Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Peddler Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

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Edward L. Hancock, M.S., Professor of Applied Mechanics Professor Hancock was an unknown quantity when he came to us at the first of our Junior year, but soon became one of the most popular of our profs. Both in classroom and in lab we have found him agreeable and considerate, which has helped to make his popularity. Before coming to the Institute, Professor Hancock had acquired considerable fame as an author of books on mechanics and kindred subjects. Since his coming he has rearranged the courses which he teaches in such a way as greatly to increase their value. We look back with pleasure to our associations with him. Arthur W. Ewell, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Physics Doctor Ewell has as yet failed to break down under the burden of a string of nicknames, such as “ Punk,” “ Schusme,” “ Fizzle,” and others too numerous to mention. Having been long accustomed to deal with small units of time, he has evidently decided that the time consumed in enun¬ ciating the second syllable of “ Mister ” is wasted; consequently we have become accustomed to being addressed as “ Miss ” without thinking we had made a mistake and got into a co-ed school. His efforts to instill scien¬ tific accuracy into our methods have met with success as varied as the sub¬ jects into whom he tried to instill it. Pleasant memories will hover around the old brown cap which has so recently been elevated to a dignified posi¬ tion above the steering gear of the Doctor’s new automobile. We shall be surprised if the Doctor’s graceful form does not chase madly through our day dreams in pursuit of a probable error when we review memories of Tech at some future date. Arthur D. Butterfield, M.S., A.M., Assistant Professor of Mathematics If he should put on high leather boots and gauntlets one would think that a western ranchman was coming over the Hill. But when he-has hung¬ up his hat in his office and has entered the classroom, we find a broad- shouldered, robust man of athletic physique. When an undergraduate at the Institute, with the Class of 1893, Professor Butterfield was very much

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Joseph O. Phelon, Professor of E ectrical Engineering “ Uncle Joe ’ with his slow, easy drawl and indifferent manner, appears, as he sits indolently on the table during lecture, to care not a whit as to what goes on in class. Questions asked of him are carelessly turned back on the one who propounded them to be answered, and as if this were not enough, other puzzling questions are put, much to the bewilderment of the poor would-be learners. Anyone who has seen him and heard him lecture will swear on honor that he is the laziest man on the Hill; yet despite this, we must say that the ground covered is great and the founda¬ tions laid for future work by the course under “ Joe’s ” guidance are solid and stable. Albert S. Richey, E.E., Professor of Electric Pailway Engineering Professor Richey is one of the profs who are overburdened with work on the Hill. All through the second half-year, he has to deliver two lec¬ tures each week to embryo railway engineers, and then, too, he has some work with the P. G.’s. Three days in the week he appears on the Hill, unless he chances to be busy elsewhere, in which case he is thoughtful enough to prepare an examination and let Pope serve it. The results of these exams are, by the way, as a rule “ universally unsatisfactory.” Not¬ withstanding this lazy man’s schedule, the course under him in railway engineering, together with his notes on the course, is the brightest spot in the second half of the senior year for the Electrics. Carleton A. Read, S.B., Professor of Steam Engineering When Professor Read speaks of “ the Institute,” he doesn’t mean “ the Institute,” but only M. I. T., from which he graduated. He came to us from the rural districts of Durham, N. H., to expound to us the intri¬ cacies of temperature-entropy charts and other thermodynamic playthings. His attempts to ignore questions which seemed ill-timed have raised havoc with discipline in his classes, and he is consequently often forced to announce, “ We’ll wait,” until he can get an opportunity to send the “ class to the board with steam tables.” Rumor has it that his bump of curiosity is large and active concerning the meaning of the cabalistic symbol “ B. A.” which is frequently attached to his name. We would suggest that if he is still curious, he should send “ Sammy ” out to solve the mystery. 24

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interested in athletics, especially football. And he still has that interest, for he is always on deck at the games, and it is his custom to entertain the football team at his house each year. A singular trait, that is seen each year in his classroom, is the method in which he shows the students how to select an “ arbitrarily chosen ” point. He closes his eyes and hurls a piece of chalk in the general direction of the blackboard. If it strikes the slate he considers the point of impact as “ arbitrarily chosen.” Professor Butter¬ field usually has a few stories up his sleeve, and also he usually has a few problems for the class at the end of each hour. He enjoys sitting at his desk and watching the progress of the students in the “ very simple” inte¬ grations that he has just put on the board. He enjoys taking the papers of each one, as they are brought up to him, and either “ checking ” them or, as he exhales a long breath, placing a long, lean question-mark through the whole example. Howard Chapin Ives, C.E., Assistant Professor of Railroad Engineering A second cousin to the gink that built the first wooden nutmeg, it stands to reason that “ Reddy ” comes from the Nutmeg State. There are many mysteries surrounding this specimen of the genus Civil. Possibly the most puzzling question that occurs to us is why he was ever christened Howard Chapin. How could they have gazed at his lovely, wavy, straw¬ berry-blond locks and then have perpetrated Howard Chapin? Anyhow, the defect has been remedied and only in the catalogue can you find his official cognomen. “ Reddy ” he has been, is, and always will be, unless some of those Chemists get busy with the peroxide. His early career was unmarked by any distinction except an ability to ask fool questions, a trait which he has never outgrown. Sheff was enlightened by his hair for three long years, but the sad part of it was that the enlightening was all one-sided, at least we have never seen any signs of reciprocation on Sheff’s part. After having dazzled Sheff, “ Reddy ” gave the Pennsylvania lines, “ West of Pittsburg ,” the value of his presence. Don’t forget that “ West of Pittsburg,” for that is the important part of the job. The only reason that he isn’t down there now is because he was mistaken for a danger signal so often that they couldn’t keep the schedule. 26