Part 9 (1/2)

Mr. Putney lived long but never grew old. Perhaps because of his very a.s.sociation with the young, he tasted the fountain of perpetual youth.

How valuable and how prized was the gift which he imparted, is best known to those who best knew the man himself. No pupil of his seems to think of him primarily as a teacher, but as a wise and kindly friend, whom to know was, somehow, to become one's self wiser and of a more human spirit.

And yet he was a superb teacher.

It is simply that this phase of him is lost in the totality of the man.

One thinks instinctively of a phrase of Cicero's--Cicero whose orations Mr. Putney taught for so many years--”Vir amplissimus.” It means something much more, something quite other than simply ”Great man.” It means one adequate for the occasion, whatever that occasion might be.

That is the final verdict to be p.r.o.nounced, as it is the highest praise to be bestowed. From whatever angle Mr. Putney was regarded, and to whatever test he was brought, he measured up; he sufficed.

JOHN E. COLBURN.

When Mr. Putney died, we could not at first realize our loss.

He had been so much a part of the school life that it seemed hardly possible that, while that life went on, he could be away.

We all loved and admired him, but we seldom stopped to measure him. We accepted him, like any other accustomed gift, without realizing quite fully how much he meant to us.

As we remember him now, what impresses us most strongly is the thought how little in him we could have wished to change--how extraordinarily well he measured up as a man.

There was a fine serenity about him, and a kind of soundness and sweetness of character like the autumnal ripeness of a perfect apple.

It was tonic and wholesome to be under his influence.

There have been great teachers who could not teach. Nevertheless they were great teachers because a virtue went out from them which touched the lives of their pupils and was better than all instruction.

There have been great instructors who could not be respected, because along with intellectual brilliancy and clearness went a narrow, or a low, or a selfish outlook on life.

Mr. Putney measured up in both respects--he was a large-minded man, he was a great teacher.

The very nature of his profession precluded any wide or ringing fame.

His work was done quietly, un.o.btrusively, one might almost say, obscurely. A teacher's work is always so.

His memory rests with us who knew him, but with us it is very secure.

It is the memory of a man whom we could respect without coldness, and love without making allowances.--_Burlington High School Register._

In these days when the so-called practical side of life has seemed to crowd out the humanities, so that in many schools Latin and Greek are not included in the curriculum, Mr. Putney has held high the torch of cla.s.sical learning. To him much credit should be given for keeping alive a real interest in Greek, and for giving thorough and inspiring work in Latin.