Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-01-17
| TITLES AND DEGREES.
GEORGE TlCkNOR CURTIS ON TiiE
AMERICAN PRODUCTIONS.

| The First and Last Time That Congress
Ever Grappled With a Handle For the
| Presidents Same-Coilege Konors That
| EntaiIed Eidicule.
| Not long since gentleman who meant to
| be polite. and who affects English spelling,
addressed y letter to me as follows, The
| Honorable George TieknorCurtis, LID,
| etc, etc, etc" I never held any public
| Office or position which. by a custom that
would be more honored in the breach than
the obsefvance, is supposed to put the pre-
| fix OF honorable to mans name, nor did
| ever receive from my own Harvard or any
other institution of learning the degree OF
| IL ID. or any other honorary degree. The
| fondness Of our people for titles and the
readiness with which they are bestowed are
| remarkable.
When | was in college at Harvard, more
| than 90 yenrs ago, there dwelt at Cam
| bridgeport n Mr. Thomas Dowse, who car
| ried or the spectable occupation of leather
| dresser Being a prosperous man and
bachelor, he accumulated good property.
| He built Il handsome house on the main
| street, in which he had an apartment on
| the second floor where he lived. 1t was Gus
! toniary in those days for tradespeople to
put in front Of their shops some image
which typiied their business.
| Mr.. Dowse had II figure Of Il sheep 1 full
| fleece, erected on high column in firms of
| his building. His manufacture of leather,
chiefly sheepskin, was carried on III the rear
| Of his premises He had afondness for ac-
cumulating books in fine binding, mostly
| English classics. At the time of which |
| speak he had quite a large library, and the
corporation and overseer; Of Harvard rni-
versity. thinking that they could induce
| him to bequeath his library to the college,
made him an Ii. d. | fancy that the
worthy man did not know much about the
inside of his book ,-lior do | rememberwhat
disposition he ultimately made of them.
! One Of the college ways dubbed him Lit
erary Leather Dresser.
About the same timethere was q dean of
the theological faculty III Harvard who, be-
sides being Il man of small stature, vas
also very unpopular. lie was made Il
| d. d. at first and afterward an LII. ID. The
same facetious undergraduate translated
his degrees to mean, Did Dirty Little
Dean"
When General jackson was president,
during his lirst term OF Office, he visited
Boston, attended commencement at Har-
ward and received the degree of LII. d.
| This was very much ridiculed at the time
| by some of the Wings, Who said that Cen
eral jackson was an illiterate man, and
| that he could not write an English sentence
correctly. This was not true. ] have seen
autograph letters Of General Jackson writ
| ten as we'll in point of style, spelling and
punctuation as any of the public men OF
| that time were accustomed to write. in
| these letters there were very few erasures.
| | do not suppose that us president he wrote
| his messages and other state papers. Ills
! famous proclamation against the nulliliers
was written by Edward Livingston, his
secretary of state The president, however,
| always corrected such papers carefully with
| his own hand
! On one occasion the public printer brought
him Il proof of one of his messages in which
| the proofrcader had changed certain ex-
| pressions which quite altered the meaning.
NO, by the Eternal Old Hickory cx-
claimed print it as | wrote it, or | will
turn you out of Office
Passing now from small things to greater
things. the proceedings which took place
in the First congress relative to the title
proper to be given to the president of the
| United States afford curious illustration
of the tendencies of some public men at
! that period.
On the Esd of April, 1889, the senate in
structed committee of three of its mem
| bers to consider and report what style or
| title it will be proper to annex to the offices
! of president and vice president of the
| United States, if any other than those given
| in the constitution This led to 1t confer
euCc on the subject with Il committed OF Inc
| house of representatives, and the result
| WAS Il disagreement.
| The president had in the meantime been
| iuauguyatcd viz, on the 30th of April-;,nd
| in the address in answer to his inaugural
! speech, presented TO him by the house on
the 9TH of May, he had been addressed sim
| plr us "GeoNyG Washington, president of
! the United States" On the Sth OF May the
senate appointed q new committee OF its
own body to consider and report under
what title it would beproperfor the senate
to address TIE president This committee
on the 18th proposed as n title, His high
ness the president OF the United States and
| protector Of their liberties, But without
proceeding 10 Tho adoption of II title hat
was certain to he rejected by the house,
| and that would have le,l to Il difference in
the practice Of the two bodies, the senate
proposed the following resolution:
| From u decent respect for the opinion
and practice Of civilized nations. whet her
under monarchcal or republican forms of
| government, whose custom it Is to annex
| titles of responsibility to the office of their
Chief magistrate, and that, ON intercourse
with foreign nations, n due respect for he
majesty OF the people OF the United States
may not be haaarded by an appearance of
| singularty, the senate have been induced
| IN be Of cDi mon thff il would be proucr to