LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

FRATERNITY QUARTERS

DEAR SIR:

May I have a bit of space to amend and amplify one statement which I find in Professor Richardson's admirable History ofDartmouth College? In connection with his account of the purchase by the Kappa Kappa Kappa of the Parker residence, the comment is made that by this step the TriKappa "joined Alpha Delta Phi as the only organizations of their kind to be provided with living quarters."

That is not strictly accurate, I think. After the Tontine fire, which drove several fraternities out of their rooms in that building, Delta Kappa Epsilon leased the upper stories of the Balch house, standing where the College Commons does now, and occupied the same until the burning of the Balch house for a second time rendered the fraternity homeless. During those years a dozen or fifteen members regularly lived in the rooms above the emporia in which Mr. Davidson sold dry goods and groceries. It is true the Dekes did not own the house, but merely hired the rooms; whereas the Alpha Delta Phi and Tri-Kappa houses were the forthright property of the fraternities. None the less the Dekes were "provided with living quarters" for some years before the purchase of the Parker mansion by Kappa Kappa Kappa. Fully as many members of the society abode there as live in most fraternity houses now —more, I believe, than could at that time be housed in the old Alpha Delt house.

The temptation is to wax reminiscent. The Deke apartments boasted a bathroom, complete with tub, although this antedated the town water supply so that use of the various utensils in the bathroom demanded strenuous pumping from a well beneath. Not too much was to be said for the tub, which was of zinc much corroded with age and not especially inviting. Inasmuch, however, as bathrooms in Hanover were extremely scarce in those days, this one was regarded with appropriate awe and figured prominently among the reasons offered for joining D.K.E. The Balch house itself was rather pretentious in architecture and was a monument to the taste of its time, which was deplorable. None the less I recall with pleasure the three years in which I lived there.

Lowell, Mass.November 18, 1932.

TYPOGRAPHICAL

In response to the questions raised by Robert A. Rockhill in the letter to the editor last month the printer of the MAGAZINE has written him the following letter. This will interest those typographers who found Mr. Rockhill's comment both expert and accurate. Dear Sir:

I have read with interest your letter in the DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINE.

The paper we are using is not "glazed." It is not even coated, but it is a new paper called New Cumberland English Finish, adopted after considerable discussion and experiment because, while not coated, it has a surface on which half-tones can be printed properly. I agree with you in disliking glazed paper and pictures, but the editors seem to think pictures are wanted by their readers, and no doubt they are right. As to the Caslon initials, you certainly have a sharp eye. Our supply of Baskerville ran short—in other words we were what is known in the printing offices as "out of sorts," so we had to use Caslon in the first issue; we are still using it for 3-line initials, but expect to get some larger Baskerville for this purpose. It is indeed a pleasure to have a comment like yours because you know what you are talking about.

Brattleboro, Vt.November 7, 1932.

POETRY PRAISED

Dear Sir: I do not know whether the editor was responsible for the poem by Pennington Haile in the last issue but I think it is one of the finest contributions to any magazine I have seen for a long time. That "feller" and I have a lot in common.

Newport, N. H., November 8, 1932.