Letters to the Editor

WHICH COVER

Ed. Note: The November number of the Magazine carried an engraving of Dartmouth Hall on the cover instead of the usual College Seal. The Editors are, therefore, extremely pleased to have this expression of opinion. May we not hear from others who wish to express themselves on the subject?

Dear Editor: The question of a choice between the two styles of cover for the ALUMNI MAGAZINE might be judged as simply a matter of taste, or preference, regarding forms differing not very much, this from that. On the other hand, it is true to affirm that there is a fundamental contrast between the two covers; one suggesting more or less definitely what is unchanging in the scheme of things, all that is fixed in the various phases of interest and experience; the other signifying the endless mutation;—the new, the fresh, the unreturning, the delight in that which can never come again except in fairer forms; but not definitely the contrast between what abides and what passes.

"That's too fantastic," someone will say. Possibly; or it may be that the opposing ideas have not been happily expressed. There are certainly a few who will definitely feel the worth of a contrast between permanent and changing, and a considerable number who will be aware of the aesthetic significance of such a contrast. It can hardly be an unreasoning conservatism which preserves to HarvardBusiness Magazine, The Yale Review, TheQuarterly Review, Punch, and many other standardpublications their unchangingcovers. You can tell them as far as you can see them and the recognition is a pleasing one.

And in closing it may be added that hardly can there be anything on the cover of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE SO significant as the seal of the College with its suggestion of Alma Mater living on and on into the future while her sons come and go.

*This letter refers to the question of the College Seal vs. a photograph for the MAGAZINE cover.—Ed.

THE EMBLEM IDENTIFIED

The Editors have had many letters concerningthis emblem. We wish to thank all those who sentin information. A few letters are reprintedhere.

Dartmouth Alumni Magazine: A copy of the Nov., 1930, MAGAZINE reached me today and on looking through it I found on page 37 a picture of a society emblem which was very familiar to me during my college days.

It is a picture of the emblem of the Sigma Delta Pi fraternity also known as the Vitru

vian Society. This was at one time a society or fraternity with several chapters.

The Dartmouth chapter finally became the Alpha Omega (Dartmouth) chapter of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

The emblem is the property of the above chapter.

Moylan, Del. Co., Pa.

Editor of the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine: In the present issue of the DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINE I saw the enclosed emblem with its question. Many of us who were students sixty years ago were familiar with the pin. If you can find in the Library a bound volume of the various issues of The Aegis of that time, you will discover a facsimile of the cut enclosed, as the pin of the Vitruvian secret fraternity, the larger one of the two secret fraternities of the Chandler Scientific Department. If I am not mistaken, this fraternity later became a chapter at Dartmouth of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

Secretary of the Class of 1873.Manchester, Mass.

Dear Sid: Here is a guess at your emblem on page 87 of the November MAGAZINE. It is very plainly the book-plate or the letter-heading of a Sigma Delta Pi Society, founded in 1858, and which later became the "Vitruvian." The three letters above stand for the name of the Society, the two below stand for Scientific Department; and Dartmouth, below. is a mariner's navigating affair by the name of (Sextant . . .?)

If anybody guesses better I shall be much pleased to read his solution.

627 Congress St., Portland, Maine

My dear Hay ward: Just opening ALUMNI MAGAZINE to page 37, you ask can anyone identify this emblem? You will find it to be the dress pin of the "Vitruvian" Society of the Chandler Scientific Department before its consolidation with Beta Theta Pi. It was worn by men during one course I was a P.L.M. If you have back numbers of Aegis you will find cuts of it in the '70 Aegis, page 27, '71—page 22. The P.L.Ms, have had three different pins.

Greenlawn, Keene, N. Tl.

THE COMPLETE IDENTIFICATION

Dear Mr. Kelly: In the November issue of the always interesting ALUMNI MAGAZINE, appears the badge of Sigma Delta Pi, probably better known to old graduates as the Vitruvian Society, of the Chandler Scientific Department.

This society was absorbed by the fraternity of Beta Theta Pi in 1889, and is now the Alpha Omega chapter of that fraternity.

Sigma Delta Pi was founded at Dartmouth College in 1858, by Augustus Livingstone, Wm. H. Fessenden, Henry L. Bartholomew, W. U. Potter, John A. Staples and Charles W. Thompson.

The parent chapter was called the Alpha. In 1871 a Beta Chapter was established at Cornell, which died in 1874, and a Gamma chapter, placed at Wooster University in 1873, died in 1877. The Dartmouth chapter remained in good condition until 1889, when it became a chapter of Beta Theta Pi, carrying with it its alumni.

The badge was a gold shield, on which was an enclosed shield-shaped space, displaying a sextant; above the sextant were the letters "5.D.P.," and, below, "S" and "D" on either side of a clenched hand. Above the shield was a scroll, upon which was the date "1858," and, below, a similar scroll bearing the word "Dartmouth." The membership was about 400.

The group included some of the best known men who have been graduated from the college. Among others were Benjamin A. Kimball, '54, President of the Concord and Montreal Railroad, and a Trustee of the college; John R. Eastman, '62, who was a Rear Admiral in the Navy, and a Trustee of the college from 1900-13; John Hopkins, '62, Judge of the Superior Court of Massachusetts, and a visitor to Dartmouth College on the Chandler Foundation, father of H. P. Hopkins, '96; Dr. John H. McCollom, '65, M. S. Hon., 1910, for many years Medical Director of the Boston City Hospital and Professor in Harvard Medical School; Charles H. Treat, '65, Treasurer of the United States from 1905-09; Harrison Hume, '66, a Boston lawyer and the founder of the Harrison Hume Library, the most extensive library owned by a college chapter, and now in the Beta Theta Pi House in Hanover; William Hood, '67, for many years Chief Engineer of the Southern Pacific Railroad; Horace Fletcher, '70, A. M. Hon., 1910, the well known author and originator of "Fletcherism"; Frank A. Sherman, '70, Professor of mathematics in Dartmouth, 1871-1915; Frank G. Clarke, '73, for 21 years a member of Congress from New Hampshire; Charles A. Rich, '75, nationally known New York architect; Hiram A. Hitchcock, '79, Professor of the Thayer School for many years; Otis E. Hovey '85, Chief Engineer of the American Bridge Company; J. W. Newton, '86, donor of one of the camps to the Outing Club; William H. Taylor, '86, for many years a Judge of the Supreme Court of Vermont; and many others. These men were all admitted to Beta Theta Pi, and appear on the rolls of the fraternity.

155 Van Wagenen Ave., Jersey City, N. J.

WEBSTER AT CONCORD

Dear Mr. Kelly: My guess is that No. 29 of Webster's pictures in June MAGAZINE was taken in front of the capitol at Concord, N. H., at the dedication of the Webster statue shown at 30 under the plan No. 21.

32 Greenlawn, Keene, N. H,

OUR READING COURSE

Dear Mr. Dickerson: Reading Professor Speight's engaging premiere of your promising new series makes me wonder if I might tap such counsel in answering the following request just received from a close friend—an able business man of the studious type, a college man fifteen years out who wants to get back to some fundamental reading.

He writes: "Can you recommend to me a good book on the general fundamentals of psychology? I have been out of touch with this subject so long that I would very much like to have your views, and I would prefer to acquire a fairly recent text.

"At the same time, have you in mind the name of a good book on the early history of the Church or of Christianity, not from a sectarian standpoint, but purely from an historical standpoint?"

If such a request is too bothersome or out of order, please frankly forget it; but if you can fulfil it and so serve us both, please know my thanks in advance.

7042 McCallum Street, Philadelphia, Pa.

THE EMBLEM IDENTIFIED

November 3, 1930.

Editor, Dartmouth Alumni Magazine: The emblem on page 37 of the November ALUMNI MAGAZINE is that of the Sigma Delta Pi or Vitruvian Society organized in 1858 in the scientific (Chandler) department of Dartmouth College. A Chapter was formed at Cornell University and another at Wooster University, both of which became extinct after initiating a few members. The Society was always prosperous at Dartmouth and in 1889 was united with Beta Theta Pi as the Alpha Omega Chapter. All initiates of Sigma Delta Pi are included, I believe, as members of Beta Theta Pi.

The emblem shown in the picture, or one similar, hung in the Chapter hall of the old Beta rooms on South Main Street when I was an undergraduate. I wonder how you got hold of it.

Paine, Webber & Company,83 Devonshire St., Boston, Mass

MORE FRAUD

Dartmouth Alumni Magazine: If I gave a headline to this story it would be "Catch this (so called) son of Dartmouth" and call the police.

Three weeks ago a young man phoned me from some place in my city (Cleveland) saying that he was a son of my classmate in 1892, correctly referring to the classmate as Dr. Fred L. Hayes, of Brookline, Massachusetts, the boy came over to my house and told a plausible story, about as follows: that he and his father had motored through Cleveland two years ago and tried to call upon me but I was out of town; he referred glibly to other members of my class; said he was motoring East to attend the Dartmouth-Harvard game (two days away) with his father; said he was at Medical school at Minneapolis, and when I asked why Minneapolis, said promptly that his mother came from there: then the tale that he had a smash-up at Lorain, near Cleveland, that his car was damaged and in a garage there, that an officer took him before a Justice of Peace, who took his hundred dollars as security for his return; and that he was left without money to get to Boston.

The boy was slender, looked about twentytwo, dark complexion, well dressed, very plausible but a bit fresh. His game was more successful because I was busy, men waiting for me so I could not give him much time. So, on the chance that he was son of my classmate, I let him have money to get to Boston. Of course, I immediately wrote my classmate and found out that the whole story was made up and a swindle.

Meanwhile, Dr. Hayes has found in a medical journal, the enclosed clipping, of the same game played on Dr. Morgan of 1890 class; and in that story the reference to the "Cleveland Clinic" makes it more sure that the boy is the same one who visited me, as that is the correct name of a hospital near here.

The boy may be familiar with Dartmouth or could get it from the Dartmouth Catalogue of Alumni; he may be working other colleges also.

Perhaps you will give this space in your magazine, and urge any Dartmouth Alumnus whose classmate's "son" appears, to call the police first, and question the "son" afterwards.

Cleveland, Ohio

A DARTMOUTH IMPOSTER

Posing as Physician's Son.—On July 28 a well dressed young man called at the office of Dr. William Gerry Morgan, Washington, D. C., and introduced himself as Charles Albert Perkins, Jr., the son of a classmate and close friend of Dr. Morgan. He stated that he had met with an automobile accident in Maryland, had been arrested and fined, and was in need of money to get him back to the Cleveland Clinic, where he was an intern. Dr. Morgan lent him $50, which he promised to return soon. Not having heard from him, Dr. Morgan recently wrote to the Cleveland Clinic asking if such a young man was attached to their staff. The reply came that there was no such young man there nor had there ever been one of that name.

BRINGING THEM UP RIGHT

Dartmouth Alumni Magazine: I have enjoyed the MAGAZINE very much but my boy who hopes to be in the class of 1939 is really responsible for this renewal at this time.

He has enjoyed it as much, if not more, than I have especially after being in camp Lanakila at Fairlee this summer where there is considerable Dartmouth atmosphere, and visiting Hanover during his sojourn in the Green Mountains.

Last night he asked when a new issue of the MAGAZINE would come and, curses, I couldn't tell him. He started looking over some old numbers and confronted me with the expiration notice in the August issue.

The only way I can square myself is to see -that he gets the September issue and from then on until 1939. So, please don't let me lapse again.

iS White St., New York.

MORE IDENTIFICATION

JEditor of Dartmouth Alumni Magazine: On page thirty seven of the November issue appears an emblem—and below "Can Anyone Identify This Emblem."

This is the emblem of the Vitruvian Society which was founded in 1858 at Hanover for students of the Chandler Scientific Department. Such students were not then eligible to the societies of the Academic Department. The letters S. D. P. signify Sigma Delta Pi, and below, S. D. for Scientific Department. The . Vitruvian Society merged with the Beta Theta Pi in the late seventies or early eighties. The emblem shown is three times the size of mine which was made in 1867. It was customary for students to wear their society emblem upon their coat or vest, in the days of the Vitruvian students.

485 Kensington Place, Pasadena, Calif.

Editor Dartmouth Alumni Magazine

You ask for an identification of the emblem.

The "S. D. P." stands for Sigma Delta Pi -and "S. D." for Scientific Department. This fraternity also had several other chapters and .also was known as Vitruvian Society. The writer was a member at Dartmouth from 1888 to 1890 when we were merged into your present Alpha Omega chapter of Beta Theta Pi.

I am curious to know if anyone else identified the emblem.

549 W. Washington Boulevard, Chicago.

Dartmouth Alumni Magazine: The emblem pictured on page 37 of the November, 1930, issue of Dartmouth ALUMNI MAGAZINE is that of the Sigma Delta Pi fraternity of the Chandler School or Scientific Department.

The fraternity was also known as The Vitruvian Society, and was finally incorporated into the Beta Theta Pi fraternity as its Alpha Omega chapter.

I imagine that the script and Roman letters appear upon the emblem because Greek was not taught in the Chandler School. I think that later the Greek letters were used.

3522 W. Adams St., Chicago, Ill.

PROM A WEBSTER AUTHORITY

Editor of the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine: The "Webster Print Collection," published as a frontispiece to your issue for June, 1930, is a very interesting grouping of places, buildings, and objects associated with Daniel Webster. Noting your queries regarding certain of the items, I am venturing to inform you that Number 3, showing a small wooden ell, or shed, attached to a larger structure, is traditionally a portion of Webster's birthplace as it was about 1900. A similar, but not identical, photograph was used as the engraved title for Volume I of the National Edition of Webster's Works in 1903. Webster was born, as every Dartmouth man knows, on January 18, 1782, in a one-story frame house located on a farm in what was then the town of Salisbury, but which has been, since 1828, a part of Franklin. Within a year or two, his father, Colonel Ebenezer Webster, moved about three miles east to the intervale along the Merrimack River, into a tavern on the highway near what is now called Webster Place.

Towards the close of the 18th century, the so-called Sawyer House was built near the birthplace, and part of the original Webster frame house was evidently incorporated in the new structure, as a shed joining the main structure to the large barn. After Webster's death in 1852, devout Websterians occasionally made pilgrimages to the spot, and the Sawyer House,—which is still standing,—came naturally, but erroneously, to be regarded as the actual birthplace. Through the efforts of some public-spirited citizens of New Hampshire, including Judge Parsons, of Franklin, and the Honorable Clarence E. Carr, of Andover, some investigations were carried on about 1908, and funds were raised to reconstruct the birthplace as nearly as possible in its true location and design. When the task was completed, dedication ceremonies were held on August 28, 1909. For this restoration, the ell of your photograph was the basis, and the other half was modelled to conform to it and to certain stone foundations which had been excavated. The birthplace now shown to visitors is thus constituted of what was traditionally a section of the original building plus another portion of more modern construction. The problem of precise location and arrangement is not one to be discussed here. It is sufficient to say that the structure now labelled as the "Webster Birthplace" is as close an approximation as can ever be made to the building in which Daniel Webster first saw the light of day. It was presented, on September 24, 1917, to the State of New Hampshire, since which date it has been under the official supervision of the Governor and Council. The caretaker on the estate, Harry E. Merrill, lives in the Sawyer House mentioned above. The place is well worth a visit by any one touring up or down the Merrimack Valley, for it is one of the nation's holiest shrines, commemorating New Hampshire's most distinguished son.

Dublin, New Hampshire.

ED. NOTE: Mr. Fuess, although not a Dartmouth man, has been especially interested in our celebrities. His life of Rufus Choate has already been reviewed in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE and he has been at work upon a two volume biography of Daniel Webster which appeared October 17 from the press of the Atlantic Monthly and Little, Brown and Cos. His home is at Andover, Massachusetts, and he is one of the MAGAZINE'S best friends.

IDENTIFICATION OF M.D.'S

Dear Sirs: In the May, 1930, MAGAZINE you published a medical school group and requested identification. My father is the third in the rear row, reading left to right. This picture was taken in the summer of 1882. His name was Dr. James B. Pettengill and he was at that time taking a course of lectures in the medical school. He was not, however, an enrolled student of Dartmouth Medical College—the university of Vermont being his alma mater. I believe there is a Dr. Blanchard of Boston in the group, also Dr. Nutter of Nashua, Dr. Stark of Manchester and Doctors Pillsbury and Pettegren. I hope to learn their identity and will forward it to you.

SO East 67th St., New York, N. Y.

OUR SENIOR ALUMNUS

Reply received from James W. Perkins '64 on the occasion of his 95th birthday, October 27, when the College sent him congratulations and best wishes for continued good health.

My dear Mr. Hay ward: I thank you and Dartmouth College for the kind thoughts of me and the congratulations of my Alma Mater If this great honor could have been bestowed upon a more worthy person, it seems to me it would have been more in accord with the fitness of things. But our kind Heavenly Father, "the giver of every good and perfect gift," ordered it as it is, so we thankfully submit. I have much to be thankful for, and besides long life and good health, that I entered Dartmouth College as a student in the fall of 1860—70 years ago.

Thanking you and the College again, I am,

Very respectfully yours,