The Inevitable Postmortem

Football history undoubtedly colors the autumn weeks and one cannot justly write of this period of the College Year from the undergraduate standpoint without reference to it with a postmortem. Briefly, the series of setbacks brought the student body to realize that no football team can win always; but what is more important, the season of major defeats proved that a losing team can be at the same time a good team. And in the eyes of the undergraduates Coach Hawley's eleven was all of that. Dartmouth has been saved from the unfortunate state of mind wherein one forgets how to lose gracefully.

The Dartmouth greeted its readers on the morning of the football rally preceding the Harvard game with: "Tonight, if we may judge from precedent, the undergraduate body will pack Webster Hall to be filled with a lot of sentimental rot about 'Dear old Dartmouth.' Not that we object to becoming sentimental about the College; what we do object to is the manner in which the piffle is handed out concerning such a relatively unimportant and insignificant part of our daily existence." This mid-season bolt brought a storm of protest from undergraduates and alumni alike.

The tenor of alumni reaction was a protest against undergraduate iconoclasm, which failed to arouse noticeable support within the College. Student objections rather centered around the age-old controversy: Has the editor of TheDartmouth the right to bellow in his columns in a tone which is unreflective of his undergraduate constituency in view of the fact that his personal opinions are never read as such? The question is still unanswered. The following morning the editor attempted to explain himself by making a plea for spontaneous enthusiasm in place of "synthetic emotionalism." But no amount of post-explanation could entirely quiet the chafing. Percy Marks made what is considered to be one of the sanest comments on the matter when he said in a letter to THE DARTMOUTH: "An excellent place for an undergraduate to learn to use his studies is at football rallies; in other words, he can learn by being entirely natural, young, enthusiastic, and on occasions, joyously and completely idiotic. . . . And hasn't it occurred to you, too, that there is something ■ offensive in a man, especially in a very young man, who isn't capable of such abandon? He seems emotionally anaemic, a whitish, cold thing, incapable of love. . . . Why must Dartmouth be given over to either esthetes or roughnecks? Why can't it develop gentlemen, wholesome, healthy fellows, enthusiastic about both sport and learning? The enthusiasm for learning must come first, of course, but boys aren't apt to become well-rounded men without the other too. . . . You won't help Dartmouth undergraduates to attain that ideal by publishing smug editorials damning honest enthusiasm." The tempest in a teapot accomplished one thing; spontaneous enthusiasm took rapid strides forward.

The cheers of 1,500 students resounded outside the training table dining room before the Brown game. Although Palaeopitus announced that it would not sponsor a rally for the Cornell game, Main Street was filled with spirited students to bid the Green eleven "Good Luck"! When the defeated Dartmouth team returned from Ithaca, it was a howling, singing host of students which greeted them with torchlights and cheers around one of the largest bonfires seen in years. The undergraduate has evaluated his love for Dartmouth and found it sound and good.

The members of the scrub football team rose to a deserved prestige on the campus after THE DARTMOUTH reprinted a tribute to the battered unsung hero which appeared in the Boston Transcript:

The Scrub Who fights until he nearly drops? The Scrub. Who plows around until he flops? The Scrub. Who ne>er draws the crowd's acclaim, And never wins an ounce of fame, And never hears them cheer his name? The Scrub. Who never seems to get a lift? The Scrub. Who crouches low and then gets biffed? The Scrub. Who never gets his name in ink, Who puts the team right in the pink, And then is hung "beneath the sink' ? The Scrub.

The Dartmouth cheer leaders ' successfully introduced a new cheer to the College at the late season football games which goes as follows : "Go Dartmouth! Goo—o—o—o—o Dartmouth ! G o-^-o—o—o—o—o Dartmouth ! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! G—o—o—o—o—o—o Dartmouth ! Go. Go. GO!" This cheer took immediate favor and gave the College an appropriate yell to use when the team needs the spur of a driving cheer.

The recommendation made by President Hopkins to designate "Men of Dartmouth" as the official Dartmouth song and Alma Mater was in close accord with the general student sentiment. Agitation for this selection was started by THE DARTMOUTH last spring and was reiterated this fall by the Tower in its plea for a Dartmouth Alma Mater which was characteristic of the College and fitting for the uses for which it was intended.