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to zip his dress pants--anything to get his name in the paper. He used to fuss at me, but I could tell that he was really secretly not displeased. The following spring there were over 100 people registered for his course. He had it made! Weaver turned out to be the great authority on Herman Melville. His book on Melville is the book on Melville today.

Can you explain at all how he was able to open your eyes? Besides having you read the books, he must have gotten you enthused.

Oh, he was a spellbinder.

Did he have a good speaking voice?

Beautiful. He could have been an actor. He had a deep, beautiful voice.

Often good teachers have this ability.

What seemed theatrical soon became to us very attractive.

Another thing happened through Weaver. I'd often go over to see him. He had rooms at the time in one of the Columbia dormitories, and I would drop in there after class once in a while to see him and talk. A fellow-student I met there from one of his other courses was named Richard Simon, who later started Simon and Schuster.