CLASS OF 1888
Once when a Basque sea captain was asked to repeat a song he had been heard singing, he quietly said that he taught it only to those who sailed with him. So there are certain memories that have been given only to college mates who made the same voyages of work and play together.
At the reunion there came to many of us a sense, I am sure, that only we of the class of 1888 who were present at Commencement were real, and all the others were shadows. We were conscious that, in the background, appeared to be certain trustees and members of the faculty and graduates of other years and even a graduating class, but, so poignant were our shared memories, that it seemed as if each of us were bringing faded but precious treasures to a shrine, at which all others were interlopers.
The great occasion began on Friday evening, when a. few men assembled in the common room of North Massachusetts Hall, which was the class headquarters, and sat up till a late hour discussing certain warmed-over games of poker, ancient excursions to the environs -of Hanover, and other old, happy, far-off things and battles long ago. There was little tendency to compliment the advantages of a liberal education, and no evidence that any who were present had received one. In fact, there seemed at times to be a certain gusto in remembering forbidden fruit, for, as Christopher Morley has observed, "Even Hell has its patriots." The good fellowship, however, was marked, and the wives, who were asleep, were spared many details which at this date require no explanation.
The arrival of Walker and Gleason made the event significant, the appearance of Spencer and Simonds made it interesting. Spencer is certainly the Youngest Living Graduate, and it was good to watch Gleason and Walker slipping off the years and taking on their never-wholly-lost boyishness. Keay, of course, is our perennially unquenchable Chanticler, but his "exposure," which placarded the town on Saturday, left him for once speechless. Billy Richardson was with us but for a few hours on Saturday.
At the dinner, which was beautifully served in the Inn, and at which all classmates who reached the reunion, except Chandler, Richardson, English, and Whitcomb, gathered, with their wives, the anniversary came to its best moments. We lingered until nearly one o'clock, while classmate after classmate told in simple fashion the story of his doings or joked about the well-known infirmities of others.
"Father" Pattee, true to his title, presided in his paternal fashion over his sons, and with easy, apt, and kindly words brought out the best in each.
The story that Livermore told of how he came to Dartmouth with $1.50 and emerged at the end of the first term owner in feesimple of a furnished apartment has always been a classic and is now a masterpiece. When he began by saying, "I will now tell you the truth," he cast an unmerited doubt upon the veracity of a tale, which it has now become our duty to believe. Livermore almost believes it himself.
It was a special pleasure to hear a few who had been unable before to be present declare themselves : Walker discussing the long-mooted question as to whether "Toughey" is a definition or a libel, Pearson denying that he was ever unnecessarily blasphemous, Chase endeavoring in vain to explain satisfactorily his bachelorhood, and McCarthy and Gleason renewing their loyalty to '88.
Mrs. Livermore, in her lively fashion, responded for the ladies, and upon her was conferred by the class president, with whatever Latin and authority he may have possessed, the well-deserved degree of LL.D.
Sunday was the most successful single reunion day we have ever enjoyed. An all-day picnic kept the class together in an informal way from noon till dusk. On this day English and Whitcomb joined the party. Lunch was taken at the Mel Adams Cabin of the Outing Club on a sightly hill north of Hanover, and supper was enjoyed at a tea-room kept by Chandler's sister on Mascoma Lake. There was a precious hour of reminiscence by the Lake at dusk.
The Secretary was called away at this time to talk to some bankers in Wisconsin, and so cannot report the remaining events with intimacy. Some of the men joined in the parade to the Alumni Field on Monday morning and watched Cornell butchered to make a holiday, although the process was carried out with strong reluctance on the part of the victim. The men separated in the afternoon to the fraternity reunions, one or two actually attended the Alumni or the Phi Beta Kappa meeting. Gradually classmates drifted away to their homes, but a few tarried until Commencement, and watched with affectionate joy the conferral of the degree of Doctor of Letters upon Pattee, our Saint John.
Anatole France tells of the good Alsatians, who contrive in places where the shade is most grateful to place benches which they carve with the names of their friends. He says: "Let the surveyor measure the roads and place the mile-stones. As for me, the kindly care of places of meeting and of dreams shall busy me enough."
Blessed is the man who has the care of preparing reunions.
And so, home, until 1928.
