Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-02-04

I A.s Gil SATURDAY anu SUNDAY, St1Il con-
tinued. Professor Taft arrived at Hen
| drie Hall. where he holds his classes.
| with a huge umbrella. The outlook
| for good-natured classroom hour
! was dubious. Circumstances helped,
however. rather than hindered.
The first man to recite had failed to
study his lesson, but was not ready to
admit 1t. The student, in endeavoring
to answer one of Professor Taft s
| questions. fioundered about for some
time in an effort to create something
that might sound plausible. He was
about to give up when suddenly he
noticed an open book about Ave feet
| away. The student became almost
cross-eyed In his attempts to read the
print. Professor Taft looked on calmly
for time and then said: Cant see
quite so far. eh?"
| Apparently you don't know the
| point. SO I'll tell you," he continued.
Its about the constitutional privilege
a man has of not testifying against
| himself. My father told me this one.
| A man had borrowed some money
from friend and refused to give It
| up. Thee had been no witnesses to
the transaction. When the lender sued
the borrower took advantage of his
constitutional right Of not testifying
against himself. with the result that
! the lender was unable to recover.
! When they met in the street some
time later the lender ran up to the
borrower and shouted: I've got four
witnesses anyway who know that
| loaned you the money. God and 1
know 1t and the devil and you know
IT."
! Introducing jest
| 1t isn't always the wit alone in Pro-
| lessor Tafts jokes that makes them
| go" either. The eX-President's con-
| tagious smile has as much to do with
1t as anything. Students in his classes
have come to know when the time is
ripe for an entertaining story. The
| class is usually in the midst of a dis
cussion over some point when Mr. Taft
lowers his head and peers over his
glasses in a way that is very charac-
teristic of him. Then he slowly re-
moves the glasses, holding them on a
level with his mouth. Simultaneously
with this operation appears broad
ening smile 1t starts in two dimples
| in his cheeks and extends over his
| broad face.
Scarcely have the two dimples be-
gun to appear before the faces of the
men in the class broaden in smiles of
prospective appreciation, and before
the story is half told every man in the
| room is shaking with laughter. Pro-
fessor Taft laughs too, and sometimes
so hard that tears come to his eyes.
He gets out his handkerchief. though,
and goes on with the story to the end.
No joke has made its appearance
twice Yet. Last Spring in his public
lectures and this year in the classroom
| there have been jokes and jokes. Pro-
fessor Taft's experiences in the Philip
| pines, as a lawyer. as a federal judge,
| as Secretary of War, as President and
now as professor are being drawn
| upon for anecdotes. Students are Won
| dering whether he will ever have to
turn the barrel of jokes upside down
and begin over again.
| For all the fun in the classroom,
none of the students taking consti-
| tutional law is allowed to do any
| loafng. At the beginning of the year
many of the students thought perhaps
| constitutional law under Professor Taft
| might be n pipe" course. At the first
few recitations several men in re-
sponse to their names answered "un-
prepared" For once Professor Taft's
smile vanished wholly as he said:
You thought this business of study
ing the Constitution was going to be
very easy. Let me tell you that if you
| don't study your lessons you'll regret
1t at the time of examinations. If you
| cram them you won't be saturated
with the subject. Your knowledge will
| pass away the next day. Gentlemen,
your professors and instructors are
not half as severe on you as your
clients will be-" The smile appeared
again as he added: your clients will
| be much more unreasonable. They
will object strenuously if you go out
to lunch with the opposing counsel,
| even"
! Mr.. Taft has two methods of get
| ting at his students, two ways to
make man remember his work. One
is to get student on his feet and ply
| him with qustions, and it is this
method that Professor Taft uses as
! often as practicable with his rather
| large class When the victim sits
down after his questioning there is but
| little doubt that he will remember
what has been taught him. The other
method and the one he more often
uses is of serving the meat of the
| subject to the students in Sugar-coated
! pill form. This he does by either Civ
ing the gist of the matter in some
| pithy phrase or, more generally, by
Frightening up an obscure point with
joke that is really applicable.
| He is a very exacting instructor and
although he is always willing to lend
a hand where there is some difficulty,
he sees to it that his students do their
work. Students may ask all the ques-
tions they want to during classroom
recitations, but they must be able to
pass the examinations. Professor Taft
/
Ito see how sympathetic they are with
the subject" he says. This is a de-
parture from the usual custom in the
Yale law school, where one examina-
ton is usally given at the completion
of the subject. Professor Taft will
give his classes another examination
Immediately after the Christmas holi-
days.
The business of teaching consti-
tutional law is fully as interesting as
being President of the United States,
Professor Taft says. He is so absorb
ingly interested in his work that he
often runs over the allotted time for
the recitation. Explaining why he so
often runs over the allotted fifty min
utes he said:
THAT reminds me. Whenever I
come home from any gathering my
wife asks me. Did you have a nice
time?' and when l answer yes she