Mississippi College - Tribesman Yearbook (Clinton, MS)

Page 27 text:

Pat Henry Eager, A. B., M. A. Professor of English and Literature |MONG its noble and brave Baptist ministers in the pioneer days of Mississippi, I Rev. Dr F.. C. Lager lather of Pat Henry Eager, takes a place as one of the truest and strongest, both as a preacher and as a citizen. To him, as a man charactenzed by s.mphcity of hvmg and steadfastness of purpose and service perhaps no encomium could be more pleasing than to say that his children have all become most worthy sons and daughters of their father. And so, when we seek for the foundation upon which is built the success and great worthiness of Prof. Eager, we find it in the heritage of such a father and such a mother as were his. ® A high ideal is the groundwork on which all the noble qualities as a student are built 1° awaken a high ideal, to foster it, to enlarge it, and broaden it, and to make it so strong that it will itself arouse every latent energy in the man, is, perhaps, the greatest work of an educational leader. Some men are great teachers because they have the power to incite this high ideal, whatever the subject matter in hand may be; but some branches of instruction in a college curriculum afford greater opportunity and lend themselves more readily to awaking and fostering the ideal, and of these none offers greater opportunity than our mother tongue, p f pPP ' v . ,n Mississippi College a great teacher and this most prolific subject are combined. rot. Eager is an unexcelled teacher of our world-wide parent speech. Perhaps no teacher in the College— indeed, few anywhere— does more to create this high ideal in his own depart- ment, and, incidentally, all others, than he. He does it in part by laying emphasis on the value »t English in every conceivable sphere and activity of life. “Young men, you need to use good English in every phase of life— you need to express yourselves well in good, forceful English wherever you are, and whatever you do.” This is practically the text of his first ecture to his Sophomores, and the spirit of the last to his Seniors. Few, indeed, are the bovs even those much inclined to indifference, that he does not reach. Professor Eager, possessing the tact of a good teacher, has prepared himself well for the pos.tion he holds. Starting out in the College work in the department of mathematics, after several years of splendid teaching in several academies, he has held since the presidency of ° colle g es and filled the chair of Psychology and Ethics of our State University Eleven of a Enghsh he WaS CallCd baCk t0 h ' S alma later fr ° m Ba y lorColle g e - Texas to fill the chair , In fi ' gfier classes he strives to give men a wide vie w of the subject. He presupposes orough knowledge of grammar, rhetoric, and sentence-building, and working from this iypothes;s he accepts no excuse for previous lack of preparation. No man possesses a kindlier disposition, no man has a greater spirit of forbearance -,„,l none a greater regard for diversity of opinion. But alas for that boy who havTnT T dozen pages of Thackeray, sets himself up as a judge unfavorable! His t’eache’r at Xr t mild, shows the other side of his character, and in a moment be become” nerfl u ' a :xpr“° n ’ an J Sh ° WS Unmistakab ' y that he wil! not countenance hasty and Tm manure Prof. Eager ' s habit of thought is that of a thorough scholar I,:, aa j l that of a cultured gentleman, his life is the exemplification of home life and the spirit and influence of his home is ideal, made so no more by him than” y tribute tT ' his ' n W ' fe ’ wh °. Calls him “% Lord,” which is her naive way of paying ributc to his many manly virtues and his exalted admiration for her.