CLASS OF 1917
Please make mental and written note of the fact that the address at the head of this column has been changed. Your Secretary answered a call which comes to many country boys from Manhattan Island. Hearing great and wondrous things about the Big City made him feel that he was depriving his "wife and children" of a higher standard of living should he refuse to go. Such neglect would be unfair, so the change was made. The only statement that can be made in connection with the change is that said Secretary came to New York to become a partner in the firm of C. W. Anderson and Son, general agents for the State Mutual Life Assurance Company of Worcester, Mass., an institution well known to Dartmouth men. Please don't fail to communicate with the Secretary by telephone or letter if you are to be anywhere near New York city, and this brings us to the real item of importance for this column.
Our Tenth Reunion comes in June. It will be an event unequaled in the personal history of every man in the class. This statement is not intended to convey the impression that elaborate arrangements are being made or anything of the kind. Any man of any class of any college has but one Tenth Reunion, and it is the universal opinion that the Tenth is the biggest event in class histories. To call this reunion THE TENTH seems adequate naming. Catch phrases are unnecessary. Adjectives are redundant. It's going to be THE TENTH, as you will be forced to agree when you wend your weary way homeward as the last gong is rung. The publicity starts immediately, and you will doubtless have received some of it before this column is read.
The Dartmouth Club of New York is an institution worthy of your consideration, and if you are living outside of the 50-mile limit of New York a non-resident membership of $10 a year should be very interesting to you. Communicate with Ray F. DeVoe, chairman of the membership committee, at 120 Broadway, New York city, if you wish additional details. It might be well to add that the Club will be on 38th St., between Park and Madison Avenues, and will constitute a wonderful meeting place and central stamping ground for all Dartmouth men.
In connection with the work for the Dartmouth Club you may be interested in knowing that 1917 men appear on the Club committees in the form of Ed Earle for the entertainment committee, and Don Brooks on the committee for the college. Don Brooks has done a very nice piece of work here in New York in soliciting memberships among 1917 men for the Club, and shows the best record of any class with the exception of 1913. Those who do not belong and who are eligible for resident membership are earnestly requested to consider well the desirability of joining.
Bang! Bang! Bang! The fncessant onslaught continues to mow down the ranks of the infallibles (?). The latest casualty was the victim of a Big Bertha which reached to the Pacific Coast, and in Los Angeles on August 30 struck our good old friend Ike Sprague. We had recommended Ike for a captaincy in our ranks, but before the commission was executed the announcement came from Mr. and Mrs. Louis B. Clarke that their daughter, Elizabeth B. Clarke, had married Mr. Isaac Sprague, Jr., on the date and in the place given previously.
Privates Thielscher, Reade, Litchard, Gale, Knowlton, Holt, and Torrey will kindly report at once to Corporal Sanborn for complete reorganization before making the last stand. If there are others who belong in this select little group, send in your measurements and a uniform will be ordered.
We can't consider this as anything more than "reported missing," but in the end it may prove to be an actual casualty. However, we hand it on to you as we received it. Porter Perrin was last heard of headed toward matrimony, bravely maintaining his last stand with inevitable capitulation facing him on September 20. The enemy's name is unknown, except that she answers to "Dot." It may be interesting to know that the above information was brought back from the front by faithful Private Knowlton, who, in making his report, said in part, "Our ranks are thinning fast! You and I will soon realize how the G.A.R. veterans feel."
It's a dickens of a job to remember who's who in the family histories of class members. This refers particularly to the class children. Your Secretary is forever being confused and most naturally embarrassed by virtue of the fact that he can't remember what men are proud fathers, and if so of what. Just to add to the confusion here are the announcements for this month.
Skinny Sturtevant has a new little daughter, Marion Brooks, July 8, 1926.
Norm McCulloch was presented with Norman Estes McCulloch, Jr., on July 20, 1926, in which connection he writes as follows: "Another Wah Whoo Wah, 83-4 lbs. to start. Resembles me in the feet, otherwise a regular Swede, but nicknamed 'Sandy' to remind him there's a bit of Scotch in him."
Gil Swett presented his name to a son on August 21, 1926.
The following clipping from the MinnesotaAlumni Magazine is self-explanatory: "Dr. Clarence W. Spears, head football coach at the University of Minnesota, is the proud father of a seven-pound baby girl, which arrived the fore part of July. The Gopher coach passed cigars about the armory at the University campus to celebrate the new arrival. The new addition to the Spears family has not been officially named, but mother and daughter are doing well. This is his second daughter."
The last of July we had a long letter from Bob Shaffer, from which we quote in part as follows:
"Sorry to have been so much of a bother, but I have been getting out of touch with Dartmouth affairs for the past four years. Just completed my sea cruise, and it kept me on the jump from the day I reported until I left the ship last March.
"Took over the new scout cruiser Raleigh on telephone orders in June, 1924, a few hours after I finished my last examination at the Harvard Business School. Two weeks later I was on my way to Europe, and doing my best to straighten out the mess which my predecessor left.
"Took in the sights of Christiania, Copenhagen, and Edinburgh, and then rolled around off Hofn Hornaford, Rechjavik, Angmagsalik, and several other big cities of Iceland and Greenland, waiting for the Army fliers to decide when they would fly.
"Returned to Boston in time to go to Cuba to roast in the heat of Guantanamo Bay. During 1926 we spent some time in Panama, Cuba, along the west coast of the United States, and then to Hawaii for the joint maneuvers. Poor turbines prevented us from making the Australian-New Zealand cruise, but spent the summer along the East Coast. When the football season came along, we went to Cuba, where the temperature was better for bathing than football.
"Took part in some more maneuvers off Panama this past winter, and then started for Honolulu. Do not know of any Dartmouth men in Honolulu, but expect I shall locate some before long. If you should happen to run across any that are headed this way we shall always be glad to entertain them and show them the sights of Hawaii.
"We have a delightful cottage in the Manoa valley, which I believe is one of the beauty spots of the world. Go for a swim every day after I come back from the yard and it is an enjoyable experience to swim where the water
never goes below seventy. "Am very sorry that I will not have the opportunity to see any East Coast football this fall. They say the Honolulu teams play a good game of football considering the warm weather. Will be amusing to see one of the high school games, where the youngsters wear no shoes, not even for kicking."
This letter may prove to be an inspiration to those men who are dissatisfied with their present occupation and are able to "join the Navy and see the world."
The following has been clipped from a Vermont scandal sheet, and is quoted for your benefit. "John W. Davis, who is well known for his feats of strength, recently competed in the national weight-lifting championships at the Sesqui-Centennial exposition in Philadelphia. Among SO contestants in five body weight classes, the local man tied for fourth place in his class. He was awarded a bronze medal." John originally became interested in this form of sport by virtue of the fact that a physical disability incurred during his youth demanded corrective exercises, and he developed himself to the point where he can really claim some accomplishment.
Don't forget that it is impossible for one man, or even a small handful of men, to make a reunion. The success of THE TENTH depends entirely upon each individual in the class. Your share of the work will be very simple. Between now and June you will receive requests for information, and other correspondence requiring an answer. Will you please promise to do one thing which will help us to no end? Answer one way or another everything that is sent to you. Shortly you will receive requests for information which you will be willing to send us in order that you may be proud to have the best class report ever published at Dartmouth.
Please keep this column long and interesting by sending in all the dope you can lay your hands on.
Secretary, Room 903, 220 Broadway, New York
