CLASS OF 1897

'97's Twentieth Reunion was clothed in that same sombre atmosphere which has been a part and parcel of nearly every reunion or Commencement this year.

Some of the men, who were on government work, could not get back. Twenty, however. were there," including Boardman, Bolser, Chase, Gibson, Ham, Holt, Kelly, McCornack, Marshall, Merrow, Pender, Poor, Rollins, Ryan, Sanborn, Semp Smith, Woodworth, Conlon, McFee, and Blunt.

Several of the wives and children were there, but not in so great numbers as at our Fifteenth Reunion. However, all of the Hanoverians were as" cordial and nice to the class as they have always been, including, as the class knows, Mesdames Bolser, Marshall, Pender, and Poor, together with Mrs. Ham, her daughter, Clara; Mrs. Kelly and daughter, Frances; Mrs. Ryan and Mrs. S. C. Smith, Miss Margaret Smith, and Master Smith.

Officially, the reunion commenced with the dinner at Lake Mitchell, ten miles over in the Norwich hills, on Sunday noon of the 17th. It rained that morning, a trifle, and some. The roads were narrow, while the canopy-topped surreys, which took twenty-five of the class and their families over, were not absolute protection from the downpour; nevertheless, the drive was not the most unappreciated part of the Commencement, while the dinner at the Lake Mitchell Club was an unusually bountiful and interesting one. Bill Ham insisted on fishing, which delayed the party getting back somewhat.

Tuesday afternoon there was a lunch at the golf house of the Hanover Country Club.

The class was quartered in North Massachusetts, one of the dormitories with which we have not been intimately acquainted, but which proved extremely good for our purpose. The meeting hall of the dormitory, one suggested, had never been seen or used during college.

Each night we had an assembly of '97 folks there that really made up for the usual Commencement gaieties, which were strangely lacking this year. One thing, for instance: Semp Smith tried to put one over on his delightful young daughter that he had graduated within one point of Phi Beta Kappa. This brought up a discussion, and the official registrar of the College, Tibbetts, brought in all the marks of the class for the four years. Suffice it to say that some of the men who were paying Semp a dollar a term on marks, got away with it, and Semp closed the evening not only a little deficient in pocket but as far as truth was concerned in his daughter's eye.

This is reprehensible conduct on the part of this member of the firm of Ginn and Company, for he has not paid his bill as yet. I hesitate to make this announcement, except for the fact that we have to find some way of getting back at him, which he insisted was impossible for us to do.

Tuesday evening at an informal meeting of the class, we went over the matter very thoroughly of the deficit which would be caused during the next five years in College, owing to lack of students and other things which need not be mentioned. It was determined that Hamilton Gibson should have charge of the Twenty-fifth Reunion Fund, and that this should be collected from time to time during the next five years and immediately turned into the College towards running expenses, the amount of the fund to be announced at our Twenty-fifth Reunion and to be known as '97's Twenty-fifth Reunion Fund.

It was judged that $35,000 might be collected from the class for this account, and if the other members of the class could have been at the meeting to appreciate the seriousness with which the matter was taken up and the thorough intention to carry it through and make as large a sum as possible, they would meet Gibson more than half way in his requests for subscriptions to this fund.

Many arguments might be brought forward as to why the fund should be raised. One prominent feature was this: That no man, going through college, pays to the college the entire amount of the cost of his education, and that this amount, plus interest from the time that he graduated, becomes a debt of honor which he should assume. This immediate fund gives an opportunity for the repayment of this debt, disregarding the fact that every college man owes his Alma Mater much more than can be readily stated in terms of money.

The Commencement Week ended with Wednesday's exercises, at which the swagger sticks and the '97 insignia, which had been provided, were more or less in evidence.

Some changes of addresses have taken place since the last '97 reunion.

Peacham Blanchard, for instance, is now at Omaha, Neb.

Blunt, 10 High St., Boston.

Bill Ham, First Bridgeport National Bank Building, Bridgeport, Conn, (and Bill is having the time of his life placing his personality on the 280 cottages the live merchants and manufacturers of Bridgeport are building.)

Fay Hilton, Trus Con Products Company, Detroit, Mich.

Dave Maloney, 501 Tremont Building, Boston.

Sport Morse, Williamson-Sleeper Company. So. Boston, Mass.

Pillsbury, Wilson and Company, Pacific Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y.

Joe Ryan, 120 Boylston St., Boston, Mass. Cap Shaw, 14 Central Ave., Lynn, Mass. Jim Conlon, 204 White St., Pittsburgh, Pa. Bob Sisk, Hotel Adelphia, Philadelphia, Pa. Billy McFee, 3 Washington Square, Haverhill.

George Tent, Hatchville, Mass.

Hiram Tuttle has been doing wonderful work for the government at Washington on cantonment. Heald is in the South on government agricultural propaganda. Others of the class are working along semi-government lines.

The secretary has not the correct addresses of the following men. If any one has recent information, will he advise Merrill Boyd immediately.

Coakley, last address, 343 Harvard St., Cambridge, Mass.

James, last heard of at Pittsburgh, Pa.

Robinson, last heard of at Atlanta, Ga.

Ernest N. Smith.

Dascomb, mail to him at Eagle Pass, Texas has been returned.

Meehan, and J. R. Woodworth.