When Mr. Putney died, we could not at first realize our loss.
He had been so much a part of the school life that it seemed hardly
possible that, while that life went on, he could be away.
We all loved and admired him, but we seldom stopped to measure him. We
accepted him, like any other accustomed gift, without realizing quite
fully how much he meant to us.
As we remember him now, what impresses us most strongly is the thought
how little in him we could have wished to change--how extraordinarily
well he measured up as a man.
There was a fine serenity about him, and a kind of soundness and
sweetness of character like the autumnal ripeness of a perfect apple.
It was tonic and wholesome to be under his influence.
There have been great teachers who could not teach. Nevertheless they
were great teachers because a virtue went out from them which touched
the lives of their pupils and was better than all instruction.
There have been great instructors who could not be respected, because
along with intellectual brilliancy and clearness went a narrow, or a
low, or a selfish outlook on life.
Mr. Putney measured up in both respects--he was a large-minded man, he
was a great teacher.
The very nature of his profession precluded any wide or ringing fame.
His work was done quietly, unobtrusively, one might almost say,
obscurely. A teacher's work is always so.
His memory rests with us who knew him, but with us it is very secure.
It is the memory of a man whom we could respect without coldness, and
love without making allowances.--_Burlington High School Register._
In these days when the so-called practical side of life has seemed to
crowd out the humanities, so that in many schools Latin and Greek are
not included in the curriculum, Mr. Putney has held high the torch of
classical learning. To him much credit should be given for keeping alive
a real interest in Greek, and for giving thorough and inspiring work
in Latin.
Moreover, in all school relations Mr. Putney has been not only ready
but glad to co-operate. Whether for a social gathering of the teachers
requiring a tax, for tickets to the many ball games, or for Thanksgiving
baskets to be filled, Mr. Putney's purse was always open. Not many,
indeed, know how often he overpaid his subscription so as to be sure
to do his part.
But, of course, it is the personality of Mr. Putney, so elusive and yet
so real, that has impressed us all. In the hurry and rush of modern
days, he never failed to be truly kind, to be warmly sympathetic, and at
all times to be wholly unselfish. So with the poet we say,
"And thus he bore without abuse
The grand old name of gentleman."