MY DISCOVERY OF THE WOODS

The significance attached to Dartmouth College, as a college, is, that essentially it is a gateway to a higher education for most of the men who are listed on its rolls. It is not, however, the College as an educational grist mill that once inspired Daniel Webster to say, "It is a small college but there are those who love it." Even in more recent times it is not this feature that makes men love Dartmouth. There are as many different reasons given by as many different men as to just why they love Dartmouth as there are students in the college. The College appeals to each man because of some one of its activities that he is interested in. There are those who glory in the prestige that its athletic teams achieve. Those who thrill with the success of each of its new theatrical enterprises. Those who rejoice in the fellowship they enjoy. But the thing that appeals to me most is the surroundings in which the college is set.

For at Dartmouth I discovered the woods! And the trees that make up the woods. And the hills they have grown upon. And the birds that'live in them. I have found the big, red glowing sun that plays its radiance on the orange red leaves and on the deep green leaves. And I have found a new, still darkness and a new radiant tingling daytime. And a big white moon shedding its white light on the uncovered earth. And a smaller moon. Solitude and quiet. Aloneness. And I have found the big river that flows in the valley of these hills. And the little rivulets that bouncing merrily over the moss covered rocks pick their path happily to the big stream. And on the shore and in the stream I have seen the huge? pines and their twins. And the deep blue of the sky mingling charmingly in the quiet blue of the water. And I have seen the season come and go. Only summer have I missed. Not so the rest. The autumn with its ever changing, ever different foliage is an old. friend. With its gay red leaves and its faded brown leaves. The joyful colors of the last carnival before the long winter's sleep changing slowly to the more somber hues of the winter's sleeping gown. Then the winter. And winter means snow. And ice! Biting winds and whipping trees! And the shadows of the trees dancing clear on the white of the snow. And the sharp cold moon above. All this have I seen. And then the winter has gone. Spring has come in on the new breezes warmed by the youthful nearby sun. And I have seen the budding trees, each gloriously covered with thousands of new born leaves. And this new birth of spring was like a new birth to me and I celebrated the first anniversary of my discovery of the woods. And the spring with its teeming life was the time when I learned to love and revere Dartmouth for the opportunity that had come to me to spend my passing years in among the shelter of the glorious woods that surround this old college.