Colgate University - Salmagundi Yearbook (Hamilton, NY)

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NE WTON LLOYD ,HNDRE WS HIS issue of the SALMAGUNDI is dedicated to Dr. N. L. Andrews, who, as student and teacher, has been connected with Colgate University for nearly half a century. During this period, it has been his privilege to witness a wonderful growth and not only to witness but to contribute to that growth. He was graduated from the college in '62, and from the Seminary in '64. During his seminary course, he taught as an assistant in the Grammar School and on his graduation was elected to the Principalship. While Principal, he also served the college as Adjunct Professor of Latin. In '68, he was trans- ferred to the Department of Greek Language and Literature, retaining, however, his Principalship until '69, when circumstances so shaped that he could give his undivided attention to his work in the college. In connection with his work in Greek Literature he introduced a course upon Greek Art. By degrees the course has been so enlarged as to include all the important epochs in Europe, Egypt and Asia Minor. During the last ten years of President Dodge's administration Cfrcm '80 to '9OJ, he held the position of Dean. It is no disparagement to Dr. Dodge to say that a large share of the success of his administration was due to the loyal and disinterested codperation of Dean Andrews, indeed, Dr. Dodge frequently and spontaneously emphasized that fact. During the live years inter- regnum, following the death of Dr. Dodge, besides doing the work in his own department, Dean Andrews was burdened with many of the duties which naturally devolved upon a.President. The responsibilities in such a situation are heavier, the perplexities more numerous, the dangers greater than those connected with an established administration. The institution, however, grew in numbers and influence. A dispassionate review of this epoch, compels admi- ration for the wise, tireless, unselfish service rendered g not alone in loyalty to his Alma Mater, but in devotion to that high purpose, expressed in our motto, Deo ac Veritati. ' On the election of President Smith, Dr. Andrews was permitted to devote himself entirely to his chosen work. To the student of recent years, he is known as the beloved and inspiring teacher. There are teachers and teachers. There are teachers who have not mastered their subjects. Archbishop Cranmer, referring to one of his Cambridge professors, said, H He was such an one who, when he came to any hard chapter which he well understood not, would find some pretty toy to shift it off and to skip over to another chapter which he could better skill. But no future Archbishop who happens to graduate from Colgate will ever make such a criticism of our Kai Gar. For him, there are no hard

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8 THE SALMAGUNDI chapters in Greek g the hardest is as familiar to him as our A B C. But this very familiarity sometimes handicaps a teacher. The proverb, Familiarity breeds contempt, can be applied in another sense than that originally intended. How often does our familiaritywith a subject unfit us to appreciate the difficul- ties of a stumbling, half blind but earnest seeker after knowledge. Not only that-there may be a sneering curl of the lip g some biting sarcasm is spoken which blights ambition and hope g or, if we do not go as far as that, we write him down as a dunce and freeze the unfolding blossom by a chilly indifference. More than one man has been ruined by this attitude on the part of a teacher. Hence, it may sometimes happen, the less learned man is the better teacher. If our memory serves us, when J owett was offered the chair of Greek in Oxford, he hesitated to accept on the ground of insufficient preparation g but on further reflection, concluded that his very disability might be transformed into ability, inasmuch as having to work out the problems, he would have asympathetic acquaintance with the difficulties of his students. He was right. His very limitations made him a better teacher. But he is a better teacher who having passed the period when he wrestles with perplexities remembers them and from his perfect knowledge helps us with patient, lucid explanations. J owett did not always remember. Once a student of moderate ability but, very industrious, becoming entangled in rendering a difficult passage, Jowett's brow clouded and he hurled a thunderbolt, whereupon the student replied, I am doing the best I can, sir? J owett's face crimsoned with shame and a tender apology was made. Dr. Andrews always rememberseand no industrious student leaves his classroom without recognition of that considerateness with which out of his abundant learning he sheds light upon his perplexities. But what is the ideal which Dr. Andrews sets before himself as a teacher of Greek 'Z It is not his aim to turn out philologists. That is the work of the university specialist-not of the college professor. Grammatical accuracy is emphasized g not as an enemy but a help to his ultimate ends. Some, not all of these ends, are the development of the esthetic sense, of power of thought and effective expression. n The esthetic faculties must be cultivated. Some professors sacrifice the esthetic upon the altar of philological science. But was the genitive made for man or the man for the genitive 'll' Perhaps the oft repeated story about the German professor is apocryphal, but it illustrates the tendency of some teachers. He lectures daily for two semesters upon the genitive case, and then puts on sackcloth and ashes because no more time could be granted. Set a boy to digging up the roots of a tree in dry soil, allow him to do little else, the air he breathes is saturated with dust and he misses the tonic influence of a clear atmosphere g keep him bending down to spy out all roots and diminutive rootlets, he misses the inspiration which comes from looking up into the heavens and