Letters to the Editor

THOSE ROARING EIGHTIES

Dear Mr. Editor: Among the class secretarial assets of my very able predecessor, Bert Foster, which were turned over to me by him, I recently came upon an old photograph, which is quite an antique—the publication of which I feel sure will prove of interest to some of the alumni of the "Roaring Eighties."

The group is supposed to represent the members and habitues of the then well-known and popular Pool Dining Club located on Lebanon Street. The picture bears the following interesting endorsement on the reverse side: "Pool Club, Lebanon St. First outdoor group made in Hanover by H. H. H. Langill, 1882."

The identity of this group of Pool Diners would be welcome, with the aid of other alumni. I can only give in part the members, and hope that some of your readers can complete the list. The identification I can make is as follows: In the front row, sitting in true Japanese, cross-legged style, from left to right; Brooks '85, Oakes '83; next two unidentified, then Lew Hinckley '84 and John Hinckley '84. First row; sitting back of the fence, Frame '82 (directly back of Oakes), at his left Drew '82, and at the latter's left Bendelari '82, Gay '83 (directly back of John Hinckley). Back row, standing, left to right, Weston '84, Weston '85, Woodfall '83, Freeman '83, then Bean '83 (directly back of Frame), Wheeler '84, second on Bean's left.

It is fair to assume that the matron at the becurtained window was Mrs. Pool, the proud proprietress of this famous Club, and that the younger lady framed in the doorway was one of the waitresses who assisted in making the Club so popular.

I wish I could identify the member with the multimillionaire abandon, who stands in front of said waitress, but I cannot,—his proprietary air might indicate that he was manager of the Club.

Trusting that the identification of the entire group will be revealed to you, I am,

18 Tremont St., Boston, Mass.

THE DARTMOUTH ELM

My dear Mr. Kelly: I am thinking of writing you a note when I get time, about the big elm tree at the NE corner of the college campus, at the junction of the path from Rollin's Chapel, SW toward College Street, with the path from Wentworth toward Webster. The tree is about 18 feet in circumference. Professor Charles A. Young, our distinguished professor of Astronomy from 1867-77, once told me that when he was a little boy, which would have been in 1840-45 (since, he was born at Hanover in 1834) he could hide himself inside that tree. The hole was boarded up and the bark grew around it, so that perhaps no one living, except myself, knows about this fact of this magnificent elm. It deserves to go on record. It shows that this was already a big tree 90 years ago. I cannot doubt that it is fully 150 years old. I wish I could write, sometime, and perhaps will, about some other historic trees in Hanover, for I remember the day on which they felled the still bigger tree that stood on the corner of Main and Wheelock, in front of the present Commons. This was prior to 1875. It took days of preparing and was a big event for a small boy living in the Dartmouth Hotel. It was cut down for fear that it would blow over and do serious damage.

I trust that you are planning to publish an adequate description of the life and work of our distinguished professor, Arthur S. Hardy, one of the finest combinations of a scholar, teacher, gentleman, poet and diplomat that was ever connected with Dartmouth College. His teaching of math was unsurpassed by any professor that I have ever listened to. Many know that he built the house north of the Medical College which was later occupied by the presidents, Drs. Tucker and Nichols. Professor Hardy lived in the Dartmouth Hotel for a few years while we were also living on the second floor. I wish that I had the skill and the time to write about him, as he deserved to be eulogized. He sent me a copy of his last book, published by Houghton & Mifflin about two years ago. It was his correspondence with little Dorothy Richardson, daughter of our Professor Rufus B. who later was the Director of the School at Athens. It was a charming book and ought to be reviewed in your columns if it has not already been reviewed. I was talking with Solinger '93 while in Florida, who had lately met Dorothy Richardson and knows her married name and residence. Perhaps she would write an appreciation of Professor Hardy for you. He was U. S. Minister to Athens in the course of his diplomatic career.

Director.

Yerkes Observatory, Williams Bay, Wis.

THAT $10,000 DARTMOUTH STAMP

Back in the late forties, when James K. Polk was President, one Dr. Ryno Smith of Baltimore, wrote a letter to his nephew, Nathan Smith Lincoln, then a senior at Dartmouth College, expressing regret at his inability to attend the graduation exercises of the college. The contents of the letter were inconsequential. But for some reason or other the recipient preserved it. Young Lincoln afterwards became a prominent Washington physician.

The other day his daughter, Miss Natalie Lincoln, editor of the D. A. R. Magazine at Washington, was rummaging through her father's papers, when she came across the letter in question. The story goes that one envelope particularly held her attention owing to the peculiar stamp it bore. It was a white oblong sticker, on which was printed in black letters at the top, "James M. Buchanan," and beneath it, "10 cents." The stamp appeared to be uncanceled, but just at its left, in red letters, the postmaster had stamped "paid."

This, it turns out, was a veritable treasure trove. The stamp was soon identified as one of the so-called Postmaster's issues, which were accepted as prepaid postage before the first regular Government issues of a 10-cent and 5-cent stamp in 1847. Miss Lincoln's find was in exceptionally "fine condition," as the philatelists call it. It is one of the extremely few specimens of the Baltimore Postmaster stamps now known to exist. The present owner can easily obtain $10,000 for it from a rich stamp collector. Indeed, she ought to be able to market it for approximately that sum with a metropolitan stamp dealer.

In no direction has the philatelic hunger for rare stamps been translated into more impressive pecuniary values than in the case of the so-called Postmasters' stamps that preceded our first regular issues, now 83 years old. England had adopted her first penny-postage system in 1840, but in the seven years thereafter the Postmaster's stamps were the nearest approach in this country to the British example. But they were purely unofficial issues. At that time and throughout our earlier history, the sender of a letter visited his local postoffice, and paid in advance his fee for the carriage of the missive, according to the distance to be covered. The Postmasters' hand stamp was the only certification that the postage had been prepaid. Multitudes of old letters bearing this impression are still preserved, but they are of little or no value to stamp collectors.

In the early forties, however, Postmasters were authorized by law to issue engraved and adhesive stamps for their own convenience. In several cities, including our own metropolis, they took advantage of this privilege. The Postmaster at Baltimore was among the number. His particular stamp was one of the most modest and uninteresting in the whole lot. In fact, it looks at first glance like one of the ordinary letter postmarks of forty years ago. But it was a removable stamp, all the same; and today one of the specimens, in good condition, ranks among the rarest of philatelic prizes. Nor is the present value of these tokens proportionate to the size of the communities in which they were originally issued by the respective Postmasters. The little town of Brattleboro, Vt., for example, had a Postmaster's stamp that is now eagerly coveted and liberally paid for by wealthy stamp dealers. On the other hand, the St. Louis bear stamp, so-called on account of the Postmaster's design, rivals the Brattleboro stamp in market price, so to speak.

A LETTER FROM THE FINDER

My dear Mr. Kelly: I would be delighted to comply with your request for a photograph of the Buchanan ten-cent cover, but, alas, the Federal authorities do not permit its reproduction in print—the postal rules are very strict in this regard, in spite of the age of the stamp.

The address is, to me, very quaint, and I see no harm if you care to quote it in your publication:

Mr. Nathan Smith Lincoln,

Member of College,

Hanover, New Hampshire.

Dartmouth bestowed on my father, in later years, the degree of LL.D. His grandfather, Dr. Nathan Smith, founded the medical school at Dartmouth, Yale and Bowdoin. I understand from my cousin, the late Albert H. Washburn, that a building is named for my great grandfather—Smith Hall—at Dartmouth.

When I came across the envelope with the Buchanan stamp so wonderfully preserved and looked it up in my stamp catalogue, I had the shock of my life—and I think that I can say with some authority: "Truth is stranger than fiction."

Editor D. A. R. Magazine, Washington, D. C.

THAT MISSING OCCOM PAINTING

Two very interesting letters have appeared in the London Times recently in regard to possible clues to a missing Occom painting, and to possible Dartmouthians in England. The first reply came from Lord Dartmouth, whose previous gift of letters and papers is proving more valuable all the time. There is probably no more enthusiastic Dartmouth man the world over. The second letter from Mr. W. Roberts gives a possible clue to one of the pictures. It is rumored that one picture represents Occom actually preaching before King George III.

THE TWO DARTMOUTHS

To the Editor of The Times: I am wondering what letters, etc., referring to Dartmouth College in America your correspondent has in view. I am in frequent communication with the authorities of the college and have many letters, though probably not of the kind Mr. Kelly has in his mind

In 1904 I visited Dartmouth College to lay the foundation stone of the new Hall. I took the opportunity of presenting to the college the original correspondence that passed between Lord Dartmouth, Eleazar Wheelock, the Bishop of London, and others after Samson Occum's visit. These letters have been published by the Historical Manuscripts Commission. The gift of the original letters was appreciated, and the letters will now be at Dartmouth College.

We have an earlier link with the United States than that of Dartmouth College. The mother of the first Lord Dartmouth was Elizabeth Washington, an heiress. Hence the first quartering on the Legge coat of arms are the bars and mullets of the Washington family—the same bars and mullets which are generally believed to be the foundation of the Stars and Stripes of America. Be that as it may, it is pleasant to think that the friendship formed between Lord Dartmouth and Dartmouth College still continues. It survived the War of Independence, and today the links of the chain that binds Dartmouth to Dartmouth are stronger than ever before, and if I can do anything to help anyone interested in Dartmouth College in America it will be a pleasure to do it.

Yours obediently,

Patshull House, Wolverhampton.

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE IN AMERICA

To the Editor of The Times In The Times of Friday, Professor Kelly, of Dartmouth College, N. H., refers to "an old rumor" that the Indian missionary, Samson Occum, had his portrait painted during his visit to England about 1767. It is a very substantial rumor, for at the 1768 exhibition of the Society of Artists (whence the Royal Academy sprung in 1769), Mason Chamberlin, afterwards R. A., exhibited under No. 22: "Portrait of the Rev. Samson Occum, an Indian convert and preacher of the Gospel among the savages of North America." In 1763 Chamberlin exhibited his famous portrait of Benjamin Franklin, which brought a sensational price in 1912, and has since again changed hands. It may be that Franklin brought Chamberlin and Occum together. It is impossible to say what has become of Mason Chamberlin's portrait of Samson Occum (who died in 1792). It may be that the bust portrait of him, engraved by Ridley and Blood for the Evangelical Magazine, 1808, is taken from Chamberlin's portrait. There is also a much larger engraving, a mezzotint by J. Spilsbury, showing him to three-quarters length, seated at a table pointing to a passage in the Bible. There are copies of both in the Print Room of the British Museum.

Your obedient servant,

69, Park-hill, S. W. 4.

FIRST OUTDOOR GROUP IN HANOVER BY H. H. LANG ILL—1882

ARRIVING FOR WEBSTER CENTENARY—1901 Swasey's Stage Coach. F. E. Barnard '91 in light felt hat (with cigar); J. W. Newton '86 on front seat (brown derby).

DARTMOUTH BICYCLE CLUB—1886

ROBERTS CLUB Class of '89 at lunch.