CHAPTER VI.

SMITH INSTITUTE.





Socrates Smith, A. M., was not always known by the philosophic name
by which he challenged the world's respect as a man of learning and
distinguished attainments. When a boy in his teens, and an academy
student, he was known simply as Shadrach Smith. His boy companions
used to address him familiarly as Shad. It was clear that no
pedagogue could retain the respect of his pupils who might readily
be metamorphosed into Old Shad. By the advice of a brother preacher,
he dropped the plebeian name, and bloomed forth as Socrates Smith,
A. M.

I may say, in confidence, that no one knew from what college Mr.
Smith obtained the degree of Master of Arts. He always evaded the
question himself, saying that it was given him by a Western
university causa honoris.

It might be, or it might not. At any rate, he was allowed to wear
the title, since no one thought it worth while to make the necessary
examination into its genuineness. Nor, again, had anyone been able