"Disappearances"

Three Dartmouth men, Ives Atherton '24, C. T. Goodwin '28, and R. E. Shaw '2B, skated 25 miles up the Connecticut February 7, one of the few times in recent years that the river was fit to skate on. They, caused a great deal of worry since they did not tell anyone they were going to do a marathon. Several searching parties skated eight or ten miles up the river, and were still out when the "missing" men came in on the 3.30 a. m. train from Bradford, Vt.

The "disappearance" of a freshman February 19 provoked the following editorial in TheDartmouth:

"Sunday morning the town of Hanover awoke to a minor turmoil and suspense. A freshman skier had disappeared. His announced destination the preceeding afternoon had been Balch Hill. He was to return about suppertime. Rumor in the eating-clubs and dormitories drew curdling pictures of a limp form crumpled over a pair of splintered skis, hung up on some country fence.

"Throughout the morning and early afternoon a searching party recruited by the Outing Club combed the neighborhood for the lost boy. At dinner some of the searchers stumbled in, sunburned and fatigued, and covered with the snow of frequent falls.

"But a party returning from one of the cabins brought back news of a skier who answered the freshman's description. The Outing Club recalled its party and dismissed it. Another chase after a will-o-the-wisp was concluded and its members dispersed, biting out the choicest expletives of a Hanover vocabulary in wellfounded disgust. It's hardly pleasant to be deluded into spending a whole day of sweatevolving toil looking for a fool freshman who forgot to amplify his plans. "Yet this is only a single instance.

"Not long ago a skating party vanished beyond a bend in the Connecticut, leaving behind them only vague references concerning their destination and schedule. Anxious fraternity brothers spent the night scouring the river. The skating team scurried up the ice, their minds preoccupied with thoughts of a tragedy. But the frantic search availed nofhing. The skaters had spent the night in a tavern and hadn't bothered to let anyone in Hanover know.

"The incidents this winter are only typical of many that have occurred in recent times. Two boys were severely frost-bitten attempting Moosilauke without providing for its polar climate. Smart's cabin contributed another two patients to Dick's House when two amateurs attempted unsuccessfully to build a fire in its hearth.

"The Outing Club should not devolve into a professional rescuing society. Hanover doesn't need the Monks of St. Bernard with their efficient dogs and flasks. But as long as the careless and slovenly manner of reporting departure from the College continues, the Outing Club will have to trace fool kids who think that the snowy hills are as safe as the fenced-in playground of their grammar school."