GRADUS AD PARNASSUM
The chess team is turning out to be a bunch of athletes. Not content with quietly sitting down for long afternoons of thoughtful practice in preparation for strenuous matches of the winter season, the chess team has gone in for touch football. In the intramural league composed of teams representing extra-curricular activities the chess players have defeated such rugged individualists as the Outing Clubbers, the business board of The Dartmouth, the Jack-O's pumpkins, and others. There is a tip in this news for the varsity coaches. They may be overlooking some good material.
Ax Coffin '24 sends, from the Windy City, the above photo which is just the sort of thing that quickens the mitosis of any editor. Whether or not Ax put those copies of the MAGAZINE there just for the picture, or whether they always repose in such a pleasant state of exhibition in his family living room, doesn't bother the editors. At least somebody saved the June issue until October! That pleases us. We'd like to christen the picture "Pals"—because of the pipe, books, dog, our MAGAZINE, and the elephant, too. Wouldn't this break down our non-subscribers (if they could see it)?
A propos of the ever-increasing number of sons of Dartmouth men enrolled in freshman classes in Hanover the Manchester Union finds cause for possible concern. It acknowledges that this fact is "indeed a handsome tribute to the reputation of the institution" but the editor concludes "This flock of sons of alumni opens an interesting prospect. Will there be room for anybody else up there, if they keep increasing?"
Serious speculation on this point would need to be projected so far into the future that it is difficult to get excited now about the prospect of having 650 or more Dartmouth sons enrolling every year. When this becomes true we'll offer good material for the sociologists to poke into, and discover what may be the effects of "educational inbreeding."
The Boston Herald carried the following editorial after the Harvard-Dartmouth game, October 28. From all reports the goal-post fracas wasn't quite as serious as the Boston Post and others would have us believe. Nonetheless there is opportunity right now to lay the groundwork for restraint next fall to avoid another such juvenile demonstration.
"THE GOAL-POSTS' BATTLE"
According to scouts who saw the affray,the most exciting part of Saturday's gameat the Stadium was the melee about thegoal posts after the game. The setting wasideal for a rough-and-tumble argument.Neither team gave its supporters much excuse for enthusiasm and, with the exception of the two scoring runs, few opportunities for working off excess spirits. Thetie score, moreover, left the question ofsuperiority wide open. Delighted by theireleven's last-minute touchdown, Dartmouth men regarded the outcome as amoral victory and went out to collect thespoils. Nettled by seeing their goal postspurloined by visitors a distressing numberof times in the recent past, Harvard mendescended on to the field and gave battle.
We refuse to become indignant aboutthe episode. It was a purely invitation affair. No one had to engage in the brawlunless he wanted to and the injuries received were probably no more serious thanwhat any boy might suffer in an old-fashioned rough-house. The police appear tohave pursued a correctly tactful policy ofhands-off. We cannot help feeling, however, that the goal-post mania has outwornits welcome. It has entirely eliminatedwhat used to be one of the pleasantest features of a college football game—the snakedance of the victorious students led bytheir band up and down the field, the exchange of good-natured cheering betweenthis jubilant army and the losing team'sdejected adherents in the stands, and thesinging of college hymns. It was a sportsmanlike way of celebrating victory and accepting defeat. Perhaps we are futile sentimentalists, but we should like to see the oldcustom revived.
Phil Everett 'lB and Judge W. P. Staford, of Washington, D. C., are the authors of music and words for a new Dartmouth song. The poem was written by Judge Stafford, who holds an honorary degree from the College, in observance of a Dartmouth Night celebration some years ago in Washington. The verses of his "Song for Dartmouth Night" were printed in the October issue of the MAGAZINE and composers were invited to try their hand at setting them to music. Mr. Everett responded promptly with an excellent score. The song will be found in this issue. It was tried out, with
good effect, by several alumni groups on November 16, the date of Dartmouth Night, and by the glee club at the observance in Hanover of this historic occasion.
The Figaro and other Paris newspapers carried interesting accounts of a dinner party given for Mr. Edward Tuck '62 at his Chateau Vert-Mont on August 24, commemorating his ninety-first birthday. Present were General Pershing, former Senator George H. Moses '9O, Ambassador Robert Bliss, Mr. George Blumenthal, Mrs. Van Rensselaer Thayer, Mrs. Herman Harjes and others, American and French.
I am indebted to A. E. Carleton '95 of the American Consulate in Riga, Latvia, for a batch of newspaper reviews of the success that Werner Janssen '21 has had in conducting concerts there. Mr. Carleton writes that Mr. Janssen expects to go to Moscow this winter and continues "if thisis the case he will be the first Americanever to conduct in the Soviet Republic."
The critic of the paper "Sevodnya" included these statements in his reviews of the several Janssen concerts in Riga:
Mr. Janssen amazed his hearers at thisfirst appearance by conducting his entireprogramme without using a score. A leadermay perhaps do this when leading favoritecompositions or those which he knows wellor in which he excels. Apparently Mr.Janssen conducts this way always. His wholesecond programme was conducted withoutthe use of a music stand and the score He amazes and captivates by his executionof contemporary music. Here he is withinhis sphere. This time his execution of compositions of American composers was notonly original and interesting, but musicallyvaluable. Gershwin's "Americans in Paris"is very interesting in its harmonic andrhythmic structure. If a musician is somewhat frightened by the naive programmeof this composition (for example, the blowing of horns on taxis on the streets of Paris),the freshness of the rhythmic drawing andthe constant dynamic movement attractattention, especially in Mr. Janssen's brightand temperamental execution. Janssen wasespecially successful in the First Symphonyof Beethoven, particularly the fast part ofit The leader enjoyed a loud and welldeservedsuccess with the public.
Werner Janssen won the Prix de Rome three years ago. He is studying abroad this year on one of the Taylor Scholarships available to students of outstanding promise at the expiration of their Prix de Rome grants. His symphonies "New Year's Eve in New York" and "Louisiana" and his quartet "American Kaleidoscope" are reported to be widely known and popular in Europe.
The most recent news in regard to Werner Janssen's activities is his refusal to appear as guest conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra. Although not under contract to do this he had agreed to the assignment for this winter. Not having publicly stated his reason for canceling this engagement it is assumed that he does so in expressing objection to the current German government.
"Our Own Pepys" or something of that sort should be the title of this paragraph which will recount a very pleasant November pee-rade to New York and Princeton, N. J. Departing from Hanover on November 7 we left the bare hills of this North Country to gradually enter snow-bound Massachusetts and Connecticut. Cocker spaniel kennels in Sharon, Conn., and Poughkeepsie were convincing of the fact that good Cockers are raised in other places than Hanover. The snug and cherry home of the New York Club secretary in Scarsdale was an excellent resting place for the night. This was a large Dartmouth week and week-end in the City and events followed each other in quick succession. A conference on the Dartmouth movies at the Gillette Camera Stores headquarters gave way to a reunion-lunch at the Dartmouth Club, 24 East 38th St. Radio City, with its observation roof and artistically spacious theaters, was too strong a lure to be avoided in the afternoon. That excellent revue, "As Thousands Cheer" took care of the evening. Red Loudon '14 was forced down at Cleveland on his flight East and couldn't make an Alumni Council committee meeting at the Club the next morning. But Carl Woods '04 was there and final plans were formulated for recommending to alumni several changes in Council districting and methods of nomination.
Then came a lengthy conference with M. Zobel of the Graduate Group, Inc., which organization represents the advertising in. terests of this magazine. Our friend wants to give Dartmouth much revenue through liquor advertising. We have heard his whole story—he heard ours, which is that we aren't in any hurry to sell this space and we won't do it except as we might be told to do so by our subscribers at some future time. But the Good Lord knows we are in the red, and need money. A luncheon of the Hotchkiss alumni of New York, at which Prexy spoke, was a pleasant introduction to an afternoon mostly spent in the Good Housekeeping offices, where Warren Agry '11, Mac Rollins '11, Pete Hurd '23, and AI Dessau '13 form sort of a Dartmouth-Hearst Club. And again, Mr. Arthur McKeough gave ye ed. some fine points on magazine make-up.
Well, the next day, Friday, was the Council business meeting in the morning and speaking session and Doc and Mrs. O'Connor's tea in the afternoon. Saturday was spent in a pleasant sojourn to Princeton, pleasant except for that terrible low feeling that we all get when Dartmouth ends up in defeat, no matter how glorious. But we had a very enjoyable hour with Datus Smith, Princeton '29, capable editor of the Weekly down there. At his house we were asked, by a guest, "Why don't alumni magazines print something amusing, and stop being so serious?" That evening we attended the festivities at Radio City in opening the new N.B.C. studios which are housed in most wonderful and mysterious surroundings. And finally on Sunday we wended a weary way homeward, northward, over snow and ice to arrive in time for the nightly ceremony that young parents enjoy when their baby performs as well behaved babies should. She did. It was a good trip.
Accompanied by Al Dickerson '30 I recently ascended Mt. Moosilauke via the new Outing Club ski trail. The walk in to Camp 2 from the Moosilaukee Inn is all right except for seven land slides across the trail which, taken after dark as it was by us, isn't so good. Camp 2 is an old logging stable that is being renovated into lodgings for skiers. The trail rises from the cabin to the top of the mountain, and when I say rises I mean it. Al and I stood in the middle of what the boys call "Jacob's Ladder" and estimated that the grade of ascent was, conservatively, 80°. That it is nearer 50° we found later to be the fact. It is still very, very steep to us, and, as a matter of fact, it is. But the real ski-experts—Charlie Proctor '28, Coach Otto Schniebs, and John Carleton '22—are reported to be rarin' to go. We were glad to note that there are gentler slopes in the vicinity. Novices may, therefore, enjoy Jobildunk. It is located in a wilderness of rivers, mountains, and old roads. The country up there, as Prof. Del Ames says, "has hair on its chest." S.C.H. s
