Letters
Protests Coddling Alumni
TO THE EDITOR: I am sorry to note that a letter in the April issue of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE comments on the unwillingness of Dartmouth faculty members to answer queries of alumni.
I have had occasion to write to Hanover several times recently. In every case I wrote to a professor whom I had never met, and who taught courses that I had never taken. I requested information that a less lazy person could find in any reference library, or which he could learn from a competent librarian. My correspondents might very properly have ignored my letter, or told me that if I could not find the desired information for myself, I was a disgrace to the college. Instead they answered promptly, mailed voluminous enclosures at great postage expense (which I probably neglected to return), and invited further questions.
If any protest is in order, it is a protest against coddling us alumni.
New York City
Waring at Dartmouth
To THE EDITOR: I hesitate to dig out of the past and personally to enter any further into the much maligned and too much discussed Hanover visit of Mr. Fred Waring. However, during the past week I have been called on by two recent graduates of the College who were badly misinformed as to the intented purpose of Mr. Waring's visit to Hanover due to the stories which The Dartmouth carried during that period. By doing a little charity work for Mr. Waring, the C. O. S. 0., the D. O. C., and the College in general I was able to dispel the highly critical viewpoints which these men held regarding this affair.
However, it is to be expected that this sort of; misinformation is to be bandied about in the daily paper. I am, however, greatly surprised and equally disturbed to find Mr. Richard Glendinning's statements in "The Undergraduate Chair" in the May issue of the DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINE. Mr. Glendinning could not have written with greater error about Mr. Waring's visit and participation in Carnival events if he had been thousands of miles from Hanover when Mr. Waring was here. I think this is doubly unfortunate due to the fact that our alumni readers doubtless look upon this feature as being written by intelligent, unbiased and able observers of the college scene.
Hanover, N. H.
Friendliness, Understanding
To THE EDITOR: In reading the news of the passing .of that beloved old man of granite and silk, Craven Laycock, I couldn't restrain the tears. He was indeed beloved of all of Dartmouth's many loyal sons.
Although it is not needed to establish the fact of his understanding of the college youth which he reigned over, may I add to the many-instances of his friendliness and understanding, how his friendship for me manifested itself, during my undergraduate days.
In May of 1915, when I was a sophomore with track team leanings, just prior to the New England Intercollegiates, I was on my back in the Mary Hitchcock Hospital and could not make the trip with the team to Boston, the scene of the meet. Doctor Gile removed my appendix on Saturday the very day of the finals, and on Sunday, with four days' stubble on my face and feeling most miserable mentally and physically, who was thoughtful enough to appear bright and early with a friendly smile and the Boston newspapersthe Dean in person. He ensconced himself at my bedside and at once began reading aloud to me the word by word description of the meet and its summaries: how all of my matesBraun, Whitney, Granger, Rector, Duffy, Spears, Burns, Worthington, Coakley, Riley at al had performed to bring the title with them to Hanover.
To a much depressed and forlorn sophomore this act of friendliness and understanding meant more than words can describe. I shall never forget it to my dying day. What an understanding heart he had.
Dartmouth undergraduates to come are indeed fortunate in having those four short, precious years ahead of them on Hanover plain, but something we oldsters had that they can never enjoy and that is association with and friendship with and inspiration from Craven Laycock.
Saint Bonaventure College,Saint Bonaventure, N. Y.
A Wah-Hoo- Wah!
To THE EDITOR: I have sometimes wondered, in reading your Wah-Hoo-Wah department, whether you have to fight off suggestions for inclusion or to go out and drag them in.
Anyhow a recent letter from Brice Bisque Jr. '25 gives me an opportunity to find out whether some of us who might be of aid to you are laggards in our responsibilities.
Brice seems to have risen dizzily, to use an entirely unambiguous adverb, from backward beginnings as my roommate through a weirdly varied career of professional acting and equally professional banking, to his recent eminence in the new and by no means easy field of radio writing. Not long ago he was doing the March of Time for the air and the Romance of Oil. Right now he is backing up J. Edgar Hoover by writing what he reports as "Radio's sixth most popular half hour program—Gang Busters."
If this is an acceptable sample would you care to have anything else of like interest?
Baker Library,Hanover, N. H.
fOur answer is "Yes." The editors will appreciate receiving word of distinctive achievements by Dartmouth men— ED.]
Skidmore Daughter
To THE EDITOR: I am positive that none of the "POPPERS' of the Dartmouth Daughters of Skidmore College enjoyed being one of the "POPPERS' any more than I did.
BUT—the little girl's name is ANN not Doris. Have had five calls today from "D" Men, each commenting on this event.
Hope Prexy Moore gets new Skidmore prospects from your very fine write-up.
Greenfield, Mass. JOHN J. GILMORE JR. 19.
Congratulations
To THE EDITOR: My sincere congratulations for your April issue which I think I enjoyed more than any other I have ever received. That was such a unique and totally different type of article
"Meet Bill Daniels." It was also very entertaining and informative as was "Rich Man's College." The statistics you presented on the alumni fund were most interesting as was the whole magazine from cover to cover.
Winchester, Mass.
