1900*
Secretary, Hanover, N. H.
The death of Risley was mentioned in the April number of the MAGAZINE, and a more complete notice appears in another column of this issue. He will always be remembered by his classmates and by other undergraduate associates of his time as a modest and unpretentious but a thoroughly well-liked and respected member of our group. He was devoted to the College and to his class, although, for reasons of geography, he was not a frequent attendant at our gatherings. His son, referring to the flowers sent by the class to his funeral, writes as follows. "Because of Dad's great love for his school and for the intense feeling he had for his classmates, we felt it only fitting that these should be chosen as the only adornment for the casket as it rested in the church during the services. He had spoken many times of attending the 40th reunion, and only those who knew him as we did can appreciate how much it would have meant to him had he been able to experience this pleasure."
It is time for 1900 to shake off that innate modesty which has characterized it since the freshman days of 1896 and do a little horn-blowing ('98 members take notice), designed to call attention of other classes to the real excellence of the organization. This year Mac, as class agent, broke loose from the general routine of the Alumni Fund drive (because of his prospective absence from the country) and engineered his own campaign in February and March. As a result, before his departure he was able to turn over to the College Treasurer the 1900 contribution, in which the proportion of givers was well over 100% and the money quota substantially exceeded.
In this connection the opportunity arises lor the Secretary to do a little private hornblowing for himself. He wishes it to be understood that he is a member of the committee of the Alumni Council in charge of fund collections. Unless this is announced publicly in this place, it will never be generally known. Nevertheless, the duties of this committee are very important. We gather in special session at the fall meeting of the Council and consider the suggestions made by Sumner Emerson, the chairman, and Al Dickerson, the executive secretary. The suggestions are always good, we always gravely approve them; either we have no suggestions of our own or they are obviously bad and are rejected. Then we sit back and watch with approval (but, to our credit, without interference) Sumner and Al and the class agents working their heads off to put the campaign over. When they achieve success, as they do, we expect that credit for it shall be reflected upon us, but, nevertheless, with some uneasiness of mind on account of the fact that no one knows that we have anything to do with the matter. Hence this note.
However, as a matter of fact, the Secretary did manage to horn in on this particular campaign. For some mysterious reason he was asked to pinch-hit for President Hopkins at the meetings of the class agents in Boston and New York, early in April; the President, on account of his well-earned leave of absence, for the first time since he acceded to the office being unable to be present on these occasions. It cannot fairly be said that the result was the propulsion of the ball on a swift line over the distant bleachers, always sure to eventuate from Hop's efforts, but, at least, the topped grounder which resulted was scored by the charitably inclined as a sacrifice hit. Anyway the Secretary had a good time, and after the Boston meeting a long talk-fest with Walter Rankin over, shall we say, a glass of buttermilk, in which, among other topics, the question of the spring roundup was discussed.
Perhaps the Secretary has spoken enough of himself, although what is the use of being Secretary if the office cannot be used for personal publicity. Other members of the class, however, may justly expect some portion of the space. So we turn to a note in the New York Times on April 6. " 'Old Peppersass,' reputedly the first locomotive in the world to climb a mountain and the original engine of the Mt. Washington cograilroad will leave early next month bound for the World's Fair in New York, Col. Henry N. Teague, president of the railroad, announced today." Why this caution on the part of the Times? Not merely "reputedly"; it is the first mountain-climbing locomotive, and in efficiency, although perhaps not in appearance, it is an obvious improvement over James Watt's original teakettle. We had not expected to attend the Fair, but if the elegant Grover Whalen will promise daily to drive "Old Peppersass," with the resulting ruin to his sartorial perfection from the smoke belched forth, we may be induced to reconsider.
From the wives of some of our classmates who have gone from us word has come concerning their families. John Long's daughter May is social security clerk with the Luckenbach Steamship Company, while his son, George, is in the editorial department of a corporation making commercial movies in Detroit. Minot Fowler's son, Minot, after graduation from Dartmouth and the Tuck School, is now attending the Harvard Business School. His daughter, Jean, is to be graduated from Mt. Holyoke in June, while the younger daughter is to enter Smith in the fall. Mrs. Walter Blair teaches in the school system of Norwood, Mass.; her daughter is a secretary at Wellesley College, while her son, Billy, is to be graduated from the School of Administration of Boston University in June.
Ben Prescott writes that Bob Jackson has just returned from a three-week trip to Mexico, largely made by aeroplane. He was especially impressed by the Mayan ruins in Yucatan. Ben himself and Mrs. Prescott, as noted in the last issue, spent the month of March in Guatemala, with a motor trip through the country as a part of the program.
Putnam writes from Windsor, Vt., that his time is fairly well occupied, with work from six to six, but with every other Sunday off. Didn't someone at some time say something about a thirty-hour week? If so, he might communicate his theory to Put.
Owing to conditions beyond human control (to be specific, the once-a-century New England hurricane) it has not seemed wise to continue the plan of acquiring forest land at Moosilauke, which was designed to be a memorial to Natt Emerson and for which subscriptions were secured from the class a year or so ago. Charles Proctor has suggested a change in the destination of the fund, and this change has been approved by the Executive Committee of the class. Full details of the plan will be sent to each member in the near future.
