honest, plain man— a big bodied, big-brained, big-souled man—who has won, and will hold forever, our esteem and love. ‘ 1 : ' -V; . ' j ■ :| . ' . ' I 5

Page 18 text:

elected to membership in the American Society of Civil Engineers and of the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education. Professor Nagle’s connection with the Agricultural and Mechanical College began in September, 1892, when he was elected Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering. Two years afterwards he was promoted to a full professorship and the head of his department, which position he has since continuously held. Aside from his teaching he has done considerable prac¬ tical work in his profession. During the summer of 1888, while still a student at the Un iversity, he served the Austin and Northwestern Railway as Assistant Engineer; from 1889 to 1890 he was Topographer of the Texas Geological Survey; in 1894 he acted as Chief Engineer of the Brazos- Brenham Railway, and in 1899 he was Assistant Chief Engineer of the Houston East and West Texas lines. From 1898-1902 he served the United States Department of Agriculture as an expert in irrigation investigations. College Station owes to his skill the system of graded roads and sidewalks, the septic tank and the sewer system. At present he is chief engineer for the district levee being built in Burleson County, a very important and ex¬ pensive venture that is expected to revolutionize farming in the twenty- seven miles of bottom land that will be protected from the ravages of the Brazos river. Finally, he has written a Manual of Railroad Engineering that is recognized by competent authorities all over the United States as one of the very best texts on the subject. These evidences of the success of Professor Nagle in the practical held of Engineering must be set down in fairness to him. At the same time there is in it an element of unfairness, for his close friends say that many other lucrative offers have been put aside because they would have interfered with his work as a teacher. Indeed had not Professor Nagle been so devoted to his work for this College his professorship would have long ago been vacated. It is, after all, his efficient teaching in the class¬ room and on the practice field that has most endeared him to hundreds of A. M. men. To the dull student he is patient and kind, to the bright student he is a stimulus that spurs a boy to his highest effort—to all he is helpful and inspiring. His teaching, while always conscientious and thor¬ ough, is relieved by occasional flashes of mother wit and by kindly humor¬ ous stories. Outside of the classroom Professor Nagle is the warm hearted friend of his students. Often he and Mrs. Nagle, to whom he was married in 1903, entertain them in their home. Nor does he neglect to keep up with his graduates. There are many practic’ng engineers in Texas and elsewhere who owe to him their situations. Indeed, it seems a matter of 4

Page 20 text:

The Long Horn (Written by Judd Mortimer Lewis for The Long Horn.) Sometimes when the air, and the moon, and the sky. And all the conditions exactly right, When the masses of piled-up clouds drift high, On the western plain can be seen a light, A red light blinking across the dark, Like the danger sign of a railway lamp, And then, if the watcher will stand and hark He will hear the sounds of a cowman’s camp; He will hear the song by the cowboy sung When The West was young and her ways were strange, And the care-free laughter and chaffing tongue. And the oaths they swore on the old time range; And away in the shadows beyond the flare Of the ghostly camp, when the air is still. He will see the mass of the longhorns there, And their horns will clash as they weave and mill. And men who now sleep ’neath the Texas skies Come out of their graves in the ghostly light, And don their slickers and send their cries And old time signals across the night, And mount the ghosts of the ponies fleet They rode in the roundup of years agone, And ride with a pounding of ghostly feet The shadowy herd till the streaks of dawn; Then, with waving blanket and ghostly yell, Comes the redman urging his ghostly steed, And out of the mists in the wild pell-mell Comes the clashing horns of the wild stampede! And the cowmen start from the ruddy glow Of the prairie camp to the swift surprise, And the guns speak swift as the shadows flow And dissolve and scatter beneath one’s eyes. And the old time range is a dream once more, And the longhorns far on the shadow-trail, And the mighty men of the days of yore, Of mighty heart and far-flung hail, Ride back on the trail of the ghostly herd To the land of ghosts and of unfenced plain. And the standing corn by the morn is stirred, And the breeze is bending the ripened grain, And the school house stands on a grassy knoll, And the farm house stands in the poplar grove, And where the prairies were wont to roll, And cowmen followed the feeding drove, Are roads and fences and pens and roofs, And gone is the glory of the days of yore, And gone is the thunder of flying hoofs, And the longhorn feeds on the range no more. 6