Monday, January 23, 2023
A Crime
Francis G. Allinson, "Gildersleeve as a Teacher," The Johns Hopkins Alumni Magazine 13.2 (January, 1925) 132-136 (at 133):
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If a personal reminiscence is not out of place I may refer to an outburst of his that I never forgot. In my first tête-à-tête with him he diagnosed my knowledge of Greek Composition as only imperceptibly above zero and forthwith accorded to me the amazing privilege of a weekly private lesson by him in writing Greek! At one of these terrifying clinics he pointed out some blunder such as placing an acute accent on the compact expanse of γῆ! When I fatuously remarked: "That is a mistake!" he shot forth: "A mistake! There is no such thing as a mistake. It is a Crime!"
