Washington and Jefferson College - Pandora Yearbook (Washington, PA)

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. C I , . A A - ,.,,.,,,,,,,, M ,,, x -... u ,,, v W T it f I , 1 at i' I,ii!t'ti'ItiTi -me f rrr f QQ end of the room. Then, with a sidelong glance at the oi'fenders, Oh, they are through, you may go on, sir. Occasionally, however, he was hoist with his own petard. It happened one day that a sophomore,-- call him Jones-who was much attached to a girl named Brown, sal deep in thought and did not hear himself addressed by the professor. Mr, Jones seems to be in a brown study, said Linng tllld even Linn, who did not know of the attachment, could not immediately silence the merriment of the class, which he was at a loss to understand. But it was not alone in the class room that this great llltlll taught. He bore upon his heart the moral and spiritual interest of his students, and I have known him when he saw solne crisis impending in the life of one of them, to call him into his own home to counsel with him and to encourage him. I recall how deeply touched was one of my own classmates, a wayward but brilliant fellow, who had just come from an interview i11 which Dr. Linn had earnestly pleaded with him to sur- render himself to Christ. And so we not only revered, but loved him. To live in hearts we leave behind Is not to die.', That immortality is Dr. Linnis. Perhaps no character more nearly a unique was ever connected with the faculty of old Jefferson College, or with Washington and Jef- ferson, than Samuel Jones, Ph. D., Professor of Physics and Chemistry until 1878. Professor .lones was born in Southern Ireland, and was graduated from Trinity College, Dublin. After his graduation there, he taught for several years in a Methodist College in London, and was later head of a large school in Bristol, England. While there he was persuaded by a brother who lived near Pittsburgh, to come to America. His first educational work here was as the principal of an academy in Beaver, Pennsylvania, whence, in 1852, he was called to Jefferson Col- lege. ' t Professor Jones was of a somewhat burly figure, with a grim but vet kindly face, he was blunt but really gentle in manner, and was withal a man of many parts. He was possessed of remarkable skill as a worker in metals. and in his workship, which was equipped with a 29

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fn? . ...,,... tt t tt T ' ' 1 2 ' fz Q - wr. in mu T i WEBMUF ' M ' 7 7 i if ff1 1fviTil5lHt g 2. Washington and JeH'erson has no name in the list of its faculty members more venerated than that ot' Professor Linn. To many a graduate a11d many a former stude11t his name is almost a Sy110llyll1 ot' the college title, or stands at least, without detraction from the worth ol' other men, for all that gives the college its fame for scholarship and efficiency in teaching. His versatility and the range ot' his attainmcnts is shoW11 ill the fact that at tlii t'erent times he filled with success nearly every chair in the College, though he was most noted for his teaching of Greek. Dr. Linn was not one who wore his heart upon his sleeve, but be- neath a manner that was often austere his heart was warm. The dullard often fared pretty badly at his hands, and the egotist or the shirker got from l1i1n scant mercy. But it can be said of him as it was of Golds1nith's dominie: Yet, he was kind, or if severe in aught, The love he bore to learning was in fault. The severity ol' his discipline became a tradition ol' the college which was handed down from departing to incoming classes. He was a bold man who dared to enter Professor l.inn's class room with no preparation of the lesson assigned. And there was no lesson, no subject, which Linn could not make attractive. A classmate ot mine once paid him this tribute. Searching his mind for gestion of the very uttermost degree of a teacher's power to interest his Btll1S1l'ltll1, that man could make even what, to him, would convey sug- ol' dryness, and the severest test students, he exclaimed: Why, ll l1lfSSi0IIlll'l1 report' interesting!,' Like many other teachers, Linn had certain mannerisms and cer- tain stock methods ol' maintaining order in the class room: e. g., if a student leaned back in his chair so as to lil't the front legs ot' the chair from the floor, Llllll would exclaim: Gentlemen, all the chairs in this room are quadrupeds! and, ot' cou1'se, the student would settle down to a normal position. Il' any one took out his watch to look at the time, Linn would say: The bell will ring, sir, when this period is over! He would rebuke students who were talking in class by addressing, not the talkers, but the man reciting: Stop, sir! he would ery, You are disturbing the gl4llHl'lI'lI'I1 who are holding a conversation at the other 28'

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V .., I l 4. ..,, .,..,,.,.,.,...,.. fx f fl 7385 'A I ..,. , - . W -I 3. 1 if I V, . .ew 'A A ,. furnace and the finest of tools, he made many scientific instruments and machines for use in the college. His knowledge of the Greek and Latin classics is by tradition re- ported as having been phenomenal. It is said that he knew by heart the chief parts of Homer and Virgil and Horace, and was equally familiar with the old English authors. But no mere enumeration ol' particulars can describe Sammy Jones as his students knew him. In speech and character he was racy of the soil of old Ireland, and had more than an ordinary share of the proverbial Irish wit: He was a bachelor, and, for a time at least, boarded at the old Fulton House. One of the faculty, himself at the time a bachelor, sat at the same table with Jones, and I recall a story I had from the younger man many years ago. They had for some tilne been annoyed by the food being overseasoned. Coming in one day, and finding Jones already at dinner, his colleague said: Well, Pro- fessor Jones, what kind ot' soup do we have to-day? They eall it mock turtle, replied Jones, but you'll find it's rule freall salt ! One of his older colleagues has written of him these words: His knowledge of science was extensive and varied and exact, and was coni- bined with such rich classical and literary stores, and withal wielded with so much originality, that his pupils were often at a loss to k11ow what was most admirable in the lesson--the science, the literary illus- trations, or the exuberant wit which was wreathed and blended with the whole. As I remeniher, Jones had just two marks or grades for recitation, whole, and halt ' or partial.,, When a man had recited, Jones would at once announce the credit to be given, thus: Now, Mr. Smith, Itwill give you a whole, or as the ease might be, I will give you a partial for that recitation. , W As a bachelor the good man was able to lead the simple life. He was frugal but liberal, too, in his expenditures, and before his death he generously endowed four prizes in Physics and the Classics as a memorial in the college. They bear his name, and the names of the recipients of their proceeds are annually announced at commencement. Professor Jones resigned March 19, 1878, and on the morning ol' ' :io