Word: stamm
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...twelve years Sully Stamm's German class has been a refreshing oasis in many a dull schedule. Probably the ablest teacher among hte German Department's younger set, the Spark Plug of Sever Hall has proved to a generation of Harvard men that the teaching staff still has some life in it. The scholarly, bright-eyed, wise-cracking little bachelor is a Harvard man himself, and is rather sorry to be leaving the old place. However, he has achieved a good deal in Cambridge; not only a Ph.D. and a bald spot but the friendship of hundreds of students...
...Stamm is fundamentally a serious teacher and philosopher. He believes that emotional and intellectual solidity requires experience with pessimism, such as is represented by Schopenhauer and Calvin. His balanced view of man is summed up in a characteristic dictum: "There is something ridiculous, pathetic and sacred about every human being...
...twelve, Stamm (which is German for "sprout") was working his way through grammar school as a long-distance cattlewalker, receiving a small compensation for driving Old Lady Sachs' cow to and from school and leaving it in a neighboring pasture. It was during this period that he met Rosie. Even today Stamm thinks occasionally of those school days. "Everybody give a deep sight for Rosie," he says, and led by Teacher, the class heaves in wistful unison. On the way home from school he would slow his steps that Rosie might overtake him; and when she did, he would feign...
...Stamm is thoroughly good-natured, never having unloosed a temper in his thirty-four years. Occasionally, when a class grows a little too boisterous, he tries to coll in with an expression of dour authority. But a student warns, "Temper, temper, little man!" whereupon Teacher breaks into a smile, snaps his fingers and says "Darn...
...Stamm made a bet some time ago with the students of one of his German A classes that they would translate the word "single" incorrectly before Christmas. He felt certain that they would translate it "one" instead of "several." The stakes were a coke for each of the 18 students if they lost, and 18 cokes...