University of California Berkeley - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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State, combined with his previous experience as a High School principal, offered to Professor Syle an opportunity which has been put to advantage. From Milton to Tennyson Masterpieces of English Verse, published three years ago, aside from being the recognized text-book all over the State, is now used in many of the best Eastern schools and in the University of Chicago. Criticism of the book, so far, has been nothing but the highest praise; something which reflects credit not only upon its editor but likewise upon our own English Department. Besides this, Professor Syle has published critical editions of : 1. Burke ' s Speech on Conciliation. 2. Defoe ' s History of the Plague Year. 3. Four English Poems. As a Student of English, Professor Syle has specialized upon English Composition and upon Eighteenth Century Literature. To his mastery and appreciation of the latter is, of course, due the two eighteenth century plays whose production in Berke- ley proved such a pleasure to our small college world : LOVE FOK LOVE Berkeley. April 11 and 13, 1896. Columbia Theatre, San Francisco, May 3, 1896. Empire Theatre, New York City, January 13, 1898. THE CHAPLAIN ' S REVENGE Berkeley, March 23, 1897. The former is an adaptation of Congreve ' s comedy of the same name; the latter, a dramatization of a novel by Besant. As a drama, Love for Love has possibly the greater merit. Its recent performance in New York City, and the hearty reception accorded it by artists and critics, augurs well for its possible success as a recognized play, should adaptation of the comedy of the Restoration period ever become in anyway popular. The success of the two plays, when given in Berkeley, was long a subject of remark; it would be gratifying, if they were known to be but the forerunners of simi- lar productions in the future. But more than all this, both as a friend and as an instructor, Professor Syle ' s individuality is felt and recognized. As an instructor, somewhat precise and methodical, his teaching reflects, withal, a wholesome sanity and a breadth of view, opposed, on the one hand, to over enthusiasm, and the other, to pedantic dryness. Nor would it be right not to mention a certain pointed humor, which frequently steals over an otherwise serious equanimity. As a friend, his advice has always been cheerfully given; his help, where possible, never withheld. A personality, in short, which must long stay in the minds of the altogether too limited few who come under his influence-

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Couis Du Pont Sylc. S a frontispiece to this book will be found a portrait of Professor Syle. ! The honor, if there be any, is not undeserved. Aside from a well merited popularity as instructor, aside from his influence throughout the State ! as authority upon the teaching of English in High Schools, Professor Syle has gained the esteem of the student body from a long continued and active interest in general college life. It is with pleasure, therefore, that we give below a brief sketch of his career. Louis Du Pont Syle was born, 1857, in Shanghai, China, but spent most of his childhood in Washington, D. C., and in the Shenandoah Valley. He is the son of the Rev. Edward William Syle, one of the earliest Protestant missionaries in China, and of Jane Winter Davis, whose brother, Henry Winter Davis, served the city of Baltimore, for many years, as its representative in Congress. Beginning school, after the close of the war, at the Cherbuliez Military Academy, in New Rochelle, N. Y., he went to London, England, in 1868, and attended a private school for four years. This he left in order to serve as clerk in one of the large tea- exporting houses in Yokohama, Japan, remaining there until 1875. In the same year, having returned once more to the United States, he entered Trinity College, Hartford, with the Class of ' 79. But, attracted by the superior advan- tages of Yale, he moved thither in time to join the Sophomore class. While at Yale he took a Sophomore Prize for English Composition; was appointed Exhibition Speaker in his Junior year; and in his Senior year won a Townsend Orator Prize, a Commencement Speakership, and was chosen Class Poet. Having been sleeted, after graduating, to the Larned and Clark graduate scholarship, he devoted himself to the study of English Literature under Professor Beers, and of Economics under Professor Sumner. A brief intermission of two years in the United States Consular Service, as U. S. Consul in the Madeira Islands, a position to which he was appointed by President Arthur, and from which he resigned after Cleveland ' s first election : and his work as a teacher of English commences. Beginning as tutor in the University of Pennsylvania, he later accepted the prin- cipalship of the High School in Winona, Minnesota. But poor health made a change of climate necessary. He moved to California in 1890, and, first, as Principal of the Santa Barbara High School, and, then, as Superintendent of the Grass Valley schools, acquired a knowledge of our public school system. Professor Hubbard ' s resignation from the English Department of our University, in 1892, left a vacancy which Professor Syle was called to fill. The already growing prestige of the English Department among the leaders of secondary education in the

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The Regents of the University. EX-OFFICIO REGENTS. His EXCELLENCY JAMES H. BUDD, Governor, ex-officio President of the Board His HONOR WILLIAM T. JETER, Lieutenant-Governor HON. FRANK L. COOMBS, Speaker of the Assembly HON. SAMUEL, T. BLACK, State Superintendent of Public Instruction A. B. SPRECKELS, ESQ., President of the State Agricultural Society HON. ERNST A. DENICKE, President of the Mechanics ' Institute MARTIN KELLOGG, M.A., LL.D., President of the University APPOINTED REGENTS. HON. J. WEST MARTIN, ANDREW S. HALLIDIE, ESQ., HON. WILLIAM T. WALLACE, HON. TIMOTHY GUY PHELPS, ISAIAS WILLIAM HELLMAN, ESQ., ARTHUR RODGERS, B.S., Ph.B., ALBERT MILLER, ESQ., JAMES FRANKLIN HOUGHTON, C.E., CHESTER ROWELL, M.D., HON. JAMES A. WAYMIRE, HON. HENRY S. FOOTE, HON. CHARLES WM. SLACK, Ph.B., LL-B., JACOB BERT REINSTEIN, M.A., JOHN ELIOT BUDD, A.B., MRS. PHEBE A. HEARST, JAMES D. PHELAN, ESQ.