OUR GREAT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. 551 



ordinance to the effect that any professor in the university could be 

 called upon to teach any branch, upon penalty of dismissal if he re- 

 fused. We were determined that our teachers should be men of broad 

 general culture, and not mere narrow specialists. Of coarse, every 

 one of them had studied a variety of branches at school or college, 

 and surely any man ought to be able to teach any thing which he him- 

 self had ever learned. Brother A objected to our entire proceed- 

 ing, but we paid no attention to him. Still, his remarks about " smat- 

 terers" and "educational fraud" could not but be somewhat offensive. 



In the course of the year our university received a few minor gifts, 

 and at commencement we found ourselves with the debt not very 

 miich increased. Our teachers were nearly paid, but the treasury was 

 again emj^ty. Two students graduated; and for them we had grand 

 public exercises, which closed with an appeal to the people for sup- 

 port. This meant money, and brought in about $500. Upon such 

 driblets our institution was obliged to run. We must evidently re- 

 trencli, and we did so by reducing the number of j^rofessors and cut- 

 ting down salaries. My own salaiy was untouched, however ; but 

 then, instruction in rhetoric and English literature was added to my 

 former duties. The professors were to receive $1,000 per annum each, 

 instead of the $1,800 paid hitherto, and were to be only three in 

 number. These three were of course selected from among the unfor- 

 tunate ex-clergymen who served in our original Faculty. One was to 

 teach ancient languages and history ; another modern languages and 

 history; the third gave instruction in mathematics, political economy, 

 and Oriental tongues. The latter item we thought would look well in 

 our catalogue, and, as the professor had learned Turkish and Arabic 

 when a missionary during his youth, we put it in. To be sure, he had 

 about forgotten both languages, but, as he was never actually called 

 upon to teach them, that made little difference. As for the " natural 

 sciences," we decided to pass them around. For instance : I would 

 teach chemistry the first year; then the professor of mathematics was 

 to take it ; and so on in order through the Faculty until it came my 

 turn again. Thus we avoided the confusion and annoyance due to 

 the presence of a scientific specialist upon our working staff. !Now 

 and then, of course, trifling difiiculties ai*ose in consequence of our 

 unfamiliarity with the minor details of science. For example : our 

 classical professor undertook to teach botany the other day, and at- 

 tempted to show his students how a flower might be analyzed. He 

 selected a buttercup for purpose of illustration, went through his anal- 

 ysis, as he thought, according to the book, and made the flower out 

 to be a water-lily. His students would have lost confidence in him 

 had he not dexterously attributed his error to misprints in the botany ! 

 But what are such trivial matters in comparison with the great essen- 

 tials of education ? 



This reorganization of the Faculty meant the reorganization of the 



