Sunday, April 17, 1955
JOHNSON SANS BOSWELL:
Bicentennial
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Eleven
of Non-Spicy' Dictionary
and underline words - he must
have had hundreds of thousands"
of underlined words.
"It was a heroic one-man job,"
Prof. Bredvold continued, adding
that Johnson was a giant in every
way, "physical or otherwise."
The physical gIant was none-
theless a life-long hypochondriac.
Macauley arte of Johnson he had
"great muscular strength accom-
panied by much awkwardness and
many infirmities; great quickness
of parts, with a morbid propensity
to sloth and procrastination; a
kind and generous heart, with a
gloomy and irritable temper."
Always known for his biting wit, from which he had to pay his se-
Johnson once told a group of lad- cretaries. And his mental health
ies who had congratulated him on continued on a downgrade.
his having omitted "naughty" Commenting on Boswell and
words from his Dictionary, "So, Johnson, Prof. Bredvold said that
my dears, you have been looking what made Boswell great was that
for them." "he saw the greatness of Johnson
and knew he had the makings of
TOHNSON was never able to earn a great biography. It is Dr. John-
a degree from Oxford as he was son, the man, that makes Boswell's
too poor to stay there; he contin- work a great one."
ued his studies by reading on his Commemorating the bicenten-
own, gaining a reputation for wide nial of Johnson's work, the Uni-
knowledge in many fields. versity held an exhibit of his work
He struggled with poverty most last month. This month, Yale and
of his life. For his dictionary the University of Chicago are hold-
work he received only 1500 guineas ing Johnson exhibits.
SAMUEL JOHNSON
... giant of a man and mind
JUST TWO HUNDRED years ago
last Friday, two folios were sent in quantity of words and not so
to be printed and more history was good," he added.
made. PROF. BREDVOLD noted that
Samuel Johnson, after eight modern lexicographers use the
years work, decided his work on scientific method of gathering
a new dictionary was completed. works to find out how words are
Immortalized by Boswell in his used, and Johnson was the first
"Life of Johnson," he had achiev- to do this. "He would read books
ed some fame before being com-
missioned by a group of eminent
booksellers to do the dictionary Mal|O SpinsRr
with such works as his description
of "London" and "Life of Savage,"
a biography. Out Yr
His work with the dictionary,
however, remains "the most inter- For Students
esting event in his life from a bio-
graphical point of view," accord-
ing to Prof. Louis Bredvold of the Harness-Maker Recalls
English department. "Jo h n s o n 'The Good Old Days'
worked with only five secretaries;
it is a great achievement for one (Continued from Page 8)
man."
"It was the first great and real He recalled the days when horses
dictionary in then English lang- and cars competed for the atten-
uage. Earlier ones were smaller tion of onlookers. One man he
knew had "a high-priced machine.
They didn't even look at him-not
'O ff-Beat' when a good-looking team of
horses went by."
Sl d "I've seen a lot of changes, but
Roles Fil Ied aslong asIliveI'mgoing to beold
fashioned."
By W allace ALLOY is not overly impressed
with Ann Arbor politics. He
(Continued from Page 7) called the new charter just a
means of "passing the graft
pus. At that time, all of our fac- around. Instead of one of them
ulty and facilities can be under getting the graft, 'more of them
one roof, rather than in 13 scat- will be getting it."
tered buildings." "Crazy laws" are another mod-
"In addition," he continued, ern trend Malloy detected.
"when we see these facilities, some Mayor Brown's plan to tear
of the present buildings can be down the shop and others along
converted so that students in the street for a new city hall runs
other units of the University can into Malloy's firm denial that the
have musical instruction. This has shop is a fire hazard. "We've paid
been impossible, on the scale we fire insurance 50 years in May and
want, since 1946." never collected a cent on it."
Prof. Wallace lives in an eight- Malloy will admit that the days
room home on Seventh Ave. He of the harness shops are num-
doesn't spend much time at home, bered. "Kids nowadays aren't
"with administrative and profes- learning a trade. They're just get-
sional committments keeping me ting jobs in factories. They let ma-
busy." He is also organist of the chines do' their thinking. Edison
local Presbyterian Church. does the work.
"Having been raised in a 20- "I've seen a lot of changes and
room ante-bellum home on the I don't know but that I don't pre-
University of Mississippi campus, fer the old times.
my very being demands space." "Things were a lot better then."
"My only hobby is more music.
I play a little tennis, but it can't Band Concert
be called a hobby. As much read-
ing as I can get in is restricted T h e University's Symphony
to mostly biographies and histor- Band will give two out-of-town
ical novels." concerts this month.
The only thing close to a hobby On the 23rd, at Owosso and four
that Prof. Wallace has is "digging days later at Big Rapids.
in the ground. I try to raise glad- T h e program will include
iolas and I love doing it." Brahms' "Symphony No. 4" Dukas'
"Nothing is more relaxing," he "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," and
added, "than digging in the earth Prokofiev's Classical Symphony.
and depositing the worries of the The Band will be conducted by
day." Josef Blatt of the music school.
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A3
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