CENTRAL AND WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS ASSOCIATION

The Dartmouth Alumni Association of Central and Western Massachusetts is composed of the alumni residing in the territory indicated by the title. The body of alumni in central Massachusetts have Worcester as a center, while the Dartmouth men of western Massachusetts look upon Springfield as the central point. The members of the Association meet once a year, at which time the annual business meeting and an informal banquet are held. The yearly gathering takes place alternately in Worcester and Springfield, and it is usually the good fortune to have the President of the College present to tell the alumni of what the College is doing, and bring them into closer touch with "the Dartmouth of to-day."

The majority of the members of the Association are grouped in and around Worcester. Here the "Men of Dartmouth" have formed a "Dartmouth Lunch Club" which meets once each month for 'luncheon and a friendly chat upon subjects of common interest.

The lunch club in Worcester has proved to be a great success and a movement for a similar organization is now being started in Springfield in the hope that "history will repeat itself" and a successful issue result.

The number of Dartmouth alumni wanes as one goes toward the western boundary of the state, but the College spirit is as strong per individual in the western portion of the commonwealth as it is in the central and eastern sections. Good evidence of the truth of the latter statement is furnished by the fact that a large number of men are each year entering Dartmouth from the Western part of the state, which is a veritable hot-bed of Amherst and Williams men.

That the alumni of Springfield are active will perhaps be believed when it is learned that more men have entered Dartmouth from that city in the last two years than have gone to Amherst and Williams combined. A greater interest in Dartmouth on the part of the general public in western Massachusetts will doubtless be created by the reason of the playing of the Brown-Dartmouth football game in Springfield this fall, the date of this contest being November 25.

The annual meeting of the Association will be heldin Springfield this year, probably on the same date that the Brown-Dartmouth game is played.If that should be the case, an unusually arge and, we hope, enthusiastic gathering ought tto be assured. At this meeting a big attendance is verymuch desired, for at that time will bedecided the question of maintaining separate alumni associations in central and western Massachusetts instead of having a Central and Western Massachusetts Alumni Association as now. The general sentiment seems to be in favor of such a move, owing to the fact that Worcester and Springfield are so far apart, a distance of fifty-five miles separating the two places. It is also argued in favor of the plan that there are enough alumni within the immediate vicinity of each of the two cities to successfully maintain independent associations.

In the event of the annual meeting for 1905 taking place in Springfield on the date of the Brown-Dartmouth football game, many alumni and undergraduates hailing from regions other than those included under the heading "Central and Western Massachusetts" could doubtless be present at the meeting without causing them much inconvenience. To all such the Alumni Association of Central and Western Massachusetts extends a cordial invitation to attend and join in singing the Praises of old Dartmouth.

Secretary, J. Frank Drake '02, Board of TradeRooms, Springfield