Central High School - Centralian Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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Professor Jofyo Qreer ROFESSOR JOHN X. GREER first saw life on a farm in Scott county, Iowa. He attended the district school until the age of fifteen, when he entered the public schools of Davenport, Iowa. Five years afterward he was graduated from the high school, having mastered in three years the full four years course, and was valedictorian of the class. A. year after, in ’71), he entered Iowa College, and was graduated in’82. There are many men who seem to have left their youth so far behind them, that it is almost impossible to imagine them as boys. Not so with Professor Greer. Though a man of utmost dignity, he yet possesses the freedom and elasticity of youth. Some of us, perhaps, may envy him, when, like Whittier’s barefoot boy, he roamed over the big farm, fishing, perchance, in the little stream, or chasing butterflies over the grass, and making friends with the birds and squirrels. Indeed, he was passionately fond of pets, and lost no opportunity to study them and their habits. It was then that he acquired that taste for natural history and that habit of close observation, which arc now so characteristic of him. But not long did he enjoy unrestrained childhood. At the age of ten he commenced to labor on the farm, and from that time onwards he worked as hard asany full grown man. 11 is father died, leaving him, a boy of twelve, in charge of the farm. He proved equal to the occasion, and for three years he successfully carried on the business and management which had so suddenly devolved upon him. But he was not the kind of boy who could be satisfied with the monotonous toil of farm life. His great desire lor study led him to seek, in the public schools of Davenport, the avenue to culture and advancement. For about a year before entering college he taught a village school at Blue Grass, Scott county, Iowa. He entered the college in September, 79, as has already been said, and for three years applied himself earnestly to study. His rapid advance through the classical course, paralleled by sjjecial work in the sciences, secured for him in this short time the two degrees of A. B.and B.S. It may Ik interesting to know that only one other person in the history of the college has been able to secure these twodegrees. The fact that Professor Greer was able to condense eight years’ study into three-years is certainly a remarkable tribute to the effectiveness of application and determination. But though Professor Greer studied hard, he did not neglect his health. 11 is life on the farm had given him a constitution which placed him at once at the head of college athletics, and his interest in base-ball, foot-ball and other sports was

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 Greer

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equalled only by his proficiency in them. It was a peculiar feature of Iowa College, that the athletes were the best scholars. For an athlete to be below the average in his studies was a positive disgrace. At that time no Greek letter fraternities had been introduced into the college. Their place was held by various literary and scientific organizations, among which, and the most important of which, was the Christo-Mathian Literary Society. Professor Greer considers the training which he received in that society as of more practical value than the pursuit of anyone study throughout his college course. “No student,” he says, ‘‘can afford to neglect the study of English in his education. A student who is ready by word of mouth or word of pen is thrice armed for any emergency.” Soon after leaving college Professor Greer entered the law office of Cook and Dodge,in Davenport. After about a year with this firm, during which time he had almost prepared himself for admission to the bar, he accepted a responsible position with a telephone company, which had its headquarters at Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A year after he was made principal of School No. 2, of Davenport; which posi tion, in January, 1889, he resigned, to become principal of the North Side High School in Minneapolis; and in August, 1892, he exchanged this position for the corresponding one at the Central High School, vice Professor Crombie, who had resigned. Though succeeding a most popular man, who had resigned under circumstances which would tend to make the position of his successor one of unusual difficulty, Professor Greer has achieved a great success. He at once secured the resj ect and admiration of both teachers and pupils, and now enjoys such a degree of popularity as is seldom the reward of one in his position. The story of Professor Greer’s life is a story of advancement. As a boy, as a youth, and as a man, he has shown by manly bearing and persevering industry, that he both prized and was determined to make excellent use of his opportuni ties for self improvement. Fortunate, indeed, arc the students of this school to have among them, as guide and instructor, one whose personality and influence must continually stimulate them to high endeavor, and make all who know him the better for the privilege. 8