CLASS OF 1909
We have received from news-gatherer Herb Hawes letters from Bill Holzer and Bill Loughlin, as follows:
Dear Herb:
I have been in Worcester since 1919, practicing ophthalmology, which you know means being an eye specialist. I served on the ophthalmic staff of the Worcester City Hospital until 1923, when I was appointed chief of the ophthalmic service at Memorial Hospital. Am also on the consulting staff of the Worcester State and Eairlawn Hospitals, hold membership in the New England Ophthalmological Society and American Ophthalmological Society, and find time to contribute an occasional article to ophthalmic literature.
While most of my time is devoted to my medical work, I have been interested in our University Club, serving as secretary for a few years, and this year as president.
I am still one of 1909's bachelors.
Sorry to have been so long in getting this to you.
Sincerely,
W. F. Holzer
Dear Herbert: I acknowledge receipt of your letter of January 9, and am only too glad to help the cause along in any way except that I do not like to talk about myself.
I am engaged in the general practice of the law. Last Monday I was re-appointed city solicitor for the city of Gardner for the eighth consecutive term. I am also general counsel for the Gardner Trust Company of Gardner, Mass.
I have been a subscriber to the MAGAZINE for a good many years. I have gotten a great deal of pleasure out of the MAGAZINE, but have been disappointed with the news items relating to the class of 1909. I daresay that the casual reader of the MAGAZINE, at least during the last few years, would have concluded that there never had been a class of 1909. This cannot be said about the recent editions, as there have been copious items about the members of our class, and this fact, has, in my estimation, increased the value of the MAGAZINE one hundred per cent.
As evidence of my good faith in the matter, I am taking the time to immediately reply to your letter which I received this morning. Furthermore, if there is anything else which I can do, I shall only be too glad to do it.
With continued high regards, I am Sincerely,
Bill Loughlin
Win Smith, Mike Readey, and Ben Dudley attended the Thayer Society dinner held recently in New York.
Ben Burpee is a very successful doctor in Manchester, N. H. He is on the staff of two hospitals, the Elliott and the Balch. The Balch Hospital is a children's hospital, and Ben is very much interested in it. He has four children.
Clarence Dunbar is also a Manchester, N. H., doctor. He is on the staff of Governor Tobey with the rank of major.
Fred Brock and Fred Laton are working in New Hampshire with the Internal Revenue Department.
We have received the following letters from Fred Johnson, Harold Prescott, and John Childs:
Dear Bob: At the earnest request of one Hal Pratt I am sending you a few lines.
I pass Hal many times on the road, but either he has consumed too much of his gas, or just high hat, does not seem to see me as I pass. Even my wife passed him the other day and gave him a very sweet smile, as only a woman knows how; did she get a reck, nothing doing. Hal just passed on, lost where only he can tell.
Dennie Marston of hockey fame in our time lives here in Braintree, and we enjoy many pleasant games of golf at Oak Ridge, Brockton, also visit each others' homes for a family game of bridge, and sometimes the girls get us to go on picnics, etc. Dennie has two nice children, a girl and boy.
I see Dan Watson and George Burns often, as they are among those unfortunates who are trying to make a living in the leather business. Dan, however, has done very well, and with the aid of his orchestra manages to keep the wolf away from the door.
George Burns retains his youthful appearance and looks as young as when in college. You see he is still single. Would this be the answer? I wonder.
Very sincerely,
Frederick C. Johnson
(34 Morrison Road, Braintree, Mass.)
Dear Bob: I want you to know how much I have enjoyed the "revival" of the class of 1909, as particularly evidenced through the appearance of class notes in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE. I appreciate what a tough sort of a job it is to get data for this purpose, and am not only delighted to know you have undertaken it, but wish to assure you of my co-operation as well.
After a long sojourn on the Coast, I am again living in the East, at New Rochelle, in Westchester county. One of my near neighbors is Frank O'Brien, who lives in Pelham and helps run the Continental Can Company in New York.
In November, I had an unexpected visit from Arthur Buxton, who is still grinding out chicken feed down in Covington, Ky.
If everything goes well, Max Bonter, Jack Dowdall, and I expect to take lunch together tomorrow.
I shall try to have more interesting news the next time I write, but thought this brief note would at least signify my good intentions.
With best regards, I am Sincerely yours,
Harold M. Prescott
My dear Bob: This is to acknowledge receipt of your appeal for news of the fellows, but I must admit that I am a poor resort for you to turn to.
Some ten days ago Arthur Swenson and myself were the only representatives of the class of 1909 at the Merrimack County Alumni Association dinner held here at Concord. It is the first time that I had seen Art for some time, but in spite of the fact that he has been under the doctor's care recently, he seems to be pretty well and in the same good spirits that he always was.
Andy Marshall is still with me as assistant on bridge construction for the New Hampshire Highway Department. As to the rest of the list I have not met up with any of them, but will see what I can do to scare up news of them and let you know.
Sincerely yours,
John W. Childs
Last summer we wrote Moffatt, and have just received a communication from him, mailed from Sitapur, N. P., India. Moffatt has four children, Elizabeth Ann, who is seventeen years; Nancy Jean, fourteen; Elbert Marston, Jr., ten; and Margaret Jane, four. He was in Y. M. C. A. work from 1908 to 1920, working in India from 1911 to 1916. In 1920 he returned to India as a professor in the Lucknow Christian College and as principal of the Lucknow School of Commerce, remaining in these positions until 1926. Then he returned to America for eighteen months for the purpose of studying for a Ph.D. degree at University of Washington, Seattle. He returned to India in 1927 to take charge of the Methodist mission at Almora. Here he had charge of a large district and incidentally, of the leper asylum, the high school, and the grammar school,,, and was treasurer of the mission. His letter was very interesting and pictures a life undoubtedly strange to all the rest of us:
"Since Ralph Richardson's death I have been rather out of touch with things. He always kept me posted. I have usually responded to Pettingill's appeals and tried as far as possible to be a good Dartmouth citizen but I regret that my contacts with the College hav - been very few. I have been back twice, but both times when none of you men were present. My leave from India has usually come at a time other than reunion time. I am supposed to go home in the fall of 1934, but if I can possibly make it, I shall be at the 25th reunion. My silence and lack of contact has not meant that I am not interested in Dartmouth. I take the ALUMNI MAGAZINE, correspond with a few classmates, and with the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity men. Be sure to keep me on the mailing list and send me the reports. Remember me to any of the class you chance to meet who may still remember me. How time passes I have a daughter who goes home to college next year.
"In September, I had a most interesting time at one of the melas, or fairs. On the top of a hill near the old Baijnath temples is a modern temple for the worship of Nanda Devi, a mountain goddess. Each year, a great mela is held on the slopes of the hill before the temple. The day before, the merchants begin to gather and to erect their shops of bamboos and canvas. Sellers of brass utensils, jewelry, cloth trunkets of all kinds, sweets, and foodstuffs, come from distant towns. Crude ferris wheels and sometimes merry-go-rounds are erected. By dark all is in readiness, and the people have assembled by the hundreds. The night is given over to singing and dancing. The dancing girls sing old legends, too filthy for interpretation, and the crowds go from group to group, lighting their way with blazing fagots. The crowds are good-natured, there is no drinking or carousing, a real carnival crowd, trying to vary the dull monotony of the Indian village by a real good time.
"This is the opportunity for Christian propaganda. We had a group of our workers, led by Daulat Masih, formerly a Hindu devil dancer. His tambourine is now devoted to 'making a joyful noise unto the Lord.' He has turned the vulgar 'pahari' (hill) folk songs into Christian 'bhajans.' A crowd at once gathers. Skilfully he gets his message across in the song, and follows it up by a simple talk which is attentively heard by his audience. This man, a simple villager, has a power of personality that is unexplainable. He belonged to the 'lohar' (blacksmith) caste, and was well known for many miles because of his singing and dancing before his conversion. He has converted half of his village since then. Until long past midnight, we ran in opposition to the dancing girl entertainers.
"The next day, most of the people spent the morning in shopping, while as opportunity offered they visited the temple. A mela in the hills is social, business, and religious. Friends greet friends, the simple family needs are supplied at the tent bazaar, and incidentally the religious side gets some attention. In the morning two buffalo calves were sacrificed. The real religious program started in the middle of the afternoon. The priest of the temple, heralded by the sound of horns and drums, appeared mounted on the shoulders of a man. Before him a man carried a sword, and he himself had a great knife in his teeth. Before him was dragged an old man who had an expression of terror as he gazed on the priest. Three times around the temple enclosure the procession moved slowly. Then a great mountain sheep was thrown into the air, and came down on the head of the poor man who was being dragged before the priest. The sheep was then tossed hither and thither and shook and buffeted until half dead. Then the priest put the sword point touching his abdomen, and the terrified man picked up a block of wood and pounded on the hilt, until the priest, pretending that the sword had passed through his body, fell in a heap. What did it all mean? Who knows? The people do not, and I doubt that even the priest does. Then came the sacrifice of about forty goats, by beheading, so bloody a scene that we shall pass it by. Those who furnish the goats are entitled to certain parts of the meat, the priests to other parts, and the beheaders to the rest. Bargaining, quarreling, and fighting remove any idea of religious worship from the scene, if indeed there is any thought of it. Then came the last act. An effigy of the idol has been made and has been in the temple all day. It is now brought out and placed on a platform, where it is carried in great state. The crowd follow, worshiping. Gradually they drop off until only the priests are left, and they bury the effigy in a valley, and no one is supposed to know the spot. One has to see a mela like this to realize how far India of the village is still steeped in superstition. The idea that India is so religious depends upon what you mean by religion. India is certainly superstitious and credulous, but the number of Indians, even priests, who are intelligently religious, or philosophical, is very small. Even among those who retire to meditate, and who pose as great teachers, one finds very few genuine thinkers. Religion in India is largely the propitiation of numerous gods who will harm one if they become angry. In a mela like this the people are satisfied to walk in one door of the temple, bow to the idol or make a little offering of flowers or rice, and pay a sum of money to the priest, and depart by another door with a feeling of a religious duty well done.
"Another interesting experience that I have had these past few months will give an insight into the political situation in Almora, which is not much different from that of other parts of India. I have been acting as manager of the leper asylum, probably the oldest in India. It was started 80 years ago by Henry Ramsay, the commissioner, who was not only the 'king' of Kumaon but was also a fine active Christian and for thirty years was the chairman of the Almora mission. Three years ago, the District Board, which is an attempt at self-government, appointed two of their members as representatives on the Leper Asylum Advisory Committee. They were looked upon as a visiting committee. In September, a fine young Christian doctor, who had been trained in modern treatment of leprosy, was ready to replace an old man of 70 years as the doctor in charge. The old man, who was unqualified and very incompetent, had known for four years that he was to be retired now and had been promised an adequate retiring allowance. But a ne er-dowell son and a son-in-law attempted to force us to keep the old man for two years more. They got a petition signed by half of the leading people of Almora. The District Board is controlled by a political boss who directs its policies. He is a leading non-co-operator, and a friend of Mahatma Gandhi. He and his two pals—the chairman and secretary of the Board—took advantage of the situation, and on the basis of a letter of complaint of the old doctor demanded to see the leper asylum books. Our government grant is paid through the District Board, but even so I questioned their right to see the books. I knew that their object was clearly political. They have not the slightest interest in lepers or their welfare. Mr. Oakley, the retired London Mission former manager of the leper asylum, was recently appointed as the chairman of the Municipal Board of Almora. Boss Bhatt, who controls the District Board, also controls the Municipal Board. He wanted to find something in the leper asylum books, during the time they were kept by Mr. Oakley, that he cguld criticise Mr. Oakley for and get him off the Municipal Board. The Board was about to let a large contract for a new water system, and Bhatt wanted to give the contract to his friends. Upon a threat that he would publish all over Almora that our books are 'crooked' and we dare not show them, I finally submitted to an investigation. For four hours he asked questions, trying to find out points of criticism, especially in our religious work. As more than half our money comes from the Mission to Lepers and endowments, and the government grant does not even pay for food and clothing, I maintained that we are not using government funds for religious work.
"This man could give points to an American political boss. He has written 33 pages in his report. But he has defeated his purpose. We have asked that the government grant in the future be paid direct and not through the District Board, and every official that has to do with it is in favor. In fact we hope to get a larger grant, although probably not for another year, because of famine conditions in this part of India. The old doctor has gone and the new one has in a few weeks revolutionized the leper asylum. For the first time, many have begun to hope of release from their dread malady. And those who have reached that hopeless stage, known as 'burntout,' are happy in the treatment which relieves pain and suffering. The Almora district is one of the worst in India for leprosy. Only a few are receiving any help at all. Now that we have a new, efficient doctor, we want to offer a chance to hundreds of these people. Money given for this work is money well spent. We need to equip a small laboratory, we need money for a survey to go into the villages and bring in the people for whom there is hope, we need bandages, we need money to give better food, ,for the basis of the cure for leprosy is proper food. The most encouraging part of it all is the gratitude of the people helped. The greatest inspiration which I have had in my work in the past two years has been the spirit of gratitude in these people, who seem to have less to be grateful for than any other beings on earth. And this gratitude usually finds expression in conversion.
"One cannot write a report on work in Kumaon without making reference to land matters. In my last letter, I told you that I had just secured a section of a tea estate, partly by gift and partly by purchase. It was the property of an old family which went there soon after the mutiny, and which is now represented By an old man over 70 years. His only relatives are the descendants of nonChristian women with whom some of his brothers lived, and whom he has refused to recognize. But since I purchased the land, the old man has come under the influence of these people, and has attempted to cause trouble. Fortunately I had my papers all drawn up by good lawyers and after careful investigation. Moreover I have had considerable experience in legal matters and land matters in India. No country in the world has such complicated laws as India, in which we have British law, Mohammedan written law, Mohammedan unwritten law or customs, Hindu written laws, and Hindu customs, all of which are binding in court. The Mohammedan inheritance laws, the Hindu joint family system, the occupancy rights of tenants, all of these things are most perplexing. I have little fear that they can upset our plans of forming a Christian colony on the old teaestate, although for the present they are making trouble for the Christian tenants who have gone to cultivate the fields. A committee meets next month to consider other plots of land. If Kumaon is to be Christian, we must give our Christians land which they can own without interference from non-Christian landlords, who rule their tenants body and soul.
"In Sath Tal we have a students' camping ground. Adjoining this is a great estate, upon which is a beautiful lake (where Stanley Jones loves to fish), a house, a church, and ten cottages. The owners are very old people, and their children do not care for the estate. So it has been given to our mission upon payment of a small sum as long as the owners live. Dr. Stanley Jones, Bishop Badley and his brother, and Bishop Kobinson are financing it, and the plan is to make it a sort of Chautauqua in the hot season, at which our Indian Christians and missionaries will meet for rest and conference. Dr. Stanley Jones is also anxious to start there a school, or Ashram, which is along old Indian lines rather than western. There are three beautiful lakes surrounding the property, which is in the Kumaon district.
"I have not gone into details of the work. In Kumaon there is always so much of interest. Every day brings its new problems, many of them perplexing. One day we help a widow, 25 years of age, get away from her parents in Almora, who wish to keep her from remarrying because they want her wages; another day we try to prevent a so-called Christian widow from using her 13-year-old girl for immoral purposes in the bazaars of Almora; another day is spent settling a dispute between two Christians in the colony of 50 families who live around the Hiradungri hill, on the summit of which is the mission house. In Dwarahat we have a new Christian doctor for our dispensary; in Ranikhet we are debating the request to raise our middle school to high school grade; up in Bhot, on the frontier, we are facing the question of closing our school, which has run for 40 years, because the District Board has stopped the grant.
"And so I close my letter and my active work in Kumaon. But I cannot close my interest. It is a wonderful work and a wonderful opportunity."
In His Service,
E. M. Moffatt
Secretary, 100 Milk St., Boston
