Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Peddler Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

Page 28 text:

THE AFTERMATH : CLASS OF NINETEEN FIFTEEN Joseph Oliver Phelon, M.M.E. Professor of Electrical Engineering. E. E. 1. recalls to mind a large, bare room with a large, formidable mysterious black switch board at the business end, and inci¬ dentally a little man hiding behind a little table or else behind a funny-looking piece of mechanism, which, “Joe” explains, (for this is “Joe”) with many a flourish, is a dynamo. The explanation is accompanied by a regular aurora borealis smile—in the near future about seventy-five per cent, of the class wonder at the smile, for it seems to break out whether the session be calm or stormy. Most of the time we didn’t know whether we were “delta” or “y” connected, but who cared so long as we were given so many chances in which to get either 0, 50, or 100 on two problem exams, noted for their an¬ tiquity and general mustiness. In the lab, “Joe” gave lucid explanations with his hands, smile and feet, until in despair the listener would finally depart to figure out his own answer, just as Professor Phelon had in¬ tended he should do. Outside of all this. Professor Phelon is out and out a good scout, and we are glad we had the opportunity of taking his course in blowing circuit breakers and other things of interest in electricity. i 24 ]

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WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE Orie William Long, Ph.D. Professor of Modern Languages. As members of the class of 1915, our di¬ rect acquaintance with Professor Long is not extensive. His work at the Institute did not begin until 1913, at which date he assumed charge of the department of Modern Lan¬ guages. In 1903 he received his A.B. at Centre College, and in I 906 he took up his work at Add-Ran College as Professor of Modern Languages there. In 1911 he received his A.M. at Harvard, and later in 1913, his Ph.D. During the years 1912 and 1913 he was instructor in German at M. I. T. His experience at this institution has led him to make some interesting com¬ parisons of the student life there and that at Worcester Tech. Since his advent to the Institute, the courses in the Department of Modern Languages have been made very strenuous and exacting. Although we have not had the opportunity to meet Professor Long in the classroom, very few of us have failed to become acquainted with him in other phases of Tech life, and we have thus come to admire and respect him. Alton Lincoln Smith, M.S. Professor of Drawing and Machine Design. The first time that we came into actual contact with Professor Smith was as a sub¬ stitute for “Reddy Mack” in Descriptive. Then later we sat before him again in Kinematics and Design. In spite of the hard courses which we have had under him, no one has any hard feeling against “A. L.” He has won the respect and friendship of all. He himself is a Tech man, which probably accounts for the fact that he never racks his brain to find little questions you are liable not to know, but always asks the big things you ought to know. He is always willing to give good advice and sometimes we get it without the asking, but never without good cause. Not believ¬ ing in kicking a fellow when he is down, Professor Smith devotes his entire interest in helping us conquer our weak points. Long may he live for the best interest of our Alma Mater. I

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WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE Charles Metcalf Allen, M.S. Professor of Hydraulic Engineering. It is with a feeling of joy and content that we look back upon the first time that “Charlie” came into our lives. Long be¬ fore we had the pleasure of meeting him as Professor of Hydraulic Engineering his name—and fame—had reached our ears, for he is well known as the best of story tellers and entertainers. But few other professors have the ability of making their subjects as impressive as hydraulics, for “Charlie’s” first advice to the wandering was to “climb right into the water, crawl along with it, and see what would happen.” Respected and admired though he be, we fear very much that as a witness his word would have little weight; for who would be expected to believe the testimony of a man who has tried to make youthful minds be¬ lieve that “on any Monday morning, nine miles out in Boston harbor, traces of blueing can be found in the waters of the deep.” Seriously, “Charlie” is one of the kindest- hearted, all round good fellows who ever trod the mazy paths of Tech Hill. Arthur Woolsey Ewell, Ph.D. Professor of Physics. “A. W.” is one of the terrible Big Four. This term meant nothing to us during our freshman year, but when we became soph¬ omores these initials became full of signifi¬ cance. Who, pray, has ever seen the patient professor angry, no matter how thoughtless and exasperating our doings were? Rather, he made evident our errors and proceeded to correct them. Surely we shall long hold in grateful mem¬ ory, the annual reception, at his home, to the members of his classes. “Punk” is everyone’s personal adviser. He is a true friend of the student and is always on hand to help a fallen one. Long may he live to be—for students yet unborn— a kindly guide and counsellor, of whom, in time to come, it shall be written: “His life was gentle; and the elements So mix’d in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world: ‘This was a man.’