Illinois State Normal University - Index Yearbook (Normal, IL)

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HI? NDEX vos with interest and delight. It is notorious that all teachers tell sto- ries and sometimes repeat them, but his anecdotes mellow with age and when told for the hundredth time attain a ripeness of tlavor which the sour vintagcs of the twentieth century can never rival. In his domestic life Mr. McCormick has been singularly happy. His daughter, Mrs. Alice Trowbridge, is with her husband at their sunnner honie in northern Michigan. Three sons, Dr. Nelson K., Dr. Ferdinand U., and Dr. Henry Mctlorniick, Jr. are all practising their professions in Nornial. The fourth son, Edward, is at the head of the department of Mechanical Engineering in the State Agricul- tural College at Manhattan, Kansas. DAYVID FELMLEY. E' Wllff A-4',,qflnm-1m fr slum! in wifi: lin'.1?1w1lllj1. '-llllis. ANIi1c1csoN. ll'1' 'HHN' nm.-ffm: llfllllv siruw' llflllllff' on Ill? l'f'll.l,'ClIlfS'lllflc ATKINS- li

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instructors, or because ability or willingness to teach more than one branch is contrary to union rules, teachers in higher institutions nowadays confine their labors to a narrow field. Not so with the stalwarts of the generation passing. Soon history, both sacred and profane, was formally added to his department, but he taught arith- metic, algebra, geometry, reading, drawing, mental and moral phil- osophy, and spelling. There is a tradition that vocal music also was at times in his program Besides teaching this varied line he took up a regular course of non-resident work in the Wfesleyan University extending thru a long term of years, and obtained in succession the degrees of A.M. and Ph.D. The degree of LL.D. has since been conferred upon him by the same institution. Since 1901 Professor Mctlormick has confined his instruction to history and civics, and has given his work a wider range than in former years. He has become especially interested in the history of our own state, is an active memberof the State Historical Society, and is the author of a bill soon to become a law, requiring all teach- ers to be examined in the history of Illinois. Mr. McCormick has taught in the State Normal School for thirty- six years. two years longer than any other of the one hundred forty- six men and women whose names appear on the roll of its faculty. YVith his undimmed powers and abounding good health we may ex- pect etficient service for years to come. In 1892 he was made vice- presidentg since that date a large share of the internal adminis- 1JI'EltlOll of the school has fallen to him. For many years he was a most active worker in the institute field, his happy combination of clearness and vigor with a flavor of native wit proving highly effective and popular. His evening lec- tures and formal addresses always wrought out with the utmost iidel- ity, have uniformly attracted large audiences. His published works include two manuals for the teaching of geography which have had a wide sale. Mr. Mctlormick is a prime favorite with the students of the Normal School. It is not because he fails to expose hazy thinking, or evasiveness, or talking against time, or any of that brood of sham- ming substitutes for upright. down1'ight, ha1'd work, which even Normal students sometimes shelter. But a kindly manner, a merry twinkle, and polished forceps may make even dental surgery endur- able if not attractive. His tremendous energy, his fertility of re- source, his overtlowing good humor, his ready wit, still his classroom fl grin o1',iffw.vl my Sl'l'l'III'.H'1'il'llY ALLIQN. 1113 ANIJERSUN-Hf'l1'ull1 lil4lfln.H HD NDEX 105

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