New-York tribune., 1894-03-21
AN IDEAL TEACHER.
JOHN LARKIN LINCOLN.
IN MEMORIAM JOHN LARKTN LINCOLN 1917
1881. Edited by William Ensign Lincoln Octave
PIP gu. Boston and New-York. Houghton, Mif-
fin & Co -

IN MEMoRIAM. JOHN LARKTN LINCOLN. 1917
1871 F-'lteu by Nllam Ensign Lincoln. Octave
Kin S''i CO. D0S'0" ana Ne"-hork' Ho"sh'on' Mif
The ideal teacher IS one who can inspire those
whom he instructs with a genuine enthusiasm
for study-an over-mastering love of good letters
| and knowledge. John Larkin Lincoln was
| teacher Of the highest order Of excellence. He
| taught Latin not as dead language, the re.
| mains Of which are to be analyzei and classified
according TO scientific principles Of grammar and
accidence. fossils are identified and catalogued
| by the naturalist; but rather as an immortal
literature vitalizcd with human thought and as
| piration. and containing all elements required
for intellectual growth and development. For
| fifty years he exercised over his classes at
Brown University an influence which was pro-
found and ennobling. He impaired to students
his own enthusiasm for good literature and cas-
sical study Two generations Of students ex-
pressed their obligations to him and their ad-
miration for his character and work in a UNIQUE
testimonial which was the soace and pride Of
his old age. The Lincoln Fund Of 500 600 raised
by his pupils for his own use during his declin-
ing years and for the university after his death,
was perhaps the most remarkable honor ever
paid to an American educator.
The same sympathetic spirit which inspired
Professor Lincoln's students 10 unite in this tes-
tmonial has been brcathed into this unique
memorial volume edited by his son. William En-
sign Lincoln, and presented 10 the graduates Of
the college. II IS not biography with the de-
tails Of quiet and uneventful, albeit laborlous
and useful life filed in and padded out without
regard for proportion or essential value Pro-
fessOr Lincoln himself with his innate modcsty
and refined taste. would have abhorreI an arti-
fically wrought memoir Of that kind With
good judgment the fial hand. which has placed
this tribute Of reverence and affection upon the
fathers grave, has not attempted the bog-
rapher's function. The volume opens with Pro-
fessor Fishers apprecatiYc memorial address
and with that Professor Lincoln himself would
have been well content This Is supplemented
with diaries letters and writings from Lincoln's
own hand. which reveal his charactcrs-
tic traits and noble qualities, and his chas;e
purity Of literary style and the wealth of his
intellectual resources. For those who knew and
honored him In life is accorded in these pages
the privilege Of reviving their memories OF him
and OF renewing their acquaintance with rug
ged robust yet sympathetic friend
The diaries relate TO his student life in Amerl-
ca and Germany. and the letters TO his foreign
Journeys The literary remains include twenty
one papers and reviews which We're either read
before the Friday Club in Providence or pub
lished in various periodicals. Even the youthful
diaries have that strong fibre OF manhood which
was characteristic Of him, and the letters are
fresh, crisp and sparkling. with CLEANS OF that
bright genial humor which made him good
companion for young and old. The essays dis
close wide range OF scholarship and thought.
The majority Of the themes are classical such
as Rome and the Romans Of the Time OF Iior-
ace" THE Platonic Myths" "Roman Travel and
Travellers" The Theory Of Lucrctius" 'The
Life and Teaching OF Sophocles." "Tacitus,"
THE Religion Of the Romans" Marcus Aure-