Hampden Sydney College - Kaleidoscope Yearbook (Hampden Sydney, VA)

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he lnrgellv 111111111 111 the 1511-1-11li111'1t11-s illlll llllOl11S tl1r1'111gl1 which thought 11tte1'e1l itself in that lZlllg1lflg'0. thns lllillilllg' the lllllgllllge in 1111-t il st111,l-1' in 1'1sycl1ol11gy. Dr. Blilll' is 111' nature 111111 11111111 11 111011051 Illllll. Ilirt given to talking 111' himsel1' llO!' what he ll1lS 1111111- 111- seen, th1111gh t1'11veling ilb1'02lll 111111 obse1'vi11g s1-enes 111111 men 211111 lH2l1lD61'S 111 various 111111-es. Ill 1111-t, there is n shyness lll llllll 11s l'L'g111'llS 111011 111111 p1111lieity, though it has never 011113641 llllll 111 lose his SQl111'l0SS0SSi1'lll illlll 11111158 111' 1fl1a1'11eter 21.1111 HIZIIIIIGI' wherever l1e may he. S111111- have 111111111l11i11e11 of Dr. Blair 11s heing 11111 se-1111-e11te1'e1.l. somexvhat 011111 to the XVL1l'l1l lll g'6llL'l'1ll, verging even 111 stit1'111-ss 111111 i111l111eren1-e. 1Vell, he does not '11ve111' his heart upon his sleeve, 11l11eit he has il very XVil1'll1 111111 honest one. There is ll reserve llllll 1ligni1ie1l l'6tlL'Ql1CL' lll his 1na1111er whic-h llllgllt naturally 11r1i11111ce this llllPI'QSSlOl1. He is not t11e sort 111' EL 1115111 eve1'yl1111ly 1v1111l11 pat on the Sl10lllLl0l' 111 il l11111-fell1111'-1vel1-inet f!'96d0l1l. I 1lo not know that either he or I were ent 0111 f11I' 1'9117I'Il1Ul'S or phil1111thr11pists. There is i11 Dr. Blair something 111' 11 stately dignity that repels 111111116 111111 1'11r1v111-11 1'11n1ili111'ity: a manner 1lHtlll'2ll to 111111, and which se1-111sio11 111111 the hahits of ll scholar have tbsterecl. Many me11 are l'6g'2ll'll6f1 as 011111 flllll i1111i11'ere11t 11e1-:111se their native reserve 111111 respect for the i111livi1l11z1lity of others prevents tl1e111 f1'0lll 1'11111ili:1rity: they shrink from Illlytlllllg' like etfusiveliess or forcing t11emselves1111o11 the notice ot' others. Ile has, 111 s11e:1k111g to 1116 of his S111'I'OI111dillgS, 111111 111e of his desire to have friends 111111 neighhors 1-11ltiv11te -90611111 lillftillltlly with him, not mere 1191111111 visiting. It is true, I tllillli that Dr. Blair is hy 1111t111'e l'I'lIIL'6Nfl'!7f2'l't' rather than e.1'p1111s1'1'r, lllS heart goes 1111t. to fI'lQll4,1S rather than the world 111 general, th1'111gl1 by no means l1lll1fll0l'Gllt to the ClLll1llS 111111 needs 111' lllllllillllfy, Hllll COl'Lll11lly esteeming CllHI'21CfQl' 111111 honest worth wherever seen. He is 1-1,111serv11tive 111 1111 l1is tales, like 1111 Virginians, thinking the snnsl1ine 1111ls more lovingly 111111 the SlIilll4'7XVS rest 1'l1lJI'0 sweetly 111 Virginia than iII1yXVl1Ql'6 elseg lllld never forgettiiig that 11otl1ing eun take the place ot' 21 yezlflcnzazz : 111111 1'11stidi1111s in all his tastes-v11lg11rity, coarseness, ill-hreecling, sel1le1i1111-eit, 111111 pretension excite 111s disgust. 90

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war and joined the Richmond I-Iowitzers, was afterward made Sergeant-Major in Colonel Cabell's Battalion, holding this position to the end of the war: was present in thc battles ot the Army of Northern Virginia, passing through the dangers without receiving a wound. At the close of the war he entered upon his duties as professor of Latin, holding the chair until 1896, when wishing rest from his labors, on account of some weakness of sight, he resigned his professorship, and, with his family, visited Europe, where he has been spending the winter in Rome and Xaples. A As a professor of the Latin language Dr. Blair found the ideal life for him, suited to his habits and his tastes, his love of study and inclination to quiet, somewhat secluded, labors. He has been a close, persistent, and ardent student of the Latin, devoting himself to his classes and his daily duties with conscientious and faithful assiduity-grounding himself thoroughly in the principles and details of the language, seeking to understand its mechanism and the inner life which moulds its structure. Few men know what scholarship is, and how rare is real, accurate, and profound knowledge of any ancient, or as we say, dead language. Ripe .5-t-lmlms are not common products, nor do they come by nature, Scholarship is the result of hard and prolonged study. But I imagine I am not going beyond bounds when I say Professor Blair well deserves the praise of accurate and thorough scholarship in his special line of study, and has conscientiously sought to impart his knowledge to his classes. Though not particularly fond of metaphysical or psychological studies, he has been an interested student of psychology as the human mind has exhibited itself in the mechanism of language, tiuding a special delight in seeing how thought has incarnated itself in words and sentences, the genius and idioms of a language, following, so to speak, the stream of thought as it cuts out for itself a channel through all tl1e intricacies and verbal niceties of expression, and he has remarked to me that the pleasure I found in the literature of the Latin as a literature, 21

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Dr. Blair has not written much-here and there an article in Reviews and a small work on Latin pronunciationft He has been content to expend his energies and manifest his mental equipment in the discharge of his duties in the classroom, but when he does write he writes well, illustrating the resources of a mind not only scholarly, but acute and penetrating, and expressing his thoughts with great clearness and vigor. He talks well. clothing his thoughts in well-chosen, precise language, never loose or slangy, always suiting his language to the exigency of his ideas. Dr. Blair, while never perfunctory in any of his teachings, especially excelled in the higher branches of his department-in unfolding the more philosophical and profound principles of the Latin language. I have heard from those who had special means of knowing that the more mature and advanced pupils spoke in the highest terms of him as a teacher and moulding power in their higher studies in his department. And one of his pupils, after iinishing his studies in one of our most prominent universities, affirmed that he had not there met Dr. Blair's equal as an instructor, and realized in his special course there the heneits of the Doctor's teaching at Hampden-Sidney. Dr. Blairls home at Hampden-Sidney has been an ideal one. Our classmate, Dr. Hooper, speaks of it his artistic home, which elegant taste has set amidst foliage and flowers, and enriched with books whose very titles are riddles to all but Continental scholars. Qi-Ind, I may remark, I do not think he has but one translation info Englzfslv among them, viz.: Monroels Lucretiusj No +It is not generally known, but it is nevertheless true, that to Dr. Blair and Professor Gildersleeve is most largely due the introduction of the Roman Method of pronunciation in the South. His book on this subject is still regarded as among the best and most scholarly yet produced, and Dr. Blair is recognized as an authority in this department. There are few authorities on any subject in this age ot' advanced knowledge, and Hampden-Sidney may take pride in the fact that she has enjoyed the services of one, at least, through a period of forty years. 23