i868] Non-resident Professors 



"silver tongue," and his gracious lectures on the George 

 living writers of England, especially Thackeray, wviva 

 Dickens, and Carlyle, made a vivid and lasting Cwtls 

 impression. His independent political stand, more- 

 over, influenced us profoundly. As a Republican 

 he courageously opposed the spread of the spoils 

 system in his party, thus becoming the recognized 

 leader in civil service reform. I well remember his 

 saying at the National Convention of 1872: "I went 

 into this convention a free man, with my own head 

 under my own hat, and a free man I mean to come 

 out of it!" That proclamation marked the breach 

 between "Mugwumps" and "straight" Republicans, 

 a movement which led in 1884 to the defeat of Elaine 

 as representative of the "Stalwarts," or thick-and- 

 thin partisans. 



Lowell was a broad-shouldered, energetic, noble- James 

 looking man with a bushy, red-black beard and a Russfl1 

 very pleasant voice. But his lectures made less 

 impression on us than those of Curtis, notwith- 

 standing the veneration in which we all held him 

 chiefly because his topic, Early French Literature, 

 dealt with less familiar subjects. 



Speaking of Curtis and Lowell close friends 

 I distinctly recall two incidents which occurred soon 

 after my arrival at Cornell. As I walked one day 

 across the fields beyond Cascadilla Creek, I spied 

 two men in shirt sleeves lying under a tree. Not 

 recognizing either at first, as their lectures had not 

 yet begun, I joined them for a friendly chat. After- 

 ward, greatly elated, I went straight home and 

 wrote four lines of verse (or what I thought to be 

 verse) reminiscent of Browning's "And did you 

 once see Shelley plain?" 



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