The Two Towers: Main

dropped from the original list at an early date, chiefly because, as Professor Thompson explained, there had not been enough "funds or good examples in Worcester." He supposed that if anyone should ask for the course (with a reminder of John Boynton's letter of gift "to make us feel guilty") architecture would "have to be revived to save embarrassment," but he hoped not.

If John Boynton's letter had been used for this purpose or in a dozen similar cases, there might have been a great deal of embarrassment. The curriculum at best could only nibble at the corners of his requirements. To take care of a few stipulations, some subjects were covered by lectures. The course in geology may have developed into this type out of defense. When the visiting teacher, Paul Chadbourne, asked his class what caused the glacier period, one boy solemnly guessed it must have been a "change in the weather."

In 1869 Professor Thompson had significantly increased his staff by adding John E. Sinclair, a classmate at Chandler Scientific School. Mr. Sinclair had come to Worcester with his two motherless little girls and the assurance of less salary but with the promise that he could rent a big house in which there would be spare rooms for Institute boys.

The sacrifice probably seemed negligible when in the next year Mr. Sinclair married Marietta S. Fletcher, the language instructor.

With Professor Thompson's help, Miss Fletcher had been trying to teach all the French, the German, and the English. The school's most conspicuous embarrassment was its inability to offer enough in this department of language. Stephen Salisbury cringed when the boys spoke at graduation exercises, especially when a letter from the examining committee referred to "the atrocious English" of papers and speeches. Mr. Salisbury responded in the best way he knew how by establishing a fund to be used exclusively in the language department.

Edward P. Smith was immediately engaged to take over this responsibility. A man with a luxuriantly imposing beard and a masterful eye, he had no difficulty in asserting the importance of language in a technical school. "Smith has a pretty tough time, harder than any of the rest of us," confided another teacher, but Professor Smith was equal to the task. Years afterwards, a student remembered the scorching sarcasm with which he defended his department and the fascination with which the boys watched his large mouth "get rid of the words." Professor Smith's department had the help of a young man who eventually became the first graduate to become a professor, U. Waldo Cutler.

Helping Professor Sinclair in the mathematics department was Thomas E. N. Eaton, whom all the boys called "Tenny." The chief challenge of turning Institute boys into engineers was to give them enough mathematics to make up for the low admission requirements. It was to this task that Professor Sinclair and Professor Eaton gave their full attention. They respected mathematics so