Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Peddler Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

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Professors Levi I,. Conant, Ph.D., Professor of Mathematics “ Conie ” has endeared himself to all Worcester Tech men by his attitude of absolute fairness toward those in his charge, and by his personal interest in each man. After hearing his high-pitched, mild voice expound¬ ing the difference between a “ horse chestnut and a chestnut horse ” in recitation, one would hardly credit the performances of his past on the base¬ ball field in the green of Dartmouth. But to give credence to these things one has only to see and hear him at a B. A. A. meet, when he lends his support to the upholders of the standing of his Alma Mater. Though our memories of “ calc ” and “ trig ” may not be of the pleasantest, yet when we think of the personal contact with this real man, all the unpleasantness will be forgiven and forgotten in the pleasure of the honor that is done us by our acquaintanceship with him. George H. Haynes, Ph.D., Professor of Economics and Political Science “ Jinny ”—we don’t know where he got that cognomen; it doesn’t fit him, but it sticks to him tighter than some brother that we read about somewhere. When we are in a grinful mood, we like to think of him—his numerous degrees of longitude thrown with careless and inherent grace over a Washburn Shops drawing-stand; his faithful cowlick erect at its post- delivering to us sundry preachments on the psychology of the mob, and winding up with that drastic objurgation, “ Go to! ” (We were going to 18

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FACULTY

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say damning objurgation, but the expression is shy one word.) But these transient memories soon leave us, and we think of him in the times when he let poly sci slide for the moment and talked to us straight, as man to man. Our fool escapades didn’t look quite so brilliant when Jinny got through with them; when he stood us up in front of ourselves for inspec¬ tion at such times, there was nothing heroic in the spectacle. He called things by their names, yet with a tact that never left a bitter taste in our mouths. A gentleman of culture, he has shown us that time devoted to the strengthening and refining of character is time that counts. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to come into more intimate acquaintance with him, outside Room 19, will always remember his altogether delight¬ ful personality, and be proud to number him among our friends. We shall remember his loyalty to Tech; his sincere personal interest in every stu¬ dent and in every alumnus; the standard of usefulness and quality to which he has brought the Journal; but—we will sum him up in language more appro¬ priate to him than anything else we could say —“ Here is a man! ” W. L. Jennings, Ph.D., Professor of Organic Chemistry Dr. Walter L. Jennings is a much-benicknamed man; in fact, each succeeding division of chemists has nicknamed him afresh, and the process will probably go on ad libitum, ad infinitum. Nineteen Hundred and Ten, for example, designated him as “ Stone-Hatchet; ” 1912 favors him with a fair translation of the same general idea, in the more or less compli¬ mentary “ Beilstein,” shortened, of late, to “ Beily; ” but to us he is “ Old Sleuth.” By the time a man is a Senior, he can tell by the sound of Old Sleuth’s footsteps what the weather is going to be—inside: a fairly leisurely tramp means fair and cool, but at the sound of a slight acceleration, the wise chemist winks the other eye at the next man and hides in the chimney of his Bunsen burner. He is capable of being one of the most agreeable per¬ sons you ever met, and, be it said to his credit, he generally is; but it is a fact that he is equally gifted in the opposite direction. When the mood is on him, his insistence on utterly inconsequent details, and his sudden impulses, which he discards and takes up again in bewildering alternation, are the most aggravating things that any chemist has to face, and we are all thankful when the more peaceful, or maybe more indolent, mood comes back again. In spite of his discriminating taste in malt products, his wild ideas on spirits compiled from grain alcohol and caramel have antagonized every connoisseur that ever listened to him. He is an expert in tennis, but 19