Gradus Ad Parnassum
DURING EACH of the last three years it has been possible for the glee club to present a new song at the Dartmouth Night celebration in Hanover. And in some cases the song has been printed in advance and sent around to alumni groups for their use in sectional ceremonies throughout the country on that evening. Feeling that the time had come to make an attempt to uncover latent talent in the student body for the composition of a new song this year, a prize song contest was announced last month. Should undergraduates, either singly or in collaboration, submit suitable words or music there will be a student-written song for the first time in a good many years.
Bob Hopkins '14 composed his famous "Dartmouth's in Town Again" during college days when he was in great demand as a pianist. (If we ran one of those columns we might say: "DO YOU KNOW THAT" Bob Hopkins is the President's youngest brother Brother Louis '08 is president of Wabash College.) Tom Keady '05 was in college when he collaborated with Carl Blaisdell to write "As the Backs Go Tearing \By." Harry Wellman '07 ranks at the very top of any list of Dartmouth song writers. His music for Richard Hovey's "Men of Dartmouth" was first copyrighted in 1908, his words and music for D-A-R-T-M-O-U-T-H in 1906. Walter Golde '10 and C. O. Libbey '10 were writers of popular songs for the College in student days. Many of Richard Hovey's best verses were written when he was a student member of the class of '85. Sydney Junkins '87, who is retired and lives in Hanover, recalls the wintry afternoon in Reed Hall when Dick Hovey composed the words for "Men ofDartmouth."
THIS ARRAY of data leads one to the conclusion that undergraduates have not, in recent years, been contributing to official songs of the College. Whatever good reason there may be for this it is surely not because there is no need for new songs. They are always welcomed as additions to the none too adequate collection. For a good many years the writers and composers of songs held copyrights in their own names. During the past year, under the direction of Mr. Wellman and Edwin O. Grover '94 (and following their generous example) nearly all Dartmouth songs have become the property of the College, through deeds of gift by their original owners. This action makes it possible for the College to control its songs and to contract for the services of a professional agent to handle commercial use of the songs. The immediate results are that a new (fifth edition) of the Dartmouth Song Book has been put out by the Publications Committee, and the T. W. Allen Co. of New York City has been empowered to act for the College in granting permission for the use of songs, except in cases of schools, alumni groups, etc., which do not require any special permission.
NEWS OF THE election of "Rufus" Day '05 to the presidency of Cornell is mighty pleasant to Dartmouth men and particularly, of course, to the great number of his friends among Dartmouth alumni. He has never been out of touch with things in Hanover. He served as president of the General Association of Alumni in 1935 and it was just a year earlier that his son, Emerson, held a Senior Fellowship at Dartmouth. Family ties with Hanover through Mrs. Day, whose father was Dean Emerson, may have been somewhat responsible for his frequent visits to town through the years. And he taught in the department of Economics for a period after graduating in 1905 from a course that was particularly distinguished in accomplishment, both academic and in other respects.
Cornell is to be congratulated upon so successful a completion of its search for a successor to President Farrand. Dr. Day promises competence in his new position of the sort that will carry its own conviction to all who come in contact with him. And the compliments of his Dartmouth friends go to their good friend "Rufus," who enjoys a festive '05 dinner in New York or a picnic high up on Balch Hill, above the New Hampshire village that is his second home.
THE YALE-DARTMOUTH game has developed from its early "jinx" days, when the Bowl was well filled with partisans of one team or the other, to the point where the huge stands in New Haven are crowded not only with Blue and Green color-bearers but with thousands of those fans who want to see a close, exciting game. Is there any series of games that has provided more thrilling finishes over a period of time than Yale vs. Dartmouth? If there is, we have pity for the poor mortals who have fought off apoplexy during them. But it is doubtful if anywhere has there been a closer series than these games from 1929 through 1936.
Robert A. Hall, Yale '30, points out in his story of the game in the Yale AlumniWeekly that during this period the aggregate of the scores of each team shows Yale ahead by just four points. Of the eight games—Yale won four, Dartmouth two, and two were tied. The record follows:
Year Yale Dartmouth 1929 16 12 1930 0 0 1931 33 33 1932 6 0 1933 14 13 1934 7 2 1935 6 14 1936 7 11 Total Points 89 85
THERE ARE some thrilling stories in every one of the scores listed above. Marsters '30, winning the '29 game by his superlative play only to have it lost in the final moment by Ellis' wonderful run .... the Morton-McCall combination in '31 that inspired a team, beaten at the half, to make 23 points in the second half, and the wizardry of Yale's Booth on that day .... the succeeding years when a flick of Fate here or there postponed the day of victory .... finally the convincing turn in the tide last November and again this year, an earned victory, but one that was barely saved from a resourceful and hardfighting Bulldog.
IT is NOT conceivable that the Dartmouth team of this fall could have gone very far without the excellent coaching it has received from Messrs. Blaik, Ellinger, Gustafson, and Dr. Donchess. So far as natural talent among the available material went, it was obvious in September that there were no stars on the squad nor any players who could get very far without the best sort of instruction in all the complicated technique of the game.
The squad has played hard football, not only on Saturday afternoons but in the frequent scrimmages and daily practice sessions. The coaches have said that the players would rather be conditioned to play hard football and that it would then be more fun. To the observer in Hanover, this has been a result of the present season.
The season's record is the record of a group of high calibre players who have offered time and energy to the coaches. And the coaches, as most all Dartmouth men know by now, and appreciate, are every one gifted teachers of boys, qualified to represent the College in more than one sphere of its activity.
ACCORDING TO Jack Hubbell '21, who is not given any rest by the Alumni Council in its committee assignments, there is going to be a frontal attack made this year on the ancient problem of making information about the College available to boys who are interested in coming to Dartmouth. Mr. Hubbell, who has directed the Alumni Fund for the past two years, is this year guiding the Council's work on admissions and schools, a task formerly handled by John Burleigh '14, of Boston. Some beginnings were made last year in discovering just what alumni groups and individuals are doing to interest the most promising boys in their localities in applying for Dartmouth. The study will be carried further this year and the results will be discussed by the Alumni Council and passed on to the alumni club secretaries.
Although the total figure of qualified applicants for admission every year runs up toward 2000 (with an entering class limit of about 650) there is no evidence, from any quarter, that there isn't room for improvement in the quality of applicants. Dean Bob Strong might well become low in his mind if there should ever be a greater quantity of applicants. But there is no admissions officer in the country, so far as we know, who would not welcome to the lists more of those boys who give promise of achieving real distinction in the college course.
IF THERE is shortly an influx of applications for membership within the College from young residents of Paris it will be easy to locate the cause. George Hull '1B reports upon the first American interscholastic track meet held in France. It was conceived by Mr. Hull, planned, and carried through by him to a highly successful conclusion, at the Racing Club de France in the Bois de Boulogne. He may even have done all the officiating himself. Newspaper clippings state that the meet was held under the auspices of the Dartmouth Club of Paris. One of the papers carried a picture of the team representing the American School of Paris which scored a total of 48 points and won the meet.
George Hull's letter is quoted here:
"Our track meet went over big. Iwhipped it together in about three weeksand bought some simple medals for thekids. The schools all sent teams and withthe parents we had about two hundredAmericans at the Racing Club that afternoon. The kids wanted to run and jumpin every event and I guess they were prettytired that night. There's a lot of interestin Dartmouth at the present over here andany little trouble I had was amply repaidby the gratitude of the Directors and parents. Two of the schools invited me to theirgraduation exercises to hand out themedals."
A Dartmouth sweater was awarded to the high point scorer of the day. He turned out to be an Esthonian boy whose ambition is to win a D at winter sports. In addition, writes George: "Think I discovered acouple of 13-year olds who are going to begood!"
PEOPLE AT football games this fall, especially the big games, have doubtless had an eye on the drinking situation to a greater extent than ever before. The courageous stand of President Dodds has aroused a good deal of interest in the perennial problem of undesirable conditions that often surround a major game. So far as home games are concerned Dartmouth has had a pretty clean record in this respect. It is a small town and any offender is immediately recognized as a stranger, alumnus, or student. And the crowds are not large. Necessarily some time must pass, and the present season must run out before any judgment can be passed as to whether or not the Princeton crusade has helped. We endorse Mr. Dodds' stand and we indict the conditions that he finds unwholesome. We hope that the cumulative effect of the support and favorable public opinion he has aroused will minimize the problem within another year.
THREE OF DARTMOUTH'S BEST (Left) Prof. Frank Maloy Anderson of the department of History and chairman of thefaculty committee on the library; (upper right) Prescott Orde Skinner, professor of Romance Languages; (lower right) Louis H. Dow, Edward Tuck Professor of the FrenchLanguage and Literature.
