literalness, for each of the professors interviewed was greeted abruptly
with the somewhat startling question, "Professor, can you _bray_?" He
returned to Europe at the same time Dr. Tappan left the University, but
his influence remained in the work of his students and the scholarly
traditions he established.
Andrew D. White, Yale, '53, came as Professor of History and English
Literature in 1857. His influence was only less vital than that of Dr.
Tappan and Dr. Frieze because his active service with the University was
to last but six years. He was a very young professor, indeed--only
twenty-four--but he had had the best of training in France and Germany
and was inspired by a vision of a chair of history alone, unencumbered
by any allied, or supposedly allied, subjects; something apparently
unknown elsewhere, certainly at Yale, his Alma Mater.
He tells with relish in his "Autobiography" of the attentions paid him
by the students. As soon as they caught sight of him at the station they
asked him if he were going to enter the University. Of course he was.
They immediately proceeded to "rush" him, not discovering that he was
the new Professor of History until he signed the hotel register. His
students were often older than he was and his experiences were many,
particularly when he had it out with one student whom he had sized up as
a ring-leader in class disturbances. This man was always elaborately
innocent when trouble was brewing, but the young professor was sure he
was right in his suspicions as to the seat of the trouble. Finally he
delivered an ultimatum: "I see either you or I must leave the
University." The student pleaded not guilty but Professor White
insisted, suggesting that the Regents might feel the same as he in the
matter. After some diplomatic passages, in which the student seemed not
unimpressed by the importance given him, he acknowledged that perhaps he
had been a little foolish and suggested that they try to live together a
little longer. He afterwards became a strong friend of the young teacher
and later fell at the head of his brigade at Gettysburg.
The success with which Professor White and his contemporaries labored
among their students is shown by his later statement that from among
them came senators, congressmen, judges, professors, lawyers, heads of
great business enterprises, and diplomats. One became his successor in
the Professorship of History and later in the Presidency of Cornell, and
a well-known American historian of his time. Another became his
predecessor in the Embassy to Germany. Professor White left Ann Arbor in
1863, partly because of business interests, partly because of his
election to the New York State Senate and the Presidency of Cornell
University.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account