1885*

The secretary is glad to report that, with Mrs. Bayley, he recently called at Otis Hovey's summer home at Hartford, Vermont and had a delightful visit with Mrs. Hovey, her daughter Ellen and her granddaughter. Otis was in New York but was expected to arrive for the week-end. The great progress which Mrs. Hovey has made was a very pleasant surprise and if we had not known of her illness of last June, we would not have guessed that such could have been a fact. She goes about easily and is as vivacious and as interested in everything as ever and repeated her intention of attending our class reunion next June.

We should all begin making plans for that reunion, now only eight months away. The secretary would like to hear at once from each member of the class regarding his attendance and suggestions with reference to celebrating that important occasion. The first one he would call on is Frank Whipple, our President, then Henry Austin, our Treasurer, and then all the others, beginning with "Life" Philbrick of Los Angeles and Sam Wilcox of Galveston, as they live so far away from Hanover, and also from all the rest who live nearer. Please understand that this is a command for each one of you to write the secretary without further invitation or delay, remembering that if you do not do so, it will necessitate the secretary's writing each of you individually.

Referring again to the Records of the "Kappa Sigma Epsilon Society" to which reference was made in our. class notes of last month, the secretary would say that it is interesting to find among the subjects of debate sixty years ago, the following "hardy perennials"—"Ought Capital Punishment as a Matter of Right be Abolished," "Does the Author Exert a Greater Influence than the Orator," "That the Occupation of the Soldier is Contrary to Divine Law," "That National Debt is Beneficial to National Prosperity," "That Moral Suasion is the Most Effective Means for Preventing Intemperance," "That the Minds of Men are Stronger than those of Women," "That The Iliad and The Odyssey were Composed by the same Person," "That the Pulpit is a Better Field for Eloquence than the Bar," "That some Circumstances Justify Departure from the Truth," "Shall We Have Free Trade," "Has America Reached the Height of Her Prosperity," "That Tact is more Influential than Talent" and "That the Change of Power from the Republican to the Democratic Party would be Beneficial"; this latter was debated at the meeting held December 2, 1874; the affirmative was supported by several worthy Democrats and the negative by more worthy Republicans, including W. D. Parkinson and Isaac F. Paul of the class of 'jS, and it seems hardly necessary to say that the decision of the question on the weight ofthe argument by both the President of the Society and by a vote of the House was in favor of the negative.

Among some of the quondam secretaries of the Society appear the names of Luther Little 'B2, Sam Robinson 'B3 (whose penmanship quite resembled copperplate), George Bowles 'B4 and Richard Hovey 'B5.

It might bring some comfort to the disputants of that remote time, if they could know that those questions still remain matters of controversy. The foregoing may arouse some of the survivors of those days to wish to peruse these records.

Secretary, Kimball Bldg., Tremont St., Boston, Mass.