The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-06-06

DIR. ARCHIBALD HENDERSON;
WORKER AND THINKER
(The Forum, May, 1917

Tho modern American university
professor if he is to take his pace
as a factor in the development OF MS
country. must touch on other sides OF
life than the one to which his profess
slonal duties confine him. He must
depart, in his attitude. from the OLD
schOlasticisIn which has imported IN
to the term academic the faint OF Pc
dantry. He must be an ~all-round man,
alive. to the tendencies Of contempor-
airy ents, and keen to observe
the sway of social forces And he must
be able to maxi judgments. The uni
versity is changing from a mere
Notwithstanding school into an
institution where young men shall
learn their places in life, n the part
they may play in the larger field of ma
tional affairs. It is therefore essential
that the teachers Of these young men
hou1d be not only scholars but ex-
perts in the humanities. Such a mar
is DR.. Archibald Henderson. the pro-
fessOr Of pure mathematics at the Uni
versity of North Carolina.
DR.. Henderson is quite a young man.
yet he has accomplished what few
young men Of his day have done. lie
professor in his college, but has made
a splendid reputation as a critic and
man Of letters. He is no mere review
err of the writings Of other men; he is
himself an accomplished writer. This
means that he has a point Of view of
his own, a standard Of Judgment, a
large grasp of modern thought move
ments, and a fine art in saying what
he wants to say. His essay on Maeter-
1nck obtained expression Of approval
which is noteworthy. "It is one of the
most s~agaciOus, most acute and most
penetrating essays in the whole mol
ern movement The man of whose
writing Maeter1inck could thus speak
must possess no commonplace mind;
and any reader Of DR.. Henderson's
Interpreters of Life in which this
essay is printed, will find that the
man who is speaking to him through
this book is a man Of originality Of
thought and Of a notable gift Of ex-
preston.
It speaks much for DR.. Henderson's
fine sympathy, both Of mind and
heart, that he can SO deeply and SO
fruitfu1ly interest himself in matters
so far removed from his duties at his
university, and yet find the time in
which to make an original contribution
to his special subject Of pure mathe-
mates. The analytic powers Of mind so
necessary to distinction in pure science
Or. Henderson Is evidently applying
to the humanities, and the result is a
series of literary activities Of remark
able productivity. His quick grasn Of
the more vital forces in moder liter
airy movements has impelled him to
study these with all the ardor of a
young man who is himself touched
with the enthusiasm of the pioneer
and has moved him with the fine am
bition to contribute his share also tn
the realizations Of the future.
For years now he has been engaged
on an exhaustive authorized bloc
raphy and critical estimate of the liz
and works Of Bernard Shaw and
this important and long expected uorL
will shortly be issued in this countrV
and England.
He has completed and passed for
press an authorized study of Mark
Twain, a work for which DR.. HandorN
son Is peculiarly fitted.
essay on Old Edinburg" as an introe
tincuon-of having a math ama tinoI
burns Photographs. which is to go
the companion volume to NJ a.
burns London" with introd,iction
6v H,iaire Belloc): and his New
YORK" with Introduction by Fl a.
"ells); published last year. "
he has received the unusua, die
nnction OF having a mathematicaI
treatise. "The Lines on the Cubic S,,r-