GRADUS AD PARNASSUM
It was so cold in Hanover during Christmas vacation that a wrecker couldn't move Bill McCarter's car from his home in Norwich to the garage across the street. They had to use a blow torch to thaw out the rear axe enough to get the back wheels turning. It was so cold in Lewiston, across Ledyard Bridge (said to be 54 below) that the water main froze up solid and they didn't have water for three days. It was so cold that a chauffeur driving through town complained of numbness in his fur-gloved hands and J. Gile & Jack Bowler discovered he had frozen three fingers so badly that the!y had to be amputated. It was so cold that John Coombs, veteran caretaker of playing fields, didn't dare open the hockey rink windows for fear the ice would freeze too hard and split.
It was so cold that it's a darn shame that John Poor wasn't here to see just how cold it was. And to write down the record temperature on his dog-eared charts in the Observatory and tell us the last time it was as cold as that. And if everyone else rushed along the paths, bundled and shivering, John would have poked his moderate way to check the College clocks with the daily time signals and fill in his record for the day up on Observatory Hill. Already we all miss him—miss his familiar figure on the campus, his daily duties and teaching, and his wonderful humor of which only he was master.
Outing Clubbers are pleased with the approbation given the D. O. C. in a widely published newspaper article by Lowell Thomas. Says Lowell: "All this (skiing activity) is traced to the Dartmouth OutingClub, which pioneered skiing in the UnitedStates. The spectacular Norwegian pastimecaught the public eye." I am indebted to Charles J. Weston 'O5 for spotting this comment and sending it to Hanover.
Everyone knows that Fred Harris '11 discovered snow and forthwith started the Outing Club. With a little more publicity it looks as though Dartmouth might take out a copyright on skiing. Then faculty salaries could be doubled to make up for the 50c: dollar and the freshman teams could afford some out-of-town competition. Also we could get an ice machine for the hockey rink and raise the rink roof a few feet so that spectators could see the games without standing up (two pet local grievances). And the Outing Club could serve free beer on Occom Pond. There are other crying needs.
Lest you might have missed them, the class notes pages are worth thumbing through to spot and peruse the various interviews with distinguished gents of our alumni that are now appearing therein. And the special columns of Hap Hinman 'lO, Larry Griswold 'OB, and Bill McCarter 'l9 appear regularly in the alumni news section. There are a few alumni and some wives, we understand, who read this magazine, all of it, every month. Although this is hard to believe we editors prefer to go on thinking that it is true, that somewhere someone isn't able to pick it up after 11 P.M. for fear of staying up all night.
Whether from fondness for their jobs or from fear of the inadequacies of the incoming board, the editors of The Dartmouth haven't been willing to announce their successors and give way to them as in previous years. Ordinarily the new editorin-chief and his associates have been elected and announced just before the Christmas vacation. This ceremony is already a month late this year. In the humble opinion of the writer, The Dartmouth is falling on evil days, or it has fallen. Mr. Silverman in his Undergraduate Chair of last month pointed out that early morning delivery of New York dailies has cut into the paper's circulation. This appears a plausible reason for declining income but a more pertinent one is doubtless that TheDartmouth has shown little leadership in Hanover affairs of late. In make-up and appearance the managing editor (Bob Webb, contributor of the interview with Bill Cunningham in this issue) has done a very superior job. But the paper hasn't been clicking. If advice had been asked I suspect the editors would have been encouraged to turn over the reins before Christmas.
The Princeton Alumni Weekly has been reflecting the glories of the Tiger during the fall and since the Yale game triumph. A recent number carries the following note:
This matter of the Bible and its relationto football should not be carried throughinto the winter, but before the subject islaid aside for another year, the Weekly would like to report one more interestingcontribution. Louis I. Reichner '94 remindsus that the Bible specifically prophesied"Sam" White's famous run. The reference,which was first given its true significance ina speech by Mr. Reichner at the Philadelphia Princeton Club in 1911: "And theLord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do athing in Israel, at which both the ears ofevery one that heareth it shall tingle.
"In that day I will perform against Ehall things which I have spoken concerninghis house: when I begin I will also makean end.
"And the child Samuel ministered untothe Lord before Eli."
I Samuel 3:11, 12,1.
The Notre Dame Juggler has been having great fun in reversing the quips of other years that have been made at the expense of South Bend boys. By the way Pat Degnan of West Lebanon, Tommy Keane's caddy master at Hilton Field in the summer, is the smart editor of the Juggler. In his latest issue Pat ran a cartoon showing two young bruisers with sweaters decorated with the "N D" scornfully regarding another young man wearing a large "P." "That," says one Notre Dame boy to the other, "is Van Kuggleschmidt of Princeton. That football school, you know!"
Max Waldsmith '33 promises an occasional cartoon for these pages. We hope they will be frequent. Moe has had some success in selling his drawings out home in St. Louis. Dartmouth wouldn't be doing so badly in the commercial art field if Max joins Ted Geisel '25 (Dr. Seuss) and Abner Dean Epstein in their successful pursuit of sketching fame.
Some suggestions for a name for the "academic" panel of Orozco's frescoes have come in. Matt Jones '94 suggests one in a letter to the editor. Serious suggestions are: "Gods of the Modern World" and "Modern Superstitions." One not so serious is "Special Delivery'!
On reporting back to his Chief in Washington after his trip to Porto Rico to
investigate educational and other troubles down there President Hopkins was given a cordial reception at the White House. Louis Howe had just ushered Mr. Hopkins in and Mr. Roosevelt had cheerily called out "Hello Hoppy!" "But I shouldn't call you 'Hoppy' " he continued. "Our friend Louis Howe says it isn't dignified! How would it be if I called you Ernest?"
