Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1895-06-14
The Deluge Of Professors. I"

If one may judge from forid reports in
number OF papers, at least one section of
this land is experiencing an overwhelming
Hood OF the name, at any rate. The multi.
plication of the title, in recent months, has
been quite phenomenal. In former times,
before man could wear that great dignity
it was required that he spend years at col
lege, take its highest degree, and act as tutor
for period, till study, thus protracted, and
some experience in teaching, had really fitted
him to claim the honor. But, as the French
say, we have chagned all that. The foolery
OF the times spares neither traditional sane.
titles nor highest actual dignities. While
the epoch earns distinction for advancement
in the useful scientific, progress in knowl-
edge contributory to the general help and
prosperity OF the people, it mars all this
with the creation and exhibition of the pre-
tended, the false, the mimetic, repetitiously
enacting the old crime of throwing the skin
Of the noble lion over the carcass of the
hideous ass. The tidal wave of professors"
has struck and threatens to engulf us In
this era of the worlds rapid whirl, il man
can play pretty well on the fiddle, he's
professor" II he has done conscientious
work in the county school, and deserved
well of its patrons, he's professor" Ifhe
knows enough of plain music to lead
country congregation, he's professor"
And if he cannot do either OF these things,
nor anything else, specially, he's PRO.
lessor" anyhow.
Extend your sympathy, Mr.. Editor, to
this writer, as he most sincerely congratu
lates you. The cyclone has not reached
Rockville, In your wide awake town there
are men who studied diligently, took diplo
mas, and have shown their right to be styled
Doctors. But they are not called "profess-
ors." Lawyers you have, some known 10
me since boyhood other since, enviably
known widely as able Interpreters, but not yet
smitten with professor |" Happy friends
Thrice happy worth that is satisfied with its
own You know how Carlyle, the mighty,
said, in substance: "Hhe great man is salts
fled with being great" Where there is merit
there is no noise. Intellect, like virtue,
sends before it no Boosting trumpet. The
really literary, in the nature of things, utter
ly expels the tricks and butfoonery of the
circus 1t puts no premium upon constitu-
ency, but imposes high price for its privi-
leges. The circus, with flaming announce
ments and gorgeous reports, bids for attend
ance. The college prints the names Of Its
faculty and the bill of costs. The Gd cap
tandum ouLguS OF the circus catches only the
rabble; men of education, talent, deeds,
know that people who proclaim TO the pub
lie their accomplishments, and advertise
their leats, are natural born fools.
The Southern newspapers playlully al.
Jude to the fancy of Confederate soldiers for
the title of Col, as If nearly all that i'm
mortal army had been officers. But they
were the bravest, the truest, the nobest, the
Ttgttest men and patriots the universe ever
ranked in armies, and the eternal glory they
achieved can well endure a friendly joke.
| have yet to read that one of those one
legged, one armed, matchless heroes had
been mutilated into professor" An cpl
demic of that kind would sweep, like a
bosom, the whole glorious remnant from the
face OF the earth! Oh, that we might find
hlest refuge In that sunny CLINE, where they
have no professors but those who gradu
ated from the university, and through pain.
full toll and at great cost earned the honors
due desert
In our proud old Montgomery we have
worthy farmers, blacksmiths, carpenters,
merchants, teachers, preachers, honorable
and meritorious men, upon whom we trust
the professor" will not fall. 1t is an in.
Fiction they have no wise deserved. Hu.
inflated by the clubbing, assumed as a pre-
rogative by scribblers for the press, a young
man who after nine years of most laborious
study took the degree OF Master of Arts at
Columbian University, and after seven years
of postgraduate study and teaching in that
institution took the degree OF Doctor of
Philosophy, requests that all who address
him leave off the Prof, and write his name
either DR.. or plain Mr. Instructors in all
our colleges, and titled men everywhere
will heartily endorse the request. Ole jam
Sdtss-O, now there is enough. Merciful
gods and men, of professors" there are
enough, enough
J. l.. LODGE.