MEMORIAL FIELD AND ITS DEDICATION

A thousand points of flickering light outlining the long column of marchers swinging along under the lighted windows of the dormitories; the long stretch of gymnasium floor crowded to capacity with a responsive Dartmouth Night audience of more than four thousand; the close-packed semi-circle standing bareheaded and silent before a new Dartmouth shrine as the last notes of "Taps" echoed down from somewhere high up on the new stadium to end the brief ceremony of dedication:—these are clearcut memories of the 1923 Dartmouth Night celebration in Hanover that for those who were there will live long after the score of the Cornell game is forgotten.

There have been many notable events connected with the twenty-eighth Dartmouth Night exercises held in Hanover every year since 1895 and it serves no useful purpose to say that any one of these is greater than the rest. The anniversary is not one that submits readily to analysis or comparison. Every Dartmouth man who has ever shared in the observance of this custom has his own scale of values and will decide for himself which Dartmouth Night is the greatest in the history of the College. But President Hopkins is authority for the statement that this year's gathering was different from any that had preceded it, and certainly there will be many whose classmates are numbered with the war dead who will long hold this year's celebration as the finest expression of the true spirit of the Night and all that it means to Dartmouth.

For weather, Hanover offered the best it had. Friday, November 2nd, was the first of three perfect days and it saw the advance guard of the hosts of alumni converging on Hanover to take possession for a few short hours. All day they came, many by train, most by machine, and by night the streets were as crowded as for Commencement Week, with cars parked everywhere and the energetic traffic cop in front of the Inn badly overworked.

At about seven o'clock the procession began to form. It started in a rather half-hearted fashion and one wondered just how much the College was concerned with the business of the evening. But the undergraduate body is larger than it ever was before and perhaps it takes longer to get under way. In any case, the crowd gathered fast after the band started on the rounds of the dormitories, and with the customary circuit completed the column, now lighted for its entire length with swinging, smoky torches, returned to the Campus to join with the Alumni in the procession to the Gymnasium.

The choice of the Gym for the exercises was a happy one. Not only was it warmer than the big tent on the southeast corner of the Campus which has been used for the past year or two, but it is vastly more in keeping with the spirit of the Night and provides a more congenial setting for the annual homecoming. Considering the dimensions of the gymnasium proper, it was exceptionally well arranged. The speaker's platform, flanked on either side by the Dartmouth and the Y. D. Bands, was midway down the west wall, with rows of camp chairs ranged in a semi-circle in front of it. Along the east wall was a bank of low bleachers, filled long before the marching line was within sound of the Gym. And when the exercises began, every seat was taken, the gallery was filled, and freshmen clung to vantage points on the apparatus at the south end of the building.

While the student body was settling into its crowded quarters, the college band crashed forth with "Hail, Dartmouth" that loosed a mighty volume of song. Then a lusty Wah-hoo-wah for Dartmouth was followed by another for Prexy Hopkins as he rose to speak. In welcoming the alumni back to this anniversary of Dartmouth Night, the President reviewed briefly some of the things the College was seeking to accomplish. Referring to the Field, he paid tribute to the men who had made it possible and acknowledged in particular the gratitude of the College for the efforts of the Memorial Field Committee, including Prof. James P. Richardson '99, who conceived the idea and achieved its adoption ; Homer Eaton Keyes 'OO, former Business Director of the College who had drawn the original plans and organized the alumni for financing it; Mr. George G. Clark '99, whose abundant energy as secretary of the committee had carried the work through to completion; General Frank S. Streeter '74, who had acted as chairman of the committee up to the time of his death; and Judge William N. Cohen '79, who had taken up the burden General Streeter laid down. To these men the President gave a large part of the credit for the successful completion of the Field.

President Hopkins had the usual sheaf of messages cabled or telegraphed from Dartmouth men everywhere, but because of the length of the program, forbore reading any except two from Paris and London. Then, after noting the similarity of the list of speakers with that of the first Dartmouth Night, he introduced Governor Channing Cox '01.

The genial chief executive of Massachusetts obviously enjoyed the opportunity for reminiscence and in courageous disregard of the consequences entertained the audience with stories of the two following speakers. He was called to account by Judge Nelson P. Brown '98 a few moments later for certain remarks about His Honor's undergraduate leadership of the Glee Club and was forced to accompany the Judge at the piano through one verse of the Dartmouth Song. The ensuing duet (or if you please, duel) was easily the sensation of the evening. In more serious vein, the Governor reviewed the changes in the physical aspect of the College but emphasized its enduring purpose, and concluded with a stirring pledge of loyalty to the forward-looking leadership of President Hopkins.

Judge Brown, after countering some of the Governor's thrusts, sounded the dedicatory note by stressing the need in the College as well as in the world outside for the fundamental virtues of fairmindedness, intelligence and courage that had characterized the men who gave their lives in the war.

"Madelon," stirringly rendered by the Y.D. Band and a fitting reminder of war days, served as an introduction to Dean Laycock who made the formal oration dedicating Memorial Field to the service of the living and in memory of the dead. But the Dean is too human to be formal on such an occasion and he told in an intimate way, as only he can, of the spring of 1917 when half the college slipped away almost overnight to meet the challenge of the hour, eager to serve and ready to pay for the privilege. He told the story of Dick Hall '15, the first American to be killed in action. He spoke of Chick Pudrith, of Hal Eadie, of Spuddy Pishon, Joe Emery, Paul Osborn and those others of the Dartmouth family who by their sacrifice had placed themselves forever in the company of the immortals; and the hush that held the audience throughout his speech added its own tribute to the Dean's words.

Then, under the direction of Dick Paul '11, the procession formed again outside the Gymnasium for the march to the new stand and the actual dedication of the Memorial Arch. First the Y. D. Band, then the color bearers, P.R. Chase '24, Field Artillery, and E. A. Kibbe '24, Tank Corps, accompanied by W. R. Von Lehm '25 and H, DesMarais '26 of the Navy as color guards; and following the colors, the French cannon, drawn to its final place of honor under the arch by twenty freshmen and under the escort of K. A. Harvey '24 of the Ambulance Service, C.E. Blodgett '25, Aviation, F.L. Coulter '27, Marines, and J.C. Tarr '27, Aviation. Then came the representatives of the twenty-four classes who had lost members in the service, followed in order by the Trustees, guests, faculty and alumni. The service classes were represented by the following men:

1883 Alfred E. Watson

1897 Morton C. Tuttle

1900 William Stickney

1905 James A. Vaughan

1906 Walter Powers

1908 Arthur T. Soule

1909 Vernon F. West

1910 Earle H. Pierce

1911 George M. French

1912 Edward B. Luitwieler

1913 John Noble

1914 Paul W. Loudon

1915 Harold K. Davison

1916 Carl N. Holmes

1917 Ralph Sanborn

1918 Ernest H. Earley

1919 John H. Chipman

1920 Arthur W. Stockdale

1921 Hugh M. McKay

1922 Herbert F. West

MEDICAL SCHOOL

1885 Charles B. Drake

1893 Walter A. Allen

1908 Raymond L. Giles

1913 James J. Powers

The Dartmouth Band headed the undergraduate body that followed behind the alumni.

Through a lane of white fire the column marched up past the Library, thence to Lebanon Street and down to the Arch, pressing up close to the ropes that kept a semi-circular space cleared in front of the brightly lighted facade. The ceremony was brief but it could scarcely have been more impressive. The two bands were grouped on either side of the entrance and faced inward. Within the Arch was the French "75" with its escort and the colors. On a platform to the right of the Arch stood the President, facing the line of class representatives, some of them in uniform, and all bearing wreaths.

Within the Arch the granite tablet containing the names of the Roll of Honor was balanced by the monument given by Edward Tuck '61 in memory of Dick Hall. In silence two of the men serving as escort for the French cannon removed the large wreath which had been carried on it, placed it at the foot of the monument and remained standing at attention on either side.

The President then spoke briefly, dedicating the Arch in the name of the College to the memory of the "laurelled sons" whose names were carved in the granite tablet, and as he finished, the flag that had veiled this panel was drawn aside, service men in uniform took position on either side at attention, and the class representatives advanced, four at a time, to lay their wreaths at the foot of the Honor Roll. Then followed the singing of "Men of Dartmouth," a prayer of dedication by Rev. R. W. Barstow '13, the sounding of "Taps," and then the barriers were lowered to let the procession pass in silence under the Arch out on to the dark stretch of Memorial Field.

The following afternoon, just before the Cornell game, the Memorial Field was formally and finally presented to the College by Judge Cohen for the committee in the following words:

"President Hopkins: In the name of those who gave of their blood, and of the Dartmouth Brotherhood who mourn their choicest, we present to the College this Memorial Field to keep alive for all time the idealism for which her sons died."

In accepting it for the Trustees, President Hopkins said:

"Judge Cohen: In grateful appreciation of the efforts of the living which have made this memorial possible, and in reverent memory of the dead whom it commemorates, I now accept the gift here proffered by you in behalf of the alumni and friends of the College, and dedicate it to the perpetuation in Dartmouth undergraduate life of the spirit of hard play and of clean sport as essential factors in the development of American manhood and in the realization of the college purpose."

Then as the massed bands played the "Star Spangled Banner" the national and the college flags crept to the peaks of the two poles at the top of the stands and the dedication ceremonies were over.