Class of 1928
The most traveled man in the class is undoubtedly Bill Harris, and your humble scribe, who has a good deal of wanderlust himself, has been working on him to secure an account of his globe-trotting. Bill has rewarded our efforts with as interesting a letter as these columns have had in many a day:
"I have been traveling almost continuously since 1933, and at the present do a bit of work for Raymond-Whitcomb, but prefer to free-lance it all I can. Here is the story. I hope you can stand it, but remember you asked for it!
"I have now terminated all affiliations with the Baker Platinum Co. On leaving Hanover I worked for five years with this concern in Newark, N. J., up till December, 1933. Then they transferred me to Europe, giving me an eight months' leave of absence to travel and study in Europe. I entered the University of Madrid and spent the winter there studying Spanish as well as the historical, social, and political aspects of Spain. In the spring (1934) I knapsacked it with another American chap through the South of Spain and down through Morocco. Next went on to summer school in Munich and took a bumming trip all through Italy, Austria, the Riviera, Switzerland, and ended up in Paris in September ready to enter our office there.
"However Old Lady Fate played another trick on me, and I was transferred to the London office. This was only for a few weeks, because I was made representative of the platinum company for Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. So back to the bull-fights again! I had no sooner landed in Barcelona than the famous Catalonian revolt of broke out and all business was at a standstill. I went back to London, staying there until February, 1935, and then was made general manager of a new plant and office in Milan. So I went to Italy to live. All went well for the first four months. I had then been made president of the Italian Company, and the breaks kept rolling in
"Things went too well, so Old Lady Fate thought up the Italian-Ethiopian War. We had to close down. I was forced to leave Italy. It seemed to me that some unforeseen force was trying to get me out of the business field, and I said O.K. I took a flyer! I resigned my job and went to Majorca for two months, just basking in the sun, which as you know is the easiest thing to do there. Finally I decided to get out of Europe, for two years had then passed since I had been back in the States. I flew over to Madrid and on to Lisbon, grabbed a boat to Southampton and came home. So ended the year 1935.
"January, 1936, found me in Rio. I had made up my mind to see South America. I met up with an English fellow, and with knapsacks, pith helmets, and a couple cans of bug powder we set off into the interior of Brazil, finally reaching the Matto Grosso. There with Indian guides and various means of river transportation from barges, rafts, and dugout canoes we went south through the interior to the Argentine border and stayed there a week up at the famous Iguazu Falls. On then to Paraguay, where a fancy revolution took place and we were forced to spend three days in the U. S. Consulate. But finally on to Buenos Aires, all down through Patagonia, the Straits of Magellan, Chilean Lakes, nitrate deserts, Bolivia, Lake Titicaca, the glorious Inca country, Lima, Quito, Columbia, Panama, Havana, and home.
"On this trip I had taken many movies and gathered material for travel articles and even a book. I started to lecture on South America in and around the Boston area. Raymond-Whitcomb heard of me doing this work. They phoned me for an interview, and it all ended up that I went to South America for them last winter as lecturer on the S. S. Columbus. This was quite up my alley, for I am planning to go into lecture work on a big scale as well as try my hand at writing.
"In fact I have just revised a guide-book on South America for Dodd, Mead. It was written originally by Harry Foster about ten years ago, and I rewrote the whole thing, bringing it up to date. It is called 'If You Go to South America.'
"I went to the Coronation, Holland, and Sweden on my own in May, and returned to New York just in time to go out on the S. S. Paris for Raymond-Whitcomb as lecturer on their Western Europe cruise. Then I took three people through Europe, ending up in London this last August, where I met my sister. We spent five weeks on the Continent, just traveling as well as my doing some work for R-W in Venice, Budapest, and Vienna.
"I arrived back October 14 on the Norman-die, and plan to stay in the States till February, when I go out on the Columbus again to S. A. In the meantime I am attempting to write a book of my experiences and impressions in S. A. Whether it will ever be published or not Ido not know, but it certainly is worth a try!
"You ask how many countries, etc.: As to continents, only three outside our own, and about 32 different countries. Some day I actually hope to do some real travelingthe East and Africa!"
Thanks for a grand letter, Bill, and we wish we had time to join you in some of your travels.
As one of the football fanatics who sat through the cloud-burst at the Harvard game, we were rewarded with a sight of Prexy Phelan twenty rows in front! of us, desperately trying to keep dry. We didn't see him between halves, because to move from under our poncho meant getting very wet instead of just partially wet. Don Norris and wife sat directly in front of us huddled under a slicker.
We arrived at the Yale bowl early on October 30, and had a long talk with BillMorton and wife, proud parents of Bill Jr., Dartmouth '5B. Bob MacPhail, wearing a bright blue shirt, stopped for a moment on his way to the broadcasting box to give his impression of the game to the radio audience. By Dodge and his wife and Haw Fisher sat right behind us. With thousands of people fighting for tickets outside the Bowl after the game started, Bill Mcsight—Myles Lane and Al Marsters '30 peering through the iron fence, all efforts to get 011 the other side of it completely stymied. They had given their tickets to friends. Two widely scattered single tickets were unearthed for Al and Myles' fair guest, and an "official" tag gave Myles, who knows his way about the New Haven turf much better than about the grandstands, safe-conduct to the press box.
Seventeen '2Bers turned out for the first class dinner of the New York season. JackHerpel was there, receiving congratulations on the arrival of Jack Jr. on September 30. Jack is building a house just outside Plainfield, N. J. Johnny Phillips told of scouting Columbia for Dartmouth. AllanCarpenter was also being congratulated on the arrival of a daughter, Jane, on September 7.
On December 3 Myles Lane is speaking at a meeting of the Dartmouth Alumni Association of Eastern Pennsylvania near Allentown. Myles scouted Princeton and Yale for Harvard this year, and wrote articles on football for the Boston Transcript.
As prepared by Tucker, Anthony & Co. 120 Broadway, New York, N. Y.
