This number of The Magazine

This number of The Magazine is, for the most part, filled with material on the Sesqui-Centennial. For the extremely able and interesting account of the proceedings which is here printed credit must be given to Mr. George L. Kibbee, editorial writer of the Manchester Union. Though not a graduate of Dartmouth, Mr. Kibbee has captured its point of view and absorbed its spirit with a completeness that argues for him in the dual capacity of trained journalist and good fellow. Not long since, he became honorary alumnus by grace of the con- ferred degree of Master of Arts. During the anniversary celebration he was a guest of the College, honored by it not only as a distinguished journalist but as a power for righteousness in the State. His opportunity for observation was excellent. He has turned it to account in behalf of those Dartmouth men who were unable to attend.

‘‘The note struck by the Sesqui-Cen- tennial was unique, unexpected and highly inspiring. I went to Dartmouth expecting to hear rehearsed again its romantic past and to view again its tre- mendous foundations (and they cannot be viewed too often) and I heard instead the trumpet call for Dartmouth’s, future. It was a new note; it was thrilling. In every message there was the breath of the liv- ing North; it was tonic to be there. Liv- ing in an atmosphere strongly charged with the spirit of efficiency measured by material standards, I have often won- dered if the old foundations were in- deed shaking. I came away from the Dartmouth hill-top tremendously encour- aged. It was good to have been there. I felt like saying ‘Let us build here three tabernacles and live forever in this clear air’. I am better for having been to Dartmouth and having caught anew this vision that it is Dartmouth’s lofty privilege to give to her sons. God bless the old college; she is still leading not only her sons but the generation of her sons that is now at the helm. May she never take a lower standard than that she set for herself on the day of her century and a half jubilee.”

So speaks an alumnus in a letter to President Hopkins. It is an eloquent tri- bute and well timed. However brilliant a celebration, those who have to stay around after it is over and clean up the place are likely to lose the magic effect of the glitter that has passed.

When the alumni were all about and the band was playing and the pomp and circumstance of learning were rust- ling their bright-hued way into Webster Hall; when the aurora of oratory was forcing a jealous sun to shine till mid heaven grew radiant, one could see the forward path of Dartmouth strewn thick with roses and Alma Mater’s blithesome tread so swift and light as scarce to bruise a petal.

Subsequent examination leads to the belief that what in hours of exaltation seemed roses were merely the debris of the crowd:—frayed newspapers and cardboard boxes. But, whatever they were, they, too, are now eliminated. The mirage has quite subsided and, with it, the pinnacles and domes of wonder that for a few great days were mirrored in the eyes of Dartmouth men.

Dartmouth’s road was first broken in laborious toil and enduring patience; and these things have been the price of its progress through a century and a half. The turning of the years seems not likely to bring a change in long-rooted tradi- tions. It will be remembered by some that to the voice crying in the wilder- ness nothing was ever handed on a sil- ver platter; indeed, quite the reverse.

This is merely the view of the man with the forked stick amid the litter of brief accomplishment. And if it is, after all, neither roses nor litter, but the abandoned ballast of high vaulting sky- craft, he needs the friendly casting down of a handful of star dust to apprise him of the fact.

A change in the editorial staff of The Magazine occurs in the relief of Pro- fessor Francis Lane Childs byr Mr. Thomas E. Steward. In this shift a new- comer in the department of English as- sumes a burden transferred to him by one of the old standbys of the depart- ment. Editorial work for The Magazine, if done at all, constitutes no easy task for a busy faculty member. For Pro- fessor Childs it became an increasing- ly onerous responsibility as the bulk of news, whose sifting he undertook, stead- ily enlarged and the demands upon his time in a multitude of other directions became more insistent. The Magazine owes so much to Mr. Childs for years of patient work in its behalf that it can not now grudge him a respite.

Fortunately Mr. Steward is at hand to take his place. He graduated from the College in 1910, Since then he has been actively engaged in journalistic enter- prises, from which he comes to Dart- mouth this year as an instructor in Eng- lish, and as one who will keep a weather eye on the shaping of college news for the outside press. It will be his function for The Magazine to keep the alumni informed of what is going on.

Despite a painful ending, the Dart- mouth football season has been a pro- nounced success. It appears to have es- tablished the fact that the popular es- teem which a football team enjoys de- pends less upon winning or losing than upon the way in which it plays the game.

Dartmouth accepted a severe schedule, played it pluckily from start to finish and came through successfully in con- test after contest that was as much a trial of courage and endurance as of football skill. No previous season has developed more favorable public opinion.

On the whole, the argument seems sub- stantiated of those who maintain that a team that would strive for champion- ship must be prepared to defend its claims by actual encounter with the strongest. That may not always be possible in ac- tual practice; but as a guiding policy it should never be lost sight of. Leagues, understandings and long term contracts are doubtless necessary to a stable finan- cial procedure. There can be no criticism of them if they do not tend to become so exclusive as to prevent those free contacts that are at once a stimulation to ambition and a test of actual strength. The spirit of adventure, the willingness to explore new fields, whether they prove to be of victory or disaster, is the essence of true sportsmanship. Without it, the greatest of college sports is, in time, bound to suffer.

Whatever is said in praise of Dart- mouth football this year, must be said also in praise of Coach Spears. The mor- ale of a football team is what the head coach makes it; its ability is partly na- tive and partly a development of train- ing. Dartmouth’s ability was high but its morale was close to one hundred per- cent.