Letters to the Editor
Sterling, Illinois
Dear Editor:— I am an alumnus of the class of 1875 and so too far along in life to say aught for or against the athletic pursuits that engage so fully the attention of the undergraduates of Dartmouth College.
I do wish, however, to express my sanction and approval of the course of instruction outlined (page 152-3) by Prof. W. H. Wood under the title "Biblical History and Literature." Here provision is made for obtaining the mental furniture most needed when days of preparation are. passed. Whatever else the curriculum has to offer, in my judgment, no student should miss this. The class of '75 did not have such a golden opportunity for life equipment.
A GOOD SUGGESTION
Sheridan, Wyoming
Dear Sir:— Why not give the old boys a boost in your MAGAZINE?
I do not remember in nearly fifty years that '82 has had a write up; I am sending some dope that those classes around '82 will read with some pleasant interest.
I read with a good deal of interest the article in January number of your MAGAZINE entitled "Webster Cottage removed."
I lived in the cottage in 1882 and slept in the room Daniel Webster slept in when in College; I am inclosing a photo of our room just right of the entrance on first floor; it is a picture of Frank M. Douglas of '84 who roomed with me, and in the chair is myself; we called it usually "Mac Murphy Cottage."
Again I am enclosing some base ball scores of '82; we defeated the Harvards twice in '82, the last time on June 26, and on same day at the College Church we had the Oratorical Contest in which I won first prize of fifty dollars; I am sending the picture of the Dartmouth B. B. Club of '82, which I am sure a great many old boys will be delighted to see in the MAGAZINE; also I am sending a program of entertainment we gave in the College Church in '82, and a press comment on it; and two more photos—one of my classmate, John Pope of '82, and myself in high hats and one of Frank M. Douglas of '84 and myself in abbreviated derbies.
THE EDITORS THINE:
(Consensus of Opinion from the AmericanAlumni Council)
The Editor of this MAGAZINE recognizes his obligation to give College news in a pithy, concise way and to represent alumni opinion and aspirations with vigor. We want this MAGAZINE to be talked about, and we intend to give it character and personality. Even criticism is better than apathy, a publication that is not talked about is dead.
"All that glitters is not gold." A flashy cover often means a colorless interior. It is our ambition to present a scholarly, thoughtful discussion of our College's affairs as an educational institution. We will illustrate it just as much as our limited funds allow.
Of course in so very large and varied a body of alumni, there will be many different opinions and tastes. We would like to have them all. No doubt there are constructive ideas among the older alumni who are so solid in their support of the College, the younger alumni who are so enthusiastic and lately familiar with its conditions, the out-of-town group who are so full of fresh points of view and new contacts, and the small body of local alumni.
We urge the thoughtful attention of all who read this to our plea for assistance. Let us have the benefit of your opinion. We cannot imagine it, so we ask you to write to the editor and tell him.
RECENT MAGAZINE ARTICLES
"Religion Goes to College." By Herbert Parrish. Century for January.
"The Woman Goes to College." By Bessie Bunzel. Century for November.
"Dictionaries." By H. G. Emery. Century for November.
"The Great God Football." By John R. Tunis. Harpers for November.
"The Trade of the Journalist." By Richard Owen Boyer. American Mercury for January.
"From the Prize-Ring to Professor." By H. W. Whicker. Scribner's for November.
"Are the Colleges Playing Poor?" By William B. Munro in the October Atlantic Monthly.
"The Women's Colleges Reply," by William Allan Neilson and "A Brief Rejoinder," by Mr. Munro in the January Atlantic.
OF INTEREST TO COLLEGE MEN
TUITION
Though tuition is only one of several items a student must meet when he enters college, it is a charge that varies in various institutions from almost nothing in state universities up to $450 at Princeton. Amherst charges $300; Yale, Cornell, and Brown, $350; and the following, $400:'—Harvard, Dartmouth, Williams, Wesleyan, Johns Hopkins, Lafayette, Lehigh, Bryn Mawr, Smith, Vassar.Wellesley, Swarthmore, and others. State universities ordinarily have no tuition fees at all or else make only nominal charges.
SPORT STUFF
By Romeyn Berry
University symphony concerts are now going full blast on many campuses.
These concerts are unquestionably important. They invariably pack the halls with all kinds of people, 99 per cent of whom go to hear the music, and not just to show themselves. But there is something about the atmosphere which is peculiarly congenial for the propagation in large numbers of that particular species of musical shrimp which takes all the pleasure out of concerts. When you come out all steamed up with enthusiasm they sniff and tell you what was wrong. Either the sliphorn was a shade off, the program was arranged without discrimination, or the soloist flatted. "Why won't they let you be happy in your ignorance?
It is the keystone in the arch of my simple musical faith that a good-looking contralto who knows how to wear her clothes and how to walk off and on a stage with her chin up and her shoulders back, is incapable of flatting. Even if I am wrong, I want to stay wrong.
The next time one of these shrimps ruins a good evening at the end thereof by obtruding undesired erudite criticisms, I am going to borrow the big oompah horn and stuff him in it.
THE PRODTJCX OF THE COLLEGE
It costs something to have colleges, but it costs infinitely more not to have them. American democracy would not rest secure as it does today if hundreds of leaders had not devoted to the country the fruits of their college training.
More than half the signers of the Declaration o of Independence were college graduates. Benjamin Franklin founded the University of Pennsylvania. George Washington was Chancellor of the College of William and Mary. The leading trustee of Hampden-Sidney College was Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson was both the graduate of a Christian college and the founder of a university. Among other early graduates of distinction were Hamilton, Marshall, Monroe, James Otis, John Hancock, Samuel and John Adams.
Daniel Webster stirred the Supreme Court of the United States as it has seldom been stirred in his famous plea for Dartmouth College. Before the Civil War, Stonewall Jackson was the head of a school and at its close Robert E. Lee accepted the presidency of a college. No man knew better than Abraham Lincoln the value of education and in 1862 he signed the "Land-grant Bill," which virtually created fifty colleges in the West.
"He fixed my destiny in life," said Thomas Jefferson of William Small, a member of the faculty of William and Mary college.
