OF THIS TIME, OF THAT PLACE
73
stopped at his dim cubicle of an office and lit a cigarette. The
prospect of facing his class had suddenly presented itself to him
and his hands were cold, the lawful seizure of power he was about
to make seemed momentous. Waiting did not help. He put out
his cigarette, picked up a pad of theme paper and went to hi8
classroom.
As he entered, the rattle of voices ceased and the twenty-odd
freshmen settled themselves and looked at him appraisingly. Their
faces seemed gross, his heart sank at their massed impassivity, but
he spoke briskly.
"My name is Howe," he said and turned and wrote it on the
blackboard. The carelessness of the scrawl confirmed his authority.
He went on, "My office is 412 Slemp Hall and my office-hours
are Monday, WedneF:day and Friday from eleven-thirty to twelve·
thirty."
He wrote, "M., W., F.,
ll:30-l2:30."
He said, "I'll be very
glad to see any of you at that time. Or if you can't come then,
you can arrange with me for some other time."
He turned again to the blackboard and spoke over his shoul–
der. "The text for the course is Jarman's
Modem Plays,
revised
edition. The Co-op has it
in
stock." He wrote the name, under–
lined "revised edition" and waited for it to be taken down in
the new notebooks.
When the bent heads were raised again he began his speech of
prospectus. "It is hard to explain-." he said, and paused as they
composed themselves. "It is hard to explain what a course like
this is intended to do. We are going to try to learn something about
modern literature and something about prose composition."
As he spoke, his hands warmed and he was able to look
directly at the class. Last year on the first day the faces had seemed
just as cloddish, but as the term wore on they became gradually
alive and quite likable. It did not seem possible that the same
thing could happen again.
"I shall not lecture in this course," he continued. "Our work
will
be carried on by discussion and we will try to learn by an
exchange of opinion. But you will soon recognize that my opinion
is worth more than anyone else's here."
He remained grave as he said it, but two boys understood and
laughed. The rest took permission from them and laughed too.
