THE KUNO FRANCKE CHAIR

The lives of really great teachers confer a double blessing upon the institutions which they serve. Not only is their influence felt directly by the students who have the privilege of listening directly to them, but the inspiration planted in the hearts of these men ripens into a background of tradition which colors the whole subsequent life of the institution. More tangible perhaps are the various endowments and memorials which devoted followers establish in order to perpetuate the ideals which some great teacher strove to make part of the lives of those who came to him to learn. Such was the peculiarly appropriate founding of the Charles Eliot Norton Chair of Poetry; such also is the present endowment of a Chair of German Art and Culture.

The terms of these gifts make it plain that their purpose is to teach a method of approach to life in general, an intangible matter certainly, but the characteristic of the really outstanding teacher is his ability to bring the most evanescent affairs within the range of grasp of his more human followers. Experience with the Charles Eliot Norton Professorship demonstrates that it is no easy matter to find a man capable of perpetuating the Norton tradition. It is not going to be easy to find the individual who can make Germanic Culture live as did Kuno Francke, but it is to be hoped that the committee's plan of several short tenures of the chair during the first few years of its existence will bring to light some man worthy and willing to take a permanent place in this position: The sooner such a permanent incumbent on be found the better, for the supply of possible candidates for such a place is strictly limited as the difficulty of annually finding men for the Norton chair has shown. And it is only through a somewhat continuous exertion of their influence that even the greatest of men may make their mark upon any intellectual community.