1901*

When 1901 arrived in Hanover in September 1897, one of the class came down from the North Country with a fair education, a natural aptitude for baseball, a few friends, and a big and generous heart—he was Jim McCarten. During his four years at Dartmouth he absorbed sufficient knowledge, became an idol on the diamond, made a host of friends, and kept, as he did through life, that same generous heart.

He came back to roundups and reunions, always the same kindly, happy, witty classmate. In the meantime he had married the sweetheart of his boyhood, Roxie Jordan. He failed to bring her to the first reunion he attended, giving as his excuse, "it costs twice as much and one gets only half as much fun." The next time she came with him and not only disproved his facetious remark but in addition gave his classmates and their wives "twice as much fun."

Jim became prosperous and reached a high place in his community, much more so than many of us, but he never changed from his old modest self, even with strangers he met in social and business life. The economic cataclysm occurred and Jim sacrificed most of his own material possessions to stave off disaster for others. He spared nothing of his own self in these efforts, just how much nobody but Roxie will ever know. He came down to New York, some- what depressed, but with the same determination he brought into a losing ball game. It was with great respect and pride that we saw him pull himself back to his former self. We were with them both a great deal and began to develop a deeper and more abiding affection such as comes in our later years.

Hearing of Jim's illness, we wrote to him and Roxie at once. In her reply she told us not only of Jim's condition—coro- nary thrombosis—but that the first attack was extremely painful. The McCartens had been enjoying a holiday in Lancaster, their old home town, and had driven to Hanover for the Commencement ball game. They saw several old friends and classmates, and had started for New York, when Jim was taken with an attack on the road south of Lebanon, Roxie, being unable to drive suffered agony until she obtained help to get into the Lebanon Hospital. Jim rallied for a few days, during which time Roxie was able to prepare herself for the inevitable.

Aside from the terrific pain of his initial attack, and the shock to both, it was, for a Dartmouth man, a happy way to go—the end of a holiday, and having just left his beloved Hanover. We heard of his death while on a trip to our home in Maine, so we all drove over for the funeral. It was hard for those who loved him so much to realize that never again would we hear his cheery voice and laughter, but the simple service with so many friends about seemed to assure us that Jim was near and that we would ever have him in our minds and hearts. Roxie was brave as she met us all. There were three others of the class there, Fred Carpenter, Ned Warren, and Stevie. A recent letter from Roxie indicates her decision to live on in Lancaster, where she and Jim grew up together.

Secretary, 37 Berkeley St., Nashua, N. H