ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OLD

THE CURRENT year has seen the celebration of the 150 th anniversary of Webster's birth. Dartmouth's official observance of her illustrious graduate's sesqui-centennial came last spring when Phi Beta Kappa held an open meeting with Dr. Claude M. Fuess as orator of the occasion. His brilliant address given then is reprinted in this issue.

There have been many queries about the colorful Dan'l as the years have enshrouded him in the glamor of romantic tradition. "Did Webster tear up his diploma?" was the subject of an investigation not long ago. Someone of a ripe old age had told someone of a later generation that the Great Orator had emerged from the White Church upon Commencement Day in 1801 and had torn his sheepskin into bits because he had not been given a more heroic part in the exercises. But there isn't any proof. Several Hanover houses have claimed him as a roomer during student days. The Webster Cottage, sometimes known as the "Next to Nothing House," has official recognition for this distinction. The leather bucket he used as a member of the undergraduate fire brigade has come back to the College after many wanderings; the library has built up a fascinating collection of Websteriana—items ranging from the desk he used as Secretary of State to a lock of his hair and a pair of white silk stockings worn once, at least, by the immortal Dan'l.

It remains for Dr. Fuess to answer many of the questions that come to mind concerning Webster. What was the magic charm he cast on his spellbound audiences, from whence comes his fame that he should be classed as one of the two or three greatest Americans, what are the amusing stories that seem so amazing to us? A dozen Webster portraits and statues, a campus building erected in his memory, a town street bearing his name—all these remind Dartmouth of his fame. One hundred and thirty-one years have passed since his own days in Hanover but he is one tradition that doesn't fail.