FROM THE UNDERGRADUATE CHAIR

It is rather difficult, to say the least, to sit down and write news of the past undergraduate month—without referring to athletics. These articles are not intended to cover the field of sports, which is covered thoroughly in another part of this magazine. But the recent football season makes it rather difficult to give an accurate reflection of the undergraduate mind without giving much space to football.

We undergraduates were as much pleased with the success which attended Captain Nate Parker's team as were the alumni. The pose of ridicule for athletics, which was so apparent on the campus in the past two years, gave way completely before a justified enthusiasm. We even went so far as to have a rally, and Coach Hawley gave a stirring talk to the crowd which filled Webster Hall the night before the Harvard game.

Expressions of loyalty to the team became more frequent, so that by the time of the Cornell game Hanover was in a frenzy of excitement. You will read in other columns of that contest, and of the subsequent game at Chicago. Undergraduates watched each play of the Cornell game from the stadium, and each play of the Chicago game on the gridgraph in the Gymnasium.

The sendoff which the team got on its way to Chicago was equalled only by the reception it got on its return to Hanover. At midnight that night the campus was lighted by the torches of hundreds, and the crowd waited amiably for the busses to roll in from White River Junction. When they did come in, a huge bonfire had been lighted, around which the crowd gathered—into which the busses were driven. Then ensued a hectic forty-five minutes of cheering for the team, and each individual and each of the coaches was given a Wah Whoo Wah.

The Dartmouth congratulated the men the next morning as follows: "THE DARTMOUTH congratulates Captain Parker and the football team, not because they came through the season undefeated, but on the following points: "First—because this 1925 varsity took each game purely as a game, and did not center its effort on any one opponent. Coach Hawley told them just before the Harvard game, "Remember to play just as though this is like any other game, it is only a hurdle. I would not have you concentrate on Harvard any more than any other team." The spirit which marked that game was characteristic of every game of the season. The men enjoyed the games, George Owen to the contrary, and their goal was the playing of the game every bit as much as the winning of the game.

"Second—because their sportsmanship, in fighting with each other for positions constantly as well as in the games, was of the highest calibre during the whole season.

"Third—because their style of play has been more of a quick-thinking, cleanly aggressive style than that more familiar savagery which so often mars intercollegiate games.

"Fourth—because the team was a congenial group, each man liking the other and playing for the team. This spirit marked the absence of any one star player. The team was essentially a unit on and off the field; so that at no time might it be justly said one man performed markedly better than his mates.

"Fifth—(and most important) because this football team has not allowed the game or success to alter in any ways its standards of values. Composed of high scholarship men, the team at no time in the season subordinated the more important purposes of the College to the playing of a game. This fact was strikingly illustrated three nights before the Cornell game.

"A. J. Oberlander '26 was met by one of the coaches in a drugstore at 10.45 p.m. 'What are you doing up so late?' inquired the coach. " 'l've got some studying to do,' was the reply.

" 'What ? Do you know we're playing Cornell Saturday?' asked the coach, astounded at such heresy.

"Oberlander answered, "What am I up here for, football or education?'

"To an itinerant observer this will mean very little; but we attach a deep significance to that meeting. Here in a very few words is given the foundation upon which the athletic policy of Dartmouth College rests. We admire the spirit behind this undergraduate's words, and his courage in voicing that spirit."

As a matter of fact, the whole month can be summed up fairly well in that one word-football. Of course we had the usual routine of classes, but the major topic of discussion was always the condition of the team and its chances for success.

Withal, however, the College did not tumble into a football frenzy. The undergaduates of today keenly realize the dangerous position the intercollegiate game of football is in, and do not want to see it emphasized any more than it is now.

Undergraduate opinion is decidedly against the playing of a post-season game by the team, as is indicated by the following: "Let's name the American public Dolly A. Dimples. The A stands for Asinine.

"Now tell Dolly the story of those gigantic prehistoric mammals whose lives were cut short because their horns grew so large and heavy that they could not support them. Show her a picture of the grotesque growths.

" 'Oh, ain't thy cute!' shrieks Dolly.

"The mammal is intercollegiate football. Its horns are made up the Roman spectacles in stadiums, of the subordination of the College purpose to athletics, of the wine, women and whistling parties attendant upon important clashes. These grotesque growths are slowly shortening the life of intercollegiate football; while Dolly A. Dimples stands by and wheezes 'Oh, ain't it ducky!'

" The athletic policy of Dartmouth strives as best it can to keep the College from contributing to the ultimate downfall of intercollegiate football. While the College tries properly to relate football to the curriculum, Dolly A. Dimples now has the Dartmouth eleven traveling west to play at the Tournament of Roses on New Year's day.

"A spectator at the Harvad-Dartmouth game wired west, 'lf the Tournament of Roses football committee and Coast Conference want real representative eastern team for New Year's game, believe me Dartmouth is the logical team.' Forthwith the Los Angeles papers blared forth with the announcement that Dartmouth would 'go west.'

"Dartmouth has received no invitation to play at the Tournament of Roses on New Year's day. The chances are a thousand to one that such an invitation would be turned down, were it to be received. Such a game, and the resultant addition to the overemphasis placed on intercollegiate football by the public, would be directly contrary to the policy of the Athletic Council.

"The only excuse that we see for football is the healthy fun that the players get from the exercise. It is good physical and mental training. The only excuse we see for intercollegiate football is the friendly rivalry between the two educational institutions involved, and the increased mutual understanding and acquaintanceship which should attend such contests.

"Dolly A. Dimples has not a thing to do with either of these; yet she 'scalps' tickets, sends teams on transcontinental trips, demands new and larger stadiums, promotes dances, provides bootleggers, and—by sticking her nose into every phase of this undergraduate game—makes it increasingly hard for faculties to allow football to be continued. We wish some means could be provided to provide Dolly with an all-day sucker every Saturday morning, which would take her attention away from football in the fall afternoons."

The other programs of the month were taken up by dramatics, recitals and lectures. The Players put on a splendid production of "The Poor Nut" which is now playing on Broadway with its author, Elliot Nugent, as star.

A new feature of The Players' productions is the playing of the feminine roles by women. This adds immeasurably to the quality of their shows.

In "The Poor Nut," Mrs. Hawley, wife of Coach Hawley, and Mrs. W. P. Farnsworth played two leading feminine roles. They were excellent. W. Murray '27 played the leading part, and his work equalled, in our opinion, the work of Nugent in New York. Lawrence Paquin, director of The Players, deserves a good measure of credit for the nicety of the production.

Louis Siegel gave a splendid recital in the Little Theatre under the auspices of the Music Department.

Sherwood Anderson lectured to a capacity crowd in 103 Dartmouth on literature.

Paul Blanshard and Thomas Cotton, social workers, each visited Hanover for talks, under the auspices of the Round Table.

Dr. Christian Lange, Norwegian representative in the League of Nations Assembly, gave an excellent talk on "The Problems of the League of Nations.

It would do the heart of an alumnus good to be on hand and watch the eagerness with which the Class of 1929 is getting into the spirit of the College. These new men are holding weekly meetings in the Commons every Wednesday, to hear short talks from members of Palseopitus and to get acquainted with members of their own class.

We all remember the success with which The Arts anthology of undergraduate poetry met last year. The Arts this year are going to make a similar award of a prize for the best undergraduate poem, and also intend to award a $5O prize for the best undergraduate short story.

The contests will be judged by the following committees: Short stories—Gail Borden '26 chairman; Professor David Lambuth, Professor K. A. Robinson, Stearns Morse, R. J. Breyfogle '26, J. D. Altizer '26 and R. G. Eberhart '26.

Poetry—R. A. Lattimore '26, chairman; Professor R. C. Nemiah, Professor L. D. Pearson, F. MacDuffee, Gail Borden '26, H. P. Esquerre '26 and L. W. Ingram '26.

In regard to the anthology of last year, J. D. Altizer '26 writes as follows: "It should gratify the hearts of all Dartmouth men to read a review of the Arts Anthology in the September number of The Harvard Advocate, one of the leading undergraduate literary magazines in the country. Harvard openly recognizes Dartmouth's excellence and supremacy in verse writing; this unusual confession should not only gratify all Dartmouth undergraduates, but it should stimulate creative writing on the campus and spur undergraduate writers to a higher level of workmanship than they attained last year.

"Mr. Richard Linn Edsall, one of the Advocate editors, begins: 'A comparison of the best work in Dartmouth Verse, 1925 with the best undergraduate verse at Harvard in late years, is certainly a reproach and a challenge. Why is it that Dartmouth, famed for athletics rather than literature, should outrival Harvard, for all her literary traditions and large size? This is a mystery, and a mystery far from creditable to us.

" 'The preface by Robert Frost is moderately good, but not all one might hope for. The same can be said of all the poems, save those by Allen, Laing, Lenke, Schacht, Talbot, Tanner, and best of all, Lattimore.

" 'Tanner deserves mention not for excellence of verse, but for a strange distortion of mind which is the only distinctive quality in his lines. . . . Among Laing's poems . . . 'Beauty Passed By' and 'Triolet' have almost a classic note of perfectly chosen phrase. Lenke's 'Requiem' is a bit cryptic and ghostly stark; while Schacht's 'The First Autumn,' which tied for The Arts' award, fairly bubbles over with meaning, as if the world were melted and distilled into a little tube of sparkling liquid. This is cousin germane to Emily Dickinson, and I know few higher praises.

" 'Lattimore is of another stamp—perhaps nearer the fin-de-siecle school than any other, except that the lovely, blasphemous poem, 'The Convent,' shows he is narrower than they, in failing to love Catholicism. I advise him to read Dowson's 'The Carthusians,' and 'Nuns of the Perpetual Adoration," in case he has not done so, that he may see how differently his literary masters regard the religious life. The two best of Lattimore's poems show other qualities of the 'decadents,' chiefly a luxurious and sophisticated polish used in painting emotions stirred only by half-dead passions.

" 'He, like the poets of the 90's, is a Pagan weary of the world (an unfortunate sophomoric pose) ; perhaps he may take the same step they took, and find satisfaction in the other world.

" 'Trenody,' which divided The Arts award with Schacht's 'The First Autumn,' is richly painted, and needs only the fire of a little more emotion to kindle the beginning of greatness; the last two stanzas are enough to overawe any other undergraduate. 'Underneath Sleep' is the best of Lattimore's poems, however, and the peak of the volume. There, in rippling melody, smooth and satisfying phrases, he pours out the tangled thought of a mind troubled by a dying love. ... It is a masterpiece of undergraduate verse.

" 'Here, then, is a book which contains surprisingly excellent poetry, printed in the best Mosher manner. May our Harvard poetizers buy it and be stirred at least by shame into rivalry.'

"For all we know, there may have been championship football teams in the day of Richard Hovey, but their small fame has dimmed while his name remains alive. THE TOWER hopes that Dartmouth may nurture men who will be standard-bearers in literature, that their names may live to her continual glory, even as for a brief span of time, the College glories in its football team."

The World Court is the topic under discussion by the undergraduate body just now. The following committee of undergraduates are handling. a campaign to win undergraduate sanction for the World Court: E. W. Miller '26 chairman; G. Champion '26, E. J. Duffy '26, F. Hurd '26, R. G. Eberhardt '26, E. C. McClintock '26, N. K. Parker '27, W. C. Cusack '27 ad W. W. Stickney '27.

Two of these, Miller and Duffy, will represent Dartmouth at the National intercollegiate conference on the World Court December 10 and 11.

This committee is bringing Harry Elmer Barnes and Kirby Page to Hanover to discuss the question. Later on a forum will be conducted and a poll taken.

The Dartmouth put the question up to the undergraduate body in the heart of the football season, as follows: "Dartmouth has the reputation elsewhere as a College where the undergraduates are thinkingconcerning their own problems and the problems of the nation. Paul Blanshard, of the League for Industrial Democracy, told THE DARTMOUTH last week that undergraduates in other institutions often ask him about what is going on at Dartmouth.

"We feel much more proud of this reputation that the College enjoys than we do of the record of the football team. While many are waiting with bated breath for the Cornell-Dartmouth game this weekend, feeling that the reputation of the College hinges on the outcome, THE DARTMOUTH and many undergraduates feel that a mere football game bears no important relation to the standing that we enjoy as a center for stimulating thought.

"From time to time this fall, THE DARTMOUTH has printed editorials concerned with national and international affairs. One or two comments we have heard allege that such efforts are totally lost on the undergraduate body, and that it is useless to try to crystallize an undergraduate opinion on any matters save those of the campus. 'I would rather read again about waiters wearing fur coats than about Locarno,' one instructor told us.

"THE DARTMOUTH, on the other hand, believes undergraduates here are interested vitally in the affairs of the nation; and we are going to test it out.

"Whether this affluent nation is going to pursue its present selfish and ignoble policy of isolation will be decided in the Senate beginning December 17.

"We print elsewhere in this issue the first of a series of articles concerning the entrance of the United States into the World Court. THE DARTMOUTH, in conjunction with the Yale News and other intercollegiate dailies, will strive to create an intelligent undergraduate opinion on the proposition of the World Court. The ultimate intention is to sound out this opinion, possibly by means of forum and a ballot; in the hope that student opinion throughout the country can be brought to favor the entrance of the United States into the Court and to influence that entrance when the question is brought before the Senate in December.

"We believe in the World Court, and will support it to the end. What is the opinion of the undergraduate body?"

At the Foot of Bartlett Tower