ABSTRACT
One of the founders of The American Scholar, Christian Gauss served on its Editorial Board for nineteen years. His strong conviction that a vital and uncompromising scholarship would be well received by the reading public was an influential factor in guiding the magazine through its formative years. After three or four such occasions, that heavy sigh became a symbol. A symbol, all at once, of genuine reluctance, genuine integrity, a genuine sense of responsibility. Christian Gauss was a gentle and peace-loving man. For that was the point: he did not enjoy alienating others or taking a lonely or unpopular stand, and that heavy sigh represented all his reluctance. Yet the social duty, the responsibility of integrity, were real to him, and the sigh also meant that his decision was made. Surely this is becoming increasingly rare in this age of specialization and organization, self-division and anxiety.
