WILLIAM LEWIS WHITTEMORE IX 



There are no more competent judges of the merit of 

 the school than the hundreds of his old pupils. They 

 have had half a century, more or less, to prove what 

 it did for them, and they are of one accord that he 

 was the ideal teacher. He was a deep student of 

 nature, especially of natural history and geology to 

 which his tastes inclined, but equally adept and 

 skilful in all branches of instruction. Of his views 

 of scientific education I say nothing, as he has be- 

 queathed them to the public in his own words. It is 

 my purpose only to speak of him as we saw him. 



His methods in the school were a revelation then, 

 and I suspect that in most schools they would be a 

 revelation now. They were masterly, but never 

 school-masterly. There was no cramming, no mem- 

 orizing, no teaching or learning of anything by rote 

 or rule of thumb. The school was a place for the 

 development of the mind- Every pupil had to do his 

 own thinking and give his own reasons. It was of no 

 use to know a fact unless the whole meaning of the 

 fact was known. It was of no use to work out a 

 problem unless every step in the process, every why 

 and wherefore, could be explained. What is the 

 longest river ? The Mississippi. But we could not 

 leave the Mississippi until we knew all about it, its 

 discovery, its traditions, its commerce, its part in the 

 history of the country. What is a straight line ? 



