Class of 1920

When it came time to publish the April issue of "Twenty," the editor found himself pleasantly embarrassed with more than enough news to fill the slender columns—a difficulty that has been increased two, three, or four-fold by the fine response to the questionnaire that went with the paper. . Another "Twenty," therefore, will appear in June, newsy enough, we trust, to cre- ate an immediate 100 per cent return of the annual class dues.

Among other things, the April questionnaire requested a class expression of opinion on the constantly recurring theme of the Alma Mater song. Should it, in the collective mind of 1920, remain The Dartmouth Song, or should Men of Dartmouth be substituted? For once the issue was not even close. Those who favored the brawny vigor of the Hovey masterpiece far outnumbered their opponents, and the vote goes down on the books as 25 to 11 in favor of Men of Dartmouth. Whoever has authority to do anything about it can take '20's verdict for what it may be worth—or leave it.

Another poser, put to the class in the same questionnaire, asked what books read in the past year could be recommended, as from one man of Dartmouth to another. Here all semblance of unanimity ceased. The surprising feature was not, as might have been feared, the tremendous variety of reading matter submitted, but rather the apparent willingness of most of the class to commit itself at all on such a treacherous subject. However, in case anyone is interested, the following titles forged to the front with at least as many as two votes each: Elmer Gantry, Sorrell and Son, The Story of Philosophy, and Why We Behave Like Human Beings. In all 42 books won some measure of individual approval. Nor does this include the three Stan Newcomer selections, which indicate full well the growth of the younger Newcomer generation. Stan nominated Check Book, Bank Book, and Old Mother Goose.

Of course, apart from the questions, the charming part of these questionnaires is . the flood of office-and-fireside information that comes back on them. For example, we were interested to learn and glad to pass on the following scattered items.

Dick Charlock had wished upon him the management of the Musical Clubs concert and dance in Philadelphia, April 8, and brought the thing off in true Charlockian style; that is to say, with real- financial and social success. Clint Johnson has joined the ranks of business executives, is now an officer of the Chemical National Bank of New York, and tears all over the eastern United States, advising his clients on matters of foreign trade. Irv Blaine, working as advertising writer and service man for Livermore and Knight Company of Providence, is spending his time temporarily pleasing a large customer in Bridgeport, Conn., and running to earth the Dartmouth men of that locality.

Breg made his radiotic debut over WBZ (Springfield, Mass.) in a battle of music that lasted most of the night. Ken Spalding, for one, reports listening in and surviving the fray. "Dartmouth men," says Eric Stahl of Tulsa, "are like lakes—scarce in Oklahoma." Eric is selling insurance and single, which doesn't necessarily follow; but his lament that he got his feet wet in the oil business may be significant.

"Boy No. 2," remarks Bob Moore laconically, referring to Joseph Wyman Moore, born November 6, 1926. Other arrivals include Kendrick Elwell Fenderson, Jr., on March 30; Benjamin Pearson 3d, whose father, Ben the Second, continues making snuff in Newburyport, Mass., besides building summer homes at the beaches for a side-line; and Michael Bernkopf, who arrived on the stormy night of January 11. Hal insists that the blizzard of that night presages a ski-jumper, while Jim Parkes predicts that his one-year-old Jessie Imogene may grow to be a channel-swimmer.

Another who indulges in sidelines is Roger Nutt, married way back in April, 1924, to Miss Elizabeth Welch, and now the proud father of a second Elizabeth Welch, nearly two years old, and a three-months-old boy, Edgar Alan. Roger is a member of the law firm of Roger Nutt, 32 Broadway, New York city, and his extra-curricular activities are given over to the House of Nutt, Inc., at 126 Maiden Lane, Ditto. The latter manufacture Nutt's Kard Tackst Nutt's Camouflaged Thermometers and we don't know what not in the way of gift shop novelties.

Only two weddings for the record-book this month. Hib Richter was married on April 6 to Miss Sarah Rosser Stewart of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Mrs. Bessie Bishop Wright has announced the marriage of her daughter, Grace, to Phil Kitfield on April 20 in the Swampscott (Mass.) Universalist church. After a southern honeymoon, the Kitfields will live at 19 Suffolk Ave., Swampscott.

Some interesting contributions have been received from the pedagogues of the class. Paul Sample is giving part-time instruction in art at the University of Southern California, but is devoting himself in the main to paintingand selling—pictures in his studio at Eagle Rock, Cal. Almus Russell, who has signed up for next year as instructor in English at Colgate, is the author of "Ruskin's Religion," published in the April issue of Education. Another of his brain-children, "Ruskin's Influence on Present Day Thought," will appear in an early issue of the same magazine. Sam Stratton, erstwhile salesman, has turned from the marts of trade back to the halls of learning, and is finishing up his second year in the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, preparatory to starting next year as an instructor in economics at Cambridge. Larry Clarkson, after crossing the continent from New England, ended up as a teacher in the Urban Military Academy at Los Angeles.

The moot controversy, if there has been one, re the class baby, seems now in a fair way to be settled. On the basis of the evidence so far presented, the award is about to be conferred upon the oldest of the younger Van Iderstines, whose seventh birthday will be celebrated on June 16. If the law has it that the said class baby must be the child of a graduate, the contest will be reopened and further claims with affidavits will be considered.

Editor, East 23d St., New York