1921 Tenth Reunion

Ninety-one men answered the call of "'21 Up!!" for the Tenth and of these forty four brought their wives while two of the class had their girl friends along. And when the last member had checked out of Topliffe Hall and the summer quiet had begun to settle down on the campus, each departing classmate made his way either home on or to Whitefield with one thought uppermost in his mind and that was that "Ort certainly did a whale of a job and gave us the best sort of a time possible."

The trek to Hanover began on Friday (June 12th, it was) and some of the last did not pull in until Sunday, when reunion reached its height. Ye sec. missed the dance held with 1926 in Robinson Hall Friday evening, but from the glowing accounts that were still ringing down the halls of Topliffe when we pulled in on Saturday morning, the evening had left nothing to be desired and had served to get everyone into the proper holiday mood. Also, so report hath it, the gang can still shake rather a mean hoof and the stags still can recall a thing or two of the old art of snaking.

When everyone had finally been drawn out of bed Saturday morning (and in the interest of honest journalism we'll have to report, the sun was quite high in the sky by that time) Chick Stiles lined his athletes up on the campus near the senior fence to wage battle .with the youngsters of '26. In the light of our extreme age, the five-year class consented to play with an indoor baseball; and for a time seemed to have '21 on the run. Then late in the game Swede Oberlander came up as a pinch hitter for '26. His contribution was a long fly to left field, with "easy out" not "home run" written all over it. But a worthy classmate harking back to gridiron days took Jack Hubbell out of the play as neatly as if he had been a Harvard safety man and by the same methods. And then the fun began and we had as pretty a combination of football and baseball as ever graced that historic green, and when the harassed scorekeeper finally fled in desperation toward the new Tuck School group and a friendly adding machine, the general opinion seemed to be that the score was tied four touchdowns to 24 runs.

It was mid-afternoon by the time the majority had gotten their wind back, and then the expedition to Moose cabin got under way. We use the word expedition with feeling, for either 1921 is a class with a short memory or the reunion group was shy of ex-Outing clubbers, for most of us had such a merely rough idea of where that worthy shrine of the outdoor men was located that the whole proceeding took on somewhat the air of an exploration party or a treasure hunt or both. Some of the boys got an extra twomile hike up the mountain side thanks to taking the wrong road from Etna on, and in the latter group was ye sec., but finally the last man had reached the goal and then Ort got his class meeting under way.

It consisted mainly of a class election and as a result the class has the following officers for the next five years: President, Dan Buggies; Vice-presidents, Bill Embree and Bex King; Secretary, Herrick Brown, and Treasurer, Bob Burroughs.

That being out of the way the class turned to some plain and fancy glee-clubbing until the lamb that had been roasted over an open fire, and the spuds and the coffee and the strawberry shortcake was ready. And by the time that was consumed, the sun had begun to set and recalling vividly the trip up, the gang began the return with the object being to find Hanover again—in which the class again won.

In the meantime t.he ladies of the party had engaged in a little bridge at the Chi Phi house and headed for the Players' performance of "Berkley Square" in Webster Hall. And then, in case that had not proved enough in the way of drama. Ort had a real old time film, the sort we used to cheer at the Nugget ten years ago, ready for presentation at that famous old playhouse, and the class ad- journed there to hiss and cheer and throw peanuts as of yore.

The weather on Friday and Saturday had been perfect and Sunday's fair skies and warm sun were the equal of those preceding. At noon the class gathered at the Lake Morey Club which was 1921 headquarters for the rest of the day, and no feature of the whole program drew forth any more praise than this day's outing. There was a golf course handy for the golfers. The swimming was ideal and a large majority of the men present and a good many of the ladies took a dip before the day was out. The program at Morey began with a picnic lunch out of doors. Dinner in the evening was served in the dining room of the club, and afterwards everybody adjourned to the living room where under the direction of Doug Storer, some of 1921's thespians including George Frost, Homer Cleary, Rog Bird, and our charming new leading lady, Mrs. Cliff Hart, put on a series of skits that went over big, and then, as the climax, Rog sat down at the piano and sang 'em all, from "Little Canoe" to "Alice Blue Gown"; every one in fact that we had waited ten years to hear and a lot of new ones too. He has lost none of the old art of putting a song across and many a wife hearing Rog for the first time was heard to remark "Well, he is every bit as good as you had said he was; if not better." And while we are on the subject none of the gang has lost any of their old art of entertaining. When Homer Cleary planted himself at the piano, carefully rolled out onto a cool spot on the lawn, in the hour before dinner, he soon had as appreciative an audience as any player could wish, and Homer still fingers the ivories in the same old delightful way. And say, we mustn't forget Joe Shaw's apache dance staged with the aid of some Sixteener's fair wife, especially the fancy dive that was its climax.

The younger generation got in on this part of the reunion program. Rollie Batchelder had his five children on hand, and if anyone can turn up with five finer youngsters than Rollie did, we'll buy him six front row seats for any Broadway sell-out. Roland Auger had his daughter there too and Joe Folger his boy, and the whole crowd of children seemed to be having just as good a time as their elders.'

A short time before the gang left for Morey, Walt Prince paid a call at Topliffe with the class baby and if we don't miss our guess, we'll cheer that boy some day in the Yale Bowl, for he's a fine husky lad that the class can be proud of.

Monday the weather man slipped up. It was clouding up when the gang headed for Alumni Field for the Commencement ball game with Boston College and just about the time they were going to the Alumni luncheon in the Gym, the skies opened and when ye sec. headed back toward the tall towers of Manhattan about one, it was still pouring and the golfers were fearing that their tournament was off.

We just couldn't make the post-reunion party at Whitefield, so we'll have to leave our report on that until our next.

Those at reunion were: Dolph and Mrs. Alger, Rex and Mrs. King, Nels and Mrs. Smith, Chan and Mrs. Symmes, Sumner Perkins and Miss Mildred Keefe, Jim and Mrs. Stanley, Brainey and Mrs. Bower, George and Mrs. Harris, Bob and Mrs. Mayo, Joe Shaw and Miss Hortense Boice, Ort and Mrs. Hicks, Mrs. Carder, Vance and Mrs. Clark, Mason and Mrs. Dickinson, Hal and Mrs. Braman, Dan and Mrs. Ryder, Phil and Mrs. Noyes, Rollie and Mrs. Batchelder, Dick and Mrs. Barnes, Walt and Mrs. Prince, Joe and Mrs. Folger, Bob and Mrs. Loeb, Roland and Mrs. Auger and daughter, Dan and Mrs. Ruggles, Henry and Mrs. Palmer, Stef and Mrs. Frederiksen, Bill and Mrs. Perry, Tracy and Mrs. Higgins, Ken and Mrs. Bean, Don and Mrs. Sawyer, Herrick and Mrs. Brown, Nels and Mrs. Barker, Bill and Mrs. Owen, Dutch and Mrs. Bausher, Cliff and Mrs. Hart, Gos and Mrs. Halsey, Joe and Mrs. Walker, Wilbur and Mrs.Varian, Cory and Mrs. Litchard, Ray and Mrs. Mallary, Lovell and Mrs. Cook, Bob and Mrs. Burroughs, Don and Mrs. Morse, Ingham and Mrs. Baker, Prexy and Mrs. Sanderson, A 1 and Mrs. Laffey, and John Perry and Mrs. Mitchell.

The stags were: George Frost, Ky Frost, Chan Cavis, Connie Keyes, Rog Bird, Paul Belknap, Charlie Gilson, Norm Carver, Tom Cleveland, Ray French, Dick Rolfe, Ernie Wilcox, Hal Bolles, Tom Norcross, Charlie Johnson, Johnny Sullivan, Reg Miner, Homer Cleary, Chic Stiles, Fritz Borman, Harry Chamberlaine, Bill Spencer, Fran Cosgrove, Dave Bowen, Fig Newcomb, Hugh McKay, Manny Manchester, Bob Mac Donald, Fat Childs, Dick Hill, Jack Hubbell, Hal Geilich, Mac Johnson, Red Kerlin, Ex Exnicios, Skinny Moore, Newell Smith, Joe Lane, Ned Pric£, Norm Lowe, Hewitt Moore, Artie Anderson, Bud Richart, Doug Storer, and A 1 Green.

Connie Keyes, who is now located in London, traveled the longest way to the party, and Coot Carder prevented at the last minute from putting in an appearance himself, sent Mrs. Carder along with the Hickses to represent him.

Some of the other men that had to miss out didn't forget us either. Shortly before the class sat down for dinner at Lake Morey Sunday evening, a cablegram was received from Abe Weld in London expressing his regret at missing the party and sending his regards to the class. And Art Hickman sent a wire from New Orleans Sunday wishing the gang a good time.