TEACHERS

In one of his essays William Lyon Phelps tells this story: “In the year 1908, when I first saw the Grand Canyon of Colorado, I happened to be talking with the fireman of the locomotive which made several trips daily between Williams and the Canyon. I told him how overwhelm- ingly impressed I had been, and asked him if daily famil- iarity made the chasm lose its power. Was it also to him a sublime spectacle, or just an incident in the day’s work? ‘Do you want to know how I feel about it?’ said he.

And then he repeated the whole of “Thantatopsis!’ He had not only learned the poem by heart but applied its teaching daily in contemplation of majestic scenery.

I suppose some underpaid schoolteacher had taught him that poem in his childhood, and this was her reward.”