LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Pooriana

Dear Sir:

I note in the last ALUMNI MAGAZINE that you are interested in contributions about Professor Poor. I think it is a splendid idea, though I often wonder if a collection of wise cracks does him justice.

Professor Poor was a man of keen wit and discriminating humor touched with melancholy, and there is every advantage in preserving his best flashes, for it is by them that hundreds of us know him. Those who had the benefit of the closest association with him, however, seem to agree that his wit and humor arose more often in defense against intrusions upon his mind than as a manifestation of his most absorbing interests. If one really sought advice or help from him, the subject was invariably treated with respect and serious consideration. When he was at play it was a play of wit to be sure. When he was melancholy he frequently graced the mood with humor. When a committee or a faction in counsel lost its perspective there was saving health in his apt and humorous parable. But when an idle person sought amusement in conversation' with him he generally got it very quickly as a sop for Cerberus to chew on while Professor Poor went gently on about his business.

One picture I have of Professor Poor is the scene at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Hanover during the summer of 1924. There were many distinguished astronomers and mathematicians from America, England and Continental Europe gathered in the auditorium of Wilder Hall. Professor Poor was wandering about unobtrusively distributing letters and telegrams from the memory of faces last seen, in some cases, fifteen years before. As the first paper for the morning session was announced and the name of Professor John M. Poor was given he had arrived at the corner of the lecture counter. Instantly he slapped the remaining letters down on the counter and began to speak. He moved swiftly to the movable black boards behind the desk and raised the one on which his figures were arranged rows and rows of mathematical formulae. Talking very rapidly with his meticulously pure language he held the attention of that audience of his peers until he had finished, exactly ten seconds before the end of the time allotted to him. The applause continued for more than one minute while he quietly resumed the distribution of mail. For some of us present in the room it was a solemn occasion, for we were proud to hear him applauded so, but we had not the remotest idea in our own right of what he had been talking about.

Dept. of Biography,Hanover, N. H.,February y, 1934.

Frescoe Questions

Dear Sir:

This month's MAGAZINE brings us more Orozco murals. Perhaps this installment was not so repulsive as the last, but little more can be said for it. One panel shows a large pair of boots partially buried in a pile of doughnuts the other a spiritualistic-looking being in front of a junk pile. What has this variety of art to do with Baker Library? Couldn't an artist be found to paint murals having something in common with the Library's New England architecture? Is Dartmouth's story so trivial that no murals which relate to the College could be painted?

The MAGAZINE has used various aspects of Baker Library for its cover. What would be the effect were it to use one of the murals to which Mr. Jones objects so forcefully?

Wilson Hall had its drawbacks, but at least one would not feel he was in a chamber of horrors. How fortunate the generation of Dartmouth men who could use the Library before these murals disfigured its walls.

Very truly yours,

2381/2 Carlton Ave.,Brooklyn, N. Y.,February 9, 1934.

Mark Hopkins & E. M. H.

Dear Sir:

The editorial entitled "Dartmouthiana" in the last issue of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE prompted me to send the enclosed letter to you. If it is of any value to the College you are welcome to keep it if you will let me know where it may be seen or referred to.

This letter has been in my family ever since it was written and was sent to me by a descendant of President Bennet Tyler who thought it might interest me, since I went to Dartmouth. The Tylers are related to me on my mother's side of the house. Her name is Hopkins. I have often wondered if a relationship could be traced to "Prexy." Do you know if he is a descendant of Mark Hopkins? Or of Stephen Hopkind who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Jamaica Avenue,Long Island City, New York,February 13, 1934.

[Genealogical records show no connection between President Hopkins' familyand the branches of Mark or Stephen."Prexy" is often credited with teaching thestudent "on the other end of the log" andMrs. Hopkins has been asked if "her husband isn't now very old." ED.]