ST. LOUIS ASSOCIATION
The Dartmouth Alumni Association of St. Louis feels proud of its record this past year in the maintenance and spread of the Dartmouth spirit in the border city. The association has not the large number of alumni that are present in Boston, New York, and Chicago, but the few that it has are well organized, loyal Dartmouth alumni and proud of their college. During the whole winter and spring the group has met every Thursday for luncheon at the City Club, and the attendance has ranged from fifteen to thirty out of a possible maximum attendance of approximately thirty-five.
The "peerade" for the Dartmouth-Chicago game at Chicago started the year in a blaze of glory. Between twenty-five and thirty members of the association journeyed to Chicago to participate in the festivities and to pledge anew their support to the College. From that time on to April it was the desire of every man to bring a part of the college to St. Louis. Consequently all our efforts were concentrated on this end.
The project of getting the musical clubs here began to take real shape in February, when a get-together meeting of the alumni, their wives, and friends was held at a supper dance at the Athletic Club. At this preliminary meeting the first plans were laid for the event of the year, the concert of the combined musical clubs of Dartmouth College.
In March the College Club (a local woman's organization) of St. Louis arranged a benefit performance of George Arlis in "Old English." All the alumni associations in the city were asked to support the affair, Dartmouth being asked to take one box and to sing a Dartmouth song during the intermission. The association went in a body, occupying three boxes and a section of the floor of the theatre. The boxes were decorated with Dartmouth banners. And as a "quid pro quo" the association was permitted to place in each program an announcement of the coming concert.
In April the climax of the season was reached with the entertainment of the Dartmouth Musical Clubs at a. concert and dance at the Hotel Chase. It was felt that, this project was a stupendous undertaking for so small an association, for the expenses were necessarily large. But each man underwrote the concert according to his ability, each put his shoulder to the wheel, and with the great help of the ladies of the association the success of the venture was assured. The success of the party cannot be mentioned in monetary terms alone, for it was a success from every viewpoint. The expenses were more than met, the hall was crowded to the doors, and the musical clubs gave a concert that has not been equaled in the city by any college in years. But more than anything else the concert recemented ties with the College that had been allowed to lapse, it bound together the association as it had not been before into a single hard-working unit, and it gave the alumni a chance to show the city what Dartmouth means to us all.
