DARTMOUTH NIGHT

The celebration of Dartmouth Night on October 20 was one that will stand out with a few other events of like nature in the history of the College. The atmosphere was charged with enthusiasm and genuine feeling while 'Dartmouth Spirit," the keynote of the speakers, was never more in evidence. The Dartmouth Club of Boston was present two hundred strong, and entered the hall in a body to the cheers of the undergraduates. The guest of honor was Edward Tuck '62, whose address' is given elsewhere. Governor Bass of New Hampshire was prevented by illness from being present, but Dr. John M. Gile '87, a member of the Governor's Council, spoke most acceptably in his stead. The other speakers were: Sherman E. Burroughs '94, Arthur K. Lowell, delegated by the senior class to represent the undergraduates on the platform, Professor Herbert D. Foster '65, and Samuel L. Powers '74, the representative of the Dartmouth Club of Boston. The spirit of devotion to the College and gratitude to her benefactor, present that evening, .which was so evident in the words of all the speakers, found expression, too, in the sheaf of telegrams received from Dartmouth Alumni Associations in all parts of the country.

One alumnus who rarely misses such an occasion, Judge David Cross 41, was prevented from attending by a cold, but the frequent mention of his name showed how close he was to the hearts of all present.

At the close, President Nichols annnounced the gift of $1,000 by the late Congressman Charles Q. Tirrell '66, the income of which should be used to provide a gold medal yearly to be given to that member of the academic department of the College who in the opinion of the President of the College and the President of the Athletic Council shows the greatest improvement in athletic ability, scholarship also to be taken into consideration. When the applause at this announcement had subsided, Mr. Powers rose and stated that he would be responsible for providing a similar sum for five years under like conditions to afford medals for a second and third prize. The singing of the "Dartmouth Song closed the exercises which had maintained in a remarkable manner their interest and enthusiasm.

In introducing Mr. Tuck as the first speaker President Nichols said: The College has been blessed in many ways, but in none more than in ' its benefactors, strong men who have given her of then- strength, their intelligence, and their money. The College is honored by the presence here tonight of one who has given to Dartmouth between one-fifth and one-fourth part of her entire material resources. Dartmouth Night this year will be long remembered for two things: First and foremost for the presence here of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Tuck, and second for the large body of members from the Dartmouth Club of Boston who have come to help us welcome our distinguished guests. I give you Mr. Tuck.

MR. TUCK'S ADDRESS

I am with you this evening to see what Dartmouth Night, about which I have heard so much in the last few years, really is. I came also to thank you for your cable message to me last winter sent after your class meetings and signed "1200 Dartmouth Men, in which you expressed your appreciation of what I had done for the College. Some months ago in Paris Mr. Kimball handed me, forwarded by President Nichols, the beautifully engrossed copy of the resolutions which were voted at your meeting in December, signed by your class presidents. I appreciate the kind feeling they manifested. Allow me also to compliment you on their excellent literary form. The handsome parchment has a place among my most cherished and valued papers.

Coming to Hanover at this time, be ing present at this annual celebration, it is very natural for me to compare your present numbers, surroundings, and conditions with those which existed just fifty years ago when I was a college senior. At that time the only college buildings with students' rooms were Dartmouth Hall, the North and South Buildings, as Wentworth and Thornton Halls were called, and Reed Hall. During my junior and senior years I lived in Wentworth Hall, in the third story front room, next to Dartmouth. During the winter terms I was the sole occupant of the building, as in those days it was the custom for the great majority of the students to be absent in the winter teaching country schools. Hardly one in ten in each class returned until spring. There was no fire in the North Building except in my room, in my open Franklin stove. There were no bath rooms and no toilet in any of the buildings. I well remember how cold, dark, and dreary the building was when I went back to it at night after supper. But I believe we were just as happy and as healthy then with our kerosene lamps, at that time a new invention as you young men are now with your electric lights and central heating (too often over-heating), which make life so much more comfortable and easy. On the site of this building in which we are now assembled, there stood in the 1860's a young ladies' boarding school, kept by two Misses Sherman and known as the Sherman Nunnery. Across the way, where the present chapel is, or near it, there lived a Mr. Haskell, who was called the Professor of Dust and Ashes, as he had charge of the recitation rooms and kept them clean. I know not if the same ex officio title continues to exist at the present day.

To me the contrast between then and now is all the more striking as I have been in Hanover since my graduation but twice, once in 1866, for Commencement, and again in April, 1908, when I was here for two days during what was catalogued as your spring vacation, but which had the characteristics of a winter vacation. I do not think I ever felt the cold in Hanover more during my college course than I did on that visit. Doctor Tucker remembers my trying to walk up from his house in the morning through the Vale of Tempe and being forced by the freezing wind to abandon the effort.

Next year will be the fiftieth anniversary of the graduation of my class. It is hard for me to believe it, but such is the fact. We graduated about sixty in number, having lost several members in the previous year through enlistment for the Civil War on both the Northern and Southern sides. A single class today is nearly as large as the four combined classes of that time. The Commencement parts then, under President Lord, were drawn by lot, about one in three being thus taken in each graduating class. At our graduation I drew no part in the lottery, and I was glad of it, for I had no taste or talent for public speaking. However my satisfaction in escaping at Commencement was of short duration, for I was at once and I believe unanimously elected by my class as Class Day Orator, the custom then being to elect from those who had drawn no place at Commencement, an orator, a poet, and a chronicler for the Class Day celebration. Our class chronicler, Clark, was a witty fellow. I have never forgotten one particularly bright pun which he made on that occasion. In speaking of the formation of our class he said the country towns had sent to Hanover the flower of their youth to become college bred. The pun was considered a great success, although the correctness of his general statement may have been questioned. I was elected orator, but not because I had special fitness for the post. I might even say I was named orator on the lucus a non lucendo principle. I was chosen because I was considered a good fellow. I was third in my class at graduation and in years I was the youngest but one. In those days scholarship was considered the test of success and honor in the College, and not athletics, of which we heard but little then. Yes, I stood third in my class in scholarship rank, but I was never a book-worm, neither was I a saint. In my day we all expected to be lawyers, or doctors, or ministers. I intended to be a lawyer, and in fact studied law for a few months after leaving College. But events caused me to change my career, and four years after graduation, in 1866, I found myself in New York City beginning at about the foot of the ladder as a clerk in a foreign banking house. I mention this, as it may be useful to you to know it happens sometimes that a young man at his graduation is not yet sufficiently developed to be able to decide at once for what career his tastes and talents best fit him. If he is then in doubt, and can afford to wait a year or two, employing his time to advantage meanwhile, he is likely at the end of that interval to know better his own inclinations and capacities. The important thing is to make sure of these first and then to select the right career and to be animated in it by the feu sacre .without which one cannot expect to achieve success in anything

I need hardly say to you how much pleasure it gives me to find everywhere evidence of the great affection and enthusiastic loyalty towards Old Dartmouth which now exists, not only in the student body but among all the graduates of the College. You will be interested to know that of the thirty- five surviving graduates in 1910 of my class of 1862, including the Chandler Scientific as well as the Academic Department, I received last winter letters of warm congratulation and thanks for the help I had given to our alma mater from all but one, and he I believe is not living although we have no record of his death. Put yourselves in my place and try to imagine receiving affectionate messages fifty years hence from all those of your classmates who will then be alive. You can hardly realize at your present age the great joy which these letters gave me or the pride that I feel in the bound volume in which I have had them all collated for lasting preservation.

If your experience later in life is like my own, you will find the sentiment of affection and loyalty to the College growing in your own hearts as the years go by, and as middle-aged and old men you will look back with increased appreciation and realization upon the privileges and pleasures of your college course- and upon the associations and friendships then formed. I hope that as you go out into the world and achieve material success, you will feel inspired, as I have felt, to do what you can to protect and advance the interests of the College generously in proportion to your means. I was pleased to read in the Resolutions you sent me that you were already animated by this sentiment and by the desire to do your share in the future to perpetuate the reputation and usefulness of Dartmouth College.

And now, boys, I wish you success and eminence in whatever profession or occupation you. may select for your life work, and I thank you again for this enthusiastic evidence of your love for Old Dartmouth and of your personal regard and gratitude to me for having been good to our common alma mater.