The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-08-04
AN OVERWoRKED TITLE.
The Word 'sProfeSsor" Has Lost Its
OId-Tfme signsdcance.

New Orleans Times-Democrat
Professor? Not much. Doctor. if you
please. or mister. just plain old mister, the
title of the gentleman. The fact is. there
are but few men now who care to be called
professor. Time was when ambitious edu-
Gators delighted in the title. Professor
meant much in those days. The professor
was a leader in whatever community he
might cast his lot. His function was not
merely TO teach the young idea how to
shoot. 1t was broader. He was the one
particular person to whom everyone looked
for almost everything. III any man could
square a circle. the professor was the only
man who could square IL just in the way
Il shOuld be squared. re was G walking
dictionary in al matters involving etiquette
and the dainty little niceties to be observed
in polite society. Borrowing a smile from
more modern and more popular vernacular,
the professor was the whole thing. There
are still places where the professor is
somewhat in evidence, but generally he has
lost that dazzling effulgence of the yester-
time. Men arc inclined 20 shrink from the
title. In colleges and universities there are
still professors Of this, that and the other;
but they prefer 10 be called dccUor, or mis-
ter. There is a certain dignity about the
title Of doctor. a suggestion of the cloak,
and the gown. and the cap of wisdom. And
mister is not bad. Mister is a gentlemanly
way 10 put 1t. Mister is plain but respect
dOC. liHltl - ; z MAJ : L 81 AOAA5 60
he does not stumble and fall without the
pale of decent things. Mister, OF course, Is
without Distinguishing characteristics. The
man nearest the prOtOplasmic state, and
the man farthest from il. are alike misters.
The title is the property in common of the
ignoramus ard the sage. Solomon could
be no more a mister to-day than the small
est Of mental pigmies. for all gentlemen
are misters. So the educator to-day would
rather be called mister than professor. If
one may not call him doctor. The change
l. pYooq OlE 1Ua to the broad SfOpo given TO
the title professor. the professor has
become q trifie numerous in these latter
bays, sometimes meaning much. sometimes
nothing. There are many types Of the pro-
lessor. The quick ~, painless tooth eX-
tractor who practices his skill on pickanin-
MES and hOwls his wares in the pubic
streets is a professor, If you please. Tn
lion tanner il a professor. and the snake
charmer, and the snake eater-the fellow
who 'eats EN- alive"--and the poodle
trainer. and many others; all OF these are
| professors. wise men, perhaps. in their
way, and hence they seek 10 wear the title
once worn exclusively by the man who had
won it by toiling far into the night. These
things have probably tended to cause the
educators of this time to shrink from the
title.
Sack farther in history. just before and
just after the war. the professor was looked
upon in a way akin TO veneration. And he
deserved 1t. lie was a educated man..
He was always a gentleman. Hence he
took high rank in whatever place he might
stop. He was precise and prim, and in his
dress he was as tidy and as neat as a
woman. He was the plate of fashion, and
the dandies sought to follow whatever pace
he might set in the way OF dress. The-swaf-
low tail he wore was just the proper caper
in coats, and so on with other articles Of
dress. In the schOOlroOm, when he traced
white hieToglyphics on the blackboard in
doing a sum in algebra, or in diagram
ming or parsing a sentence. or doing some
thing else equally as wonderful III the
eyes of his little flock, he swelled into di-
mensiOns that made Alexander look small,
indeed. for he was taller than Goliath, anu
his spear was more than A hundred-weight.
But the professor Of to-day. while still en-
men Of his kind. and while equally as potent
I'm the educational affairs of the country,
is yet not the same professor who graced
the schoolroom in the earlier days of the
Republic. He has lost the reverence. too,
he once had for the title. The title is no
longer distinctive enough 10 be worn with
the same feeling of conscious superiority
which marked II when the years were
younger. Hence the decadenCe. If 1t still
applied to the sChOOlman 1t would probably
still be popular. and the title would be
loved and respected just as it was in the
| earlier days. But even the b-andmaster
now does not like to be classed with the
! common herd Of men who proclaim them
selves professors Of this thing and that.
Even i'm Boston. classical Boston, the in
telIectual hub of the country. one may
read the sign. Professor Soandso's Shoe
shining Emporium" and the professor is a
black. burly specimen OF the African race
hau~hty i'm mien and wearing gold-rimmed
glasses and other imposing things. Pro-
fessor? Not much. Doctor. if you please.
or mister. just plain Old mister. the title Of
the gentleman. This will probably be the
course % things so far as titles in America
when plain mister, the title of the gentle
man. viii be preferable to all others.