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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 29, 1954)
Page 2 THE BATTALION " Tuesday, Juna 29, 1954 The Battalion Lawrence Sullivan Ross, Founder of Aggie Traditions “Soldier, Statesman, Knightly Gentleman” The Battalion, official newspaper of the Agricultural and Mechan ical College of Texas, is published by students four times a week, during the regular school year. During the summer terms, and examination and vacation periods, The Battalion is published twice a week. Days of publications are Tuesday through Friday for the regular school year, and Tuesday and Thursday during examination and vacation periods and the summer terms. Subscription rates $9.00 per year or $ .76 per month. Advertising rates furnished on request. Entered as second-class matter at Post Office at College Station, Texas under the Act of Con gress of March 3, 1870. Member of The Associated Press Represented nationally by National Advertising Services, Inc., at New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Fran cisco. News contributions may be made by telephone (4-5444 or 4-7604) or at the editorial office room, 202 Goodwin Hall. Classified ads may be placed by telephone (4-5324) or at the Student Activities Office, Room 209 Goodwin Hall. The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for republi cation of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in the paper and local news of spontaneous origin published herein. Rights of republication of all other matter herein are also reserved. Harri Baker Editor, Advertising Manager Kerstin Ekfelt.. Society Editor Larry Lightfoot Circulation Manager Tributes To Dr. Mayo (Continued from Page 1) from his sincere respect for the dignity of each individual he knew, no matter what the person’s learn ing or capacity for learning. Teach ing, he believed, is a process of drawing out rather than pouring in, and draw out he did. Let any of his students or his fellow teachers sit down with him for five minutes and there would unfold a lively discussion, which, likely as not, would end with those who sat with him hurrying to their books for ammunition. The wide learning which he would bring to bear on his teaching enabled him to light up his ideas until they stood clear and simple. In scholarship, Dr. Mayo had a capacity to embrace large groups of facts and to find significances in them that the plodding research er could never bring to understand ing. Still he respected the pedes trian research that most of us pur sue without ever being tempted to indulge in it. For twenty-five years he has been gathering ma terial—material that he would as similate as he went along—for the book that was to be his master piece. Much of the writing has al ready been completed, and his friends hope one day to see that material in print. Thomas Mayo was a man of ster ling character, a man of moral fi ber and blunt honesty that took courage to maintain. And he had that courage. There was no com promising of principles. He hated what was intellecutally shoddy or dishonest and was never deceived by sophisticated fraud. When he championed a cause he did so be cause he believed in it, not because it was popular. Always a man of literature, his manner was easy and his conversa tion graceful but solid with thought. He was a kindly and considerate friend always loyal and generously understanding. He loved the College to which he de voted the greatest /part of his life —loved it enough to be outspoken about its shortcomings and vigor ous in supporting measures that would bring about its betterment. We in English looked to him for guidance and always sought him out for advice, which he always gave patiently and with under standing. His leadership will long remain with us. Stewart S. Morgan The loss of Dr. Thomas F. Mayo is one which will long be felt on this campus, just as the imprint of his work here will long be with us. Throughout his forty years wuth the college, Dr. Mayo exerted a positive influence for the cul tural development of his students and did this from a position in which he came in contact with the vast majority of the students who enrolled here. His -work as a member of the English Department was outstand ing. Of particular importance w T ere his lectures in his special field of Eighteenth Century Eng lish Literature and his develop ment of the Great Books course to familiarize students with the great est writers and thinkers of the ages. As College Librarian for many years. Dr. Mayo was responsible for the development of an outstand ing book collection. The Cushing Memorial Library, with its many unusual features, was one of the dreams of his life. Dr. Mayo extended his interest in students far beyond the class room and conference room, spon soring many of the student discus sion clubs at their outset and giv ing freely of his time and talents in appearing as a speaker on programs of all local organizations. A quiet, friendly and scholarly gentleman, “Tommy” Mayo, as he was affectionately known to his fellow faculty members as well as to many generations of students, contributed much of the “liberal” toward our college’s goal of “an education which is at the same time thorough, liberal, and practical.” M. T. Harrington The College has suffered a great loss in the death of Dr. Thomas Franklin Mayo, and future students will miss the intellectual stimulus that he imparted to so many of the A&M men during the years of his service to them. He was a great teacher and he loved his profession — throughout the State and the Natiori are many men who will and do attest to the influence of his teachings upon their lives. When he delivered a formal lecture, he prepared it with infinite, care, molding it to make effective use of his listeners’ time and striving not merely to give them facts, but to make them think. But perhaps his most effec tive teaching came from smaller groups where the contact could be more informal. To paraphrase a time-worn expression: A perfect university would be Tommy Mayo on one end of a log and the student on the other. Dr. Mayo had a very definite philosophy of life but expected his students to develop their own ideas regardless of whether or not they conformed to his. He tried, in deed, to develop individual think ing, rather than a mob psychology. Instead of forcing his own views on others, he offered the opportu nity and perhaps extended an invi tation to those who might wish to devote their intellectual lives by delving deeper into the literature and the history of men than is or dinarily possible for the average busy technical student. Dr. Mayo served for years as head of the college library. He made no claim to being a ti'ained librarian, but devoted his efforts to developing the library as a cul tural center in the college. Tech nical people are so often inclined to look on libraries as repositories for technical information and to neglect their potential value as a source of cultural development. He sought to develop both features. But at heart he was a teacher. Even while heading the library, he insisted on continuing to teach part time, and he never ceased to be available for counsel to students who sought his services. F. C. Bolton I had the good fortune of know ing Dr. Mayo for twenty years. He was Librarian when I was em ployed at the library. As Libra- For Rent TYPEWRITERS — Late Models — Bryan Business Machine Co. 429 S. Main St., Bryan rian he had confidence in his per sonnel and gave them the encour agement and help that made them want to do their best. He was dig nified and business-like about his responsibilities, and expected a job well done, but even so, eveiyone who worked for him felt that he had a warm personal interest in them as human beings. Dr. Mayo treasured and enjoyed friendship. He could see faults in his friends and would amiably and helpfully discuss these faults with them, but after such discussions he concentrated only on the many good qualities which he could find in anyone. The real test of his friendship was that he could rejoice as well as suffer with his friends. Dr. Mayo’s knowledge of the arts and his easy conversation made him an interesting friend and a welcome guest. With Dr. Mayo’s passing, I, like many other individuals, have lost a friend, and A&M College lost a man who gave fully of loyalty and devotion to the college. Gladys L. Sugareff At least one kind of fitting trib ute to Thomas - Mayo might be one inlaid with words from great books. Out of his reading his own facility in using- quotation was such that the art was an integral part of the whole man—of the exquisite grace of his manner and manners, of his wit, and of his benignity and mag nanimity. I remember his smiling comment one morning when Mr. Feragen and Mr. Baker, two very tall men, entei - ed our staffroom: “Men as trees walking.” One evening at the home of friends the daughter of the house, clothed in the splendor of eight een and the formal dress in which she was to go to a ball, joined him and her parents in the living room. He bowed to her with an ail* of reverence very nearly serious and began Jonson’s “Hymn to Diana:” “Queen and huntress chaste and fair.” The parents asked him what he had for their blond-headed eight-year-old shaver, who at once became selfconscious but expectant. Dr. Mayo did not fail him: “Happy the parents of so fair a child/’ (See TRIBUTES, Page 4) . . . the letters start. 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