Temple University - Templar Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

Page 29 text:

The gentleman who presides over the domain of history and political economy is a short, blushing “fessor,” with a decided propensity for getting off little jokes which sometimes attained a certain respectability. He was entirely too gentle to stop any offense under chess playing. That alone he decidedly demurred to. Miss Miller could call him “dear child,” Miss Harton play with his hat or steal photographs from his desk, but when poor Pierce passed a chessboard along the row the professor's mild blue eye immediately spied it, and commanded, ‘‘Put that board away!” Mr. Robertson, of Mississippi, was so moved one day by the reminiscences of John Brown to remark to Professor, “Why, we used to sing a song about that down South; it started off abmt ‘John Brown’s body.’ ” The class roared and professor gasped, “Yes, we've heard that song before.” Some persons in the class took flunks too seriously and unnecessarily. One day Miss Reifsnyder was questioned, and not having the answer on the tip of her tongue, said, “I don’t know.” Likewise did Miss Miller and others, but when it came to W. Ii. Miller it went no farther. Not that he knew any more about it than they did, but one would have thought he did, and that is all that is necessary. A curious attribute of a battle was discovered here one day. That attribute is shape. This is stated on Professor McKinley’s authority, and the misfortune was that it added another thing to remember about the battle of Chancellors-ville, which Miss Godfrey had striven to remember for three weeks. It is to be feared that Miss Godfrey’s memory is like the rest of her—short. The test of studiousness in this class was not in perfection 23

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drogeous was appalled at the same time that he stopped his voice with his foot, it was too much even for our stern professor. it was then that his face lost its accustomed dignity, that his jaw dropped, his lips parted and that he broke into a hearty peal of laughter. How Androgeous accomplished this remarkable feat Stone is still endeavoring to explain to us. Caesar and Cicero we, of course, enjoyed, but Virgil was particularly liked (in some cases disliked). Truly Virgilas, in the words of our translations, he crossed the dolorous Stygian Hood, stopped his ears in the blessed abode of Hades, must have wondered how he ‘attained such immortality through his writings if they impressed the world as they seemed to impress us, must have wondered as he reposed in the regions of the blessed. As we sonorously chanted the rolling cadences of Virgil’s inimitable hexameters one could with difficulty realize that he were not in the streets of Rome itself. We were all good at scanning, but at that Miss Miller surpassed all the others. Ye gods and little fishes! what wild emotions swelled in our breasts as she scanned. Her face was tragic. Her voice had all the agonized pathos of a fair heroine, whom the villain (Prof, see) was tormenting with cruel and ceaseless questioning, and it was always with a sigh of relief that we observed that Miss Miller had finished her reading without any disastrous consequence. These are examples of the daily happenings of one of the most long-suffering classes of the school whose anxious faces were seen everv morning second period at the door of P 5. 22

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of recitations, but in the bringing of books, so that the good students were always known by the sight of McMaster’s School History of the United States.” Most of the class did not carry books. The chemistry class was presided over by Professor Foster, a short, stout gentleman, to whom science, particularly chemical and physical science, composed the most important part of this world. Nine embryo scientists seeking after chemical knowledge tramped to the third floor three times a week, only to be confronted by a row of long formulae and a succession of unpleasant odors, that of iodoform predominating. Some members of the class objected to the odors of chloroform and ether, and to avoid having them in their desks persistently lost their samples, so at the close of the year were given an opportunity of enjoying those compounds by making them after school. Pierce was an example of the sample-losing class. Miss Doby’s chief duty in this class seemed to be to keep Miss Harton at work, which was a very difficult task, as the attractions of Ernest Williams, the auburn-haired gentleman, and the restlessness of Miss Harton’s disposition rendered the task difficult. Axford and Sensenderfer accused each other of idleness, and, to do them both justice. I would say that they were both right, particularly Axford. Sensenderfer could hardly be expected to do much work, as he was afraid of explosions, and as explosions were frequent they necessitated Hob’s retirement into the private laboratory many times. On the day that the class manufactured nitro-glycerine his face was 24