254 AS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR-I 



Washburne Smalley, the most eminent, by far, among 

 American newspaper correspondents of our time ; Evarts 

 Greene, a leading editor of Worcester; Delano Goddard, 

 late editor of the &quot;Boston Advertiser &quot;; Kinsley Twining, 

 for a considerable time an editor of the &quot;Independent&quot;; 

 Isaac Bromley, who for years delighted the Republican 

 party with his contributions to the editorial page of the 

 &quot;Tribune&quot;; Dr. James Morris Whiton, a leading writer 

 for the Outlook ; and others. Yet in those days probably 

 not one of these ever thought of turning to journalism as 

 a career. There were indeed at that time eminent editors, 

 like Weed, Croswell, Greeley, Raymond, and Webb, but 

 few college-bred men thought of journalism as a profes 

 sion. Looking back upon all this, I feel certain that, were 

 I to begin life again with my present experience, that 

 would be the career for which I would endeavor to fit my 

 self. It has in it at present many admirable men, but far 

 more who are manifestly unfit. Its capacities for good or 

 evil are enormous, yet the majority of those at present in 

 it seem to me like savages who have found a watch. I 

 can think of no profession in which young men properly 

 fitted gifted with ideas and inspired by a real wish to do 

 something for their land and time can more certainly do 

 good work and win distinction. To supplant the present 

 race of journalistic prostitutes, who are making many of 

 our newspapers as foul in morals, as low in tone, and as 

 vile in utterance as even the worst of the French press, 

 might well be the ambition of leading thinkers in any of 

 our universities. There is nothing so greatly needed in 

 our country as an uplifting of the daily press, and there 

 is no work promising better returns. 



But during my student life in Paris and Berlin another 

 vista began to open before me. I had never lost that re 

 spect for the teaching profession which had been aroused 

 in my childhood by the sight of Principal Woolworth en 

 throned among the students of Cortland Academy, and 

 this early impression was now greatly deepened by my 

 experience at the Sorbonne, the College of France, and the 



