Along comes William Mathews, well actually he visited the scene of writing in the late 1800's. Dr. Mathews was Professor of rhetoric and English at the University of Chicago until he found that writing books was more profitable than teaching. (Not unlike many of today's creative minds in the university system. However, Mathews retired from teaching to write his books while the authors of today enjoy the benefits of their endowed positions while protected against the vagrancies of everyday life, reaping the benefits of publishing.)
In considering the writings of William Mathews, one wonders who this man of letters was. A visit to the University of Chicago adds little to your understanding. Contact with the school comes up short with their Library being unaware of his having passed through their port holes (sic)(?).
The best you find on a hasty search is in the 1938 Biography from American Authors: 1600-1900. To wit:
Copyright: Copyright (c) by The H. W. Wilson Company. All rights reserved.
Article Heading: Mathews, William
July 28, 1818-Feb. 14, 1909
Publication Statement: 1938 Biography from American Authors: 1600-1900
Full Text: MATHEWS, WILLIAM (July 28, 1818-February 14, 1909), journalist
and teacher, was the eldest son of Simeon and Clymena (Esty) Mathews. He was
born in Waterville, Maine, attended various preparatory schools in that state,
and when only seventeen received the B.A. degree from Waterville (now Colby)
College.
He began law practice in 1841 and in the same year started a weekly, the Water-villonian. When its demands caused him to abandon his law practice he moved the paper to Gardiner, Maine, calling it the Yankee Blade. Still later he moved it to Boston and in 1856 sold it there, to be merged with the Port Folio.
After a few years of editing, lecturing, and librarianship, he was made professor of rhetoric and English at the University of Chicago. In 1873 he published Getting On in the World, a collection of essays which he had written for the Chicago Daily Tribune. The success of this and a second book, The Great Conversers and Other Essays, led him, in 1875, to give up teaching for authorship.
From 1880 he lived in Boston. He was married three times (This is really important!) .
Works by subject(that is Mr. Mathews):
Selected Works: Getting On in the World, 1873;
The GreatConversers and Other Essays, 1874;
Hours With Men and Books, 1877;
Oratory and Orators, 1879;
Literary Style and Other Essays, 1881;
Men, Places, and Things, 1887;
Nugae Litterariae, 1896.
[Also by Mathews, but not listed in this review:
Words - Their Use and Abuse,
Monday Chats]
Works about subject: Suggested Reading: Whittemore, E. C. Centennial History of Waterville, Kennebec County, Maine; Boston Globe January 24, 1909; Boston Herald February 15, 1909; Saturday Review of Literature December 25, 1937. Descriptor: print-journalists; WRITERS-; JOURNALISTS-; NONFICTION-WRITERS; Journalists-; Mathews-William
Of his works, I highly recommend the following essays:
Common Improprieties of Speech - Words, Their Use and Abuse
Noses - The Great Conversers
Snuff - Hours with Men and Books
Space does not permit the review of these and other essays by this author who seems to have slipped through the cracks in the floor boards of time.
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