I hardly know what to say. There is such a mingling of emotions--sorrow
for the loss, joy that he has been with us so long, gratitude that it
has been my privilege to keep in so close touch with him during most of
the years since I, a school girl, first came under the influence that
has never lost its hold for a minute.
No one individual has ever had more to do with the shaping of my life
than he and whatever little good I have been able to do for boys and
girls is largely attributable to the influence that has helped me for
so long.
My experience can be multiplied a thousand times and then the story has
not been told. We all shall hold his memory in love, and in reverence.
Generations to come will still feel indirectly the help that we have had
from him.
I've always seen Mr. Putney as I read those words of Tennyson in his
dedication to the "Idylls."
"Indeed he seems to me
Scarce other than my king's ideal knight,
Who reverenced his conscience as his king,
Whose glory was redressing human wrong,
Who spake no slander, no nor listened to it,
We have lost him, he is gone--
We know him now--and we see him as he moved,
How modest, kindly, all accomplished, wise,
With what sublime repression of himself--
And in what limits, and how tenderly--
Now swaying to this faction or to that--
But through all this tract of years
Wearing the white flower of a blameless life,
Before a thousand peering littlenesses.
Where is he
Who dares foreshadow for an only son
A lovelier life, a more unstained than his?"
Very sincerely,
CAROLINE S. WOODRUFF, '84.
Among the many valuable and valued possessions which were mine when
I left St. Johnsbury Academy was a clear-cut impression of Mr. Putney
as a man, as a friend, and as a teacher. He stood for standards, high
standards of behavior and of scholarship. After all these years this
image is still clear and vivid. Simple, sincere, and single-minded in
his life work, his standards of living have always been a challenge
to the best in his associates, a challenge which has, consciously or
unconsciously, helped us all to higher levels of service. This is our
tribute to his memory.