CLASS OF 1898

Men achieve publicity of a character to warrant their names on the front page of a large city daily in various ways, but the Secretary was enabled to get on the front page of the Boston Herald, April 1, by reason of the article that appears below.

6 HENS EXCEED 5 EGGS PER DAY

Newtonville Man Says They Keep Cheerful,Scratching, Laying

Depressions are unknown in the hencoop behind the home of H. Philip Patey at 57 Grove Hill Ave., Newtonville, where six Rhode Island red hens have been working in shifts for the past month to establish a record of 161 eggs in 31 days. Their percentage for the month is better than 86, and even in normal times a percentage of 40 per cent is good news in any hen yard.

On 12 days the hens laid 6 eggs, on 14 days they laid 5, on 4 days they laid 4, and 1 day they laid 3.

Asked to explain the secret of success with hens, Mr. Patey said: "My birds observe three fundamental laws. They keep cheerful, they keep scratching, they keep laying."

I hope the good members of the class of '9B will not be scandalized. You will notice that in Ecclesiastes 5:9 it says, "The king himself is served by the field." So this honorable position in the Boston Herald referring to this incident in the department of agriculture has good authority.

The Secretary was in Newburyport on April 6 and had a pleasant call on "Monty," who is planning a vigorous campaign for his summer hotel at Martha's Vineyard. On the return trip to Boston the Secretary dropped off at the Governor Dummer Academy and asked to meet Lyman Belknap, son of our dear classmate. It was startling to me to see the resemblance between the son and the father. It was our friend and classmate Belknap over again. I had a very delightful interview with the young man, and found him clear-cut and upstanding just as his father was and also enthusiastically looking toward entering Dartmouth. I hope both he and his mother will be at the next '98 roundup in Boston.

I received a letter from Ted Leggett this morning. Ted, as usual, uses beautiful language. It has to do with the class fund, and I very much hope every member of '98 will stand by Ted Leggett, as we have for so many years. A better Alumni Fund solicitor is not found anywhere among Dartmouth men.

A letter came from "Pete" Adams the other day, expressing his great shock at the death of Elliott Perkins. He thought, as I did, that everything was going satisfactorily.

F. V. Bennis is once more at his summer home in Sullivan Harbor, Me.

Harry Goodall is exerting all his marvelous skill to bring Pitt Drew back to good health. We all hope that he will be successful.

The Secretary the other day met Audubon L. Hardy of Amherst, who is now in his eightieth year and who was Fred Lord's teacher in St. Johnsbury Academy as well as Calvin Coolidge's. He spoke of what a beautiful spirit Fred Lord always manifested in his student days in St. Johnsbury Academy.

There has just come to the desk of the Secretary the official journal of the Commonwealth Club of California. S. C. Smith '97 was good enough to send it to me because there is in it a report of an address given by our classmate "Bill" Hewes, entitled "United States Highway Conscious." Bill in his address attacked the unsightly billboards without gloves. He says also in the article that for a century America showed utter neglect of the highways, but now this condition has been greatly remedied. I might add by way of comment that "Bill" Hewes himself has been a very prominent worker in bringing about beautiful highways in the western section of America.

The Secretary recently called on George Farley in Amherst, Mass., and found him very happy on his farm on the outskirts of Amherst and also active in his work in connection with the Massachusetts State College at Amherst.

George Lockwood recently wrote and said he and his family had been quarantined for three weeks because of scarlet fever, but happily everything came out all right.

Carl H. Richardson, the secretary of the class of '96, was good enough to ring me up the other day and, upon my going to his office in the Tremont Building, he gave me an unusually fine group picture of "big Perk" and "little Perk," Lyman Belknap, and Allan B. Patterson. I shall hope later to have this photograph appear in some class report.

Warren Kendall '99 is planning a group class reunion at some country club near Boston. The classes he has in mind for the get-together are those of '97, '98, '99, '00, '01. More power to his elbow, "sez" I.

The Secretary called at Perkins Hall in Cambridge to see James S. Clark, son of our missionary classmate C. E. Clark. The young man is doing some graduate work in history in Harvard. It is most interesting to meet sons of classmates.

Secretary,57 Grove Hill Ave., Newtonville, Mass,