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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Several instances almost similar are 

 within my knowledge. It has been said 

 of a prominent college not fifty miles 

 from Philadelphia that its trustees 

 had for many years a regulation threat- 

 ening with dismissal any professor who 

 published a book. They wished to have 

 it understood that professors were ex- 

 pected to devote all their time to 

 teaching and that the writing of books 

 was equivalent to depriving their stu- 

 dents of what clearly belonged to them. 

 Perhaps it would not be easy to find a 

 board at this time that takes such a 

 view, but individual members are not 

 rare. That man is most acceptable 

 who can, or thinks he can, teach the 

 largest number of subjects. Again, 

 there may be many high schools that 

 do the excellent work Professor Steven- 

 son had in mind; I have no desire to 

 belittle it or them. On the other hand 

 I am sure there is a far larger number, 

 taking the country as a whole, in' 

 which, for various reasons, the instruc- 

 tion is very inferior and the graduates 

 of which could not be admitted into 

 any reputable college unconditioned. 

 Furthermore, I believe the three fol- 

 lowing propositions can be sustained: 

 ( 1 ) The average ability of college pro- 

 fessors is not higher than that of the 

 legal or medical profession, if we in- 

 clude among the latter only those mem- 

 bers who have had collegiate training 

 in addition to their professional edu- 

 cation. That they are generally men 

 of wider information most people will 

 admit. (2) That speaking by and 

 large those college professors who have 

 had adequate preparation can find time 

 for original work, if they desire. Of 

 the professors in the college from 

 which I graduated, about a dozen in 

 all, two were constantly carrying on 

 original investigations; yet they had 

 no more time but rather less than their 

 colleagues. Very often the college pro- 

 fessor makes deliberate choice between 

 two courses open to him: either he 

 will employ his spare time in keeping 



abreast of the advances in his own de- 

 partment and in preparing to present 

 this fresh knowledge most effectively 

 to his classes, or in original researches. 

 Few men can do both. (3) College 

 professors on the average get as much 

 satisfaction out of life as any other 

 class. It may be assumed that the 

 young man who enters deliberately 

 upon the profession of teaching does 

 so in response to a ' call,' that is, be- 

 cause it represents the work he feels 

 best fitted to perform. Of the men 

 who engage in the quest for money the 

 large majority is disappointed. The 

 pleasure of the pursuit is conditioned 

 upon possession; but when they fail in 

 securing possession their labor and self- 

 denial have been in vain. Not so with 

 him who is engaged in seeking and im- 

 parting knowledge. Few persons have 

 a large preponderance of the good 

 things of this life. He who dwarfs his 

 mind by bending all his energies to the 

 acquisition of wealth effectually closes 

 it to esthetic enjoyment. If all men 

 were permitted to fix the pecuniary 

 compensation for their services we 

 should see some curious estimates. 

 Few are satisfied with what they get. 

 Our frequent strikes are evidence that 

 labor is as discontented as teaching. 

 Most persons who give their services 

 for pay get all they can; it is the 

 philosophically inclined who grumble 

 least over the amount. College pro- 

 fessors above all others need to take 

 to heart the injunction of the poet, 



" With a heart for any fate 



Still achieving, still pursuing, 

 Learn to labor and to wait." 



He who in the course of a life-time 

 has succeeded in making a few of his 

 students better, wiser, nobler, has not 

 lived to little purpose. He is some- 

 thing more than a ' link in being's end- 

 less chain.' 



C. W. Super. 

 Ohio University, 

 Athens, 0. 



