Gftc Maine Ml Entered at the Post Office at Orono as second class matter Published monthly during the academic year [) Vol. XX University of Maine, Orono, Maine, December, 1917 No. 4 IN MEMORY OF Librarian Ralph Kneeland Jones And Professor Andrew Paul Raggio PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 0R0N0, MAINE FROM THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Meeting of June 11, 1917 Ralph Kneeland Jones, Librarian of the University for the last twenty years, passed away at Wellesley Hills, Mass., June 9. Mr. Jones rendered to the University an unusual service. He was faithful, loyal, and efficient. He did more than any other man connected with the institution to keep the University and the alumni in close touch. We, the members of the Board of Trustees, take this opportunity to place upon the records of the Board our high appreciation of his service to the institution, of his loyalty to all her interests, and of his untiring efforts in promoting her welfare. Meeting of January 17, 1918 Dr. Andrew Paul Raggio, Professor of Spanish and Italian, died December 21. He had been in the service of the University of Maine as Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor since 1907. By his death, the University loses a great scholar, an enthusiastic and successful teacher, and a likeable and companionable man. The institution has profited much by his loyal and devoted service. He will be greatly missed by students, alumni, and faculty. In grateful remem- brance of his worth and service, this testimonial is placed upon the records of the Board of Trustees of the University of Maine. FROM THE MINUTES OF THE FACULTY Meeting of June 9, 1917 "Ralph Kneeland Jones graduated from the Maine State College in the class of 1886. He was made librarian in 1897 and served the insti- tution in this capacity until the time of his death, June 9, 1917. The University has had no more loyal alumnus than M. Jones and the faculty no more enthusiastic or untiring worker. His colleagues wish at this time to express the high regard in which Mr. Jones was held and place upon the faculty records this appreciation of his services. Meeting of December 10, 1917 Andrew Paul Raggio came to the University of Maine in 1907. He served in turn as Instructor, Assistant Professor, and Associate Professor in the department of Romance Languages, and was in June, 1916, placed in charge of the newly created department of Spanish and Italian. Pro- fessor Raggio came to us well prepared for his work as a teacher by- many years of American and European training. His colleagues will remember him as a man of high scholastic ideals both in the class room and in his general relations to the University. Professor Raggio was ambitious in the best sense of the term. He labored unceasingly for his department and carried its burdens with him to the last hours of his life. The members of the faculty wish to put upon record their apprecia- tion of Professor Raggio as a man and a teacher, and to extend to those who are more closely related to him sympathy in their bereavement. James S. Stevens Charles D. Woods Windsor P. Daggett COMMITTEE ON MEMORIAL EXERCISES The President appointed the following persons to prepare a program for the memorial exercises : Dean J. S. Stevens Director C. D. Woods Professor W. P. Daggett PROGRAM January 17, 1918 at 10:30 A. M. DOXOLOGY Remarks President Robert J. Aley Ralph Kneeland Jones Charles S. Bickford '82 Ralph K. Jones as Librarian Charles A. Flagg Professor A. P. Raggio George D. Chase Singing — Abide With Me RALPH KNEELAND JONES BY ^ Charles S. Bickford '82 Member of the Board of Trustees To the alumnus, to the non-graduate former student, to the pro- Sf fessor, to any one who has been in the least acquainted with affairs * here for the last quarter of a century, any enumeration of the labors 4*. of Ralph Jones in connection with the University of Maine will seem ^ superfluous, for he occupied a position at once so important and so unique that it will never be filled by any one man. In these days of glittering performance, however, it is well to pause in our daily labors and consider a less spectacular and more extended service. It is well, too, that the lessons of this life should be made matters of formal record for we are prone to allow too many events to become matters of tradition rather than of history ; and this life is worthy our thought- ful consideration. When hearts whose worth are proven, Like his, are laid in earth, There should a wreath be woven To tell the world their worth. Ralph Kneeland Jones Jr., was born in Bangor, Me., 8 August, 1866, the son of Dr. Ralph Kneeland and Octavia Norris Jones. He was educated in the public schools of Bangor, entered Maine State Col- lege in the fall of 1883, graduating in class of 1886, with the degree of Bachelor of Science from the course in chemistry. His standing entitled him to membership in Phi Kappa Phi. He was student assistant in the library for two years, one of the editors of the year book for two years, a founder and an editor of the Campus. After graduation, he was for four years in the iron tube business in Ohio. While there he became captain in the Ohio National Guard. Later he was in the employ of Theodore Metcalf Co., manufacturing chemists in Boston. In 1897, he was elected librarian at University of Maine and attended the library school at Amherst College. From 1898 to 1916, he was Alumni Secre- tary. 29 August, 1900, he married Grace Alexander Mutell, who survives. From 1908 to 1916 he was ex-officio member of the Alumni Advisory Council, member of the American Library Association, member of the American Bibliographical Association, member of the Maine Library Association (president and secretary), and other professional associa- tions. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi and the Masonic fraternity; a Republican in politics, and attended the Universalist Church. 9 Jun°, 1917, he died at Wellesley Hills, Mass. Such, my friends, is what the records show of one whom we have met here today to commemorate ; that is the bare skeleton around which are to be entwined all those attributes that went to make up the person- ality we depended upon, respected, admired, and loved. We are told "greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" and Ralph Jones may be truly said to have laid down his life for "Maine" as his labors were unceasing in semester and during vacation ; if, indeed, he can be said to have had any vacation. His first thought was for "Maine" and his every effort was in her behalf. He may not have been a genius ; he was something higher and better than that. He was one of those men so well described by President Taft as "a well-rounded man who worked goodness in the world through high ideals, tenacity of purpose, self-effacement, and simplicity." He was the living embodiment of all that goes to make up what it pleases me to regard as the Maine Spirit; just think how fully he possessed those attributes : morality, mentality, mutuality, loyalty, labor, accomplishment. Absolutely unassuming, I never knew him during our long friend- ship to claim for himself any credit for work done ; his constant cry was that he had accomplished so little, that another might have done so much more. At each recurring election of Alumni Secretary, there was a long struggle to induce him to accept the position because he felt that another would be more successful. When he told me, not a year before he left us, of the death sentence that had been pronouncd upon him it was with an expression of sincere belief that the change in the office would make for efficiency. Tenacious of the opinions that he formed after mature deliberation, he was broadly tolerant of differences except where they involved what seemed to him dereliction of duty. Thorough and indefatigable in his own work, he had but the utmost contempt for a shirker. While recognizing that equal heights were not attainable by all. he had but scanty patience with those whose work did not measure fully up to the utmost of their ability. If I could have but one word with which to summarize his character it would be the word "thorough." As a visible symbol of appreciation of his labors, the trustees of the University are causing to be affixed to the wall of the Library, the scene of his labors, a bronze tablet bearing the inscription THIS TABLET IS DEDICATED BY THE TRUSTEES OF THIS INSTITUTION IN MEMORY OF RALPH KXEELAND JONES CLASS OF 1886 LIBRARIAN 1897 1917 A man whose loyal service to the University of Maine was in- spired by his pride in her past and faith in her future He was the depositary of a wealth of material, so dear to every college man, concerning "Maine" which was instantly forthcoming whenever it was wanted but which I fear is now lost to us forever. Wherever "Maine" men were gathered if there was any information wanted, the cry was "Ask Jones ! where is Ralph ?" As one of his colleagues aptly expressed it, he was the hyphen that connected the Maine-that-was with the Maine-that-is. He was of inestimable service to "Maine" because of his connection with athletics in what may be called our formative period, when every act was creating a precedent which would blaze the way for future col- lege generations. For years he served on the Executive Committee of the Athletic Association, where his intolerance for less than the utmost efforts and his insistence upon the highest ideals of purity in athletics often provoked severe criticism and frequently aroused pronounced antagonism but have since been universally acknowledged to have been for the best interests of the University, its athletics, and sports at large. The alumni, as a body, knew that for every act there was good and com- pelling reason that would stand the most severe criticism. He was the chief artizan of the scheme, even if he was not the originator of the idea, of the Alumni Advisory Council, which, when it reaches the full development he planned for it, will be a paramount instrumentality in connecting the alumni to the University. During the French Revolution it was the custom of the French Assembly to resolve, whenever a man had been of exceptional service, that he "deserved well of his country." As long as the Advisory Council continues, the name of Ralph Jones will occupy a prominent position among the names of those who deserve well of the University of Maine. It is, however, his work in cementing the bonds that tie the alumni to the University that makes the strongest appeal for recognition. Most of us are too apt to think his work along this line began only when he became officially connected with the University but it far antedated that event. Practically every moment he could wrest from business since his graduation has been devoted to work connected with the in- terests of "Maine." Prior to his election as Alumni Secretary, or Corresponding Secre- tary of the Alumni Association as it was then called, there had never been any thoroughly systematic effort to ascertain the location of alumni or former students or to draw them back to the University. It is true that spasmodic attempts were made but they had not been carried through or followed up. If a man did not reply to the first circular sent out, that ended it. But under his regime no labor was too great if it only gave the least promise of attaining the result and when the missing man was located, great was the rejoicing. It was characteristic of Mr. Jones that when the work was extended to non-graduate former students as well as alumni and the whole list completed, he lamented long and loud because there were about four percent, who were untraceable. Most men would have exulted over the fact that ninety-six percent, of the men who had been away from "Maine" for an average of more than twenty years and probably had not been heard from for half that length of time, had been definitely placed but his thoroughness would not allow him to overlook that missing four percent. No one, who has not attempted to fill such an office, can realize the exasperating and oftentimes sadly disappointing work he performed in locating, keeping track of, and sometimes bringing back men who did not feel themselves bound to the institution by any particularly strong ties. It was a work for which he was especially adapted, into which he entered with great zest, and one that fascinated him to the very last. While it might be an exaggeration to claim that he was the creator of the relations now existing between the alumni and the University, it is undeniable that for them we are indebted to him more than to any one man, and that when he commenced the work it was a most for- midable task, with a mass of most unpromising material. He would have been the last to claim it, and would have never acknowledged it, but his labors were so successful that his name will live among the alumni of "Maine" as long as any of the present generations survive. Next to his love for "Maine" came his loyalty to his fraternity, in the national organization of which his ability was speedily recognized, he having been District Chief, Assistant Alumni Secretary, and one of the editors of its catalog. He was acknowledged to be one of the highest authorities in the country on college fraternities and his opinions were often sought outside his own ranks. Strong as was his affection, it was no narrow partizanship. He gloried in the achievements of the other fraternities and his advice and labor were at their disposal when- ever desired. More than one chapter at "Maine" owes its establishment and existence to his advice and efforts. I became acquainted with him during his first term in college and the intimacy then began continued, with frequent meetings and incessant correspondence, until terminated by his last illness. As was inevitable with two such positive natures, there were frequent disagreements and unavoidable clashes, but never, during that more than thirty years, was there a single act of his to cast a cloud over the friendship. And so, in addition to the official misfortune, the loss to the University, there is to me a crushing personal bereavement which is only mitigated by the cer- tainty that it is shared by countless numbers of the alumni. Never again to be welcomed by the cordial grasp of that hand; never again to enjoy the sly jibe; never again to receive the merry jest; never again to hear that subdued chuckle; never again to be able to call for the much needed information that was always instantly forthcoming; never again to see what Dean Walz called his sardonic grin and Mephistophelean wink. Therefore I am here to pay, more by my presence than these few halting words, a ridiculously inadequate tribute to the memory of Ralph Knee- land Jones. I am here as a trustee to honor the memory of the con- scientious professor; as an alumnus to honor the memory of the fellow graduate who lost no opportunity to advance the cause of alma mater ; as a Beta to honor the memory of one who was a brother in the highest sense of the word ; as a man to honor the memory of one of the best and truest friends by whom God ever blessed mortal man. While memory bids me weep thee, Nor thoughts nor words are free ; The grief is fixed too deeply That mourns a friend like thee. RALPH K. JONES AS LIBRARIAN BY Charles A. Flagg, Librarian, Bangor Public Library At a period when the value of library service is becoming recognized in the general scheme of modern education, it has been Maine's mis- fortune to lose two of her notable librarians : George T. Little of Bowdoin and Ralph K. Jones of the University of Maine : leaders in the profession in our state, neither one professionally trained but turning to librarianship in mature years from other callings, with gifts quite di- verse but each beginning in the day of small things and developing his librar\ r to a high standard of usefulness. Mr. Jones' devotion to his alma mater needs no mention here ; we may be sure that he welcomed a return to Orono in 1897 at the age of 31, after a business career in other sections of the country. A breadth of view had been acquired as well as practical training in a sphere where the librarian is all too likely to be weak. And the opportunity was one that might well appeal to any man : the old Maine State College w T as just expanding into the University of Maine under leaders of rare strength and enthusiasm ; the place of the library in college work was becoming appreciated. p I well recall a visit made about that time to Columbia University in its magnificent new home on Morningside Heights in New York City, and the pride of the librarian as he called attention to the superb quadrangle of buildings with the Library in the centre, architecturally the crown of the whole, typifying its relation to the various schools and departments of the University — the true nucleus of all and the laboratory of philosophic, historic, literary, language, and to some extent sociologic courses. We remember how in 1899 the same Columbia University Library could summon one of the leading educators of the country in his prime, Dr. James H. Canfield, former chancellor of the University of Nebraska and then president of Ohio State University; and that he counted it the great opportunity of his life to accept and to serve Columbia as its librarian till his death. Probably few libraries such as this one would today think of calling a man without training or previous experience, but it was common in that period, as witness Little of Bowdoin, Canfield of Columbia, not to mention Winsor of Boston Public Library, Putnam of Minneapolis, (now of the Library of Congress) and countless others. And thus Ralph Jones came back to Orono with only such library science as might be picked up in a brief course at the Amherst College summer school for librarians, but with ripened mind, broad experience with men, and some conception of the magnitude and opportunities of the work before him. He found a collection of approximately 1,500 volumes housed in the old Coburn Hall, open eight hours daily except Sunday, with no staff except himself. To glance first at the more material aspects of his accomplishment in these 20 years, he saw the Library grow to over 58,000 ; obtained its designation as a depository for U. S. government documents, replaced the classed catalogue he inherited which was suitable for scholars and specialists, by a dictionary catalogue of the modern popular variety ; moved the library in 1906 into the new Carnegie building, increased his staff up to the present size of 3 assistants in 1910, abandoned the noon closing plan, extending the day from 8 to 12 hours, introduced Sunday afternoon opening, and brought the average annual additions from 1,500 to between two and three thousand per year. That bugbear of university librarians, the departmental library, seems to have occasioned him little trouble, a compromise plan being adopted which meets general satisfaction. This progress was made through steady, uphill work; good luck did not enter in. Aside from the Carnegie gift, the Library has had few benefactions, the notable ones being the horticultural library of Professor Munson and the loans of collections belonging to the family- of Professor Estabrooke and President Aley. Whatever of good or ill was wrought in his day, the responsibility was his, for not only was he librarian for 20 years, but for the greater part of that period he served as chairman of the Faculty committee on the Library. But let us not lay too much stress on mere statistics. The elements in life most worth while are not expressed in figures. Perhaps it is more true of librarianship than of almost any other profession that it offers meagre prospect to any ambition other than that of serving humanity. No librarian was ever yet a great leader of men, or scarcely even a leader of thought in any large sense ; his salary is uniformly small. There are however, standards by which a librarian's qualifications may be measured, though the following bear no greater weight than the present speaker's opinion. Probably no other librarian would state them in just the same way or in the same order. 1. General information. We believe that a librarian should have at least the equivalent of a good college education, though by no means insisting that it be acquired in the four years' course lead- ing to a degree. 2. Vision. This implies not merely an ultimate ideal as goal but due conception of the relations of one's work with the larger scheme of things and its points of contact therewith . 3. Energy. 4. Practical common sense. The last-named qualities are neutralized unless there is a balance wheel. One's aims must be subject to revision ; there are handicaps and obstacles to be overcome ; and the views and peculiarities of others need consideration. 5. Administrative ability. In proportion as one's staff increases there is required the power to get things done, otherwise all the pre- viously-mentioned traits accomplish nothing. 6. Knowledge of library science and bibliography. It is easy to over- value this, and professional schools are sure to do so. The wide- awake librarian acquires it readily and naturally. Too many members of the profession seem to forget that it is the means and not the end. 7. Extensive familiarity with literature. This of course is quite dif- ferent from my first point and I place it last, but with no wish to belittle it. To be well-read and an omnivorous reader used to be the first qualification of a librarian in the days when literature covered scarcely more than belles-lettres, history, and theology, before the vast expansion of sociology, the sciences, and technology. We may recall with regret the scholarly literary atmosphere of the older libraries, where everyone had plenty of time and the librarian could discourse on Dante or Browning at length. But our librarian today comes into too many relations with the busy world to remain shut up in his atmosphere of books. He doesn't expect to be an encyclopedia himself, but must learn to scan books hastily and know where to go for definite information. Now how does our friend measure up to such standards as these? We should not think of him as a man of notable erudition or of particu- larly wide general reading or as one devoted to hobbies. His library was systematic and administered on generally good and conservative lines as one would expect of a nature so direct, positive, and thorough. The atmosphere was distinctly favorable to work ; tradition says that the noisy element among the students quickly found out who was master in the building. He was too busy to waste his time on the trifles that appeal to some workers in libraries ; while methods and appliances were standard, one would never call at his office to discover the latest thing in ink-wells, paper clips, and filing devices. No estimate of him would have value which failed to note his ten- acity of opinion. He was not accustomed to soften this in the interests of general popularity or of friendly personal intercourse, once his mind was made up. And yet there was apparently no tendency to snap judg- ment ; he was not hasty in forming an opinion and was ready with strong logical justification when the time came. In statement he was clear, direct, and strong, with language vigorous and well chosen. The more one studies the work of Ralph Jones as librarian the greater is the wonder that he accomplished so much with the means at his disposal : a library income covering everything but salaries, that never IO exceeded $5,000 and starting with an average of about $1,500 a year rose to a general level of $3,000 a year for the last part of his librarianship. This seems pitifully small for a faculty that grew past 160 and a student body of above 1200. After the deduction necessary for supplies, fittings, postage, etc. this left barely two dollars per capita, per annum, for books for the library's patrons. Of course this was beyond his control but we may be sure he chafed under such limitations. His it was to make the best use of his income, and this was a test indeed. With eyes on the future and the real pur- pose of the Library, he dared spend a continually increasing part of this income (finally reaching a full half) on periodicals, current serials and standard sets. This was not the easy or the showy way to build up a collection — it requires the lapse of years to show its wisdom. It filled the shelves with material that grows more valuable every year, instead of works that would be outgrown and superseded within a decade. Another manifestation of his attitude toward the work was the offer of a course in bibliography of one hour a week, elective in the spring semester, beginning in 1905 and continuing through to the end of his life. He also cooperated with the English department for two or three years in a library course and at another period gave a series of lectures to Freshmen on the Library and how to use it. There remains an aspect of his professional labors which is broader than his relation to the University. Maine as a state, while high in average intelligence and devotion to public education, has been notably backward in library development. This is by no means discreditable, being due to the low average density of population and absence of large centres. One might say that there was no very direct reason why Professor Jones should interest himself in library matters in the state at large. That he did so is proof of his grasp of the true significance of the library's place in the modern world and of the mission of a state university as the real centre of public education. We find him prominent almost from the first in the Library section of the Maine Teachers' Association and in the Maine Library Associa- tion. Indeed it is believed that largely through his instrumentality the latter body awoke in 1901 after years of slumber, and the Eastern Maine Library Club, formed that year, certainly looked to him as an active organizer. He served the Maine Library Association as its president 1903-1905 and as secretary 1914-1915. The circumstances of his election to the latter office are illustrative. I had come to the state the previous year and some members of the Association desiring to honor a newcomer, men- tioned my name for presiding officer. As I rose to decline for various reasons, notably that I knew too few librarians in Maine to preside at their meeting, Mr. Jones at once offered to serve as secretary if desired II and make up for my deficiency in that respect. The ticket was elected. Now the secretaryship is the working office and those who have served as president usually are very willing to pass it on to the younger members. Let me add that that was a busy year, the secretary starting and carry- ing through the most pretentious publication the Association has ever issued, a Handbook, covering all the libraries in the state, all informa- tion being gathered by correspondence. An examination of the proceedings of the Association shows him working toward definite ends ; reading papers on "The relation of college and public libraries," "The college library and the teacher," "The value of summer library schools," "What college libraries are doing and what they may do for other libraries and for the public." We find him con- tending strongly for the improvement of school libraries and introducing resolutions looking to that end, a movement that has borne fruit within the last two or three years. He was a pleader for instruction in library science in our normal schools, a measure the present Library Commission is now doing its best to promote. In 1902 he introduced a resolution calling for a much needed index of state documents. His position on another kind of modern library service, in the interests especially of the college and reference libraries, led to his selection in 1902 as chairman of a committee on a union list of serials for Maine. The death of his two associates, Mr. Hall of Colby and Miss Woodman of Bates, terminated the committee's activities, but it was revived in 1915 when he was empowered to name his associates. Mr. Wilder of Bowdoin and myself were selected, and my last interviews with him were on this matter which was very near his heart. He saw the preliminaries arranged, and the work is going on today as he planned. The narrator can weave no interesting or dramatic story about such a life as this. There is wanting the transcendant genius, the picturesque personality, the grand sphere of action ; we lack the great crisis in human affairs and the element of chance or of Providence, if we choose to so designate it — all the setting in fact that makes biography popular. It is well to study the great lives, Hannibal, Napoleon, Lincoln. But it may be there are lessons fully as important, if not so inspiring in the career of such a man as we have considered here. Most of us are ordi- nary men and women, and the bulk of the world's work is actually done by men who bring to the task just such strong and substantial qualifies as were possessed by Professor Jones. 12 PROFESSOR A. P. RAGGIO BY George D. Chase, Professor of Latin The fall of a strong man stricken down at the height of his physical and intellectual powers and in the full career of his achievement demands even of the chance wayfarer, the passing tribute of a tear. For us it is meet that we should pause in our day's task to pay some fuller mead of appreciation to one who had long been our fellow laborer, who as a faithful servant gave his strength and his talents full-heartedly to the interest of our University, who while strenuously sowing good seed in our midst was himself harvested by the Great Reaper. Andrew Paul Raggio, Professor of Spanish and Italian, was born forty-four years ago in the city of Austin, Texas. His parents had come from Northern Italy, from the hill country back of Genoa, and like many of their fellow countrymen, had settled in the south, first in New Orleans, whence in course of time they removed to the new State of Texas. They were devout Roman Catholics, and Professor Raggio owed his early education to the institutions of the church. Thus from his boyhood associations while reared in newest America, he was linked with the traditions of the old world. His reserved dignity of manner and his courtly courtesy marked him outwardly as a foreigner and it was still more evident to those who knew him intimately that he had not been moulded in the social and ethical schools of New England. President Eliot of Harvard once said of Professor Shaler that he valued him especially as a member of his faculty because he came from a different section of the country from most of his colleagues and saw many questions from different points of view. In like manner it might be said of Professor Raggio that he made a distinct contribution to a New England college faculty by reason of his unique prospective. Professor Raggio possessed a rare equipment for his work. Fol- lowing his graduation from the University of Texas in 1896, he spent five years of travel and study in Europe, — three years in Italy, one year at the University of Grenoble in France, and one year in Spain. Re- turning to America he was for three years enrolled as a graduate student at Harvard University, where he received his doctorate in Romance Languages in 1904. It would be difficult to find or to imagine a more ideal preparation for a professorship of Romance Languages. He had acquired an intimate and sympathetic appreciation of Spanish. Italian, and French literatures and first hand knowledge of the peoples and countries of Southwest Europe. He had become well versed in European history. He had received sound university discipline in the several phases of technical philological study. He had worked in the school of Passy, the great phonetician of France, and rightly conceived of phonetics as the basis of language study. He was well grounded in the historical and com- parative grammar of the Romance Languages. He thought of literature as an art to be interpreted by comparative study. In the interpretation of literature he was guided by the Italian's fondness for poetry, music, and the drama. I remember Professor Raggio chanced to call at my house one evening when I was engaged with a friend in trying to fathom a some- what obscure canto of Dante's Inferno. We had been laboriously puzzling out the difficulties of the passage with the help of the notes of several Italian scholars. We referred the passage to Professor Raggio who immediately read it to us with a warmth of feeling and power of interpretation which threw a flood of light upon Dante's meaning. My friend had known Professor Raggio but casually and was fairly sur- prised to discover in him such mastery and appreciation of Dante as well as gift of interpretation. There was suddenly disclosed to us the soul of the inspired teacher. Professor Raggio came to the University of Maine in 1907, having served an instructor's apprenticeship at Simmons College, Bryn Mawr College, and the St. Louis Central High School. From Instructor in Romance Languages, he became Assistant Professor in 1907, and Associ- ate Professor in 1911. In 1916 the new department of Spanish and Italian was created for him in recognition of his zeal and ability. Perhaps no quality was more characteristic of Professor Raggio than his intense earnestness. It was with earnestness that he assumed his new position. The growth of the new department was marvelous. He had planned to conduct all the classes unaided, but before the first year was out he needed the services of two instructors, and even then was obliged to curtail the work offered in Italian. The relative merits of native and American teachers of living lan- guages has often been discussed. He combined in a wonderful degree the advantages of both. He spoke both Spanish and Italian with the fluency and accuracy of a native and at the same time had all the ad- vantages of American birth and university training. Without doubt the teacher's real triumphs are in the class room ; but they are often secret triumphs, they are not heralded abroad, they are often little known or appreciated by the teacher's colleagues. I have heard the opinion expressed by university men of experience that one should husband his energies in his teaching, because he derives no recog- nition or preferment from that -source. The labor of a teacher is largely a matter of conscience. To his classes Professor Raggio was most con- scientious. Painstaking in the extreme, methodical in every detail, he had carefully reasoned out his system of imparting instruction. His endless patience and regard for the minutia of scholarship might have descended to pedantry in a less inspired teacher, but with him a boundless enthusiasm for his profession and for the subject matter which he taught raised his work high above the trivial and the common- place. I have heard his instruction praised in the highest terms, espec- ially by those who had themselves had some experience in imparting knowledge. His sense of fairness and his desire to be just toward those under his direction were everywhere manifest. He made and preserved the 14 most complete records of all his students, so that they never passed beyond his interest when they passed out of his control. Professor Raggio understood the wider obligations of the scholar. In addition to membership in the usual learned societies, such as the Modern Language Association of America, the New England Modern Language Association, the American Dialect Society, Association Pho- netique Internationale, he was a member of the Executive Council of the Italo-American Alliance. He was the first member from the State of Maine of the Advisory Council of the Simplified Spelling Board, and was active and instrumental in furthering the introduction of simplified spelling in educational institutions of the State. He was the first presi- dent of the Bangor group of the Alliance Franchise, and was re-elected to the presidency for the second time. Under his leadership the group prospered, and the best elements of Bangor and vicinity were united in an enthusiastic support of the Alliance. He was an active member in the American Association of University Professors, and was instrumental in organizing at the University of Maine a local branch of which he was the first chairman. His participation in all these activities was characterized by the greatest earnestness. He thought deeply on many current questions of scholarship, of university government, and of public affairs. And in all his thinking he was always seeking for the right principle. He was distinctly a man of ideals. It was always ideals and not individuals that moved him most. In ten years of intimate acquaintance I do not recall the utterance of one harsh or uncharitable judgment of any person. Many an epitaph has recorded lesser merits. His was a nature that knew no resentment. I remember on one occasion when I was loudly joining in the common denunciation of one who had committed a grievous crime and was languishing in prison, I was amazed to hear Professor Raggio say, "That man suffers ; I think I shall visit him." I was amazed and humbled. Professor Raggio was a deeply religious man. In his student days he had broken away from the dogma of the church and had sought a rational basis for his faith. In the frankness of his nature and his fear of being misunderstood, he had demoninated himself an agnostic. Some said he was an atheist ; nothing could be further from the truth. He had used the term agnostic strictly in the Platonic sense, meaning one who denies the absolute philosophical proof to the finite human mind of so transcendental a truth as God's existence, but who assumes it as a working hypothesis, regarding it as the most probable of all assumptions. Professor Raggio summed up his theology in these terms, "I am an optimist; I hope God exists, and if He does He knows and will reward my sincerity." It is in vain that we regret the loss of a human life seemingly cut off before its time. We miss the later years of riper achievement But we possess a work well begun ; we possess an example of faithfulness, of conscientiousness, of energy in the performance of duty, of intellectual breadth and integrity, of honesty of purpose, and frankness of position ; we possess an example of charity toward others, of spiritual depth, and earnestness that can never be lost. 15