NOW THAT YOU ARE ALUMNI
NOT ONLY to the class of 1933, which is for the first time in four years failing to assemble within the figurative walls of the college, but to all members of the alumni not acquainted with the system of corralling headstrong Dartmouth men is this little dissertation written. How many times it has been stated, and how many times the little voice within the heart"has whispered it, there is no way of knowing, but it might as well be whispered in print again that once Dartmouth gets hold of a man it never lets go of him. Whether you buy football tickets or subscribe to funds or pay various dues, all that is beside the point; if you have ever been entered at Dartmouth College, there is a large folder in a steel case upstairs in Parkhurst Hall which bears your name, and into which goes all the information that can possibly be obtained about you; and there it is for ever. Should a man from the class of 1870 be interested, for example, he will find his folder and a record of all his doings. The same applies to the man of 1930, or whatyouwill.
This is simply to advise that you can assist in this very valuable matter by letting your class secretary or the alumni records office know all about yourself whenever anything vital, promotionary, confessional, or statistical happens to you. The granite of New Hampshire may bear the record of your fame, but it is much better to have it all in those folders in the proper office. You can't escape it either. If your name gets off the list, the head of the office begins to write to your parents, friends, wives, sisters, brothers and everybody available, in an attempt to locate you. If you are lost from the records there will be telegrams, notices in papers where you have lived, all kinds of want ads in agony columns and other places. The search was kept up once for a man who was reported dead, and he was found alive and happy thirty years later. You can't escape the alumni office. It will have you from the cradle to the grave, and it will perpetuate your every accomplishment, if you will but help it out.
You can help to keep the Dartmouth family together in all kinds of ways: joining the local club, writing "vox pops" to the ALUMNI MAGAZINE, encouraging the officers of the College with a letter now and then, sending news to your class secretary, and shaking hands with new students from, your home town, and perhaps inviting them out to dinner or luncheon once in a while. Try to escape it if you can, the Alumni Office will get you sometime! But it is much better for everyone concerned if you give that office a friendly hand along the way.
