A Book Lover in Texas Page: 20
xi, 169 p. : ill., ports. ; 19 cm.View a full description of this book.
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Evelyn Oppenheimer
books defining the Texan's horizon-wide concept of de-
mocracy. Between legislative sessions he continued teach-
ing, and in one of his classes assigned us to write a term
paper on any modern American philosopher we chose. I
was the only one who chose the idealist of Harvard,Josiah
Royce. Across the top page with its "A" grade, Smith wrote
to me, "Dear protagonist of the dead Gods." How right he
was.
In later years after serving in Italy in the Second
World War Smith went to Syracuse University as professor
of poetry, philosophy and politics from 1948 to 1956, when
he retired to continue his writing. He returned briefly to
Texas but his life ended in a nursing home in Hyattsville,
Maryland in May, 1964. He was 74 years old or young. I
cherish a note from him dated October 15, 1938, "Well do
I remember you, dear Lady. Best of all is the good news that
your own influence is growing steadily. We teachers (and
politicians) must live in our associates, you know." When
one is still very young and is called "Dear Lady" by one of
America's great scholars, one hugs that to the heart as I did.
All four years on that campus I was in a state of
euphoria, drunk with the excitement of learning. The only
sad day was when the young president, Robert Hutchins,
handed me my diploma in Rockefeller Chapel, with a
smile and a compliment on my election to Phi Beta Kappa.
I hated the thought of leaving that world of ivy that kept our
heritage forever green. The honor of Phi Beta Kappa was
to me a small repayment to my parents for the opportunity
they had given me, and that was what I tried to say in the
telegram that I sent them.20
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Oppenheimer, Evelyn, 1907-. A Book Lover in Texas, book, 1995; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc28327/m1/33/: accessed May 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.