BOSTON ASSOCIATION
Dartmouth was in town again Saturday evening, January 30, at the Copley-Plaza Hotel, this being the occasion of the annual dinner of the Dartmouth Alumni Association of Boston. Desiring to continue the excellent traditions of a year ago, this dinner was designated the "Second Edition of The Dartmouth Potlatch". Not everything was copied; in fact, not everything could be copied, but enough was begged, borrowed, or stolen, then added to and amplified, so that in the final result "a good time was had by all."
It is eminently fitting that once a year the Dartmouth tribes of Boston heed the call of the still north to sit at meat, listen to wise counsel, to pledge again their fealty to their common Alma Mater.
We have felt that the annual dinners of the Dartmouth Alumni Association in Boston during recent years have stood out a bit above the standard of the annual dinners of other college clubs and associations. Perhaps the reason lies in the peculiar relationship which Dartmouth men feel toward the College; perhaps it is partly due to the amalgamating influence of the common welfare as expressed in the purposes and activities of the Alumni Fund. Certainly no small portion of this welding influence is due to the desire on the part of all to keep in touch with the policies and the thoughts of the administration. Thus the men gather with a certainty to hear Doctor Hopkins, speaking for this administration, voice his educational policies and inspire the group to thinking on its own account, so that the momentum thus acquired carries through the ensuing year and makes those recurring annual dinners something to be keenly anticipated and long remembered.
President Hopkins at this year's dinner offered no exception to his usual program; his development of the theory of the college as a "scholastic colony upon domain of common life" was unique and yet was logically convincing; leading up to his conclusion that the great opportunity of the college, in its relation to any man, lay in that it may offer guidance to "himself." Hoppie was never better; and on all sides his address received most favorable commendation.
The second feature of the evening was Professor Robert McNabb of Aberdeen University, Scotland. Making his appearance at the president's table early in the dinner, he was seen to be engaged in earnest, and sometimes argumentative, conversation with Mr. Parkhurst. When introduced he began his scholarly address, depicting his impressions of American university life and drawing his sly comparisons between our institutions and those of Scotland. Dry humor he combined with the gentlest irony, and his appeal at the close for a closer world family and our entrance into the League of Nations found the whole company on its feet wildly acclaiming him. In response to the ovation which could not be denied, he acknowledged his avocation as a student of Scotch folk-lore and music, ending with a verse from "Annie Laurie." The whole company marveled at his range of voice and amid his scaling of the high notes of the last bar, he quickly removed his make-up and disclosed himself as John Daniels, who otherwise acts as secretary for the Associated Industries of Boston and spends some of his evenings in entertaining groups such as ours. Bucky Chandler and Natt Emerson were responsible for this, and they did a great job.
E. K. Hall spoke most convincingly, presenting his ideas of football and suggesting his recommendations to protect the game from itself. E. K. was in great form, and his stuff was well received. Because it has been so widely printed in the press no attempt will be made to describe it here.
Ben Ames Williams opened proceedings of the evening by reminiscences of Hanover and describing his ideal vacation there. If we could do what Ben suggested and then tell about it afterwards in Ben's own style, we, too, might spend most of February in Hanover and find our names headlined in the Saturday EveningPost a couple of weeks later.
Fred Child came over from New York and sang for us. As usual, "On the Road to Mandalay" was coaxed out of him, and although he offered the alibi of throat trouble, we have never heard him sing better.
We mustn't forget, too, the Dartmouth Jazz Band, that enlivened proceedings through the dinner, or the Reverend Boynton Merrill of the Old South Church of Boston, who asked the invocation.
Vic Cutter, after spending long weeks in secret practice, sprung a new one by refusing to introduce the speakers to the audience. He claimed that the audience knew the speakers already, and so he proceeded to introduce the audience to the speakers. At any rate, the Potlatch went off pretty much on schedule. Everybody filed out, filling the great lobby of the Copley-Plaza with their green-feathered war bonnets, about ten-thirty, wondering how much of Hop's theory they would remember to spring on their friends next day.
The officers elected for 1926-27 follow: president, Natt W. Emerson '00; vice-presidents, Joseph W. Bartlett '98, Richard Ward '01, Lafayette R. Chamberlin '05, Charles R. Cabot '12; secretary, C. Edward Leech '14; ass't secretary, Edward H. Learnard '24; treasurer, Austin L. Baker, Jr. '16; ass't treasurer, Alden P. Crosby '19; executive committee, David J. Maloney '97, term expires 1927; Harold S. Fuller '12, term expires 1927; John C. Kimball '15, term expires 1928; W. Dale Barker '15, term expires 1928; Carl F. Woods '04, term expires 1929; Louis B. Wallace '10, term expires 1929; chorister, Harry S. McDevitt '07.
Secretary.
